Morgan Family Travels - 14

Sunday 24^th October we went to New Haw Gospel Hall. This was Trevor's first experience of a Gospel Hall. After church we went out for lunch with a couple our age from the church.

Monday and Tuesday were spent in laundry and packing exercises.

Wednesday 27^th October we flew from London to Copenhagen, Denmark. The view from the plane was almost good enough to make up for the fact that we were all quite motion sick from being stuck right next to the engines at the very back of the plane. As we came into Copenhagen we were met by the sight of a huge row of windmills (like the single one by Exhibition Stadium in Toronto, for those of you there) out in the ocean. We took the train from the very nice, new airport into the city centre, where we had reservations for a hotel that was thankfully close to the station. Although we travelled pretty light for four people for two and a half weeks we still had two medium-sized suitcases, the girls' small suitcase, a backpack, camera case and for the purpose of handling various terrains, Hannah's small stroller and carry-backpack. We can shift it all on our own, but its nice if we don't have to go too far with it!

We ditched our bags at the hotel before going out in search of supper that Hannah could eat. Copenhagen is full of amazing bike lanes that are full of people riding bikes, surprisingly enough! They even have their own set of bike traffic lights. The streets are also full of street musicians – accordian players and violinists abound. Its quite pleasant. Unfortunately there is very little in the way of food that Hannah can eat out. We tried, but she definitely got some wheat in her that night, which is stressful for all of us.

Thursday 28^th October we got up and enjoyed a Scandinavian breakfast in the hotel – breads, yoghurt, muesli, fruit, chesses, fish, salami, etc. It was quite delicious, though I miss having something hot in the morning.

We packed and were out of the hotel before 11:00 to do some sight-seeing in Copenhagen. The city is built practically on a set of islands, and is full of canals that are still used today. We spent the morning walking around and then had lunch in the basement of the big department store in the centre of town. As it was (unsurprisingly) raining by that point, we went round the shop and admired the Danish design. We found one line of products (called Eva Solo) that we really liked the style of.

We were back at the train station fully kitted out again with all our suitcases for the 16:22, two-hour train to Båstad. We were quite glad to see our friend Daniel Larsson's face when we got off the train in a fairly dark, still-raining station! Daniel brought us back to their house where we settled in and enjoyed 'Swedish Pizza' for dinner.

Friday 29^th October was a quiet day at Laura and Daniel's. They live out in the country, in an area of holiday homes, about seven minute's walk from the beach. It was sunny almost the entire time we were there (except the last two days when I was trying to do laundry!) and the sun is so low in the sky that even at mid-day you get amazing shadows and the colour of the light is quite stunning.

Saturday 30^th October we went with Daniel and Laura up to the top of the ridge over Båstad in the morning. We had lovely views from there. We had lunch with Daniel's parents at a very new church plant in the town – enjoying Swedish sandwiches which are open-faced and in this case included meatballs and red beat salad, which is very pink, and VERY good! Then in the afternoon we headed to Helsingborg, the closest 'big' city and had supper together there (again, Swedish pizza, which seems to be the favourite out-eat, at least of Daniel and Laura).

Denmark Pictures

The Canal











The bike park outside the station







The Library Gardens







The McDonald's Bike-Thru - an idea I've always wanted to try on a regular drive-thru, but thought the fumes from other waiting vehicles would be less than helpful!









One of the main squares in Copenhagen

Greenwich and Heather Pictures

Between the Greenwich Maritime Museum and Queen's House.





The entrance to the footpath under the Thames.




The Cutty Sark.




More Cutty Sark.



Sally, Kaitlyn and Hannah by the Cutty Sark.





The sky over Greenwich.




The Greenwich Meridian.




General Wolfe (lost at the Plains of Abraham!)




Heather's new 'do'!

Morgan Family Travels - 13

Hello again! Its actually been a really pleasant (though slightly busy week) this week. We really enjoyed seeing my parents a bit more on Monday, when the girls and I (Heather) went with them to Grenwich (which is in the East End of London) to see an old tea clipper called the Cuttysark and the Maritime Museum and the Grenwich Meridian Line. We are becoming increasingly convinced that we are 'urbanites', and are really enjoying our opportunities to be in the city.

