Dear friends,
1998 will go down in our family history as an especially eventful year. At least, we hope it will - we don’t want too many like it! In this year, Matthew learned his first words (not ‘Daddy’, much to Daddy’s disappointment!) Tom started a new school, Annie began a new career and took on new responsibilities, and Paul started a new job. Three times.
Tom moved up to the Junior school after the summer holidays. He’s settled in well - he needed the extra challenge. He’s bright enough to need a lot of mental stimulation, or he quickly gets bored, and it can’t all come from Mum and Dad. After a few hours of his questions, they often feel over-stimulated! He’s well into the current yo-yo craze, and has learned a lot of the tricks - without (amazingly) smashing anything or anyone. Yet.
Matt didn’t seem in any great hurry to start talking. His first priority was to get mobile, and then to get upright, and then to get mobile and upright simultaneously. Having toddled past this milestone late last year, he then got round to the communication thing - but there was no great pressure on him there, since he could get most of what he wanted with a vigorous point and a loud, authoritative “Eeegghhh!” However, as his needs have become more complex, he’s been forced to learn a few essential English words and phrases. For example “up” (for “Pick me up please” - he’s economical in his use of words), “cat”, “apple”, “Yes”, “No” (already being used far too often) “Mummy” and “Daddy” (which will get him nearly anything he wants). Also “Come on - play!” “Gone now” and “Wind it up” (see above, under ‘yo yo’s). We’re starting to get to the tantrum stage of development now, but in spite of that he remains very loving and loveable. Mostly.
Annie became a registered child-minder early this year. There was some concern about finding enough business, but that hasn’t proved a problem, and she’s got a full quota most days of the week. It can be hard work, but she finds it rewarding - and the money helps too! Another challenge was to take over the leadership of the Youth Fellowship. That’s had it’s ups and downs, but has also seen some effective work done with some of the Fellowship.
Paul came to the end of his fixed-term contract at People’s College in June. He had hoped to be appointed to a permanent position, but that didn’t work out. Another job came along almost immediately, but only lasted 3 weeks, in spite of his having been told at interview that it was a permanent position. Things were made worse when we found out that Paul didn’t qualify for any Unemployment Benefit (or Job-Seekers Allowance as it’s now called) at all. Things looked a bit gloomy for a while, especially when our old Volvo suffered a major breakdown.
But the Lord answered our prayers, in a lot of ways. Unexpected gifts from friends, lower than expected bills, and the odd bit of casual work (painting the neighbours windows - well actually just the frames, which made it a bit more difficult) all helped out. We even managed to get a holiday, a fortnight in Rhyl, thanks to the loan of a house by our ‘best man’.
Through it all, Paul kept on churning out job applications, with disappointingly few results at first. However, an interview at Derby University led to a temporary job, working on their Internet Website: and shortly afterwards he was offered a permanent contract with Nottinghamshire Police, as Admin. Assistant to their Quality Assurance section. It was a strange experience to be wanted by the Police, but the job’s a good one, and after the first few weeks he feels well settled in. The longish drive out to Police H.Q. is the main drawback, but upgrading to a Rover (216 GSi, ‘H’ reg.) has taken some of the hassle out of it!
So now the run-up to Christmas has started, and we’re looking forward to a family time together. This year, Matt should be old enough to appreciate it more - Annie’s decided not to put the tree up too early, because he’ll certainly want to try climbing it! Both the boys have got bikes, which means another assembly job for Paul. Perhaps he’ll get a toolkit for Christmas? What he really wants is time to play his computer games, but there’s a queue for using it! Even Matthew wants his share of time on the “puter”!
So looking back, we can see 1998 as a year when God proved himself to be a God of Provision for us. It was a tough year in some respects, but there was blessing in it, even so.
We hope that whatever your year was like, it also had God’s blessing in it: and we trust that that will continue for all of us, into 1999 and beyond.
