I met with my prayer support group this weekend. We’re now in our 22nd year of meeting, and on Saturday (in between eating and talking and praying and taking a short walk together) we listened to recordings of two talks by Kathleen Nielson. Kathleen heads up Women’s Initiatives for the Gospel Coalition in the US and brought some wonderful insights into Old Testament narrative. We listened to her talks on Rahab and the Tower of Babel. Her teaching is engaging and stimulating – highly recommended.
The great encouragement of meeting for prayer and bible study helped with the fact that I was away from home when a sad accident befell the Vicarage Rodent. Those of you who follow on Twitter will know that our degu had a sweet habit of escaping at bedtime. Alas, this weekend his escaping habit ended very unhappily, and Squeak is no more. There was a solemn funeral in the back garden, where he joined his erstwhile companion, Snuffle, who predeceased him. What with Squeak’s demise and some stressful adventures with trains (I nearly ended up in Glasgow instead of London, for starters) I am very thankful that I’ve got no further trips away planned for a while.
Happy Days: Snuggling with the Vicarage Cat
The Vicar's Wife 
Thank you for the link to Kathleen Nielson’s message on the Tower of Babel.
Oh, dear. Is the Queen inconsolable?
Oh no poor Squeek!! How is the Queen?
The Queen is okay, as are the Joker and the Engineer. A few tears now and then, but the funeral (with two of the Queen’s lovely pals in attendance) was very helpful. We all miss the little bundle of fluff.