Advent Sunday

Today is Advent Sunday. I had to explain to Robyn this week that Advent Sunday isn’t necessarily the day we open the 1st door on our Advent calendars. I expected her to be disappointed but instead she was excited about lighting the 1st Advent candle at church and began talking about counting down the Sundays until Christmas.

This afternoon we went to an Advent service at church. It was lovely. There were lots of candles lit and while people were waiting for the service to start you could hear them all talking about Christmas preparations. Someone behind me said she still had lots of shopping to do and somebody else was talking about their Christmas traditions. There was a real buzz about the place. Full of excitement and joy.

I got thinking about the floods appeal that has been launched. Our church was open all last week for people to bring blankets, clothes, towels etc which will be distributed to the people in Cumbria.

Here I was sitting in church excited about the start of Advent, full of anticipation about the exciting times that lay ahead of us in December with Katie’s 3rd birthday and of course Christmas and not far from us there are people whose lives have been devastated by floods. I told Robyn how I was feeling and she had tears in her eyes. She said “I might have some old toys that other children could have”. When we got home she went upstairs and brought some things down for me to take to church. Tomorrow I will look through all our clothes. Larger sized clothes are in particular need. I can help out there. There has to be some good points to being overweight!

So, as Advent begins let us watch and wait. Let us look forward and believe. But also let us remember and think about people who need our help, and never ever underestimate children.

Robyn has learned today that a lit candle is just as exciting as a piece of Advent calendar chocolate and will have helped some children get some toys back.

 

A patience update

Well Anthony has been offered a 2 week work trial which basically means we stay on benefits for the time being and work for free!

The employers can then let Anthony prove himself in the job (which is managing a brand new café with the chance of going into business with them in the future) and then decide to offer him the job. It is like a 2 week long job interview!

Again, I have to trust and believe that this is what is right. This is a step in securing our future but it is also securing the café owners future. If they pick the wrong manager it could be disaster for them. Anthony needs to work his socks off and prove that he is the man for the job.

It’s going to be a long 2 weeks!

Patience is a virtue

We are currently waiting on some potentially very exciting job news for Anthony. If he gets offered this job the last 18 months of unemployment will be all worth it. All the failed interviews and applications will have been for a reason. It is a job that doesn’t come along very often. In fact, it’s not just a job. It’s the chance of securing a future!

Each time the phone rings my stomach does a backward flip. It is taking over my head and it is hard to sit still! Patience, however, is a virtue. We need to be patient and we need to believe & trust that things will work out.

It’s just so very hard!