Christmas Hampers

We love this time of year because we get to distribute hampers etc on behalf of the church and others.

This year we'll be distributing these sixteen hampers amongst our church families so we're just tidying them up and putting on a Christmas card from church so there's no doubt as to where they are from.

God is good!

Christmas Tree

Finally after a week or two of nagging we let the boys put up the Christmas tree and they did a great job with only minimal moving of decorations required.

They had so much fun doing it and on being unable to decide who should top the tree off with the angel they chose to do it together.

Nice one boys!

Super Sunday!

There are many examples of women in leadership in the bible and just as in life, some of them were great and some not so, but that's one of the strengths of the bible, it reflects so much of the reality of life.

So while some churches turn their noses up at women in leadership or get distracted by voting on the issue we choose to get on with it and allow the women amongst us to blossom and flourish as God intended.

7th Birthday Party

On Tuesday we celebrated Eli's 7th birthday with his party. His actual birthday isn't until the 21st but with the summer holidays beginning a lot of his friends will be away so a party would be a bit thin on the ground if we waited 'til then.

Much fun was had by his friends and Eli loved having his class mates over to play for the afternoon.

Mummy was also very clever with the party food, ordering 10 burger meals from a local takeaway which saved a lot of hassle.

Bell's Palsy Update

The week the Bell's Palsy struck was a very unpleasant week as I thought I might be having a mild stroke. Thankfully that turned out not to be the case but rather it was the palsy.

Having done as much research as I could really be bothered to I was amazed that none of the articles talked about the pain and discomfort involved, most just seemed to take a fairly lighthearted "get over it" attitude.

I was left exhausted and in a lot of discomfort in the first week and the pain hasn't fully gone yet.

The Cape Doctor

The Cape Doctor or Southeaster as it's also known is our summer wind which can blow quite strongly. However the last 24 - 48 hours have been the strongest Southeaster we can remember.

Take a look at this pic of our trampoline which was picked up by a single gust and thrown about six metres through the air onto our gazebo frame and garden table. The gazebo frame had already been damaged by the wind so just in case there was any doubt about it the good doctor totalled it with the trampoline.

School Awards

Today we had the privilege of attending the boys' school awards ceremony, held at the Somerset West library.

It was a great time and we were very proud of our boys!

Eli's class teacher commended Eli for "Never backing down or saying no to a challenge". She has certainly got the measure of our boy!

Joel got an extra certificate for his "Diligence and hard work in guitar". In fact Joel's guitar teacher has been so impressed with his progress this year that he has been invited to play to the old folks on Friday when the school choir go to entertain them.

Oh Dear!

Our afternoon of donation sorting turned into an afternoon of mixed blessings.

We ended up with three boxes and a bin bag full of crap which will be going to the landfill. Happily though we've ended up with a couple of boxes and a few bags of decent toys and clothing which will be a real blessing when we take them into Macassar and Chris Nissen in the next few days.

'Tis The Season To Be Giving..

We love this time of year!

Why? Because the number of donations we get locally increase exponentially and we're able to bless folk in Macassar, Chris Nissen, Broadlands and sometimes beyond that.

We've spent quite a bit of time sorting through donations over the last couple of weeks and it looks like we'll have a bit more sorting to do yet.

Bell's Palsy

I thought I might be having a mild stroke this morning but on googling "am i having a stroke?" and reading around the symptoms it became clear that I wasn't so off I went with my plans for the morning. As time went by I realised that something was definitely wrong as my mouth felt like I was recovering from an injection at the dentist and my right eye was blinking slowly as it felt like it was compensating for my left eye being lazy. Throw in a bit of a numb tongue and it all adds up to a rather unpleasant feeling.

Sowing & Reaping

This week one of our members exhorted us in Home Group to not despise the little things in life and to sow graciously and with a grateful heart no matter how small we think our seed is because God blesses and rewards our small acts of faith.

21÷7=?

Further to my rant below about the census taken last year here in South Africa I came across this today.

