Better than nothing

I have been intending to blog for DAYS, but what was holding me back was my lack of success in downloading the photos off of my new mobile phone onto the computer. It's so much more fun to post blogs with photos, and I was looking forward to sharing photos of an ice hockey game that Mark and I went to a couple weekends ago. Mark is the newly appointed team chiropractor of the Stingrays, Hull's professional ice hockey team. The game was great fun, and the Stingrays won! We have free season tickets, and I'm looking forward to going again.

Since I couldn't get the ice hockey photos, I hope the ones below will do.



This was taken in Canada at Mark's grandfather's funeral this past August. Despite the circumstances, we had a great weekend being together with Mark's whole family. We also got to see/meet our neice for the first time! She's beautiful =)



This was taken in Arizona. That's right, it's the whole Carlson clan! Reid, Laura, Charlie, Elaine, Rachel and Mark. Notice how tan Mark looks in comparison to the rest of us... I hope he shares that with our kids! My mom spoiled us rotten in Arizona - we were really blessed =)



This was taken at my birthday party in our back garden this past July 28th. Sorry you couldn't make it! We had champagne and a delicious coconut cake that I made. Mom and Dad Colvin-- notice the champagne glasses we're using (an heirloom from grandma Colvin).



In case you haven't seen it yet, this is the impressive double-loft bed that Mark built us with his own two hands. He even designed it himself. So far it's holding strong! We use a step ladder to get up in to it.


I have finally started to feel settled here. I think it's a combination of a steady job and being a part of the church plant. Whatever it is, I'm thankful. My job is going well. It keeps me busy and challenged, and I especially respect one of my bosses, Sue. I also managed to hire two of my fellow church-planters, so it's nice being with them on a regular basis. The church plant is also going well. It's not perfect, and just the other day Mark questioned me about how critical I was being of the church. I just want the best, and I've been at some great churches. I have mellowed out about it. I've started a married women's prayer group on Tuesdays at dinner-time (lunch) (and they call dinner, "tea"). That's going well.

I'm off to bed, but to all of you fellow bloggers, thanks so much for helping us to stay connected! I love reading all of your blogs, and I check them faster than you add in new ones. Keep 'em coming =)

Love,

Rachel

Once again I have been neglecting my writing duties... It always goes like this when I start a journal too, Gung ho for the first little while and then it peters out. So, anyway, life has been going better for the last two weeks. Rachel mentioned in the last blog that my job was not looking so secure so I thought I would update and expand on that. At Chiropractic college we learned a great deal about the body, and about how to identify what goes wrong and about how to adjust body parts etc. What we didn't learn was how to put together a management plan and how to communicate that to a patient. There was no correlation between how many times do you have to do A for this condition before moving on to B and so on. This partially because chiropractor disagree widely on these subjects but we ended up with no guide. I had been treating my patients based on whether they were feeling better or not, rather than taking control of the situation and saying 'you need X treatments to get better over this period of time for this condition to get better and stay better.' When my boss sat me down and we looked at my stats for that last year I could see that instead of treating the condition was purely using if they 'felt okay' as a marker for stopping treatment. We've talked about different strategies, more about what to do and when. I think it's going okay right now. The last two weeks have also been my two busiest ever, which also helps. I'm not out of the woods yet but it's certainly a step in the right direction. In all jobs we make mistakes and there are periods where we do little and everything happens for us while at other times we work very hard for little reward. Learning a profession involves identifying what works and what doesn't for a business as well as for a patient. I appreciate everyone that has been praying for us during this time. My relationship with my boss is still good, he's pleased with some of the other things that I've been working on that have just come about, like I'm now the official chiropractor to the Hull Stingrays, who are a hockey team that is in the top league in England. I just have to make sure that I see some sustainable results over the next few months.
On another note, our first service as a church plant is tomorrow so we'd appreciate some pray for that. I am really starting to get excited about the whole thing.

Where we live

These photos were taken on the day we left for America. It was a grey day, and I was in a rush, but you get the idea...


This is the street we live on, St. Mary's Terrace. Our house is up on the left.


Sorry the photo is sideways. This is our house (just the middle window and blue door)! We rent the bottom floor. The window you see on the bottom is our living room.


Around the corner and up the street you will find the Westwoods, a pasture for cows and a nature preserve/forest area. This is what it looks like inside the Westwoods. It's never crowded with people. I always manage to find a little hole where I can enjoy the trees and meadows in quiet and peace.

-Rachel

The Rust/Meyer Wedding

These are photos, in no particular order (because, despite my efforts to put them in an order, the computer uploads them any which way it wants to) from the recent wedding of my dear friend Eric Meyer. The wedding was held in the Inyo National Forest, just outside of Yosemite, near Mammoth Springs, California. At the end of the wedding Eric and his new bride left for their honeymoon...walking in to the forest. They went backing through Yosemite for 9 days! Notice their appropriately decorated backpacking backpacks.

Mark and I had a wonderful time. It was even just like old times, for a few carefree moments. Our highlight, besides simply being with cherished friends, and being witness to the covenant of marriage, and spending time with some of my best friends' son, and being in the great outdoors, was slipping out into the night to relax in a natural hot spring with our good friends Jess and Tim. It was located in the middle of a big field. Around us was a bowl of darkness, lined with a mountainous rim. Above us, a million stars twinkled and sang and dazzled us by shooting here and there. We sat in silence and soaked up the beauty and wonder. *sigh, smile* After California we then headed to Arizona and spent a lovely time with my family (photos to come). My mom spoiled us! Now we're back in England, back to reality. Sorry it's taken me so long to blog. We both started work the next day, and have worked every day since. It's now Friday night and I have forfeited hanging out with some girlfriends just so I can write to you! I actually wasn't dreading coming back. I was even looking forward to it, which suprised me, considering the difficult time I've had here. This time, I had something to look forward to. The church plant has officially started, and so has my new job! The church plant has brought renewed purpose for being here, as well as a load of much needed and wanted friends. The job has brought fulfillment and worth, and I actually am really enjoying it, and it pays well! My official job now is: Secondary Recruiting Consultant/Business Development Executive/Office Manager. Basically, I work for the substitute teaching agency I was teaching for. I now interview and hire teachers to work for us, as well as liase between our teachers and all of the secondary schools in the area, as well as provide training and development for our teachers, as well as support schools in any worthwhile projects they are undertaking, and as well as wine and dine our clients and teachers. The 'managing the office' part will come in due time (a lot of changes within the office just occured). So, there you have it. Scratch off all of those other jobs I told you about. None of them really worked out. This has come at a good time, as there are now issues with Mark's job. He hasn't been seeing enough patients as his boss would like him to, and his boss told him nicely (honestly) that his patient numbers have to increase or Mark is basically out of a job! Mark has three months to improve, so we would really appreciate your prayers in this area. Mark is an excellent chiropractor, he is just struggling with the management side of things (as he wasn't really taught how to properly manage his patients). His boss is now taking the time to go over manangement issues with Mark, and we hope that that solves the problem.