To Rent Or Buy? That Is The Question

Today is a day we've been dreading and hoping wouldn't come. Our landlady gave us 2 months notice so we have to be out by the end of November. The timing isn't great from our point of view given that we're just about to go away for 10 days in the school holiday and I'll be returning to Blighty for 10 days next month.

On the other hand the timing feels right as we've talked a bit over the 3½ years we've been in this house about buying it. We're in the process of getting figures but right now it would take a financial miracle to allow this.

Eli's Antics

Here's Eli's latest routine in the garden

Wonders Never Cease

WOW!

I was stunned this morning as immediately after switching on my cell phone an SMS came in from Home Affairs of all people.

When we applied for our ID books we were asked for our numbers but never really thought that we'd hear from them, based on previous experience!

However, here we are with an SMS telling me that my application is already in Pretoria and is on its way through the system as they process it.

Hopefully it will be ready by mid December as they promised.

Presentation Of Work - Pt 2

Joel was delighted this morning as he didn't have to go to school until 10am as it was presentation morning for his class. So we had the privilege of siting with Joel in his class whilst he showed us some of his work from the year so far.

We were really impressed by what he has done and amazed at how much Mrs Tinsley (Joel's teacher) has managed to cover. Joel really has come on a long way from the start of the year, especially as school is something to be endured (although we happen to know he does enjoy it).

Treats & Blessings

Regular readers of our blog may remember Paula writing about the fundraiser she attended recently for the Christmas party for children who attend the ARV clinic at our local hospital (Down To Earth With A Bump). During the event the lady who owns the restaurant in the Nature Reserve invited Paula to bring her HOPE ladies for a treat lunch one day. So, today was the elected day and following our morning visiting in Chris Nissen, Paula and a friend transported the ladies to the Reserve for a real treat!

Presentation Of Work - Pt 1

Today and tomorrow are special days for our boys as they get to show us some of their best work from their year so far at school. Today was Eli's turn and he was delighted to have Mummy & Daddy in his class. We had lots of fun with him seeing what he's been up to. We're really privileged because the boys attend a small school with small classes and as such we have a really good relationship with the teachers.

Eli is very lucky to have Aunty Lisa (Mrs Broekhuizen to Joel, you & I) and Aunty Batwisa looking after him every day and we're really blessed to have such free and easy access to Aunty Lisa every school day to be able to chat about what's going on and how Eli's doing. We were really pleased to hear that Eli is well loved by his friends and that he has "the softest heart of all the children as he's a really caring boy". He makes us so proud!

Chickenpox

Joel somewhat triumphantly emerged from the lounge this afternoon claiming he was feeling unwell and so unable to do any homework or go to school tomorrow. Sadly he got really upset when we fell about laughing at his handiwork with the felt-tip pen.

Definitely takes after his dad!

Wedding Anniversary

Today is our 18th wedding anniversary. We can't quite believe we've been married for that long but thank God for the amazing work of grace he's done in our lives which enables us to continue in our marriage. Apparently one gets less for armed robbery these days so there's something worth considering.

We spent the first bit of the morning at Home Affairs having decided to use the morning well. Having wasted 30 mins trying to get a passport photo done we were then told that because we're not South African we couldn't get our ID documents here in Somerset West but would have to go to Paarl. One hour later we arrived in Paarl and amazingly after just another 40 minutes we'd been fingerprinted and processed and on our way back home.

Web

I was with Michael this morning and as we were talking in his hokkie at the back of his house I noticed this spider's web glistening in the sun as it shone through a gap in the roof.

I love the way the sunlight just illuminates art of the web.

Michael didn't really get what I was going on about, I think he's had his suspicion that I'm a bit bonkers confirmed.

Amazing Weeks

Ever since we responded to a specific prophetic word given to the church 3 weeks ago it seems that God is really blessing us with a fresh anointing in ways that we haven't seen for years. It really is so exciting to see God at work.

