Endure Fort» family

Travels….

Chris — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 16:35:38 +0000

Wow,
I haven’t been on here for ages! Far too long….

I’ve got so much to blog about too. Most of my blogging over the next wee while will be focusing on Linda and I’s recent travels. In September we had an awesome trip to celebrate our 5th wedding anniversary – we went to Canada for 3 weeks. We spent a week in Toronto, then flew to Calgary to start a 5 day road trip to Vancouver (stopping at places such as Banff and Whistler en route) then finished with a few days in Vancouver. We saw a lot of awesome stuff – Niagara falls, Bears, the Rockies, but the best part was catching up with friends that I hadn’t seen in 7 years and that Linda had never met! But I’ll save all the details for more focused blog posts about the trip.

we also recently went to Paris for a long weekend with Linda’s folks – it was their 30th wedding anniversary. We all had a great time there and, thanks to the striking French public and Ryanair canceling flights through fuel shortages, we ended up with an extra day in Beauvais and a day in Dublin!

Anyhoo, it’s good to be back on here, I’ve been really frustrated at not finding the time to dedicate to this blog. Ah well, I’m here now!

Peace Out

Charlie Fraser…

Chris — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 15:39:20 +0000

Last Friday, Linda’s sister Susie gave birth to her and Jonnie’s new son Charlie. He was 8lbs 12oz and 53cm. He’s brilliant!
We went up to Inverness on Sunday to meet him, and take some photos!
Obviously, we all still miss and think about Iona, but it’s lovely to have Charlie here with us!
Here’s a couple of pictures of him, and if you go here you can see more photos of him!

Art Exhibition – Blue Horizon

Chris — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 10:53:14 +0000

My amazing wife Linda, is organising an art exhibition to try and gain some exposure for her and some artist friends and also to try and raise some funds for Blue Horizon. Some of her friends from her Art Degree course will be displaying work, as well as a few artist who have graduated and 1 or 2 photographers. The art on display is not purely for viewing, it is also a sale of work. It is taking place at the Credo Christian centre in Aberdeen. As well as showcasing some upcoming artists, there will be presentations about Blue Horizon and our work, and the opportunity to chat to the staff of Blue Horizon and of course the artists themselves. It should be a great event, and if you can manage to come along it would be awesome to see you there. If you click the link below, it will open up the amazing poster advertising the event – designed by Andrew Dunsire, Linda’s Dad.

AFAS-exhibit-poster

Joshua Harkins

Chris — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 09:45:00 +0000

Yesterday was my nephews 2nd birthday – it really doesn’t seem that long since we met him in ARI!
Linda and I went up to see him on Saturday and spent the afternoon with him and his Mum and Dad.
He’s quite a cheeky wee boy – but still at the age where its cute! He also loves his gadgets – he’s quite adept at using his Dad’s itouch for playing games! He love my camera – especially because I’m confident enough in its toughness to let a 2 year old play with it! Its got so many buttons on the back that it provides plenty of entertainment for Joshua – although his fingers aren’t quite strong enough to depress the shutter release! He was given a toddlers digital camera for his birthday (a solid, hard to break low res camera) I’m sure he’ll have a ball with it!
Its great watching him growing up – he’s definetly full of character!

Peace out

Chris

Please Pray……..

Chris — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 11:22:05 +0000

Folks, please pray for my family.

just over 8 years ago, my Mums elder brother died of cancer, last April, my Mums younger brother died of a heart attack. Last night, my Mums Mum died in her sleep. That leaves just my Mum and my Grandfather on that side of the family. This is a hard time for all of us, but especially for the two of them. My Grandfather will now be living alone in a large house that just a year ago housed 3 people.

My Granny has been ill, but had looked to be getting better, so, while not completely out of the blue, this is still a bit of a shock!

