Navigating life

Can we do that? Can I try that? Can I go with them? Can I have a go at that, this once? On holiday strange things happen. New opportunities. Chance meetings. Bizarre moments. Confusing decisions. Odd questions. We were in a Devon village during their annual festival. It was coming to the end of the …

Our first ever family holiday abroad to France with 4 young children required a significant amount of planning – flights, car hire, travel insurance, health cards, passports, finding four booster seat backpacks on eBay. All that was before I even got to sun cream, clothing, swimming kits, acti…

“Let’s talk about sex!” – It’s very unlikely that your parents ever started a conversation with you using those words. It’s also very unlikely that you’ve ever said those words to your children. It probably wouldn’t be the best way of starting to talk …

“It’s not my fault … she started it.” Words familiar to almost any parent. Every child has an instinctive desire to blame others - whether it’s the 4-year old, who’s just knocked his best friend to the ground (“He took my special car.”) or the 14 year…

Light nights, long days, SATS over … It’s been a long half term and we’ve all had enough. HOORAY FOR HALF TERM BREAK! Until, perhaps, 10.30am on Tuesday, when we realise we are the same people with the same arguments / issues - just perhaps in a different / more beautiful location…

I had a text from a mum friend before church, “Have you got crackers – I can’t survive church without them, and we are out.” I didn’t have any, but I totally understood the question. Church with little ones (and particularly under 3s) is hard. Round 1 - getting out the …

I am a Christmas fan. I am also an optimist. When it comes to the glass half full or half empty question, I am just delighted to have made it to the land of grown-ups where I’m trusted with a glass in the first place! However … the Christmas glow, with which I began December, has faded.…

Forget your Blue Peter Christmas coat hanger advent crown, or the arrival of Christmas cups in Costa Coffee! The real sign that the countdown to Christmas has begun is the unveiling of the John Lewis epic advert, the one that all others are measured against. My favourite advert so far this year…

If the ghost of Christmas past visited you, what would he show you? Which moments, which memories, which habits, which catastrophes and which delights would feature? I suspect that a ten second pause is long enough for a torrent of memories to come flooding back, some with out-loud laughter, some wi…

It’s that time of year again when the seasonal aisle in the supermarket is filled with fake cobwebs and pumpkin buckets and Christian parents everywhere wonder whether buying the spooky gingerbread cat is allowed. Let me share three view altering experiences and one Bible verse that I hope wil…