It might almost be summer but it must be time for the spring newsletter! At the time of writing the baby has not yet appeared, but by the time of sending and you reading there may well have been further developments as the due date is now only 7 days away the 19^th May. You can be reassured that as soon as there are developments on that front that a further special edition will be sent out to keep you informed.

Luca is having a good few months, he is really growing and we can see his character really developing and coming through. He is quite cheeky and funny and very very active, he is one of those children that like to make sure that they use every ounce of energy before bedtime, added to that he also likes to make sure that he uses up his word allocation as well; regardless if there is anyone listening or not. He has passed the 2 and a half mark and we are sure that he is going to make a really good big brother and he is quite excited about the arrival of the baby. Whether that will be the case when it comes out, we will believe so.

Esther has been progressing well, she copes with being pregnant so well, little complaining and plenty of getting on with life regardless. Often having been told not to do something she will have done so such is her character! I think we have reached the stage a couple of weeks ago that she would appreciate the birth happening sooner or later, but otherwise she is happy and in good health.

My work is going very well and I am still learning so much, I have completed over a year now and am really pleased with my development and am looking forward to seeing what happens in the next 12 months. We had a great time visiting and speaking at Coventry Christian Fellowship Church back in February and it was good to see the developments that are being made with the church there.

In early February my voice became very constraint and horse and it was difficult to produce much projection when I spoke, unfortunately this is still the case and having seen 2 doctors and had 2 blood tests, it is still the same and not seeing any improvement. I am seeing the Ear Nose and Throat specialists at Peterborough Hospital on Thursday 16^th May to see if there is a diagnosis/treatment for this. I would appreciate your thoughts and prayers that something would be discovered or a return to my normal voice would happen. It is quite draining at times and takes effort to talk for any length of time.

Thanks as always for your comments and prayers, we appreciate you all.

Love Phil, Esther and Luca x

First and foremost we need to wish everyone a happy New Year, a bit odd in February I hear you say, but it’s our first newsletter of the New Year so there it is!

In case you missed the special announcement; we are very pleased to announce that we are expecting a second addition to the family. Baby number 2 (Baby Baboon) is due in the middle of May and Esther and baby are both progressing and coping very well. Esther is quite tired at the moment and her iron levels are a little down but she is coping quite well. Luca seems to be quite excited and enjoys putting his hand on Esther stomach to see if he can feel the baby.

Luca is as active as ever, he is currently into playing cricket, football, American football, golf, basketball, and tennis and his favourite sportsman is definitely Andy Murray. So much so that after Andy Murray played in the Australian Open final recently with sore feet, we were praying after tea asking for someone to be made better because they weren’t well, Luca asked if we could pray for Andy Murray to get better as well.

Just before Christmas I had an accident whilst driving our car, Esther and Alex were also in the car, but with God’s protection we were all ok with just a few bumps and bruises to show for it. The car was written off by the insurance company so now we have a new one! A bit of a shock and an unpleasant occurrence but we are pleased to all be ok.

At the start of January we moved into our own place again, we have been fortunate to find a 2 bedroom ground floor flat to rent in the same area as Mum and Dad and Heidi and Alex are living so we have our own space now but are still close enough to those who are around us.

We are enjoying building life again as a family after spending a good year with mum and dad. We are enjoying being involved at Kingsgate and a small group, work is going well and I have an opportunity to go and speak at a church in Coventry on 17^th February. www.ccfchurch.co.uk if you would like to check them out (I built their website as well!).

We enjoyed some fun in the snow in January and Luca really enjoyed being pulled around in his sledge and we enjoyed building a snow family in mum and dad’s back garden.

Thanks as always for your comments and prayers, we appreciate you all.

Love Phil, Esther and Luca x

Now, are you thinking, that’s not been three months since the last newsletter and it’s nowhere near the end of November yet, Christmas can’t be that close can it? And firstly, that’s a lot of questions, secondly thanks for letting the arrival of the newsletter stir all those emotions and lastly, no, it has not been three months, it’s not the end of November, but yes Christmas is really that close! Just because it’s a seasonal newsletter doesn’t mean that it has to be the end of the season, although that would make more sense!!!

I can confirm that I am older now having had a birthday in September and I can also confirm that Luca is also a year older; he is 2 now having his birthday at the end of October. We spent a few days before his birthday trying to get him to realise that it was going to be his birthday or ‘happy day’ as he liked to call it. I think that we were successful and on reflection am wondering how many years in the future we will be trying to do the opposite and get him to calm down. Anyhow he seemed to enjoy himself and is now the proud owner of, among other things, a train set, a golf set and a cricket set.

