Places

Visiting Sheffield again the other week reminded me that it is still a place I love! I had kind of forgotten about it, but there are so many reasons to love it - the greenness, the proximity to the Peaks, the many steep hills that aren't nice in themselves but give great views, the 'villagey' areas with their very different identities that mean that though it is a big city it doesn't alway feel so. I love that with a city (especially if it has good transport links) I can easily access many facilities, especially lots of shops! I guess I am a city girl at heart...! Of course the fact that so many of our good friends still live there helps a lot too! I was musing with Matt as we drove through Chatsworth on the way home, whether a big reason that I look so favourably on Sheffield now is because we have so many good memories there from university and 'early marriage' days. Who knows if it would be the same if we lived there now...?

Either way, I am grateful for all the places that God has brought me to (and through!) in my life that I don't think I would otherwise have known. Having been a 'home-bird' for my adolescence with no desire to 'go off travelling' (ironic, eh?!) and loving my home city Exeter so much, it is rather surprising that I went so far from home for university. Equally, with being so happy in Sheffield and the many opportunities on offer there I think if it hadn't been for Wycliffe we may not have ever left! Instead we have had the unusual and exciting experience of living in Tanzania and currently have the contrasting experience of living in Thame, which is a lovely place to be a mummy. As I look with a sense of slight foreboding to the likely possibility of moving place next year I guess I should look back with gratefulness at the amazing places God has brought me to so far and use it to inspire me with faith for the future.