Firstly we started to look at possible property to buy just to see what we could get and where - mainly on rightmove, but we also arranged a viewing. After the viewing, we both liked the house so decided we should start looking at things more seriously.

Then we spoke to a few of estate agents and a mortgage advisor - to see what the possibilities for the flat were. We looked at both selling the flat and letting it out again, but in the end we decided that we couldn't really afford to keep the flat to let out and buy a new house. Both of the estate agents we spoke to about selling the flat valued it at the same amount, but one of them charged more commision than the other (also conveniently the one that charged the lower commision seemed more trustworhty). So finally we decided to put the flat on the market with Cubitt and West. (If you're interested it's on rightmove)

In the mean time while we were looking at the options, the first house we'd seen was sold, so we continued to look around and see what else we could find. In all We've probably looked at about 10 different houses in various places around Eastleigh, Chandlers Ford and Southampton. With the first house, I had also contacted our existing mortgage lender to see what we could do for a mortgage with them, and they'd agreed to lend the amount we needed and sent me an application form - so we were in a good place as far as the finance was concerned too.

Last week the house we'd originally looked at came back on the market, but at the same time the tenants moved out of another house in the same road, which I'd tried to go and see before, but the estate agent hadn't managed to get in as the tenants were out. This time we got in no problem and the house was really nice. It was a very similar house to the first one, but in much better condition throughout. So we decided to go back together at the weekend to have another look. On Saturday, we went up there together and both really liked the house, so decided that we'd put an offer in on Monday. So over the weekend we got the mortgage application sent off, so that everything will be in place ready.

Yesterday we put in our first offer which was declined, but then tried with an in between price which was accepted, and the owner has agreed to take the house off the market for a couple of weeks to give us a chance to sell our flat!

Last week, the Solent became the destination for many boats from around the world for the International Fleet Review and the International Festival of the Sea (there was even one from Uruguay there!). This was part of the SeaBritain 2005 celebrations and particularly to celebrate 200 years since the battle of Trafalgar. It was expected that on Tuesday the city would be in deadlock with people travelling to the fleet review - so all the schools were closed and I decided to work from home to avoid the raffic. Also, Laura's mum and brother came down to watch and they all went down to the beach to watch from first thing in the morning - I managed to join them briefly at lunchtime and then again for the evenings events once I'd finished work.

As soon as I got there after work, however, it poured down with rain but fortunatley I was prepared with raincoats as Laura had warned me when they saw the clouds heading towards them. The rain didn't last too long however - it slowed down just as we were considering heading back home - so we stayed down there and were able to watch the Red Arrows before getting something to eat. Once we'd got our food - it rained again, but thankfully we were able to shelter in the programme sellers marquee. Once the rain stopped, we then headed back to the seafront to watch the helicopter display team, which was quite different as I'd never seen helicopters go upside down before! After the helicopters, the evening re-enactment started - quite slowly at first, but it was great to watch the tall ships sailing past as the sun was going down. After the first half of the re-enactment, there was a break to let the ferrys through, and we decided to move to see if we could find anywhere we could sit down and watch the rest, as our legs were getting tired. Everywhere was packed however, so we ended up watching the second half on the big screens instead - which probably meant we got more of a close up anyway!

Had a really nice relaxing weekend last weekend camping over on the Isle of Wight. It was nice weather most of the time, but we had a lot of rain on the Friday afternoon, which was unfortunatly when we were at the far point of our walk (down to Alum Bay). We stayed at Stoats Farm Campsite in Totland, which was really convenient for walking, but a bit too far from the bus stop when it's raining! We managed to do both of the geocaches that we'd planned to do (Vectis W and The Lord Palmerston) which was brilliant. The walks were really nice and the views were incredible - particularly from up on top of the Tennyson Downs. It was good to be able to check out our camping gear ready for the Summer, but unfortunatly our camping stove couldn't cope with the wind. Although it did have a good side too - in that we went to the pub nextdoor to the campsite -

The Highdown Inn - where the food was excellent.

5 out of 5 stars - Ricky Moorhouse June 4, 2005

The Highdown Inn is a nice friendly inn on the edge of Tennyson Down. They have a nice selection on the standard menu, and a few blackboards of specials which included the Haloumi which I had. I was a little reluctant to go for the Haloumi, as I was concerned it might be bland or small - far from it! The portions were a good size and it was very tasty!!

Visit date: June 2005

Food eaten: Haloumi with Tomato and Onion, followed by Raspberry and White Chocolate Cheesecake

Here are some of the pictures:

It was my birthday back on 5th May, I know this is a bit late – but I’ve been quite busy but still wanted to blog about my birthday! I had a great day - thanks to my lovely wife Laura. First of all she got me breakfast in bed – Egg Muffin :D then I opened my presents (well apart from the ones from my parents which I’d opened the night before). I think my favourite present has to be my smoothie maker that Laura bought me, which was totally unexpected- but has provided no end of tasty drinks!

After this we got up and went to vote, then came back for smoothies and birthday cake before heading off geocaching to Old Winchester Hill, which is a really nice country park with great views all round. We could even just about make out the Isle of Wight in the distance. After a nice walk and picnic we found the cache and then headed back to meet up with my parents at Queen Elizabeth Country Park, where we had another walk. Then in the evening we went for dinner:

The Red Lion, Chalton - birthday dinner.

4 out of 5 stars - Ricky Moorhouse

May 5, 2005

The Red Lion is a really old country pub with a conservatory restaurant on the back. They have a blackboard of specials, from which I had the swordfish cooked in Thai spices and coconut milk which was quite different and tasty. We got there just before the restaurant opened and by the time we'd worked out what we were having, the restaurant area was almost full!

