Well, day 1 has arrived of this new venture…Project 25.  25 acts of love and kindness over the 25 days of advent.  I really hope that you can commit to this for the duration of the 25 days…and I really believe that if we approach this with the right heart and in the right spirit that God really will be at work in all this.  The format will be the same for each day – scripture, prayer focus and the challenge for that day.  So, day 1…December 1st…

Scripture:  “Honour your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you” (Exodus 20:12)

Prayer: Begin this project today by giving thanks for your Mum/Dad/guardian.  Thank God for all they do to provide for you and love you.

Challenge: Today, spend a few minutes thanking your Mum/Dad/guardian for all they do for you.  Tell them you love them.

For those of you who read these blogs…firstly I apologise for the severe drought in blogging…I’m findin’ it hard to get the head down for long enough to do it!

Secondly, if you haven’t already heard…I’m the proud daddy to another beautiful little boy – Joel Neil Hawthorne. He was born on the 6th November at 8am (exactly), weighing in at a solid 7lb 9oz. He is amazing. His Mum is amazing too! Caroline is starting to feel a bit more like herself now which is really good to see. I have to say – I really am a very, very proud husband and daddy

So, life for us is now really hectic! Caleb, who is now 17 months (ish), has been really good…he’s only hit his baby brother 3 times I think (once with a pen, once with a ball and once with his wee fist lol). It’s taking him a few days to come to terms with this other wee life around our house…

All things considered the Hawthorne family is fit and well!

I am lovin’ being a daddy again. It’s amazing how, in my experience anyway, the layers of selfishness just seem to get stripped away when you become a dad. No longer do you just please yourself and do what you want…there’s always nappies to change, jigsaws to construct (that’s another one that Calebs learning about…I construct a beautiful jigsaw and he smashes it to pieces…thanks son) or a recovering wife to tend to!!

Seriously though – becoming less selfish is really good for me and what better way to do it than in pouring energy into a wee family.

Anyway…what I intend to do is this: I want to blog about the name Joel. I’m doing a bit of reading about the name and as I discover more I will share the thoughts here. When the first instalmant will be posted I’m not sure…but hopefully the gap will be less than from my last blog!

Stay tuned…