Lunch Out

Well, the job at Palmers' didn't work out. The usual story of useless owner not doing what was necessary to make things work. This time, Richard was owed money from the first month that he was there and, to top it all, was told that he probably wouldn't be paid that week either. After rather a heated row, he left with all the equipment that he'd bought for the place with his own money and hadn't been paid for either! To cut a long story short, he got himself a new job and so on his day off we first went for lunch to Frankie and Bennie's - Olivia loved the garlic pizza with apple juice - and then had a ride out to see the new place (Lowfield Inn at Marton).

New Outdoor Clothes

Because Olivia had got herself in such a state at the last but one BBQ I felt it would be a good idea to get her a splash suit and wellies. Both were Ebay bargains (whatever did we do before Ebay eh?). She's started venturing out on her tricycle and has also discovered that moss is quite tasty...


Discovery of a broom led her to try and do some sweeping. I think she'll have to grow a bit more though before she becomes effective!

Gorgeous Girl!

Our daughter seems to get more gorgeous and beautiful by the day. And she's nearly always smiling!

And Another BBQ

Well, we were in the mood for BBQ's so we had another one. We asked Richard's sister Kate, her husband Alun, Thomas; Pat, Sarah and Emma; Graham and Jean (though Jean didn't make it as she was ill); our caravanners Chris and Tim; Ben (trainee chef from Palmers) and our new friend Reeny.

Another BBQ

Cheryl and her family didn't make it to Olivia's dedication BBQ so we held a separate one just for them so they didn't miss out. We were of course joined by our caravanners Chris and Tim. The ground was rather damp and Olivia managed to get rather muddy...

We're off to Magic Land

My friend and bridesmaid Sarah lives down in Farnham in Hampshire. This is a long way away for travelling - especially when you have little ones! We hadn't managed to meet up in ages so we studied the map and found that Cirencester was roughly 1/2 way and that there was a play barn called MagicLand where we could easily meet. This was especially good for Sarah's little boy Edward who's 3 and really needs to run around (as all little boys do at his age!). It was also good to meet the latest edition to the James' household - Elise who was about 7-8 months old. She was really dinky when put next to Olivia. Last time Olivia went to be weighed she turned out to be on the 98th centile and as Elise is apparently only on the 2nd, this only served to magnify the difference.

Eating is Fun!

Eating is fun!

Olivia's Dedication

Olivia's dedication was on Sunday April 6th. It was a really special day and one we'd been working long and hard towards. The summer house and BBQ's were ready. The only thing that threatened to put a dampener on it was the weather - we woke up to snow. In fact Olivia had had a bit of a rough night and I'd noticed it at 5am and it looked quite heavy then. We needn't have worried though. By the end of the service the sun was out and the snow had completely vanished. The next snowfall was then just an hour after the last guests left. Martin who did our BBQ-ing for us said that this was the 1st time he'd had to remove snow before lighting a BBQ!

The service itself was a wonderful opportunity to invite lots of friends and family, to worship God and to publicly proclaim over Olivia some things that had been prophesied over her. It was not the sort of service that many of our friends and family were used to. Some were extremely positive about it and the rest were just polite (which I thought was quite funny!). Overall though God's presence was tangible and it's our prayer that Olivia will grow up knowing Him and fulfilling the words that were given. It's important to remember though that prophesy isn't fortune telling and that nothing Richard and I can do can make it all happen, other that to pray and faithfully follow Him as best we can.


The BBQ afterwards was great. Olivia fell asleep in the pushchair on the way back from church (she does this most weeks) so she missed a good bit of it. However, everyone seemed to enjoy themselves and there was still plenty of folk and food too when she eventually surfaced. Our chef Martin is ex of The Hundred House at Norton and used to be Richard's boss when he worked there for a short time. I don't think many people get to have a 2 rosette chef doing their family BBQ's for them! Thanks Martin for all your help and also for Tania and baby Ruby for coming too.

Happy Birthday Thomas

Our nephew Thomas celebrated his 5th birthday near the start of April. His party was at the Pirate Adventure Playpit up on Halesfield. We all had a good time. Olivia went last year too, but given that she was only 3 weeks old at the time she hardly appreciated it. This year was quite different!