A postcard from Wales (sort of!)

To all our lovely family and friends,

We had the privilege of having a very unexpected holiday in Wales. In Corris to be precise, a little village in mid-Wales, down in a valley, right beside a river. We got there very late Saturday night having really struggled through that day and getting only as far as Solihull for a picnic tea and a play in the park before setting off after the children's bedtime for Wales! It was very dark and we were very tired when we finally managed to navigate the right windy roads to take us down the steep hill to the valley floor. The cottage that we stayed in was actually Coventry Mountaineering club's "hut", but with that and a reduction it meant we could just manage it. Getting people into beds that would work at 11.30 at night was a bit tricky as it was a bit short of safe beds for young children, but we eventually got that one sorted (most of us slept on matresses on the floor in the end) and got back to sleep. It sort of sounded like it was raining all through the night but I was never really sure. Only when I could see in the morning where we were did I realise it was the river I had been hearing all night long. :o)

SUNDAY 26TH AUGUST

We visited the Aberystwyth Branch, just over 40 minutes from where we were staying. That was really good. Rebekah went to Primary with the other girls and was in a class with Hannah and Sarah throughout (they have no Nursery or youth classes). They had some wonderful lessons and it was such a friendly place to be. Then we drove high up into the hills and found a quiet lake to sit by and eat our lunch and have our family home evening. It was so quiet there, and we just loved it. The sun was warm and relaxing, and there was hardly a sound anywhere other than us. We enjoyed a lesson and activity based on our Heavenly Father's creations, and spent some beautiful time truly enjoying those creations. We were all very tired, but it was a lovely day. Hannah especially seemed to enjoy the flowers and started her normal activity of making little works of art on the ground with the natural things she finds around her (something we did together early last year that she just really enjoyed).







MONDAY 27TH AUGUST

Was meant to be a beach day, but was so packed we couldn't even find a place to park in Aberdovey. We'd forgotten it was a bank holiday! Then the weather got quite cloudy and windy and we passed a sign for the Tallylyn railway so decided to go there instead. It was fun travelling on a steam train again, this time a good sized one rather than a narrow guage railway. Rebekah, who since her traumatic railway experience on holiday last year has come to love trains, was a little worried right by the edge, but I think just because we were on the edge of a valley again so were looking down. Peter couldn't believe it when this thing we had climbed into started to move! He enjoyed himself a lot, especially when he realised that there was a dog travelling in the same carriage as us! We went up to the end of the line, watched the train moving to the other end, and then cam e back one stop to where there was an adventure playground. We all enjoyed a go (or few) down a very long slide that ran down the hillside (it was even wide enough for adults, so yes we had a go!) They also had a wooden train there to play on with balance beams, a wooden train track, a pretend signal box which linked to a telephone from by the train, and signals that the children could move themselves. Everyone had a nice play before we travelled back again. Expensive fish and chips nearby for tea so we could eat on time, and back home in time for bed!

continued...

TUESDAY 28TH AUGUST

We visited CAT (Centre for Alternative Technology) which we were literally 2 miles down the road from. That was such a blessing! It is a place we have been prompted continually to go to recently but we had no idea how we were going to manage to get there! We watched a fun little play about the world and using the elements to help "her" rather than destroy her. That was fun (it's Mother Earth who you see in the picture). The batteries on our camera ran out (forgot to charge them!), so no more photos of there, but we enjoyed lots of different displays that will help us towards achieving the things we really want to in terms of how we live. We learned plenty. There were loads of interactive displays that we all enjoyed playing with and a fun playground. The girls made a friend there, and played with her for a while afterwards, chipping bits of slate into hearts, and drawing pictures on the slate. They brought plenty back to the cottage with them too to keep themselves busy.



While I made tea, Michael and the children went out to explore the bridge right by our house, and the view down to the river. Apparently there was a nice path that went down to the water.


WEDNESDAY 29TH AUGUST

I had been up very early each morning to have a bit of quiet (and very cold!) time to read my scriptures and study more of the EFT (a meridian therapy) that I'm learning. I hadn't really had that time this morning, so did for a while in the more human hours of the morning while everyone played badminton in the lovely garden out the back. The girls love the garden, partly because it doesn't have any barrier in front of the river, there are just some trees and shady bits to play in, then the level drops down before getting to the river.

