Last week I went to Raywell Scout Camp to the Stake Young Men’s Camp. From Tuesday to Saturday, the Young Men from our ward joined with others from the Stake to pitch tents, participate in all sorts of activities, and get a little bit of spiritual refreshment. It was presented as a military style training camp, based around the story of the 2,000 Stripling Warriors and the 60 sons of the Ammonites who joined together to defend the Nephites from the Lamanites’ attacks, found in the book of Alma in the Book of Mormon. The idea was to prepare the young men for “battle” – they were to be the 60 Ammonites – by putting them through basic military drills and teaching them some survival skills, and at the end of the camp they were even visited by “Helaman”, an ex-Special Forces officer who came to really put them through their paces. As a leader watching – rather than participating – a bunch of tired young men doing a variety of star jumps, press-ups and runs around the field, it was rather fun!!

The whole week was a great experience for me. As a convert to the Church, I never went through the Youth programme, and besides the Scouts, I can’t think of any other organisation that puts on activities like this for young people. It was great to go kayaking and canoeing, to learn how to build shelters and fires, and it was certainly fun to play Lazer Tag. But it was also great to hear (and present) the devotionals throughout the week, and to hear the testimonies of the leaders and the young men. Of course, once the very uplifting testimony meeting was over, all the young men needed to feel manly again and ran off into the night, but it was still a great experience.

Of course, I didn’t tell anyone then, but I missed home like crazy! I’ve never been away from my wife for such a long amount of time before, and by the end of the week I was pining for her and my little unborn kung fu master.

Not long after I got home, I managed to kill my PC. I’d just started playing Portal, when the flipping thing decided to switch off. And not switch back on again. The PC is in a corner and quite well enclosed, and I’ve just discovered a part of the desk unit partially covers the power supply vents, so by exposing my otherwise docile and mellow computer to some quite intense time and space interfering action, I appear to have fried it. Bummer.

It’s probably a good thing though, seeing as I still have some work to do…

I had a job interview this week, for the role of IT Support Analyst at a property software firm in Pocklington. Before that, I had a telephone interview, which scared the living daylights out of me. Well, maybe not quite that drastic, but it was very unnerving to be interviewed by a voice on the other end of the line, without being able to gauge any reactions or even see the person I was talking to. I thought the interview went well – I made them laugh, we shared some common concerns and stories, and by the end of it I had relaxed a little bit. Now I just wait until the end of the week to see if they like me enough to employ me!

As always, I’m still plenty giddy about the impending arrival of my little boy! I was looking on Jo’s photography blog earlier and sneaking on to Facebook to look at the photos she has of her son and the children of another family we know through church, and it reminded me again just how special and exciting it’s going to be to have a new little person in our home. Chantelle’s been feeling him moving around a lot lately, and it still amazes me to know that there is an ever growing person chilling out inside her.

I love those few seconds of wonder when I can feel our boy kicking around, and I often spend (probably too much) time daydreaming about what he’s getting up to, what he might be thinking, as he floats around in his little womby home.

For those that don’t know much about what’s happened in my life over the last few years, me and Chantelle became less active in the Church between around September 2008 and April 2009. Previous to that, I had been preparing to serve as a full time missionary for the Church. Put simply, I exerted a bit too much pressure on myself and I’d convinced myself that what I was doing was to be expected, that people looked to me as an example, and so on.

What transpired throughout those few months is all behind me – as the title suggests, the past is in the past – but looking back through thoses posts and even considering the events and goings on around that time has made me appreciate that little bit more what is really important. Even though I may have gone a little crazy and gung ho in my approach to living the Gospel, what was important was that the Church was always there, and having that time away from it gave me a little more perspective.

Later in the blog, I actually found quite a reflective and positive post, and I’ve decided to share it an extract of it here.

Following this haul, we then pounced on a couple around the corner from where we live to acquire a Silver Cross pram, pushchair and car seat, for one hundred English Pounds. The actual estimated value of this bargain find? Five hundred of those aforementioned coins. I’m astounded sometimes at the price of stuff you can get for babies, considering that within a few years – and often within a few months or even weeks – they’ve grown out of it and you’re left with unusable space fillers. All praise be unto eBay and local classified ads!

And of course, the list doesn’t end there of stuff we need. Evidently, I’ve learnt that just from studying a rather detailed list compiled by Chantelle of things we need for our first bundle of joy, whilst we are taught that children need our care and love above the things and stuff of the world, those very things and stuff are actually important too.

I know it will be worth it though. When me and Chantelle are “past it”, and our children, who have after all had ample amounts of care and attention paid to them, and plenty of stuff paid for them, get to choose our nursing home. After they’ve been guaranteed a shot at our inheritance. And not before milking us for all we’re worth when we were in control of all our faculties and still relatively sane.

It was also on this day that we discovered that our “firstborn in the wilderness” – minus the wilderness, of course – is going to be a bouncing baby boy. An heir to the throne, continuer of the Collier name, a “priest and king” in the making, our child who will be joining us sometime in November will be our first son.

Admittedly I have perhaps in some ways leaned towards the idea of having a pretty little daddy’s girl occasionally, but I am still thrilled that we’re having a boy. We have a few friends who have in the last couple of years had boys of their own, so our little one will have a few playmates and peers to grow up with – and share tips for causing varying degrees of destruction around the house.

I’m going to keep this as up to date as I can with all the home and baby goings on, but for now, here’s a picture of our little Pickle at 12 Weeks 6 Days from Monday 10th May…