BerryBunch Family @Berrybunchfamily@dingdash.com

Here's one I made earlier 🙂

Andy B

Sunday afternoon baking 🙂

Definitely got my making groove on today

Yummy biscuits (with golden syrup in them) and still hot, with a fresh mug of tea 😊

And a Victoria sandwich cake just gone in the oven

Andy B

#baking #berrybunchfamilyfive #familytime #bakinggroove #relaxing #chilling #kitchentime #downtome #English #British

The 4th episode of our Marriage Matters Podcast is out this afternoon, from 4pm: "Don't awake love before it's time".

It was recorded at the end of October, and we think it's a good one on a hot topic...but, like in life, sometimes our best laid plans go to the wall!

The challenge is to keep going and do what we can when we can.

God isn't looking for a happy marriage. But He is looking for how we do marriage; how we do life with our spouse. We can't control them, or be responsible for them, anymore than they are for us. But we are responsible, before God, for how we treat them and love them.

Happy Thursday peoples

Andy B

I do so love our joy bringing little Peter.

Creativity is through the roof.

When we told him we had no money for Christmas this year, so wouldn't be buying presents, he took it with a smilez and the challenge was set

Then he went about and created his own range of Christmas presents for us.

An R2D2 pencil pot (for Steven), a spaceship (mine), Ewok (Jo's) and BB-8 coasters (Nathan's)

He's been stock piling old hot chocolate tins...and put them to good use

Merry Christmas my lovely DingDash family

We started with bacon and scrambled egg, and opened the crackers - which Jo made from scratch since we couldn't get any.

She found the jokes online - apologies in advance. They say much of our collective humour I guess...so sorry in advance

Also, some riddles :-)

Have a fab day. Currently midday here in the UK

Andy, Jo, Steven, Nathan and Peter

(The ring photo is because me and the 3 boys saved up from May 2020 to our 25th Anniversary in November 2021 to replace Jo's engagement ring, to buy food, which we had to sell, back along - when we were both without work: I wanted a new photo for my phone home screen)

4 weeks of blood thinners = 4 weeks with a beard.

Found some beard oil, and I'm now oiling and combing it most days

The barbed wire that was growing out of my face has now softened a little too

Andy B

@Olamide ?

@DevotionalTreasures @bethany a British baragain??

Christmass tree unwrapped

And the tree only cost us £1.00

Lights we had, and I got clearance baubles for £3.50 🙂

Andy B

I feel all exposed

The giant frame and curtain we made, is now packed....

The one with me and Jo is the before photo!

When Saul allowed David to go fight Goliath, I imagine him taking many deep breaths, perhaps hyperventilating and wondering if he'd actually just handed his own head to the enemy.

Who can you give authority to, so they can be [further]empowered to do Gods will?!?

When David went to face Goliath, he stripped off the armour that the King gave him, so that he could fight his own way; so that he could fight the way God had trained him to fight.

Where is God stripping away your armour so you, too, can fight His way?!?

As we face up to another house move, I miss the home we owned, that we sold so we can live by faith - over 15 years ago.

It was a huge piece of armour! And yet, we have fought many battles, since, that that piece of armour would have prevented us from fighting.

So, where is God stripping away the armour you value - so you can fight God's way, in the way He has already trained you?

Andy B

PS Philippians 4 v 10 and 13 fit in well here too!

Christmas Special Editions, 2021

Much like the story of Mary and Joseph, our best laid plans don't always go the way me might have hoped.

Mary, I would imagine, would quite possibly have preferred a fully staffed hospital with midwife support, over a stable possibly stuffed full with smelly animals, and her nervous husband doing what was needed.

And, as a family, we would have preferred not to have lost most of November and December to illness, hospital stays and plenty of other life related stress events that managed to cram themselves into an insanely tiny amount of time!

But, it is what it is!

READ MORE - https://www.berrybunch.family/christmas-special-editions-2021/

Wasn't quite a posh restaurant meal on our 25th anniversary. But, sometimes you have to grab what you can, when you can. Only 5 weeks late!

So, since I took Jo to work and back, we grabbed a couple of chicken burgers and found a layby in the countryside and had a Day Date 🙂

Andy B

Supervising. I could get used to being management 😂

Andy B

So this must be the one that was supposed to come with the horror advent calendar

He's obviosuly been kicked in the stomach by a horse then wrapped in cellophane

er........

And so it begins

The garage is so called, because it used to be a garage

The logic is undeniable

The trucks remind me of my former profession

The dog was Jo's when she was little

It still works - it walks and barks 🙂

Peter pushed us with getting our Christmas sorted. So all done now.

First meal I've cooked for family since October

Chicken pasta, with a tomato sauce (reduced by me ! ) And strong cheddar grated over the top, allowed to melt in the heat with the lid on

Pretty chuffed

Cos I didn't feel strong enough to stand for long enough yesterday to do that.

But I started by making Jo poached egg on toast for a well earned breakfast in bed

Feeling it right now! But I've got a nice dinner to enjoy.

Jo did the chopping (obviously) and strained the pasta (safest option)

Feeling good to have done this after so long not doing it, after SO many years of always doing it

Andy B

Today is my estranged dad's cremation service. He died the day after my first hospital visit last month - 12th November. He was 78.

So mixed emotions for me. I won't be attending because I'm still not up to a journey of that kind & as I avoid any stress I can.

He left behind his 3rd wife, 4 sons, 2 step daughters

I'm sad by the pain of a very broken, fragmented family.

He was saved.

I was even contacted by a half brother I hadn't seen for 32 years, and 2 half brothers I've not seen for 14 years

I'm sad he left a legacy, sadly, of broken people and lives. But I also know enough of the 'why' of how he lived and have no bitterness. Just sadness.

He ministered originally in Wolverhampton, setting up youth work projects. And was a passionate speaker and brilliant orator. I definitely learned those skills from him.

I said my real goodbyes 14 years ago. Today I'll say it one last time.

Andy
Photo : Top left to right
Steven (my son), Mark (youngest half brother of 3 boys), me, my dad

A job I love doing, that I can't currently risk doing (as I get a bit too enthusiastic while doing it!!) And Mr getting a bad and unecessary cut would really upset my family.

So glad for my wife and Boys. They truly are awesome.

Andy B

So I feel like an old man...but an old man with some colour :-) 🤣

At least I can get a little more independence, as the silver foil blister packs my pills come in, are a reliable source of me cutting myself...on blood thinners, that would be really rather unpleasant as it often takes me a good 10 minutes to stop the bleeding when my bleed is not being chemically thinned!!! Once my family load this bad boy up, I'll be able to safely take them myself!

Meanwhile the scary photo is me not shaving at the end of week 1

Hopefully, we'll get hair cuts this evening (once Jo finishes for the day) which may help with my appearance.....

...I said maybe!!

There's always hope 😂

Andy B

my latest post (and first for a while)

all to do with Covid, fear and God's perspective

Covid and The Golden Ticket

Take your mind back, and you might remember seeing the first signs that Covid-19 could well be a real issue, heading our way, like a freight train running along the tracks towards the edge of a cliff!

Scroll on a couple of years, and it is still making the lives of tens of millions of people difficult, at best. It has taken many loved ones from their family, way ahead of time, and it has created an abundance of fear.

We’ve seen governments, the media – and especially social media – capitalising on the fear of covid, to spread more fear for their own ends: as one doctor recently asked, where are the international campaigns, outrage and outcry about the dangers of eating too much sugar, or drinking too much alcohol: covid is indeed terrible, but there are other serious health issues out there too, which seem to have been forgotten about.

https://www.berrybunch.family/covid-and-the-golden-ticket/