Trip to UK

We leave for the UK early in the morning on August 29th for Ruth's sister's wedding - there is plenty to do before we go! We especially need to work on the next Upreach Daily Prayer Guide and the Crossroads magazine and get them to the printers before we leave - most places, including the printers, close for much of August so this has slowed things down a bit.

Home again

We're home after a much needed and appreciated rest, camping in the mountains. Amber was in her element with all that open space to play in and we all enjoyed the long walks, fresh air, beautiful scenery and quiet, cooler evenings. We even had rain the day we left which was lovely - never thought we'd be excited about rain given that we come from Wales!!! During the week, Corin and Jane (mentioned in our newsletter) joined us for 2 nights so we had opportunity to spend good quality time getting to know them.

Camping!!

We're going camping! On Sunday we are heading to the moutains where our organisation has a campsite as they need camp managers for a week. We'll actually be staying in the lodge so we won't be exactly roughing it, but it will be fun to get away. It's much cooler up there and it will be good for Rob to be away from the office (though of course he needs to take work with him). Amber is so excited and is counting the sleeps before we go!

Changing Technology

Keeping up to date in his field of work is obviously really important for Rob as technology and accompanying software and capabilities change so quickly now. A church in the States has kindly paid for some much needed new software which will be especially helpful for Rob in web design work (DreamWeaver and Flash). So he has spent a lot of the last week or so watching 19 hours of training dvds (they aren't exactly riveting from what I've seen!!), but Rob says he has learnt some useful things.

Ruth's Birthday

I had a lovely birthday today made special with a 'cake party' with Rob and the kids. Amber had as much fun as I did unwrapping my presents and Justin chewed on wrapping paper! Afterwards we went for a walk on the sea front and once the children were in bed had a nice meal in and watched a new dvd.

New Magazine

We are currently working on the next edition of the Crossroads magazine. The focus this time is Turkey - we enjoy doing these magazine because we learn so much ourselves and hope you do too. If you would like to receive the magazine (it's free) just let us know and we can arrange that for you.

Kids Update

Justin is developing in leaps and bounds. He's sitting very well now and would much rather be sitting or standing than lying down. His walker is great for him cause he can scoot around, be upright and see much more. I think he is going to be quite a mover cause he doesn't much like to sit still - unless he is properly entertained. Even when he's having a bottle he plays with his toes, pulls on the pillow behind his head which I use to support my arm, kicks his legs, waves his arm around and pulls the cloth up over his eyes. When you hold him on your lap his loves to jump up and down on your thighs - great arm work out! A little while ago he discovered his toes and now they are one the best toys to suck - mmmmm. He will still relatively still if you read him a story - in the last few days he has decide that books are pretty interesting after all. Course he'd rather eat the books half the time as he puts everything in his mouth!

Amber has become much more affectionate and it's lovely to get big hugs and kisses and hearing her say 'I love you' spontaneously without prompting! After her birthday we got into making cards and she has loved this! As she gets older she is much more capable (of course!!) and it's fun to see her creativity develop. She'll finish a card and then show it to us all including Roxy (the dog) saying 'look, it's beautiful!'. At the moment she has 3 favorites toys - a little plastic dog, a soft teddy she was given for her birthday and a small doll along with 2 bottles for it. She'll tell me that one of them in crying and then I'll hear her saying, "It's ok dolly. I'm coming, Everything is ok - I'm here now." Mmmm, wonder where she's heard that! :) If we leave one of them home, as we turn into our road she'll start calling, "I'm coming dolly. Don't worry!"

Rob's Birthday

Sunday was Rob's birthday so to celebrate we went to Limassol Saturday so that he could get a few scuba bits and pieces as his present and then spent some time on the sea front playing in the sea. Limassol is much bigger and developed than Larnaca so it was fun to go to a different beach. Amber's confidence is just growing so much in the water - realising that the water wings will keep her afloat has made a huge difference. In the afternoon Amber and I made a cake followed by a nice bbq last. Then Sunday we went down to the sea front after church for a nice drink. There's a restaurant on the front that has a as nice play area inside so we could sit in the cool ac and chat while Amber played and Justin chewed on the keys (he prefers real keys and gets all upset if we try and give him his toy ones instead). After naps we had a little cake eating party. Amber kept asking if her friends were coming and if we were going to the beach for a party since that it what we did for her this year!

Nursery Visit and Guests

Went to check out the nursery this morning with Jane and Colette - it has a lot of potential. We'll see what the end result is like closer to September I think. The other two were very positive about it and are thinking of registering their kids there. We still haven't decided, and if we do send Amber it will just be for 2 or 3 mornings a week.

A young couple who have been working short term in Lebanon are heading home soon but came to Cyprus for a holiday first. We had a bbq with them last week and tonight are getting together again for lasagne followed by a game of cards...should be fun!

Nursery

I'm going to check out an English nursery tomorrow which is opening in our village in September. A few friends who are interested are coming as well - and then we'll take the kids for an ice cream and we can chat about what we think of it. If we do decide to send Amber it will just be for a few mornings a week. May not send her anywhere yet and keep doing preschool at home, but just looking out all the options. Will keep you 'posted'.

Newsletter

We sent our newsletter this week so you should be getting it soon.

Even since we posted it we're excited by another bridge with Corin and Jane - a couple we've been getting to know who we mention in the newsletter. They opened a furniture shop here a year ago and we're telling us about quotes they'd had to get a website designed for their business - not realizing that Rob can do that! So Rob's going to help them out a little bit.