Peter and I have been getting withdrawal symptoms from Glee. It’s having a three week break over Easter, then is returning to UK screens on April 19th. We. Can’t. Wait!!!!!!

We’ve finally managed to get some good reception for our DAB radio in the kitchen and have been listening to UCB UK Christian radio. It’s ok, the best Christian radio that we’ve discovered so far! But I was tuned into the station the other evening only to find that they were playing an oldie tune that I haven’t heard in a while.

I discovered DC Talk when I was 16 years old, when they released their Jesus Freak album. Their lyrics were heartfelt and scriptural, and accompanied by some rock guitars, which really grabbed my attention! Their subsequent album Supernatural was released some years later and was purchased quickly from the shelves by yours truly. Track four had always been one of my favourites, and I had often played it in the car loudly with the bass boost turned up and feeling the pounding vibrations in the metal frame of the vehicle as I drove along in my car (most often travelling along the M4 of a weekend to visit Peter in Ware) . I sang along to it enthusiastically and remember singing the line, ‘Doesn’t matter what I lose, I’m Yours’ with a childlike belief that whatever happened in my life I would still follow Christ.

Then we lost Zachary. When you think about losing something, it might take you back to the line of Oscar Wilde’s play, ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’ and makes you think of dropping something carelessly. You might think of losing your job, losing your home or losing your posessions. But losing a son?! That thought didn’t even cross my mind! Although there is always a possibility of losing a family member, one of your own begotten flesh and blood, it’s not something you contemplate as a reality. You read the figures and think the odds are so much in your favour that you don’t even blink when you embark on starting a family. You see it happen to 0ther people and wonder how they cope. Then it happens to you. 

The only thing we could do when we discovered Zachary’s condition was to pray to God and to worship Him. Although we didn’t know what to do, we knew that this wasn’t God’s fault, it hurt Him as much as it hurt us to know that Zachary wasn’t going to live.  All we could do was affirm His goodness towards his creation. We believed it then and we believe it now that God is good. Although I never imagined that the protestation I made in singing those lyrics to follow Him no matter what would mean the death of our son and a grief I’ve never known before, I will continue to say it doesn’t matter what I lose, my heart belongs to Him.

 

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Those who know me closely are aware that I am shameless in promoting the music that I enjoy, to a degree that some might say it verges on the evangelical. And this upcoming release is no exception.

On 6th February Vicky Beeching is releasing a three-song EP as a taster and teaser of her new album, Eternity Invades. I’ve had the privilege of listening to the three songs prior to its release, and it will not disappoint.

A first listen to the three songs in sequence makes it obvious that these songs have been carefully chosen and suitably juxtaposed so that the listener is taken into a time of worship. The opening upbeat melodies of ‘Salvation Song’ accompany the faith-affirming truths of the lyrics, and lead us into the adoring refrain of ‘Blessing And Honour’. This second song is based on the narrative description of John’s vision in the book of Revelation and features the line which gives the EP its title. By relating the imagery of the vision this song makes us think of the great cloud of witnesses that surround us, and encourages us to participate in the worship that began at creation and will continue endlessly for all time. But most of all, it reminds us that God Eternal wants to meet us powerfully in our earthly existence by invading the physical realm of our world with the supernatural; awesome song. The triptych of songs finishes with the quieter ‘Deliverer’, which entreats us to surrender to the only One Who can truly set us free. This song will be a real asset to worship leaders in times of ministry as the chorus works well both down-tempo, allowing you to respond quietly and sensitively to the work of the Spirit during sung worship, but can also be played more up-tempo.

All in all, this is a brilliant EP! If I had to choose a favourite song… I’d choose three!! This has definitely whet my appetite for the full-length album due for release on 6th April 2010! The 3-song EP (and the album in a couple of months) is available for download on 9th February from iTunes as well as in the shops. But be sure to pre-order your copy of the album to make sure you don’t miss out!

If you’d like to hear what others have to say about this release, check out Peter’s blog, as well as reviews from Bobby Taylor and Emma Boyd.

Just to tempt you further, here’s a snippet from Vicky’s song ‘Blessing and Honour’ for you to listen to:

 

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So, as yet, Reuben is still to discover his voice. He has a couple of words that he uses over and over, including ‘again’ and ‘Timmy Time’ (!), but most of his vocabulary is not spoken.

When Reuben was four months old, I enrolled in some TinyTalk classes. These teach babies (and their mothers/fathers/guardians – but it was mostly mothers in the class) sign language so that they can communicate even when they are unable to speak. Reuben did his first sign when he was about 8 or 9 months old, and it was ‘milk’. Since then, he has picked up sign language very quickly!! Sometimes he creates new signs for himself and we end up guessing what it is he’s trying to say! But for the most part, he learns from us when we use a sign associated with a word. His vocabularly is now so expansive that we’re almost playing charades on a daily basis!

To list his ‘words’, they include: bath, sleep, food, nappy, water, hat, caterpillar, aeroplane, bird, butterfly, car, train, sing, finished, look, where, book, awake, crocodile, cat, candle, face, please, mouse, pig, more, and milk!