In the afternoon we finally made it to a beach. We went in the end for Barmouth beach, which is where I almost always went during my holidays as a child. It was so cold on the beach because of the strong wind, but the girls were adamant they were going in the sea! So they got in their costumes and went splashing in. It was freezing of course and they soon came running back out again. I think I had more fun splashing in the water holding Peter than they did. I always liked jumping over waves, so jump waves I did, albeit the tiny ones as they broke (I wasn't silly enough to be in my swimming costume!) When everyone was dressed again and desperately trying to get warm, we ate a warming tea in our little beach tent (meant to be shelter from the sun, but it held up fairly well against the wind), and then got into some serious sandcastle building. Hannah and Rachel enlisted me to help them a little with their square fort, Michael, Sarah and Rebekah built a lovely mountain of a castle, and Peter and I went for nice and small. Peter really enjoyed the sand. He had only previously experienced sand for the first time at CAT in the sand pit there and cried when we took him away from it (he hardly does that with anything)! He tended to go for the hands and feet approach of crawling with the wet sand, and had a lot of fun playing with his little football with Daddy and Rebekah. We stayed until bedtime, and watched the sea swallow up our lovely creations ready for a new day. Rebekah was a bit worried about that to start with. This is her first memorable time on a beach though, so she probably didn't know the sea did that!

cont...

THURSDAY 30TH AUGUST

Michael took the girls into Machynlleth to stock up on some fresh food while I worked on the EFT some more and then got ready to go back to the beach! As we left Barmouth the night before, they said it was the best beach they'd ever been to and could we come back again tomorrow? It costs nothing, and it was our last full day, so why not!

We visited the life boat first this time. They have a super-duper new one now that is launched from a different place than I remember. Everyone decided that was the place to spend their pennies too, so we spent a while in the shop there. They also had some clothes to dress up in at the back of the shop, which our girls are always eager to do. Sarah got ther first and looked just fabulous, but unfortunately took the costume of before I could finish paying for the items they'd chosen. So many places we go ladies like to talk about how lovely the children are, and ask their names and ages etc., so sometimes things take a little while. :o)













Then we went back to the beach, a little further down this time where there is sand that always stays dry and a few dunes. It was fun, but no good for Peter's eyes with the strong wind blowing again. So we ended up back on the wetter sand with Hannah eagerly starting on another creation before the reast of us had even arrived! Hannah was the architect, and went at it on a grand scale. We ended up turning it into a sand turtle, which was fun. We called him Fred. Once he was finished, we gave him a bit of water to swim in (it wasn't much actually!) which Michael had got by digging down to the water (the sea was quite far out!) He had started by digging a sand wall to protect our protection tent that was trying to blow away, and decided to just keep going!

We were around at tea time again (with pyjamas packed and brought with us this time), and had tea round by the harbour. There were a lot of people there catching crabs, but we enjoyed the boats, and watching them bob around as the tide started to come in. It was really fun showing the girls things that I could remember as a child - I got quite excited! Back home in the dark again, and Michael and I packed up what we could before going to bed.
































FRIDAY 31ST AUGUST

This was meant to be a pack up and go day and visit somewhere on the way home to break the journey. We hadn't been to a craft centre I was interested in though only a few hundred yards up the valley. So we were there in time to eat lunch, and spent all afternoon there, returning to the car to eat tea before getting in pyjamas and setting off for home (the whole journey in one again!) I did enjoy it though. There was something there that we each liked - wooden toys, ceramics, jewellery, candles, quilting, leather work (we really didn't like that!), and Michael and I also really liked one of the woodwork shops - they make furniture from reclaimed wood, branches, etc. There was a double bed, lots of chairs, benches, tables, mirrors, musical instruments, ... They had such a different feel to them, like they'd come straight out of a forest or something, and we loved it. It would be fantastic to be able to make our own benches. We have wanted to be able to really work with wood for ages, but then we want to be able to make everything from scratch! We bought ourselves a very inexpensive but lovely lantern to bring home - we thought it would look lovely in the porch or hall of a log home one day. :o)

On the way to Corris on the Saturday I saw a sign to somewhere and wanted to go by there on the way home. I was intrigued to know what this little place was like. So when most of the children were asleep, about an hour into our journey home, we detoured off up and over some steep hills and down into another valley where there was a little village called, well, you see for yourself ...




That was fun to see. I was nearly called Kerry, but as I understand it a friend of Mum and Dad's said something like "You can't do that, it's the name of a place in Ireland". I didn't know there was a place called Ceri too!

We were very glad of the break we had, even though we could have stayed so much longer if money would allow. We think some divine intervention went into setting up the situation where not only could we have a small holiday this year, and have a rest from the work we had been trying hard to accomplish, but we could also visit a place very easily that we had been prompted and prompted to go to yet didn't know how we could possibly get there! The early mornings also gave me the chance to properly focus on the EFT that I had been prompted to learn which has benefited me a lot.


Hmm... this postcard is awfully long - I hope it doesn't cost too much to send!

