That dreaded week ...

So what's the deal with retreat week? Rich was away from the Wednesday until ordination on the Sunday so at least it wasn't a full week. I was concerned that my mum wouldn't be able to stay 'cause she was supposed to be travelling but thank God she was available.

So with my mum looking after the girls, I took Richard down to the retreat which began with a lunch for deacons-to-be and their spouses at the Bishop's house. This was strange to begin with, not finding many people like us, but eventually we met some great people, including quite a few from St John's Nottingham. After lunch, it was back to Glossop, which incidentally is 2 hours drive away from Derby where the Bish lives!

My girls were SOOOO badly behaved for me and my poor mum whilst Rich was away. I completely lost control of them and both mum and I lost it with them once or twice. The night before the ordination, mum and I were both up in the night not just for the girls but also for me - I was reduced to a night of tears by the whole thing and resented the fact that I had to cart my family 2 hours south for an ordination service I wasn't even sure if I believed in.

What about the little ones?

I have a 4 and a 2 year old who coped amazingly with the move. I suspected they would but you never know do you? Jojo even mastered potty training in the couple of months leading up to the move. They had some particularly naughty weeks but weren't obviously anxious or upset.

On the day we moved in, a lady popped round and asked if she could take the girls to the park for an hour. Richard jumped at the chance and so off they went. I, however, was a bit shocked by all this and concerned that I'd let my girls go off with a complete stranger. (Richard didn't think to tell me that the lady helped to run the children's work at one of the churches and he knew exactly who she was!) Anyway, the girls came back raving about their time in the park and that lady has become one of their favourite people now.

Our first week in Glossop, Emily was particularly naughty, simply because she had nothing to do. One afternoon in a playground nearby, a gang of 7ish year old girls came in. Emily immediately stopped what she was doing and ran towards the girls with her arms outstretched exclaiming, "Friends!". Needless to say, the older girls weren't that interested in playing with a 4 year old and kept their distance! However, the next day I met a couple of mums and their daughters who are of a similar age to Emily and we now all meet up once a week .

Emily is going to pre-school three times a week and will start school in September. Joannah & I go to a little group at one of the churches. They both seem to be happy but I'm dreading the long summer holiday!

All that prep

I've realised just how much Contact (the spousey group at our college) really does prepare you for starting in a curacy. Spouses at college spend quite a lot of time thinking about and preparing for their partner's new job. We think about how it will affect us and our children; what it will be like having our spouse work from home (if that's the case) and work unusual hours; what boundaries we will need to place around our home/family/marriage. These really are good things to be thinking about.
Remember, though, your spouse will not be spending their time at college pondering on these things so it's worth talking about it together during your last term and then reviewing things each week to begin with once you're in your curacy.

Leaving Oxford

So it was all over. Richard had finished his time at Wycliffe Hall, we'd been to the ball and had a lovely time saying goodbye to the friends we'd made and we were now very much ready to go.

We found our curacy in the parish of Whitfield, Glossop in Derbyshire the previous summer and it felt like home before we'd even left Oxford. Now it was actually time to go.

Leaving Oxford happens very suddenly; one minute you're having quite a busy social life and making the most of the last weeks at college and the next you're gone. I suppose if you're around for a couple of weeks after the end of term, it feels very different but we left a few days after term ended and it was a bit of a shock - in a good way ...

Packing up to leave went very smoothly and quickly and we were soon travelling up to Sheffield to stay the night with friends before going on to Glossop the following morning. We were surprised that it only took half an hour to get from Sheffield to Glossop - our road is pretty much 2nd left at the end of Snake Pass.

Moving in was probably the best moving in experience you could want. We arrived to a wonderfully clean house. Members of the church had cleaned it up and also left food for us. There was even a bottle of bubbly in the fridge. The diocese (which had just bought the house 6 weeks before we moved) had freshly painted it for us, with the colours we'd chosen, and laid down new lino in the bathrooms. I was so happy I laughed and cried simultaneously for half an hour or so after arriving!

So we were here and felt really blessed. God had provided amazingly for us in Oxford and we knew he'd do the same for us here. We spent the next couple of weeks buying new furniture and stuff with Rich's robes grant so now it's looking great. I confess we spent a little too much but it will all work out ...