We enjoyed a week’s break in Cornwall in October. It was nice to have some family time away on our own. We went out for several drives around the coast, managed to see some friends and Luca really enjoyed going swimming every day. It’s still a long way though!

I enjoyed visiting Wembley Stadium for the annual visit to watch the American Football match, St Louis Rams and New England Patriots, if anyone is interested and the Patriots completely dominated the game.

I have started a new venture selling T-shirts and accessories with my own designed logo on them www.3nine80.com. Please go and take a look and see if there is anything you fancy, any comments or suggestions greatly received.

We have also managed to just upgrade our car so that we can have access to the back seats via doors rather than trying to somersault Luca into his car seat through the front doors as we had been doing in our three door Yaris.

Activities continue as normal for the rest of November and leading up to Christmas and the New Year. I expect we will speak again next year so enjoy the next few months and get in touch if its been a while or even if it hasn’t!!

Thanks as always for your comments and prayers, we appreciate you all.

Love Phil, Esther and Luca x

Oh yeah almost forgot to say……..

Due on 19^th May 2013! No nickname has yet been decided, we will keep you informed.

Welcome along to Summer 2012 Habari Filstar. You may or may not have noticed that it’s been 3 months since the last newsletter. This was not out of design but now it’s happened it may well stay like that so we will trial a 3 monthly newsletter rather than a monthly one. Hopefully there will be a bit more news to relay in a longer timescale.

We have been enjoying the Olympics and Paralympics and managed to go to the Paralympics with a day in the park going to see all the buildings and spending some time in the park watching some events on the big screen. It was a very long tiring day but we were very happy to have the opportunity to go and experience some of the atmosphere and see what was going on for ourselves. We were stuck by the size of the buildings, they were much bigger than they appeared on the television and were amazed by the number of people that were there.

We were also fortunate to have the torch pass near to where we live so we enjoyed going out in the rain to see it pass. Luca was excited to see all the emergency vehicles that passed in a parade and the police motorbikes that went passed shouting pikipiki (motorbike) at them all.

We celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary (3 times as is per the custom when you have 3 weddings! some would say it is greedy but you #mightaswell make the most of it). Thanks to everyone for the cards and well wishes we received.

We had a great time with Esther’s parents, Jackson was over for a month and Anna was over for 2 months. Luca enjoyed getting to know them and spending time with them and playing all his games. He has developed a better rapport with them and gets even more excited when he sees them on the computer and has started talking to them well.

Luca is growing and developing at an astonishing rate; he now recognizes most sports on the television and attempts to copy what is going. He is getting good at football, able to score a goal in the garden even in his wellies. He has many words and talks constantly from the moment he wakes up to the moment he goes to sleep. We are starting to be able to have a conversation with him now which is nice, although he does answer every question with ‘yeah’ before thinking about it and giving a proper answer.

My job is going very well and I am still enjoying it very much, the variety between office based and field work keeps me entertained and busy. I am not sure if I had communicated previously but my temporary 12 month contract was made permanent a couple of months ago answering prayers.

We enjoyed a brief visit to Cornwall to catch up with some friends and to attend a wedding of our good friends. It was a lovely time and the weather was unusually very nice on a beach setting.

The football season has returned and I have already managed to watch Plymouth play once and lose my voice, the American football season is about start again and in October I am looking forward to visiting Wembley again to see a game.

Thanks as always for your comments and prayers, we appreciate you all.

Love Phil, Esther and Luca x

It’s the end of May ladies and gentlemen and it feels like just yesterday that I was writing the April newsletter. We have been enjoying the sunshine of recent times a short relief from the persistent rains of recent times. No doubt there will be calls for the rains to return soon enough as is the British way of not being satisfied with the weather we get.

Luca has been delighting us in so many ways; he is walking, running, talking in English, Swahili and Nyamwezi, playing football. He has been purchased some football goals and a ball which he enjoys playing with in the garden. I have been successful in teaching Luca how to say cricket, wicket, goal and golf and he has been saying touchdown to his Uncle Matt for several months, I am pleased to say he is heading in the right direction!

Esther and I have been carrying on with our activities, Esther getting involved with some mother and children activities and I am enjoying being at work and getting to know the water distribution networks in several areas of the country.

We, especially Esther, are eagerly anticipating the arrival of Jackson and Anna on 1^st June for a month and 2 months respectively. It will be nice to spend some time with them and for Luca to see his other grandparents as well.

Well not much to say this month I am afraid. We are looking forward to spending time with lots of different members of the family in June. I will pad out with some photos!