Here is Paula's testimony of the last 3 weeks... Since my incredible encounter with God that Sunday morning God is giving me a new boldness and I am seeing breakthroughs. During the HIV course our trainer was unable to speak one morning (a bit of a blow for us all!). I decided to ask if I could pray for her. She readily accepted and I prayed in front of the whole class. Immediately, God restored her voice and she continued as if nothing had been wrong - wow! As a result of seeing this, one of the delegates approached me at break time and asked me to pray for a very specific medical condition she had. As I prayed with another of the ladies from church we sensed a heat building up from our hands into her body. She felt as if the area that had grown hot was 'unplugged' and we are now waiting on God for her total miraculous healing - thank you Lord!

Permanency!

This morning at the stroke of a pen or rather the stamping of a passport everything changed, nothing changed and yet everything did change. We're now permanent residents of South Africa.

This is a huge blessing and a massive answer to prayer! No more queueing every few years filing out endless forms for visas and dishing out ridiculous sums of money for the privilege. We feel this is also confirmation from God that we're in the right place.

Home Affairs & Visas

Off to Home Affairs this morning to follow-up on our application for permanency and to renew our relational visas. Prayers for ease of dealing with bureaucracy appreciated. We also need our permanent residency to come through. We were told it would take two years when we applied two years ago!

Weekend

We've had quite a busy weekend which has been a lot of fun. On Friday Dean joined our youth group again as he's wanting to get to know the younger guys in church and maybe get involved with the youth. He's really impressed by our youth and the leaders who serve so diligently.

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.

Chris Nissen

I had a great afternoon in Chris Nissen chatting with Michael whilst we laid a drainage pipe alongside his house and hokkie (see pic on Facebook). It's been a while since we've spoken about some of the issues we went into today and it's really encouraging to hear how God is working in his life and to see how he's growing in faith and maturity. How I wish others in the community would stop gossiping about Michael and others like him and start following his example instead. One can dream!

Daredevil

Eli talks us through his planned daredevil act on the jungle gym. Thankfully mummy wasn't around to stop him!

Down To Earth With A Bump

By the time this blog entry is completed 15 people will become infected with HIV in South Africa. 1 out of every 5 people are believed to be HIV+ One thousand people die every day of AIDS. It is projected that there will be 18 million AIDS orphans in SA by 2010. Sobering statistics or what! This is one of the main reasons why we know God is calling us to be here in SA. Never mind swine flu! - we are living with a pandemic and it is true to say that if you aren't infected with HIV, then you will certainly be affected by it. Not only do we need to get real about our response as individuals, but also as a church. For this reason Paula and a couple of other women from the church are attending a Counselling in HIV/AIDS course all of this week. This is a big commitment in terms of work, time and finance, but we believe as a church that, like Jesus, we must care for the kind of people many would consider 'outcasts'.

Brrrrr!!!!

Now it's official. 

The weather is freezing! 

Joel & Eli were delighted to see the snow, just a shame for them that it's right up in the mountains as there won't be any snowmen or snowball fights. Not that Mum & Dad are complaining.

Family Bits

The rain cleared this afternoon so we made the most of the opportunity and went to the Nature Reserve, amazingly the boys don't complain about how often we go there! We remembered to take their welly boots this time so they were delighted to be able to wade in the streams and dangle their feet in the duck pond.

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.

Roundup

We're in the midst of winter here and yet our weather seems to be as good as the British summer. Our mornings and evenings are very cold but during the day we're enjoying temperatures up in the high 20's. It all makes for some fantastic cycling weather so Dean has been doing his best to make the most of it. Today he squeezed in a lunchtime ride with his friend Rod (see the pic).

Woodburning Bliss!

Winter has been a bit stop start so far this year but we're not complaining as it's not been as cold and wet as normal (although the dams are surprisingly full). Having said that the weather took a turn for the worse today and it's been raining quite a bit with a strong and cold northwesterly wind blowing.

It's times like this we're really grateful for our woodburning stove!

Trail-A-Bike At School

I had the pleasure of taking our Trail-a-bike into school today to talk to Eli's class as well as Nursery and Reception.

Eli was my very able assistant and helped to show how the trail-a-bike works. The kids particularly like the flag at the back and guessed correctly as to its purpose. After discussing a bit of bike safety we went to the car park where I gave rides to those who had a helmet with them (thankfully only a few did so my legs were saved).