Mom and Dad left Tuesday morning, and we did various bits of catching up from the weekend, including purchasing Mum and Dad Morgan's birthday presents, as their birthdays (and my mom's, for that matter) will occur while we're gone in Scandinavia. Trevor also got a Berghaus jacket, so we are now both 'kitted up' for cold, wet weather - Scandinavia here we come! Canadian ski jackets are great in a blizzard at minus ten (or twenty, or thirty) celsius, but far less valuable at two celsius when its chucking it down with rain! The Berghaus jackets are goretex, which completely repels the water and is breathable at the same time, and they have a fleece that zips into them, so they're incredibly versatile temperature-wise.

Wednesday I spent the day with Davita in Croyden on a girls shopping trip, which was lots of fun, and a great time to get to know one of my sisters-in-law better (she's married to Trevor's younger brother, Edward). That evening I carried on into Covent Garden, which I suspect would be much cooler in the daytime when it wasn't raining (on a day when I'd sacrificed dryness for fashionability and left my above-mentioned Berghaus at home!) ;-)

Thursday was again mostly spent at home, though we went out in the evening to meet up with a bloke we'd actually first met on the train of all places. We had a really nice meal together and went and shot pool together (me for the first time ... I think I might enjoy it once I have the chance to practice a bit more). This guy's been a youth pastor for a few years and has a real heart and passion for evangelizing within youth sub-culture's, so he was really interesting to get to know.

Friday evening we put on a three-course meal for Trevor's parents to show off their new birthday presents from all of their kids - brand new cutlery! It was lots of fun, and the looks on their faces when they realised what the table was laid with was well and truly worth it! They haven't ever had new cutlery of their own - they've been far too busy looking after four boys, their wives and their grandchildren, so it was really nice to be able to give some of that back to them in thanks!

Today we had some friends over and the kids played together and the adults chatted, and then I did a photo shoot for them - the first one I've done since leaving Canada. I was worried I'd be horribly rusty, but it actually worked quite well once we got the batteries in my flash units re-charged.

Some thoughts that have come out of this week include the following:

1. We are coming to a greater and greater understanding of who we are as individuals and as a couple, and realising that that process is actually a big part of what we are accomplishing this year. It includes learning that we are 'urbanites'; that we both need to be continuously learning and developing our brains; that we need regular physical activity; that we need to carve out long periods of time for each other, because we are so much more effective in all the other areas of our lives when we've talked them through with each other, and also because our marriage is the most important relationship we have in our life except our relationship with God.

2. We've also been learning more about God - learning that He is who He says He is: God the Provider; God the Comforter; Abba - Father; God the Giver and Sustainer of Life; God the same yesterday, today and forever; God who Answers; God who Directs. It hasn't been in long meditative bible studies the last few months, I'm afraid, nor through great times of congregational (or personal) worship, but we have been getting to know God better by learning to weave Him into our daily lives, and desiring for Him to be leading our every step - and dependent on Him to tell us where to go, 'cos we have absolutely no idea!

3. We've been getting glimpses of a potential for ministry that would combine gifts of knowledge, teaching/discipleship, and apostleship together by encouraging, challenging and discipling church leaders. It has happened a couple of times in the last month or so that God has given us the opportunity to do this, and we are very excited about the prospect. We don't know whether it will lead to anything or not, but I think we are very hopeful that there is a place being carved out - and that we are being equally shaped to fit that place - for us to minister in long-term, even if it does not include a permanent location.

4. I look really good in a spiky-short hair cut! (pictures to follow ...)

We will most likely be completely out of touch while we are away (at the least, please don't be surprised if we are!) If we have the opportunity we may try to send out short blogs for the next two weeks, otherwise expect something after November 12, and I'll do my best to make up for the time without by being very thorough in my descriptions of Denmark, Norwary and Sweden.

God Bless!

London Pictures

This is London's town hall, or 'Fort Livingstone', as Trevor's father calls it.


















A view across the Thames to the Swiss Re building.












An art installation.



















Tower Bridge.












The Tower of London.











The opera house.


















St. Martin's in the Fields.


















This funky bridge links the Royal Ballet School with the Royal Opera house - it's called the 'Bridge of Aspiration'










In the heart of the City.

Morgan Family Travels - 12

Week twelve - have we really been gone for twelve weeks already?!? We miss all of you lots, but life continues, and it has been good.

Saturday morning we picked up my parents from the airport - they are here in England until the 21st of October (or maybe 20???). At any rate, we found them, took them out to an English pub for lunch and watched the swans on the canal as we were eating. It was very pleasant. In the afternoon the girls stayed with Grandma and Grandpa Morgan and we stole my parents away for a few hours to catch them up on our life.