I'm off!

Hello everyone! My name is Peter and I am the littlest person in our family right now.

We went to church today and I didn't get to play much. I crawled around after church, then we had family home evening at home and there were always too many people there! Then after family home evening, Rachel, Sarah and Rebekah went upstairs and Mummy and Hannah were sitting on the setttee. Daddy was cooking tea, and I had the floor to myself. It was great! I walked from the fireplace to Mummy on the chair, and then I walked back again. I walked and walked and walked until I was so tired I kept falling over. It was a lot of fun! Then I walked out through the doorway for the first time, and back in, I walked turning corners, and I walked out into the hall, turned around while walking and walked back in again. It was so much fun having space to walk. I think I love to walk now! I can still crawl pretty fast though. :o)



I went to visit Daddy in the kitchen while he was cooking and found a nice wooden stick in the drawer which was just my size for a walking stick. Mummy said I was clever - she had only thought to use it for rolling pastry before! It was a bit heavy, but I practised walking with that too. I think I might try running soon - then they'll never catch me!!

Love from me xx

Our lodger, Harry

Harry is a one month old little hedgehog, and yes he is a boy - we checked! He was a true lodger as he spent a whole 24 hours living in our kitchen and eating our food, aswell as the time he spent in his cardboard home in the shed.



I found him on Tuesday late morning on the wood chippings in our back garden fast asleep out in the open. He clearly wasn't alright or he wouldn't have been there, so we put him safe in a cardboard box, and on top of a hot water bottle covered in a towel to keep him warm. We fed him on egg & oats and turkey & oats, which he devoured, often standing in his food to eat it which the children thought was funny.
Peter thought he was amazing! He got SO excited and kept pointing at him and peering into the door of the box when he'd gone inside.

He was doing so well after a day, and was very nimble and steady on his feet by then as he explored our kitchen and dining room, and my feet (he had a go at nibbling my socks which I'm afraid caused me to jump away!) Anyway we felt fine about letting him out in the garden that night to see if he could find his way home. He was unsure for a moment at being put on the grass but then sniffed around a bit and went off happily at quite a pace. We felt like he would be brought back for us to help him if he wasn't going to be okay.

The next day, late morning sometime, I was sat writing something at the dining table and heard a noise that sounded just like a hedgehog snuffling around. The children were in the back garden and Michael had just come into the kitchen and I asked him what the noise was - I said it sounded just like dripping water or a hedgehog eating something. Couldn't find anything. Then a few minutes later I was in the kitchen getting Rebekah a drink of water and as I moved my foot to stand back where her cup was, my foot nudged something - I looked down only to see it was Harry exploring the kitchen again! I suppose he had been with me in the dining room before that. :o)

We fed him outside this time, and he went straight behind some plant pots and a bits waiting to go to different people in between nibbles. He wasn't quite as happy as he had been with his little home. We think he must have spent the night there though, or at least the morning, and then toddled straight in while the door was open and everyone else was out in the back garden!

We finally got a nearby(ish) rescue centre on the phone - we could only get hold of some further away when we first found him - and so we fed Harry again and then Michael and the girls took Harry over to Nuneaton to be looked after. They were excited to see a whole host of animals there - a family of owls, a swan, a cygnet, a goose, a badger, three foxes, lots of rabbits and guinea pigs, loads of parakeets and other birds, some sort of bird of prey, ferrets, a couple of chinchilla. Michael and Rebekah really loved the badger. Harry was the only hedgehog, but he will be looked after well there. Apparently he was about a month old and quite underweight. So once he is okay the man whose centre it is (just his house really) will release him over there.



It was lovely to have him around and give him some of what he needed while we could. Bye bye Harry!

Happy Hannah!

For Hannah's 7th birthday (11th July), she decided to go to Coombe Abbey, a country park on the other side of Coventry. We didn't have all that long there in the end, but we enjoyed some time in the playground, going for a walk by the river where Hannah wanted to spend a bit of time drawing the swans in her nature book, and climbing a very tempting tree.





















































































































































Then we went for the birthday treat that Hannah had chosen - riding a pony. Someone new at church has some horses and ponies and let all of us have a ride on the smallest of them, Jasper. Then the girls brushed Jasper down before we said goodbye and went home for Hannah's birthday tea. As we're not having sugar now, we have a new tradition which started on Hannah's birthday of having a fruit cake. Not the normal kind of fruit cake, but a creation made totally from fruit! Hannah's was not complicated at all. She'd asked for melon for her teatime treat, as well as some homemade pizza, chips and a dip. So we made the melons into a horse, and as hopefully you can tell from the bottom picture, she was over the moon!