Trading Summer For Winter

We'll be arriving in the UK for a short Christmas break with family on the 21st (Eli's 2nd Birthday) and have to confess that giving up two weeks of Summer here for two weeks of winter in Blighty doesn't seem like an amusing prospect at the moment. thankfully family ties will make it more than worthwhile!

This photo came from Sheffield Hallam Uni' alumni and depicts a winter's scene in Ewden Valley just North of Sheffield. It looks very cold!

Holiday In Boggam's Baai

What a brilliant time we had in Boggam's Baai! The village is amazing as there are no commercial properties in the village which means no shops, coffee shops, ice cream vans etc, so the beach really was the focal point of the holiday. We did manage to find some shops in the nearby town of Mossel Bay so all was not lost. However, it was bliss not to have the usual assortment of seaside rubbish to deal with. The beach was stunning and empty! On one day there were about 100 people on the beach but given that it is a few kilometres long things were far from crowded (as you can see below).

We're Back

We're back from our holiday in Boggams Baai, a lovely small seaside village without a single shop or business. Very peaceful!

We'll post something meaningful later but thought you might enjoy this sign which we saw at the Outeniqua Transport /Railway Museum George.

Christmas Tree

We're off on holiday in Boggams Baai for 10 days from tomorrow and won't be posting in that time so we leave you with this to be going on with...

This evening we put our Christmas tree up, mainly in anticipation of our forthcoming Mulled Wine & Mince Pie 'do' on the 18th (anyone who's been to one in the past knows this is not to be missed).

The People Your Parents Warned You About

Tonight we had a lot of fun at our end of year leaders dinner at church. The occasion is to say 'Thank You' to those who lead cell groups throughout the year. Someone thought it would be good to get the leaders to dress up in something weird/unusual. Some really got into the spirit of the event.

Suits You Sir!

The BBC carried this brilliant story today about a 77 year old pensioner in Devon who has a bit of a wind problem.

Maurice Fox was quoted as saying: "I am a loud farter, but there is no smell"Inevitably, there was no-one from the club available for comment.

Check out the full story: Flatulence ban for club pensioner

This article really made my day.






PS. Whilst there have a look at The poetry of bodily functions

Dozeyhead & The Weekend

Oh dear, someone didn't wake up too well and got himself into a bit of a pickle with his sleeping bag. Actually, Eli never wakes up very well as he'd rather be left to sleep, which is why the bunk beds were a bit of a disaster. Joel is the total opposite and always wakes quite early. We're not sure where he got that gene from!

Please pray for healing for Eli, he's got a terrible ear infection, the ear is oozing blood and gunk and he won't let anyone near it. Paula took him to the GP who prescribed anti-biotics so hopefully he'll be fine again soon.

Tiny Bubbles Créche Graduation

This afternoon we went to the Tiny Bubbles Créche graduation in Chris Nissen Park. Despite the classic CNP start -very chaotic- the event was great and very well put together. Sandra directed the proceedings and there was a lot of involvement from the rest of the community. Not only did a lot of folk come to watch, but many of the older children in CNP had put dance routines together to entertain the audience.

Tiny Bubbles Christmas Party

One of our successes this year has been to link the Tiny bubbles Créche in Chris Nissen with the Nursery and Reception classes at Joel's school. A few of the parents have taken the créche to heart and really got involved. Sue, one of the mums wanted to do a Christmas party for the children in the créche and rallied the parents to give a quality present. Other parents contributed the food and one parent got a local sweet shop to donate 26 boxes of sweets. Father Christmas came too!

Place Of Safety

Praise God for His faithfulness!

Today was a big day for Michael & Joyce as they were back in court with the ACVV social worker as the Place of Safety Order expired today. The ACVV were keen to formalise Michael & Joyce’s application to become registered foster carers and this happened this morning.

Hayden’s mother and ouma were at the hearing and gave the social worker a hard time, but ultimately there was no way the child would be returned to their care until radical changes were made by them. Michael & Joyce were brilliant and behaved very graciously towards the birth family and were very professional.

