Tag: news

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Ten Years – Who’da thunk it!

June 3rd 2000 and a gorgeous woman said “I do” and, in front of a large gathering of friends and families along with our Heavenly Father, we were married.

The last ten years haven’t all been smooth going, but no marriage ever is. There’s been rough patches, arguments, tears, hurt and more – but above all there’s been Love and the happiest days of my life.

She’s been there when I’ve struggled, stuck by me when I lost my faith, kept with me when my health was not good and loved me no matter what.

One thing we’ve not managed to do in that ten years, well not since our honeymoon,  has been to escape on our own for a romantic getaway and just be ourselves with no kids or time constraints. So I had to fix that 🙂

Cue a load of hushed messages, hidden agendas and huge amounts of googling – combined with a long drive! The end result was 5-ish days away from the kids, waking up and going to sleep with this view outside of our bedroom window

Kirkcudbright - Scotland

A four-star B&B in Kirkcudbright right in the south of Scotland (near Dumfries) was our home for the week where we were looked after by the wonderful Eileen Garroch (visit the B&B website here and if you pay her a visit say hi from us!) and made to feel like royalty.

The countryside was so beautiful, the food glorious, the weather wonderful and the company beyond comparison.

To summarise the week quickly: Fish & Chips, Castles, Hill walks, lighthouse, harbours, seafront restaurant, bagpipes, handmade chocolates, David Coulthard museum, ice cream, books, coffee, cakes, beaches, food and relaxation!

A better summary would be the photos below 🙂 More are available to friends on facebook!

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And now for that summer break

And… relax!

So now the job situation has finally been sorted out, and with a gap before starting my new job, I have the chance to enjoy some of the summer holidays with my family. With money being a minor issue until the income comes rolling in we’ve had to plan breaks using our noggins and a bit of handy local knowledge.

The first thing is making the best use of the Tesco Clubcard vouchers – sure, you can use them to buy groceries but an even better way is to exchange them for 4 times their value in day out vouchers 🙂 Yeah, I know Tesco have started to offer “double up” in parts of their stores but FOUR TIMES the value is much better!

So, we will be enjoying the marvellous displays at the Duxford Imperial War museum… feasting and gorging on chocolate at Cadbury World (yeah, I know that gluttony is one of the 7 deadly sins but CHOCOLATE!!!! c’mon!) and then we will also be educating our minds by visiting the Magna Science centre at Rotherham (OK, so the Rotherham part is kinda a downer but the centre is meant to be unbelievable)

Not only that but we’ve also been collecting for the Walkers Day Out vouchers – meaning that one of our other days out will be to the Tram Village at Crich – sadly in De-De-De-Derbyshi-Derbyshire (sorry – I’ve got Nottingham blood in me so crossing the border into the D place is tantamount to voluntarily walking into the Siberian Gulag in deep winter for a prolongued break!). Despite the location it is meant to be an amazing place to visit and the kids should love it.

We’re also spending some time in Hotel-Family, aka my parents home, to allow us a base of operations and also a chance to chill, relax and catch up with the folks. To cap it all of (or rather – kick off the second half) we’ve got a gathering of a fair few of the Hartley contingent for a bit of food and a good old laugh so that will be an amazing time 😉

We usually go away every two years, but with things the way they are we knew this year wasn’t going to be possible – but in spite of that we are still going to manage to have a great time as a family… enjoying loads of interesting places, having fun and, most importantly, being together. We’ll get a holiday next year – already said that when the government finally coughs up the money it owes we will book a week away (probably south Wales) so that we are guaranteed the time together but I can also guarantee that we will definitely be saving up all those clubcard points, voucher and any other deals we can so that we can do more, for less 🙂

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Statistics and Hope

It finally happened.

At 4pm on Friday 10th July the event we had been waiting for, for nearly 8 months, finally took place – and even though we were expecting it, it was still a kick in the delicate parts.

The administrators were finally appointed and, in a piece of life reflecting reality-tv, we were split into two groups – 1 group staying (to basically help sell the rest of the business) and the other group being shown the door. Me? I was in the latter… with a couple of cold, hard, words we were out.

