UK tour - The first few weeks

Ed's Grandfather's family funeral on the 11th July and the thanksgiving service that afternoon (attended by about 500 people) was a very emotional, but incredibly special day. All the grandchildren took part doing readings and prayers and Dunmar's 3 son's all gave tribute to different aspects of their Father's life. Ed and I couldn't help but feel incredibly proud of the family we are a part of - the wonderful legacy that Dunmar has left. I only hope we can live a life that emulates his example - full of fun, faith-filled, prioritizing family and friends! (Honestly, I didn't plan that!).

The weeks following the funeral were a great chance for Daniel to really get to know his grandparents.

We also got to know Ffion
(my brother's daughter, who we had not yet met apart from on Skype!) and we were around for granny's 94th (hey! hey!) birthday!

Sadly, Daniel also encountered his first English germs and his immune system needed to learn to fight some 'real' viruses - not these weedy Californian varieties! My blood sugar went out of control and I felt pretty rough too... So it was lovely to be based at my parents in Winchester with a fairly clear diary!

I managed to squeeze in a day with my eldest God-daughter and close friend, the Gorgeous Mrs Clay, which was a real treat. The long overdue first meeting with Daniel was a complete joy to behold!

We also had a day with our good friends, the Bonds - their oldest son, Sam, is one of our Godsons. Daniel absolutely LOVED hanging out with some older boys while we revelled in the joy of catching up with old friends.

Another real treat was the day that we decided to surprise everyone by turning up at HBC (Holiday Bible Club), the children's summer activity week run by our old church,

that Ed and I used to help at before we left. It was SO much fun to see the look of surprise on everyone's faces as we strolled in and a real joy to catch up with so many special people.

Sadly, a really nasty chest infection (which actually required a trip to A & E) meant that Daniel was not well enough to attend Ed's cousin, the stunning Katy Stileman's 21st birthday celebration on the 4th August. The same bug prevented us flying to Geneva to attend the Swiss marrage celebrations for another of Ed's cousins, the lovely MRS (how exciting!) Alex Cardwell. Ed went along solo to both of these events while I stayed home with a poorly Mr Beauto.