Initially I thought it had to be the work of some mischief maker getting busy with Photoshop but on visiting the official website I downloaded the original and it is indeed free of any Photoshop jiggery pokery.

Look more closely at sum number 3 and see if you can work out the right answer.

Leopards In The Cape

This is great news!

The Cape Leopard Trust have been doing some sterling work in the Boland area logging details of known leopards, as well as using camera traps and physical traps to monitor the health and distribution of these splendid creatures in the Cape.

What a privilege too to know that some of the routes we mountainbike on we also share with some leopards.

Census Results - Govt Needs To Do Better!

On the news today there's an article about the results of last year's census here in South Africa. Here's the BBC's take on it: South Africa's census: Racial divide continuing.

Given how the media likes to sensationalise stuff and focus on the negatives the article leads with the grim statistic that the black majority are paid six times less than their white counterparts.

Showers Of Blessing

What a great weekend!

On Friday we joined with Every Nation here in Somerset West for their conference. They were hosting a guy called Marc Dupont who despite looking like a skinny Robin Williams was very good. We were particularly taken with his exposition of the name El Shaddai meaning God who is able to do that which you can't do for yourself. That is definitely our experience!

Superkids!

Our boys' school is having its bi-annual production at the Playhouse Theatre in Somerset West this week and for the first time Joel has one of the speaking roles as the Policeman. Part of his role is to lead the other policemen including Eli.

I managed to sneak a photograph (yes I turned the flash off) which isn't very good but it does at least show Joel with his truncheon and Eli (3rd from left) disappearing under his bobbies helmet.

It was a great evening and we're very proud of our boys!

Baptisms

We just had to share this post from Tree Of Life's web page:

"This Sunday we had the privilege of joining with our family at Church of Love & Grace in Mitchell's Plain to baptise three of our members together with eight of theirs.

We had an amazing time in God's presence with one of our member's granddaughter being saved. Hallelujah!

In the midst of our gathering we also honoured Martin & Mercia who celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary. Martin was then involved in baptising his youngest daughter who had given her life to Jesus just last Sunday.

We thank God for an awesome time in his presence and look forward to doing this again very soon!"

It really was great to watch people stepping out in obedience to Jesus and to honour family in the same gathering.

TV Or Light?

So we were on our way out last night and decided to pop into Macassar to see a couple from church to deliver something they had been waiting for for a few weeks. When we arrived in the monsoon like rain the house appeared to be in total darkness so Dean went to the door to knock and could see the light of the TV flickering through the window. It's always a joy to spend time with our family members and this visit was particularly special because of the delivery.

The house was in total darkness apart from the telly and the couple wouldn't put a light on because the stark choice was TV for the evening or a light on for a few minutes. After we'd been chatting for a minute we were aware of the floor moving, it was alive with children under duvets and blankets trying to keep warm whilst watching the telly and half the kids belonged to the neighbours.

Heritage Day

Today is Heritage Day, also known as National Braai (BBQ) Day with seemingly millions of South Africans across the country braaiing. Many of our friends in Macassar and Chris Nissen were getting in on the action.

To celebrate we spent the day with some Zimbabwean and Ugandan friends with Eli being the lone South African amongst us!

We had a great afternoon chatting and chilling and occasionally chasing one of the eight boys we had between us. They certainly mad it a very lively afternoon!

Kalk Bay

To celebrate our twenty first wedding anniversary we had a very pleasant couple of nights away in the stunning seaside town of Kalk Bay on the Cape Peninsula, somewhere we've been wanting to explore for sometime.

To finally get the chance to mooch around the place sans enfants was a real blessing and we'll definitely be back sometime soon.

21

Twentyone years ago our dear friend Richard pulled out all the stops on the organ and gave it some welly as he struck up Tocatta in C by Zipoli as the love of my life began walking down the aisle.

I have been incredibly blessed by the fact that shortly after 1.30pm Paula said "I do" and I'll be forever grateful to her and to God for the amazing time we've had together ever since.

To marry someone special is great. To marry your soul-mate is fantastic. To spend a lifetime with the love of your life is simply awesome!