A brilliant start for the younger ones

I've got no voice left from tonights class, I think my big toe's had it from playing football at Crimond school, but it's all good!

It was so good to see everybody at Crimond school - children and staff alike. The weather was

cold but clear and no rain so we went outside to play football. There were 16 kids and we played for one and a half hours! Apart from the toe thing I feel pretty good about the game and more importantly being 40 doesn't scare me! What's great about afternoons like today is having teaching opportunities to share a good life. Yes, I had to check some of their language from time to time and one or two got a bit too competitive at times, but for the most part there was smiles, teamwork, encouragment and some amazing goals! Being with them is excellent and now I can't wait till next Monday to teach assembly.

Tonight was the first night back for our primary school class at church. We were delighted to have so many there the 1st night back. I started a new lesson plan on Jesus life - thought it would be good to follow on after the Christmas stuff. We had some fun with the pronounciation of Simeon's name. We talked about how happy everyone was to see Jesus being born. We played some games and had our snack etc. Oh, and Holly's prayer was "Hoping God would let Jenny come here again next summer." On the whole it was a good class, although we did have one or two attention seeking moments with one child. We have a lovely group aged between 5 and 8. This is the group that seems to be growing these past few weeks. It was especially good to see Ellis there tonight, she has had a pretty painfull and hard few weeks with surgery and physio.

Angie handed out the kids tasks to be done at home for next week. I think she had asked that they make their beds every morning before going to school.

We are richly blessed! Just thinking about the class and the children who were there tonight gives me much purpose and hope.

Almost forgot to mention about our weekend! Fenella and I had a brilliant time down in London. We misses our show on the Friday night due to cancelled flights etc. In the end we were just happy to arrive in London. Fenella was a bit anxious till after her exam Saturday morning, but was able to relax a bit after it was all over. The "Lion King" was amazing and had Fenella in tears after just the opening song! We went to the Brittish museum and were totally overwhelmed at all the history contained in that place.

We spent time walking and just enjoying the sights and shops and eachother's company - with no distractions and little ones needing to go to the toilet. We missed the girls, but really enjoyed being together just the two of us. We got home with no problems and were greeted by a shower of hugs and smiles from the girls. It was good to be home again!