The 2006 Newsletter
Hello regular readers and occasional Christmas visitors! Thanks for stopping by to read our 2006 newsletter. I am sure that there are very few people who know us and don’t know our big bits of news from 2006 but, nevertheless, we’ll rehearse it all for those near and far who for whatever reason have either been out of contact or with whom we’ve been terrible at keeping up!
The year began with the news that Kerry was pregnant for the second time! We found out in January and it made for a really great start of the year.
The other thing that has dominated the whole year for us has been Dave being accepted to train as a vicar. The process has been going on for a couple of years with interviews and all sorts. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to say much publicly at the time but it finally reached a climax around Easter time this year when Dave was sent on a three day ‘selection conference’ and then we heard on Good Friday that he’d been recommended for training.
Since then, it’s been incredibly busy with Dave leaving his job with Church House Publishing, finding a college, moving to Cambridge and Ridley Hall where Dave has now been training since September, working out what to do with our house in Tunbridge Wells, decorating said house, renting aforementioned house and all the while doing so with a bump getting steadily bigger on Kerry’s belly!
In terms of the vicar training, it has been going really really well. Dave has been enjoying it tremendously, learning lots and being stretched in all sorts of ways. Obviously there’s a lot of trepidation for the future as to where we’ll end up, which parish Dave will work in and so on but as you might imagine us to say, God has got us this far and we’re sure he’ll see us through.
Speaking of that bump, Nathanael John Robert was born on 21 September this year (pictures) to give Bethya a little baby brother. Kerry’s 30th birthday (on the 20th) didn’t go according to plan seeing as she went into labour that day (!) but at least it made for a memorable day and a great present in Nate.
Nathanael is doing really well. Like Bethya, he has taken well to the Babywise routine that is such a lifesaver and he’s pretty much sleeping through now (although still feeds around 10pm… such a hardship). He’s giving us lots of cute smiles and is getting on very well with his sister as well.
Bethya is growing fast. She’ll be two in a couple of weeks time and while the “terrible two’s” are starting to hint with various determined tests of authority at the dinner table and elsewhere, she’s a fantastic little girl and great fun to be around. One of the nice parts of Dave being a student again is that he can be home earlier in the day (and then work again after the kids are in bed) and that time being a whole family is really precious to us all. A few photos of the two children are on this site.
Undoubtedly, we are all missing life in Kent. Family and friends are really missed by all of us, including Bethya, and it has been hard at times since September to remain focussed and not wish to be elsewhere, especially for Kerry when she is being a full-time mum to two kids and doesn’t have all her friends around her. Of course, our homesickness wasn’t helped by the death of Kerry’s grandfather in late September. Of all the people we miss, we miss Edgar most of all.
While we are in Cambridge, Dave has been attached to a church called St. George’s and from the new year, he’ll be involved in various roles in services, preaching and helping out during the week to gain more practical experience to go alongside what he is learning in college. We still have close links with our “sending” church, St. Matthew’s, and are looking forward to catching up with everyone soon.
The big holiday this year was another big family holiday, as we did last year. Dave’s parents, his sister and her little boy Jack (now just over two years old) all went to Northumbria. A great time was had by all and you can see some pictures of the holiday on this web site.
If you would like to write to us or visit, the address is 107 Alex Wood Road, Cambridge, CB4 2EJ or you can email us here.
So that is us in 2006. We hope you are having fun! Have a fantastic 2007 and please don’t be strangers! We are very conveniently placed for Stansted airport and as a stopover from the North or the South and even have a spare room now too!