Christmas 2015

Dear friends,

This is our card to wish you a happy Christmas, so you might like to put your computer/ phone on the mantlepiece for the next month, to display it.

Jamie began the year by announcing on New Year's Day that "2015's boring". Thankfully it got better. Dave took him to Magna industrial museum in Rotherham, where the best activity was quarrying rocks which bore a striking resemblance to potatoes. He enjoyed this so much that he wanted to repeat the activity at Grandma's house, and it was even better when he could give instructions to Dad or Mum to use a wheelbarrow to carry potatoes from shed to garage and back again.

Later he enjoyed the general election tournament to decide who would be Prime Minister, and wanted to know who would get to the quarter-finals and semi-finals. He was disappointed with the outcome, having initially hoped his godmother Sue would win. This only spurred him on to dabble in politics further, writing to the local paper to complain about the council not providing blue recycling bins, and getting a very encouraging response.

He enjoyed a visit from his cousins, not least because of the threat of attack by Blue Cheese, and the antics of Russian dolls. When dolls, cheese or minions were not misbehaving he put a pile of books on a chair in the corner because they had been naughty.

We have continued to enjoy meeting with many wonderful people who are involved with humanitarian and mission work around the world. We had a wonderful time in Turkey in February, where Debbie spoke at a conference. Following the earthquakes in Nepal this year, we debriefed several people who were working there. In September we had the privilege of going back to Jordan, to train about 40 workers, including several working with refugees. Dave did some work with families during our visit.

Seeing the conditions in different countries led us to think about twinning our toilet with one in another country. Debbie describes this as 'a wee drop in the bucket'.

We continue to help with children's and youth work at our church. Popular choices were a memory verse to the beat of Gangnam Style, and the Lord's Prayer and a song of praise to the tune of songs from Frozen and The Lego Movie. Who was it who had all the best tunes?

One of our favourite activities this year has been helping to lead a summer camp in Yorkshire for ‘Third Culture Kids’, who recently arrived in the UK. It was planning for this that led Jamie to ask at one point, "Am I the only child in our family?" Jamie enjoyed staying in a dormitory which was inspected every day. After we got home he decided it was time we started tidying our house better. So every day he inspects each room and gives it marks out of 10 for how much tidying Mum & Dad have done while he’s been at school. You might not be surprised to learn we often score poorly. In front of the whole church our minister asked Jamie whether he tidies his room. "No, but I try to make a path to my bed", said Jamie.

Jamie's tidying instincts also extended to rearranging DVDs. "Mum, bring any 18 films to me, and me and Dad will sort them out". He made sure we put all films with a rating of 12 or above out of reach, and recently decided to move all his favourite DVDs away from the kitchen (where he can watch them) to his bedroom (where he can't). We will need to learn to tidy more because he’s told us that everyone moves house by the time they’re 11 years old, so we’ll have to move house in the next 3 years.

Dave's Mum has got a head start moving to a lovely care home in Leicester, after increasing care costs, decreasing mobility, and finally going into hospital made living at home impractical. Leaving home is understandably hard for her after 35 years, and prayer is welcome. We also helped Dave's aunt move house, after her sister passed away in April, having lived for nearly 40 years with multiple sclerosis. More clearance of family possessions and memories lie ahead.

Despite stating in March, "We're not doing any literacy this week: it's Book Week", Jamie enjoyed his best school year ever because of his teacher Miss Roe “who does tricks”. He also enjoyed playing a naughty evacuee in a school musical. He's started to write a book called "Harry Potter and the Minions". Dave was spotted dancing in Oklahoma kicking his legs in the opposite direction to everyone else, as well as not being one of Snow White’s dwarves in the Panto, and (just about) completing the 3 Peaks Challenge.

And so goes another year. Thank you for your friendship and support. We pray that you will have joy this Christmas, and be content in the year ahead.

Blessings,

Debbie, David and Jamie Hawker

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