Peace Out

A year of Blogging

Chris Hoskins — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 11:14:04 +0000

Today marks a year to the day that I started blogging.
It’s been quite a year: so much has happened and I’ve changed in many, many ways!
I feel much more settled in myself since last year, a lot more confident in myself and much happier in general!
Thank you to everyone who has read my blog, especially those who’ve given feedback via comments or private messages to me. I don’t blog so that I can feel important or see how many people are reading my thoughts, I blog for various reasons: to share thoughts/ resources/ funnies/ articles/ photos with others and to help me reflect on things that have happened or are happening.
As much as the stats aren’t important to me, it does help when I’m feeling uninspired or think that what I’ve shared is tripe that I can see that people keep looking!
So here’s to another year, hopefully as eventful as the last year, but without a lot less tragedy!
This year marks an important transition time in my life, something I’ll be reflecting on quite a bit in the coming months. It’s been great to be able to share it with so many!

Peace out

Canada!

Chris Hoskins — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 23:39:08 +0000

Having missed Canada day yesterday (but thanks to my dodgy computer calendar only realizing that after making ‘Happy Canada Day’ my facebook status I thought this would be a good time to write a post I’ve been meaning to write for ages!.

Those of you who know me, know that I have something of a love affair going on with Canada! I can’t get enough of the country. Before I start rambling, let me start at the beginning of it all!

I first visited Canada in July 2002 for the 17th Roman Catholic World Youth Day. This was an awesome 2 weeks. On the one hand, it marked the first major trip I’d ever taken outside the UK (apart form a day trip to Paris with my parents), it also marked my first time flying. I was there with a group from the Church of Scotland, 27 (I think) Protestant Pilgrims amongst 800,000 RC pilgrims. The CofS group was fantastic, unfortunately I don’t keep in touch with that many of the folks who were on the trip as often as I’d like to, but at the time of the trip some of the folk there were my closest friends: Yin Lee and Colin Hyslop.
Here’s a picture of the whole (I think) CofS group in RHPC:

CofS Pilgrims in RHPC

Those 2 weeks were spent exploring Toronto and greater Toronto: highlights being Niagara Falls, Canada’s Wonderland, meeting and staying with Vivian, Kevin, Olivia and Ceilea, meeting the Nigra family, the final mass at Downsview and my falling in love with Canada!

