Kevin's Life Journal
Every single word shows how Lord guides me through in the UK - in a "Fast Track" approach

Introduction Grace and I have a vision that God wants us to serve him in the UK, therefore, we prefer to commute and stay in a relatively small Chinese Church in Bradford, despite the fact that both my work and family life are in Manchester.

2007 In January, I started my new job in EC Harris. They seconded me to Network Rail MP&I Track in Rail House, Manchester. In April, I was promoted to be the Commercial Manager in NWR.

2006 In April, Grace and I finally moved into the new house. Many snagging works needed to be rectified by the Builder in which I was told it is very common in the UK. In May/June, Grace was confirmed she was pregnant. In August, I arranged the car loan, and bought my first brand new car Ford Focus. However, the day after, I heard First Engineering was under restructuring and my Director had left. I decided to search for a new job. In November, Grace gave birth to baby Adrian who was only 28 weeks. He was then transferred to the Special Care Baby Unit in North Manchester Hospital. I also accepted an offer from EC Harris. On 30 Dec, my car was hit on the third lane on the motorway. Grace and I were ok, and we thank God that Adrian was still in the SCBU.

2005 First Engineering applied the work permit for me successfully, and I returned to Hong Kong for 2 weeks to obtain the 5 year UK residence permit. Grace and I arranged the mortgage and bought a newly built link-detached house in Middleton, north Manchester. It is situated in a regeneration area near the Motorway. It only takes about 35 minutes to Bradford. We preferred Falconwood at first, but when we called the sales agent, someone made the reservation in the sales office at the same time. However, after visiting the Goodwood showroom, we believed its layout is better than Falconwood, and finally bought the Goodwood instead. In December, Grace and I bought our third car Citroen Picasso, it was more powerful and had a much larger boot.

2004 I was working as a contractor, but First Engineering offered me a 1-year permanent contract in May. Thus, I decided to move to Manchester near my office. Thank God, Grace found a decent semi-detached house in Ancoats just 20 minutes walk from the office and the rent was lower than the market range. Grace graduated in July, and then she and I tied the knot on 24 July. I got my full UK Driving License in September. Grace and I bought the first car Daewoo Matiz and second car Peugeot 206 in 2004.

2003 I resigned my job in Hong Kong and was confirmed God may have already prepared a new job for me in the UK despite the fact that I still had not received any offers yet. I obtained my working holiday visa (last for 2 years) and headed to Bradford, UK to meet Grace, my girl friend undertaking her final year study in Economics.

The second day of the arrival, I received a phone call from the agency and asked me to attend an interview in Manchester the same evening.

The third day of the arrival, the agency confirmed the appointment and I started the new QS job at First Engineering the following week. However, commuting was a problem. At that time, I woke up at 5:30am and walked 20 minutes to the train station, then got on the train to Manchester for another hour. It was around 7:45pm when I went back home.

In December, Grace helped me to search for a flat which was just 5 minutes walk from the train station. We signed the contract for 6 months. This saves me a bit of time, but I still felt exhausted everyday.

Let's give all praises to our almighty God. Without him, we can do nothing.

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