Yours in His Name,
Paul, Annie, Thomas and Matthew
1998 will go down in our family history as an especially eventful year. At least, we hope it will - we don’t want too many like it! In this year, Matthew learned his first words (not ‘Daddy’, much to Daddy’s disappointment!) Tom started a new school, Annie began a new career and took on new responsibilities, and Paul started a new job. Three times.
Tom moved up to the Junior school after the summer holidays. He’s settled in well - he needed the extra challenge. He’s bright enough to need a lot of mental stimulation, or he quickly gets bored, and it can’t all come from Mum and Dad. After a few hours of his questions, they often feel over-stimulated! He’s well into the current yo-yo craze, and has learned a lot of the tricks - without (amazingly) smashing anything or anyone. Yet.
Matt didn’t seem in any great hurry to start talking. His first priority was to get mobile, and then to get upright, and then to get mobile and upright simultaneously. Having toddled past this milestone late last year, he then got round to the communication thing - but there was no great pressure on him there, since he could get most of what he wanted with a vigorous point and a loud, authoritative “Eeegghhh!” However, as his needs have become more complex, he’s been forced to learn a few essential English words and phrases. For example “up” (for “Pick me up please” - he’s economical in his use of words), “cat”, “apple”, “Yes”, “No” (already being used far too often) “Mummy” and “Daddy” (which will get him nearly anything he wants). Also “Come on - play!” “Gone now” and “Wind it up” (see above, under ‘yo yo’s). We’re starting to get to the tantrum stage of development now, but in spite of that he remains very loving and loveable. Mostly.
Annie became a registered child-minder early this year. There was some concern about finding enough business, but that hasn’t proved a problem, and she’s got a full quota most days of the week. It can be hard work, but she finds it rewarding - and the money helps too! Another challenge was to take over the leadership of the Youth Fellowship. That’s had it’s ups and downs, but has also seen some effective work done with some of the Fellowship.
Paul came to the end of his fixed-term contract at People’s College in June. He had hoped to be appointed to a permanent position, but that didn’t work out. Another job came along almost immediately, but only lasted 3 weeks, in spite of his having been told at interview that it was a permanent position. Things were made worse when we found out that Paul didn’t qualify for any Unemployment Benefit (or Job-Seekers Allowance as it’s now called) at all. Things looked a bit gloomy for a while, especially when our old Volvo suffered a major breakdown.
But the Lord answered our prayers, in a lot of ways. Unexpected gifts from friends, lower than expected bills, and the odd bit of casual work (painting the neighbours windows - well actually just the frames, which made it a bit more difficult) all helped out. We even managed to get a holiday, a fortnight in Rhyl, thanks to the loan of a house by our ‘best man’.
Through it all, Paul kept on churning out job applications, with disappointingly few results at first. However, an interview at Derby University led to a temporary job, working on their Internet Website: and shortly afterwards he was offered a permanent contract with Nottinghamshire Police, as Admin. Assistant to their Quality Assurance section. It was a strange experience to be wanted by the Police, but the job’s a good one, and after the first few weeks he feels well settled in. The longish drive out to Police H.Q. is the main drawback, but upgrading to a Rover (216 GSi, ‘H’ reg.) has taken some of the hassle out of it!
So now the run-up to Christmas has started, and we’re looking forward to a family time together. This year, Matt should be old enough to appreciate it more - Annie’s decided not to put the tree up too early, because he’ll certainly want to try climbing it! Both the boys have got bikes, which means another assembly job for Paul. Perhaps he’ll get a toolkit for Christmas? What he really wants is time to play his computer games, but there’s a queue for using it! Even Matthew wants his share of time on the “puter”!
So looking back, we can see 1998 as a year when God proved himself to be a God of Provision for us. It was a tough year in some respects, but there was blessing in it, even so.
We hope that whatever your year was like, it also had God’s blessing in it: and we trust that that will continue for all of us, into 1999 and beyond.
Yours in His Name,
Paul, Annie, Thomas and Matthew