New Year in Kiel

After arriving back on board late on Sunday evening, New Years Eve, or Hogmanay if you're Scottish, was a working day for me but Heather and the kids were off.

The evening's activities began with a group photo of all those onboard after dinner.

Then at 8pm we had a reflective time in our main lounge, thinking about the past year including a time of worship and communion.

At 10pm there was a concert by a number of the ships musicians and singers, including a great version of "I'm looking for a hero" put on by some of the girls - think Fairy Godmother in Shrek 2 and you get the idea.

At just before 12, we all headed up onto the top deck for a countdown and watched the city explode with fireworks. Everywhere you looked there were fireworks being set off. It appeared that the waterfront next to the ship was a favourite location for people to come and set them off. See the video clip at the bottom.

Some time after 12.30 we had a ceilidh in the ship's theatre with about 150 people dancing and me calling the dances. It was a great night with lots of the dances done to modern music. We didn't finish til about 2.30am when we tried to get everyone to do Auld Langs Syne - interesting with some 30+ nationalities who don't know the words. Liam managed until after 1am but Kara was asleep by 10 after having so many late nights before.

After the ceilidh, a bunch of us headed over the road to a local park and let of a bunch of fireworks which was also great fun. Then it was off to bed some time around 3.30am.

New Years Day was a fun relaxing day with a late brunch and then getting Liam's new bike put together and a cycle along the waterfront. Poor Heather ended up working the afternoon in the clinic and then it was a DVD in the evening once the kids were asleep.

So it's the start of a new year. who knows what this year holds? We just trust God for all that will happen but one thing is for sure, we are likely to be in Kiel for some time yet!

ding ding, round 2

On Sunday, it was time to head off back to Germany after a great 10 days at home.

In some ways it feels like getting back into the boxing ring for the next round after a break.

This time we were leaving Edinburgh from the airport and it was nice to get a good send off.

After saying goodbye to many friends at church, it was off to the Gyle shopping centre and the foodcourt for some lunch with Heather's mum and dad, Colin, Alison & Emma and Karen.

Then before we knew it, it was time to say goodbye at the airport and head back to Kiel via Heathrow.

Although we know that it is right for us to be on the ship at this time, it doesn't make it any easier saying goodbye to family and friends and familiar surroundings and heading back to the ship. We still are trying to feel settled onboard - that is likely to take some time yet.

It was nice to get welcomed back by many and of course we had the New Year celebrations to look forward to.

We'll be home for Christmas then!

What an amazing blessing to be home for Christmas.

The whole time we spent in Edinburgh was exciting and everything felt so fresh after 6 months away. We got to spend quality time with both sets of parents / kids grandparents and our best friends Colin and Allison. We also had chance to catch up with other friends from the church as well as my brother and family and Heather's brother Andrew with his 2 sons who came down for a visit. The first Saturday night we got together with some friends for a great meal and chat.

Christmas Eve was a highlight as we watched the film Polar Express together at C & A's and then it was a fantastic service at Carrubbers. However, the day was nearly spoiled when a car hit us as we drove Alison's car back to Heather's mums. Someone didn't see us and pulled out of a side road straight into the side of the car. Thankfully there were no injuries but the car was not able to be driven further than Heather's mums.

Christmas day started about 7.30 when the kids got up to see what Santa had brought. They were very excited by all their presents.

We had a great day at Heather's mums - all the Christmas traditions that we take for granted in the UK but which is so different from many other countries. On the ship they had their main meal on Christmas Eve and had Steak or Chicken. We had Turkey with all the trimmings. After church, I helped Heather's mum prepare the dinner and then everyone headed off to Great Granny's for a visit.

Other highlights of our time at home included going to the pantomime, meeting up with my brother and family in Carlisle for a day, sitting up late at night watching Christmas music video's on tv while wrapping presents, being at our church 2 Sunday's and sharing about the ship and catching up with many friends again.