Photos From Andy's Visit

Joel & Dad jumping off a rock at Boulders Beach

Click on an image to see it full size.

Thursday

On Thursday Dean's Bible Study met in the containers in CNP again, after a few months of not being allowed access. Praise God! It looks like we'll be able to meet in there each Thursday which will be so much better as it is so big. Also, this means as a group we can grow, which is one of our key aims for next year. Please continue to pray that we would be allowed to use the container without all the nonsense of CNP internal politics getting in the way.

Boulders Beach

Andy is with us from the UK and we're enjoying his company, Joel seems to have clicked with him and particularly enjoying running around on the baech with him. Yesterday morning we went to Boulders Beach to see the penguins and then in the afternoon we went to Chris Nissen. This morning Andy will be joining dean for the CNP Men's Bible Study.

Hope you enjoy these photos from yesterday. There will be more on our Photoblog this afternoon.

Launchpad Party

As promised here are some photos from the Launchpad party held in honour of John & Sophie. To see more of Dean's better photos look at our Photoblog.

CNP Men's Bible Study Social

I forgot to take my camera to our Bible Study social last Thursday, however we did manage to find a disposable camera and get the photos put on CD so here are two of the better ones for you.

From left to right: Cyril, Alfred, John, Michael (in Palace shirt) Dean, Trevor, Basil, Danny & James

Miraculous Recovery

Thank you for your prayers for Joel, he woke up this morning as if nothing had been wrong over the last three days, Praise God! Today has been an almost normal day for him other than being quite tired. His cough has almost totally abated and his temperature is completely normal. We really value your prayers and we're really grateful to God for answering them so swiftly for Joel.

Joel

Joel is really struggling with his fever and has now developed a nasty chesty cough. As we write he's struggling to sleep as he can't stop coughing, also it's really hot tonight. please pray for healing and peace for the boy, he's really tired and desperately wants to be asleep. Pray for healing for him.

Thanks!

Where Did The Week Go?

A quick update... last night (Thurs) we went out with a group to say goodbye to John & Sophie. After 11 months serving here at Helderberg Christian Church, on the Frontier Year Project they're off home to the UK. We're all sad that they're leaving but know that God will use them mightily for His kingdom. In the morning John & I took our CNP men's Bible study group out for coffee & cake to say farewell to John, we had a great time and the men expressed real warmth towards John who will be sorely missed by the group. These 'jollies' were topped off with a staff breakfast this morning which was very pleasant.

Bird Flu On The Ark

I wonder what would have happened if it had been true.

Finnie's In Focus

We've just started a new 'PhotoBlog' called "Finnie's In Focus" Do take a look and let us know what you think. The aim of this new blog is to give you both a wider view of what we're up to and a more focused view of our lives here.

We will continue to post some photos here, but obviously we'll post the bulk of them on the new photoblog. We'll try to post as regularly as possible and will include alternative views of the stuff you see on this blog.

Grasshopper & Bits

On Saturday we went to the aquarium and met up with Richard & Felicity with Matthew. Joel and he had great fun charging around and shouting "Wow! Look at that!" when they saw the sharks. Joel has been to the aquarium more times than we can remember and yet he never seems to tire of it, which is great as it makes for a good morning when we go. Afterwards Dean went with Joel on a 30 minute boat tour of Cape Town harbour and they both really enjoyed it. Joel was a natural on the boat and so we're (or at least Dean is) now planning to take him on one of the glass bottomed boats in Hout Bay. Sadly we didn't have a camera with us so you'll have to believe us when we say the views of Table Mountain from the harbour were stunning.

Adoption

Wow the rollercoaster doesn't seem to want to stop just yet!

On Wednesday we met with a social worker at a local children's home and were informed that 'yes' we can adopt. This was the 3rd piece of advice from as many professionals! Thankfully the social worker had done some checking out of issues and legalities and has put us in touch with a private social worker who we'll contact on Monday to arrange a meeting. So we're really excited again!

Another Reason Why We Love Africa!

