As spring settles in and the weather improves we're able to get out and about a bit more which is great.
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Dean and Paula in Blighty, autumn 2025 -
Dean and Paula pastor The Gathering -
Our beloved Palace - FA Cup winners 2025 -
The Gathering -
Baptising in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit -
Leaders preparing to serve at The Gathering's Soup Kitchen -
Soup Kitchen Xmas lunch
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Serving hands - the heart of The Gatheirng -
Thankful Thursdays -
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HOPE Home Based Care Team -
Gathering Ground -
The Helderberg - The prettiest of the mountains we face
The race itself was tough and at the 50K point I wanted to puke, but held on. I caught Pete at that point which helped motivate me through a rough patch before hitting the 65K mark at which point I got my second wind and really stepped it up.
Jose told the sun earlier in the year, 'London is perfect. My family is happy living here.
'So although you can never predict what will happen in football, I would like to be in London by 2012.
'If it is not working at Chelsea, then Crystal Palace or somebody else.
'London is a special city because it has won the right and the privilege to host the Olympic Games.
Today was the first truly Spring like day we've had despite officially being just over two weeks into the season. The temperature was up in the mid twenties which was great and we had a lot of fun in the garden soaking up those long missed rays. Winter has been very long, cold and wet so we won't miss it! Alarmingly, with the first warm day in months there were some large fires on the Helderberg mountain, thankfully there was no wind so they burnt straight up and were out fairly quickly.
Joel was the bright star of the morning today as he proudly presented his term's work to us with his fellow classmates. He was completely stage struck until it got to his turn to be the 4th monkey in the song (see photo). He then gave an oscar winning performance, dying as the crocodile ate him!! After the songs and a lovely power point presentation of photos from the term we were escorted back to the classroom to be shown his work in a special file. He really has come on so well and is coping so well with his sensory integration syndrome that was diagnosed earlier in the year. We are so proud of him!
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.
A five-part television series Britain's Favourite View on ITV, spearheaded by Sir Trevor McDonald, included 16 celebrities who advocated scenic vistas from around Britain, trumpeting their beauty and explaining their geological significance and historical resonance"
The winner of the public vote was Wast Water and it's very easy to see why. If you've ever been there you'll know just how stunning the place is.
So here we go with a couple of photos from our trip to the UK last year when we took Joel & Eli to Wast Water
We have had a really poor couple of weeks healthwise as a family. It started with Eli's ears pouring fluid, which quickly turned into thick gunk and more recently is stained with blood. In many ways this is a good sign that his grommets are working but it is messy and makes him feel quite under the weather. Joel went down with a nasty strain of flu last weekend which took a week to clear and he is still coughing a bit now. Paula started with a sore throat in the week and now has stuffed up sinuses! On Sunday Dean woke up unable to speak (yeehah!) and with a killer sore throat. He quickly started barking like a dog and has spent most of the past 48 hours in bed exhausted. He is now on major antibiotics and cortisone as well.
On Saturday morning I rode with Paul & Pete to the top of Hanskop from our house. This was a big ride measuring 60ks with just over 1450m of climbing. Hanskop forms part of the Hottentots Holland range of mountains which enclose the Helderberg Basin. This particular mountain is a communications relay base hence the access road to the top. I was particularly pleased with this ride as I kept my heart rate to an average of 136bpm and burnt 3450Kcal of which 45%were fat burning. Brilliant! This was a great ride and excellent prep for the upcoming Karoo to Coast 100k race on the 23rd.
After a few false starts and teething problems, Paula today officially launched her faithful home based care team in Chris Nissen. It was a special morning. Thanks to a financial commitment from our church she had been busily buying basic items for each carer and putting them in special bags for them to take around with them to house visits and was able to officially hand them over today to her 4 delighted carers.
"Tonight I am drinking the last of the cool drink we have, tomorrow there is no cokes or fizzy drinks in the house and no water mixers, if you want a drink you have a choice between tea with no sugar or water, that is it. I have nothing to offer my kids. I have used all my contacts , been everywhere and never been in this position before. I have not had beef for probably 3 months now and if you know me that's tough.
What will I be writing to you next that has run out, will it be no food in the house from tomorrow, who knows , someone please nuke this place and put us out of our misery, I am tired..............."
That was a quote form an email we received recently from our best friends in Zimbabwe. Somehow it conveys the truth in a very simple way that is so often missed by the mainstream media. Life in Zim is desperate and there are no immediate solutions waiting just around the corner.
Please pray for Zim and her people. Pray for the church, that she would be "..the light of the world" in a very dark place. Pray too for a Godly solution to the crisis in the nation. Man has no answers to this mess!
What will I be writing to you next that has run out, will it be no food in the house from tomorrow, who knows , someone please nuke this place and put us out of our misery, I am tired..............."
That was a quote form an email we received recently from our best friends in Zimbabwe. Somehow it conveys the truth in a very simple way that is so often missed by the mainstream media. Life in Zim is desperate and there are no immediate solutions waiting just around the corner.
Please pray for Zim and her people. Pray for the church, that she would be "..the light of the world" in a very dark place. Pray too for a Godly solution to the crisis in the nation. Man has no answers to this mess!
My official time was: 4:04:13, with an average speed of 13.51kph which was due to the numerous portage sections.
