the olivia has landed

it's great to have her here and she got the full us diplomatic limousine treatment...

cow on a hill

late summer in england is a beautiful thing

the vikings are coming!

we pushed the norwegian longship out to welcome christian and oline today

skye sliding

fun birthday

you can probably see why!

respect for ruth

it's always fun to have new fun with old friends!

forth bridge, filthy weather

liathach

that's scottish for 'proper good mountain'

strome castle

was probably a good looking place until the mackenzies blew it up in 1602...

walking (with mummy's cool hat)

skye on skye

our hero visits her very own (namesake) island

drinking in the view

sleeping beauties

abiding

last night we had a fantastic time with the lovely mr and mrs greggers and soph
now we're looking forward to a few days away and some deep r&r....
(we promise we'll add more about what we've been up to when we're back)

stuff

phew! sorry to be out of contact recently, it's been a mad few days - oops, weeks!
the stuff we shipped arrived in brizzle (translation: bristol) today! woohoo!
phil had fun carrying boxes all afternoon with three lovely removals men (translation: shipping company employees) all the while blocking the street and neighbours driveways with a massive lorry (translation: truck)

keep the date

8 october 2007
(it's a monday)
athlete play bristol academy
oh yes
details here --->

good form

saw the world-renowned mr jon senior this evening
he's in good form as you can see below

congratulations and love to yt0607

click here to watch a short video for the yt graduation

happy jojo

(as skye calls him) and michelle are engaged! woohoo!

roeman

has an amazing eye for pictures
here's a little series she compiled of skye

all dressed up and nowhere to go?

then come to our going away party!
saturday may 12th, 11am-2pm
at the home of our friends cassie and robert dodds
click for a map and directions
we’d love to see you there!

please rsvp by tuesday may 8th
to nancy sapakoff (nsapakoff@samp.cc or 843.284.4310)

thanks!

biss ball

(as skye calls it) was fun!
the riverdogs got bitten 7-1 though

big news of a little thing

yes it's true - mags is pregnant! woohoo!

gosh2

if only cho seung-hui had heard someone say to him
'there is no one like you
there has never been anyone like you'
maybe then he'd have been able to hear the next line too
'there is no one like our God, yeah
we're not alone, so sing along'

something to ponder in monday's day of blog silence?

bom-baby

woohoo! huge congratulations to jean and francis on the birth of their little baby girl today in bombay, india
(actually the headline should be mum-bai-by - they haven't announed the baby's name yet!)

fantastisk

having ingjerd to visit!

what a treat

to have some men around!
(especially when they are such high quality guys)

here's wishing joe

(in the words of skye) a very 'happy joe joe'!

gosh

hard to swallow the news from virginia tech
especially with sad anniversaries this week
thursday is 12 years from the oklahoma city bombing and friday is 8 years from the columbine school shootings

pics from will rogers world

(or is it phils world?)

a green and pleasant land?

(not exactly what you might think of when someone says 'oklahoma')

the sooner state

landed in the sooner state today with mal
it's my thirteenth state (airports don't count)

delirious?

rocked out the lightsey chapel auditorium at csu tonight
here's the playlist:
here i am send me
rain down
did you feel the mountains tremble? (with crazy dancing and d:kids)
solid rock
now is the time
take off my shoes
over the mountains and the sea (acoustic with rebecca st james)
history maker (isaiah 61 from the message, holy is the lord reprise)
majesty
investigate
paint the town red (encore)

he is risen!

