A lovely day :) (soppiness warning)

We have spent a lovely Christmas Day together. Just the 4 of us. We had lots of options but being in Trowbridge with half of the Brombley clan felt too big a group for Paul's parents, and being with mine felt restrictive in case we needed to change plans at the last moment, so we spent the day together, stockings (yes we still do them :) ), church, more presents, a late lunch (Paul excelled himself) and lots and lots of family games, mahjong, catan (thanks to Ell for getting us into this one) cards................... lovely relaxing fun time together.
We'd had a scare monday night when Paul's mum fell again and was too weak to go upstairs, she is recovering slowly but they've moved her bed downstairs now, and are getting more care in, but its another step forward to the inevitable. We're going over tomorrow, the 5 of us (PJ's Hannah makes 5), and will spend some time with them which will be good. I think there was a part of all of us that had dreaded what today might end up being about, and as a result today feels like a real blessing - so thank you Lord, for this extra gift on the day we remember your most amazing gift.

On holiday!

I have finished work and am now off for 16 days!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Having had a lovely evening with friends last night, and a lie in this morning its just starting to sink in and it feels great. I realise now that over the summer I had 3 separate weeks off so this is the longest break I've had in a long time, and work mobile's off, I'm not on call, I've disabled my work email and it feels soooooo good. As you know work has had its tough bits, they've now told us where they are moving us to, my colleague is excited, I'm resigned. We saw the office yesterday and its not awful, there are people I know and like, but it remains away from the team I love, who give me 80% of my support, but I'll live, there are some maybes on the horizon if I need them, and I'm going to be back at my old office several times a week, because they've said I can.
But NO MORE WORK!
Today Paul and I are going to walk down to town, have Costa Coffee, do a bit of shopping............I have a picture to paint, some pressies to wrap, nice stuff. Carol service tomorrow, Christingles to make, fun to have, time with my family, a Saviour's birth to celebrate. What more could I ask for..................

Calm

This has felt like a calmer week so far................Paul is away (not that he makes my life hectic!), work is ok, I'm having to resist wind down mode as I have a week and a day yet, not just a day, Sarah is close to finishing her final assignment, PJ is full of a cold but finishes tomorrow. I think it helps that I've almost done all my shopping, just stocking presents for my 'boys' (what do you put in their stockings when they are 16 and 47?) but mainly I think its lots of prayer support and knowing that I have a little bit of time not working before Christmas.
Another good thing is that one of the most important friendships in my life had been suffering through a combination of reasons, mutual busyness, mutual stress and teenagers having different things in common. Anyway it got to a point where we realised that we had let it slide too far and we are both making an effort and it makes a difference, a good difference.
So thanks for current calm and more prayers for future peace and calm

Christmas is coming..........

I cant believe how fast time is going at the moment! Sarah has had her last lecture, handed in 2 of her assignments, is well on track with the last 2. Pj has less than 2 weeks left of school............
Paul and I have managed to do most of the shopping and we got over to see his parents. They were looking quite good really - better than I had feared (I aught to know the imagination is always worse than the reality). His mum is incredibly weak, but was quite alert. His dad isn't in too much pain, we had a really good chat, he knows exactly what is going to happen and he is 'not despondent' as '85 is a good age'. We also managed to talk about how the end could be, as in where (home) and supported by the family + Macmillan Nurses. All in all I felt better for the visit and so did Paul.
I think the challenge of the next few weeks is to manage the busyness whilst remembering what we are really preparing for - a celebration of the coming of our Lord Jesus - man and child.

Uncertainty..........

As you may have guessed (or may know) probably the biggest thing we, as a family, have going on right now is Paul's parents failing health. His Dad is riddled with prostate cancer, we know its spread to his lymph system, bones and lungs, and that the last scan was ages ago so who knows where else. We also have a 12-18 months prognosis that extends to Christmas................and yet he keeps going, becoming slower and slower, and more stooped, but still caring for Paul's mum. She is suffering from old age - she is almost fading faster, having TIAs, ever increasing weakness on her left side and now losing power on her right. Her alertness varies enormously from flashes of complete accuracy to times when she can barely make it through a whole sentence.
Why am I describing this? Because we are really struggling with the uncertainty of when and how things will happen. Almost any time the phone rings, and certainly if its after 10pm or early am, we all jump a mile. And Paul is really struggling with the thought of Christmas.
So please could you continue to uphold is in prayer, obviously including George and Audrey, and Val (Paul's sister) who lives very near them and carries the caring burden daily.
I know God is in control and will see us through this.

Everything and nothing

Sarah has been seriously nagging me for not blogging for ages - my excuse is that my laptop was out of action for a week, and although I was using an old one it wasn't so good, or easy - feeble I know.
So everything...............is all the stuff, Paul's parents, uncertainty about Christmas, work, etc etc, making me, and Paul feel battered and exhausted. But in the grand scheme of things I know that God is good, and in control and graciously showing me little gems to remind me - Sarah thriving at her course, something at work falling into place like its meant too.
And tomorrow PJ is away at the Space weekend, and Paul is off to watch the rugby, so Sarah and I are going to spend the day doing girly stuff, shopping and relaxing I hope.

insomnia :(

Which is why I'm blogging at 2.35am! I've had a really long couple of days, travelled down to Exeter etc, came home, shattered, went to bed, dozed a bit, Paul came to bed, started snoring and here I am :(
Exeter was the last of the Department of Health days I had to do - I've been working for the last 2 years and a bit on a piece of work with them (slight understatement there - this has been a huge project that I've invested enormously in), and we finally got it to the stage where we could go out to National Consultation, hence I've been travelling round the country doing events. They have been some of the most challenging events I have done - 60-100 people, usually all senior, picking apart the work the team has done, 3 hours of thinking on your feet, fielding questions, attempting to turn around their sceptisism into constructive feedback. We've had varied success, and time will tell, its not about overwhelmingly persuading them that we've got it right - rather that we want them to tell us how we can improve it. Anyway today, after some very lively debate, one person said, this is complex, which is why we are all here, but thank you for all the hard work you have done to get it here, and they all clapped! A nice way to end :)
On which note I think I might have another go at sleeping..........