It's been a while!

I know...it has been a while since I last blogged. A few of you have shared your concerns. Well, all I can say is that it's been really busy around here! We still have the dance team RU with us. They did a 'VBS' type club this past week at a church where Dean knows the pastor. Our kids went along to take part because the pastor didn't think there would be more than a handful of kids. There ended up being around 20 kids and they all had a great time. The dance team had to do another youth event on Friday night as well as some 'open air' stuff later on. The team had to do an performance on Sunday afternoon at the place where they did the VBS club. On the way back from that the suspension on our van decided to fall out!!! Poor thing is being run into the ground carrying all these people and their stuff around! Anyway, it's fixed now thank goodnes because we need it to go to 'Creationfest' in Devon where Dean has managed to get the dance team on the programme. Check out the website www.creationfest.org.uk. Yes, we are taking about 35 people camping!!!! We will be leaving early Friday morning and returning late Sunday night. Life is never dull!!!!

Flood Days

Okay, I've heard of schools closing due to snow, but today we experienced a flood day! Today was the last day of school for most schools in our area. Our kids were supposed to be in until just after lunch (1:45). Around 11:00 it started raining very hard. We went around our very old church building that we live in checking drains, and places where the roof usually leaks etc. Around 11:30 Dean rang me upstairs to ask if I would start ringing any men that might be available from the church to come down and help bail out the basement! The building has a few toilets in the basement that tend to overflow during times of severe rain. This is due to the poor drainage system in our area. So, as it has happened several times before the basement of the chruch was quickly becoming a swimming pool of sewer water! We were so thankful for the dance team that is here because they quickly started to help bail out the basement. Around, 12:30 I recieved a phone call from the children's school notifying me that the school was starting to flood, and please could I come and collect my children ASAP. Thankfully, my mother-in-law was around with her car and I was able to send her to collect Abby and Sammy as well as their cousin whose school had also begun to leak. When Pat (mother-in-law) got to near the school the road leading to the school was closed/flooded and so she had to park around the block and walk through the waters to get to the school. When she arrived at the school she then had to walk across benches, and PE crates to get to the children!!! They all made it home safely, and the basement of the church is quite stinky, but drying out! One thing is for sure...life is never dull!

ALEAH'S 1st BIRTHDAY!!!!

Can you believe that Aleah is one already!!!! This past year has flown by! So much has happened in our lives and in the live around us.
We are extremely busy with Refined Undignified, as well as end-of-school activities, but somehow we found time to celebrate Aleah's birthday with some of our friends and family. We had a little 'tea party' in Nanny and Grandad John's back garden on Saturday afternoon. We were able to get out the paddling pool and have a little splash as well! I made a brownie cake with lollipops for decorations, and all the children were 'well sugared' by the end of the celebrations.
On Sunday we had church picnic in the afternoon, so we decided to go out to dinner to a Dryden Family favourite: My Old Dutch. They serve the biggest and best pancakes around.
Aleah was blessed with many gifts: telephone, 'poppy in the box', ball, toddle trolley, clothes, etc. She is doing a great job sharing them with her older brother and sister who have decided that it is their job to show her how to play with all of them.
Thank you all for the many gifts, cards, and phone calls we received wishing her a very happy day!

Dance, Dance, Dance!

Our lives seem to be revolving around dancing right now! Abigail's school dance group had their first dance competition last night. They were competing against 8 other schools in our borough. Each group performed 2 dances. One was a dance around the theme of seasons, the other was a free dance. Our kids did great! They were first up both times! On their second dance the CD kept cutting out, but they were stars and didn't let that phase them...they just kept dancing!! Unfortunately they didn't win any of the awards, but it has just inspired them to try again next year. (We forgot the camera so we don't have any pictures !!! )
We also have a dance team here from a school in Canada. They have come here on a missions trip to schools/communities using dance as tool to help them share the Gospel. Dean has the privilege of being their main contact in the UK so he has been arranging places/churches/schools etc for them to go to. They are here for a month! There are 1o dancers and 1 sound man. They are fantastic! You can check them out on myspace: www.myspace.com/refinedundignified.
Dean is running around like a mad man, but he has been able to make some good contacts/links with other churches in the area. Please pray that this team will be used to bring the Light to our local community. Pray for health/safety for all involved. It is a lot of work!!!

Wedding Photos

This weekend has been crazy! The wedding went very well. Everyone looked beautiful, and played their part wonderfully. Dean did a fantastic job at officiating the wedding ceremony, as well as being the MC for the reception! (I must say he was also the main man on the dance floor too!) It was an afternoon wedding at our church with the reception following at an arts centre across town. The reception started around 4pm and lasted until 11pm! (Samuel and his cousing finally fell asleep on the floor around 10pm - see photo) Abigail danced for at least 5 hours straight!!! I've included a few photos taken after the wedding,as you can see from some of them we had a little trouble getting everyone to cooperate. I'm going to try and put some of the others in an album that you can click on to look through when you want.

4th of July Meal Pictures

Summer Music Festival

Today the older children performed at their school's Summer Music Festival. Samuel has been attending an after school music club for the last term. In this club the children explored instruments, rhythm, and learned different songs. At the music festival they performed the story of 'The Giant Turnip' and each instrument was a different character in the story. Samuel was the little boy. They also had to copy the clapping patterns that the teacher did.
Abigail sang in the choir, and also played the violin. The choir did several pieces including one acapella with 3 part harmony. Not bad for primary school students.
The concert lasted for just over an hour after school, poor Samuel was so tired he fell asleep twice, only to be woken up by the applause.
We also want to wish our USA friends and family a big Happy Independence Day! Or as Dean calls it 'Happy Rebellion Day!' Aleah was dressed for the occasion, thanks to her Aunt Kelli! We celebrated the day with hot dogs and french fries, with a special dessert of Oreo cookies and milk for Abby and a Krispy Kreme donut for Sammy. Hope you all enjoy your B-B-Qs and other goodies.

Weekend

We survived the weekend. We took the kids, (all the cousins) to an indoor play place called 'Gambado' after school on Friday. They all had a great time. Then, later that night the dads all went out for their game of football. They had a good time and came home pretty tired. Saturday the guys all went off early to play paintball. Meanwhile I got everything ready to take 6 children (including 2 babies) on the bus to the school fair, in the rain. We arrived at the fair and everyone found things to do. Because it was so crowded, I couldn't take the pushchairs into the school so I had to carry both babies around with me for a while. We soon found a place to rest while Sammy got his face painted. The kids all had a good time despite the rain. We managed to get home on the bus as well without getting too wet. The afternoon went quickly and pretty quietly once the babies went down for naps. Dean came home from paintballing pretty beat up. The kids were tired of being in the house and Dean wasn't able to do too much so we packed up everyone and went to the movies to see SHREK 3.
This evening (Sunday) we had a family dance session in the basement of the church. Dean's dad is quite a good dancer, he used to take lessons and go to competitions. He was showing us a few moves for the wedding. We all learned the Waltz and he showed us the quick step. It was pretty tricky. Dean used to take dancing lessons as well so he was pretty good,which helped me, but it also made me look bad at the same time. I would've loved to show some picture but our camera is out of batteries. I will post some from the wedding though. Good night to all.