tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-90297286357697581262016-09-08T04:29:13.978+00:00Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02650197852109664335noreply@blogger.comBlogger864125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9029728635769758126.post-59689824409121728972016-06-03T10:16:00.001+00:002016-06-03T10:16:07.809+00:00

Read our latest prayer letter here

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02650197852109664335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9029728635769758126.post-22025436047561274552016-04-20T12:41:00.000+00:002016-04-20T12:41:12.619+00:00

So I saw the dentist on Monday. My friend Janet took me as Ben was busy with the Ben and Joel Club. He had a good look around and took a couple of x-rays and told me that a filling is touching a root and that is causing the pain. As it would probably take several appointments to sort it out he said I should wait until I get beck to the UK.  He's given me some medicine to keep the pain down which

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02650197852109664335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9029728635769758126.post-64521956083021051282016-04-18T09:07:00.002+00:002016-04-18T09:07:56.074+00:00

This has been a weekend of goodbyes.  On Saturday evening we had a meal with our friends and colleagues from SIM. It was a good time of fellowship and fun.  At the end of the evening a few people shared some of their memories of the Griffin family, mainly funny stories (mostly about Ben poor thing). They also presented us with some fake Arsenal tickets which had Ben very excited for at least a

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02650197852109664335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9029728635769758126.post-79740825696752112762016-04-13T09:36:00.000+00:002016-04-13T09:36:07.458+00:00

Ben's English party went well on Monday night. Luke went along to help as one of the teachers was not able to be there and did a great job. Last night Hannah and seven of her fellow piano students gave a recital.  Hannah has been having lessons for about a year and much to our surprise she has a real talent (her Auntie Debbi is pleased!). Hannah was really nervous and had the daunting

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02650197852109664335noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9029728635769758126.post-78742383987386656272016-04-11T12:03:00.000+00:002016-04-11T12:04:21.356+00:00

Friday was Hannah's goodbye party. Her birthday is in August and Ben and her had planned to have a Spy Party for her birthday last year. Unfortunately I was medi-vacced from Burkina just before her birthday and she celebrated it in the UK instead with one of her friends from her old school.  So on Friday she had a Spy party...Ben arranged it all and we had twelve children of various ages running

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02650197852109664335noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9029728635769758126.post-26880581043367091672016-04-06T12:14:00.000+00:002016-04-11T10:30:57.031+00:00

A few people have been asking me about Josh's exams so they can pray for him each day. 26th April - ICT and French 28th April - ICT 3rd May - English 4th May - Maths 6th May - English 9th May - History and French 11th May - Maths 12th May - Science 13th May - History and French 18th May - ICT 23rd May - English 25th May - Science 27th May - English 6th June - History Gulp!  Most of his exams

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02650197852109664335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9029728635769758126.post-38154804370774039072016-04-05T10:49:00.000+00:002016-04-05T10:49:28.307+00:00

So after posting yesterday, We received an email from the folks in Sheffield who are putting Josh and I up for the rest of his exams to say that we could stay with them for the first two weeks too. Thank you for praying. A few weeks ago a friend of our suggested that we made a leaving Burkina bucket list. The idea is that we all choose places we want to go to or things we want to do before

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02650197852109664335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9029728635769758126.post-1673093570480926652016-04-04T14:19:00.002+00:002016-04-04T14:19:36.358+00:00

Yes, I know, it's been nearly a year and a half since I posted anything, but as there are only 17 days left (so Luke tells me!) before Josh and I leave Burkina I thought I might post a few things over the next few days/weeks about leaving Burkina and arriving in the UK.  The fact that the heat in Burkina has been almost unbearable the last few days does help with the whole idea of re-entering

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02650197852109664335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9029728635769758126.post-37289996709022731342015-01-16T12:23:00.001+00:002015-01-16T12:23:38.024+00:00

Our latest prayer letter is out, read it here

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02650197852109664335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9029728635769758126.post-9662565489742749272015-01-02T11:56:00.003+00:002015-01-02T11:56:40.053+00:00

Happy New Year!  I can't believe it is 2015 already! We have had a lovely Christmas and new year.  Christmas day was spent with another British family and a Dutch short termer. Our friends had even found a turkey!  Mum had sent out some Christmas crackers and we had great fun explaining to our American and Dutch friends what they were! We had an open house Christmas evening and had lots of

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02650197852109664335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9029728635769758126.post-63828731634162005192014-11-24T10:24:00.001+00:002014-11-24T10:24:14.600+00:00

Luke finished his Lego 'Hobbit' film last week, it took him ages but I think it's great!

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02650197852109664335noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9029728635769758126.post-62341031256182291242014-11-10T14:06:00.001+00:002014-11-10T14:06:34.165+00:00

So much has happened since I last wrote it's difficult to know where to begin, or what to make of it all! Hannah has started to go to a Christian school every afternoon. The school has only just been started and we did consider putting Hannah in full time but did not know enough about it, to commit to her going full time. So she still does WES with me everyday until noon and then heads off to

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02650197852109664335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9029728635769758126.post-50960302512679710842014-09-25T18:41:00.001+00:002014-09-25T18:41:07.983+00:00

School is definitely underway in the Griffin household.  The boys start school at 8am with a few minutes of typing practice and then they work their way through their lessons for each day. Josh is studying for 8 GCSE's and Luke is taking 7 year 8 subjects.  They 'do' school through an online school called 'Northstar Worldwide'. All the lessons are online and they down load each lesson to their

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02650197852109664335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9029728635769758126.post-90024850893562778652014-09-01T20:55:00.000+00:002014-09-01T20:56:40.757+00:00

