Kita’s Grandparents have a holiday place up there which is pretty awesome, nice and cheap break for us! Be nice to escape the characterless Reading for a few days at least and spend v.day somewhere a bit different.

Should be about 260 miles there which should be fine and doesn’t really concern me although I did check the oil in the car, Dad will be proud! The only thing that does concern me a little is that yesterday the main road from York to Scarborough, the one I’m intending to use, was closed last night due to heavy snow fall and then it freezing over. A good number of cars got caught in it, fun fun!

So see you Tuesday or sooner (T&C, look forward to seeing you on Monday :)) when I get to put the new HD into the mini, it’s arrived at my parents.

Dan

Money is tight, no doubt about that and the two of us cant really afford to pay for this place with just our salaries. We probably could stretch it and dig into the wedding savings but in all honesty I’d rather that money go towards a great day than having a spare bedroom basically.

Also Reading well, just doesn’t/hasn’t really cut it for me. Actually I don’t really think it’s the place just, well how few people we know. I think Kita and I have made some good friends through work which is great but we’ve both got friends in other places who we’re used to seeing regularly but are now having to adjust to seeing them less often. I guess though that this is all part of being in the ‘real’ world.

Uni is comparatively a bit of a doddle, 2/3 hours at a particular place at a certain time means it is a lot easier to see whoever you want more or less whenever and heck if you miss a lecture, so what but work, well, got to be there basically. Working 8/9 hours a day though means the evening is generally just for relaxing. Well it is for Kita, I guess my work being not particularly stressful or busy could be considered a blessing but it isn’t (that’s another post).

Finally, moving at the end of August as originally planned could well have been one stress to many with the wedding only being a couple of weeks away at that point. Hopefully now, moving earlier and having a good couple of months to get settled in should put us in a much better frame of mind come the wedding.

July will no doubt be an interesting month for us. Hopefully I’ll find a sofa in Reading I can crash on for a few days in the week. Like I said I’ve made some good friends here and I’m fairly confident that would be ok. I’ll likely take the last week of July off as well like the intern before me did, I can see why she did that now.

So that’s the new and revised plan. If you’re around at the end of June all help will be greatly appreciated, much like this year.

Dan

The house itself is nicely furnished and decorated. It has a reasonable garden, great seeing as we move in over the summer and a shed for bikes. Good size kitchen, something which based on the earlier properties we saw is harder to come by than expected. Good size house overall, the lounge is plenty big enough for a few guests. All in all it feels like the perfect place for the three of us to spend the next year on this crazily fast journey called life.

So, see some of you in Reading in July?

Dan

Dan

Like I’ve said before I really do enjoy heading home, seeing loved ones, family and friend and so that’s exciting me.

Second, I have my first real works do this evening with Chris Lewis Security and that’s exciting, actually I’m really looking forward to seeing friends that I made  over the summer again. Whilst I speak on the phone and email occasionally it’s not quite the same, so that’s exciting.

It’s Christmas, goes without saying that is exciting!

Finally it could and hopefully will be an exciting and eventful Christmas. It’ll be my first Christmas with Kita which I am looking forward to but at the same time it will be my first Christmas away from my family :S Kind of a weird feeling that, I think I’m in a transitional stage of life. Things are changing month to month, but I guess, one day, soon I hope we’ll have our own place. Home will be our place, a settled place that doesn’t change month to month and one day Christmas will happen there, that is an exciting thought, very exciting, time to get the balls rolling and gears in motion

God bless,

Dan

Actually now I think about it, Christmas is seeming earlier this year. As we’re having a proper Christmas meal as a house with all the trimmings before we all head home, so things are bought forward. We’re going to decorate the house all red and green, getting a tree, doing things, erm, properly Actually I think and hope it will be good, really good. Last year this didn’t really happen for me in Portsmouth. I didn’t really know my flat mates well enough to be a part of their plans and whilst my room was large it wasn’t quite big enough to have a proper sit down meal in. This year I’m sure will rectify things plus with me being something of a Christmas nut (just look how many times I’ve fitted the word in!) celebrating it with close friends will be special, God blessed even.

