Beautiful Batch The Bun

Beautiful Batch - July 2011 - June 2019

This is a special post for a special bunny called Batch. Batch was one of our rabbits at college and was a keen favourite with both students and staff. He was a bit of a mixed variety but had very soft long fur which was great for grooming.

Batch was the happy outcome of two rabbits we had at college called Peanut (mum) and Benjy (dad). Somehow Peanut and Benjy (who lived in separate enclosures) were accidentally left out together by some students and Batch was the product of this. Batch was born in our mammal room in the summer of 2011. It was really nice that Batch was born at college and had the genes of two well loved college buns. He was quite quiet and placid and never really minded being handled.

Peanut and Me 2014

 
Originally Batch was housed with Peanut and another beautiful bun called Snowball, but then he was on his own for a while until about 2 years ago when his new wife bun Jemima arrived. Jemima is very funny and extremely protective over Batch and despite the fact he was about 5-6 years older than her he did not mind being fussed over. I do not have any pictures of Batch and Jemima together but below is a fairly poor picture of Jemima but the only one I have without students in it. 

Jemima arrived at college 2017

Sadly due to his age Batch's health had detioriated in the last few months so I was mindful to check in on him every now and again. Last Wed. I happened to be near the mammal room so thought I would go and see how he was. He was sitting up in his hay bowl and seemed relaxed and okay. Two of the senior students fed him some greens which he wholeheartedly ate. I later found out that around about 2 hours after this one of the technicians went in to the room and found he had passed away.

I am very sad he has now gone but pleased that he went peacefully, in the enclosure next to the one he was born in.Jemima was there with him and it was nice and quiet. We are hoping to bond her with a new male over the summer if we can find somebun suitable.

As mentioned in previous posts I truly believe that God promises there will be creatures on the new earth and there is no reason why this is not the ones that we have had relationships with here on this earth.

We have the hope that we will see our pets in heaven. This is not sentimental but supported in various books of the bible - two key ones being Isaiah and Revelation. Isaiah in chapter 65:25 mentions the wolf and the lamb feeding together.

Isaiah 65:17-19

God is so good to us and gives us so many wonderful promises of what is to come and will be so overwhelmed by his love that eternity is more than we can begin to imagine. There is only joy in heaven and on the new earth so it makes sense we would be reunited with our animals and I hope this includes the ones I have loved over the years from the college collection as well as my own dearly departed ones. 

Talk of the Month - Early Years.

Ephesians 1:4 - Chosen before the foundation of the world - how incredible is that!

I am aiming for this talk section to be a once a month post. So this is the one for March. I have realised it is exactly a month ago  this week since my first post so thought it an appropriate time to issue another talk one.

Last time I gave a brief introduction to my Christian background and will continue to use this post as a reflection on my growth in faith over this time and hope this will help me to see how God has really worked in my life.

I was born in  North Wales at the start of the 1970s. My father worked for the local council but was also heavily involved in the Methodist Church. When I was around 5 we moved to Kent due to my father's job. We then started attending a local Methodist Church and my dad was a lay preacher. After a couple of years of living in Kent my Father collapsed suddenly at a local Church meeting and was rushed to hospital. Sadly he died and my mum was a widow at the age of 36 with 2 young daughters (my older sister Susan and me).

Susan on the right me (the cute one) on the left.😊

 My mum ensured that we continued to attend Church and Sunday School and found it to be a supportive and comforting network in her time of grief. My parents had also lost their first child (Wendy) when she was only 3 months old and my dad's mum within a year of that.  As I was quite young at the time of my dad's death I did not realise how difficult it must have been for my mum.


Throughout my childhood and teens I continued to attend the Methodist Church and was heavily involved in the youth group and Sunday evening youth fellowship which was called "Chatterbox". Chatterbox was run by a really lovely couple who were in their early 30s called David and Helen Piper. They opened their home to the youth of the church every Sunday evening to discuss Christian issues and issues that affected us. This fellowship had a big impact on me at the time and was the start of me really understanding that there was a God and he sent his "Son" Jesus Christ. I grew up with this in mind anyway but this group helped affirm it for me. I counted myself to be a Christian at this age, but did not understand the importance of it until much later.

The other key person who had a big impact on my childhood was an elderly lady called Nora Goy. I always called her Aunty Nora even though she was not my relative. She was a very gentle  and kind woman who had a real love for the Lord. I treated her like a Grandma as my real Grandma lived in Wales and was in a care home so I did not see her much. Aunty Nora was a strong spiritual guide in my life and I saw her every week. We often went around there for tea and she taught me how to make greeting cards. I think I got my interest in crafts from her as she always seemed to have something on the go. Sadly, she died when I was 18 but I hope that I will see her again in "Glory".

My mum was keen that we had a holiday once a year so it became the norm. for us to go on a Methodist Guild Hall holiday annually. This was how my parents actually met so my mum had a keen interest in them. I have many happy memories of these and they were good as they were quite focussed on the bible and we got to meet Christians/Church goers from all over the country. I don't think these holiday's exist anymore but they were good.    

When I was 14 my mum met Brian who became her second husband. We continued to attend the Methodist Church for  a while after they got married but as Brian was not a Christian they stopped attending. I still continued and had involvement with the youth groups etc. until the Pipers moved away and then I met Lance.

When I look back on that time now I can see how God looked after me even  from a young age and how he has guided me throughout my life in both the good and bad times. I realise now that the Methodist Church doctrines are quite far removed from the Christianity that I understand today but it certainly gave me the building blocks to recognise Christ as my Lord and Saviour from a young age.            

My Biblical Walk Introduction

My name is Jennifer Botelle. I am a Christian who has been married to Lance since 1990, we are of the  "Reformed" position and would be considered "Calvinists", adhering to the "Regulative Principles of Worship". We use the "King James Bible" otherwise known as the "Authorised" version of the Bible as we believe it to be the most accurate English translation from the original texts.

Lance and me 

I have recently been considering how to set up a spiritual journal. I wanted somewhere to collate my thoughts and reflect on how God has led me to where I am now. Lance (my wonderful husband) suggested setting up a blog as this is a good way to collate all the information in one set place. Hence the birth of "My Biblical Walk".

 This blog will mainly focus on my spiritual walk and how the Lord has guided me through this time. It is a personal log but is something that I am happy to share with others. It is my aim to share why I believe what I believe, and why it is so important for us all to consider why we are here on Earth and how it all came about.   

I have worked at Mid-Kent college for over ten years now and for the most part have worked within the Animal Care and Applied Science Department. I am to my knowledge the only Christian in my department and face many challenges around this. The main issue being a Christian Creationist in a department that actively promotes evolution.  

I have a total appreciation of God's creation and a love for animals. I marvel at God's wonderful creation and how the whole eco system works in a way that has to be by design and not just by random chance. This will also be an area of focus in my blog as it is a subject I am passionate about.


My favourite animal is the rabbit, which will become clear on this blog. Over the years, Lance and I have had five house rabbits - Tremble, Anakin, Daisy, Bud & Honey; all with their own unique personalities and great beauty. Our first pet together was a Chinchilla called Squingey. My first pet as a child was a cat called Astra.

Daisy & Bud with us 2008-2013

 I will develop the blog over time and have a variety of features that will appear under the labels. This willthe following as a start:

• A Biblical Walk - Talks. This will be the main section around my spiritual journey and give lots of detail about my background and how the Lord has led me to where I am today.
• A Biblical Walk - Thoughts. This will be a place where I will catalogue my various thoughts about current issues, sermons and other occurrences.
• Verse of the Week - This will start off as verses that are special to me and have helped me in my spiritual journey. 
• A-Z of the Amazing Bible - A feature that will focus on both the books and characters of the bible and what they mean to me.
• A-Z of Amazing Animal Facts - This will be a feature looking at the wonder of God's creation and some truly bizarre animal facts that could not happen by random chance.

I may include other features once I have developed my blog further.