Burns night

Well, it's this time of the year. We are off to Weston village hall for a night of fellowship and fun. Steven is getting ready, putting on the 'kilt' and I am told that Viv and Ian will entertain us by their witty repartees. The Scottish poet Robert Burns was born on January 25, 1759.  The evening centers on the entrance of the haggis (a type of sausage prepared in a sheep's stomach) on a large platter to the sound of a piper playing bagpipes. When the haggis is on the table, Steven will read the "Address to a Haggis". This is an ode that Robert Burns wrote to the Scottish dish. At the end of the reading, the haggis is ceremonially sliced into two pieces and the meal begins. I do think people attend if they like haggis. Personally I don't mind as I have an acquired taste for the French andouillette so..the haggis tastes more oaty than the andouillettes. 

Have a blessed evening. N.

Friendship is a blessing ...

 Today I went to EMA airport to pick up our French friends 

coming from La Gironde. They brought us a lovely weather,

 it was sunny all day. After the chef Etienne bbq, 

we went for a walk by the canal and Shugborough. 

They found the bridge there quite quaint and different! 

The birds were devouring the seeds happily.

Tomorrow, we are off to Birmingham for a change of scenery, 

from the quiet rural place where we live to a busy and hectic town. 

I told them that I know a vintage place not far from the centre and 

hopefully they will find some souvenirs to take back to their loved ones.

I am glad that Oceane has accepted to be a translator too! 

You can guess who is the one not bothering speaking French at all! lol

Have a blessed evening. N.

Have a blessed New Year 2014

At times I wished I'd kept a diary. We’ve been so busy that I struggle to remember what we’ve done since the school holidays started. I could do what I ask my form, a delightful year 8 class, about their week-end, give me two or three key-words. Once, Will raised his hand and said: x-box, x-box and x-box. He had everyone in stitches!
So, here are my three key-words, Praise, parties, family!
Praise the Lord for Jesus, the Saviour of all those who believe in Him and invite Him in their life, midnight service with friends and family,
parties, even carolling at the pub classifies as a big party, two wine and nibble parties, once after carolling in the street of Stowe, the other as a customary invite at our dear friends Jenny and Mike, I was also invited to watch a superb play in Nottingham, the 101 Dalmatians with my friends Sue and Phil, today was the ruby anniversary of our dear friends Sheila and Roy, tomorrow, another party, my hubby’s 21 x 3 birthday celebration!
family special time shopping in town for presents, having a gingerbread latte in Starbucks, opening presents and dining, watching some tv..

Finally, last nite, my dear hubby took me dining in our favorite restaurant in Stone, an italian place. Later on, we celebrated the end of 2013 with our dear friends, over champagne and pudding. Happy New Year and may the Lord bless you in abundance.

Messy church rocks!

This afternoon, Steven and I went to messy church in Weston.We met up with Phil, the rector, Gill, the messy church team leader and the other members of the team.Once again, the village hall was full of children and parents. On the play list was my favourite song : Who is the king of me? J.E.S.U.S. The kids loved it!

We gave thanks to the Lord for all the good things that He provides us with. The most popular activity was the following, you had to design bracelets or necklaces with food bits, such as grapes, candy floss, sweets, cheerios and  strawberry strings. Have you done messy church before, it's a lot of organisation but good fun!

Happy birthday Imogen!

Dearest Imogen,

Congratulations on your 18th birthday

with lots of love.

You really are a daughter
Who fills our home with cheer.
And you grow more beautiful
Each year.

We hope you'll always know
That we love you and we're proud of you.

At times you drive us crazy

It's like living in a zoo

But we really do love you.

The Lord bless you and keep you.

The Lord makes his face shine upon you and be gracious to you:

The Lord turn his face toward you.

and give you peace

Numbers 6:24-26

Bring the fattened marrows

and cut them.

Let's have a feast and

celebrate.

I adapted Luke 15:23 because Imogen has been a vegetarian for five years. On her card, I wrote, the fattened cucumber however, Steven pointed out that marrow do grow bigger!

Last night, we went out for a meal at Pasta di Piazza in Stone even though her birthday was today because she'd planned to spend the evening in Liverpool with 8 of her friends. We had a lovely time, the food and the service were excellent!

This morning, our 'baby' made some 'american' vegan pancakes with oats for herself and the same for us with an egg and 'normal' milk, not this soya stuff (lol) though I'm wondering if soya milk is a good idea but that's another story!

 After Liverpool, she will keep on the celebration at Bristol with Camille, her older sister (23) who is so pleased to spend the Bank Holiday with her round!