he is risen indeed!
(and he's shivering)
we enjoyed a beautiful (and very chilly) easter service at boone hall this morning
here's a well-wrapped skye and mags with best pals elizabeth and annie grace

hoodie patrol

it's great having the perry-smith family staying
had an adventure in the park today including chasing alligators

munich

watched this well-constructed, provocative movie last night on nigel's recommendation. the story explores terrorism and responses to it, particularly the effect on individuals involved in the responses. was struck by big themes of reaping and sowing, identity, home, nationality, love and loyalty

great times

with friends heather and andy, visiting from seattle

been reading john's gospel recently

am struck by jesus' words on reinstating peter in chapter 21 that when he's old, 'someone else will lead you where you do not want to go'
jesus paints a picture of radical maturity for his followers - letting go of the control we desire and allowing others to set the agenda
so easy to talk about in good times (so hard to do when tired or ticked off)

relaxing

in the hot springs all day - aaah

quito

walked up a steep hill today to teach 400 kids to spit
(we also gave out toothbrushes, did flouride treatments and talked about jesus)
the view back over quito was breathtaking

the kids

really make a trip like this, and they love having their pictures taken!

dental clinic

it's not fancy, but it is functional
this is one of the two dental clinics that the team operated during the week offering free cleaning, fillings and extractions to the people of quito

ramon

is a really lovely ecuadorean guy who is translating for us this week
we thank God for him (translating can be a thankless task, like toothache, you only notice when things go wrong!)

ecuador

this week phil is in ecuador with a group of dental students
it's a beautiful mountainous country, with gentle, sensitive people
here's some interesting tidbits on ecuador:
it's got more active volcanos than any other country
cotopaxi is the highest active volcano in the world
it has, on average, an earthquake every day
quito, the capital city, is about 27 miles (43 km) long
guayaquil, the most populous city, smells really bad
the population is about 13.5 million
around 80% of children grow up in single-parent families

road trip

freeway like a river cuts through this land
into the side of love
like a burning spear

new orleans

mags and the team spent a fun few hours exploring new orleans this afternoon

mississippi

this week mags is in mississippi (the state with the best name!)
she's part of a group from church doing rebuilding work after hurricane katrina

when mummy's away

daughter and daddy will play
(with daddy's phone!)

all this time

since the day that I was born
I’ve never known a time like this
I don’t wanna let you down
I will sing, sing for your light has come
© Delirious? ©2005 Curious? Music UK

the most amazing lunar eclipse

took place this evening
we went out to the beach, but didn't see it because of all the clouds
skye said, 'no moo, bye bye moo'
(we know it was amazing 'cos rich told us about it from sheffield)

jean and francis

came over for dinner last night
what a great evening!

yes it's true...

...we are planning to move back to england

the excitement is working closely with our dear friends mal and chriscelle calladine
the prayer is kingdom come
the adventure is fresh expressions of church
the location is bristol in south-west england
the timescale is may
the future is bright!

the sadness is leaving lots of great people and places here
the joy is watching new leaders take our work further than we can

beach

elizabeth took some great pics of mags and skye at the isle of palms

some uncle joe time

rose

mags took some amazing close-up pics of the beautiful flowers from jean and francis' wedding

woohoo! birthday girl!

celebrated lindsay's birthday today
(which makes a handy excuse for a reunion with the norway team)

wedding day

we had a really happy day celebrating jean and francis' wedding (part 2) today!

dancing girls

here's olivia and brooke dressed up to get down out at the hoedown!

painting day

ashleigh and the painting posse came over today to put a new lick of paint in the kitchen and skye's room - it looks great, all fresh and new!

reconnecting

more of the kutie kerstin

good weekend

for jonny wilkinson and peyton manning

dell boys

skype, blog, emails, it's hard work staying connected!













ps go colts! my sb prediction: colts by 4
(touchdowns or picks off grossman)

walking

had a great time out and about in the hills with jonathan, susan and kerstin in glorious swedish sunshine

christmas

comes late in gothenberg for kerstin, susan and jonathan

hello sweden

and a very special hello for the first time to kerstin

getting excited

about the new athlete album - check out tim's comments on the journal

true viking

I could have posted a pic from stavanger, but let's face it - you'd rather see skye!

stavanger

phil and the team are in stavanger for the impuls lederdagen (leader's days)

cathedral

trondheim's breathtaking nidarosdom is the largest in northern europe

could be a top venue for future impuls conferences...