enjoying special times with special people

This last month has certainly been one of our most relaxed and exciting for a long period of time. What we hear you cry, 'weren't you on sabbatical for most of 2015 and your current work and lifestyles enables you to both travel around the world together which must be exciting and to visit new places sounds relaxing and exciting to me', well some of that is true but even though we have worked and travelled together since we left our 'normal'/'regular' lives way back in September 2008 we have really enjoyed spending some downtime together.

sunsets over Quainton Hill

After arriving back from our near on six month working trip to South Africa, Uganda and Madagascar we have been staying with our great friends Trefor and Mandy who have made us feel very welcome at their amazing home in rural Buckinghamshire. This is once again providing us a wonderful base to catch up with friends and family from a very central location.

Notts beat Surrey at Lords

Whilst we were in Madagascar we made the huge decision to put our family home on the market. We have owned that home in the beautiful village of Whitchurch since we were married in 1988, our boys grew up in that home, in fact Maz' Dad grew up in that home too as it was built as a farmworker's cottage for Maz' grandparents in 1939. Our current tenants were keen to purchase the home from us which has enabled us to buy a house in Bristol which, once it's been renovated, will provide a home for our eldest son and his young family. All of this had been a bit of a challenge to undertake from afar but we are excited for the future now we are home for a short while.

Josh and Dan celebrate their upcoming weddings!

You may be aware I (Tim) am celebrating my 50th birthday this year, August 13th to be precise, so we have been trying to do some special things, such as trekking with mountain gorillas when we were in Uganda, and during the last month we have undertaken some further exciting days so if you'd like to find out where and when then please continue to read on.

Josh and Honi

I joined our middle son Josh, who is getting married in September, and his best friend Dan on a day out at the One Day Cricket final at Lords in early July. It was a great day where we (my Dad, brother-in-law and nephew included) saw Alex Hales play a wonderful innings to set up a win for Nottinghamshire against Surrey at the home of cricket.


The following day we had the chance to catch up with lots of our family with two events with both sides of our family, the main event was the celebration of Maz' Dad's 80th birthday which had been held back since early June to coincide with our return. It was wonderful to spend time with some of our favourite people who we really miss when we are away.

Pixies turn back time

The following week we travelled back to London to spend three days in Notting Hill, sleeping at our nephew and niece (in-law) home allowing us to walk to Hyde Park where we enjoyed two afternoons and evenings watching and listening to some of the bands who were performing at the British Summertime event under clear blue skies. We had booked the tickets with the desire to see one of Maz' favourite bands 'Elbow', however I wanted to see the 'Pixies' after following their music for years and missing the chance to see them in Cape Town earlier in the year.

The Killers keep us entertained

The crowds were huge on both days with 'Kings of Leon' headlining on the Thursday, however 'The Killers' were the biggest draw on Saturday and rocked the night away with their hits 'Mr Brightside' and 'Human' to name a couple of their sing-along tunes that got the whole crowd of over 60,000 dancing.

Benjamin Booker

I was somewhat surprised to find one of my new favourite artists 'Benjamin Booker' playing on an outside stage, I had no idea he was going to be there so we really enjoyed him as he played songs from his new album 'Witness' as well as some from his first album. We also enjoyed listening to another newish band called 'Sloes', go find them on Spotify as they are both big recommendations from me!

Sloes

We spent a wonderful day with our son, Josh, and his fiancee, Haddy, on the Sunday at their new home in London, before returning back to our base with Trefor and Mandy, completing some small jobs for them before our friends from Holland joined us on the Thursday.

English summers evening with our Dutch friends

Eveline and her boyfriend Bart had spent 10 months and five months respectively with us in South Africa back in 2010/11 where they interned as students from the HAN in Nijmegen. Eveline was studying Social Work and she helped Maz in the children's unit at the Village of Hope, Bart was studying Sports Management and was a key member of our daily sports outreach team who worked with the children in the local townships.

enjoying a traditional English Indian meal

The reason that these two very dear friends had joined Eveline's father, Henk, on a trip to England in mid July was to attend the Formula One Grand Prix at Silverstone. It was the first time I had attended since 2008, and being my 22 Grand Prix I was full of excitement and expectation. It was however Maz' first Grand Prix weekend experience and one that she assures me that she really enjoyed.

Lewis wins!

Unfortunately the balmy weather we had been blessed with the weekend before had left us and we endured a freezing Friday and Saturday at free practice and qualifying and although race day was slightly warmer it wasn't the summer party atmosphere that I had been wanting. That said the result went according to our wishes with Lewis Hamilton taking a well earned win with all mayhem breaking loose behind him as the Ferraris of both Kimi and Seb suffered late problems with their tyres.

beautiful france with family

If you've never been to a Grand Prix then you will never understand the real appeal of the event, that being the incredible speed that these ultra machines reach, especially through the tight and twisty sections such as Maggots and Beckett's sections of what is a super fast circuit. The governing body takes steps to slow the cars down each year with restrictions on engine size or body style but year after year the amazing engineers find ways to make the cars go faster and the technology developed in this sport is then used in the cars we drive on our daily runs to school or to the shops.

happy sunflowers

The Dutch guys left us early on the Monday morning and by the Tuesday morning we were making our way, with my Mum and Dad, Sister and Brother-in-Law and Niece around the M25 towards Gatwick airport and a week in France.

evening sun over our french house

Flying into Toulouse airport we picked up our hire car for the week and travelled north west into the Midi-Pyrenees to stay in a wonderful 12th century house owned by Haddy's family. The home is stunning, set in rolling countryside with fields of smiling sunflowers who seemed happy to welcome us back to spend another week chilling out, walking, running and swimming in what was slightly inclement weather for the time of year.

lazy days playing games!