Sunday we set off to London with the entire gang. Robin took us on a very nice expotition of sites various. I think we disappointed him by taking too long to finish all the sites (having been delayed by an hour by lousy train service), but the things we did see were quite fun, and the weather was absolutely perfect for photography!

As we were going round on Sunday we noticed that St. Paul's Cathedral was putting on a free lecture the following evening by Jeffrey Sachs (an economist at the Earth Institute who wrote 'The End of Poverty'). I have really been feeling as though I want to start stretching my brain again after five years of simply mommy-brain. So Monday afternoon I left Trevor looking after the girls and I went into London, found a university bookstore where I bought a textbook on Development Studies, which I am really enjoying, and then went to St. Paul's Cathedral for the lecture. The cathedral had about 500 people in it - all the chairs were full.

The program was titled:

Global Poverty: A Challenge to the World

Professor Jeffrey Sachs, Director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University, New York, and Special Advisor to the Secretary-General of the United Nations on the MDGs.

Respondent: Rt Revd Peter Selby, Bishop of Worcester, author of Grace and Mortgage: the Language of Faith and the Debt of the World (DLT 1997) and formerly William Leech Professorial Fellow in Applied Christian Theology at Durham University.

(see http://www.stpauls.co.uk/page.aspx?theLang=001lngdef&pointerID=60465B73gevhBnNtYs0FcJJ7fGNpbL9M)

Jeffrey Sachs spoke for about 45 minutes, outlining his thesis, that is basically "extreme poverty can be ended ... we've already pledged enough money to do it, we simply need to actually give the money in question". The main issues he addressed were the effects of poor access to transportation routes, anti-malarial bug nets, and agricultural answers. He spoke about how globalization had helped in some areas, but was not the panacea answer for everywhere, as sub-saharan africa was seeing worsening conditions, as were Central Asia and the Andes Region.

He said that we need to stop blaming the poor for their problems - that good governance does NOT equal development. Furthermore, these areas face specific problems geographically that set them up with problems affecting development from the outside: many are landlocked nations with no roads or ports, but food is grown in interior highlands; savannah climates are very variable, increasingly with current climate change and poor farming methods only extend these challenges; and these regions are gripped by malaria.

The Rt Revd Peter Selby then offered his comments. These comments and concluding statements were followed up by a few questions from the audience. All in all it was a good beginning to mental stretching. I haven't decided yet whether I agree with what Jeffrey Sachs has said, but it was really nice to get out and go to a lecture!

Other events of this week include a fairly conclusive decision that whether it is Celiac Disease or not, Hannah's system does unquestionably better if she is on a gluten-free diet. So, we have stuck with it, and are very thankful (particularly as she's gotten it into her head to take her nappy off whenever she gets the chance!!!) We will be put into the queue to see the pediatric dietician here in England, but it probably won't happen until the end of November. This will be to make sure that she's getting the right balance of food now that she's missing the wheat, and also to discuss whether we should try reintroducing dairy. For now, her little tummy needs time to heal, and we are very thankful to know what has caused to many months of problems.

We also this week had the opportunity to book our next 'trip' - this time to Scandinavia. We will be leaving on Wednesday 26th October and will be gone until Saturday 12th November. We will spend one night in Copenhagen, a week with our friends Laura and Daniel in Sweden (about two hours by train from Copenhagen), a night in Oslo, and eight nights in Bergen (also in Norway, but the other end of the country). Bergen is notably half an hour away from the farm that my great-grandfather left when he was a teenager, and I am very excited to get to meet my (very distant) cousins.

Mull, Iona, Oban in Pictures

Celtic Cross











The Abbey's Laundry?







Kaitlyn in Iona











Waves Crashing (they do that a lot!)







Oran's Chapel and Graveyard







Oban at Twilight







Iona Post Office

Edinburgh in Pictures

Street Entertainment











Make Poverty History - Even the scaffolding's bought in!







Heather in Scotland







Daddy & Kaitlyn in Scotland











Nelson's Monument











Colonnade's











Edinburgh Castle











Scottish Parliament







Fleshmarket Close











Baroque Hits Edinburgh

Morgan Family Travels - 11

To Scotland this week. We went to Edinburgh on Saturday morning by train, arriving late afternoon. After stowing our bags at the bed and breakfast we went and walked around the old city a bit, stopping for supper before heading back to the B&B for the night.

Sunday we spent exploring Edinburgh. We climbed up from Holyrood Park, which gave us a fantastic view of the city; walked past the Scottish Parliament buildings, which are very funky; browsed in a bookshop; played in a park; ate food and browsed Scottish Tourist shops. All very fun.

