Next Step for Alison

Alison has been trying to get work as a classroom assistant but has had no success. After not getting the last post because there were a lot of people with good experience applying for it, she decided that she needed experience. To this end she has applied to volunteer at a local Primary school.
Hopefully she will start in the new year at Newtown School in year 1. Please pray that the Tanzanian end of the CRB check will go smoothly.

Last Link Visit

Yesterday we did our last link visit which, while it will be nice to have weekends again, was very sad, as it is the end of an era for us. We have been blessed with some wonderful times during our visits, met great people and received superb hospitality. We ended our last service with the song Teach me to Dance to the Beat of your Heart (which has long been Alison's favorite but chosen by the church not us) and went out on a real high.
Thanks to all of you who have supported us with your love and prayers over the last nine years.

Brilliant News

Although the details have yet to be sorted we heard today that Peter's job has been made permanent. Thank you for all your prayers for this.

Job Update

ALthough I have yet to get anything in permenant I have been lucky enough to get to take a Scrap booking class at the local craft shop. I can't believe how lucky I am, it looks as if I might get paid for doing what I love. At present I have one lesson booked but we hope more will follow.
Please continue to pray for a permanent position for Peter and a part time post for me to top up the fun work.

Peter's Study

Next room on the list is now finished - well apart from the blind!

You will see that this time there are no little craft bits highlighted - it's a man's study so very sensible.

However those of you in Tanzania note that the picture Peter received from DCMC fits great on the wall over the filing cabinet, made for each other.

Work for Peter

As of this coming Monday Peter will be working full time. He has a 3 month job as a Trainee IT Support Engineer based for 3 days a week in London and 2 days a week in Amersham. While only temporary we are really pleased that he is getting experience of this type of work in the UK, if nothing else it will improve his CV.

Arrived from Tanzania

I would like to say at last but actually it was 2 weeks ago that our things arrived from Tanzania and yes we got as much stuff this end as we sent that end. We are so very grateful that nothing had even been opened and was exactly as we had packed it. We have now been spending time unpacking and fitting it all into the house.

No the stuff in the background wasn't shipped that's just the rest of the stuff in the garage waiting to be sorted.

Alison's Job

Just a quick note to say that Alison did not get the job at the Methodist Church which she went for.

Another Room Down

The dining room is now finished and the walls adorned with our TZ souvenirs. The gold picture is actually bottle tops collected from sodas as soda dominates life out there and in rural areas is the drink used for guests, celebrations and funerals. We had to bring some back with us. For close ups see Alison's craft blog.

The Craft Room

Having been going on for what seems like ages about Alison's new craft room, here at last are pictures of it.



We are both really pleased with how it turned out. Curtains are coming as soon as the sewing machine arrives back form Tanzania. For more detailed crafty details have a look at Alison's craft blog

Now watch this spot for the dinning room!!!

Good News

Yesterday we heard that after two false starts half our worldly goods have left Tanzania and are as I type heading for the UK. We expect them to dock early September and be with us mid September.

Last time we saw it we had this much, it will be interesting to see how much arrives....

Leaving and Travelling

Well we said our goodbyes in Tanzania and although it was so sad to be leaving we were certainly blessed with some wonderful send offs.




At our open house afternoon.









From our village church


From Peters friends at the health center
and from the students at school who henna painted my hands after my last day of teaching.

We travelled back by flying to tunis, catching the ferry to Salerno and then train to London via Naples, Rome and Paris. It was great. To see my favorite photos

Click on Picture

We are slowly settling back into the UK, unpacking and becoming reacquainted with mundane things such as supermarkets.

We are finally beginning to get things together. Most of our shipping things are packed and we are starting to think about the things which we will be taking as luggage. Of course then we will have to check that between the shipping and luggage we have included everything - some hope there will things crammed into hand luggage as there wasn't space else where.
Selling things off hasn't as yet been as hard as we thought it would be as we are trying to ask for donations not putting fixed prices on things and we don't look to see how much the donations are, just put the money in the pot.
It is turning quite cold here which is a great time of year as you can sleep with a blanket on a real luxury.

As we are returning to the UK and so our newsgroup might well cease I thought I would be brave and try to create a blog to keep in touch.