Prayers for a beautiful little boy

I mentioned before that my friend C was pregnant with her first child. On 2nd November 2008, JC was born. Unfortunately since his birth there have been a lot of complications. JC was born with a cleft palate, when he was feeding shortly after he was born milk went through the hole in the roof of his mouth and into his lungs causing breathing difficulties. Further complications arose when they tried to insert a tube to feed him. Anyway, to make a long story short, he has now been diagnosed with a genetic condition called Smith-Lemli-Opitz Syndrome, this is extremely serious, both in the short and the long term. Please pray for this poor little mite who has barely had a chance to live, and for his parents to have the strength to get through this difficult time.

Remember, Remember the the 5th of November

Tonight is Bonfire Night in the UK, a day stemming back to some historical moment whe a man called Guy Fawkes tried to blow up the houses of Parliament. All I can hear outside my window is the bangs and whizzes of fireworks going off.

As a kid I used to go to 2 regular bonfire parties, 1 with the church group and 1 with some friends of my parents. I used to love them, the bonfire, the fireworks, the food, staying up late! I miss those days!

Anyway just thought I would share...

All dressed up

I went to a ex-colleague's wedding on Saturday. I was really pleased that I got to wear a pretty new dress (which I had bought on sale) and spend some time with some friends from my old work.

Cleanliness is next to...

... well nothing in our house!

Neither James nor I are the tidiest of people. We both forget to pick up after ourselves, we leave things piling up until we absolutely have to do something about it, and then we have a mad blitz.

I hate this... it embarasses me that we are so messy, yet still we carry on.

I know that we will never have the cleanest or the tidiest house, yet part of me still yearns for it. Every year I make a resolution that things will change, that I will be cleaner and tidier, that I will wash the floors regularly, clean the windows, change the bed covers and all the myriad other tasks that housekeeping entails, and every year passes by without me actually doing it.

For the past month James and I have set ourselves tasks. We come in from work, cook dinner, do the dishes and any other little task that needs doing, hanging out washing, running the vacuum round, mopping the floor etc. It seems to be working, as long as we do the tasks directly when we get in then they get done. If for whatever reason we don't do them straight away then they are left. Is anyone else this bad?

Oh well, at least for now it seems that there is light at the end of the tunnel!

The big question

Why I want to move to Canada:
1. I have always loved America. However, I loved Canada even more!
2. For the past few years I have become increasingly disillusioned by the UK. I am becoming more and more certain that it is not a country where I would like to bring up children.
3. The health system is better in Canada.
4. I prefer the Canadian educational system to that in the UK.
5. The value for money in Canada is better, from the cost of property to daily living expenses.
6. The potential for better employment is greater in Canada than the UK.
7. Proper summers and proper winters, unlike the UK weather which is becoming more and more similar all year round.
8. James is very very keen on moving to Canada, as far as he sees it there is nothing left for him to stay in the UK for. His parents no longer live here. His job prospects are so much better in Canada.

Why I don't want to move to Canada:
1. My family.
2. That's it. The only thing which makes me wonder whether or not I should actually take that leap. OK, so it is rather a large reason not to go, but is it insurmountable? I know that I will see them, albeit much less frequently, probably once a year. I can still talk to them regularly, keep in touch via e-mail and phone, but it won't really be the same. My brother is looking at coming with us, and to be honest that is a big relief. At least I would have some family nearby.

So that is what I am weighing up. I know that if I don't go now (or within the next few years) that I will probably never do it. But am I brave enough to leave behind everything I have ever known to start completely from scratch? New friends, new job, new house, new country...

And most importantly...

... Thank you to my family. Ironically, this was the most difficult thank you to write. Trying to put into words what you take for granted is really tough, so although this may come off as being slightly cheesy, I really do mean what I say.

I have a very close knit family and over recent months we have stuck together through some very difficult times. I guess the primary people who have made this happen are my parents.

Mum, Dad, I couldn't have had better parents. Thank you for giving me the life that you have and for making me the person I am. I truly admire you both and you really are the type of people that I try to be.

My youngest brother Alex. I am so proud of you. You have been through so much in the past couple of years and yet you have come through it. I know that life will always be a struggle for you, and I hope that I can help to support you through it. Stay strong little bro, you can do it!

Alisa, my sister, and more and more my best friend. You are an inspiration to be around. A truly lovely person and a hard worker. You deserve everything you have achieved.

Ross, what can I say? You crazy man! You are my protector and my rock.

I love you all more than I can say.

Thanksgiving Part Deux

Well carrying on in the spirit of my previous post, I wanted to state how thankful I am for my friends. I have always been a fairly solitary person, having 1 or 2 good friends and apart from that not really seeing anyone else. Lately however, my social life has bloomed. I am now so busy that I am finding it difficult to slot in some me-time! Not that I am complaining :D

My friends generally fall into 2 groups, well 2.5. I have my real-life friends, those friends who I have known for a while but see fairly often, this is probably the smallest group. D and J, who I have known for as long I have known James... they probably get the rough end of the stick from me more than most, but they are still there for me (most of the time :p). C and P, I knew C at college, lost contact with her for a number of years and then met back up with her at D and J's wedding 2 years ago. Now expecting her first baby, and with a great husband (P) in tow, I am so glad that we managed to get back in touch. There are others but none I see as often as these 4, or who I feel as close too.

The other group of friends I have are my World of Warcraft 'friends'. I spent a lot of time with these people online, and chat about anything and everything with some of them. I really do count them as friends, as they are people who I can be myself with. In August a bunch of them came to stay with me and James, we had a fantastic time, and James and I are planning to go to Germany at New Year to see them again and meet a bunch of other, so I am grateful for my friendship with them particularly Xille, Beluvie, Adraste and Wolverthorn.

The last few people I am grateful for are the people I am never likely to meet, my other online friends K and N. I chat with them on plurk, I read their blogs... Our friendships nothing more than words, but I am still grateful for them!

So thank you guys. You keep me sane in an insane world!