Visit date: May 2005

Food eaten: Swordfish with Thai Spices

*[May 5, 2005]: 20050505T1900+0100

Today we had an interesting experience with Google's SafeSearch, in that when you searched Google for "church southsea" you got a quite different set of results with SafeSearch on and SafeSearch off, notably for us - that our church website was 2nd on the list with SafeSearch switched off, however didn't appear until the second page with SafeSearch turned on. It would be interesting to know how SafeSearch works, as from looking at the results it seemed like it was using quite a different index.

I contacted Google using their contact form, and it seems like they've made a change, as now the website has moved back into the first page of results.

Other posts mentioning safesearch

Over the past few months I've been involved in the process of finding a new minister for my church, [St. Luke's Church] - which has involved going to meetings with lots of different people from within the diocese. It's been quite an interesting process (and at times frustrating) and I'll probably write a bit more about some of my experiences along the way later. Throughout the past year and a quarter that we've been without a minister God has been providing for St Luke's in lots of different ways and has been preparing us to receive a new minister. In the past month particularly it has been really amazing to see how God has been working to lead us to the point we're at now. On Wednesday, the PCC unanimously approved the Archdeacon's proposal to appoint Andy Bridgen as our new minister, and on Sunday I had the priviledge to introduce him to the congregation.

It's been really great to have a part in this and it's really exciting to look forward to what God is going to do through Andy's ministry at St Luke's!

Read more at the St Luke's website

We have good news to share! The good news that Jesus has died for sin so that we can be free to come to God and know him. The barrier is gone!

Through the last few weeks of studying Acts in our homegroup, I've particularly been struck by one main thing - what Acts can teach us about sharing the gospel. Although this is because I prayed that God would teach me more about how to share the good news with others. So what does it say?

Firstly - in each instance of sharing the good news in Acts we see that the message is the same, it's the same gospel that is shared with each different person / group of people - That Jesus who was crucified is the Lord and only in him can we find salvation. Through Acts we see people from many different races, religions and backgrounds receiving this same good news and being changed by it! We have good news that is for everyone - whatever race, religion or background.

Even though the message never changes, the way it is shared does. In each situation, we see the believers starting from what has just happened or where the people with whom they are talking are at, and from there they go on to apply the message of salvation to the situation. Then usually after having shared the message they call the hearers to repentence.

The other thing that I noticed from Acts is that the Holy Spirit has prepared each situation that we read about. We see him leading the believers into situations, preparing the hearers for the message and working through the believers and their listeners as the message is shared. The final thought that this (and particularly the conversions of Paul and Cornelius) highlighted for me is that God could have done it all - shared the message with and brought them to know him - but he has decided to use us believers in the process.

God doesn't need us in order to share the gospel, but it pleases him to entrust us with it. We should rejoice in this responsibility, in all the opportunities we have to share this good news and in the joy of seeing others come to know him.

Mark at wordandspirit started a discussion on the nature of small groups, as to whether they are more appropriate for teaching or discussion.

My personal view is that the discussions are very important - often without that people can't manage to get their own grip on the concepts. At our homegroup we generally read the passage in either one whole chunk or smaller chunks that we can look at one at a time with the reading and then working through the passage and the ideas that come from it.

Generally I think the biggest problem for small groups is when the person who is leading the discussion isn't adequately prepared or thinks that they don't need to bother with preparation or background reading before hand. I know it's easy to do - I've done it myself , but it makes a huge impact on the quality of discussion if you've done your work!

On Tuesday, we just started a new series in Home group, looking at the Book of Acts (based on John Stott's Seeing the Spirit at work Bible study guide). As it was Shrove Tuesday we started off with pancakes (and wraps) before moving on to studying Acts 1. It was a really good study and through my preparation for the study and the study itself I came across some really interesting bits that I hadn't thought about before:

"why do you stand here looking into the sky?" (v10 - 11)

The interesting question about this passage was why the words of the men in white convinced the disciples to go back to Jerusalem, as what they say doesn't appear to explain why they shouldn't keep watching! The main thought we had on this was that it was the surprise element that made them move on, as Jesus had just been taken up without them expecting it - so they couldn't expect him to return while they were expecting him to re-appear. Also on this the questioning as to why they were looking up sort of implies that there is something wrong with what they are doing, so would make them think.

Selecting a replacement for Judas (v21-26)

As we're coming up to electing a new PCC, the process used here to appoint a replacement was quite interesting to look at, firstly they specify the qualifications required for the replacement:

who have been with us the whole time the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from John's baptism to the time when Jesus was taken up from us. > >

Then they nominated 2 possible men who fitted the qualifications, and then prayed that God would reveal his will in the decision acknowledging that God knows everyones hearts, and that He would choose the replacement. They then cast lots in order to discern God's will - which was interesting to note from the commentary that this is the last place that the casting of lots is used in the Bible, and that after the Spirit came at Pentecost it is no longer necessary, as the Spirit reveals God's will to us.

Just a short note about two great new imaging toys I've found recently:

Picasa

Brilliant application which is now owned by google and has improved greatly since the first verison I tried - it now includes a search function and the star and label organisation system so you can highlight your favorite pictures and put them in virtual groups as well as in folders. It also now appears to have unlimited undo for any enhancements you make to the pictures - including the really easy to use rotating tool to sort out sloping pictures! (Picasa also produced the photo pile image at the top)

Terragen

Generate your own landscape and render it - all the pictures included at the top I created using Terragen.