With love Phil, Esther and Luca

For all fans of Ark’s, this has been a delightful month for you I am sure. Our ark rental business was out of rental arks within 2 days of the rains this month and we are currently awaiting a new shipment to arrive on emergency loan from our partners in the Amazon Rainforest. You can find out more information at the website http://www.wix.com/phildouble/pmdarkrentals

In other news, lots has been happening in the Double household this month, most of it included being ill as there was a nasty 24 hour bug that has struck down almost everyone (including Heidi, Alex and Isabel) so for a couple of weeks we all took it in turns to go through the process.

Luca has started walking, initially he was standing up from a sitting position and taking a few steps, to walking across the room from one person to another, to getting up off the floor and going for a walk around the room all by himself. His style is still under construction with arms up in the air and out to the side like a trapeze artist, but he is doing so well. He had new pair of shoes today which really helped to give him some balance and I think this will really develop his skills.

Luca is also talking much more, he has English and Swahili words and in a lot of cases he uses both words. The best example of this is watch (saa in Swahili). If he is talking to people who talk to him in English he calls it a watch and to those who speak to him in Swahili Saa.

I have started my new job and have entered my 3^rd week now. I am really enjoying it and it is so good to be back into a regular working routine and I am trying hard to soak up as much information as I can to learn everything. The company are good and are putting me on training courses to get me up to speed as quickly as possible.

The end of the football is almost upon us and I am delighted to report that Plymouth Argyle have avoided relegation out of the football league with 2 games to spare. An excellent achievement given the threat of going out of business at the start of the season.

Esther is continuing her activities having fun looking after the little people in the house when they are around.

As always thanks for being out there and for prayers and comments; we appreciate you all

Love Phil, Esther and Luca x

It’s the end of March already; I seem to be thinking that the newsletter comes round very quickly every month.

Our trip to Sweden was good, although it was bitterly cold with no snow which was a bit disappointing! We had a good time meeting Esther’s friend and our journey to and from Sweden went well, although the wind added to some interesting landing conditions coming back to England. Unfortunately Esther picked up a very bad cold so her return flight was less than pleasurable.

The job hunting has still been the main focus of the month; I have been submitting applications for all sorts of different types of jobs, hearing nothing from the majority and a few letting me know that I have been unsuccessful. I did however have an interview on 21^st March for a job as a water technician with the company that my brother in law, Alex works with. I am due to hear the result in the next week. In the meantime I have been attending my Job Centre Plus appointments and carrying on with my volunteer position at Kingsgate.

Luca is developing well, he had a mouth full of teeth, there are just a few more to come through now but judging by the lumps that have developed in his gums it will not be long before they are through. He is getting ever close to walking; his latest activity is crawling on his hands and feet and he is standing confidently leaning on things. Luca’s Swahili and English are developing well and he is asking for things. Esther is well; she has recovered from her heavy cold at the beginning of the month.

The small group we attend through our church have been piloting a parenting course which has been good, we have 1 week left to go of a 5 week course and it has been good for giving some general information as well some tips.

Esther, Luca, Mum, Heidi, Isabel and I completed a mile for the Sport Relief Mile on 25^th March; it was a very cold morning after a few days of sunshine and warmth which was a bit disappointing. The children did very well and walked a good proportion of the circuit and we all received a medal at the end. There is still a chance to give a donation to Sport Relief by going http://my.sportrelief.com/sponsor/therabble. At the time of writing our fundraising total was at £31.20.

In the coming month we will be carrying on with our activities and any other news on the job front and life in general.

As always thanks for being out there and for prayers and comments; we appreciate you all

Love Phil, Esther and Luca x

Happy end of February everyone, we hope that everyone really made the most of having an extra day this February!

We have reached the stage of unaided standing in the progress of Luca Double, he can manage 15-20 seconds before he gets too excited and sits down, he has progressed to making himself stand up without touching anything on his own now and he is really enjoying himself if the shouts of excitement are anything to go by!! He is thinking about taking some steps and I am sure from what I have seen (not that I have any experience or expertise) that it is not going to be long before he is running around everywhere.

There has been a lot of un-wellness in the Double household over the last month, a few infections, coughs, colds etc. so we are relieved that no everybody seems to be getting well again and back to normal. Luca has been developing more teeth as well which has been dampening his spirit, not much, but enough for him not to act normally.

I had an interview with the Home Group, a housing association in Peterborough, having previously been rejected at one of the earlier stages, they called me back for an interview on Friday 24^th February, I was due to hear at the end of February about the result but there has so far been no news so I am not holding my breath on that one. I was please to be interviewed after being told that there were over 1000 applicant for each position that they had advertised. I have started a 1 day per week volunteer position withKingsgateCommunityChurch in the IT department; it is good to keep myself in the rhythm of working and also to gain a bit more IT experience to put on my CV.