Thanksgiving & Dedication

Michael & Joyce brought Hayden to church to give thanks to God for him and to dedicate him to the Lord.

We're so proud of what Michael & Joyce are doing! Hayden is clearly thriving in their care and he's a very happy little boy.

Emyezweni Christmas Party

On Friday I had the privilege of entertaining the children at Emyezweni Pre-School in Lwandle. This seems to have become a bit of a tradition but it's a lot of fun and the children really appreciate it. This year I had my fire clubs fixed so I was able to juggle with fire too. As you could imagine it was a real hit and the children requested that I juggle fire again at the end.

Christ, A Radical Too Far?

Heavenly Sanctuary is a Christian ministry that puts on Conferences around America on the Character of God. This year they hired an artist named Lars Justinen from the Justinen Creative Group to paint this picture to use on posters advertising their conference. Under this picture they had captions like "Follow the Leader," "God IS Great," and most accurately, "Jesus - Still Too Radical?"

DISGRACEFUL!

Can there be any other way to describe a totally inept display by a rubbish team? England fully deserved to lose and lived up to that expectation. Having been gifted an easy final game following Israel's win over Russia, beating Croatia at Wembley really shouldn't have been a tall order, especially when a single point would have sufficed.

Blooming Weather!

Late November is a bit of a strange time of year here. People are either frantically trying to get things sorted ready for the Christmas/Summer shutdown or they're cruising along just running down the clock until the Christmas shutdown. Either way it's not really a good time to be starting new things, which is just as well because we're not planning to.

However, we are once again in the process of organising Christmas Hampers for the needier folk amongst us. Last year we distributed 35 hampers but this year we're planning to distribute 62. We're away for most of December so won't actually do the hard physical work this year but we will oversee the planning of the operation. Last year the hampers cost R150 each, this year they will be R248 for exactly the same items. Apparently food inflation only runs at 10% so either our maths is dodgy or 'official figures' aren't quite as precise as they could be.

Playball

Joel had his last Playball session of the year today and is very proud to be showing off his envelope containing his report card and fab certificate! Playball has been brilliant for him for the past 2 years. It focuses on gross and fine motor skills with balls in a very fun and exciting way. Joel has certainly struggled with some activities, but he absolutely loves it and adores his 2 coaches, Matt and Toni. Playball has really helped him to persevere with things that he finds difficult because it is all done in such a fun way. We hope that he can carry on with Matt in a new group from his school next year.

Dragonfly

This stunning Dragonfly was on our doorstep this morning. It was obviously on its last legs as each time it tried to fly it landed on its back and struggled onto its feet.

Joel was delighted to see such a stunning visitor.

Gone Fishing

Fishing has never held a great appeal for Dean having only fished on a few occasions and thankfully never caught anything, so he's never had to handle anything slimy. However when Rod rang to ask if Dean & Joel wanted to go fishing this afternoon they leapt at the chance. So off to Grabouw they went with enough kit for a small army for a couple of fun hours fishing and chatting with Rod and Nathan.

There are worse ways to while away a few hours!

SS. Jolly Roger

Daddy's bakkie has been renamed the SS. Jolly Roger and apparently can be seen sailing the seven seas in search of treasure. A lot of fun was had this afternoon, especially when we went for a walk in the local park and spent a good hour on the 'pirate treasure island' throwing stones into the river. Unfortunately the camera battery died after the first photo.

Cpt. Trumpet Trousers ordering his deckhand around

Christmas Pageant

On Thursday evening we enjoyed Joel's Christmas Pageant at school (it was held early as the Reception teacher leaves today). Nursery, Reception together with years 1 & 2 participated to make a great evening.

Our Back Garden

On Saturday we spent the afternoon in the Nature Reserve and as ever had a great time. The tortoises are all out of hibernation so the boys were delighted to see them again. Eli is developing the same curiosity about them as Joel used to have. The ducks and 'Spikey' the porcupine remain their firm favourites in the reserve. The Reserve is definitely an extension of our garden.


Lollipop time in the Nature Reserve