HAVE A CATCHUP?

It's been a while. Let's have a catchup.

Obviously, we didn't provide a May or June update for prayer - we are grateful for the many of you who actually pray with us from week to week. As many of you will know, we suffered a terrible tragedy a couple of weeks ago. It's led to us falling out of touch here. Here's a look back at that and update for where we are now.

OUR BITTER LOSS

Five weeks ago, we posted this on our social media...

Our family has lived what has felt like a year over the past two weeks. On (US) Mother’s Day we lost the precious almost 8 week old life of our third child due to an ectopic pregnancy. The heartache, fear and emotions we have experienced are unlike anything we have known. We have also experienced an outpouring of love, kindness, care and compassion. Our arms ache to be able to hold this precious little love, but we are comforted to know that he is being held by the Father. Please pray for our family as we process our loss and I recover from surgery. Our hearts are tender as we grieve with hope.

Psalm 34:18

The LORD is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.

We want to say thank you to the many of you who prayed for us, encouraged us, visited us, and kept us fed with food locally in Queen's Park and various gift vouchers from far beyond. We are grateful to God for the many people - locally and remote - who demonstrated to us the love and care of God. Thank you for loving us and looking out for us as we suffered this bitter loss.

In God's grace, He is mending our hearts. He is moving us through.

OUR GREAT GOD

While this loss has rocked us it has also driven us more close to the God we love and serve. This feels unexplainable but we know God is still great and good in the midst of this. We believe that God is in perfect control of our lives and we can still trust His character even when we can't fully understand why tragedies take place. We spend a lot of time learning to surf on the waves of change and this last season has thrown us hard on the Rock of Ages. We are grateful for those waves. We know God is working out His good purposes even in the midst of this season.

A FEW OTHER UPDATES

Elizabeth is enjoying her new job. Being back at it for the last three weeks has been good, energising, and refreshing. Elizabeth works on the Finance and Opps team for a medical supply company based in Clerkenwell. We are really grateful for this new place and this new season.

We really enjoyed the celebrations around the Queen's Platinum Jubilee. Seeing London dressed up and excited for the weekend was an experience we'll never forget. We went to a street picnic with some friends on the Sunday and then stood crammed in for the parade. The best part of the day was walking The Mall while listening to Ed Sheeran perform and then the Queen come out on the balcony. It was a good day.

Thomas turned 37 last week! He flew back from Anaheim on Thursday night and landed in London as a freshly minted 37 year old. He celebrated Father's Day on the weekend as well. We are also grateful to have had Elizabeth's parents in London with us over the week to help look after the children while Elizabeth was at work.

We took a holiday as a family a few weeks ago that was very refreshing. Being able to focus on one another and especially Perry and Shepherd was exactly what we needed. Thomas then had an overnight in Edinburgh for teaching and then a week in Anaheim meeting with lots of friends and church partners. We're off to Canterbury Kent this afternoon for Revive - our church weekend away with Co-Mission. We're looking for a couple of settled weeks at home after all this running around!

Perry and Shepherd are finishing school in the next four weeks. The year round schedule here means that our summer time is in the last week of July and for the entire month of August. They'll be back in school in September. Lots of the end-of-year festivities are getting underway such as sports days, performances, and such.

We are not ready for July ninth when our precious Perry will turn 9! How in the world is this actually happening? Time has absolutely flown by. The thought of having a 10 year old next year feels like too much. Lord, help our hearts!

There's more from the other fronts. We're encouraged by a few friendships taking root and Redeemer is in a good place. That's it for a catchup with family today.

We hope to be in touch more regularly in the days ahead.

Thank you for your continued prayers and support.

"The Lord is near..."

Psalm 34:18