Hello to all our faithful followers.
It is Christmas eve eve. We've had quite a busy time since we last blogged so I'll try update you all as
to what has been going on....We finished school last Friday, our last day ended up being a massive party with pizza and some of the revival groups doing various performances, which was all very good and impressive. A good time was had by all. It's been an amazing few months of school, beyond anything we could have imagined. Having said that, it's almost Christmas!
I (Liam) missed thursday's school day because I decided to accompany my friend Ben and his parents from Australia to Mount Shasta for some snowboarding. It was my first time snowboarding, and because I had only limited experience of skiing, I was a little apprehensive. We all got kitted out and after a hearty breakfast at Black Bear Diner (Eggs Benedict was magnificent) we headed for the slopes. Ben and I decided to get some practice so went straight to the nursery slopes so we could quickly learn the basics. After a little while, and encouraged by Ben and one of the instructors, I felt I might be able to tackle one of the easy slopes. So we boarded the chair lift, which was a challenge in itself, and headed for the top of the mountain. Everything was going smoothly, with only one or two minor falls when Ben went on ahead and left me to negotiate my own way down. Which was fine until the run forked into three. I thought we had pre-agreed to take the furthest right of the routes, so swiftly took this option. However, I don't think anyone had taken this route down the slope in a few days as the snow was fairly fresh. The minor falls begun to become quite major falls and the route increased in gradient. After trying for a little while to use my new found snowboarding skills it became apparent that this run was used to boarders much more skilled than me so I took a break and relaxed and enjoyed the view, thinking that I'd soon spot a few skiiers or boarders shooting past me. After a good ten minutes of taking in the view and enjoying God's creation, I began to worry slightly that I hadn't even seen wildlife come past my way. I got back on my board and tried to apply my skills once again.
But again, the slope got the better of me and after taking many more tumbles I decided it was best to walk, or for the most part crawl, down the remainder of the mountain. I set off in the general direction of where I thought everyone was, thinking it wouldn't be long until I stumbled upon one of the main routes down the slope. That's what I thought anyway. So I walked and crawled, walked and crawled. For ages. I thought I'd soon see a rescue helicopter flying over head so I tried to stay out the way of the trees so they could spot me. Eventually a medic skiier arrived to ask if I was ok. Phew I thought, finally they've found me but as soon as he assessed I wasn't in any medical danger he shot off again down the hill. So I went back to walking and crawling my way down. After what seemed like days I finally arrived back at the resort and civilisation, a little battered and quite a bit bruised. I decided that I was best suited to the nursery slopes so headed back there. All in all though, we had a lot of fun.
The weekend was good, it was mainly relaxed and preparing for the Heather's to come and stay and for us to move out. Sunday morning at church was great, Bill and Kris were unfortunately away so we had the priviledge of listening to Bill's eldest son Eric talk. If any of you are able to, get the podcast from the talk he did, on God and Community. It was amazing. Go and download it now, it's free.
Monday came and it was time to head down to San Francisco where we would stay with Ben and Sarah and Ben's parents for a few days but also drop Josh off at the airport to pick his family up. We were really worried about their inbound flight because of all the disruption to Heathrow, but we managed to find bits of information out about the time they would be arriving. They eventually arrived safely, via a unscheduled stop in Seattle and all made it up to Redding safely.
So we had a few days in San Francisco, which was brilliant. We haven't really had opportunity to explore the city since being here although we had heard several times how great a city it was. We did some sight seeing, of the Bay and fishermen's wharf, and had a ride on one of the trolleys. And had a good look round the shops. The vibe in the city is great and we really enjoyed the atmosphere of the place, even though we didn't see too much of it. Above are some photos from our trip.
Anyways, I've gone on for far too long. We had a really nice day today with the Heather family and I took and passed my Californian driving test! Only got a few minors, although after chatting to the instructor about how I think it's great the speed limit in a residential area is 25 compared to it being 30 in the UK, I got a minor for speeding in a residential area! Which was rather embarassing. But I'm passed and qualified now.
Really hope everyone is good and enjoying the run up to Christmas. Have a great time and we wish you all an amazing and blessed time celebrating Jesus' birthday.
Hope to hear from you all soon.
God's richest blessings,
Izzy and Liam
Luke 1:30-33:
the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favour with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”
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