The Morgan-Gurr Blog/website has moved!

The Morgan-Gurr Blog/website has moved!

Please reset your bookmark to www.themorgan-gurrs.co.uk

All the old postings have been transferred across, complete with comments, by our lovely hosting person - Peter Sharp (Thanks - Pete!) and Kay is currently getting to grips with the new way of blogging!

The new features on the new site are: A diary page, a more detailed page about us (Taken from the very old website - if you can remember back that far!), and a page about Fibromyalgia and MPS.....that's there so we don't have to keep explaining what's wrong with Kay!

The Pages coming in the future will be: Steve's new songs to listen to and request copies if you want them, Articles on kids work and pages about the research Kay is doing in various areas of Kids work

Enjoy!

We're back in England, catching up with emails and letters....and a mountain of washing and ironing!

The holiday was just what we needed - quiet, peaceful and unhurried.

The holiday company we used was part of XL and went bust half way through our first week - because our holiday had started and the company was ATOL covered, it meant we could stay on, and through the kindness of the Greeks (especially the owner of our apartment) we could stay in our accommodation, even though the owner wasn't being paid for it!
Our flight had been upgraded to a Thomas cook flight weeks before we left, which meant we had no worries about the flight home either.

Whilst away, Kay listened to "The Shack" on audio book. She loved it and can highly recommend it! It's one that hasn't been to every one's theological taste....but then it is a novel, not a theology book! Check out the web site http://www.theshackbook.com/ for more info and reviews.

The photo below is of our favourite kitten who lived at our apartments and just a couple of the enormous cakes we consumed whilst there! If you're on face book, there are more photos on Kay's profile.

September update

It's been a while since we have updated, but the circumstances of the past month have been extraordinary. The following sounds very disjointed, but as you read you will see that this has been a difficult blog update to write.

It has been a month of both blessing and pain.

The month started with burying Kay's dad's ashes – with just a short "service" around the grave.

Then off to the Dalesdown camps, where all went very well – the kid's camp that we were around for was brilliant.

Only two days after returning we learned of the tragic death of the teenage son of some good friends. A death that has shaken the whole church. Words alone are not enough to convey our feelings in this. The funeral was a powerful reminder of God's grace, and full of hope – but as we've said…there are no words…. our friends have been an amazing example of how God upholds in such awful times, and the young people great in showing what "being church" really means.

With  heavy hearts and full of prayer for our friends, we went ahead with a planned break with our lovely friends Mike and Judi to the Gorsley festival, where RT Kendall was the main speaker. It was an amazing weekend – we were able to relax and laugh with our friends, and learn so much from the teaching. One of the sessions was about when we ask "why?" and was very helpful for us. We came back – still sad, but re-envisioned in the role we have and ready to face another day.

A week after our return we heard the very sad news that Kay's friend from childhood had passed away in very sad circumstances. On top of everything else that has happened this has been hard news to take - completely numbing and heart wrenching.

But….even with the question why on our hearts we can still say "I know that my redeemer lives".

Kay's health has not been good, with the pain levels very high for a few weeks now, which makes sleep very difficult. We have found some treatment for the pain that occurs in her facial muscles and eyes - this is going to be expensive, but we hope worth it! That treatment will start in two weeks.

We are off on holiday soon, so just tidying up the house enough for the house sitters to be able to at least get in. Two weeks in Greece sounds very appealing right now…..!

Whilst making clear our own pain in all this news, we also acknowledge that the pain of our friends  and their families is so much greater and would ask you to pray with us for them.

Thankyou

Hello from Dalesdown!

Here we are at Dalesdown with lovely campers and very nice leaders!

Kay's job is easy - everyone is so happy there is very little for her to do in her role as house parent to the leaders, so she's being Steve's beautiful assistant and camp photographer!

Steve is leading worship and doing some puppetry. Jim Bailey has been awesome with the kids - winning the children over instantly - even the boys, and getting some good solid truths over to them in a fun (actually hilarious!) way. The Spicy Camels have made just one appearance and were very politically incorrect - as usual!

Today - Steve Legg is doing a "set" for the kids....and has just arrived, so guess where we're off to now......!

