Things are happening at a fair old pace at present - last week was the final development and presentation of our 5 year business plan for Foundation Trust status. We were heavily influenced by the discreet, gentle and subtle policies of William the Conqueror when he harried the North - by Monday we heard that our "Slash and burn" policy had been approved.
Now of course I am joking, as with our Kaizen philosophy of eliminating waste and pursuing perfection we can cut costs and improve quality!
What else - well we had the visit of the Mallon clan of Sheffield - they were dragged huffing and puffing around the local hills and when not complaining about the "long walks" (Sue) were grumping about the cold (Nigel) as we sat out in the balmy evenings (10 degrees) by the fire - it was great fun seeing them all in olde englande!
On Sunday I was to be found leading worship at our intimate evening meeting which was the first time in my life I was playing alongside a live drummer and another singer! I really enjoyed it but it was stressful. Music making is the theme of this year with the three Di Griso brothers - who hail from a little alpine village on the italian border with Slovenia.
Tonight our neighbour popped round and amongst other things told us about knicker magnets - "LadyCare is a small powerful, static magnetic device that simply attaches discreetly and comfortably to your underwear. LadyCare is a safe,drug free product designed to go on helping reduce the symptoms of menopause..."
Here are a few images from our holiday in Normandy - the weather was mixed - pants the first week and fabulous the second. We made some big improvements in the house, painting-wise and had lots of good eats, swimming in the bay of Mont St Michel (which was as warm as Mexico in April!) and new discoveries of gastronomic significance - three ways to eat Foie Gras, the best andouillette EVER and a marathon walk in the muddiest woods with bikes and giant orange slugs.
Bernard visited us for one night as he was in the UK for a prayer conference for Uganda, and we were able to give him a Newcastle United top and about 30 football shirts for the children of Rhema School. I am collecting premiership shirts to send out to Kampala and I have about 200 more shirts to send out via Bernard`s brother-in law who ships out regular containers! 
The access road shown as it was in 2005 has been surfaced to allow the building materials in! The next picture shows the current classrooms and why we are seeking to build a new 3 storey school for these children.
Ruth secretly dyed her hair and now looks like she should be in a girl band. Debbie at last went back to school after 3 mths holiday and James is ruling the roost, well somebody has to take over from Jonny!! Oh we actually had a fab time in France and now have the builders in! Two people had birthdays, lots of us partied on, and the Mallons came to join us at our house for a change, we ve been out to their house loads recently so it is time they did some travelling!!