Colin, Rachel and I in Downsiew

Part of the crowd at Downsview

I could write for ages about the WYD trip, but I’ll need to come back another time to do that, I want to talk about Canada and my experiences as a whole just now.
After this first trip to Canada, I had an incredible urge to go back, I really wanted to go back and spend more time with the awesome people I met the first time, but there was also something about the country that made me (and still makes me) well up with passion from my gut. I know that probably sounds crazy to a lot of you, but there’s no other way to describe it. When I first felt it, I just assumed it was down to the great time I had when I was there for WYD.
As time went on after the trip, I spent more and more time chatting to my new friends and emailing them. I knew I was going to go back, I just had to figure out arrangements. As it happened, I went back the following April (2003) with my good friend Calum Wilson. Everyone knew I was coming, but only the parents of the families we were staying with knew Calum was coming, which was a nice surprise for them all! I managed to embarrass myself immediately by calling ‘shotgun’ at the same time as forgetting about Canadians driving on the other side of the road and so ran to the drivers seat, whoops! As well as being a trip to visit our friends, we were in Canada to celebrate Olivia Shins 16th birthday with her and Lindsey Nigra’s 19th brthday with her. Both celebrations were great fun (apart from some Scottish idiocy from us!). The first week (the last week in March) was glorious sunshine, whereas the 2nd week was cold and very snowy! Particular highlights of that trip were: getting my tattoo, Olivia’s 16th party, Lindsey’s 19th party, RHPC’s spaghetti dinner.
Again, I could write for ages about that trip, but I’ll revisit it another day.
When I came back from this trip, I had such a strong longing to be back in Canada. Such a strong passion whenever I thought of the country. It was at this point I started thinking that perhaps God was calling me to Canada. For a few weeks this played on my mind daily. Was it God? Was it me imagining things? Was it just that I’d had 4 great weeks in Canada with great people?
A few weeks after getting home I was at Spring Harvest with some friends. During one of the evening sessions the speaker, Tré Sheppard was speaking about calling, specifically where has God called you to minister. He was quite good in that he made the point that not every Christian is called to go on mission in Africa, as he saw many do. He didn’t see this as a bad thing to do, but he also didn’t see it as a bad thing to be called to a ‘developed’ country on missions. As he was speaking, I was prying constantly in my head: ‘God, am I called to Canada? Is that where I’m meant to go? I’m so confused, make it clear for me!’. For 30 minutes I prayed and listened, and heard nothing. i wasn’t that frustrated though, you often hear of people praying for years without answer! How Tré ended his talk truly shocked, scared and excited me though. His last line was this: ‘It doesn’t matter if you are called to Africa, or to….(long pause as he thought) ..Canada, what is important is that you follow Gods call’. What was I supposed to do with that!? What could I assume except that God had given me a timely answer? I approached Tré the next day and asked him why he had chosen to say Canada at that moment? His only answer was that it was the first developed nation that popped into his head as he thought. He wasn’t really sure why, and as he comes from one of the southern states in the US it wasn’t because he was thinking of home!
Ever since then, I’ve been of no doubt that I’m called to, one day, move to Canada and be involved in some form of ministry there. It’s quite exciting! What makes it even more exciting is the fact that Linda, my wife, is open to the idea too!
Since that evening at Spring Harvest, I have returned to Canada only the once, in the August of 2003. There were 2 reasons for originally going, and one bonus reason! The 2 original reason was for my friend Crystals wedding and to attend Canada Youth 2003, the bonus event was going to a Toronto Argonauts Canadian Football game.
Crystals wedding was great, her and Joe looked great and looked so happy! It was a gorgeous, sunny day out in the more ‘rural’ part of Ontario (to the west of Toronto, I think). Everyone seemed to have a great time and were all really happy for them both!
The football game was awesome, Canadian football is slightly different to Amercian Football, if you’re really interested you’ll read up on it yourself! Toronto, who I was supporting, were narrowly beaten by Edmonton. But that didn’t lessen my enjoyment of the game!
Canada Youth was an awesome event, I’ll share some highlight, but again I’ll need to return to do it justice! I met so many more awesome people there. The great thing about everyone I’ve ever met in Canada is how welcoming and accepting they have been of me. At CY03, the folks i hung around with most of the time were already a pretty tight group, yet the accepted me straight in and treated me as part of the group. I’ve never felt so welcome in my life! Moments of note from CY03: random girl realizing i was ACTUALLY from Scotland and screaming scarily loud, the thunderstorm (awesome!), the Seiché, mealtimes, there are to many just to blandly list them!!!!!
Here are a couple of videos about Canada Youth, the first is a teaser promo video for this years event (if you watch closely, you’ll spot me, albeit a very young looking me!) the second is a worship version of the proclaimers song ’500 miles’.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVhpSZV_3OA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yfrz_hW3C8s

Thats enough of a wee ramble from me, except for this: I won’t ever try and convince anyone how awesome Canada is (apart from Linda!). I don’t expect everyone to feel what I feel for Canada. It’s hard to describe what I feel for Canada. An intense passion, a strong love. Whenever I’ve been there, including the very first time, I’ve felt at home. Canada is, to some extent, is home for me. I can’t really explain why, or expect people to understand. Thats ok, tey just have to accept that’s how I feel about it!
Peace out
Chris

365 Project catch up

Chris Hoskins — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 14:04:46 +0000

It’s been quite a while since my last 365 project update, I’m not left with as much of a huge task as I might have been as I’ve managed to miss quite a few days……oh well, onwards and upwards!!

