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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 school. Show all posts
Showing posts with label school. Show all posts
An update for those of you who sponsored our boys in their Miles For Smiles ride a few weeks ago.Our local rag the District Mail ran this article today with a lovely photo of Eli in it.
Eli and Joel had such a blast this morning at what has become their school's annual charity event. They were so proud to ride for Operation Smile in their Miles for Smiles cycle ride. They were particularly thrilled because the school is hoping to crack their target of raising R50,000 for much needed cleft palate operations for children this year and between them they have raised just under R2,000. Thank you so much to all you who so generously sponsored the boys, it really made a difference.
I could leave this as a wordless post with just the photos and most of you would guess who I would be talking about.My boy doesn't stay still for long, though the telly is teaching him to pay attention for increasing amounts of time. Not sure if that's a good thing or not?! Anyway, beyond the world of the electronic babysitter, Eli is one incredibly active young man and constantly looking for
The next growing up phase in Joel's life started today as he very reluctantly went off on his school camp! Every year the Years 4, 5 and 6 go to camp for 2 nights and it is apparently often supposed to be the 'making of them'! Joel has not been keen at all and we have had quite a few tears and do I really have to go type comments right up to this morning! So, we both survived the drop off this morning and Mum especially was pleased to see this photo taken of Joel with his mates just before climbing on the bus - even a hint of a smile - so hopefully all will be well!
In conjunction with World Book Day on the 1st of March the boys' school held Book Week to celebrate reading and the wealth of knowledge available in books.All kinds of fun activities were held including DEAR (Drop Everything And Read) when the bell rang at spontaneous times each child had to stop what they were doing and read. There were competitions and dressing up as well as storytime each day. Eli guessed the quote for The Very Hungry Caterpillar correctly on Tuesday and Joel got the quote right on Wednesday which was from Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows.
The new school year starts today for our boys and they're both looking very grown up in their formal white shirts.They were both really excited about returning to school and catching up with their friends. Both boys have got great teachers again this year so we're really excited to see how they are going to fly again in the year.
Joel is now in Year 4 which is quite a step up for him. Things become a lot more formal from now which should be good for him. Joel will also join the junior school camp for the first time this year, which will involve three nights away from home. The parents are very excited about this!
Many of you who heard us speak on our last mission education visits or came along to one of our Facing The Mountain Roadshows will remember our two biggest prayer requests. Firstly we asked you to pray that we might be able to go church planting again, although we had no idea how this would be possible at the time. Secondly we asked that you join us in praying for our boys coming year at school but especially for Joel as we had some reservations about his year ahead.
Thankfully we serve an amazing God who answers our prayers.
Not too sure what happened to the school year that was 2011 but it seems to have whizzed by. There is one week left but let's be honest, very little gets done in the last week. that will make up for the busyness of this week with awards ceremonies and school concerts, but it's been really good fun.It's been a great year for the boys, not least for Eli who can now read and write. we're very proud of him for this achievement!
In honour of our school's International Day tomorrow Eli asked for his hair to be like B.A.'s and Daddy simply couldn't refuse the opportunity to have a go at doing it.
Eli's well chuffed with it!
It's Bandana Day in South Africa as we're all encouraged to wear bandanas with the Sunflower Fund logo on to raise awareness of leukaemia and the South African Bone Marrow Registry which exists to find and match bone marrow stem cell donors for patients who need a transplant, such as those with leukaemia and other life threatening blood disorders. 
We're not entirely sure when this happened but it was a little while ago as Joel's camera has been lost for some time.We're also not sure how he got away with taking photos in class without getting caught by the teacher but all credit to the boy for getting away with it!
Here's a few of his efforts involving some of his best friends.
As we gear up for the Rugby World Cup in New Zealand all school children in South Africa are allowed to wear rugby tops to school on Fridays.
Joel and Eli were really chuffed to get their Springbok tops this morning as they had been really disappointed having been told in no uncertain terms that football shirts would not be acceptable.
For those of you not in Facebook you might not know about my latest escapade.On Wednesday I joined Eli's class as a helping/responsible parent on their ice skating trip to Grand West ice rink. We had a great time and a lot of fun was had by all. Eli took to the ice like the proverbial duck to water and was very pleased with himself. I on the other hand didn't have such a good time of it and came home with a rather splendid souvenir!
This morning I had the pleasure of attending the Father's Day celebrations at the boys school.The school had gone to town in making the hall look great with muffins, coffee and chocolates galore for the dads. The children performed a great array of pieces from songs and poems to dances and jokes.
All the children did really well but I was particularly proud of my boys!
Dean had the privilege of attending the Miles 4 Smiles assembly at the boys school this morning.
We love how good the school is at getting involved in stuff but the way they get involved in this particular charity is quite amazing. Between the children in this picture they raised just over R34,000 (£3100) which will be used by Operation Smile for corrective surgery for children with cleft palates.
A little while ago we posted about Book Week at the boys school.Both boys loved dressing up and Eli went as an Alien who Loves Underpants. He was particularly pleased with his costume, as he got to fulfill a bit of an ambition by wearing a pair of underpants on his head to school. What made it even better for him was the fact that the teachers loved it!
Well it truly paid off for Eli as he was presented with the prize for best book week costume in the junior school.
Once again the boys's school demonstrated this week why we love it so much and appreciate the wholistic approach to education that they excel at! This week was the beloved annual book week! Everyday the school had come up with various activities for the children to join in and to grow in their love and appreciation of books and reading. For example, one day they were allowed to go to school in their pyjamas and had hot chocolate.For the whole week they were given a 'reading buddy' from a higher year and every time the bell sounded they had to Drop Everything And Read (DEAR), grab their buddy and go for it - how cool is that! Each day there was a quotation competition for the kids to have a go at guessing and winning a prize (Joel was thrilled to win on Thursday when he guessed the quote from Charlotte's Web!) and they also ran an all-week photo competition with various staff and pupils hiding behind their favourite titles!
Once again the boys woke early and full of excitement as the annual Miles for Smiles event had dawned at the beautiful Lourensford Wine Estate. This year for the first time both boys could ride their bikes unaided (no baby wheels) and had therefore been practicing in earnest for the event. They gathered some great sponsorship along with the added incentive of extra money if they reached so many laps!
So the big day arrived - Joel's school mini Valentine's Ball! We thought he wouldn't be all that bothered, but, how wrong could we be!!Joel had everything planned. He spent the entire day before worrying about what to wear and then spent an hour making a card for his Valentine (we'll let you guess who that is from the girls featured below!).
From the moment he got home today, Joel asked on the hour every hour how much longer he had to wait and from 4 o'clock was dressed and holding "the card" in his hand!
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