King's Daughters

We went to church on Sunday. Eric, Daniel, Amy and I. Together as a family for the first time in ages. At first I felt nervous going back. I knew it was right and it was time. The season had changed and there was no reason for me to stay away any longer. My heart felt full, I was no longer tired and all my other reasons and excuses had faded away. To be honest, I actually missed church. My reasons for being nervous are too many to list starting with fear from all that had happened in the past all the way to fear of being hurt all over again and everything in between. Despite all that was going on inside of me emotionally something stronger was drawing me to church. Choosing a church wasn't an option, it had to be a Baptist church so that Eric could do his placement for his studies and it would continue being a Baptist church for the two remaining years of his studies. I was ok with that. I accepted that church would not be as exciting as it had once been both because I was fond o...

Storms raged all around me, not in the natural of course but the storms of life. The next season is a bit blurry as it was almost too painful to bear. First it was my second eldest daughter who left home. For the sake of her privacy and to protect all involved I can't tell you too much about it but let's just say that family life got really nasty for us all and it resulted in Jordan leaving home at only seventeen years old. Oh how I wish I could tell you the details so you could understand how much my heart was ripped out, how my marriage was hanging together by a thread and how losing Jordan not only hurt but confirmed my complete failure as a parent to her. Just believe me that it was nasty, unnecessary and very painful and left me broken in a way that I have never experienced before. I was even faced with a choice on one occasion where I was made to choose between my daughter and my husband! What would you do in that situation - it was not nice and I refused to choose either...

King's Church was official born on 7th September 2008 under the watchful eye of our senior pastors. Leading a church was interesting. Mostly good at first, in fact I very clearly remember waking up each morning feeling on top of the world, wondering how life had become so good. Yes there were challenges but the joys of leading and building a church far outweighed the difficult spots. Eric and I were blissfully happy and so were our children. Everyone was flourishing and thriving. Our church was growing steadily, young people were growing in their faith and our lovely street people were getting to know Jesus too. Church didn't hurt - it was just as church should be, or so I thought. Looking back on those days now as I recount our story to you leaves me with a smile on my face. There really were a few years where things were truly great. You can read our full story in detail in my book, The Tale of a Church Planter . Here is a little extract with one of our many rewarding stories...

  On 17 September 2014 we began our happily ever after at a garden wedding in Cannizaro Park, London. It's not as grand as it sounds, we have no money at all and pulled off the most beautiful wedding very creatively. Our church friends really pulled together for us and if I had a million pounds to do it all over again I wouldn't change a thing! We did the legal side of our wedding in the registry office in the morning and then in the afternoon had the 'real' wedding in a public park. Our friends were so amazing at making our day perfect. One friend surprised us by buying and arch and decorated it with lace, she also created an aisle out of ribbing and organised our picnic as well as our pastor's picnic. I am sure she did so much more arranging and organising behind the scenes that I probably don't event know about, but that is just the type of amazing friend that she is. A lady from church who we barely knew offered to make our cake - and it wasn't any old c...

I have sat with my hands on the keys several times now, to write to you but never know what to say. So here it is, I am just going to let it come out, raw and real. You see, I have a choice, I can  pitch  what I have to say to you in a very positive, exciting way (which would be honest ish )   or I can pour out my heart and soul which could be overly negative and draining for you. For your sake and mine I will do neither, I am not pitching anything to you, it is not positive nor negative, it just is. This is where the journey has taken me and many of you have been reading my posts for years and have stayed with me through all the ups and downs, trials and tests, joys and laughter. Not A New Beginning I considered calling this post A New Beginning but realised that it is not a new beginning at all, it is the next chapter in our book, a new season in our life, perhaps even a turn at a cross road. I considered calling it Starting Over only to realise that nothing is starting over but this...

I have sat with my hands on the keys several times now, to write to you but never know what to say. So here it is, I am just going to let it come out, raw and real. You see, I have a choice, I can  pitch  what I have to say to you in a very positive, exciting way (which would be honest ish )   or I can pour out my heart and soul which could be overly negative and draining for you. For your sake and mine I will do neither, I am not pitching anything to you, it is not positive nor negative, it just is. This is where the journey has taken me and many of you have been reading my posts for years and have stayed with me through all the ups and downs, trials and tests, joys and laughter. Not A New Beginning I considered calling this post A New Beginning but realised that it is not a new beginning at all, it is the next chapter in our book, a new season in our life, perhaps even a turn at a cross road. I considered calling it Starting Over only to realise that nothing is starting over but this...

It's been a while since I have updated you on our family news. This announcement is the most exciting news ever.  I am a GRANDMOTHER now! Wow! It's been nearly three years since this special day. Samuel and Lorah were married in a beautiful barn wedding in Gloucestershire and it was a perfect day in so many ways, despite the cold and windy March weather. Eric had the privilege of conducting the wedding ceremony and then they flew away off to Spain for a sunny honeymoon. Samuel and Lorah are a shinning example of how to build a great marriage, how to overcome life's many challenges with finesse and even how to build a business together. It has been such a joy to watch this lovely couple grow together. Just when things could get any better it did! Tears of joy and champagne flowed freely as we celebrated the amazing news that a new little person would be joining our family. Oh my goodness I have never been so excited in all my life!!!   Now, onto a not so hap...

