Christmas!

We have now been back in England for just over a week! It has taken a little bit of getting used to with the cold weather, early dark evenings and crazy busyness of Southampton! But what an amazing blessing it is to be back with friends and family and have a break from school life.
We've found it a little bit weird culture wise and I think we have both suffered a bit of reverse culture shock this time being back, I think because of the consumeristicness of Christmas- the shopping and money side of things seems to have grown worse or maybe we are just not used to it. We're very glad that our families have decided to go for a 'secret santa' making it a little easier and less expensive :-)
I had a brilliant time with my friend Joey in Newcastle over the weekend. She got married in October and it was great to see all the wedding pics and her new house (and husband!). It was a real blessing to spend time with them :-)
Jon and his brother played 8 games of squash together (apparently they carried on playing until Jon won! lol. Brotherly competition!)
I had a lovely surprise when Jon picked me up from the airport on Sunday night and whisked me away for a little getaway in a posh hotel in Southampton :-) Was just what we needed as things have been rather busy and we haven't had much time just to relax. Also gave us some much needed time to reflect over the last year in Zambia and pray about the future...

On Monday we were able to catch up with our friends Ryan and Vicky and their beautiful son Tristan. They have recently moved from Southampton to Milton Keynes so it was great that they could come down and see us!

And then last night I met up with two of the most loveliest amazing girls EVER.. Vicky and Helen! It was quite a special meet up as it's the last time for two years that we will all be in the same place at the same time as Helen is going to Southern Sudan in January for two years as a community/dance worker with CMS. It was just what I needed and it really felt like taking in a big breath of fresh air as we spent time sharing our journey stories over the past year, our struggles, our joys...lots of laughter, tears and FOOD!!!

plus....Mr Bean made a guest appearance!

hehe.
It's great to be back and we really appreciate all of the support we have from friends and family here :-) xx