Funny thing is that I actually slept really well that night – my first feeling when I got told, after I had calmed my emotions down a bit anyway, was sheer exhaustion. The pressure, the waiting, the uncertainty – it was all over. Yes, there were a new set of challenges and uncertainties but I could move on and I knew where I stood.

It’s now been just over a week since that happened and I’ve done the usual – contact the mortgage company, sign on, look at all spending etc – and I am feeling really positive about it all. I had a couple of days when it started to hit home and I felt quite down but one of my cousins called me and we spent an hour chatting and speaking scripture and truth to each other and he prayed for me as we closed – and that really turned it all around for me.

We know that there are loads of people praying for us, and we know that we have support and love in huge measure – and for all of you who have been, and still are,  praying – we love you all! Your prayers mean the world to us and they are making a difference. God is blessing us with a real sense of peace and hope and we are not worrying.

We knew this day was coming, but we also knew that God has a plan and that He is in control – and for the first time in my life, I am really feeling able to “let go and let God”… there’s no sense of “gotta take it back because nothing is happening” – yes, I have a role to play but I also need to be trusting in Him and just be ready to walk through the doors that He opens for us.

I’ve had an interview this week – and it seemed to go really well, and it’s a job I definitely want as it looks a great opportunity! We’ll know more hopefully later this week but please be praying into that… I’ll let you know more when I know 🙂

God bless you all – He really does have an effect on our lives and His promises and Word are true!

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KingsGate goes National (and even Global!)

WOW!

That about sums it up!

If you’ve been watching my Facebook status updates, or go to/know people who go to KingsGate Community Church in Peterborough, you will be aware that this weekend just gone we had the BBC broadcast LIVE from the Church for one of their 3 annual services. They only broadcast live for Easter, Christmas and Pentecost – with the Pentecost service being this one.

It was a huge blessing, opportunity, opening and challenge for the Church and all involved – with months of organisation, rehearsal, jiggery-pokery and all sorts going on to ensure that it all went smoothly, professionally and still looked like the KingsGate we know and love. The main priority of it all though was to ensure that God was able to be glorified, praised, raised up and that homes would be impacted by the Holy Spirit through what Dave Smith preached, the worship team sang, the testimonies declared and more.

The weekend was crazy – busy didn’t seem to fully express what the weekend was like but it was all good fun. When the rehearsal took place the air tingled with anticipation and excitement as we fully took in what we were doing. When we went LIVE it was even more moving and amazing, I found myself welling up as I took it all in but managed to keep in control 😉

I was involved with the KingsGate Production Department looking after the sound and visuals within the childrens room that got featured during the second song (and you can see our eldest son a few times!!!) and it was such a thrill being involved in it all.

Of course we let loads of people know about it, and our daughter told all her friends etc – but nobody anticipated the response that we got.

BBC crew members were moved, some close to tears, by what they saw, heard and felt. Emails came in (and are still coming in) from people who were challenged, changed, touched and more in the UK. The Church has even had emails from Holland, Belgium, Germany and Spain as it turned out that the broadcast was also sent to the Armed Forces TV channel so was seen as far afield as the Falkland Islands!

Then there was probably the biggest surprise of all – Chris Moyles, Radio 1 Breakfast Show DJ, actually talked for 6 1/2 minutes about the service. 7.7 Million listeners heard Chris saying that he watched the program and it was “the most fascinating thing I’ve seen for a long time” and “I’ve never seen anything like that it Britain” and “it was amazing” and “been to gigs with less atmosphere” and “this is unbelievable” and “very uplifting” and “I want to go”

The ripples from this are still being felt from this and it is so exciting to be a part of.

If you haven’t seen it – or want to watch it again – you can catch it on the BBC iPlayer at http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00kvgmt/Thats_the_Spirit!/

Update: It’s now no longer available on iPlayer but you can find it on YouTube by searching for KingsGate Community Church

Please check it out!

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Does Hollywood beckon?

OK – well maybe not just yet but our littlest one was on local TV last week as part of his playschool who had a visitor teaching sign language.

The BBC still have the video up on their website at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/7847547.stm

He keeps wanting to watch it on the tele (we recorded it thankfully) and can’t get over the fact that it really is him on the screen 🙂

Mrs H is just gutted we didn’t have more notice so she could have dressed him in a nicer outfit but I bet every mum felt that way.