Imogen, Sadie, Abbie, Shanice, Beth, Tian and Molly

Girls, have a blessed day full of fun and may your friendship blossom. 

Merry Christmas to you

Wishing you a blessed Christmas in the peace and joy of our Lord Jesus-Christ.

C S Lewis' conversion to Christianity

Discovering new blogs is always exciting. This afternoon, as I was researching something completely different on google.com I saw the following title: 73% of Protestant pastors in America reject evolution. Not a surprise in itself really. Then I started to read a few more posts on that same blog: through the wardrobe , especially a post on Luther (Martin Luther on authority in the Church) that I found very interesting. Next, I land on this blog: gloriadeo. I found a clip of a documentary on CS Lewis describing his conversion. I have only read a few books written by CS Lewis so I was very intrigued. I share this clip with you. Too many distractions ...are definitely a good thing! Do you agree? I will now resume my lesson planning. Blessings.

In France for a week

The girls and I left for France last Saturday at 11 am and after four heavy traffic jams, we arrived in Dover just half an hour before boarding on a Seafrance ferry at 16 30. Then we drove to Rouen and stayed in the hotel La Campanile. I asked Cami to take a photo of that old Citroen (?) car while on the motorway, the autoroute A28



We arrived at my brother in Niort in the middle of Sunday afternoon. He'd prepared a lovely 'chicken chasseur' served with rice.





Tuesday lunch time, we went to Denis favorite pizzeria...

 Walking back to the town centre after Denis dropped us off at the 'cordonnerie' where we asked if Cami's handbag could be fixed...err..I am on holidays soon so it won't be for a while. We left the bag with him.

 Monday night, we were invited at an 'apéritif' to meet DRD's friends, Mme M. and her daughter Catherine. Could I possibly drive Catherine to the station on Tuesday at 13:45 as my brother had offered! I agreed then kept worrying about it. What if I got lost in spite of the short explanations written quickly? Finally Tuesday morning  I decided to  find their house early, knocked on their door and Mme M recognised me, her face brightened up.' I am so reassured to know that  you found your way here!' Then we had a stroll in the 'centre-ville' of Niort and a 'grand-crème' in a café near the market and the 'Donjon d'Alienor d'Aquitaine' that dates from the 12th century  (photo)

On the Wednesday, we went to la Rochelle, had lunch in a restaurant Le Bodegon, cours des Dames,  in front of the harbour and the two towers

We had for starters, moules marinière,  soupe de poisson and for main meal, poisson grillé avec riz and for Imogen, the vegetarian salade au chèvre chaud et frites!

Friday we went to the quiet and dainty island of Ré. As we discovered the beach at low tide, we had a feeling of 'déjà vu', we could have been sitting at Peel, in the Isle of Man.  

We came back home monday morning at 1:30 am. We left Niort at 7:45 Sunday morning and the roads were clear until mid-morning, heavy traffic around Rouen.We also paused for coffee and rillettes sandwiches with frisée lettuce. Soon after Rouen, I realised that we would not make it to the boat at Calais on time for 2:30. When we arrived there at 3 pm, I was told the next crossing available on Seafrance was at 6:50 pm so we waited at the restaurant. We left Dover customs at 8 pm English time (there is one hour difference) and headed to the M25. By then I was exhausted and told the girls I would need to sleep for 20 min in one of the services, the one by Oxford. I felt so much better after. I asked the Lord to give me strength to finish this long journey.

Blessings. N.

A wonderful surprise!

Last week holiday started with a wonderful surprise. Thursday night, I got a message from Nelly telling me that for mother's day (the French mother's day) she would bring her mum, Yvonne, my French blogging friend, to me so we could at last meet. I was over the moon. Yvonne did not know anything about it!

However as on Friday night we were setting off to Norfolk, I had to make sure they would meet us there and not in Staffs! So we eventually met at dad's and then after the service, we went to the campsite and had a bbq, courtesy of the 'boss'. I met Yvonne on a French Christian website called Top Chrétien two years ago. I have been looking forward to meeting her in person. As soon as we saw each other, we gave each other a big hug and we were quite emotional. Although I'd never met her before, Yvonne and I have been following each other’s blogs over the past two years. In her blog (or I should say her website), she speaks about the love of the Lord for us and how important it is to build a relationship with Jesus.

We are determined to meet again very soon. Have you met up with any of your blogger friends yet ? I had the following verses in mind! ¹⁷ Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. James 1:17 Blessings. N.