Family Time

As every parent knows, trying to make time for your kids in the midst of the busyness of everyday stuff is not always easy and is an area of life all too easily overlooked.

We're far from perfect in this, but we do try to make sure we spend at least part of the day with them and now that summer is here it is so much easier as we can spend the early evening out in the garden.

Joel The Dolphin

Joel has been having swimming lessons for a while now but recently he seemed to click and it all came together for him. Suddenly he's very confident, prepared to try new things (such as going upside down) and loves spending as much time as possible under the water. We're thrilled that he's overcome his fear of the water especially as summer is here and many of our friends have pools.

Weekend

This weekend was a bit different to the norm (whatever that is). Dean left at 4ish on friday afternoon to get to Swellendam for the Double Century 205k race on Saturday morning. Click here to see how he did. Meanwhile Paula was entertaining the boys at home. They had a great time visiting a friend and chasing the ducks before chilling out at home with a borrowed DVD - The Emporer's New Groove. Joel took his responsibilities as 'man of the house' very seriously!!

Preaching Class

We're really enjoying being part of a church that values its members and cares for them as family. Wow, how we've missed that for a few years! One of our greatest joys at present is being drawn into the life of the church and particularly into the leadership side of things. I'm particularly encouraged that after a barren and almost desolate few years at last I'm beginning to stretch my wings and fly again.

One of the ways this is happening is through the core group of guys that Daniel has gathered together in Grace Community Church. This is a small group of guys who he feels have the potential to be effective leaders within the church. I feel very privileged to be a part of this group and I'm loving the fact that my lead elder is taking time to get alongside me and draw me in.

Weekend

This weekend was slightly different as we welcomed Pete, Steph and Caleb into our home. Pete is one of the elders at Queens Road Church in Wimbledon. It's always a pleasure to host friends and they were a pleasure to have around.

We spent a bit of time at Delheim as well as plenty of time at home, chillin' and chatting. On Saturday evening we abused their presence by ducking out to a friends 40th birthday party, the theme was 1968 and most people made a great effort to get into costume.

Pirates vs Ugly Sisters

Somehow, the monsters got hold of a marker pen (thankfully not a permanent one) and then disappeared into Joel's bedroom for ten minutes whilst they 'made themselves up' to look like pirates.

Thankfully after a long soak in the bath and much scrubbing most of the marker had come off.

Eli really does look to be cut-out for panto, ugly sister anyone?

Baptisms

We like to do things a bit differently at Grace Community Church and it's always great to mix regular Sunday fellowship with fun, laughter and lots of food. So this morning we had our service in Daniel's garden and baptised four folk in the swimming pool. It was a real privilege for me to be doing the baptisms with Mervin. We started with a time of worship before the dunkings and after the formalities the adults decamped to the rest of the garden for food whilst the kids colonised the pool.