It was my parents first time to the house and therefore that part of France, they were very impressed with the 'frenchness' of the area, the little hill top towns are such unspoilt and still maintain that sleepy feel.

more sunsets!

We are now down in Bristol with the Grandchildren, we've visited the home we have had an offer accepted on and are feeling truly blessed to be able to enjoy this time together.

six months and counting.....

family time with our parents plus josh and haddy

enjoying time with my sister and brother-in-law

we can hardly believe that we've been journeying for over six months since leaving the Village of Hope at the end of January, but before we answer the question that is on everyone's lips and look into the future (people really can't stop asking) we have written this post as an update of the last few weeks where among other things we have had chance to provide some support to Maz' Mum and Dad, chill out with Tim's parents, hang out with both our Sisters and Brother-in-law's, catch up with old friends from near and far, house and horse sit, garden and repaint the sables, as well as taking some time to enjoy the beauty of England in the summertime including trips to Silverstone to watch some motor racing (which was fantastic). 

more food with our adopted family (thanks Beth!)

so what follows is a quick snapshot of the last few weeks which we hope you'll enjoy reading.

England in the summer time (no our house or car by the way!)

firstly it has been an apt time for us to be home, it was sort of planned but we had no idea of the real need as Maz' Mum underwent some extensive chemotherapy and then a large operation, which seems to have been successful. much of the care and support that Maz' Mum has received had come from Maz' sister so it has been great from Maz to step in and help out with her Mum in the mornings, cleaning, ironing, gardening and being around to provide support as and when needed. we are blessed to have been given the use of a car during this time so we were also able to take Maz' mum to a follow up appointment at the hospital in Oxford. Trefor and Mandy continue to bless us with the use of their wonderful home which is only five minutes from where Maz' Mum and Dad live.

not sure who's more worried!

We enjoyed a quick trip up to London and back to meet up with Josh to celebrate his 26th birthday, it was really special to be there to enjoy the day with him and his lovely girlfriend, Haddy (we are so looking forward to spending more time with them next week as we travel with them to France for a week's holiday!)

busy boy....

Trefor and Mandy enjoyed a well earned rest time as they attended the New Wine conference with some friends from the Aylesbury Vale Vineyard church so we were left in charge of the house, horses and a few maintenance jobs which kept us busy whilst they were away. Cara (their youngest daughter) was at home, although she was working away during the days, so it was a new routine for us to be around for the horses to feed, water and let them out into the fields at the correct times. that all sounds a bit stressful but there was only one horse that needed our immediate attention and I think Maz quite enjoyed making friends with the huge beast.

summer fruit picking

We picked the ripe blackcurrants, redcurrants and raspberries which will all be used to top luscious summer deserts during the remainder of the year and although the sun hasn't shone too much we have really enjoyed being outside.

whilst Maz was busy at her Mum's I carried on with some maintenance on the stables, it was quite therapeutic sanding down, preparing and then painting the wood, in fact I spent so much time listening to podcasts and enjoying Test Match Special to hear England soundly beat Australia in the third test that time seemed to fly by.

more food with great people!

As I sit here writing this blog the picture of me taking time to restore the old stables is quite a poignant one for us at the moment, the wood needed to have the old paint stripped back to expose the solid base on which the new paint could be applied, I had to ensure that the paint was applied in large enough quantity so that it seeped into the wood, however not all the old paint or wood was rotten there were some decent patches which would provide a firm foundation to be built upon. looking at that analogy right now that seems to be what's happening to us in this time of sabbatical, we really are allowing

catching up with emma (again)

God time to strip us back to the firmer foundations of our lives and our faith so that we can once again be built upon, or receive a new coat on which we are confident to move into the new season in full protection. I just hope that I was ruthless enough with the stables to ensure that the new paint will last for some years to come!

Mel in England

We enjoyed meeting up with Emma Podmore (twice in a few weeks as she returned again to attend her beloved Granddad's funeral), Rob and Emily and also Mel Kidd who were all over enjoying some much needed down time from their time of giving at the Village of Hope/Thembalitsha Foundation. it was good to see all of them face to face, listen to their stories and bless them as they return to serve the least, last and the lost.

Dad at a wet Silverstone

and finally for now I spent a couple of days, one very wet and the other not so bad, at the Silverstone Classic25 motor racing event which was a celebration of classic racing with literally hundreds of classic single seater, touring car and Group C Le Mans cars being driven at break neck speeds around the full Grand Prix circuit on which Lewis Hamilton won the latest Formula One Grand Prix a week before. the cars worth millions of pounds provided two full days of quality racing and it was great to see some of the cars that shaped my childhood and it rekindled a love of a sport that is close to my heart.

full grid of 1970's and 1980's F1 Grand Prix cars (amazing)

so as we finish typing this post we are expectant on the next steps of our lives, living without support or current direction but trusting God to show us His path that we are eager to follow but in His timing and not mans!