Sally-Jayne Gallagher arrives!

It was 4.15am on the 20th June 09 when Sally-Jayne let out her first shreik, was put on Jo's chest, opened her eyes to stare in Jo's for just a moment before she was promptly whisked away to be examined!

Everything was fine, so equally as promptly she was given back to Jo for some mother-daughter bonding. Jo did really well, delivering in under 6 hours with no pain relief!

Sally-Jayne is now settling in well and the center of everyones attention. She's already playing and she already knows what she wants! She's had nearly 30 visitors, and absolutely adores being held.

Thanks for all your support and prayer, we know Jesus was with us in the delivery ward.

Appearing on TV!

On the 17th June 2009 I will be on Revelation TV! I'm being interviewed on the programme that runs from 2-3pm about my faith, the work Jo and I do in Malawi and there may even be a live phone in!

Pray for me as this is very new territory!

Tom

Webby News

We are so excited to have finished our first newsletter, and got our website going! If you would like a copy of the news letter, please get in contact with me and I'll email you one. If you would like to check out the website go to: www.tomandjo.org .

Today is finally the day that Jo's baby is due! Right now no signs, so don't expect anything soon, but hopefully it won't take too long. She is well, and out having coffee (decaf. I hope!) with a couple of friends at the moment.

My work on the farm has come to a brief halt. The new farm manager has started now, but it turns out the educational coordinator is leaving in three weeks, and so I'll be covering her role until they find someone permanent! I've also got the odd days work here and there taking animals out to shows and things for them.

Today Tom and Ali husbands, along with their kids, should be landing in England. They run the Dalitso trust in Malawi, who we work very closely with, and are great friends of ours. They are back for a holiday and it will be so nice to have them around when we have our baby!

That's all for now - check out our website and give me some feedback

Tom

Big bumps, good times and praying like a madman

On the farm with "Alternative therapy students, realigning the cows spines!!


This week our church here in the UK has been doing 24/7 prayer. (24-7prayer.com) What an amazing thing to see, the commitment from people to make that pilgrimage to the prayer room, maybe even at 2 in the morning is a sight to behold. It makes me realise what a whole hearted commitment it takes to be part of this church. I've enjoyed it so much, and even though at times it's been a little hard to go work after being there most of the night, it's totally worth it! The time actually flies by while you are in there!

Jo's bump has stayed relatively the same over the last few weeks, although she ensures me that the baby is heavier! I simply can't wait to see our baby now. It's already been described by one Mid-Wife as a "tinker", and another one as a "little blighter" due to the amount it moves around, so I'm hoping it will save the activity for day time and sleep well during the night.

This current part of our life generally feels to me like a good time. Work is enjoyable, church is enjoyable, home is enjoyable and living in England is certainly enjoyable! Jo has even been known to say her pregnancy has been enjoyable! (Although I'm not sure she's saying that right now!)

Today on the farm has been lovely. We had 8 chicks born and 8 ducklings! It's always so nice, and it brings special enjoyment to the kids and the adult volunteers. It's only just over a week until the new manger starts, who's position I've been covering the last 3 weeks. The 2 weeks after that I have 3 days worth of work, which will just about cover our rent - and then I cover the educational coordinators role here too! She's handed in her notice, so that gets me another month or so's work! Amazing!

Tonight I'm going to the F.A Youth cup final between Arsenal and Liverpool. I'm hoping Arsenal will at least win something this year!

Well, keep smiling, enjoying spring and praying!

x x x

Farms in the city

It's been so interesting returning to the city farm scene! I've got some temporary work at Vauxhall City Farm (www.vauxhallcityfarm.org). The place is lovely, and I knew them while I ran Brooks City Farm. Their farmyard manager left after 9 years here and I agreed to come in and help keep the ship steady while they recruit, and I think they want to keep me on in a part time capacity over the summer as a session worker! It's a wonderful answer to our prayers as we really needed some extra income to pay the bills, but were faced with a country in economic crisis!

