Where does the time go?

It's 5pm on a Sunday afternoon and this is the first moment I've had to sit down this weekend. In fact, it's pretty much the first moment I've had to sit down in the past fortnight. Which is why I've been sadly lacking in updates. If you've been sat around waiting for me to write, I am sorry. But also, maybe you should get out more ;)

So two weeks. Two whole weeks as November's morphed into December. There's been musical drama, gingerbread, dining al fresco, animals, bowling, boules, more musical drama and plenty of eating. All of this has been finely balanced around work, church, sport and exercise. The television is feeling neglected.

So, musical drama. Both amateur and professional. The amateur came first, a couple of weeks ago, in the shape of Willy Russell's Blood Brothers. Our good friend Sarah had the lead role in the Riccarton Players' production of the musical and, although I'm biased, I have to say she did an awesome job. In fact pretty much everyone in the show was great. Most accents stayed distinctly in Merseyside (including Sarah's - a great feat given her strong Scottish lilt) which was an admirable achievement. A couple did waver geographically however. Of particular note were the cockney Australian policeman and the Welsh Geordie teacher. But really I shouldn't criticise, they still did a much better job that I could ever have done.

A couple of Wednesday's ago was the St John's gingerbread house event. This is two evenings where women in the church invite along friends. The primary aim of the evening is to build and decorate these hugely impressive gingerbread houses, but the other idea of the evening is evangelistic. There's a ten minute talk each evening you see, and so bringing friends along means they get to hear a very simple gospel presentation, an introductory talk. The events are always heavily subscribed. This year Joanne invited along two of her colleagues (although one had to pull out at the last minute with an injury). Please thank God, if you need something to add to your prayer list for us, that Joanne asked her friends along and that one of them made it, seemed to have a great evening, and most importantly, got to hear the talk. Please pray that it would be the foot in the door for future events and conversations.

Last weekend was another busy one (aren't they all?). On the Saturday we finally got to eat outside at our house, using our new table and chairs and the new barbecue. Very exciting. It was so nice to be able to eat outside at last, enjoying the warm weather and the garden. Most enjoyable. We had Blair & Amy from our bible study group round as well as Andrew & Lydia. They've just returned to NZ from London, and St Helen's, the church we went to before the barge (and where Joanne and I were married!) We didn't know Andrew, although we have common friends, but we met Lydia briefly when she arrived in the UK from here in Christchurch, just before I went to New York and then we left St Helen's for the barge. It was good to have a chance to catch up.

Last Sunday it was Joanne's work's social club's Christmas picnic. (It doesn't seem like a year since the last one.) This year it was held at Orana Wildlife Park. It's a place just past the airport here in Chch with quite a selection of animals. Lions, tigers, rhinos, giraffes, cheetahs, zebras, lemurs and meerkats are just a selection of what they've got on show, all in an open-range zoo kind of environment. I wish we had had more time to spend there as there was even more to see than we managed, but once we'd eaten and Santa had arrived by 'safari train' to give pressies to the kids we kind of ran out of time. I would happily go back though. Definitely a good day out.

Last week was a busy one at work too. Monday and Tuesday were spent off-site with the whole marketing department (of which I am part in geography and function, if not in job description) for a strategy meeting. It was two days away from the office working out how we were going to get done everything we want to get done in the next 18 months, including working out what we want to get done in that period. Phew! Monday evening we all had a bit of social time together too - ten-pin bowling (a disappointing 121 and 116 scored) followed by a meal out in Sumner. It was nice to spend some time with the team. I think in some ways the biggest difference between work here and work in the UK is that in London we'd go out for a quick drink at least once a week. People just seemed a lot more willing to socialise after work. Here, it gets to 5pm, and people are gone. I didn't realise I missed the socialising at first, but having the time with them all this week made me realise what we were missing as a team, if that makes sense.

On Wednesday I had another appointment with the sports physician about my shoulder. It seems he's happy it's improving enough that I don't need to go back to see him, which is positive. It's only taken six months, eh? And it's definitely still less than 100%. How fragile we are that just falling over can do so much damage.

On Friday I flew up to Auckland for the day for a meeting in Pukekohe with the North Island Sales Managers. A very productive meeting it was too. Just a shame I couldn't persuade the South Island Sales Managers that they needed the equivalent meeting. Friday evening is where the professional musical drama comes in. Lisa, who used to work with us in the marketing team, now has her own design business. We still put an awful lot of work her way and so are one of her biggest clients. To say thank you for the support she invited her key clients round to her offices on Friday followed by a trip to the Court Theatre to see La Cage aux Folles. It certainly is an interesting story but it was done brilliantly. I was so impressed with the production and I think everyone enjoyed it.

And then to complete the set of socialising with colleagues (it's like London buses, you wait for ages, and then you get three at once) last night was my work Christmas party. We had been told in advance it was a French theme but hadn't been told where it was or any more details. Some people made a great effort and got dressed up in costumes and everything. When the taxi dropped us off we found ourselves at the petanque club in Hagley Park. It turned out to be a great idea. Everyone seemed to have a go and join in - it was something no-one had really played before so everyone was at the same level - and it was really fun. My team (me, Joanne and Gabi) lost both of our games but it's not about the winning, eh? After the games we all headed into a marquee over to one side for a feed and a boogie. Much fun was had.

And now finally, to wrap things up, today after church Jess & Jimmy came back for lunch. I was a bit adventurous and so tried my hand at a beetroot risotto. It was really rather tasty. I'll definitely do that again. And everyone went back for seconds, so they weren't just saying it to be polite either! Jess & Jimmy are heading over to Bangladesh in February to get involved with some mission work over there so it was great to be able to catch up with them and hear the latest on their plans.

It's the final week of the Exploring Discipleship course this week so we'd appreciate prayer for that - that the social aspect of this week goes well, that we leaders are all able to answer the questions that might come up in the q&a session faithfully and humbly, and that the members would continue to be challenged by what they learn about living life as a follower and learner of Christ Jesus. Thank you :)

Ooh yeah, and congrats Pete & Cloudy on the birth of Oliver, Pete & Melissa on the birth of Emily, and Kris & Angie on the birth of Chloe (at least I think it is Chloe!). Everyone's at it, eh?