Sister

A couple of weeks ago we, as a family, were over in London. My wife was taking a writers course. (I've been nagging my wife for ages to get back in to writing - I hope this is a first step in returning to something she is very good at.) Because my wife is feeding our son it meant he had to go to London too. Because my son couldn't go on the course I had to go to London to babysit during class times. It just made sense that our two year old daughter should come too.

While in London it gave me a chance to catch up with my sister and her brilliant family. My sister and brother-in-law are involved in cross-cultural ministry in the east end of London. I've got so much respect for what they are doing. It's great stuff.

My sister has recently purchased a nice espresso machine so she made a few lattes. I said, as I sipped, that I'd mention this latte on my blog.

So here it is.

Hi!

(My sister also has a new bread maker which makes delicious breads, but this blog isn't about bread so I won't mention it. However, she did make some kind of trifle soaking the sponge in freshly brewed espresso. The aforementioned two year old loved it.)

Some Catching Up To Do

I have a feeling that in order keep up a blog you have to make a bit of a habit of it. For one reason or another I've not posted for a few weeks, which is a shame because I have drunk lots of coffee which inspired some thoughts for blogging.

Anyway, I'm back now. If you're still interested in the thoughts that go through my head while drinking a regular latte read on! I'll try and catch up over the next few days.

Revived

Sundays are always good at our house. It's when we get to do some of our favourite area of ministry.

In the morning we have 'Brunch Church' - a relaxed Sunday morning to enjoy a late breakfast together followed by spiritual discussions. It's just a small group that meets in our home, but it is open to anyone regardless of what they believe or don't believe. There's always good questions and topics of discussion about life and faith which often go unheard in church. Plus my wife always bakes something delicious (like banana bread, apple cake or pineapple and raisin muffins - yum!) There's always lots of coffee involved so I'm surprised that I've not blogged it before. I'm not going to now either. Some other time, maybe.

In the evening, seconds after we've got our kids to bed, my wife runs a youth group in our home for teen girls (GO! - Girls Only). I think it is one of the best things we do and the girls seem to enjoy it too.

This past Sunday they took a trip to the cinema to see 'The Devil Wears Prada'. I drove the mini-bus there, but (quite easily) resisted the urge to go see the movie. Instead I opted for some quality time with my baby son (plus a latte and The Sunday Times). I went in to the adjacent shopping centre to find a cafe and was amazed at how busy it was for a Sunday afternoon. I felt a tinge of regret that so many people could make it out to a mall, but not a church.

I had my pick of over a dozen cafes in the centre. However, Butlers Chocolate Cafe was full, Starbucks had a queue out the door and Cafe Paul Rankin didn't have enough room for a pushchair (and a large newspaper). But good old Marks & Spencer. Their Cafe Revive is down in the basement and almost always has space.

I like Cafe Revive for a couple of reasons. Firstly, all their tea and coffee is Fairtrade, secondly they call their regular latte a "Regular Latte" and not a French/Italian/Latin/or some other made up language for a name. I also like the fact that it comes with a free little shortbread.

It occurred to me, while I sipped my drink and read the paper in a care-free manner and was watched with envious eyes by other parents of small children, that maybe, like me, everyone else had gone to church this morning and Sunday was a good day for them too.