Looking forward to Tomorrow

Well, this morning was not the greatest. I got stuck into a job I've been putting of for months - clearing out the garage! Had to make a run to the skip there was so much rubbish. The garage was my workshop when doing work to the house so there was tools and sawdust everywhere. The good thing is we can now get the car into it!

Had a brilliant time at Central school over lunch time. Thankfully the group has not increased this time. Everybody had fun and did quite a bit of excersise in the process. Starting to get a good rapor with the group and there is an anticipation as the kids come into the gym hall that they will have a good time. Hoping the opportunity allows me to be good influence and a friendly face.

This afternoon it was off to Anna Ritchie school. Here I go again trying to sum up how great it is to be involved there. As ever there was never a moment where there was not the sound of laughter or a smile on someone's face. Rory, one of the older boy's scored the most amazing goal today - he hit the ball from his own goal area and scored! The ball just hit the perfect trajectory and dropped right into the net! However, his wonder goal was not enough to win the game. My taem, which consists mainly of the physically lesser abled, did enough to edge a 4-3 win. This is uncommon as we usually get beaten badly. There is no doubt though that win or loose everyone leaves the game in a good mood. I think having this sessions on Friday afternoon's sets the kid's up for a great weekend. After the game I have to go round the classes and tell them about the various goal scorers and how great they performed. I care for the school and pray that God is seen by the children as a result.

Fenella and I decided to have a night out tomorow with Amy and Beth, so we are going to see the second "National Treasure" movie with Nicholas Cage (my fav Actor). We will go for something to eat beforehand - Looking forward! Jack and Alexa are coming round to watch Holly & Hannah so they will have a fine time.

Have a great weekend nad God bless!

Well, Well, Billy Cheyne!

It was brilliant to get a surprise visit from Billy Cheyne and Epoc (David Cope) tonight. They arrived at the house, very convieniently, as we were having our supper. It is always good to have them at class, the boys especially have a good bond with Bill. He spent a while living near Peterhead and helped out at classes while they were here. There was a good crowd of guys there tonight and we had a brilliant class. I taught a lesson about rebeling against the world and pointed out the fact that Jesus was the greatest rebel ever. Challenged the boys not to simply go with teh flow and follow the crowd, but to stand up and stand against the pull of this world. Got a good response and the comments were right on. John Campbell was there tonight and is a really good influence on the guys - he's not a bad table tennis player too! We missed Angie tonight who hasn't had a great day and needed to stay home and rest. Tha girls arrived at 8.00 and we played some dodgeball and enjoyed the company for a while.

Getting back to Billy Cheyne - I thought it would be funny to tie his shoe laces together as I was leaving the house for class, but should have known better. At the end of the class I found my jacket in knots and thought, No Way!, but hey fairs fair. Untill I went outside and found my car missing! He had taken my keys and moved it round the corner out of sight. Message to self - don't play practacle jokes on Billy Cheyne again!!

I had a good time at Central this afternoon with the girl's football. There is a nice group of girl's coming and there really is quite a lot of opportunity to give some guidance and instruction on matters of importancce as well as football. I will see most of them again tomorrow lunch time at the school for ball games and I'm looking forward to it.

Had coffee with my dad for a wee while this afternoon and got a chance to talk and catch up. I'm kinda gald we are able to make this a pretty regular thing and I look forward to our sounding board sessions.

Well another day gone and another closer home - God bless.

Muddling through

Today has been eventful to say the least. I am made aware today that I am far from perfect. I won't go into detail, but it hads been good for me to do some soul searching in order to get my priorities right and begin to set the balance where it needs to be again.

It was good to have Fenella to myself for the morning and after missing out last week, we headed down to Simpson's Tea Room for some tea and coffee and of course one of their irresistible home baked cakes. We were both glad of the chance to be together.

Tonights class went really well. Out of the 30 pluss kids there was only two who were giving us some problems, so on the whole I'm sure most of the children were blessed. The kids were especially keen at the singing time with many having requested a favorite. The "Bible Quick Draw" is fast becoming a success and the kids are eager to to step up and try to find the book chapter and verse before their friends. Shaun Main has become the one to beat, which is not surprising since he was victorious at camp Tayside's memory verse challenge. The Classes went well and I taught a second lesson from Jonah and focused on God's mercy in giving warning to change before punishment comes. We had a good class and discussed whether we were diligent in doing what God wants.

The best surprise! When I got home from dropping off the kids from class I was greeted with a most beautiful sight - St Combs ice cream!!! Fenella whae dropping Amy at her piano lesson had came accross the ice cream van and treated us all to some ice cream, it was fantastic! A little insight for anyone who does not know me well - I love ice cream!

Jenny's Definitly coming this summer!!

Didn't even have to read the email - the title said it all, "I'm COMING!" Jenny will be with us for the summer and we are thrilled! I am excited to tell everyone tomorow night.

Got to spend some personal study time this morning and listened to one of my fav podcasts from John Ortberg. He was talking about the importance of many Generations within a church and the idea of kingdom as God's family. Realy enjoyed the time to think and be challenged.

This lunch time was at Central school with the P1's for ball games. Had a good bunch and a good time for the most part, but had one little boy who was intent on doing nothing I asked him, so he was escorted out so that the rest could enjoy some fun and excersise. Had some time to do some visiting and dropped in to see Margaret Bradford. It was realy refreshing and we talked about some church stuff and also had a laugh about various house decorating stories we had experienced.

