I woke up this morning to the sound of heavy rain. I quite enjoyed starfishing in my lovely comfy bed listening to the pitter patter of rain but was a little bit worried as yesterday I had called up to pay for advance tickets to Flambards theme park for today.
Had i realised yesterday that the weather was going to be so awful I probably wouldn't have booked to go. But having paid we were going and that was that!
As we ate our porridge I noticed a man in the cottage garden and realised he must be the gardener. I offered him a cup of tea and then was really embarassed to realise I didn't actually have any tea bags. I had seen some teabags in a pot but when I went to get one out I realised they were all berry flavoured. I sheepishly explained to the gardener that I didn't have any tea - only coffee and he said he would have that instead. He came into the kitchen to drink it and helpfully gave me directions to the theme park inlcuding a more direct route than the one I had been planning to take.
It was very straightforward to find and we arrived quarter of an hour before the park opened so we were one of the first to enter the park. We headed straight over to the big rides thinking they might get busy later on in the day. We were the first people on the rollercoaster. I wasn't sure whether Nat would enjoy it but he seemed to like it.
Next we clambered on some little helicopters. I stupidly hadn't looked to see what the ride actually entailed. It involved pedalling to get the helicopter to move but the machines were so tiny that my knees were up in my chest and it was really difficult to pedal and very hard to get it moving. We moved around a little track, went behind a hedge and then I found we were up in the air with a very steep drop. I suddenly realised (a) I didn't like it and (b) I couldn't do anything about it as I had to carry on pedalling in order to get back to the start. My leg muscles were burning and I practically fell off the ride when we finally got back to the beginning.
We then headed inside the science tent where there were lots of amusing and entertaining things to see and do including funny mirrors, disco lights that play music when you break the light beam, an echo box which plays back an echo of anything you call into it, a shadow screen which flashes a light and when you walk away leaves your shadow imprinted on the screen and lots lots more.
Next it was onto the carousel.
and then time to play in the outside pirate village and try and avoid getting sprayed by one of the many water cannons.
Nat enjoyed a little ride on some ladybird boats - he really liked them and cried when we took him off. In fact when the ride ended he was stuck in the middle of the water and Seb and I had difficulty reaching him to get him out again!
We stopped at an inside soft play area and had our lunch and Nat and Seb chased each other around.
Back outside, it started to chuck it down with rain so we dashed inside the exhibition tent to visit the Britain in the Blitz exhibition and then the Victorian Village exhibition. The Victorian Village was fantastic and much bigger than you might expect it to be. There were lots and lots of victorian shops to look inside including a bakery, tobacconist, glove shop, milliners, barbers, printers etc. then there was a school room and upstairs you could see the inside of a victorian home with bathrooms, bedrooms, kitchen etc. It was really well done. If we hadn't had Nat with us I would have liked to listen to the audio tour.
Back outside again we went on the teacups and lots of other little rides.
Then a space ride which was in the dark with laser lights.
Seb went on the death slide and then we went inside another bigger soft play area with huge ball pools and air cannons. I had a coffee and sat while the boys went off to play.
Another family soon came over leading a young boy with a cane. I realised he was partially sighted rather than completely blind because he had glasses but he seemed to have very cold hands and his family were having trouble trying to warm him up. They got him a cup of tea for him to warm his hands around but he ended up spilling some hot tea over his skin. I reached into my pocket to pull out my gloves and realised I only had one and must have dropped one somewhere in the park. I went to find Seb to ask him if he would mind if I gave his gloves away and he said that was OK.
I gave the boy Seb's gloves and his mum then explained to me that her son had been diagnosed with a brain tumour and had lost his sight when he was aged six. He is now 12 and had apparently nearly died six times. He is due to go back to hospital tomorrow for a day of tests to see whether the tumour has grown again.
I started chatting to the boy and he told me his name was Haydn (pronounced Hay-den) - he was a really bright and chatty boy and he told me how he was learning to play the piano by reading the music in braille. He also has won a couple of singing competitions which he was very proud about. I asked him what music he liked and we even sang a couple of songs together. I really enjoyed talking to him and it certainly passed the time as my boys were in the soft play area for the best part of an hour and a half.
It seems so hard for a family to go through such a difficult experience of seeing a healthy child suddenly struck with a brain injury and blindness and not knowing whether they are going to survive. Haydn told me it happened when he fell off a bench in PE and was knocked unconcious which seems like such a tragic accident.
When the boys finally came back and it was time to leave I was sad to say goodbye to Haydn and wished I could have given him more than just a pair of damp gloves. Such a sweet boy. I will definitely be including him in my prayers tonight.
I wish I had had the confidence to offer to pray for him there and then but I couldn't bring myself to ask if he or his family would mind. I do hope that one day I will get to a point where I can openly pray for people rather than thinking about it and wishing I could but not feeling able to act upon it. At one point he even said to me that I was a really nice lady and he had not met such a nice lady before. It was the perfect opportunity for me to explain why and the fact that I am a Christian but again I bottled it and didn't take the chance to explain that my faith is what gives me strength and helps me to look for opportunities to be kind to others.
It would be so easy to feel discouraged and to feel like a failure but I am comforted by my knowledge of God's grace and love for me. I am reassured by the fact that although God can use me, he certainly doesn't rely on me and my confidence to speak out in order to get his good work done. I might have personally missed an opportunity to share my testimony but God knew exactly how I would react in that circumstance and thankfully his plans will always be fulfilled even when I fail to be the one to help fulfill them.
The rain had become much heavier so we finally came back to the cottage and were thankful to be back in the warm and the dry.
George, Joe and baby Holly are due back around eight thirty and I have offered to cook bangers and mash for tea so I had better get peeling some spuds!