Monday morning we were up very early to catch the 7:00 train from Edinburgh to Glasgow, to connect to a train from Glasgow to Oban (the last station on that line), to connect to a ferry to the Isle of Mull, which connects to a coach across the island, which connects to another ferry to the island of Iona which connects to a van from the hotel where we arrived at 2:30 in the afternoon! Feeling tired yet? Well, that's okay, because Iona is rugged, quiet, beautiful, and mostly tourist-free at this time of year. We were originally booked in just for one night, but decided to enjoy a second night there before tearing ourselves back to the mainland. We took lots of walks around the island, took in a couple of services in the Abbey, attended a Ceilidh in the village hall, chatted with other guests in the hotel, particularly Cristiana and Michael, and thoroughly enjoyed being pampered by the hotel staff!

Wednesday we returned back to the mainland and spent the night in Oban before spending ALL day Thursday on six trains to get home.

Please see the pictures on the blog - they tell the part of the story that words are simply incapable of.

Morgan Family Travels - 10

This will be a super-short email for two reasons.

Number one - this week was a very basic stick-around-the-house/ go-to-work week. The biggest things of note were that Trevor got his contract finished today, and I spent a really enjoyable day finding out about the ministries of a local Baptist church.

The other thing of note is that Hannah is currently on a wheat, gluten and dairy-free diet as of Sunday (September 25th), to see if we can finally take care of some issues she's been having with her digestive system for about a year now (the suspicion being that she might have celiac disease). To find out, we have to keep her on this diet for three weeks and see what changes, if any, it makes to her system. Please pray for wisdom for us, and for some sort of conclusion - the knowledge of WHAT is going on so that we can look after her properly.

Number two - we are on our way, tomorrow morning, to Scotland for most of this coming week. My parents arrive in England next Saturday (October 8th) morning, so we will be back either Thursday or Friday to spend some time with them. Our plans are partially firm, and will include a couple of nights in Edinburgh and a night on the island of Iona, both of which we are really looking forward to. This is an initial exploration of travelling by train with the girls (hence one person carries all the kit, the other person corrals the girls and camera kit), so it should be interesting.

Morgan Family Travels - 9

The big news this week was - TREVOR CAME HOME! (And just beat the hurricane that's headed straight for Houston in the process.)

Sunday we went to the Great Cockrow Railway, a miniature steam railway that you get to ride around on. It was very cool, and the girls really enjoyed it (so did I!) Trevor spent the day working. :-(

Monday we went into Guildford to do some shopping for wet weather gear.

Tuesday we spent some time with Trevor's brother and sister and then got the house ready for Trevor to come home.

Wednesday morning we met Trevor's 7:00 am arrival flight to Gatwick and spent the day together as a family - we went for a walk&talk and we generally caught up with one another.

Thursday we went to Oxford and then on the way back stopped at Windsor and took pictures of the castle to say that we'd seen it. At some stage we may go back to 'do' Windsor properly.

Today we've done laundry and groceries and cleaning and cooking and Trevor's been in to work again. In other words, its mostly been a fairly boring week to see in a blog or weekly email, but it was exciting and wonderful because it brought us back together again as a family, which made all the difference.

Hopefully over the weekend I'll have some time to fill in some thoughts we've been thinking in more detail on the blog. Until then!

Birthday Girl Photos

The 'Birthday Girl' hat










Doll's house furniture
Kaitlyn at Oxshot woods







Blowing out the candles on her cake! - Happy fifth birthday, darling!

Morgan Family Travels - 8

Last week I was a day early ... this week I'm a day late! This is life, especially when I spent Thursday and Friday down with the flu! Apart from that, there were a few other things of note this week ...

Kaitlyn turned five!!! for one! My first baby, covered in peach fuzz on top the day she was born has turned into a beautiful, vibrant five-year-old, complete with all the trappings. And she really is a Joy! To celebrate we woke with a 'birthday hat' (a pink medieval princess dressing up hat); we had surprise visitor's of Kaitlyn's cousins Brendan and Serena and Auntie Kimmy, and Brendan helped me make pancakes for Kaitlyn's birthday breakfast; we opened lots of lovely presents including the furniture for two rooms of a wooden dollshouse (which we don't have, but may get at some point), the dolls to go with, a mauve 'groovy chic' drawstring bag to store them in out of the way of little sisters, and a globe; then we went to Oxshot Woods, which Kaitlyn had wanted to show me after going once with her grandparents; and finished the day up with homemade macaroni and cheese and a birthday cake and ice cream. A happy day was had, I do believe (see the blog for pictures!)

