Last month when we were in Oxford, Igor met some wooden friends:

As far as I was concerned, that was the end of it. But today, an unexpected parcel arrived in the post, a ‘thank you’ present from our friend for the Oxford trip, providing a new friend for Igor:

She suggested this could be Igor’s younger brother; he has been named Arnold.

Arnold is obviously Garry’s, but I was not forgotten either. The other animal is Horatio the hippo (hippos being my favourite animal, though you can tell from recent posts that seals come a pretty close second! – perhaps my love for swimming is fuelled by my love of these animals, or maybe it’s the other way round!)

All this talk of holidays included advice on where to build your house (not on the sandy shore!):

It also explained Garry’s attire and the go-for-it attitude of the musicians:

We also had a birthday to celebrate:

Garry spoke on the theme of ‘Home & Away’ at the family service. Holidays are generally loved by most people, often because being ‘away’ seems more exciting than being at home, where mundane, dull routines often seem boring in comparison. Nowadays we can travel all over the world on holiday, exploring new places and escaping the vagaries of the English weather (‘In July, the sun is hot. Is it shining? No, it’s not!’ sang Flanders and Swann in their parody of the weather.)

What makes a good home? Often, it’s a place of rest, of welcome, of refuge, of acceptance. At home, we feel we are known and accepted. Being away may seem more glamorous, but being home often makes us feel secure.

Hebrews 11:8-10 TNIV talks of Abraham’s journeys, how he was called by God from his home to set forth to a new home. Ultimately, however, he was looking for ‘an unseen city with real, eternal foundations.’ God called him from the comfort of home to set forth to a new home and though the promised land was a symbol of that new home, ultimately there was even more ahead. Our citizenship, as Philippians 3:20 TNIV reminded us, is in heaven.

Paul talks about being at home in the body and absent from the Lord and says when we are absent from the body, we are at home with God (2 Cor 5:6-10 TNIV). We too are looking forward to a city with real, eternal foundations which can only be perceived and possessed through faith. Jesus has gone ahead to prepare a place for us (John 14:1-3 TNIV). Our task is to live in the now, but not to live for the now, for God has so much more ahead for us.

A holiday generally lasts for a short time in comparison to the amount of time we spend at home. This earthly life seems ‘home’ to us, but in actual fact, it is the ‘away’ leg of the journey. The time we will spend with God in eternity is our real home. How we live when we are at home in the body will determine where we spend eternity. Are we ready for that?

Packing can be one of the most stressful things about holidays, especially if, like me, you like to be prepared for every eventuality. So we played a packing game where two teams had to pack an assortment of items into a box. The items included typical (and not so typical!) holiday requirements:

We had a variety of holiday prizes to be won:

Both teams managed to pack all 30 items beautifully. They have obviously had a lot of practice at this kind of thing!

Tonight’s family service looked at the holiday theme of ‘Home & Away’. We started with a treasure hunt for luggage labels on which were 24 facts about holiday destinations. (We aim to inform!)

