To move or not to move? that is the question!

Today we went to look at a very nice flat.
 http://www.kivells.com/residential-lettings/propertydetails.asp?ID=DLAU901293&office=18&Bedrooms=2


Well it is now Friday and as I was up early again I thought I may have some time to catch up on what has been going on?

There is a conflict going on inside me! My brain tells me not to move but my heart says that it is right and gives me peace over it. You, dear reader, would have thought by now that I would have learned not to fight God when He does something in His perfect timing, going by past experiences!
On the other hand Sue has every confidence that I will come to the right decision in the end and God will win out as He always does! IN THE END!

Car Problems

For some time now we have been having a bit of bother with the engine temperature sensor that has occasionally beeped at me and lied to me saying the engine has overheated! Well a couple of times it got so bad that I just had to get it sorted, I had been reluctant to do this thinking that it was going to cost a small fortune but when Jamie investigated it it seemed that it was a relatively simple 5 minute job and the part was going to cost £14.00p!
Consequently I took the car in on Tuesday and was all done for the grand total of £20 and thanks Jamie!

Stella starts Alpha

Well tonight Stella started the Alpha course that has started at Jenny Hill's.
This in a culmination of many years of prayer on my part and so to get her there as early as possible I picked her up from work and took her there which meant she was there at 1935 instead of about 2000 if she had had to walk. I shall do this every time Stella is working on a Monday.

Sharon and Peter's visit and Sue's Chocolate Cake

Well they say good comes from bad so as we did not go away Sharon and Peter called in to see us as Pete had some work in Newquay, Torquay and Bridport.

Stella worked an extra day today so we had Lainie here for the day.

Sue baked a chocolate cake with a recipe that Lindy left when she was down last. The cake is absolutely lush apart from the fact that it has 3 eggs and so I can only have a very small piece at a time due to my intolerance of eggs, everyone except me enjoys this fact. I find it quite amusing really but people will only know so if they bother to read this! Recipe below.

Chocolate cake which is lush

 Chocolate Cake, recipe from Lindy

6 ½ oz Unsalted Butter, chopped

9 oz dark/milk chocolate chips

7 ½ oz self raising flour

1 ½ oz unsweetened cocoa powder

13 oz caster sugar

3 eggs lightly beaten

Chocolate topping

¾ oz unsalted butter, chopped

4 ½ oz dark/milk chocolate, chopped

Pre heat oven 160c / 315f  or gas mark 2 – 3

Grease 22cm / 8 ½ inch spring form tin and line base with baking paper

Place butter and chocolate bits in a bowl and melt, stirring frequently, over a saucepan of simmering water

Sift flour and cocoa in a large bowl

Combine melted butter and choc mixture, sugar and eggs, then add 250ml / 9fl oz water and mix well, add to flour and cocoa mixture until well combined.

Pour mixture into prepared tin and bake for 1hr 30mins or until skewer comes out clean from the centre of the cake.

Leave in the tin for 15mins before turning out onto a wire rack to cool

To make chocolate topping place butter and chocolate pieces in a bowl and melt over a pan of simmering water. Spread over the cake

When cool find a nice comfortable seat and ENJOY

Hill City Church 5 years, we are gutted

To say I am a little gutted at the way Sue and I have been treated by the pastor of Hill City Church, one Dai Hankey to be precise, would certainly be an understatement!!

Lets start at the beginning, some months ago now I got a text from Mr Hankey asking me if we wanted to take part in the 5th anniversary celebrations of the said church. Sue and I talked about it and felt we would really like to as I was in on the ground floor so to speak of the planting of the church. We also made some really good friends there.
Well as time went on I tried several ways to contact Mr Hankey only to be met with a brick wall! What ways did I try? First I tried to text him, no reply, I tweeted him on twitter, no reply, I emailed the church email address, no reply, I rang the church phone constantly, no answer! I can only surmise that he contacted us under pressure from others and had no intentions of doing anything to follow it through.

I personally cannot see that we would have detracted from the "I am the great Dai Hankey and I have my head so far up my own backside because I am great" too much, but then perhaps it would have? I feel very much that perhaps Mr Hankey should look at Romans 12 v 3. For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you. (NIV)

We are quite upset about it as we had made quite a few friends there and were looking forward to seeing them again but did not go as we did not feel we would be welcomed and did not want to spoil the occasion for others.

We intend to go there (not to the church, but the area) sometime in the near future to spend some time seeing the friends!!!

The Wedding of Mike and Jane

Up bright and early for an 0800 start to go to Shepton Mallet Registry Office for a 1145 wedding, crazy I know as it is only a 2 hour journey but being the first Saturday since the children went back to school we did not know how bad the traffic was going to be? Well better to be safe than sorry as mother would say! Stopped twice on the way to take coffee on board and then to let it out and still arrived just before 1100. So did some shopping which saved us doing it on the way home which saved time that end of the day!

It was a very nice wedding and the registrar was particularly good at his job and made us all feel so welcome.

 Shortly after becoming Mr & Mrs Michael Cotterill

After photos taken by Gary (the official photographer) we retired to the Old Down Inn for a buffet lunch and social gathering which was so nice as we could be in or out as it was such a lovely day. 

Looks like Mike is going to be losing some weight as Jane is watching what he is eating already! (for those with no sense of humour, that was a joke)

We had a nice enjoyable time but all too soon it was time for us to leave and head for home, about 1500 off we went and arrived home about 1745 after 2 stops again.

Such a rare event for Sue and I to have our photo taken together I just had to put it here to mark the event, thank you Emma!

Sunday, Homeward bound for Louise and Natalie!

Well up bright and early, well early anyway so that there is plenty of time to get everything done to get to Bodmin to catch the coach for the return journey to Milton Keynes.
Quite sad to be seeing them go really as so enjoyed having them here and spending quality time with my daughter again after the problems of the past couple of years, still that is all water under the bridge and we can only look forward now to much happier and more care free times!!!!

Saturday, Lunch out.

Had a lovely quiet morning and then out for lunch at Homeleigh Garden Centre. As usual we had a wonderful meal (thanks Louise). As usual the ice cream for afters was superb.

Lovely ice cream!

Well Natalie and Lainie are certainly enjoying it!

Then into town for a bit of shopping and pick up ordered pasties for Louise to take home.

Back home to watch a couple more Harry Potter it seems, numbers 3 and 4 perhaps?