Another grandson

Wonderful news. At 7.58 am ast Thursday April 6 a 7lb 7 oz little boy arrived in Cardiff to Esther and Dewi, my third son. The pregnancy and birth have not been without difficulties but he's here now and for that we thank the Lord from our hearts. This is a brother to Betsan and sixth grandson and eighth grandchild. His name is Solomon Dewi Liu Brady.

Solomon Dewi Liu

There's no-one quite like you.

We pray that as you grow

God's grace you'll always know.

Solomon Brady

Born on a Thursday

In icu on Friday

Better on Saturday 

Prayed for on Sunday 

With mum on Monday

Improving by Tuesday

Home by Wednesday.*

That is the beginning of Solomon Brady

*We hope

We are a grandfather once again

Late last Saturday night we heard that our newest grandson had been born in the last hour of the 10/10/2020 (nice memorable date). We are so pleased for Dylan and Cat on the birth of their first child. Our other three are Rhodri's. This is Gruffydd Cameron Brady (the first name reflecting his Welsh heritage, the second his Scottish and the third his long lost Irish ancestry). He'll be known as Gruff (pronounced Griff). He was 6lb 15ozs (in old money) and is doing okay in the main. We look forward to meeting him. God is very good.

A man is twice as old as his son. When his son is the same age as his father was when ...

One thing that has put me behind is a trip to Aber for my oldest son's thirtieth birthday

at the end of last week. Lovely time!

When I was 5

We're helping our oldest grandson celebrate his fifth birthday.

I remember what I had when I was five in 1964 - a Triang two wheel scooter.
I should add that I remember being in the kitchen of what was then our new home and seeing the scooter still in parts in its cardboard box. My dad then put it together. I am now 60 and my dad is long dead but there is an unfading picture in my head of being 5 and watching the scooter appear at my father's hands. He has set eternity in ourhearts.

A busy week

I've struggled a little this week partly possibly due to a busy week. (Eleri was the busy one rather than me to be truthful. She works two days a week and spent one day in Macclesfield at the new Go Teach offices). I gave the paper on Proverbs on Monday to about 17 of us, all eager to hear and to ask questions. Good time. In the evening we went to see Toy Story 4 which was good (nice to see a reference to conscience in there, even if only as the pretext for a joke). It is great that there are still one or two films we can all see together.

I've reported on Tuesday, my day off. Wednesday I was out with the other ministers walking across Hampstead Heath. About six of us were present. Good times. Rest of the day went on preparing and then leading the Midweek meeting.

We should have had an officers meeting on Thursday evening but that God postponed. Otherwise the main thing has been preparing for the Lord's Day. I've also started reading Penelope Fitzgerald's The gate of angels (a kind birthday gift from friends). (I had intended writing a post called a month of celebration marking the way my May 22 birthday tumbled into June with a lovely barbecue organised by friends for me and another church member. I was given books, ties and other gifts)

This morning (Saturday) we were out giving tracts in Golders Green. There were five of us. That was good to do again. Otherwise the busyness has just been with visitors - two sons and their wives at different times going to different weddings and two friends with each couple. In the first case the friend is relation from America. She, her friend and Gwion (our son) have travelled to France for the world cup. We are hoping for three extra at church tomorrow then.

We have no kids

7 or 8 yo

12 or so

For many years we were the parents of several kids but as of today we technically have no kids. This is because our youngest turns 18 and so they are now all grown up (in theory at least). Happy birthday Owain. Come December we can say we have children 18-30.

Day off Week 41

Last week's day off fell on Saturday, as we wanted to join Eleri's father celebrating his 80th birthday down in Cardiff. We travelled on Friday night and were pleasantly surprised at how straight forward it was for a potentially stormy Friday night. We stayed with Eleri's younger sister. I spent half of Saturday morning catching up on my Bible reading journal - behind again. I then discovered that I had brought no change of shirt and so had to head into Whitchurch, which only has a Peacocks when it comes to men's shirts (I don't buy clothes from charity shops). I nearly bought a trartan shirt but went for the black denim in the end. Geoff's daughters and thers had worked really hard and so we had an excellent get together in the church where two of our sons now worship with their wives. (In fact one pair now live in a bungalow right next to the church so it was good to visit them for the first time in their new home beforehand) About sixty family and friends turned up and we sang happy birthday, etc. Lovely time. It was nice to be with some of the family after the party before we left, getting home around 10 pm. The only sad note was missing sons - one in America and the family who couldn't get down from Aber because of the flooding.

Rose Marie Brady

Today is my mother's birthday. She's not celebrating - well, no more than she does every day if she's gone where I think she's gone. She would have been 81 if she'd hung around which (as they say) is not old these days. I still miss her every day, even though she died 16 years ago. God knows best.

A night away

Having the most wonderful wife in the world is a real boon at times. Last Friday she took me off to a lovely hotel in the country just for 24 hours to celebrate my last birthday. We just had a couple of meals at the hotel where we stayed (The Red Lion, Whittlesford Bridge, Cambs, near Duxford) had a quick look at Audley End House and "did" Saffron Walden before heading back but what a great time.

