more family challenges

On Monday morning my (Lesley) brother, Duncan had a stroke.  He is in hospital and we are very involved in helping to smooth the way for him.  Please pray for him - it is tough going!  It is still to early to have any sort of prognosis other than that it will be a long journey for him and all who love him.  He has four children (and 10 grandchildren, as he is always quick to add!); two are visiting to see their dad through the initial part of the crisis, and one is due to be overseas from September.  His wife is also finding this very hard of course.

Martin and I are the evening duty most days at the moment ... around 6-8 pm at the hospital.  We love to serve this gracious, kind and loving man.

At the same time we are involved in another challenge:  Martin's mom and dad are increasingly needing our help.  In consultation with Joanna and Adam, we decided a few weeks ago that we will move into the house with his parents.  We are currently doing a few minor alterations to make it easier to have separate living areas so as not to drive them crazy.

On Thursday Martin and his mom rearranged their bedrooms so that they each have a multipurpose room.  Next week a door will be installed to make a lovely new lounge area for them.  We will then begin to work on removing unneeded furniture and repopulate the other half of the house with ourselves.

As you can imagine, this means a HUGE task of downsizing for them, and even more enormous for us.

Downsizing our library!