December 2001

Hi there everyone. Here is a potted history of 2001 as it looked in the Greaves household.

January brought mock exams for both Helen and Jonathan, four Bible Study Fellowship (BSF) lectures for Janet to prepare and deliver and a number of University interviews for Helen. February saw Janet and Helen visiting Blackpool to collect, photographs, materials and inspiration for Helen’s A level art project. During March Janet crossed the pond for a six-day training visit to BSF HQ in San Antonio, Texas. She found this a valuable, though exhausting, experience during which she made many new friends. Unusually Easter did not see us going to Spring Harvest. We decided that we should not commit ourselves to anything over the Easter holidays due to it being GCSE year for Jonny and A level year for Helen. But April did see Helen and Danny playing a pair of very suspicious looking characters in a murder mystery meal organised by our 18-35 group and also a visit to Yorkshire for a 22-year reunion of Janet’s University Hall of Residence friends. During May Danny & Janet dumped the kids and enjoyed a long weekend in Edinburgh (it should have been Prague but that did not quite come together!) And then we were into the exam season proper. Both Helen and Jonathan worked hard during June revising and taking exams and both were ready for our family holiday in July when it came. We spent a week on the canals starting here in Northwich and travelling, via Middlewich to Whitchurch on the Welsh border. Janet’s parents came with us and we had a great time discovering things about our local area as we viewed it both from a new angle and at a different pace. For our second week we went to Keswick for the Convention. This was Danny’s first and Janet’s second visit (the first having been 30 years ago) to the Convention and we all thoroughly enjoyed it. Despite the Foot and Mouth restrictions we managed one or two walks soaking up the wonderful beauty of the Lakeland fells. July also saw Helen pass her driving test (Hurray!) and a weekend gathering of Danny’s family (now 19 of us) in Liverpool. August, the nail biting exam result season, saw Helen easily achieving the points and grades she needed for her place at Reading University for October 2002 and Jonathan obtaining 10 GCSE’s and a place at Sir John Deane’s sixth form college. Helen worked for four weeks at a council-run playscheme in Winsford; hard work but rewarding and good experience for her teacher training. At the end of the month Janet, Helen and Jonathan were all involved in a church Holiday Club for 120 seven to eleven year olds. September, and the start of a new academic year, saw Jonathan joining both the sidespersons and the crèche rotas at church in addition to his role as an assistant leader for our Friday night, church based Youth Club for years seven to nine. During October Helen had some of her artwork displayed in a show house on a local housing development. At the end of the month she left home for an eight-week orientation and training course at SIM (a Christian missionary organisation) headquarters in Stowmarket, Suffolk. This was the first phase of her Gap year that will see her going to Jimma in Ethiopia from January to July 2002. November was a quiet(ish) month with just the regular routine of college church and youth groups for Jonny; BSF, church based weekly café and housework for Janet and work, Bible Study group leadership and monthly Sunday School preparation for Danny. December brought the usual, busy, but joyous Christmas season. Danny was particularly active at work having been given the responsibility for managing the relocation of all the computer equipment and networks during a total refurbishment of the building. There was also a family gathering for Danny’s brother’s 50^th and a visit to Stowmarket for Helen’s commissioning service after which she came home for Christmas.

All in all we are keeping well and God continues to bless us in so many ways, for which we are truly grateful. We look forward to a somewhat different year in 2002 with Helen leaving for Africa on 7^th January and only three places to set for meals. We wish you all a happy 2002 and look forward to meeting many of you during the next twelve months.

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