In Grateful Memory

Chris Hoskins — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 23:44:49 +0000

As you all probably know, tomorrow is the 65th anniversary of the Allied landings on the beaches of Normandy on June 6th 1944, D-Day.
Ever since I can remember, I’ve been fascinated by the history of World War 2. When I was a wee boy, it was mostly the battles and heroics that interested me, as with most boys I would imagine! Since growing older, I have become more interested in the politcal, humanitarian and sociological aspects, although the battles, specifically the tactics, still hold great interest for me.
My interest first came from growing up watching many war films with my Dad: ‘The Longest Day’ ‘The Dambusters’ ‘A Bridge to Far’ etc etc etc Looking back, I don’t think I really got what the films were trying to say. Yes, I got the part about heroes and guns. But I don’t think I ever got what it was all about, I never understood why they were fighting (I got that the Germans or ‘Jerries’ were bad), but didn’t know why) I never understood what so many had gone through in the war, I never understood how many people had actually died. Perhaps the films I watched glamorized war, perhaps I just didn’t really pay attention or was too young to pick it up. I don’t think ‘modern’ films and series about the war could ever do the men who fought justice either, but I think I’m at a place where I can look beyond the well shot battle scenes and special effects and start seeing more of the story told in things like ‘Band of Brothers’ and ‘Saving Private Ryan’.
I wanted to pay something of a tribute to the people who gave so much during the war, not just during the D-Day landings. So many of them can never be thanked, so many of them will never know how much is owed to them. How many of us today actually know what we owe them? Do we just take for granted the reality we are presented with, the culture we live in, and not really give much thought to those who fought and died to make it a possibility? I fear I take it for granted, that I don’t really take the time to remember those who got us here, those who sacrificed so that we may enjoy this world, this freedom(?). Am I too apathetic, or am I normal for this society? What more could society, me, do to remember War heroes, and I’m now talking from all wars, not just WWII. I fear I’m rambling now!
One of the things that has always impressed me about men involved in the fighting in WWII. So few of them want to big up the role they had in the fighting, always eager to downplay their role and talk-up those that they fought alongside. The humility is incredible, the refusal to see what a massive impact the personally had on the word and those around them. I’ve heard countless stories from friends about family members who had done incredible things during the war and not made mention of them to anyone, often stories wouldn’t come out until their funerals when military buddies would tell the stories. I was asking my Dad tonight if anyone from my family had been involved in WWII. Surprisingly few had been, both Grandfathers were too young(by just a few years) to be involved. My Grandads brother (my Dads Uncle) was involved in the Battle for Monte Cassino (although I’m unsure which phases of the battle). He was a spotter for an artillery regiment. Again, no-one in my family knew anything about what happened until his funeral, my Grandad knew nothing of any injury and his parents thought his brothers injury was a digging accident. Anyway, my Great-Uncle, Harry Hoskins, was taking part in the battle. As an artillery spotter, his role was to provide accurate co-ordinates of enemy positions for the artillery to fire upon. This meant him spending a lot of time behind enemy lines, if he was alone or with others I don’t know. At somepoint during his spotting duties, he was himself spotted by the Axis forces and fired upon. A resultant explosion left him with a wounded leg, which he told his parents had been injured when digging a foxhole and the entrenching tool gashing his leg. It wasn’t until his funeral that the truth was let known to his family.
I often wonder if I would have the guts to do what so many did. Would I watch my brothers back, or would I find the closest hiding place and cower? For the fact that I don’t have to find out, I thank God, for the fact that so many thousands of men had the courage to not cower I thank God.
If you don’t already, I encourage you to appreciate those who have fought and died or been injured in the name of freedom, for our sake and the sake of so many more. Lets not take it for granted, lets take advantage of what so many gave their lives to provide.

365 Project – 99/365

Chris Hoskins — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 21:09:06 +0000

For some reason I missed number 98, not sure what happened! Thought this was a great photo of my sister and my nephew having fun though!