When it rains it pours...

School's out and the house has been full of activity with visitors and the kids having a great time, courtesy of Mum. It's been busy period of work for me with the cleaning of the holiday homes in the Cotswolds - I never thought I would be a self-employed cleaner, but it fits well with setting up the church and is not too taxing on the brain - so I'm grateful for it. We continue to search for a house to renovate, but found nothing yet (really praying to find one in the next few weeks or we think I'll need to find additional paid work).

We've taken some holiday staying with Nanny and Grandad in Cheshire and weekend break in London with Grandma and Grandad - Big Ben was the star of the weekend for the kids (they were unbelievably fascinated by the Westminster tower) and I was finally able to introduce the kids to Paddington Bear on Paddington Station. We've read all about his days out with Mr Gruber and so finally we were able to meet the famous bear.

We picked the only day it didn't rain to get down to the New Wine festival where we did a seminar, it still took an hour to get there, even though I thought we were just up the road! It was fantastic to hear from a long time friend who has suffered for the best part of 20 years with rheumatoid arthritis, that her hip which was so affected by the RA, was healed (in other words the pain disappeared and the function returned) when she received prayer that week at New Wine. Having seen our friend badly affected by her illness for many years, this was an astonishing miracle, that encourages us to keep on taking every opportunity to partner with the Holy Spirit to deal with disease and illness ruthlessly.

We're grateful to Steve and Rachel who are helping with setting up the 'back office' of the church, as we ramp up for our first meeting on the 10th September. There is so much to do and get right before we start. We are thrilled that Clare S has got a job in Bristol and will be joining us in the next few weeks and hoping that Erika and Steve who are looking for jobs get sorted soon too. Do think of the kids who have moved down to Bristol - Hannah and Bethany start their new schools in two weeks, pray that they will settle easily and really enjoy making new friends, Jake is back to school too and we are hoping he will get a place at the school near where we live, however we are glad he has settled so well into the school 6 miles away. Dan starts pre-school around the same time.

We are thrilled to be meeting up with people who are moving into the area this summer who want to join in with the church and also people who have grown up in a church, but not really had much to do with it since they left home. Momentum is growing - it really is exhilarating to see the Holy Spirit drawing this whole thing together, we are thrilled to be involved in what He is doing.

We will meet on thursday evenings beginning on the 10th September at Bristol City Football Club (7.45pm) and over the first four weeks Claire and I will talk about our vision and values for the church. If you're praying for us, please pray that the Holy Spirit will have the freedom to do what he wants to do and that momentum continues to grow.

Another date looms large on the horizon, a certain half marathon on the 6th - training going ok, I inadvertently ran 11 miles on thursday when I took a wrong turning!! I was aiming for about 7 miles and ended up run 4 extra! Still, I needed to up the pace, so to speak!

By the way the title of this post relates to the rain in Bristol, it's almost tropical in intensity!

Anna and Farl had a girl by the way, for those who know them - Honey Tallulah!

lots of love

OC