Here’s Reuben showing us how to do the signs for bird and aeroplane:

We had some snow fall overnight, just a couple of inches, but it looked beautiful! Reuben hasn’t seen snow since January, but this was the first time he was able to *walk* in it!!! He enjoyed it right up until he fell over in it and his hands got very cold and wet! Then a certain someone had to pick him up and he wouldn’t be put down..!  Here he is exploring the snow with his hands.

We’re currently preparing for Zachary’s funeral this coming Thursday. I was sent a card from another mum whose second son died shortly after birth from a similar condition (Patau’s syndrome; trisomy 13) and she included a poem that has come to mean a lot to me:

You may have noticed I’ve been quiet on this blog and all social networking sites I’m currently subscribed to. There is a reason.

Peter has written about it and explains it all here. Please pray for us, particularly this week.

It was a rare event on Sunday night: I went out to the cinema!

This time with a friend, leaving Peter to look after The Boy. We printed out our pre-booked tickets, selected our pick and mix and chose the best seats for the action adventure! We mused that this movie is aimed directly at our age group – those who remember The Transformers cartoons and toys (I had a Transformers watch, I’ll have you know – it detached from the strap and ‘transformed’ into a blue robot complete with arms and legs; quite the height of fashion when you’re eight years old..!).

The premise is simple: it’s good guys against the bad guys (Autobots versus the Decepticons), with a few humans caught up in the mix. Sam is beginning his first term at college leaving his girlfriend and transforming Bumblebee car at home; this is his opportunity for a ‘normal’ life away from the robots. However, there is a snag: just as he leaves home, he touches a fragment of The All-Spark that falls from his jacket. This fragment ’sparks’ new transformers into being from everyday household objects; it has the ability to bring metal to life. It also causes Sam to be plagued by visions of symbols that he doesn’t understand. Unfortunately for him, these symbols apparently hold clues to the location of ‘The Matrix of Leadership’, a key that was buried by the last of the Prime robots, that gives unfathomable power and control to those in possession of it, and guess who want to be the first to get their hands – erm, robotic digits – on them?! Uh-huh, you guessed it, the evil Decepticons. A race ensues to find The Matrix and to overcome the Decepticon enemies that lie hidden across the world before they destroy Earth and all who live on it.

The storyline is of course terribly far-fetched – but that’s why we go to the movies, for a bit of escapism! But the special effects are awesome! You cannot fault the graphics in this movie, they are so slick! Not so slick is the introduction of a huge bandage on Shia LaBoeuf’s left hand half way through the movie – apparently, Shia was involved in a road accident that injured his hand. The recovery of his hand would have halted filming and production for too long  so they changed the storyline slightly to incorporate how he could have injured himself, to explain the presence of the bloodstained bandage for the remainder of the movie. The movie is a marathon 147 minutes (2.5 hours), and I did look at my watch once, so if you find it hard to stay comfortable in the cinema seats it might be worth waiting for the DVD release. The movie can be loud at times, and on some occasions there was so much action on the big screen that I had to blink and refocus my eyes (!), so if you prefer being in control of the remote, wait a while for the DVD.  All of that said, we thoroughly enjoyed it and would recommend it to any who would describe themselves as ‘a child at heart’..

An English Country Afternoon from Peter Ould on Vimeo.

We found ourselves surprised by the presence of Ware Brass this past Sunday – we had gone to the park to slide on the slide and swing on the swings, but heard the tuneful music waft over the hedges.. Luckily we had a blanket with us and there was an ice-cream vendor not too far away. A perfect afternoon, methinks!!

You may have recently seen this ad campaign:

So, I thought it would be fun to try each of the six new flavours as part of my independent review. Peter and I shared the load of having to taste test each packet by distributing the crisps between us. Both of us tasted every flavour (except I didn’t get to try the Cajun Squirrel; my hands weren’t fast enough…!!) and came to a verdict.

Now, at the outset, I had already decided which would be the best tasting crisp. It was quite obviously the Crispy Duck and Hoisin Sauce flavour – but the words had pulled me in, and my memory reminded me of the occasions I had enjoyed crispy duck pancakes rolled up with sauce and cucumber (most recently at new year with friends..).. This was the first packet we tried. Uneventful. It was ok as these things go, but it wasn’t, ‘Wham! Bam! Taste Explosion!’.

We scrupulously and studiously exposed ourselves to the other five packets. The one that got thrown in the bin after eating just a single fried potato slice was the Fish and Chips flavour. Peter rejected the Chilli and Chocolate flavour straight away, but Gayle finished the packet happily for him..

We are divided on our favourite. Peter has already voted. My considered opinion is that the Builders Breakfast flavour cannot be beaten – in perfect zingaling style, you taste fried egg, bacon then sausage in sequence on your tongue! It is, quite frankly, a masterpiece!! It’s amazing what they can do with E-numbers these days…

And just so you get your dose of Reuben today (!), he’s just learned how to clap, so here he is in action: