Missing the Manse

I’ve been reading the biography of Gladys Aylward to the boys in school. She was a remarkable woman and it’s been awesome reading through the events of her life. A few times I got choked up during the reading. Gladys was a housemaid who felt God’s call on her life to serve in China as a missionary. She was gently expelled from missions college because her grades weren’t good enough, but made her own way to China where through a series of remarkable events she became an official foot inspector, and was thereafter called upon by the government for various reforms. Time Magazine ran an article on her in 1949 which got into the hands of the Japanese, thereby bringing a price on her head for capture. One small woman made a big difference in the lives of many, many people – simply because she obeyed the still, small voice of the Holy Spirit.
School didn’t take long this morning and then we spent the greater part of the day in town – firstly posting off our NZ visa application forms to my parents, who will then collate a few other bits and pieces before posting them to London. Then we got stuck in at the manse with more cleaning. I cleaned the washing machine and got a few loads going, so all the curtains and linen will be fresh and clean after gathering a year of dust. We ate Sally’s lunch in the diningroom around the clean table! Now that it’s feeling like a home again, I really miss it. I’m not a particularly sentimental person, but there are three years’ worth of memories wrapped up in the house – like a big chunk of Aaron’s childhood! Nick found this beautiful bell amidst the rubbish that was cleared out of the workshop. He brought it home and spent ages scraping off old paint and polishing it, revealing a lovely piece of antiquary. The actual building work continues in the manse and schoolroom. We were surprised to see that the bathroom window had been entirely removed! It was pretty old so will need some fixing up before its reinstallation.