The evening was a lot of fun with everyone mixing well and having a relaxed but superb meal.
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The Finnie family in Blighty, December 2021
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Dean and Paula pastor The Gathering together -
The Gathering -
Baptisms at The Gathering -
Preparing to serve at The Gathering's Soup Kitchen -
Soup Kitchen Welcome To 2022 lunch
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Serving hands - the heart of The Gatheirng -
Thankful Thursdays -
HOPE Home Based Care Team -
Gathering Ground -
Staying fit as a family -
The Helderberg - The prettiest of the mountains we face
Showing posts with label birthday. Show all posts
Showing posts with label birthday. Show all posts
The evening was a lot of fun with everyone mixing well and having a relaxed but superb meal.
We had a nice family meal out at The Bottle House Inn in Penshurst last night to celebrate Paula's birthday.Lisa had gone to town with some decorations (sadly not visible in the photos) and left a cake there too which was brought out after the meal.
The birthday celebrations just keep on coming and will continue once we get home to South Africa and we can celebrate with friends.
Left to right: Ian, Jo, Susannah & Paula
Paula celebrated a significant birthday yesterday. I've already been told-off for saying how old she is so let's leave it at 21 with 19 years experience.
We had a lovely continental style breakfast at a new French eatery in Wimbledon Village. We all had fantastic food.
Joel opened his presents after school (not sure we'll get away with that in years to come) and was thoroughly delighted by them. The four favourites are Victoria from Underground Ernie, Tom & Helicopter from Fireman Sam, a Zorro action figure and a set of Charlie & Lola DVDs.
This evening we went to Primi's for pizza and pasta which is always a huge hit with our boys. Joel invariably chooses Primi's when he can and the food is excellent.
So we've had a really good fun day with lots of laughs and some really great presents for Joel. Thankfully they're both in bed now so we can chill with a film.
Mum and dad were pretty pleased when all the kids, siblings and parents finally left though - it's exhausting hosting a kid's birthday party! Now we're looking forward to the big day tomorrow (Wednesday). Joel has been counting the sleeps for the last 3 weeks and is telling everyone that he is having his dinner at Primi Piatti's, his favourite pizza place! We wonder how long before conversation swings to what theme his party will be next year?
We celebrated Eli's birthday today, a few days early so as not to let it get lost in the hustle & bustle of then next few days. We fly to Blighty tomorrow evening and have still to think about packing. We've been really busy since returning from holiday, particularly with the Christmas Hampers.Eli had a lot of fun and was very proud of being the Birthday Boy. We were quite amazed at how much he understood of what was going on. At lunchtime we went to Vergelegen for a family picnic in the camphor forest. We had a lovely lunch and a lot of fun doing the treasure hunt.
Aunty Henna turned 60 today and Paula's cell group celebrated with cake, surprise presents, cards and flowers. Poor Henna was completely bowled over by all this love but we all had a lovely time celebrating with her. Later in the meeting we prayed and thanked God for his gift of life no matter what our circumstances. Henna has been one of the founding members of Paula's group and is now one of the home based carers.
We died and went to heaven on Sunday! Yes you did miss the rapture. Heaven was an assortment of real Indian curries cooked by Caroline (Morgen's mum). The food was sublime and we had a really relaxing afternoon with some other parents from Joel's school and Caroline's dad, Maurice who is visiting from the UK. Maurice is originally from India and having lived in Norwood for many years is also a Palace fan which makes him a top bloke! Dean & Maurice spent much of the afternoon playing pool but only when not eating curry. Joel had a ball with his friends Liam & Morgen, so much so that this morning he could only talk about Liam's house and going to play there again.
The PlayBall team get things underway
Wow, where did those brief years go? Joel's been very excited about his birthday and has been asking for a bike for a while. We had thought to get him a trampoline but when asked he said he wanted a bike and has been asking ever since. So, having sought some professional advice we got said bike and he was delighted. We had a slight panic on Saturday when he told someone that he was getting a blue bike, but the colour issue seems to be irrelevant now, phew!
WOW! A whole year went by very quickly, before we knew what had happened Eli turned 1! Eli has hit most of the developmental milestones early, he crawled (of a fashion)at 4½ months, sat up unaided at 5 months, was walking at 11 months and basically never looked back.He's been and continues to be a very special blessing to us as a family and we thank God for bringing him into our lives. Joel & Eli really do adore each other which is brilliant.
Or in this case, birthday cake and Christmas trees. Saturday was a busy old day, Paula had a practice session for our evening 'event' at church on Sunday, whilst Dean was running around getting stuff ready for our Mulled Wine evening - a tradition we started at Bible College and have maintained faithfully ever since!Nobody has ever left disappointed! During the day, Eli had a good go at demolishing a huge slab of his birthday cake and made a wonderful mess in the process. Whilst Joel helped Daddy to decorate the Christmas tree.
Mama Jane asked a while ago if Dean would take some photographs of the twins Birthday party on Saturday. Sisi & Booty were 5 and had a great afternoon. Their friends were particularly plaesed with the party packs that Mama Jane and Aletta had put together. Once again Mama Jane models something really positive in the community!
We've not Blogged anything of note for a while now, mainly because we've been busy but also because sometimes we experience things that it's simply not appropriate to write about very publicly - and we're not going to elaborate now!Dean had a great 40th Birthday and party. We had promised to post some photos, unfortunatley we were enjoying ourselves too much to bother taking any! So all we can post here is the invite for you to marvel at.
Dean's birthday celebrations have been ongoing over a week & a bit and concluded on Monday when Paula had arranged for the boys to be looked after whilst we went for lunch in Franschoek. Then, halfway through the meal, Paula informed me that we were staying the night! Wicked!! My only concern here is the depths of my wife's deceipt! I had no idea!!!!
We went out for lunch with Joel today to celebrate Dean's 40th. Joel was delighted to be eating pizza - again! We had a lot of fun, especially as Paula had earlier delivered a cake to the restaurant. Joel was chuffed to blow the candles out for Daddy who was struggling a bit due to his age! Eli was being looked after by some friends. As you can see below, Joel doesn't do kiddy portions.
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