Phineas Frog

We appear to have adopted a frog! A regular visitor to our rather leaky garage he sits by the bucket that catches the drips. We have named him Phineas!
He seems more than happy for us to be around in the garage and has been known to hop up to Kay when she’s been putting the washing in the washing machine.
On the whole he seems a rather friendly frog.
Off to Dalesdown on Saturday for the children’s camp there. Steve will be leading the worship and Kay will be house parent for the leaders. We’ll be letting our house sitters know they need to look out for Phineas

Hungarton Camp - Weeks one and Two

Two weeks are over…and we survived….just!
Week one was the week for our younger campers….even younger than usual as we invited specific 8 year olds (who were nearly nine) to fill some of the gaps we had- it's unusual to have gaps on this camp!
Great fun was had by all, the food was excellent as usual (Thankyou Audrey!) We didn’t drown anyone in the pool, the rope swing was well used, the horses were ridden everyday (Thanks Tina and team) and the zip slide encountered no “incidents”! And the fun didn’t end there.
There was then the addition of “The Log” – no ordinary log…it was huge and provided a focal point for the campers to sit on and chill. (Photo below)
The leaders were fantastic – hardworking and fun, and well as a Godly example to the kids
The teaching went down very well – we taught in the morning and an assortment of folk taught in the evening.
The biggest fun memories from week one…so many to chose from, but one would be Kay getting the giggles half way through the story on the final morning (It was Steve’s fault – his acting was just a little too convincing!)
The other photo below was from the camp fire – it looks huge and the kids look close – but photos can be deceptive…..the children were very safe!

Week two was very different – especially for us. We didn’t have a specific role, so spent a lot of time praying, chatting to kids and leaders and generally trying to care and support where needed.
Again – much fun was had by all, and most of the info above is again true! These older campers also have two trips out – one to Rutland water to do team building water activities, and one to Drayton Manor.
As week one, the campers made the most of all the facilities and had a lot of fun (looking at some of their face book comments, they had a LOT of fun!)
The teaching was from Philippians in the morning and looked at some of the subjects kids wrestle with in the evening.
Memorable fun moments were – a strong gust of wind lifting the bouncy castle complete with blower – Audrey saved the day by unplugging it very quickly! (For those worried about health and safety - It was lunchtime and no kids on it – if kids had been on it, it wouldn’t have lifted!)
The other moment was waking up to sheep in the field – opening the caravan door and finding them blocking the way!
Thanks for praying

Preparation for camp

Wow - it's a long time since the last update!
We've had lots of meetings, paperwork and planning over the last few weeks. Most of the meetings were just too complicated to report on!Yesterday Kay was at a meeting in London with Spring Harvest looking at the way we help children with Special needs - it was a good meeting!

The rest of this week is a mix of things.....risk assessment and special needs care plans ready for the camps, along with preparing the teaching for week one. We are helping with the "impact" week on the Hamilton Estate here in Leicester, organised by Hope Hamilton Church. We are helping with the Kids Zone mornings by doing the story/meeting bit at the end of each morning on Thursday and Friday.


This evening was the final set up for camp - which starts on Sunday. All the tents went up in record time....photos below! We had a huge team of people from the church there working really hard to make the site habitable and safe. It was getting dark when we left and people were still there cleaning and clearing - amazing!


Nearly finished....!

The "walls" being built
for the dining room


Tea break time!

Back home...

We had a lovely time with the children at Pilgrim Hall this weekend - the photos are their attempt to "create" using playdough as we looked at how God created the world and everything in it.






On Monday we went to the launch of the new ‘Children and Schools Work’ option for those studying for a BA at Moorlands College (Christchurch). It was great to share with them in that. Do go to the Moorlands web site and scroll to the bottom of the page for more information

Yesterday was our management meeting - a good time of discussion, planning, praying, drinking tea and coffee and eating!

This week brings more paperwork and meetings, including our council of Reference meeting tonight!
On Saturday Kay will be at a Training day in Kings Lynn doing a session on children with special needs in the church.

Another update...

Today we were at St.John's school in Leicester for two assemblies. It was a surprise to be greeted with a round of applause when we walked in - and we hadn't even done anything! Both assemblies were well received, with lots of laughter (As Steve mimed being the begger at the Beautiful gate - VERY funny!) and good point was made.
Over the past week we have been at a club at Enderby Free Church, In Leicester; training the Future Builder Students in Birmingham and doing lots of paperwork!
This weekend we will be doing the children's work at Pilgrim Hall (Uckfield) for a church from Tulse Hill, and then on Monday onto the launch of Moorlands college's new applied theology course - Children and youth work option....very exciting. And then on Tuesday we have the Children Worldwide management group meeting in Birmingham. So life is busy again for a while!
A change around with medication for Kay means she's in a bit of pain - muscle spasm in the shoulder today meant she could only manage one crutch...and made walking and sneezing interesting! But we still managed the assemblies!