1. Germans are the second largest beer consumers in the world, after the Irish, and in Bavaria, beer is considered a food, not a drink!
2. There are 3 main sorts of Belgian waffles.
3. Crete has the highest ratio of guns per person in the whole European Union. Although this is the case, Crete is still considered as one of the safest tourist destinations in the world.
4. There are over 2000 ports of call around our planet that cruise ships can visit.
5. Only 2% of Caribbean islands are inhabited. If you’re a loner, perhaps this is the place to go!
6. The history of the Caribbean has heavily influenced musical genres. Some of the more popular styles of music are reggae, calypso, reggaeton, salsa, (East Indian inspired) chutney & pan music. Pan music is made from steel tins or drums.
7. The Peak District National Park in Derbyshire was the first to open in the UK and the highest point in the Peak District is ‘Kinder Scout’ at 636 metres.
8. The North Bay Railway in Scarborough has what is believed to be the oldest operational diesel hydraulic locomotive in the world.
9. The UK is made up of over 1000 islands. Around 790 of these islands are located off shore from Scotland – most of these are within three main groups – the Hebrides, the Orkney Islands and the Shetland Islands. There are 291 inhabited islands in the UK.
10. The Lake District only has one lake (Bassenthwaite) – all the rest are waters (eg Coniston Water), meres (eg Windermere, Thirlmere) and tarns (eg Angle Tarn and Red Tarn).
11. The Vasco da Gama Bridge in Lisbon, Portugal, is 17 kilometres long, making it the longest in Europe.
12. Spain is famous for inventing the beret, the mop and Chupa Chups lollipops!
13. Ireland is the only country in the world which has a musical instrument – the harp – as their national symbol. The oldest known harp in existence is housed in Trinity College, Dublin. It dates back from at least 1300.
14. The Giant’s Causeway, situated on the North East coast of Northern Ireland, is an area of about 40,000 interlocking basalt columns, the result of an ancient volcanic eruption.
15. The world’s largest emerald (2860 carat) is displayed in the Imperial Treasury of the Hofburg (Imperial Palace) in Vienna, Austria.
16. The orange colour of the soil in Ibiza comes from the tannin in the pine needles that fall from the island’s many pine trees.
17. According to its mythology, the island of Corfu was named after the nymph Kerkira (the Greek name of Corfu is Kerkira), daughter of Asopos, with whom Zeus fell in love and brought to this island.
18. Mount Everest was named after Welshman Sir George Everest from Gwernvale, Breconshire.
19. The Cornish Pasty is worth £150 million pounds a year to the Cornish economy. Holiday makers eat over 5 million of them: that’s an average of 13,500 a day.
20. Tuscany in Italy has more UNESCO World Heritage cultural sites than Argentina, Australia or South Africa, and just one fewer than Egypt.
21. Mayonnaise was invented in Menorca by the Duke de Richelieu in 1756.
22. France attracted 79.50 million foreign tourists in 2011, making it the most popular tourist destination in the world.
23. Outside of London, Edinburgh Castle is the most popular tourist destination for overseas visitors attracting more than 1.2 million each year.
24. The Isle of Man takes its name from MANANNAN, a sea-god in Norse mythology. He protects the island by shrouding the place with a cloak of mist to protect it from its enemies, according to legend.

Once those facts were revealed, the next task was to use the letters on the back of the labels to reveal a topical Bible verse.

Working on the answers:

The answer?
“Our citizenship is in heaven.” (Philippians 3:20 TNIV)

Traa dy liooar? What’s she on about? Has she hit the wrong keys on the keyboard and produced gobbledegook for a blog post?!

‘Traa dy liooar’ is a Manx phrase meaning ‘Time enough’. It rather sums up life on the Isle of Man, I’ve found. There’s time enough for all kinds of things, a different pace of life, a different way of looking at things on an island 32 miles long and about 14 miles wide.

Life at home, for many of us, is lived prestissimo – very quickly. Life on the Isle of Man seems decidedly andante – at a walking pace (and my kind of walking pace, I admit – not exactly fast!)

I spent the week watching seals from the shore:

And they didn’t seem to be doing an awful lot, either!

I watched them from a boat as well:

I watched them swim effortlessly, suddenly elegant in the water:

I meandered through glens:

I gazed at awesome rocks:

We searched for pebbles to throw into the sea:

I went for walks and spent time gazing at the scenery:

Everyone has different ideas about the ‘perfect holiday’. Some people like action and adventure. Some people like sun and sand. Some people like history and museums. The point of a holiday, though, is surely not just the change of scenery or the chance to experience different weather! On holiday, we live at a different pace to usual, often deliberately slowing down and reflecting. There is ‘time enough’ to do this on holiday; often we feel there is not time enough to do this in our everyday lives. We need, however, to slow down enough on a daily basis to listen to God and to spend time with Him and His word. Nothing else will do. He is the bread of life to us. May we all seek Him and learn to live at His tempo.