Rewinding slightly, last Friday we went to Richmond to see my friend, and together we took our kids to Kew Gardens. I think its a wonderfully huge place, and what I saw of it was beautiful, but we had decided to start in the children's indoor playground (called Climbers and Creepers) and just as we were close it started to thunderstorm, and we ended up in there for the entire afternoon waiting out the downpour. It began to let up and so we started home in the dry but halfway back to my friend's house it began to chuck it down again, so so much for staying dry. Even my socks inside my shoes were soaked by the time we made it the two blocks home! The good news was the kids had a blast and were completely happy that afternoon.

Saturday we had a quieter day - we ended up in Woking picking up some groceries and bits and then went to a steam fair - old-style fair all done by steam power. Kaitlyn went on the biggest merry-go-round they had and loved bobbing up and down on the horses, and Hannah went on the little one and thoroughly enjoyed 'driving' her old-fashioned car round and round (but didn't want to get off!)

Sunday we went to Andover to visit Edward and Davita and go to church with them, and then after some delicious home-cooked Mexican food we headed off for an afternoon walk. It was a fun day.

Monday was spent preparing for Kaitlyn's birthday, and Tuesday was the birthday. Tuesday night I lost the back to my newly-pierced earring, so Wednesday morning I cycled back to the shop I had got them down at (half an hour slightly down-hill there ...) and picked up some shopping and then returned home (may I point out, with a loaded chariot, slightly up-hill for half an hour is a serious workout!) And Kaitlyn finished the day with her second Rainbow's club, which she now has the uniform for and is quite pleased. They've been really good and let her join in half-term chunks, which is about the best response I've gotten for us being child-accompanied nomads this year.

Thursday and Friday were spent ill. Nothing more need be said except to say that as Helen had had the same bug Wednesday she was more than just a bit of a saint when she looked after the girls almost all day Thursday and part of Friday so that I could get better!

Thursday also brought the sad news that although Trevor was working very hard he had not been able to finish on time and was going to have to stay in Houston until Tuesday afternoon, so we will pick him up at the airport bright and early Wednesday morning. It sounded from our conversation tonight that although he hasn't done much else other than work, he should actually be on that plane!

Today we went to the Weald and Downland Museum (Robin and Helen, Kaitlyn, Hannah and I). The Weald and Downland is an open-air museum that has houses from the British past - from quite small little Anglo-Saxon cottages (about 8th or 9th century I think) through to cottages built when the railway was put in in the 19th century and everything in between. Kaitlyn thoroughly loved it, going round pretending that each house was her new house and describing which of her children slept in which rooms and showing us round as the lady of the house and then describing it as hopelessly small and poky and we'd have to find another, better house for her to live in. Hannah just loved going up and down all of the windy, narrow, very steep staircases .... which she is very good at!

Filling the leadership vacuum.

When established leaders fail to provide genuine leadership, others will rise to fill the vacuum, for good motives or ill.

I'm currently in Houston, and have had the opportunity to observe first hand the various responses to the mass displacement of people in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. While news reports have been showing endless pictures of a submerged New Orleans, in Houston I've seen an impressively efficient effort to house and feed evacuees, and get them on their feet again. But what has really interested me is who has been making this effort.

While federal agencies have fought turf wars and politicians have scrabbled for a positive spin, it was private individuals who set up websites to re-connect families, private companies who rigged the astrodome with a wireless network, and private churches who opened their basements and gyms and provided much of the organising and manpower for food and clothing distribution.

What do we learn from this? Titles are unimportant. The "Federal Emergency Management Agency" was not taking the lead in managing this federal emergency. Unknown Joe and Jane Smiths were.

I think that there is a lesson here for our churches. I'm becoming convinced that the pastor is not the one with 'Senior Pastor' printed on the nameplate on his door, but rather the person who genuinely exercises the ministry of shepherding. The person who reaches into the lives of the lost, the confused, the hurting, or simply those wanting to develop in their faith, and provides counselling, nurturing, discipleship. They may not have a title, they may never speak from the front, they may never issue a vision statement. But they are pastors. I'm sure the same could be said for the other ministries.

My good friend John Albiston says this: 'leaders are those who lead'. At the Journey, we've never had official titles, because there has been a recognition that what matters is not what we call someone, but whether they're actually stepping up to the plate and doing the job at hand.

Greenbelt Pictures

Greenbelt - a place where you can share communion in a tent ....