My first idea for the title for this post was, "The western lifestyle is ridiculous!" but I thought that may seem a bit negative! Although that is pretty much what I am writing about today - about how ridiculous our western lifestyle is!  Have you ever considered this? I found myself contemplating that I am struggling to keep up with my housework, that I am struggling to find time to go to gym and that I am struggling to make the money that I need. So after my contemplation I tried to figure out how to afford to get a window cleaner, my car to the car wash and perhaps even someone to help me with my housework as I just don't have the time.  My business takes up all my time and more... if that's even possible. So I need to hire in help! A short while ago I introduced my husband to a great movie that I watched in South Africa when I was a child. The opening scene exposed how ridiculous we are in the Western world and if you continue watching past the end of the ...

Can you believe that in a couple of days time it will be December already? How has your year been? Are you excited and ready for 2016. I love this time of year, I love to reflect, to sort and clean my home for Christmas and to have a good break after a hard year's work. As it gets colder it seems to get more magical.  Before the autumn leaves disappeared we had a family photo shoot and we had so much fun! Daniel and Amy love to climb trees so we have several photos of them up in a tree or just hanging around like in the one below. They are such monkeys! Can you see the little bump on Lorah below?  She is PREGNANT so I am going to be a grandma in January! It is so exciting and I can't wait to meet my first granddaughter. Here is an amazing photo of Samuel, Lorah and the bump taken today.  Ooh I am so excited I could pop! 2016 has also given us two litters of kitten from our precious cats, Muffin and Poppy . It could be so easy to reflect on the str...

Today we are taking a look at a child's perspective of diabetes in an interview with my 9 year old son, Daniel, who has had diabetes for nearly 3 years. When did you first know that something was wrong? It was at my sister Amy's party. I was eating loads of sweets which was making me drink loads of water. I had six full cups of water and was still thirsty so became a bit suspicious at that time. My parents were probably suspicious as well. What happened next? We didn't think much about it but my parents thought it best to go to doctor and see why I was drinking so much water.  So we went to the doctor and they didn't give me a diagnosis or anything but sent me to the hospital.  At the hospital they gave me loads of blood test which were really painful. The used these really mean rectangle finger prickers and they discovered that my blood sugars were very high. They gave me the diagnosis and I found out I had diabetes.   So what happened after you were ...

This year's conference theme is He Loves Me and I really struggled to write my talk around this subject.  The more I delved into the love of God the more I struggled to write about it. Many times as I sat down to write my talk I got distracted!  One such distraction was a song.  I couldn't articulate what God's love meant to me, the only way I could get it out was to write a song.  So today I thought I would share that song with you.  Only the words for now but soon we will have a good enough recording to share the whole things with you. He Loves Me God's love is... a place to go to God's love is... a feeling to feel God's love is... a truth you can trust in God's love is... a peace to rest God's love is... a memory to treasure God's love is... a future to hope for God's love is... a blanket to hide in God's love is... a joy to shout about He loves me... I don't know why He loves me... It's hard to explain He loves me...

Last week Lorah and I had the most amazing morning together at All Your Life in Cheltenham. Let me start at the very beginning! We arrived at the beautiful reception and were whisked away into the lounge where we were given a glass of bubbly. This is the before photo! Before... Then we were invited to use the Fat Burning Room to experience the Vibrating Power Plates! Well, there is no photo of this as I really don't want you to see all my fat wobbling about. It's was fun but at the same time I could really feel the plates working my muscles. You are shown a chart with various exercises that you can do on the plates to target particular muscle groups or you can just stand on the plates and giggle! Mostly, Lorah and I just giggled. We were then take to the fishy room our fish pedicure. I honestly didn't know that I would have such a problem with putting my feet in the tank. Usually I am up for trying just about anything, but when it came to the crunch, I fou...

Today is my lovely daughter's 22nd birthday and I am as proud as proud can be of her!  She is so wonderful in so many ways, but don't take my word for it, read what those nearest and dearest to her have to say about "What We Love About Lorah"!  This post is to honour you Lorah, have a wonderful birthday. xxx Happy Birthday Lorah-Kelly "Lorah is my beautiful, wonderful wife. She is always in a cheery mood and is the kindest and most considerate person I know.  She is always putting the needs of others before hers and is always happy to do so. Lorah is an amazing and talented photographer, a beautiful singer, she makes the best cakes, and is the best wife anyone could wish for."  - Samuel Beard, Lorah's husband "What I love about Lorah is she is kind and gentle, listens well and is really knows how her photography can capture the special moments in her clients lives."  - Carole Stacey, Lorah's Business friend. "I love ...