Long time no blog...

…So here we are to redeem our poor efforts at keeping our little piece of cyberspace up to date. What’s to report? Well, firstly Mark is just beginning to settle in to his new routine as a postie for the Royal Mail. Hazel is loving her new role as a social therapist, and all in all things are surprisingly ‘normal’ for us at the moment. Even as I write this, mark is watching through the kitchen blinds as a few lads off the estate vandalize our garage with some illegible slogans in a tasteful black gloss spray paint. I never thought that I would one day consider it ‘normality’ to have my property vandalized. Hmmm… with all this action on the estate, It’s good to have a bit of a change planned in, and with 5 weeks to go until our Uganda trip we really have something to work towards. We’re going with fellow Sale Moorians Jez, Janet and Joseph Green. Also accompanying us are 4 girls from the area, aged 12-18, and we’ll be meeting our good friend Sam out there too. Our destination is the Kampala children’s centre, and we’ll be filling the time with all sorts of antics from decorating to dancing, and all that’s in between.

An awful lot has happened since our last blog update (far too much to go into details now) but here are some headlines of recent events, just to wet your appetite:

• Marks truck stolen, never to be seen again…

• Mark and Hazel have en-suite bathroom… … In the living room!

• Mark Finds Long lost friends whilst on post round… (this one is miraculous, we’ll have to tell you about it some day)

• New neighbours…

• Hazel applies for MA…

• Youth alpha in the local high school is a great success…

• Hazel and mark learn circus skills from OAP clowns…

• Strange visitor arrives from London… … on a SCOOTER(!) – is she mad?

• Best friends tie the knot (Pete and Paula we LOVE you)…

• Friend rescues a family of baby mice…

• Genesis finally gets the go ahead to use shop…

If you want to know more about any of these top stories, just ask. Much Love, until next time,

Hazel and Mark x x x

Retreat to Wales

Every now and then, our little community/team here in Sale Moor take some time out from the every day goings on of the estate in order to collect our thoughts and prepare for the future. Last weekend, we headed to Wales for a much needed retreat. We found a great little converted chapel in Conwy, where we were blessed with sea views to the front and mountains behind. It was great to have the whole Lawrence family with us this time round, offering their encouragement and valuable experience where needed. The retreat centre was aptly titled ‘En Gedi’; a name which reflects the season of new opportunity and other exciting stuff here in Sale Moor. En Gedi is referred to in Ezekiel 47 as the place where the fresh water begins, thus allowing life to flourish and flow. A refreshing weekend indeed!

If you would like to see more pictures, click on a slideshow image then select 'Retreat' file. x

Mark's Birthday!

As you may well know, February 13th marked the completion of Marks 21st year as a human being. To celebrate this rite of passage into manhood, Mark and myself embarked on a wee adventure, the idea being that Mark would have to try 21 new things that he’d never done before. We kicked off the marathon with a church bell-ringing lesson, and then we headed south to Bath, where Mark tried his hand at Capoeira (the instructor made him fight every person in the class as a birthday ‘treat’!!). We spent a leisurely evening in a naturally heated, open-air, roof top pool – it was absolute bliss, and very hard to leave. Other ‘firsts’ included eating worms (a delicacy in some parts), perching ourselves in a pleasant spot and painting a canvas (the rain and the spectators made for an interesting challenge), climbing in a converted church, enjoying a champagne breakfast with family - the list goes on, but we still need a couple more activities in order to make it to the big Two One, so any suggestions are welcome!

Hazel and I got married on 14th Ocober 2006. Thanks to our good mate Aaron, we now have a great wedding video, so for those of you unable to join us on the day - enjoy. It's about 5 minutes long. x

The Wedding Highlights Video!

Happy New Year

Hey people, well we finally made it to the land of blog. Now that we are here, we'd love to use this space as a place where we can entertain guests and keep you posted about all the highs and lows of the happy hughes clan in Manchester. Just to wet your appetite, here's a little taster of our life at the moment.

It is New Years Eve - the dawn of the year 2007 is a mere 3 hours away, and what are we doing? We are fighting to keep the bugs at bay; no wild parties this year, just plenty of lemsip and a snuggle on the sofa. Life inside the Mersey basin is taking its toll on our immune systems! Or perhaps its the knock on effects of kids christmas parties - quote uncle Roy: "Children are walking biological warfare machines! They catch a bug, make it worse and then pass it on to you."

Aside from the sniffles it is actually quite refreshing to spend our first new year as Mr and Mrs quietly at home. We've spent some time reflecting back on 2006 and trying to fathom the thought of 2007 with all that God has planned for the exciting year ahead. We had a wonderful Christmas x 2! Being married means 2 Christmas dinners, 2 lots of presents and even more wonderful family members to share the celebrations with. Anyway, the lemsip is beckoning, so thankyou for reading our first slice of hughes life. We hope that your 2007 is filled with peace, joy and a little bit of cheekyness. Love Hazel and Mark