Nerolug Chronicles: A Year in Pictures

Hi folks. Epic fail on my part to blog more regularly. Ah well. There's 2013, right? According to the Mayans, maybe not, but it's 12:30 am on December 21, 2012, and I am still here:)

We have had a good year, mostly. Little aches and pains here and there, but we are still hobbling along and trying to keep up with our active 7-year-old. If you are on Facebook, you will have seen samples of Luke's artistic skills ... like father, like son.

I've included mainly pictures of Luke, since he's the cutest in the family. Neil's still cute, but me ... closer to 50 than 40 now. Gotta admit, loving black and white photos much more than color these days!

So, how to sum up a year's worth of life? Not much has changed. Neil is still busy with the School of Worship, and we are amazed to see the people the Lord brings in for training. He is also in a band called the Soul Reformation, a group guys of playing original Motown/soul-sounding music. Super fun! They have had many ministry opportunities so far, twice playing for outreaches in the projects in Watts.

We are entering into our 3rd year of homeschooling, which has both its joys and trials. Learning alongside my son is a joy, but as you homeschool moms know, your child is not you, and Luke learns very differently than his mimi. His giftings are different as well, and I am seeing strengths in him that I certainly don't have.

Our month-long trip to England was a blessing. We saw answered prayer at Creation Fest, Neil's trip to Israel was amazing, and the short time we had as a family was used to see Neil's family in Bradford. Neil arrived back from Israel two days before his mum had hip surgery, so we were able to spend a day with her prior to the surgery and then visit her in hospital the day after. Sweet orchestration by the Lord.

Neil went to Nepal in October (kicking and screaming, I might add). He really didn't want to go, so we both figured that either he wasn't supposed to or God was going to do amazing things. It was the latter. Such an incredible trip for him and the entire team. That's a subject for an entire blog on its own.

As we draw closer to another Christmas, it's so easy to get sidetracked by "stuff." Stuff happening at home and around the world. Or just buying too much stuff in preparing for the carnage of Christmas morning. I'll be the first to raise my hand and say, "Guilty as charged." Yet, I had such a sweet reminder the other night as my pastor read the words to a very common Christmas carol: "Yet in thy dark streets shineth the everlasting Light." Jesus is that everlasting light. And he said as he finished up the Bible study, "Had Jesus not come into the world, I would not want to be on this earth another minute." That is true for us as well.

Merry Christmas!