Happy Birthday to our amazing 11 year old!It's scary to think about how quickly the years slip by but it's definitely a privilege and a joy to be your parents and we're enjoying every minute of it.
You are our sunshine!
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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
It's Book Week at the International School again and once again Joel has gone dressed brilliantly and is very excited to see how all his friends have chosen to dress too.Joel chose to go as Mr Stink from the book of the same name by David Walliams. We had so much fun making him and his clothes dirty, cutting his shoes open and generally just making it up as we went along.
The biggest problem we had was finding rabbit droppings that Joel could use as ear plugs.
David Walliams has definitely been a big hit in our house having helped Joel to a few Cum Laude at Eisteddfod and now helping with Book Week.
Read more about World Book Day here.
Paula posted this on Facebook but it totally deserves a blog post.Totally inspirational special school assembly at Helderberg International School led by Braam Malherbe to motivate the students to raise all they can at their Operation Smile sponsored event next week.
Amongst the many blessings we've received over the last couple of months it would be rude not to mention the photo shoot we had at home.One of our church members is doing a photography degree and for one of his assignments he asked if he could photograph us in the garden.
We were well chuffed to be asked and well pleased with the results!
You can see more of Chadlee's photos and designs on his blog.
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2014 has been the best start to a year that I can ever remember.That's not to say it's been perfect or without it's issues and problems, there have been plenty of those. No, it's been the best start ever because when I step back and look at the bigger picture so many amazing and wonderful things have happened that I feel incredibly blessed.
After a couple of false starts the man from the municipality finally came to inspect the sewer pipe and concluded that they need to install a non-return valve on the street-side of the property. Sadly due to the extensive damage done by the floods last year the emergency budget is exhausted so he could give me no idea of when they will get around to doing the work.Still, we've had a man out to inspect it and that alone feels like progress. It only took two years of trying to get this issue sorted, and we've only got this far after getting in touch with our local Councillor who put us in touch with the right person at the municipality.
This morning saw the boys returning to school to commence Years 6 and 4 respectively and they do so with huge faith, hope and confidence. The holidays for them have been a time not only to rest and relax but also to do some thinking about this big year. We were quite surprised to find that both had set themselves goals for the year and for the first time ever both boys were looking forward to the return to school, albeit it for different reasons!
Having read my mate Hazel's Christmas 2013 blog post I was inspired and encouraged to confess to my own shortcomings in the Christmas cake department.Like Hazel I made two cakes, one came out very well (see left) and once it was iced etc. it went down a storm.
Sadly that's not the whole story though...
It's exactly six years since I've been to a Palace game (see Palace Result - With A Difference) but what an occasion it was. I got to take Joel to his first ever match and he absolutely loved it! As a dad and a Palace fan it made for a very special afternoon for me and one I'll never forget
I'm not a journaling kind of person and keeping a diary of any kind is something I'm appallingly bad at, so when I came across the idea of a Blessing Jar late last year I thought it was a great idea and was determined to give it a go.So here's how it works... each time you receive a blessing from God, no matter how big or small, no matter how important or trivial it may seem, you write it down and pop it into the blessing jar. Then at the end of the year you revisit the jar and the blessings it contains.
It really is that simple!
The joy of this is that there are so many blessings that you've completely forgotten about, and it is truly a joy to look back on the year and remember just how blessed you were.
I could just follow the crowd and wish you a Happy Christmas, but I don't want to do that.Rather, I want to take a moment to think about what the Christmas story really is.
We all know that it's about God coming down and living amongst us, experiencing our pain, grief and joy, but there's so much more going on in the story.
Legacy seems to be a hot-ticket these days as politicians and celebrities get concerned about what their legacy might be. Sadly few of those that get wrapped up in this nonsense seem to understand that we don't get to choose or decide what our legacy will or won't be. Whilst it's true that our actions and words shape any legacy, it is ultimately history with the benefit of time that will have the final say.Thankfully Madiba never showed the slightest interest in the celebrity-esque manipulation of legacy. Madiba transcended that kind of nonsense which is why his legacy will only grow from what it already is.
So what does his legacy as it exists so far, mean to us?
The boys have spent the morning dressing the Christmas tree, which is the only thing Joel has any intention of dressing today! Eli got to top the tree off with the angel and all in all it's looking good.Our eldest niece is on her way to the airport as she begins her marathon flight with Turkish Airlines out to join us for Christmas and we're all excited to see her again.
Let the festivities begin!
Today is a huge day here in South Africa as hundreds of thousands of citizens from every section of society join together to remember and celebrate the life of Tata Madiba.These supporters will also be joined by an unprecedented gathering of world leaders, many of whom will be left totally bewildered and gobsmacked by the tributes that pour in to honour Madiba and his legacy.
There is a small minority of people who pop up on every social media site leaving comments about Madiba being a terrorist. I'll leave you to guess the cultural background of this small group of people. For myself I get a bit tired of it and the racism that underpins this view, so here I'm going to look at this argument and expose it for what it is.
At a simplistic level (I use simplistic in the pejorative sense) Mandela was a terrorist by simple virtue of the fact that on 12 June 1964, he and two comrades were found guilty on four counts of sabotage and conspiracy to violently overthrow the government. Mandela had admitted the sabotage but denied the conspiracy to overthrow the government. The rest as they say is history and Mandela spent 27 years in Robben Island and Pollsmoor prisons.
We're so proud of Joel this evening as he was awarded a Certificate Of Achievment Music Award for Junior Guitar. The Principal announced it as being for "Excellence in guitar."Only three awards were given for music in the junior school this year so Joel is understandably very pleased with himself.
Way to go Sunshine!
Felt really pleased to spot a pair of Spotted Dikkop on the vacant plot immediately behind our house. It looks like they might be nesting there which is pretty cool.These are quite common in the South Africa but it's the first time I've seen them so close to home.
I'm guessing a bit of derelict ground like this is perfect for it as it seeks out lizards and other small creatures to eat. Especially as the water table is saturated after the floods, which has driven many small creatures up to the surface.
The Western Cape was warned on Thursday to batten down the hatches for an approaching storm on Friday which would last through to Sunday morning. On Friday morning the clear blue skies and 25°C temperature made it hard to conceive of the impending carnage. This was rectified within a very brief period as the black clouds appeared and by mid-afternoon one of the wildest thunderstorms was right overhead. Thunder storms are quite unusual in this part of the world, so the first almighty clap was enough to set the alarm bells ringing.
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