Our washing machine broke recently, the door latch snapped, but given that the machine is 10 years old one can't really complain too much. In the UK this would have meant buying a new machine for sure, but Africa is the continent of the 'Fundi'. Dean popped out to a local appliance shop and bought a replacement door latch for the princely sum of R20 (less than £2), and fitted it to the old machine in under 5 minutes & Bob's your uncle, the machine is fixed!.

Bien Donné Expo 2005

This morning we went to the Bien Donné Expo which was basically an agricultural show with loads of tractors and stuff. Needless to say Joel was in 7th heaven seeing somany tractors, 'Scoops', quad bikes and other machinery. The whole event was very much a 'redneck' affair geared up for the Afrikaans farming community. Anyway, we all had fun and the stall holders were incredibly tolerant of the kids climbing all over the machinery, thankfully Afrikaaners do tend to be quite family oriented. Part of the reason for going was that Matthew's dad works for Toyota SA and they had a stand selling their forklift trucks.

A Good Laugh

Last night we went with a crowd of friends to a local pizza place which has a live band on Thursday evenings, the night was quite raucous and we all had a really good laugh (invariably at someone else's expense). During the evening we managed to get John (one of our FYP volunteers) on stage to sing 'Stand by me', poor lad only got up to go to toilet! Just as he thought he's finished, Sophie (John's wife) was also dragged up on stage, much to her embarrassment to sing 'The Lion sleeps tonight'. Hope you enjoy the photos.

Adoption update

Unfortunately, the birth mother of the little baby we were hoping to adopt refused to sign the adoption papers on Tuesday when ACVV accompanied her and her grandmother to court. As a result, we have told ACVV that we are withdrawing as potential adoptive parents from this situation. Naturally we were very disappointed and can't understand what happened between Friday, when she was happy to go and sign on her own and Tuesday. However, we had been praying for clear leading and you can't really get clearer than that!!

Adoption

We've deliberately taken some time before posting any news about the adoption as things have been a bit rocky and uncertain. However, that doesn't mean that everything is straightforward right now, because things are still tentative. We do need your prayers so want to let you know what's happening.

Another Week In CNP

We've had a really good weekend topped off this afternoon by spending a few hours at the seaside followed by fish & chips on the beach watching the sunset over Table Mountain. Joel had a ball and was getting really brave, wading through the breaking waves.

Here goes with an update on CNP..

On This Day In History..

Actually, in this week in history... and what a historical week it is.

Firstly Rosa Parks died, if you don't know who she was, where have you been? Rosa historically refused to give up her seat on a bus in America, allegedly the conversation was as follows:
"Are you going to stand up?" the bus driver, James Blake, asked.
"No," she answered.
"Well, by God," the driver replied, "I'm going to have you arrested."
"You may do that," Mrs Parks responded.

The rest as you might say, is history!

Rosa Parks 04.02.12 - 25.10.05

Court, Fostering & Reconciliation

Monday started with Dean taking Michael to the courthouse to get some legal advice as he's been served with a summons to appear on the 16th November in relation to his tenure in CNP. Basically, the house belongs to his father (Douglas) who wants Michael & Joyce out. Unfortunately for Michael, his father has enlisted both legal aid and the ANC so he has a very strong team, plus the fact that legally he is the householder. However, Dean believes that Michael has a strong moral argument for remaining in the house as his father is a danger to himself when left to his own devices.

Rollercoaster

We seem to have been on a constant rollercoaster since Wed last week when the ACVV called us. We've spent some time out praying together this afternoon (friends looked after Joel, or rather, he showed them around the Nature Reserve!) which has been immensely helpful. We've also talked a lot about the implications of fostering a child (initially) and the impact this will have on our family life, whether we resolved anything is another matter, but at least we talked and prayed!

Dean had Joel on his own again this morning whilst Paula had a bit of 'me' time although as ever work encroached, with Paula putting in a brief appearance at the church building for a Peer Education event. nevertheless, we all benefited from our various activities. Dean & Joel were building Duplo towers which were taller than Dean, whilst Joel simply enjoyed knocking them down!