Tonight I had a catch up call with Dr Jerry Bowling who will be leading the HU campaign to Peterhead in May. We shared some ideas and had a talk about where the focus of the campaign should be and what we need to be preparing for to provoke opportunity to get the comunity here in touch with God. Have to say I am anticipating a great campaign.

As a beside here I would love if anyone knew of a congregation who might be interested in helping my good brother in Christ Alex Swango join the work here in Peterhead. He has been over here a few times now and we would love to benefit from his obvious passion for the kingdom. He needs some financial help in order to make this happen, so if you know of anyone please let me know and I will get them hooked up.

Another new week

Got the day off to the best possible start - Assembly at Crimond School! Got my lesson sorted and set off knowing I had a message to tell. Met all the children at the door as they filled past into the gym hall. I had a good feeling as most of the children were smilling and looked to be in a good mood. I spoke about the importance of handling failure so that it can help rather than hinder. Looked at Thomas Edison and his failure rate when perfecting the light bulb and about his showing mercy to the young boy who stumbled and let one of his bulbs smash, but still had the faith to trust him with the next one. Focused on the older kids for a wee while and challenged their thinking about failure and learning from their mistakes. In all it was a really good assembly and I finished off with a prayer. There was a lovely moment at the end when the teacher commented that the song she had chosen before the assembly was perfectly in keeping with what I had talked about - God's providence or what!

Had a great visit with Angie as we went through to Aberdeen to re-stock the tuck shop. We were able to encourage each other and share how much God is working in the lives of the children and we were both aware of how blessed we are to have so much opportunity to share and care in the kingdom.

It was back to Crimond at 2.30 for football coaching. After last weeks struggles I started with a pretty strong hand making sure they knew that that was not going to be repeated this session. There were a lot of eyes to the ground and after a commitment to make things better we had a fantastic time. After the game nearly all the guys in their own way said how much they enjoy Monday afternoons and were making sure I was going to come back again. My heart goes out to them and I hope the messages I share at Assenblies are taking root and that God has a chance to bless their lives.

Tonight we had a magic class with the primary school kids. They were all excited to find out how well they had done on the test the week before and who was leading the MVP table. Only 5 of the 30 got full marks, but no one in the class had lower than 11 out of 15 which is great. Andrew Main, Lewis Emslie and Kimberly Lawson are heading up the older table, while Ellis Stephen is out in front on her own in the younger table. This week we talked about Jesus baptism and how pleased God was that His Son was focused on doing what He had sent him to do. It went well and after our time for prayer and refreshment we had some fun and games with Knights, Horses and Caveliers. There was a sweet moment tonight when Leah came and asked if she could ray for her granda who had a stroke and heart attack this past week. Leah has only been coming for a couple of weeks and it was so encouraging that she has seen the other children pray and is learning the beauty of praying for those she loves - precious!

Well time for some rest - Good night.

It's Snowing!

We woke up this morning to a most beautiful sight - SNOW! Everywhere was covered in a clean white blanket. This afternoon I had to go out and take some pictures for you all to see how lovely it is here (Ashley, I know you will proud of me!)

Holly and Hannah have had so much fun today. First thing they had their swimming lesson and because the pool is only a two minute walk, on went the "toppers" and we had our first walk in the snow this year. We went down to "Simpson's" for our lunch and got served by Amy. When we got home I went into the garden with Holly and Hannah for some fun in the snow! We made a Pyramid (because their school project has been about Egypt). We threw some snowballs and got really cold fingers, but it was soooo worth it.

Tonight we are staying in and will have a cozy night watching a movie. However, Beth has plans. Without doubt Beth has the best social life in the family, she has a great group of friends and they are always at someones house visiting and enjoying their friendship.

P.S. Happy Birthday Jenny, we miss you!

Richly Blessed

Friday night and all is well. Fenella's had another crazy day and I'm totally spent too. Tonight we will just relax and do nothing, but put our feet up!

Fenella left early this morning for a course in Aberdeen, which is only 30 miles away but the traffic makes the comute there and back 3 hours. So, she was glad to get home tonight. I had an assembly at Burnhaven school 1st thing at 9.30. When I got there the head mistress met me and we had a good talk for a wee while about the general mood of the school. My lesson went over well and taught the children about the importance of having a thankful heart and about remembering how good God is to all of us. After the kids went back to class the head told me about some problems they were experiencing at the school and how glad she was to see all the children getting involved in the lesson and expressing their ideas. It was good to know in some small way I was able to minister and help at the school today.

At lunch time I was at Central school with the P5-7's for ball games. What a magic time that was! Turned out that the list of kids signed up had jumped from 16 to 24 since last week! Mr Imlah, the assistant head, was very appologetic and said if I thought it was too much we can cut the numbers, but in the end it was fine and the session went without any issues. I just hope next week the list does not get any longer! Seriously though, I count it a joy to be there and to be sharing in the lives of those 24 kids - fantastic!

Next stop was Anna Ritchie School! As usual got to spend a little time with all the classes before begining the football session. The kid's are amazing. They always have so much smiles and affection. I go to minister in a small way, but know that I am the one recieving the richest blessing. We had Ryan join us today. His carer told me he was desperate to join in with us and man can he kick a ball! He can do this crazy thing with his thumb - it can bend backward 90 degrees! Well as ever the time just flew in they all returned back to class flushed and sweaty, but happy.

Time to call it a night!