Day 2 ..Conference & cakes !!

It was an early start this morning for the intrepid joggers!!! It was freezing -3 degrees BRRRR Outside the conference centre ...
Inside the conference centre

Walmarts...Jamie poor lad is a single bloke who is becoming a bit desperate ...he has resorted now to Pink shirts and Teddy bears ...So ladies if you fancy taking on this poor old Scotsman then dop me a line :-)
This is a couple of boys waiting for their steak in one of the local steakhouses " Outbacks " the food was superb and this particular restaurant was managed by an Englishman called Dave .
Another Conference photo ....
Jamie's at it again ...turn your back for one minute and he is chatting to the Ladies ..Susan who is part of the conference team was at the time sorting out our restaurant reservation ...
Wes & yes you guessed it Jamie making good use of their free time :-)...check out Jamie's Face

Birmingham is a great place to come to , the folk here are very hospitable and friendly . All of us have benefitted from their friendship .

Despite what it looks like on the photo's we are actually spending most of our days at the conference where there is much information and teaching to absorb .

In between times we eat ...its the American way ..so when in Rome as they say .... I had been trying to lose weight until I came here :-)

Hi from Alabama

Well here we aaalll are ..from the deep south .

We are all very tired , yesterday which I think was Wednesday we were travelling for nearly 23 hours .... at my age that is no joke.

The place is great ...the food is plentiful , my stomach is very happy.

The First picture is one taken on the coach on the way down to London. We met a loveley lady called Mary and I promised I would put her picture up on the internet ..

The second picture is the one of the boys on tour . This was taken at Charlotte airport which I think is in North Carolina.

This is Jamie the mad Scotsman ...at this stage in our travels we were becoming a little delirious ..or rather jamie was :-)Our host family in Birmingham have a Harley , so Phil is in his element ..He struggled to put his feet on the floor though :-)This is the home of the Trinkle family ...and our wonderful hosts Lee& Catherine Trinkle . They truly know how to show Christian hospitality .Breakfast at one of the local restaurants... The Brits are in town Jamie pretending he was full ..he ate six meals the day before ...they are made of strong stuff those Scottish boys !!This was my snack of a breakfast !!!The Conferance Venue at the Church ...they have 4000 members at this Church Phil , as usual , managed to get himself in front of the camera ..what you cant see is that they had to stand him on a box :-)....Below is the seminar room ..just to prove we are working :-)

So far its been a great experience , however I am absoluteley cream crackered . The Jet lag is kicking in big time ...more Photo's tomorrow ... Missing everyone back at home .

Look out Alabama!!

I'm not going to be around for the next 9 days . Phil & I are off to Birmingham ,Alabama to attend a couple of Conferences .Click here to watch a video about it .

There are a number of Pastors travelling over with us so it really is a case of 'Pastor Boys On Tour ' :-)

I am hoping to be able to post from the States , so watch this space and read about our adventures on the other side of the pond ....

I'm going to miss my family , its the longest Gill & I have been apart in 20 years of marriage ..Will she cope I ask myself :-)

Anyway I must fly !!

Funny thing happened to Anna in the kitchen today..

Anna came home famished from college after having sat one of her English A level papers . Out came the Tuna tin and the tin opener and the bout began ....she wrestled and wrestled until BAM ! the lid flew off ..along with the tuna . I bet you didn't know that The Tuna is actually a flying fish :-)

Anyway the sad news is that the tin took its vengeance out on Anna with a nasty looking cut . Enter mum . Was she calm ? was she collected? mmmmmm. I'll let you guess ...I watched as she wrapped the stricken finger with the tea towel ..encouraging Anna with those comforting words .."Its gone through to the bone Anna ..I can see the bone " ... I look at Anna who with these words continues to go a whiter shade of pale .. Enter dad ( that's me )..sympathetic as ever . What are you pair chuntering on about don't be so girlie !!!...Its a cut finger ..granted its a deep cut but its only a finger ..Anna your not going to die ....upon which Anna starts to throw up ..

Off to the nurse she went ...who calmed everything down with some sticky back plaster ( obviously a Blue Peter fan)

Anyway all is well now .. The Tuna is dead, the Tin is crushed , the finger is clothed in white and Anna is sat on the Sofa with a cup of tea in hand ...her good hand that is ...As for me I cant stop laughing .....

Finally I beat Him....

Once a week ( when time allows ) .Phil and I play a game of Squash and he always beats me ...BUT NOT TODAY .... We switched the Raquetball and I think the bats were too big for him to handle because he came second ...so that makes me the Winner . Not that I am one to gloat or brag you understand :-)

Final farewells....

Sad day yesterday as I led some of Paul's family and friends in a final service of remembrance as we committed Paul's ashes to the ground on what would have been his birthday .

Alli had chosen to bury his ashes in a large pot and in it has planted two plants one called "celebration" and the other called "birthday" ...very appropriate .

"The Lord has given and the Lord has taken away ...blessed be the name of the Lord" Job 1:21

Christmas& New Year Photo's ..

Christmas Photo Memories ...these Baubles are rather cute but then again so are the girls :-)

The usual Christmas morning stampede to the living room to find that Santa had been !!

