Birthday snow

One of the major things that happened on our weekend was celebrating J's third birthday. He isn't actually three until next month, but his birthday is really too close to Christmas for him to really enjoy it, so being his parents, and slightly omnipotent in these matters, we moved it to a more suitable date.

He had a great day. There was snow, balloons, the birthday boy badge, presents and cake. The presents he opened one at a time and played with each one before he moved on. This was strange boy behaviour that we hadn't seen before.

The cake was constructed with his assistance (mostly he helped check that it all tasted good). He found it in a recipe book (all the cool two year olds read recipe books after all), and specifically requested it. And he blew out the candle with great enthusiasm. (You can see how healthy his tonsils are).

We said thank you to God for giving this boy three years of life, and pray for many more years. Most of all we pray that God will grant him eternal life through the Lord Jesus. JMB

Marvellous News!

We are in! Finally, after three years, Mark is officially in the DPhil programme. Oh, he's written a substantial amount of the thesis and done lots of thinking around the topic. But we were just missing that fine detail that meant he could submit the thesis as a DPhil thesis and get a DPhil at the end of the whole performance.

So, the much prayed for, sought after paper has arrived, and we are relieved and grateful. For those of you who kindly pray for us from time to time, please join with us in thanking our generous God for providing again. JMB

Serious Apples

I like apples. Which is another reason I quite like England. In England, they grow serious apples. Not just the easy-to-eat kind we get in Australia, but apples with attitude. They bite back.

These are 'Howsgate Wonders', which we got at one of the many apple festivals about the place this year. I am happy to report that these are fabulous apples. And the name reminded me of Hogwarts, which is cool as well.

(Very tired this week; this is the best I've got!) JMB

View From My Window

So, we don't really update this. And I was thinking about this on the weekend and thinking that it was a shame and I missed writing these posts. I don't have time to write them, but I don't have time for anything and won't for several years.

So, I thought I'd post anyway.

Nothing too interesting or dramatic, and if you, dear reader, decide it isn't really up to scratch, that's OK. I don't really have time to deal with that, but I'm sure Samaritans or LifeLine would be glad to help you work through that struggle.

So, our boys have been sick all of October. We've done high temperatures, chest infections, vomiting, diarrhea, wheezing, coughing, steroids, antibiotics, many trips to doctors, many sleepless nights. Hurray for last week, where we had two well boys on Tuesday and things just got better from there. And hurray for patient boys who coped really well with being sick.

And it's Autumn, which always surprises me with its wealth of colours and crisp, cold air. It starts so gently and crescendoes with freezing rain, frosts and gold, red, brown whipping about in the chill wind.

I like autumn. JMB