New Beginnings

Today has been an exciting day of new beginnings! Firstly, Joel started nursery - what a proud day for mum and dad! He seemed pretty pleased with himself too going off with his little tortoise shape bag packed with goodies and art T shirts etc etc. Paula stayed with him for about 2 minutes before one of the helpers had him engrossed in a puzzle on the floor - oh well, no time for "I'll really miss you mum"!! Apparently he was an absolute angel all morning and had a ball - particularly during wet play, when Joel took it literally and got completely soaked to the skin! The leader also noticed how much he loves music and said that he has a really infectious belly laugh which had them all laughing! Thank God for a flexible, friendly little boy!

Paula's day cell for mums and tots also started this morning and she was thrilled with the turnout. There were 8 mums today, 5 from Chris Nissen Park, so that is very exciting. We also had 10 children (including 2 under 1's). The whole morning ran so smoothly and the ladies seemed to genuinely enjoy the friendship, hospitality and time spent praising God, reading and learning from the Bible and praying for one another. Paula is really encouraged! She suspects that next week's group will be much larger. The children also had great fun playing with 4 grannies, 1 grandad and 2 younger helpers!! Thank God that even at the first meeting, women were asking for prayer for serious health problems, family members with deep problems etc. etc. This is really why Paula has such a heart for the group.

All these things only serve to remind us of why we are here. After a very difficult 10 days following the death and funeral of Simon, it would be easy to think that God must have got something wrong, but His ways aren't ours and we have renewed excitement and conviction for the future, whilst praying for others who are really having to seek God for direction in the light of this big event.