This was a tough race as the mud was far worse than at the last Stellenbosch race. Despite the race being 5km's shorter and with only 1200M of climbing as opposed to 1400M in the previous race this one felt tougher, probably because of the mud. Also, my maximum heart rate was 1bpm less on this race and my average heart rate was 2bpm less. I also burnt 4435Kcal on this ride! Think I've earnt a beer or two tonight.
Our best friends in Zimbabwe sent us this photo of some friends of theirs paying the bill for a meal out. The party of 8 had two courses and a few beers which came to Z$6million which they paid using Z$1000 notes. If it wasn't so tragic it might be funny but it really isn't anything to laugh about.Our friends in Zim really need your prayers, life is really tough with even the most basic of food items being scarce and very expensive.
How we long for change in that amazing nation!
In the midst of busy lives and endless running around it's really important to take time out as a family, to pull up the draw bridge and exclude the outside world. We spent quite a bit of time doing just that over the weekend and we've had some really great moments. Joel & Eli have thoroughly enjoyed so much attention and have provided some wonderfully entertaining moments for Mummy & Daddy.
Joel had a 'proud moment' on Friday as he had to walk with 'Aunty Zonkie' to the Principal's office to receive the Principal's Special Award sticker for excellent behaviour!! All the children in the class are gradually moved from number 1 to 10 for doing good things/excelling in some way and when they reach 10 they have to go and see the Principal. Joel's 9 to 10 moment came today as a result of willingly sharing the Batman costume with a classmate - something we have all been working on for weeks!
For fear of being overly negative, we'll not bore you with the details of our frustrations, but if you've been reading this Blog for any length of time you can probably figure it out.
On Saturday my friend Paul and me went to Stellenbosch for the annual Stellenbosch MTB Challenge. We entered the 60km race and didn't disgrace ourselves! We had a lot of fun but cracked fairly decent times. I've never seen so much mud! Everyboy was havin problems with the mud in their gears which made for some interesting moments.
The problem here is that South Africa generally doesn't have a book culture in the way the UK does and so books are very expensive. Harry Potter was going on sale at launch for the usual R240ish (£17). However, Paula happened to see a small notice at our local supermarket saying they would be selling the book for R149 (£10). We knew Paula would be at the supermarket around lunchtime but certainly didn't expect to find any copies left, but lo and behold, there were loads!
We were very blessed on our last night when Mike the farm mechanic baby-sat for us so we could enjoy the highlights of Montagu's nightlife. Sadly Montagu has no nightlife! Despite that we really did have a lot of fun together.
The Red Cross recently asked us to spend R10,000 on their behalf, the only condition being that the money be used to buy things for those in the greatest need. After a brief assessment (limited by time) we decided that aluminium roofing sheets would be very useful for those living in shacks. The money enabled us to buy 150 roofing sheets and enough nails to secure them (however, the recipients must take responsibility for fitting them). Today Dean delivered the sheets to those who needed them.
We'll post more in the next day or so.
The feed back from the two days has been very positive so hopefully we'll be able to follow it up later in the year.
Having had a hectic weekend of birthday parties and 'Project Fix It' this week is about to get a lot busier and more hectic. Dean has a ton of stuff to do in preparation for part 2 of Project Fix It such as collating the outstanding jobs, sorting teams for Saturday and buying the outstanding resources needed all of which needs to be squeezed in between his language studies.
Starting tomorrow we're launching 'Project Fix It' in which we want to bless our church members living in the local townships by fixing up their houses to make them more tolerable for winter. Many of our members can't come to church in the mornings because they're too cold or wet. So, Dean has enlisted/conscripted a number of folk to come and undertake simple repair jobs such as replacing windows, fixing leaky roofs etc.
"What do you most miss from home?" & "What can we send you?"
These are two common questions which are actually quite hard to answer. When we were in Tanzania we welcomed just about anything, especially Pepperami sticks and Onion Bhaji Mix. However, here in South Africa we can get pretty much anything. Our local fish & chip shop is far superior to anything in the UK, as is most local produce and marmite is on the supermarket shelves. Our local pub (we don't frequent it too often) even serves Kilkenny on draught and Boddingtons is available in the local bottle store!
Today saw the culmination of months of prayer, planning and hard work as Paula hosted a meeting in the tent at Chris Nissen for mums of 0-3 year olds and mums to be. The idea was to reach out to this particular section of the community and find a way of getting alongside them as friends on common ground. To do this Paula and 2 fellow mums from the church held a coffee morning with talks on the benefits of breastfeeding and good nutrition for babies followed by a short gospel message.
Not long ago I stumbled upon a Blog entitled Telstar Logistics where they were following the story of a time capsule which had been buried in Tulsa in 1957 to be dug up 50 years later in 2007. The time capsule consisted of a 1957 Plymouth Belvedere and a few other items. Unfortunately at the time of burying the Plymouth it's proneness to rust was still unknown.
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.
A while ago we had Joel Bird stay with us for a few days as he enjoyed a long weekend break from his time with Scripture Union in Jo'burg. Joel had to return to the UK a bit earlier than expected so he spent his final night with us before leaving.The boys were really chuffed to see Joel again and Eli took a real shine to him. I know Joel's parents will read this, so just to let you know that it was a real pleasure to have Joel stay, he's a real credit to you!
How to update without getting into trouble with someone? Probably not possible so here goes..
Chris Nissen is a real challenge at present. Mainly because some of our church members are behaving appallingly and preventing other non members in the community from either coming to church or trying out one of our groups.
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