Hail to the Lord’s Anointed!

I went to Germany again this week – up at early o’clock on Monday, nightmare journey to Heathrow, missing the flight and then our rearranged flight was delayed more than once. The time out there is a bit of a blur, but it involved very long days, keeping the customer just about happy enough, some menacing apple eating by a big cheese, lots of smoky restaurants and bars trying to find veggie food on the menu and lots of nice free fruit juice, lebkuchen and hot chocolate and even more work to do when I’m next in the office. Back late on Friday without being able to buy any presents for Katy or the children (this seems to have gone down OK), utterly exhausted but very glad to see the children asleep in their beds and to cuddle up to Katy in ours. Katy had somehow managed to do the job of two parents while I was away and wasn’t wanting to strangle anyone.

Yesterday was J’s second mini-football session and the last for the year. He enjoyed it a lot again and is gaining in confidence. They all got certificates and he wants to go back next term, which is a very good sign. Then we walked around the corner to a sling meet at someone’s house, where some new people were indoctrinated into the power of baby wearing. It was very nice and we lost the older two and gained young D (about L’s age) as D’s mum was taking our boys plus her daughter to London to see a children’s version of the Magic Flute. This is one of the many cultural blind spots I have, but it sounded like a Good Thing. Much wailing from D until he got to our house and saw lots of lovely toys, then I fed everyone and whisked L and D to the swings so Katy could finish off her sermon for this morning’s service. At the swings I met someone who was Danish and living in this country to avoid paying Danish 63% tax!

When J and K returned with their hosts they told us how excellent it had been and then J displayed his tiredness and hunger (despite being offered a huge bowl of pasta) by playing up enough that he went to bed before K.

More busy-ness today, with Katy preaching at a local village church that we go to only when she’s down to preach there, which is about every year or so. That seemed to go OK, although I was on child care duty much of the time. One bit that I was in the church for was Katy doing the children’s address. She got the children jumping and shouting for joy, which they managed very well and they were much better than the adults. It was all about Gaudete Sunday (rejoicing), which led nicely into Tell Out My Soul.

Almost immediately after the service (it wouldn’t be a proper service without tea and biscuits afterwards, and we didn’t want to incur the Lord’s wrath by defying Tradition 😉 ) we piled back into the car for lunch en route and the second service of the day, which was the christening of the youngest child of one of Katy’s imaginary friends. This was 2.5 hours’ drive away across the Thames (Dartford crossing is always a crowd pleaser, as is the Just So Stories tape in the car). Minor panic when trying to find the way into the church and the dashboard decided to light up like a Christmas tree and so the car stall at the head of the queue at a junction.

We got there OK, the service went well and little R ticked all the baptism boxes:
look cute in gown? – yes
keep quiet during the hymns and prayers and sermon? – yes
keep quiet even when assaulted with smelly oil and cold water? – yes

After the service I managed to get us well and truly lost in the mile and a half to the venue for the reception / party. When Katy read the map we went straight there 😳 At the party R ticked even more boxes:
still look cute in gown? – yes
keep contents of stomach in stomach and not all over gown? – yes
sleep happily for most of the time? – yes
be very cuddly and go back to sleep when cuddled? – yes
allow strange man to relieve mum of cuddle duty while she ate, fall asleep without a murmur, allow strange man’s wife to turn the cuddle into a sling-enhanced carry while staying asleep, not wake up when strange man decides to sing along to beautiful cover of Mad World playing on the hi-fi thinking it would be a nice lullaby? – yes

J had his usual whale of a time playing (football) with R’s big brothers and sisters, and K and L did something or other that they enjoyed (colouring, I think). It was one of those occasions when you felt completely happy letting them wander off as you knew they’d be safe and happy doing something you approved of. Katy got to chat with imaginary friends in person, we all ate lots of lovely food and we were the last guests to leave apart from R’s godmother.

The children finally fell asleep in the car on the way home, after K insisted that he’d seen some UFOs. Handily they were taking off from Gatwick airport – how did they get their clearance from the tower?