Esther has been getting involved with taking Luca to a couple of parent and child groups, one on a Monday where they go to a local park for a walk and then have a coffee and a chat in the café afterwards and the other on a Wednesday at the church where the children can go mad with all the toys and other activities. Esther is also doing some more driving gaining more confidence in where she is going and the types of roads that are inPeterborough.

Esther and I are off to Swedento see one of Esther’s friends from Tanzaniafrom Friday 2^nd March until Sunday 4^th March, please pray for a safe trip and for Luca and mum and dad as it is the first time we will have been without him for a significant amount of time.

As always thanks for being out there and for prayers and comments; we appreciate you all

Love Phil, Esther and Luca x

A quick message from Luca before we begin this month’s proceedings

“lop,,k,,,v jn                      7tttdt  mm m ,  nnhn ”

Luca is progressing very well, he has begun potty training and is doing really well, he enjoys going and has even started asking “choo” (toilet) sometimes. Still no walking but he is standing holding onto things much more confidently (including Isabel sometimes), he walks well when holding onto his walker or someones hands. He has many more words in his vocabulary, most in Swahili, and chats constantly either to himself or anyone who will listen, sometimes you can even understand a word or two!

Esther is doing well, her cycling routine continues and she enjoys ‘marching’ up to the shops with mum a few times a week. I am continuing to eat up the miles each week running every other day and up to a 3.5 mile circuit now.

The job hunt still continues, the early enthusiasm and fervor has died down and the monotony of searching has set in, I think that life has settled down now and the reality of the process has kicked in. The Job Centre requires a minimum of 2 applications to be done per week and in the 6 weeks I have been looking I have applied for 37 jobs now, I think I am doing OK! The interview process I mentioned last month ended at the 4th of 5th processes with a failure on an online personality test…far too enthusiastic for that company!

We continue to go to church and have started going to a weekly small group which we are getting involved in, all this thanks to Mum who enables us to have a bit more of a life now with her babysitting services. Its nice to be around everyone having spent so far away for so long. I am going to see Matt and Jo at the end of this week to help them packing and loading their house as they are moving out. They have had an offer accepted on another after their first one fell through but have proceeded with their sale to keep the chain moving.

That’s about all for this month, thanks for all the comments and email from last month, it was nice to hear from everyone who sent a message. Please keep them coming in so that we know what you are up to and that you are still out there!!! 

As always thanks for being out there and we appreciate you all

Love Phil, Esther and Luca x

My lords, ladies and gentlemen and members of the jury. I put it to you that it has been a very interesting 2011! Returning from Tanzania having missed all the snow last Christmas, pottering around in St Austell for 11 months, mum and dad moving house, leaving a job, family and friends in Cornwall and re-locating to Peterborough, Luca turning 1, Isabel turning 1, having to sign on at the job centre for the first time, having a lovely Christmas with all the family together.

December has been somewhat of a relaxing month for us in context with the rest of the year. After the madness of the move, to those involved we are very grateful, unpacking and taking over 2 people’s garages with our belongings, we were all ill for a week or so after arriving in Peterborough. We won’t blame Peterborough too much but more having the chance to stop and rest after a busy schedule over the previous 11 months. Having got health we started to enjoy being in Peterborough, in mum and dad’s new house and Luca being with one set of grandparents and other family members more regularly.

I am still on the job hunt, although it has only really been 3 weeks of serious looking, there are a few positive signs in the offering. I have had an application approved and a telephone interview passed in 2 phases of a 4 phase application process, I have a psychometric test and an in-tray test on Wednesday 4th January for the same job. There are lots of other applications being submitted for a variety of jobs and I am feeling comfortable that something will come round very soon and I am ready to get back into work having had a break.

Luca is doing well, he can now walk with a walker, although still not confident to try and stand without aid at the moment, he has made some really progress with his walking. He is talking A LOT! and sometimes using real words, the latest being mbwa (dog) as he sits in the window of the lounge as they are walked by their owners round the lake.

Esther is happy she has begun cycling after about 10 years and enjoys marching with mama to the shops and going on a proper bus (for the Tanzanian daladala fans) into town. I have been running for about 3 weeks enjoying the scenery.

We would like to say a big thanks for reading our news and being interested in what we are up to for the last 12 months and wish you a very happy, prosperous and fulfilled 2012.

Until next time with love Phil, Esther and Luca x