Camp in a field with 10,000 other bodies who haven't got access to showers ....






Or participate in worship stations created by unchurched teenagers and their pastors!

Morgan Family Travels - 7

Dear Friends and Family

This week's missive is being sent out a day early as I will be spending tomorrow up in London with a friend I met through the Trisomy 18 Support Foundation.

To begin with I should mention about Greenbelt, which we went to almost two weeks ago, but which I forgot to say anything about in last week's letter. Trevor and I went up to Greenbelt the day before he left for Houston. It is a full four-day festival in Cheltenham that attracts all manor of 'fringe' Christian groups. They all camp out on fields near the race course there, and there are loads of Christian groups, speakers, bands of all types, services, etc., to take in. We didn't have the option of going for the whole weekend so we did a Saturday blitz. We were able in the course of a single day to get a fairly good feel of the 'emergent' church in England in all sorts of places. There are a few groups, they are mid-sized (between 15 - 60) and tend to be bi-weekly events. It is an official 'thing' - they even sell pre-packaged worship stations at 50 pounds a piece - but is still developing and questioning how they fit. We were glad to find that people were involved, but didn't really see how we were to fit into it - didn't feel there were lots of people to go and learn from, and equally didn't feel asked to teach any of them, really. We shall see what comes of it. We also met people from Northumbria Community, Iona, and a few other monastic-like communities that were small and struggling (under 6 people as full time members). It was encouraging, but not directing.

Now for this past week....

Trevor is still in Houston, and reports that he is on track to catch a flight back to Gatwick next Friday (the 15th of September). He's worked hard and got tonnes of work accomplished, so hopefully that will leave everyone pleased. Last Friday night he helped out with the relief efforts in Houston for New Orleans Internally Displaced Persons by sorting clothes. Not terribly glamorous, but he was glad to be able to help. On Sunday he went to Ecclesia, an 'emergent' church in Houston. They have their 'small' service in the mornings, which he attended (along with 100 other people!) and their larger service in the evenings with about 300 attending. They have an art gallery and a coffee shop, and they had people there willing to ask Trevor along for a meal after church, which he really appreciated. His comment was that it was still basically an evangelical church, with an emergent skin - their wasn't the opportunities for full group participation, bringing of gifts, interacting with material, that we have come to love at the Journey - THANK YOU, JOHN!

The girls and I went along with a family friend who's Kaitlyn's age (Elizabeth Simpson) to the outdoor pool in the nearby town of Guildford on Sunday afternoon, which the girls quite enjoyed. Monday we went down to Havant to visit Serena for her birthday - she and Hannah are now both our little one year olds. We went to visit Fort Nelson which is in nearby Portsmouth (pictures to be seen on the blog). Then we spent the night and on Tuesday we spent the day with Kimmy enjoying her life with her (including a shopping trip into Portsmouth complete with shoes for Hannah and a couple of 70% off poncho's from Monsoon, which I was quite pleased with.)

Wednesday we spent mostly at home - laundry, a quick trip into Guildford for art supplies, groceries, and Kaitlyn's first day at Rainbows. We have a stunning Rainbow's leader who's quite happy for her to participate while we are here and willing to let us pay just for the time she attends, without the stress of having to commit for the whole term or buy lots of expensive uniform. All of which is WONDERFUL as we really haven't got long-term sense of where we will be.

Today we went into Hampton Court Palace in London. (see blog for a few pictures). The Palace was originally built by a Bishop, but the King (Henry the VIII?) was aroused by the amount of money being spent on it and the Bishop quickly decided that it was actually being built as a gift to the King! We enjoyed wandering around the Tudor kitchens, the Queen's and King's rooms, the maze (the first in Europe), and the gardens.

We are looking for ways to have dialogue with people from back home - we really value all of your friendships, and want to continue to stay abreast of all of the goings on of your lives as well as letting you know ours. Please offer suggestions as to how this can best be accomplished - we're happy to phone people if that's best, or to email individually or through letters, etc. Any other technology has the potential to be considered!

Morgan Family Travels - 6

Dear Friends and Family

What a week! I feel I've hardly stopped the entire week - which is true - but I think on balance its been good but hard. Hmm ...

Trevor left Sunday morning for Houston. I'm sure you'll all be glad to hear that business class is apparently comfortable enough to see what you're paying for - chairs that fully recline and proper leg room being the principle noteworthy factors. Since then he's been working hard in Houston, staying in a posh hotel and spending a week reading only American news, just to see what its like! ;-) It looks like he will be at least another week, possibly longer in Houston, but that he may also have the chance to help out at the AstroDome for the victims of Hurricane Katrina.

