Christmas Round Robin's

The round robin you don't want to receive.

"It's been such a busy year this year, we didn't have time to take our usual months break in August to the Seychelles. Thank goodness we managed to pop over there back in March.  I don't know what we'd do without our holidays.

Just as well we had been away, as April turned out to be the month from Hell.  Roger took delivery of his brand new Mercedes and would you believe they had the interior trim done in the standard leather, he had specifically told them he wanted Nappa leather in Alpaca Grey.  They may as well have delivered a completely different car, it was absolutely heart-breaking.  Roger is still not quite over it. As I've told him, these things take time to come to terms with, you were expecting Nappa leather and you got standard, of course you're going to find it hard, I've had to be strong for both of us.

Thank goodness September started well, with the twins both being accepted for St Wellington's Manor.  The school run is an absolute beast, but at least I only have to do it Friday afternoon and Monday morning.  You should have seen the list of equipment I had to buy them, I said to Roger it's no good not getting everything, how would he feel if they were the only children not to have their own ponies in the event of a polo match.  Men eh? They have no idea of living in the real world.

As this year comes to a close it has given me time to reflect on what is important in life, and I'm going to have it out with the Mercedes garage over that trim if it's the last thing I do - not for me - for Roger. It's this time of year that makes you realise you have to be selfless.

Please accept our Christmas gift to you with our love, we've had some good fortune this year so we've bought you a box of 24 Ferrero Rocher instead of the usual 8".

Love

Roger, Marjorie & The Twins


Coming soon...........the round robin you shouldn't send............

All The World's A Stage

Welcome to the show, in which I have just arrived at my walk-on part.

I didn’t know until recently what my part was and I had been ad-libbing.  I had heard lots of times that I did have a part and it was a very important part, in fact I was created for this particular part.  This part is actually so specific that it was written for me even before I was born!

When I say I had been ad-libbing, I hadn’t been listening carefully enough to the director.  He was there all along with his megaphone, calling out to me, telling where he wanted me to be and what he wanted me to say, and sometimes I think I pleased him and said the right things at the right times to the right people.  Other times it was a case of ‘exit, stage left, and hurry’!

The great thing about this show is, everybody gets a part, and even the person who paints the scenery is as important as the person with the leading role!

I used to think my part was so unimportant, that it wouldn’t even notice if I didn’t turn up, I had nothing to offer the show, no-one would care if I was in it or not. 

Then the director started talking to me, he told me not to be frightened of my part, he would always be there if it went wrong, sometimes I believed Him, sometimes I didn’t. 

My close friends who knew the director well said, “listen to the director, he knows everything about you and he loves you so much, you are so special to him”

My part in the show got worse and I felt like I’d been given the crappy part to play and I didn’t think others in the show were that special either – I wanted out.

I told the director this, I wanted to leave the show and not be in it anymore.

But the director had other plans, he brought me in close and he told me “not now” I couldn’t leave the show yet.  It was hard, because I realised I had to listen to him and that meant I had to play my part and somehow carry on.

Eventually, I had the overwhelming realisation that not only did I have a part to play, but I was actually the director’s daughter!  How could I have missed this for all these years, I began to feel filled with his love and knew I could attempt to play the part he wanted me to play. With Him directing me anything is possible.

In case you missed it, the show is 'life', the director is 'God' and we ALL have a part to play.

The Smiths - Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want ( 1984 )

Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want....................Lord knows it would be the first time..............

Nah, I've got what I want before, just a fab song that has invaded the airwaves having been used in the John Lewis ad, having said that there are a few things I would like to get!

Weekly Song Round Up

Simply one of the best songs ever written, and there were a number of times this week I would like to have become 'comfortably numb'!

Jeff Lucas And Adrian Plass Seriously Funny Tour

After the week I'd had, if these guys hadn't made me laugh there would have been trouble!  They did not disappoint.

Having read their Seriously Funny book I knew they were funny guys, but if I'm honest I wasn't expecting much, I mean, come on, Christian comedy?

Ever heard the phrase 'comedy timing'? Adrian Plass could give a master class in it, his delivery was so good he had you laughing in anticipation of what you knew was going to be a well worth waiting for punchline!

