Joel's birthday

He was 5 yesterday. We had a relatively quiet birthday. There was no big party and so no need for 'clarking it'*, which was a relief at least.

We'd had a good family-focused weekend, with some preparation for his birthday, present purchasing etc. It has become a bit of a Clark tradition that you make your own birthday cake, so Jonathan and Joel got on with that on Saturday.

On Sunday Joel took some of the cake to Sunday School, we had a fairly quiet afternoon and evening at home.

Yesterday (Monday 22) Joel, Hannah and Jonathan went to school as usual. Joel took some of his cake to school. We had some presents and cards at lunchtime and spent most of the afternoon playing with Lego. (I, sadly, had to leave them to it and go to school!) Whilst I was away, Giorgos (George) Adam (our pastor) and his son (middle of 3) Dimitris popped in with presents for all 3 kids! I returned at 6ish. We have begun to make friends with a Canadian family who LITERALLY live around the corner and work for Hellenic Ministries. They are Heath and Meriko Miekle and they have 2 kids, Kiara (10) and Darius (6). Meriko and the kids came over for cake and stuff at around 6, so that's when we had candles and official happy birthday singing. Then it was just birthday bath and bed. Nice.

I don't think Joel related this year's birthday to last year's, so he was fine and really enjoyed it. He has also enjoyed the elongated nature of his birthday, with cards and presents still arriving! Thanks so much to all who have sent anything, we've all really appreciated it.

Below are a few photos of Lego we've made (mostly Joel - he's wired for this sort of thing, he's ALWAYS loved puzzles and putting stuff together and following written instructions...), enjoy?!

Joel, Giorgos and Dimitris enjoying Joel's birthday present - a early-reader in Greek.

Darius with Joel's birthday cake and other birthday stuff.

The House That Joel Built

Some of Joel's birthday vehicles!

* 'clarking it' - a term coined by some very good friends in Beeston. It means implementing big plans at the VERY last minute: quite a lot of 'stress' but very little anxiety, if you know what I mean! Was first coined on reflection of the way that we had prepared for (or thought a lot about but not done much in preparation for) Hannah's 2nd birthday party.

September turned out to be a bit crazy! Here’s a quick breakdown of what happened:

We originally planned to return on 11 September, but re-arranged our flights for the sake of the Joel and Hannah starting school at the same time as others in their class (10 and 3 September respectively). So, we returned on 2 September and Hannah (as you can see below) settled in fairly quickly, screaming notwithstanding! Joel started the following week, although, what with ceremonies and elections he ACTUALLY started on Tuesday 18 September.

On Monday 10 September I wrote the blog below and uploaded it on the Tuesday. My (Dawn’s) DAD had a minor heart attack on the Monday and was taken to a (not-so) local hospital. Over the next few days they ran tests and my mum commuted the 20 or so miles by bus or by lifts from friends (she doesn’t drive). I assumed that, because it wasn’t a big attack, they’d just keep him in, maybe do a minor ‘procedure’, monitor him and send him home. He actually needed a quadruple bypass operation and, after they’d run extensive tests, sent him to the London Heart Hospital in Westminster. Knowing that this was major surgery, we decided I should fly back before the operation and stay for a week, as the first few days after the op are indicative of how well recovery would go. I took Esther with me (couldn’t leave Jonathan with all three kids, and she’s the cheapest to take on a flight!) and flew out on Saturday 15 September. Dad’s operation was on the Monday and it all went very well. For a 74-year old he’s pretty fit and healthy(!) and has recovered incredibly well and quickly.
Esther and I spent some nights at my Auntie Debbie and Uncle Tony’s house in South-East London (thanks to cousin Becky for giving up her room!) and some night’s at my sister Nichola’s house in deepest darkest Kent. Mum (and sometimes Nichola and nephew Matthieu) were down the road at Auntie Sharelle’s. Auntie Debbie’s a child-minder and had the space to look after Esther and Mats every day, for which we were VERY grateful! I was insured on Dad’s car so we drove into the city every day. I love driving in Athens, so London was a breeze! Overall though, the week was exhausting - all the emotional and physical strain took it’s toll and I came back to Athens with a virus (maybe, in my weakened state, I caught it on the flight back!)…

My Dad’s now at home and continuing to do well. It’s definitely put a strain on my mum. She doesn’t drive and they live in a village. Dad would normally drive into town (a 5 minute car-ride) to do grocery shopping or run other errands. My mum gets the bus or fits in with friends’ schedules on trips to town. It’s pretty tiring for her, with all the responsibility and the worry and the walking! Please continue to pray for them. My Dad was especially moved by the knowledge that so many were praying and, in his ‘resting’ state, has spent more time reading the Bible.

The others survived without us, although Jonathan was weary and coming down with something when we returned! Hannah and Joel had both settled into a good routine and were enjoying school.

England was cold, so it was good to get back to temperatures in the high 20s, as you can see from this photo of Joel and Hannah as we prepared to nip out for some bread and milk one afternoon (with baby Little Lucie in her pushchair!)

Within a few days of our return Jonathan and I had our language placement tests, which we'd had no time to revise for. They went well, really. Jonathan's classes are 9-12 every morning, with about 200 students. He was put into a B3 class (intermediate advanced - 4 classes up from last year). My classes are 3-6 every afternoon. There are only about 70 students at that time, so there are 2 beginners' classes, 1 intermediate and 1 advanced. Thankfully, I'm in the intermediate (NOT the advanced) which is pretty much the same level as last year. More about all this later...