15th Wedding Anniversary!

Wow!! On Thursday Heather and I celebrated 15 years of being married - it's a scary thought knowing that we've been married for almost as long as some of our friends have been alive - eek!!

Looking back we can see how God has been so faithful and gracious over the years. There have been some fantastically wonderful times, some seriously tough times, but through them all, God has poured out His grace and strength. It is with thankfulness to God that I can say that we have never had a row in all our time together - I simply can't imagine raising my voice at Heather without bursting into tears at being so horrid - and Heather feels the same way - it truly is a blessing. Not that we never disagree on things, we simply don't allow what we disagree on to escalate into fighting - we sit down and try and work it out.

God has truly blessed me with a wonderful wife and I'm proud to be her husband.

As I mentioned, over these fifteen years we have been through some really tough times together, but that has been the key - we've been through them together. When we were doing our pre-marriage counseling, the couple who led us through it - Chris and Christine Priddle - told us one piece of advice that we have passed on to every couple we get a chance to who are getting married. It is a very simple piece of advice but very profound. It is simply this - "Always remember you're on the same side." There will always be tough times ahead, but how you face them and who you face them with will determine how you come through them. If you blame each other and allow the devil to work his schemes among you, you will fight each other and not face the real situation. If you recognise that you are a team along with God, you'll be able to focus on the real issues and stand with each other, not oppose each other. Sometimes it takes real guts to face the issues as they're often inside yourself, but isn't that where many of the biggest battles take place? If you can help each other in your battles, how much easier it is to win, and how much stronger your relationship as a result. This isn't just true of marriage, it can be true in any friendship or other type of relationship - work with each other, not against each other!! Whoah, I didn't expect to preach a mini sermon! :-)

Anyway, after a day of working we enjoyed our anniversary evening with a delicious roast lamb, roast potatoes (why do Canadians do mash with roasts?) vegetables and the inevitable mint sources - yum. That was after a starter of prawn cocktail and preceded an exceptionally good chocolate fondue! On Friday we went to a beautiful B&B near York for the night and had an enjoyable meal at a local pub restaurant - it's so much more a treat to have a steak over here and it was very good. After spending the night in the B&B we headed off to York to spend the day with my Mum and Dad and my sister and her husband Rae and Steve their daughters Hannah and Bethany. The guys went to the Railway Museum with Hannah and Bethany (I thought of you Russell) while the ladies went to the Castle Museum. We rounded the day off before returning to Morpeth with a meal at the Pizza Hut. It was a thoroughly great way to enjoy our anniversary.

I remember when we reached about ten years and happily announced this to a couple who I hadn't seen in years and Heather had never met, I felt rather squashed when the guy told us that we'd only just started. At fifteen years, we may still be young whippersnappers in some people's eyes, but it still seems forever (in a very good way) to us! As for me, I'm always delighted when I hear how long people have been together - even if they're celebrating their first anniversary. With the examples of broken marriages and divorces all around us, every year is worth celebrating and is a wonderful achievement.

Well, that's my happy little ramble, I really am sorry if you're single or no longer married or struggling in your marriage for whatever reason and this entry makes you sad, I know some of you who read this may be in this place. But please smile and rejoice with me as I delight in the blessing that God has given me and my prayer is that God would bless you abundantly.

Steve

(If you found this blog a bit gushy and didn't place a sick bag under your desk for moments such as these, you only have yourself to blame - you know the internet is a dangerous place - be prepared!!) ;-)

The Recipe...

So for those Spag Bol lovers out there, and those who are merely curious, and for those who can't find a more interesting blog to read at the moment, here it is - My Spag Bol Recipe - with many thanks to my Mum who taught me how to cook the original version which I have since modified.

Ingredients
1 lb (500g) minced (ground) beef (or whatever veggie equivalent you prefer)
4 oz (125g) mushrooms - diced
1/2 pint (250-300ml - how many cups I just don't know!) boiled water
1 Oxo beef stock cube (or some alternative stock cube)
1 clove of garlic - crushed
Schwartz steak seasoning
2 tablespoons tomato puree / tomato paste
A dash of red wine
1 tablespoon parmesan cheese
2 heaped teaspoons mixed herbs
2 heaped teaspoons dried basil
1 large onion - chopped

Sorry if the measures are a bit strange, I'm not too familiar with what you measure herbs in!

What to do with it all...
Place the tomato puree, cheese, wine, crumbled stock cube, mixed herbs, basil and hot water into a pan with a lid and bring it to a simmer.

Meanwhile, fry the onion and then the mushrooms in a frying pan and place them into the other pan with the simmering stuff.

Fry the garlic, a shake of steak seasoning and the meat in the frying pan until the meat is cooked through then add it to the concoction and leave to simmer for about 20 minutes.

Here it is all chugging away

With any luck you'll have a decent bolognese sauce! Next you'll need some spaghetti, but if you manage to make anything half decent with what I've just written, I'm sure you can work out what to do with a packet of spaghetti!

Enjoy and let me know how it goes.

Steve