Jo is doing fantastic as ever. We went to baby and you classes at the hospital last night and they were actually really helpful. It was a bit weird as I was sitting next to a kid and his girlfriend who I used to look after at our churches youth club! He's only 18 and it was a strange thing to be learning how to have a baby together with him. Next week we get to watch a video of someone giving birth! Lucky us!!

Things seem to be going great with the boys back in Malawi. I spoke to the guys on Friday and it was a real faith builder. The leaders in Kudoko are well, they are hungry in the right way and they are learning! There's still massive issues with witchcraft, but it seems like the weekly programme and the one on one follow ups during the week are making such a difference. I had a great chat with Humphreys and I'm so excited for how he's risen to the challenge of leading it through.

Working in the city has made me realise what a contrast we have in the Western world to places like Malawi. Here the cities are where the majority of people live, it's where things happen. If you think of England you probably think of London. However in Malawi the majority of people (90%) live rurally. That means peoples mentality is very rurally focused. It's also means that it's the few who are governing the masses. It's just interesting really. 13million people live in Malawi, under 800,k of those live in Lilongwe, the capital. 7.5 million live in London, with lots of other Major cities around England which has a population of 60 million. I wonder if this is a contributing factor when the world looks at a country: England is a country driven by the city, Malawi is a country driven by the village.

Please pray for George, Humphreys and Lusekero as they continue our work while we are not there! I would also like you to pray for Oscar. He's a young student I mentor and his Uncle died a few weeks ago. This not only left him as the head of his family, it also left him without his funder for University.

Anyway, with that lingering thought in my mind I bid you farewell!

Tom

friends, family and settling in.

Mum, Dad, Sister Jess and Aunty Atha (Soon to be our babies great, great Aunt!)

We've been back almost a month now, and often Malawi feels like a long time ago! It's just that life is so fast here, and weeks fly by, and before you know it a month has passed!

We are having such a ball though. Seeing friends and family has been wonderful, and adding to that our great church life, it makes for a fast passed, enjoyable and even challenging ride!

We had a scan a couple of weeks back, and that was pretty incredible! It looked like a baby, moved like a baby and really bought home the reality of our little baby living in Jo's belly. She told me the other day that she's enjoyed her pregnancy so much, and got so used to her current situation she's not sure about it coming out! Having said that I can tell she can't wait, and I can also tell what a great mum she's going to be. Personally, I'm becoming really excited about the day. Children are a gift from God, something that Malawians get right in their attitudes and something our culture often gets wrong.

New Generation Church Football club are in the cup final on Saturday! They are making the wonderful gesture of taking a collection for a youth team myself and Lusekero are getting started in Malawi, and donating an old kit. It's something I'm really looking forward to starting when we return to Malawi, and I know Lusekero is absolutely buzzing with the idea.

Tomorrow I'm at Vauxhal city farm to talk about working as their interim farmyard manager while they advertise and interview for the permanent post. I could do with your prayers about this, and if I get the job I'll be really excited about helping there as best I can.

Well, signing off now - missing Malawi and our friends there, but enjoying the UK so much. All our love x

Safe, sound and freezing!

Various leaders that we are training in Kudoko

The football Academy at Kudoko

Lusekero teaching them how to jump at kudoko!

My 27th Birthday cake!

My 27th Birthday meal!

The kids at Kudoko

One of the small group sessions at Kudoko

Humphreys, Me and George the guys who lead the work in Kuodoko!

Drink time in Kudoko!

Growth group, a group of young guys who get together at our house on Fridays

We got back to England on Wednesday and have been staying with Jo's sis until yesterday when we returned to our home and church in Sidcup!  So we are officially back now!  Boy it's cold!  We had a great journey back, we have a few tips for long stays in transit in Nairobi if you ever find yourself there!!

I thought I'd post up some pictures now that we have a connection that can handle it.