We have become a grandfather

At 14.13 today in Aberystwyth my first grandson Gwilym Arthur safely arrived. Apparently he's a whopping 9lb 5ozs and he has timed it to be two days overdue (stylishly late) and on the day before his mother's own birthday. The names were agreed on for various reasons but it is the Welsh form of William (the name of my grandfather, dad and nephew, etc) is popular in my family. One of my sons also has it as a second name and it was the name of the first boy I met in infants school. Llongyfarchiadau to the proud parents.

55 years old

I was 55 last week and my wonderful wife arranged for us to enjoy a lovely meal at a local pizzeria. It was a very nice time.

(My youngest was with us most of the time but seems to have been hiding when these were taken).

10 people who died at the age of 55

I did something like this once before. Sobering.

1. Emily Dickinson, solitary Massachusetts poet who posthumously became a giant of American literature

(December 10, 1830 -- May 15, 1886)

2. Bill Haley, unexpected American rock pioneer who sang "Rock Around the Clock"

(July 6, 1925 -- February 9, 1981)

3. Johnny Ramone, guitarist and long time member of The Ramones, rock star

(October 8, 1948 -- September 15, 2004)

4. Will Rogers, affable Oklahoma-born humorist, entertainer and wit

(November 4, 1879 -- August 15, 1935)

5. Woody Guthrie, American folk musician

(July 14, 1912 -- October 3, 1967)

6. Lee Remick, American TV and film actress

(December 14, 1935 -- July 2 1991)

7. Tammy Wynette, Country and Western musician and singer

(May 5, 1942 -- April 6 1998)

8. Tommy Boyce, Ssccessful American popular song writer especially with Bobby Hart

(September 29, 1939 – November 23, 1994)

9. Jack Ruby, The man who killed assassin Lee Harvey Oswald

(March 25, 1911 – January 3, 1967)

10. John Gregson, English film actor

 (15 March 1919 – 8 January 1975)

52

Celebrating my bithday early. Lots of nice cards and presents including this pic from Dylan.

Philippines 05

Yesterday (Monday) was another full day. Around 11 am Scott Dehoran called for me. Scott and Emmeline have been houseparents at the CCM boys house (Damascus) from its inception two years ago. Scott is from Connecticut and Emmeline is a Filipina. They met in the US and got to know of the work and when a boys home was mooted felt they could take it on in the Lord. Since then, despite the odds, little Daniel has been born which has changed equations slightly but the work continues. He took me to a couple of malls (Manila has many) for a nice lasagne and a little shopping. We shared testimonies. It was good to hear his story of conversion from the world in his late twenties, a heap of troubles and then the more recent stuff. As he said he was born with a wrench in his hand, whereas I would have to think about which end to hold, but we got on well. It was nice to meet Emmeline and Daniel back home again and spend some time there. Later we went over to the girls home where boys and girls had already gathered for a party. We were celebrating the birthdays of Monica (13) and Dennis (10). The roof has been roofed over which provides a brilliant area for recreation. First we had devotions where we sang and I spoke (while Anneline translated) on the healing of Naaman. I chose that story because it's my favourite and because it features a young girl who has a significant role to play. The kids are all really lovely and it was a privilege to be there. They had food and cake and games including musical chairs Filipino style which included some bumps but no tears. The birthday kids also had to choose two or three friends to say something about them and that got a bit tearful. When Scott explained the background in one case I was nearly crying too. Anyway it was soon time to head back and Marilyn kindly gave me a lift. I hope that she and Georgie got back at a reasonable time.The traffic was horrendous.

Duck Tour

My birthday celebrations continued on Saturday with a duck tour around London and into the Thames with the family. These DUKW's are 1942 American amphibious vehicles adapted and painted yellow. More here. Great fun. There were more cakes and another rendition of happy Birthday on Sunday morning after the service.

Luvly Jub'lee

As some of you may know I turned 50 today (like Morrisey and John Sopel). Thanks for all your greetings (cards real and online, phone calls, Facebook messages, etc). I had lovely presents (smellies and cheese and chocs and socks, shirt, money, etc). I especially appreciated The London Encyclopedia from the family - a brilliant buy. My father-in-law wrote me a poem and Rhodri reworked My Brother Jake (My father dad!) to great effect. I think I had four lots of happy birthday sung (from Aber, Cardiff, at home and in church). People are so kind.

Fifty, of course, is pretty old and means most of your life is probably over. So far its been 25 years preparation for the ministry, 25 years of on the job training and now hopefully my best 25 years of service. We'll see. I'm very thankful to God to be alive, to have been converted and to be wanting to serve.

Penblwydd hapus Rhods

Osian Huw

I am an uncle again - for the eigth time. This one's very special not only as he's being blogged so young but as Eleri's sister and her husband have been married many years and we were tempted to give up hope. Osian's a big boy (9lb 1 oz) but he and his mam are doing fine and we're looking forward to seeing him.

Osian was a poet in Irish folklore. (The Irish use two s's hence my earlier misspelling).

We now have a four man chain of names in our family that goes Rhodri Tomos Osian Huw Geoffrey Thomas.

Llongyfarchiadau i'r Alsopiaid ac yr holl teulu!