Sarah very kindly bought me a walking stick for Christmas and it was presented to me at Church on Christmas morning .....need to stamp out ageism :-)
Off to Grannie & Gramps in Liverpool for the traditional Christmas Dinner

The Three Cherubs ....How Romantic ...double chins all round
Later on in the day we travelled over to the Wirral for Christmas supper...Presented Nana with a duck in memory of me dad ...we called him Albert.All showing signs of eating too many mince pies !!Later on Approx 11pm we arrived in Derby to spend a couple of days with Alli ,Matt & SammyNEW YEAR ......and the boys from Take That :-)

Dancing around the handbags !!Chubby bunnies Matt style What Can I say ...all the lads were in touch with their feminine side ...

New years bumper sticker

I found this very amusing ...saw this bumper sticker ..

"Diet ,exercise, die anyway!"

Confession Time ..The tale of the Cake tin and the isolation switch!

For those of you who know me you know that DIY and I do not make a good team. Today this was most embarrassingly illustrated ... Here goes the story .

On Sunday our central heating boiler packed in ( or so I thought ) . I fiddled and played but just couldn't get it to come back to life so I called out a handyman . Now handyman couldn't make it until today . So we froze for a good few days !!! just so happened that last night and today was one of the coldest this winter ..

All of us were glad when handyman arrived this morning . He promptly made his way to the kitchen to take a look at the sick boiler and like a trained professional he moved a couple of cake tins to one side revealing a strange switch on the wall that I had never noticed before and pressed it from the OFF position to the ON position . Sick boiler suddenly made a miraculous recovery and the heat once again flowed through the house..

As I said handyman was a trained professional ..I was glad to pay the £47 call out charge ....

My wife and one or two of the gentlemen in our church I know will never let me forget this sorry tale of ineptitude ...Just goes to show I cant be good at everything :-)

Happy new Year everyone ..Photo memories of Christmas

The flowers I bought my wife . I got into trouble over these in a nice sort of way . I had ordered them to be picked up on Christmas Eve and whilst I was doing that I asked Gill to go with Laura for a cup of coffee in the local cafe ( The Treacle mine) . Anyway to cut a long story short I also asked the florist to hand deliver them by making an announcement in the cafe out loud to everyone . "Mrs Whiteway .. I love you from Mr Whiteway "... Gill blushed ...the result I was hoping for . You see even old fogies like me can be romantic sometimes :-)

Britains got talent ...particularly the one on the right !!

Happy Christmas everyone

May the peace of Christ dwell in your hearts as we remember Him on this day ..

Been up early this morning :-( Laura came into our room at 2:56 am !!! she was quickly dispatched back to bed ...

Out and about at various homes over the next few days ...will take a few photo's to blog up later on in the week ..

Have a great day

Busy Busy Busy

The hectic pace goes on unabated with numerous speaking engagements at Schools and Carol services . Last Friday managed to take a little time out and visit the Bridge Chapel in Liverpool to watch the production of "The Promise" written by Les Stamper ..a very gifted man . It was great and you can pick up the pics from their web site .

Today I did an assembly over in West Felton and then this afternoon Phil& I along with a number of folk went along to sing Carols in a local residential home . Always eventful...when you preach at these venues you have to expect a little heckling ..like " Whats he saying " ...ooh its cold in here" and "where's me sherry & mince pies" ...I had them all today . All for His Glory :-)

For those who are grieving

Gill was reading the GirlsTalk blog yesterday and came across this posting . I am sure it will be a help to those whose hearts are hurting with grief this Christmas . Click here for the link

Christmas in the Schools

Phil & I have been busy this week ( and last week) in and out of schools doing assemblies geared to Christmas . It has been a joy to "bring glad tidings " as the Angels said .

Today we went to Adcote school one of our favourites . We always receive a warm welcome and today we were treated to coffee and mince pies afterwards . Sometimes this job is tough :-)

One thing I will say though is that the mince pies were very small ( as per last week ) . I am not happy with this new trend ...I will have to launch campaign to save the BIG mince pies !!

Celebration for Hope....

Last night Anna received some great news . On Wednesday this week she had been interviewed for a place at Hope University in Liverpool to do primary School Education . She was amongst 2000 applicants with only 220 places on the course . Last night she found out she had done it ...so out came the PINK bottle of bucks Fizz to celebrate ... Now she only has the small matter of passing her "A" levels to worry about :-(

Tiny Mince pies ...

Tuesday night at the Hawkstone was great . Ninety folk gathered to partake in a traditional Christmas Dinner followed by coffee and very small mince pies !! . Les ( the Great ) Stamper made a wonderful after dinner speaker . The good news of Christmas was clearly proclaimed .

I must admit though , when I got home I ate a proper mince pie ..or two ;-)

Where are you heading ?

Phil sent me this today ...thought I would share it with the two or three that read this blog :-)

Did an assembly this morning at this Private School. Great place very Harry Potterish in its setting .

Tonight we have the Great Les Stamper ( from this Church ) coming to speak at our Christmas meal at this venue . I say Great because he reads this blog ;-) . Looking forward to it and the opportunities it will present for the Gospel ...Photo's to follow

Men Breakfasting ..

Some of the men from our church and the church at Prees got together this morning for breakfast and discussion . The Topic .." The Role of Men in the church" . I led the discussion that revolved around the biblical truth that men should lead by example ... we discussed 3 H's

The Hitchhiker .... do we attend or do we belong to the church

The Holy Man .... Are we seen as men who are striving to be Christlike .

The Handy Man .... do we get stuck in ..

Good discussion .... Good Food ...Thanks to all those who made the effort to come along ...you are the Belongers :-)

For those who want to understand more about the roles of men & women within the church then can I recommend this website for further reading & reflection.