Lonely Caterpillar
 

New year, New Wings.

As I say goodbye to 2014 its a time for reflection, its been a bit of a mixed year with lots of ups and downs.

My husband decided to get healthy this year and he did this by following the Shrink plan which works by education you on nutrition so although you follow a healthy eating plan for 18/24 weeks by the end of it you understand more about food and are more aware of what you are putting into it by the end. I noticed a massive change in my husband because of this not just weight wise but his health, fitness , happiness and concentration where all massively improved and I was very proud of his determination and this actually benefited our whole family.

This year was also filled with making lots of memories. We realised how precious life is and how much all our trips from the past few years had meant to us so we took a trip, our first as just the 4 of us, to Disneyland Paris. It was magical and perfect and we came home exhausted but with happy hearts.

We also took a trip with 50 others from our church to Hillsong conference at the 02 in London. This was so much fun and very fulfilling, there was a word from God we all needed to hear and we had the added benefit of getting to know some awesome people from our church we other wise wouldn’t have got the chance to chat to and we also got to chat to people from other churches.

This year also began my love of Les Mis and all things theatre related. My wonderful husband surprised me with a trip to London in January to see Les Mis and do a bit of a cupcake tour around London (this was before his healthy eating started). I loved Les Mis so much we have been back to see it twice as well as seeing Wicked twice and taking my kids to see the Lion King. We are not completely hooked and I hope 2015 brings with it a few more heater trips, hopefully with some friends and with my daughter too. Although I do think I need to tone down my excited face when I meet any cast members, especially Carrie Fletcher (yea her brother is in McBusted and she’s kind of amazing!)

This year was also filled with happy work news for Ben, lots of new starts for Megan with violin lessons and drama lessons and even getting the part of Mary in the school nativity. Elijah has once again blown us away this year, although he was diagnosed with Asperger’s he so far hasn’t let anything hold him back, he’s doing extremely well in school and he even had 3 lines in the school play and the cutest part in the church Christmas play.

Although there have been a few wobbly moments this year in the end everything has come good, as a family we know Gods go this, we know no matter what comes our way we will come through the other side, we might not like the process but we know there’s purpose in it.

This year my biggest joy has come from becoming involved in prison fellowship this is a wonderful organisation that helps prisoners, ex prisoners and their families. I have written before on my background and so it may be clear why this is an organisation close to my heart. This summer I helped out with the Press forward project which was Pf’S youth project and in becoming involved in that God opened my eyes more than I thought could be possible. I’m trusting God on this new part of my journey and I am so excited to see what He has in store. I would ask anyone who is reading this who prays to please hold this organisation in your prayers in 2015.
I leave you with Amy’s story, its been a big part of this year for me and hopefully the beginning of something great. I hope my new year brings new wings.