The girls and I have spent the week staying busy, so that's helped some. The church Trevor grew up going to (All Saints' New Haw) was hosting a Holiday Club this week, and we went along and joined in on Tuesday, Thursday and today (Friday). They had over 90 children there, which was amazing for what is a tiny church, and today we took them all to the Watercress Steam Train and the InTech Science Museum in Winchester. The very nice thing about a country that doesn't major on school buses is that we get to take nice coaches instead! Much better!

We also had Trevor's brother and sister-in-law staying here on a whirlwind trip this week, with another brother and sister-in-law popping up for an evening's visit on Monday night to see them and other friends stopping in during the rest of the evenings, so its been quite busy all week long. Wednesday we went out shopping and bought me a goretex jacket to deal with the English elements (the last time it rained I got so sweaty under my lousy Canadian jacket that I might as well have not bothered putting it on! Goretex 'breathes' so hopefully I will avoid this problem in future) We also got Kaitlyn new boots 'cos her feet have grown!! Yeah!

Hannah has come along all week to Holiday Club and really enjoyed being toddled after by bunches of gaggling girls. Kaitlyn has had her own set of followers, and has also made quite good friend's with a girl named Elizabeth, whose parents have been close friends of Trevor's family since he was little! Kaitlyn and Elizabeth will be starting Rainbows (the first level of GirlGuides over here) on Wednesday together at the school where Elizabeth's mummy and Kaitlyn's daddy started school, so that should be fun!

Thinking of you all - missing church, nights of bridge with friends and family, hanging out and going for ice creams, and all of the wonderful things we do with each one of you on this very long mailing list!

Do write!

Morgan Family Travels - 5

Dear Friends and Family

Another Friday, another update. Are these helpful? Anyone want to be deleted from the list?

Updates are as follows:

Trevor's work: Trevor has a job - the contract has gone through. He started working in London on Wednesday and has put in two very long days and is back at work again now. I believe he is really enjoying the challenge. He leaves for Houston on Sunday. Its a ten hour flight, so that should give him lots of time to enjoy his business class. He does have a 'return date' but has been told to come back when he's done, so I really have no idea how long he'll be gone for. I think there is a lot of the project that needs done in London, so hopefully he won't have to be out there for as long as we'd originally thought - perhaps only a week? We'll have to see.

Kaitlyn: Kaitlyn has spent this week down visiting her cousins in Havant. We all went down to spend a day at the seaside on Tuesday and when we went to leave in the evening Kaitlyn was upset at having to go so soon. So she sweet-talked all the adults in question into letting her stay, and seems to have enjoyed herself quite marvellously. I believe she comes home in a couple of hours. It is the longest she's been away from her parents and sister ever, and it was entirely her choice, so I think she's feeling very comfortable here in England now, and is also definitely growing up. Oh, and her words 'I eat in England'!

Hannah: Hannah has spent this week with extra Mommy time and no sister time and very little Daddy time. She's done quite well with it, but she's not necessarily completely happy without Kaitlyn especially around to entertain her. This morning she was going around saying "Katy water play, Katy water play" so that pretty much sums it up. Trevor's parents have a cat that sometimes lives with them. It is currently in residence and Hannah is quite taken by it, but will only go to inspect it if held in an adult's arms. So there have been many, many minutes (hours?) spent holding her up so that she could see Tiggy. The other advance of the week was actually sitting through a story (The Very Hungry Caterpillar) and not only listening to the whole thing (which is new in itself) but also looking through it after and saying things like "apple, hungry" and "berries, hungry", which, as those words are actually in the book on the pages she was on, was pretty exciting!

Heather: Um. Last weekend was very, very frustrating. We still don't know why we're here or what it is we're meant to be doing. I think we had figured that those answers would come faster, but so far they haven't. So after spending the weekend banging my head against a door that obviously wasn't going to open, I spent the week deciding to just live each day as it comes and see where that takes us. In other words I don't have any better answers now than I did a week ago, but I'm better able to cope with that than I have been.

Looking Ahead: As Trevor really wanted to get to Greenbelt, we've modified our weekend plans. Trevor and I are going to leave very early tomorrow morning and drive up to Cheltenham where we will take in a very full day of Greenbelt before returning back here for the night. Trevor leaves the house around 9:45 on Sunday morning for Gatwick airport and his flight leaves at 1:30pm British time. Trevor's brother and sister-in-law will be coming for a visit from Monday afternoon to Friday morning which we look forward to, and Kaitlyn will be at holiday club for the week, and hopefully get to meet some other friends in the process. Please keep praying for wisdom for each day and peace to take the changes and challenges that living day by day requires.

Morgan Family Travels - 4

Dear Friends and Family

Another week, another set of interesting twists and turns. In the end Trevor didn't leave on Sunday or Monday for Houston. He waited around instead for most of the week to find out what was going on! :-( On Thursday morning he had an interview with the management of the company, and this morning he found out that he did indeed have the job ... slightly less pay, working until September 23rd (we think ... for now at least) and starting up in London on Wednesday of this coming week, but going to Houston ????? for about three weeks. We think. As I said last week, only as God decides.

My week has been hard, and I've been thankful that God allowed Trevor to be here for it. Monday was fun - we went back to Winchester (Helen, Kaitlyn, Hannah and I) and I took pictures and showed the girls and Helen all the cool things Trevor and I had enjoyed (I had left my memory card at home when we went last week, and had seen so many things I wanted pictures of that I just had to go back to take them!) Tuesday we did laundry. Wednesday was Jeremiah's birthday, hence an emotional wreck, but we survived in the end. We went to the Royal Horticultural Society's Wisley Gardens, which Kaitlyn really enjoyed (again, a 'Girl's Day Out') and I took lots more pictures. Kaitlyn's really into all the different names of animals and plants and stuff, and has an excellent memory for those sorts of things.

Thursday was my birthday, and it was wonderful - a long bike ride in the morning to a 'pick your own' fruit and veg farm and came away with the week's worth of vegetables - very fun. I spent some of the afternoon reading and then we had an early supper and went out to a pub for dessert and drinks. The pub we went to is right down by a canal, so we were about three feet from the water. Very pleasant, as long as the swan didn't get miffed!

We are looking at me and the girls going to a thing called 'Greenbelt' http://www.greenbelt.org.uk/ in Cheltenham the last weekend of August (a three-day weekend here, but the festival is Friday - Monday). Its a 'Christian-fringe-arts festival' and looks really interesting. The catch is I'd have to take the girls, on my own, to camp for a weekend, and take the train, and (as Helen has made sure I know!) it is likely to rain! But they had 1,200 kids there last year, and lots of 'kid/family-friendly' events and concessions, and so I think I'll take the risk. Everything else being equal.

We're still looking for why we are here. Please keep that aspect in your prayers especially. We miss you all!

Morgan Family Travels - 3

Dear Friends and Family

Well...

Its amazing how much can change in the space of a week and a half. Sorry I haven't been keeping quite as up to date with all you folks, but everything has changed in the last four days!

At the beginning of the week Trevor had an interview lined up for Wednesday morning with the medical imaging company he'd originally lined up with in Canada - the one that had post-poned the interview until August 10th after scheduling it for August 1st. Anyways, on Tuesday he got a call from another agent - would he be interested in a four-week contract at very high pay ... in Houston Texas? The company would pay for his business-class ticket and all his expenses and needed him to start the week of the 15th of August. The job was challenging, and gave Trevor a chance to show off all of his wonderful coding skills. He interviewed for the position Tuesday afternoon by phone and they liked him so much that they didn't think they needed him to come in and talk to them in person. Wednesday morning Trevor had the medical imaging interview, and wasn't very excited about it in the least. So we started planning for him to go to Texas.

Trevor and I went away for my birthday celebration on Thursday before lunch (my birthday being the 18th of August, and hence after we thought Trevor would have left the country) to a town called Winchester, which was very nice - he spoiled me rotten in fact - and we returned yesterday (Friday) just after lunch. Thanks to Grandma and Grandpa! ;-) The latest we've heard is that Trevor does basically have the job, the company's just trying to get its higher-ups to sign off on everything, so Trevor will likely be up in London Monday afternoon or Tuesday morning and then leave sometime during the week, theoretically for four weeks. I will keep you posted.

It puts me in mind of the verses in James 4 that say:

13Now listen, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to this or

that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money." 14Why,
you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You
are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. 15Instead,
you ought to say, "If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or
that." 16As it is, you boast and brag. All such boasting is evil.
17Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it, sins.


So we will say 'if it is the Lord's will than Trevor will be leaving this week for Houston and will spend four weeks there, and hopefully will have the opportunity to see what the church is doing there and understand the US culture better. But whatever happens, God is in control of our today's.'