We have 4 days left before we arrive in England – we fly Wednesday July 1st and arrive on Thursday. The weeks since Graduation have flown by – we have now sold everything we wanted to and have given the rest away to friends at church. Our apartment is beginning to look bare and every so often Noah starts to get worried and ask why people are taking our things away! Its a hard concept for him to grasp and we would appreciate your prayers particularly for him and Isaac as they adjust to a new home and friends etc.
Last week we were able to go to the San Diego County Fair, which was an experience!! It was held at Del Mar Race Course and had a variety of food (particularly Texan BBQ) – one food stall had a recorded jingle that started out “if your bellybutton is gnawin’ at your backbone, then come on down to Juicy’s”!!! There were lots of rides, market stalls and demonstrations, a barn full of prize animals, food competitions, a pie eating contest and (our favourite) a turkey stampede!! The showmen filled a large remote-controlled truck with feed and then they let the turkeys loose to chase after it! It was very funny to watch 
We walked past a field where they were giving elephant rides, and saw a sign advertising a FREE trapeze ride…but it cost you $10 to climb the ladder! I’ve included some photos of the fair and other things that we’ve done in our last month.
We were also able to go to our church’s annual Family Camp, which is held on Palomar Mountain (the highest mountain in southern California). Apparently each year they have very hot weather, but this year we spent the majority of the weekend in and out of a cloud! It was freezing cold but lots of fun Phil Johnson from Grace Community Church spoke on the man born blind from John 9. It was a lovely time of fellowship and we were so glad to be able to go this year.
Last week we had a GBC tenants and neighbours’ BBQ at our apartment which was a lot of fun. During term time things are so busy that its not often possible to have a proper relaxing get together and I think it was only the second time we’ve all been able to be together. We will miss these friends so much and have been really blessed by them, and by living in the church apartment.
Matthew helped out at the annual IBCD Biblical Counselling Conference this week, which is based at our church. He is preaching at both morning services tomorrow and we will be saying our last goodbyes to our friends from church. It will be sad to leave – we have made so many good friends and learnt so much from them and our pastor and his wife, but we are looking forward to coming home and seeing how the Lord leads us.
We will go back to our house in York, and Matthew will be looking for work during the week and then preaching at various churches at the weekends.
We would value your prayers for our final few days and particularly our journey home, this time with two children! We fly direct to Heathrow and so have been able to minimise some of the travel process – pushing 2 carts of 7 suitcases plus hand luggage, 2 car seats and then a double stroller will be interesting!!
Thank you for all your prayers and emails over these past 2 years – we have appreciated them so much and look forward to seeing you all soon!
Here is the link to the photos.
