Our winter wood pile arrived this afternoon so I'm well chuffed as we were running very low from last year's pile. We had enough left for the weekend (see the pile by Michael in the pic) but no more, so it all worked out quite nicely.
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The Finnie family in Blighty, December 2021
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Dean and Paula pastor The Gathering together
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The Gathering
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Baptisms at The Gathering
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Preparing to serve at The Gathering's Soup Kitchen
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Soup Kitchen Welcome To 2022 lunch
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Serving hands - the heart of The Gatheirng
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Thankful Thursdays
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HOPE Home Based Care Team
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Gathering Ground
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Staying fit as a family
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The Helderberg - The prettiest of the mountains we face
On Saturday Dean attended Josie's funeral, it was actually a celebration of her life rather than a turgid funeral and it was truly a joy to behold! The main thing that struck Dean though was just how different a middle class Cape Coloured funeral is to a Cape Coloured township one. It's hard to explain but the differences were palpable (hope that makes sense).
Leaders Away

Potjie Fun
All we can really say about it is that it was a fantastic afternoon filled with lots of laughter, amazing food and great friendship. It's always good to build on existing friendships but it was also good to get to know some other folk in church that otherwise we might not get a chance to know as a family.
We don't seem to go to many weddings these days so when the occasional invite comes along it's really good fun to go. Today we were guests of the groom's parents who we've got to know quite well through church. Dean also spends some time each week with Ernest which he really enjoys. Ernest recently had quite a major stroke but looking at him in the pictures one would never know. God has performed an amazing miracle of healing in Ernest's life!
The exciting news for the weekend for Joel was the loss of both his front teeth! One fell out on Saturday and the other on Sunday, so now he looks very different. He has been waiting for this for so long and the tooth fairy did not disappoint him - although we had to do quite a lot of explaining that that amount would not buy the next Star Wars lego!!!!
We also enjoyed a very nice curry cooked by our good friend Charmaine. It was great to go to her house 'en famille' and to enjoy time with her and our friends Gary and Nicky too. I don't think Joel stopped bending anyone's ear about Star Wars though - sorry guys!
Christmas Tree
Joel loves the tradition of decorating the tree and is beginning to understand the real meaning of Christmas. We had a bit of a chat about Santa and the real St. Nicholas and why he loved & served God.
Weekend Sans Enfant
We made the most of our weekend sans enfants and went to Pringle Bay where Peter & Gloria at the Wild Olive have an amazing way of making one feel at home in their guest house. Gloria is the perfect host and Peter is a phenomenal chef, so one doesn’t even have to go out for dinner.
Running Around Like A Loony
However between now and then we'll be running around like lunatics as there's a mountain of stuff to do which began with Joel & Eli's graduation ceremony. Whilst Dean feels it's bordering on the psychotic to celebrate the end of each school year quite so formally it was a really good service with each of the children getting a certificate.
On Saturday we went to the Helderberg Nature Reserve (again). This particular visit marked a change in what we do there as the boys really wanted to 'walk up the mountain'. We managed a 40 minute walk with them but it was a really good walk and the boys were very tired afterwards. Hooray!
In the evening we joined Daniel for his 40th birthday party which was a great evening. We really enjoyed catching up with some good friends who we haven't seen for quite a while.
Family Bits
We're all well and seem to be missing the worst of the inter illnesses. Apparently Somerset West is South Africa's hotspot for swine flu, no crackling on the line here yet. Joel & Eli are thriving, as are we. Church life is good and we're really excited about what God is doing and how we're being used.
This blog has taken a bit of a back seat to Facebook, so to those of you not on Facebook we can only apologise and suggest you get yourselves over there for shorter but more regular updates.
Buttonquail Camping (sort of)
Pirate Experience
After a great morning in church we took the boys for a half-term treat to the Boswell Wilkie Circus Pirate experience just outside Cape Town. Wow, what a show! The boys were spell bound by it and were on the edge of their seats all the way through.
It was a real surprise for the boys and we smuggled along all their pirate dressing up clothes so they were able to get into role for the show.
Dean really appreciated the skill of the jugglers whilst we all marveled at the sheer athleticism of all the performers. If the circus is ever passing your way make it a priority to go and see!
Church was great this morning and we had a visiting preacher from Mitchell's Plain. Graham has spoken at Grace before and we certainly enjoy him. We had a few visitors again today which is great as word seems to be getting out that Grace is a church of integrity. One of our biggest joys about church is that our boys love it. This is such a huge answer to prayer!
This is such a favourite trip out and we all really enjoy it. The weather was a bit better than it has been so far this week so we were able to walk about a bit.
Two More Sleeps
Joel has really enjoyed his chats with mummy on the telephone and he seems so grown up as he chats away.
Unfortunately Joel's earache turned out to be an inflamed ear canal which seems to be getting worse. Our Dr was great and saw him just after church so he's now got some drops for his it. This afternoon he's had quite a high temperature so please continue to pray for him. Thankfully he's gone off to bed in fine fettle.
Farting Wellies
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