Second half, King's this evening. Was a really good service for me, don’t know but it seemed to hit one area with that I constantly seem to struggle with, lust. I think and feel like I’ve learnt something this evening that can keep my young adult hormones in check, I hope so. I want to be faithful to Kita with my eyes but I can’t help but trip up, Matthew 5:28:

But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

Hopefully I’m getting there, I want to get there, just have to keep things in check and try harder. Please keep me in your prayers that I’ll take it all to heart from this evening and a quick question to those who’ve been through it, does it get easier?

God bless,

Dan

It’s hard though, it always seems like it takes a little out of me but then I’m sure it’s good to share as well. Hopefully inspire people, make people question things, just raise questions in general. Also now Jen knows a little/lot more about me, where I was, what I’ve been through and where things are headed. I hope it helps, that good things will come from it.

God bless,

Dan

PS Sorry if I’m dragging up the past, it really isn’t intended like that, sorry, Dan.

Moved back Saturday with help from Mum, Dad, Kita and Frankie. Kita and Dad re-arranged my room, I’ll take some photo’s once it’s all finished and in place, which created a surprising amount of space! It’s quite a nice room actually, has an annoying bump on the ground but other than that it’s pretty great. Also met up with some friends from the IoW (Isle of Wight), Eddie & Teresa which was great and had lunch in Gunwarf Quays.

Sunday, I somehow got up about 4:30 for a cracking Grand Prix. Went back to bed then get up about 9:30 and made it to King's for the morning meeting. In all honesty I would have probably just gone for the evening service but Kita was down and really wanted to make it as she was getting on a train at 6:30 :’( It was good and I felt at ‘home’, met a few people whom I hadn’t seen for months and really just enjoyed the catch-up.

Sunday afternoon, met up at Blade’s new house to meet the ‘Freshers’ who had met him through Fusion. I met up with a girl who I’d already exchanged email address’ with at Soul Survivor over the summer and lot’s of others, actually now I think about it there did seem to be a lot of new faces, which can surely only be a good thing for the Uni.

Sunday evening, :’(. Said goodbye to Kita, was hard actually, I think I was possibly more teary than her. We’d spent 16-17 weeks together not dissimilar to before I first came to Portsmouth. It was hard to see her leave on the train I’ll be honest but encouraging at the same time. Last year was a huge test of our relationship and it lasted, it survived and it strengthened. I’m getting a stronger feeling day after day that it really will work in every sense.

Sunday evening continued, turned up at King's later, but understandably late for the evening service. Following the service a fairly large group of us students went to a local pub and exchanged names, numbers, MSN etc and two Sarah’s even came back to 31 Stansted Rd to watch a movie. There are plans for us to meet up on Wednesday already which is all good. I think we’re helping a lot of the Freshers feel more comfortable in this strange new place and I must admit I’m enjoying helping them get their feet in Portsmouth.

Monday I got a new toy, but that’s for another post :P. Also Ben, Ruth and I bumped into some Mormons which needless to say started some interesting theological conversation but that’s worth a post on it’s own, besides this one is too long already!

Hope everyone back home (Oxford etc) is ok, thank you all for a great summer, see you soon!

Dan

Thankfully, I have my job back at Jamocha’s, so I can support myself etc at Uni, that and I enjoy working there and even now I’m looking forward to hanging out there, enjoying great coffee and great company.

Actually now I think about it, it’s all a bit weird. I’ve got used to the ‘shire. I’ve slotted into a family group with BCC and I’ve got back into BCC. Ok not as much as Kings church but there are good reasons for that.

I wasn’t at BCC long enough and by the time I was comfortable in my new found ‘Christian-ness’ I was whisked away to Portsmouth. Where things were just catered to me being where I was/am in the Christian path. Now I’ve settled into BCC better than before, it’s sure going to be hard to leave, especially family group but then it’ll be great to come back to.

Then there’s my heart, my love, it’s going to be hard I’ve no doubt but we’ve made it through a year. Distance didn’t break us and whilst we grew apart a bit we’ve grown closer again, much closer

It’s all a bit weird at the moment, looking forward to things to come, not looking forward to things to come, going to be hard/weird/fun (I hope!).

This place will be much busier

God bless,

Dan

Sarah would be 18 today, followed by a large blank and a very long scroll to the next post.

It’s fairly accurate as to how I feel, hollow.

That and a fair bit wierd I never know how to really feel this time of year, guess I should just be thankful for some great memories and that work is keeping me busy.

Ho hum,

Dan