A busy summer

While for many July and August mean holidays or a quieter period at work, here in Gloucester it’s been a busy time both at home and work. With the baby due any day now we’ve been trying to fit in seeing as many friends as possible (notably with trips to Sheffield and Thame), catching up with some people we haven’t seen for far too long. It’s been great to hear people's news, see (rapidly) growing children, and enjoy time in some places that still mean a lot to us. At the same time, it’s been nice to come back from these trips to our current home. Liz and Levi have been making the most of the holidays, doing lots of activities with friends and getting as much fresh air as they can.

At work, Matt has been trying to get as much as possible done ahead of taking a couple of weeks paternity leave after the birth. His team’s next community of practice learning event is taking place at the beginning of September and Matt has again been responsible for coordinating event preparations. Over 50 participants from across Asia will be meeting in Bangkok to share and learn about ‘Advocating for multilingual education’ (find out what this is about here) and so it should be a really exciting time. Working on the preparations this time round has been particularly bittersweet for Matt since he won’t be able to be at the event despite it being a topic so close to his heart. Thankfully Matt has got a great team working together on the event and so is confident they’ll do a great job facilitating it without him! Please do pray for the team as they prepare for and then run this event and for all the participants as they travel from their places of work, learn together, and then return to communities to share and implement their learning.

Aside from looking forward to our new arrival any day now, we are also looking forward to September and a new academic year. Levi will start going to playgroup 1 full day and 3 mornings a week and Matt will be teaching a new group of Wycliffe recruits, helping prepare them for their work with minority communities around the world. It’s always exciting to be part of the beginning of people’s journey as they get ready to serve God and communities in some of the most forgotten parts of the world. Please pray for us as we do our part to prepare them well, both technically and spiritually, and for the students as they take this significant step of faith.