Things have settled down a bit since I last wrote and I started school today with Hannah. Josh and Luke's online school is not due to start until next week but I hope they will be able to start some time this week.  It was good to just be me and Hannah today and get our first few lessons done.  Hannah was tired by the end but did a good job and we now have a very long timeline to put up in the

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02650197852109664335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9029728635769758126.post-53660586284692821022014-08-23T12:44:00.000+00:002014-08-23T12:44:19.532+00:00

We arrived safely in Burkina on Monday with all our suitcases.  We stayed in the SIM guesthouse overnight and then moved into our house on Tuesday.  I have been slowly unpacking (due to the heat) and the house is now more or less back to the way it was a year ago! It's been great to catch up with friends here and in some ways we feel that we haven't left or been gone a whole year. 

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02650197852109664335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9029728635769758126.post-36033745516828248052014-08-07T19:41:00.000+00:002014-08-07T19:41:15.620+00:00

The last month has flown by and we have just over a week left before we head back to Burkina.  We have been busy. Ben and I took the boys to Alton Towers before Hannah finished school. The boys loved it, but unfortunatly I had to give up by lunch time and spent the afternoon sat on the grass feeling sorry for myself  (need I say more!). We had a leaving party for Hannah and Josh had a film

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02650197852109664335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9029728635769758126.post-64916329290264704092014-07-17T18:17:00.003+00:002014-07-17T18:17:59.605+00:00

This time next month we will hopefully be ready to go, but we've got a lot to do between now and then! I'm sat in the living room surrounded by lots of stuff from upstairs, we're having carpets put in upstairs tomorrow, the old ones were on their last legs. I'm hoping the rooms will be finished by Tuesday as someone is coming from the letting agents to take some interior photos.  We had a

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02650197852109664335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9029728635769758126.post-8335517487427998422014-07-10T07:33:00.000+00:002014-07-10T07:33:17.735+00:00

Ben and I spent the day on Tuesday painting ceilings and walls in the children's rooms. White ceilings and magnolia walls (very boring!). We need to do a final coat today and then paint the skirting boards etc. The house is now on Rightmove! Ben and Josh had a good day on Monday and we have received a comprehensive report for Josh which means he should get extra time during exams.  I have yet

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02650197852109664335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9029728635769758126.post-23728708009346253492014-07-07T10:37:00.001+00:002014-07-07T10:38:01.747+00:00

When we arrived back from Burkina a year ago Wednesday (!) one of the first things I asked someone in our church was for the dates for the churches ladies weekend this year!  So on Friday 34(ish) ladies from our church headed to Bala for the weekend.  We had a lovely time of fellowship, fun. and lots of cake! Ben managed really well with the children and took them up to Dewsbury late

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02650197852109664335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9029728635769758126.post-82497205355238726602014-07-03T09:00:00.000+00:002014-07-03T09:00:01.303+00:00

It was Nana's memorial in Whitby yesterday. It was the celebration of the life of an amazing lady who was an example to us all and who is now in heaven with her heavenly father. It was lovely to see friends and family and meet the new pastor of the church.  

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02650197852109664335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9029728635769758126.post-6872989996277447642014-07-01T09:22:00.002+00:002014-07-01T09:22:58.131+00:00

The plasterer and his 'team' did come yesterday and proceeded to get the walls and ceiling ready for plastering, by the time they left yesterday, they had done the ceilings and the walls were ready for this morning. So Hannah slept on our floor surrounded by the contents of her bedroom and the boys room!  Josh and Luke slept in the living room and Ben and I climbed over Hannah into our bed!  

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02650197852109664335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9029728635769758126.post-38915914555373364092014-06-27T12:48:00.001+00:002014-06-27T12:48:38.471+00:00

We are going to have a busy weekend and the plasterer is coming on Monday to plaster the walls in the kids bedrooms. So this morning I have dismantled the bunk bed and moved bookcases so that we only have to move a few last things on Monday morning (I really hope he turns up!).  Most of our house has Artex on the walls which looks pretty awful but is hard wearing and easy to repair when it

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02650197852109664335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9029728635769758126.post-77031397845359908252014-06-26T07:38:00.003+00:002014-06-26T07:38:40.174+00:00

OK, so yesterday we signed up with an letting agent, send off my passport to get a visa and weeded the front garden. The rest of the family were able to get five year visas when we were in Burkina, but I wasn't able to do that as my passport needed renewing.  It's normally fairly quick! We have been looking into how to store our stuff in the UK whilst we are away, we are thinking of buying a

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02650197852109664335noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9029728635769758126.post-433665661361607892014-06-24T08:33:00.001+00:002014-06-24T08:33:23.394+00:00

Ben finished his course yesterday and passed (hurrah!).   We're now sat on the sofa, on laptops and planning the next two months. The calendar is full and we're trying not to double book ourselves or leave anyone out! I have to let him know bit by bit just how busy we are! My Nana went to be with her Lord and Saviour on Sunday evening, she was called Joy and she really was, she reached the

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02650197852109664335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9029728635769758126.post-80383049452496133542014-06-23T08:04:00.001+00:002014-06-23T08:04:12.237+00:00

After nearly a year back in the UK and and only a few months to go before we return to Burkina Faso, I thought it would be a good idea to start blogging again.   Ben has spent the last month slogging away at a CELTA (Certificate in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages)  in Manchester, it truly was intensive and he almost gave up several times but has passed it all and finishes

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02650197852109664335noreply@blogger.com0