It’s my wife Rachel’s birthday today. Her first as a mum. Nothing has changed though in terms of her determination to stretch out her birthday for as long as possible!

We had a picnic on Saturday with friends which was fun and - thankfully - the rain stayed away!

Today Rachel is out for lunch with her ‘yoga mum’s’ and then our friend Sarah is babysitting tonight so that the two of us can head out for a meal.

As to what gift I got Rachel this time round, I pushed the boat out way above official birthday budget and am going to take her to see the new Sister Act musical!

Happy birthday honey!

Mistake.

Well, it was nice to catch and England game, but it really was pretty dull. It was a definite reminder of why I prefer rugby. The intensity and passion you get from the England rugby team just seems to be one a whole other level compared to the footballers.

I can’t figure out what it is. But it is a regular thing with the England team. They under-perform. And they lack intensity.

For significant parts of the game, it was just drifting. They seem unable to build and maintain momentum. It took us conceding a silly goal to kick us into action. That shouldn’t be the case.

When you last heard from me about my business venture, it was under the banner of The Human Potential Company.

In order to bring various different ventures together (see http://awakengroup.com), the site is being rebranded as Awaken Consultancy (http://awakenconsultancy.com).

[ RELAUNCH ]

You will have noticed too that things have been very quiet since the initial launch at the end of last year. In effect, that was really a ‘beta’ launch.

Today, to go along with the rebrand, we are effectively relaunching the site and have added several training opportunities for the month of April.

Check out the Events page for all the details: http://awakenconsultancy.com/events

[ BLOG ]

As well as this, my Awaken blog will be being updated regularly, so be sure to subscribe to ensure you don’t miss out on any of the updates.

[ INVITE ]

Finally, if you have people who you think would be interested in the content on the site or in any of the upcoming courses and training opportunities, be sure to invite them.

http://awakenconsultancy.com/invite

Today has been a different story!

And, to top it all off, Rachel is not very well with a cold.

Sometimes I wish it was easier for me to help out with the feeding front so that it’s not so difficult for Rachel to have a break.

All in all I think it’s fair to say that fatherhood has felt like it’s been a combination of both higher highs than I was expecting AND lower lows!

The lack of sleep can definitely really knock you out at times. And, when she’s in grizzly mode it can be incredibly frustrating and trying.

But I wouldn’t give her back for anything!

Rachel has been doing an AMAZING job too. I’m so proud of how well she’s adapted to being a mum. She has it much worse than me when it comes to lack of sleep and handing her when she’s a grizzler and yet she’s so patient.

She’s been starting to give us a few smiles lately which, of course, makes it all the more worthwhile. Even if - like the other night - being wide awake and giving us beaming smiles at 3am isn’t the best timing!

We spent a week with them in January 2008 and are now working out the details for going back out there this July.

I’m really excited to get back out again. We’re looking to definitely be out there for 2 weeks, but hopefully 3.

Whilst it is so good to be able to do our small part in trying to make the world a better place, it is also such a growing experience. Serving others in another cultural context is something that impacts you in ways that are difficult to describe.

I just know that I would love to see everyone have the chance to do it.

One of my dreams actually is to facilitate something that challenges and enables everyone give up one week a year to serving alongside projects like Oasis in Johannesburg.

I watched Cloverfield on DVD last night. I had no idea what to expect really but thoroughly enjoyed it.

I loved the one hand held camera filming and following just a few characters. It felt very raw and real.

The actual storyline was a bit wacky for my liking but the filming made up for that and kept it interesting.

Anyone else seen it? What did you think?

This new blog will be focussed on mission, leadership, church, and culture. I realise that’s not everyone’s thing, hence I’m setting it up as something separate.

If that is something you’d be interested in though, make sure you head over and subscribe.

Thanks!

I can still count on one hand the number of times we’ve had to cook a meal since she arrived over five weeks ago.

Some people have dropped off meals for us to freeze for later, whilst others have come round and cooked in our kitchen and then eaten with us.

Lots of friends have been shopping for us, keeping us stocked up on the essentials: bread, milk, and cake!

It’s been wonderful. And so, so helpful.

I’m sure any of you who have had babies, will understand just what a difference this kind of help makes. It is making things so much easier and manageable for us.

I feel like we have the best friends in the world.

And I’m really, really, REALLY grateful!