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Christmas '93 Newsletter

An agency phoned in February asking if I'd be interested in a Quality Assurance job with the computing arm of British Telecom. An eventful journey for the interview to Newcastle Upon Tyne involved fires in signal boxes and vandalised signal cables, I was 2½ hours late but got a good job (the second interview I've been late for resulting in a job offer). The job looks set to be a good step in my career, it is a convenient 35 minutes from home and I've had some very interesting training.

Margaret has been busy in her work at church with children up to twelve, we have a lot of members attending in Reading, the successful conclusion of a Christmas party for 95 children was no mean feat! Margaret is really enjoying having another daughter after a 20 year gap, she now has a little helper who rushes around doing "girlie" things such as patting the piles of clothes after the washing is done. She says that there is a real feeling of a kindred feminine spirit about Eleanor that is a most refreshing change.

Kelly has had a year out at work after completing her degree in Spanish and Linguistics, she now wants to get a formal speech therapist qualification but unfortunately is not eligible for a government grant because she used it on her first degree. There are charitable foundations from which one can get funding, she has managed to persuade one body to commit to paying her fees, but now needs to find some money for living expenses. With luck she hopes to start next autumn.

Damion is into his second year studying classics, he shares a flat with some students in London who manage to experience some most unusual occurrences, the story of how Damion's desk managed to get stolen from the flat is most involved!

Kirstine was most excited to receive a call to serve an 18 month mission for the church in the Birmingham area, she leaves on January the 13th. She prepared for this most thoroughly, had a taste of living away from home sharing with a friend earlier this year, and at the start of December was almost packed and ready to go. We have been mad enough to have introduced a new addition to our family in the form of a lodger, Jim, who is a member of the church studying at Reading university. He is also excited at Kirstine's news since he will no longer be sharing a bedroom with Sam but moving into the bedroom that Kirstine leaves.

Sam (almost 16) is in the year that he will take his GCSE exams, we expect him to leave school in the summer and start a career, the academic life not being one to which he is ideally suited. He worked last summer as an assistant at an outdoor pursuit centre, and had very good reports from his work experience week. Once he finds something to suit him we are sure he will have no difficulty in succeeding in a career - on the last parent's evening one of his teachers commented on his ability to be most sensible and mature (when he is not in the company of his age group).

Julian (9) has found he is a natural cross country runner, he is on his school's under 10 team, Margaret says he looks so comfortable and relaxed running around, and yet still manages to put in a sprint finish. He's progressed to walking home from school on his own, which takes about 15 minutes. We've noticed a change in his self-discipline, the school being good at teaching this, his homework helps here too.

Harry (7) is the latest one to start on famous five stories, he was not enthusiastic about being a Shepherd for this year's nativity play at school, Margaret has told him it's important to take part though, he will have to cope with overcoming his feelings. He is a sensible boy who mixes well with older friends. People were surprised that he is not at Cub Scouts with Julian, though he is not due to start until next summer.

Oliver (almost 5) goes to morning nursery school, he doesn't like getting messy and so we do not get as many paintings from him. He gets easily embarrassed and so checks for any onlookers before permitting Margaret to kiss him good-bye at the door to the school. He still relies on his bicycle when accompanying Margaret to pick up Harry from school, and is the next boy to have worn the toes of his shoes out through using them as brakes down a hill on the way home.

Eleanor (18 months) has progressed to the stage of a "naughty girl" chair in the sitting room, she has a 3 minute exile there when necessary, it cannot really be called a cooling off period because her crying sounds very like an incredibly cross Donald Duck while sitting there. I am amazed at the differences between her and the boys, particularly her awareness of clothes and liking for them, she sometimes cries to put on her clothes in the morning, something that the boys definitely never did. She is also very much more into Teddy bears and dolls, when Margaret leaves the house Eleanor invariably marches out with one firmly tucked under her left arm.

We had a really nice sunny summer holiday camping in Wales, it made up for last year's disastrous wind and rain. We actually went to the beach so much that the boys were asking for something different to do, I read the next book in the Borrowers series to them in the evenings and Sam came with his cousin to do some body-board surfing that was not helped by an almost complete lack of waves.

We hope all is well with you and wish you a happy new year, with lots of love, the Jest Family.