We are just two days away from our planned and prayerful attempt for a week away to the south-west coast for a Christian conference. Anything could happen between then but so far, things are not looking so bad. However, this means, I will not post anything at least until after August 10th. For the record, we have yet to go for the xray but plan to do that this coming Friday.
I should add a correction to our previous post; our planned departure is this Saturday – not this Friday as I stated – which means we will hopefully be leaving on the day of our eleventh anniversary. This is yet another milestone that a few months back, I honestly did not expect or assume that we would reach. And so you can imagine how thankful to God we both are that we get the privilege of getting closer to reaching that day. Every day is special to us; every day is a milestone and memorial of the faithfulness and goodness of God to us; August 4th, 2012 will be another one of those special days which may not in and of itself be long enough to capacitate the thanks and praise we desire to bring to God for all He has done in the last year and the previous ten!
When we’ve been there ten thousand years,
Bright shining as the sun,
We’ve no less days to sing God’s praise,
Than when we first begun.
So, some photos of the last few weeks!
1 – 5 : Gatecrashing Tabbi’s fifth birthday party a few weeks ago during our brief trip to Hayes! Bowling and pizza – it doesn’t get better than that! Tabbi is our neice; the daughter of Tim (Annie’s brother) and his lovely wife, Joy.
6 : Nausea-free Nacho salad!
7 : Monday night summer barbecue at our home with our church plant family
8 : Baking banana bread!
9 – 11 : You can divide mankind into two groups: those who appreciate and acknowledge the great benefit that domestic construction technology has brought to society over the last few centuries and those who think spending time in tents is fun. I’ve never been a happy camper but every summer since we were married Annie proposes that we should spend a few nights camping in the garden. With the help of the unpredictable British weather, I have done well to avoid this in the last decade. I suppose once every eleven years is alright with me!
12 -15 : A sunny evening visit to the Cotswolds and in particular the Snowshill Lavender fields. If you thought Lavender was just a purple flower, you could never be more wrong!
16 – 17: A groovy afternoon drive in Tim’s (Annie’s brother) camper van.
18 : Annie and Tabbi in a Lepidopterarium (10 points if you can guess what that is without the aid of Google or a dictionary!)
19 – 20 : Mom Ruth treats us to supper at Wagamama’s our fave restaurant in Windsor. In picture 20 I demonstrate how to resolve the common Japanese dining dilemma: Chopsticks and noodle soup
R&A
Broken Chariots 
Great to see the pictures and we praise God with you for happy days. Trust that you have a great time in the south west. Love Gill and Mark. Happy 11th anniversary.
I am smiling so much at these photos – God is sooo good and that He really has given us ALL things to enjoy and y’all enjoyed!! x
awwwwwwwwwww thanks for posting these, happy times, we really enjoyed spending time with you guys recently, and Tabitha loved that she got to share her birthday with you. joyx
Lovely pics……….i hope you have a fab time away and a lovely anniversary!!…you two sure deserve it..loads a love…xx….x…
Excellent, Ben. John Betjeman could not have more accurately and vividly summarised the horror of camping! It could sit next to his poem on Slough.
Typical that my dad got it right! Hope you and Annie have a spiritually and physically refreshing time away. You’re always in our prayers!
Correct and congrats! And an extra five points for just being Phil :-). Yes, we went to what I can only describe as an urban zoo while visiting Annie’s mom in Hayes. The butterfly house was about the only place in England that day where you could enjoy 82.4f – albeit in a damp smelling contained area filled with flying insects the size of a laptop. Not a place for any one suffering lepidopterophobia!
phil prosser knows what it a lepidopterarium is!! its a place where butterflies live, hes very proud of himself for getting it without dictionary and google and is grateful for his 10 points!! we all hope you have a great time away.
Ryan & Annie
I really enjoyed looking over these photos and sharing something of your joy and thankfulness for the story behind the pictures. I’m looking forward to sharing them with Rosey when she wakes up.
Re, camping, I’m totally in sympathy with your general antipathy to this crazy way of holidaying. A vacation that doesn’t feature a decent sofa, a squashy mattress & a heated towel rail, plus a significant list of optional extras unobtainable in a tent, (unless your a nomadic oil baron)
Would never get my vote.
I used to have a romantic image of cosy camp fires, banjos & toasted marshmellows, whereas the reality (in this country at least) is leaky tents, long treks to a distant & smelly toilet block, through freezing wet grass in bare feet, in the stygian gloom, with an obstacle course of ropes, canvas and other random objects that would be a challenge for a member of the SAS. Not to mention an inexhaustible list of vicious insects just desperate to take a chunk out of you…….
Praying that you have a great time away, and a wonderful anniversary , all our love B&R +family. xx