Comments? Email me. Thanks, I will respond.

Christmas '94 Newsletter

Lots of news to tell you about this year, a big family certainly keeps you busy!

Kelly has started her speech therapy course at the City University. She surprised us with 5 week's notice of her wedding (no engagement), marrying just in time for her and her husband, Tim Waite, to set up home (a nice flat in Shepherds Bush) before the start of her first term. She was able to get enough funding for her course and living expenses from various academic charities plus a top up loan. Her boyfriend before she met Tim was nice, but Margaret was not convinced - Tim seems right for her, she is very pleased to see how happily married Kelly is.

It was Cornwall this year for our holiday, we stayed on a farm owned by the parents of a church friend. We could see Sennen Cove and Land's End from our tent which was a field away from the cliff's edge. The weather wasn't the best, with a fair amount of rain, no days were warm enough for my swimming costume, though the children managed a few sea swims. They were very excited to go down a tin mine and no longer insist that Wales is the only place where you can enjoy a holiday. Kelly's wedding came in the middle of our two weeks, with a 5 hour trip back for it.

My work has been going reasonably well, a move out of Quality and back into software development is now imminent. I was released as the Seven year old's Primary teacher after 4 years, and am now responsible for liaison on maintenance and cleaning work for our chapel in Reading. This assignment looks to be a lot of organising because of the heavy use that the building gets through the year, we get a sacrament meeting attendance of 220 and are also the Stake centre.

In July Margaret was upset to lose her Father suddenly and without warning. He had been a rather remote night working parent but in his retirement after her mother's death she had got closer to him through him staying with us for a number of Christmases and for Summer breaks. When we told our children of his death tender hearted Julian shed a few tears, Harry was noticeably upset, and Oliver, the news having gone over his head, asked when were they having Saturday sweets. Margaret had 6 weeks as a 5 days a week childminder for a brother and sister of 4 and 2, this was not an easy job because Gavin was rather disturbed. His nursery teacher said that his behaviour had improved a lot since Margaret had been looking after him. However, it is not much fun to have to cope with other people's problems, so we decided to call it a day with these children. Margaret was released from her Primary calling and now enjoys teaching a Young Women's class on Sundays.

It's Damion's last year studying classics, what happens after graduation he does not yet know. He caught the travelling bug with a Month's EuroRail trip, travelling with our lodger Jim and Jenny, a friend of theirs from Reading. They journeyed through France and Spain for 2 days in Morocco, back through Spain and France for some time in Italy, then an 18 hour cruise on deck from the South of Italy to Greece, then to Istanbul for a stay there. They travelled light and cheap, and came back without losing each other except for their last day (in Paris) about which a debate rages on who lost who - nobody was lost, though they did come home split up.

Kirstine finishes her work for the church next July. She writes regularly and is enjoying her work very much. She says that she has forgotten ever being at home and just sitting around, she has been on a bicycle for most of the time and so has kept fit and lost weight. She really likes her Mission president and his wife, and has had a variety of companions to work with, some more straight forward than others.

Sam (17 in Jan) has yet to get his summer exam results, he didn't give the school a stamped addressed envelope, and hasn't bothered to collect them. He gave us no confidence of any major results, what they were is to be a mystery. He found that an older sister and brother have their uses, especially to find a job, and to our grateful surprise managed to quickly get one as an office boy at a Reading solicitor's. He now regales Margaret with "you don't know what hard work is, I've been on my feet all day". The arrival of the boy's half term amazed him, it always seemed to take ages when he was at school. We've even had older and wiser advice to younger brothers on making the most of your time at school. Money management is his next challenge, his more than respectable wages have yet to make it to the end of the month.

Julian (10) bemoans his fate at being only average, wanting to excel at everything and is not happy unless he's the best. A month ago at the meal table I relayed his Headmaster's comment that he and Harry were both assets to the school, he couldn't understand why, despite lots of reasons why it was from all of us. In the end I threw some water from my glass over him because he was being such a wet drip, this cheered him up and he finally accepted that perhaps he could be an asset after all.

Harry (8) is now at the same school as Julian, he is enjoying it and settling in a lot quicker than Julian did, many of the teachers commented on how well he has been doing. He was baptised at church after his eighth birthday, my parents came to the baptism. He gave my father a guided tour of his bedroom, showing him his half size basketball net, full sized basket ball and other birthday presents. He told my father that with these presents and enjoying school so much that he had all he could ever have wished for - if only all of us could feel that life would be so much easier!

Oliver (almost 6) started school after Easter, he is reading well and is moving up into the top class after Christmas. He has a steadiness about him that reminds Margaret very much of Damion, but he looks very like Kirstine when she was young. He has an inherently funny personality and is good at making us laugh, which he sometimes enjoys but at other times gets very cross about.

Eleanor (2½) has made the move out of our room to up with her 3 big brothers in their large attic bedroom. She is still a surprise to Margaret after 5 boys and amazes me with her mothering nature at such a young age. The principle of service to others seems to be built into her, she is there to help me with my dinner if I arrive home late, and is a most dogged attention getter when Margaret asks her to call people to a meal. There is no boy-like vagueness about her of going out of a room for something and then forgetting what it was she was after.

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