I did wonder if it would just be a 'live' re-telling of the stories in their book, but I only recalled about two, so there were lots of new laughs.

They cover many Christian related topics, such as speaking in tongues, where if you find yourself in a highly charismatic/pentecostal church and it is expected of you, but you don't have this gift, you can get away with it by reciting the 1990 Sri Lankan cricket team!

And about how to cope on meeting the 'perfect' all-round Christian family, whose children all play musical instruments, and they have 'family worship' together and they turn to you and ask how you organise your family-fellowship time!

They were able to find humour in topics as dark as death and depression, without being disrespectful or irreverent, and as with the book, they seamlessly weaved hysterical anecdotes with the message that Jesus is a good guy to get to know, without being at all 'preachy'.

Well recommended if you can get tickets for the last few dates, and you could easily take a non-Christian friend without cringing!

Laugh Like A Drain...........Maybe Not.

I commented on a blog post about being blessed, that although we haven't got hot water in our house, at least we have an electric shower and clean running water.........

Well that was true.  Our drains are now blocked, so without very limited use of the water they back up and spill over into our utility and garage area.

Some people face sickness in the family over and over again.  We just seem to have all the household and vehicle failures over and over again.

We are both self-employed, my husband after finishing one business and looking for a job unsuccessfully for two years, started another business, so money is minimal and added to the fact we are majorly in debt, well, these are exactly the sort of problems we can do without.

It makes my chest tight, it makes me feel sick inside, it makes me want to go to bed and not get up.  My head thinks the only thing that can solve our problems is money - about £40,000 if you're offering.

But in my heart I know that we can survive with broken down cars and no washing machine and wondering if it's safe to flush.  I know this time will pass and when our kids our grown and have made a success of their life (because they will learn from the mess that is ours), we will look back and laugh.  At the moment we laugh through gritted teeth, because we know will either cry, or worse, kill each other.

Philippians 4:12 (NIV) I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.

You understand I see this as relevant to the area of the world I live in.  I am well aware that some poor people have to walk miles to collect dirty water and could probably get shot on the way.

My 'needs' and my 'plenty' are vastly different to other peoples.  Maybe my 'needs' and 'plenty' are exactly how they should be at the moment.

People always say "at least you've got your health".  I don't think being healthy is all it's cracked up to be, for now, I'd rather be comfortably numb.

Don't Be Like Job's Friends

Not sure how sticking a sanitary towel on your head helps when you are ill.  Anyway...........

Our town has been hit by a lot of illness lately, more than just your common winter cold or flu.

People are coming down left, right and centre with horrible chest infections, which in many cases have turned to pneumonia.


About 6 weeks ago one of my friends turned up to our homegroup and confessed she was finding every day life a real struggle.  Just your normal things, kids, house, husband working late.  It was all starting to take it's toll.  Of course being the lovely Christian people we are, we prayed for her and immediately offered our help where we could, sharing school/club pick-ups etc.

Little did she or we know what the following weeks would bring, from that date to this 4 of their 6 family members have had pneumonia - two of them hospitalised.  She is still sane - just about!

Around the same time 6 weeks ago, I decided I wanted to read the Bible chronologically.  So I started through Job.  Good timing.  God's clever like that you see.  We all said we'd be good friends and support her without having a clue what that was about to involve.

Job's friends thought he must have done something or had an unconfessed sin which had brought about all his trouble.  That is an easy reaction for us to have today, I myself in the past have thought "God, what did I do, why is all this happening?"

Job hadn't done anything, he was right with God and faithful to Him, but God did not enlighten him as to why he was suffering disaster after disaster.  Job, got annoyed with his friends for indicating he must have brought it on himself, and questioned God.

My friend is a very wise, loving and caring Christian person.  I know she must have faults somewhere, but I haven't seen them!  I'm glad I was reading Job because it helped me to not distort my view of why people go through periods of suffering.

We may never fully understand in this life why some of us go through what we go through.  Sometimes after the event it becomes clear.  Other times it's just a time to get through and forget about.  If you know God, that will be enough, you will not need to know 'why?'