LEADING THE WAY

Today we have hosted a morning conference for the accountancy firm Ernst & Young in Central Hall. Interestingly in the afternoon they went out in teams taking part in a number of community projects such as litter picking and washing the cars of a rival accountancy firm!

At the same time we had a team from IBM, Southampton redecorating and clearing one of our Life Centres, Aster House as part of their programme of giving staff the opportunity to give back to the community. Around 20 people spent the day painting over the graffiti, clearing the garden, filling a skip with enough rubbish for two and generally tidying up - excellent!

I did my bit and painted one of the storerooms in tasty magnolia, which was better than the bright green that was on the walls already! It's great that all these companies realise the benefits to both their employees, the community and their company - it's a challenge to us in the church to keep us sharp and stay involved.

Community Projects are great but we as a church can offer more than just a re-paint...

RETAIL CHAPLAINCY

Day of cross city church meetings today. Lunchtime was with Southampton Churches Network at Highfield Church which was for all church leaders across the city. It was an excellent time of getting to know people and hearing what was happening around the city. We also had a guest speaker from the World Prayer Centre, Birmingham who was excellent in encouraging us in our times of prayer and intimacy as well as promoting the Hope 08 national campaign. Locally in Southampton we are putting a number of events together throughout the year, starting in December with a Miracle Street event.

Anyway I was interested in one item on the agenda about some potential funding for setting up Street Pastors in Southampton which is a programme happening in a number of city's around the country. Unfortunately the guy who was presenting this item couldn't make it as he was retiring from his church position! We also had a guy in from IBEX Southcoast who came to talk about retail chaplaincy at West Quay. It was fascinating how many superstores and shopping centres around the country have chaplains (or even teams at places like Blue Water). West Quay has over 18 million shopping visitors from all round the county of Hampshire and beyond, what an opportunity for someone with the permission of the shopping centre to get involved in so many needy lives. The presentation took 20 minutes, which was very thought provoking.

Anyone want to become a retail chaplain for 22 million people?

John and Rachel

Went back to Rustington today for the wedding of our friends John & Rachel. Lottie and I used to babysit for Rachel and her sisters when we were first going out!

It was great to go back and see friends and family again, the service was great and real (Rach lost her Dad John only a few years ago and he was missed greatly). Delirious led the worship with the Arun Community Church choir who were excellent (nice bass line Al!)

It's great seeing people getting married in a culture that says it is no longer relevant, many of Rachel's friends from her recent fashion course were at the wedding (pretty obvious which ones they were!) - I wondered what they made of the service?

Thank you Jo (Rach's mum) for inviting us to such a great day and making us feel part of your family - God bless you Rach and John as you set up home and start life together...

It was good to go home and even harder to leave, but we know God has meant for us to be here in Southampton even if on some days it is not as easy as others.

MOVING IN - AT LAST!!!

Today we moved into Sunflower Cottage in Hedge End after much waiting and messing around. The whole process was like walking on ice, never knowing when something may happen. Even this morning when we were preparing to move out of our borrowed accommodation (thanks Dave & Katie) we got a phone call from our solicitor saying some important paperwork hadn't been signed! When I phoned back with fax numbers I was then told that the keys were at the Estate Agents and that we could pick them up! What happened to the important papers that must be signed??

Oh well - Lottie, Flo and I (the boys were at school) went to pick up the keys very excited about getting into our new home.

Unfortunately when we arrived at Foord Road with keys in hand at around 11am the road was full of trucks, one ours and two the previous owners - aaaargh!! There was nothing we could do but wait... and wait... until 3pm!! Crazy - and then we had to go and get the boys from school.

Still it was great to get in to our new house and start setting up home. We are only the third owners of the property since it was built in 1900 so people obviously stay here a long time!

It's a lovely house with an amazing garden and we can't wait to start making it our own. Just one question - who invented woodchip wallpaper? It's everywhere...

UPDATE

Ok, just so everyone can keep up to date with all that is happening in the Dendy house this is our last week:

Monday 27th - I went to my last ever fire call after 101/2 years. Young Lad squashed in car at 1am after drinking since 3 in the afternoon. Apparently he had an argument with girlfriend and so stole her car and smashed it opposite Oystercatcher on A259. Good job for my last one - one lucky boy, just severe bruising he will be back on his feet soon but the car won't be!

Tuesday 28th - Removal Company turned up at 8am and emptied our house and put all our worldly goods into storage. I then had to go to Fire Station and hand in my alerter (oh, it felt weird and great all at the same time) and my uniform (I think Lottie wanted me to keep it...). The whole family then slept overnight on airbeds in an empty house!

Wednesday 29th - Cleaned the house from top to bottom, left some embarrassing decorating disasters behind and said teary goodbyes to friends who had gathered. We then drove to a campsite where we set up our newly purchased Trailer Tent in Netley. The tent was excellent, not like real camping we had proper beds, gas stove, fridge and electrical hookup (I was even able to hoover out the car - to the surprise of our neighbours!!!).

Thursday 30th - went shopping for school uniform in the worlds biggest Tesco's all for around £1.50 for 15 polo shirts! Then we visited Billy & Caroline (Senior Leader of New Community - best behaviour) and tried to encourage the children not to break anything and say please and thank you! It was great Billy's parents were there and everyone made us feel welcome.

Friday 31st - Went to Manor Farm Country Park which is a short walk from our new house - it is an incredible place for walks, bike rides and picnics. We are looking forward to taking all our friends there.

Saturday 1st - packed up tent and moved into a temporary house in Bitterne, Southampton - we don't even know the young couple, Dave & Katie who lent us the house incredible people! We were offered 3 or 4 houses to borrow from different people in the church - amazing! We then went to a BBQ at a friends house and introduced to more lovely people.

Sunday 2nd - First proper Sunday at New Community Church, 2 services with children going out to another venue in the morning. Very different to Arun Community Church but a real warm and kind welcome.

Monday 3rd - This was a ridiculous day! Levi had his 6th birthday, the boys started at their new school, Kings Copse in Hedge End and I started my new job at Central Hall followed by a family meal with one of Levi's friends at KFC. Ice cream, junk food & Kids!!

Kind of a crazy season we are in but soon it will be a distant memory. We move into our new house on Monday 10th September and discover how much stuff got damaged in storage!

Thanks for reading this far and joining us for the journey...