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Christmas '89 Newsletter

There were nine of us at the last count in the Jest/Jackson household, making it a touch of the "Tenement Symphony" when we are all at home!

It has been a very gruelling year for all of us, our newest addition, Oliver David saw to that. Margaret had already been in and out of hospital since the 6th November having to stay in permanently from 2nd December until 17th January. Oliver was born on the 7th January at 33 weeks by emergency Caesarean because Margaret was haemorrhaging badly. Unable to breathe by himself he spent the first week on a ventilator, which did the breathing for him. He also had the added complications of pneumonia, anaemia and jaundice. He was in the intensive care unit a month: two weeks in an incubator and two weeks in a cot convalescing. When he came out of hospital on the 6th February we all cheered - he had taken three months to be delivered home! After three days at home he decided to stop breathing after his feeds - when Margaret telephoned Tony to tell him that Oliver was back in hospital he wanted to know if he was having a bad dream. A further week in hospital and a whole battery of tests could find nothing out of the ordinary, so we had him back again. He is now eleven months and huge, so much so that it makes you feel rather a fraud when you tell people that he was premature and had a lot of initial problems. His premature delivery means that he is two months behind in normal development, but he is now physically three months bigger than an average 11 month baby - he looks rather like a human equivalent of Dumbo!

Tony:- has built a play house for the boys in the garden, put up a greenhouse and a shed that his parents gave us. He moved within his company (ICL) to offices in Reading, and takes Julian to school on his bicycle crossbar on his way to work. He was called as Young Men's president when our two wards were joined, and enjoys the calling, taking part in the yearly Stake camp and Youth Convention, and two overnight camps. His latest project was a hot air balloon which he made from tissue paper and had floating in our sitting room, blown up with my hair dryer. Unfortunately the launch at church using a heat source of candle wax and rag came down in flames ... back to the drawing board for the next one!

Margaret:- I don't remember much of my year, it went by too fast, but I did become a year older and "wiser". My three months enforced inactivity from church gave me a more understanding attitude towards members who go inactive, and how difficult it is fitting back in after being away. I found seven children quite overwhelming, rather like an endurance test - how long could I keep the show on the road!!! As a result of the traumatic experience of Oliver's birth, and month in intensive care I joined a self help group called BIBS - Babies In Buscot Support, which is run by parents whose babies have been in special care on Buscot ward. I love the work and involvement visiting the hospital in a supportive role, to be available to listen to parents should they need somebody to talk to. BIBS also raises money for the ward and supports in any way it can. I recently went on a two day communication course, which I found both interesting and helpful.

Kelly:- left home in February just before Oliver came home, to share a house with a girlfriend in Reading. She worked last year, temping, saving enough money to travel with another girl through Italy and Spain in-between retaking her exams that she needed better grades for. Now aged 19 she is at Hatfield Polytechnic studying English Literature with Spanish, Drama and Sociology on the side, and enjoying it very much.

Damion:- graduated from seminary last June and in August attended his last Stake young men's camp and celebrated his 18th birthday. On camp got the sort of sickening achievement that you love to hear about in a Christmas newsletter by winning the Best Young Man award - Tony made it a double by pocketing the one for the Best Leader! He is at Henley Sixth form college in his final year of A levels studying English, History, and Classical Civilisations. He went to Greece in October as part of his course.

Kirstine:- Said goodbye to school in June and started working at Next - a trendy-sophisticated clothes shop. She is enjoying earning money and having new clothes, I'm not so sure about the hard work. At school she was never what you could call scholastic, having what she termed an "arrangement" with her teachers about getting in late and leaving early - in other words not working very much! Now she is on her feet for five days a week she seems to be permanently shattered, sleeping most of her day off, and vanishing into her bedroom after dinner on a Sunday to reappear in a semi-comatose state at about nine in the evening for a quick snack before returning to bed! She gets on well with the people at work, and has been selected to do a year's managerial course, starting the training on her 17th birthday.

Sam:- Fast approaching 12 and at last able to join in the Young Men's activities at church, which he envied the older ones doing. Always in a hurry to grow up, neither quite as old as the older ones, nor as young as the little ones, he sits firmly by himself, in the middle of our family, managing on many an occasion to irritate both older and younger family members. He took part as an extra in a television programme being filmed at Reading's football ground, just up the road from us, was pushed off the stand by accident, and as compensation was given a year's season ticket to the football ground. In Sam's life his bread always lands butter side up!

Julian:- aged 5, he started school in September and loves it. He was so good at first, like an angel, then he completely changed and became uncontrollable - it began to be very worrying. Now he seems to have settled somewhere between the two extremes, having got a tremendous sense of accomplishment out of earning some "well done" stickers for quiet working and reading. His family likeness to Sam is quite remarkable - doubtless why they irritate each other so much. Never a keen walker (having his father's legs) he has taken to his bicycle like a duck to water, often cycling the mile to church when we walk.

Harry:- aged 3 is full of bounce, rather like Tigger in Winnie the Pooh, his larger than life personality attracts people to him, although sometimes his larger than life voice can be a shock. His volume always seems to be turned a couple of decibels higher than anyone else. He, like Julian, found it hard to cope without me for so long in hospital, especially as he was only two years old. It has taken him a long time to settle down again, and he is still jealous of Oliver.

We are thinking of going to Germany for a two year working holiday in Munich next autumn - Kelly will still be studying and Damion should be on his mission. Kirstine plans to join us for some of the time, the four boys will of course go with us - we are looking forward to a fluent form of "Sprechen Sie Deutsch", and possibly to do some skiing since Austria will not be too far away - with its memories of our Honeymoon and a happy holiday there to rekindle. Sam will go to an international school, but Harry and Julian will attend german school. Tony is enthusiastic about the adventure, however, I have my reservations - after nearly seven years in Reading I feel like "Bilbo Baggins", having a yearning to settle down and just be comfortable - after all I have been here twice as long as any other place since I left my home town of Folkestone (Tony says that this is an old granny attitude!). So look forward to our 1990 newsletter with München, Deutchesland as our address - come and visit us if you feel so inclined.

Happy new year to you, with love from us all!