Adoption

We've deliberately taken some time before posting any news about the adoption as things have been a bit rocky and uncertain. However, that doesn't mean that everything is straightforward right now, because things are still tentative. We do need your prayers so want to let you know what's happening.

Another Week In CNP

Oupa BoydWe've had a really good weekend topped off this afternoon by spending a few hours at the seaside followed by fish & chips on the beach watching the sunset over Table Mountain. Joel had a ball and was getting really brave, wading through the breaking waves.

Here goes with an update on CNP..

On This Day In History..

Actually, in this week in history... and what a historical week it is.

Firstly Rosa Parks died, if you don't know who she was, where have you been? Rosa historically refused to give up her seat on a bus in America, allegedly the conversation was as follows:
"Are you going to stand up?" the bus driver, James Blake, asked.
"No," she answered.
"Well, by God," the driver replied, "I'm going to have you arrested."
"You may do that," Mrs Parks responded.

The rest as you might say, is history!

Rosa Parks 04.02.12 - 25.10.05
Monday started with Dean taking Michael to the courthouse to get some legal advice as he's been served with a summons to appear on the 16th November in relation to his tenure in CNP. Basically, the house belongs to his father (Douglas) who wants Michael & Joyce out. Unfortunately for Michael, his father has enlisted both legal aid and the ANC so he has a very strong team, plus the fact that legally he is the householder. However, Dean believes that Michael has a strong moral argument for remaining in the house as his father is a danger to himself when left to his own devices.

Rollercoaster

We seem to have been on a constant rollercoaster since Wed last week when the ACVV called us. We've spent some time out praying together this afternoon (friends looked after Joel, or rather, he showed them around the Nature Reserve!) which has been immensely helpful. We've also talked a lot about the implications of fostering a child (initially) and the impact this will have on our family life, whether we resolved anything is another matter, but at least we talked and prayed!

Dean had Joel on his own again this morning whilst Paula had a bit of 'me' time although as ever work encroached, with Paula putting in a brief appearance at the church building for a Peer Education event. nevertheless, we all benefited from our various activities. Dean & Joel were building Duplo towers which were taller than Dean, whilst Joel simply enjoyed knocking them down!

Adoption & Fostering

On Wednesday we were approached by the ACVV (local Afrikaans Christian Social Service) to enquire whether or not we're still interested in adoption. This is something we feel passionately about and long to do. We had made a few enquiries about this since we've been here but each time the door seems to have closed firmly on us. So to be approached by a local agency is quite exciting (and a little bit scarey!). Basically they have asked us to consider a long term fostering arrangement with a possibility of adoption (but no guarantee) of a 3 month old boy. Obviously this would have huge impact on us as a family but also on our ministry here (in more ways than would be immediately obvious but we can't unpack that just now).

Weekend

Full MoonWe've had a really good weekend, on Saturday we went to Hermanus in the morning but sadly there were only a couple of whales and they were way off in the distance. That will probably be our last attempt this year to whale watch. We still had good fun with Joel who enjoyed clambering over the rocks and attempting to chase the dassies. In the evening we we went out to a Thai restaurant with our new friends Richard & Felicity, we such a good evening.

Missionary Friends

Some friends of ours in Thailand sent us a description of their weekend which included a visit to a Bhuddist temple. They described the situation well and included a couple of good photos.

MA

I've just been to Pretoria for three days as part of my Masters Degree with UNISA (University of South Africa). For those of you who don't know I'm doing a Masters in 'Social Behaviour in HIV/AIDS' with the school of sociology. The whole year with UNISA has been a bit disastrous with very poor communication being at the heart of the problem.

Monica

This morning we had a visit from Monica Brooks from Cheadle. Monica is currently on holiday in the Cape and took time out to join us for the morning, so we went to Chris Nissen to meet a few folk. As ever we were really well received and those who met Monica really enjoyed their time with her.

Hopefully Monica had a good time too. After lunch we took Monica back to her hotel in Cape Town and Paula went off on her own for a while whilst Dean & Joel went to the aquarium.

Weekend & Bits

Dean attended a Cape Elders meeting on Thursday to listen to Michael Eaton speak. Wow! what a privilege to hear someone of Michael’s calibre speaking, particularly in a leadership context. Michael has been at HCC all week conducting a series of evening meetings and this has been excellent, he must be one of the best biblical expositors alive today!

Notorious Typos

Sean posted these on his Blog Primal Subversion, we hope you enjoy them.

Notorious Typos

Here are a few publishing blunders from various editions of scripture...

* Blessed are the place-makers, Matthew 5:9. (instead of "peacemakers")

* Thou shalt commit adultery, Exodus 20:14. (omitted "not")

Frustrations

Paula drove down to Chris Nissen tonight to lead the memorial service for Anna (after last week's postponement) only to find that Aunty Blaby wasn't there and Dina had forgotten that she was coming! This is extremely common, but really frustrating. Not only is it physically annoying ie: in terms of wasted time, energy and petrol, it doesn't do the community any good either. We are assuming that there has been a circumstance beyond our control, but more likely, Aunty Blaby is grieving very deeply and just can't handle any more attention. Please pray that either one of us will be able to see her soon and help her with the process. Paula would also dearly love to share the message she has for people at this memorial, so please pray for an opportunity in the not too distant future, next week would be ideal for this.

Missionary Blogs

Our Blog was recently picked up by someone who runs a site called Missionary-Blogs.com. This is a great site for finding out what others are doing around the world. We've had a brief look through and there appear to be some great Christian Blogs out there.

On their Blog Watch page there are a few snippets of some recently posted Blogs. Please take a look and see how God's name is being glorified around the world.

Katrina

The media appear to have lost interest in Hurricane Katrina and her aftermath and with Rita not providing the expected (and even desired?) news stories the people impacted by these disasters are left to get on with life.

We said a while ago that we would try and find some info from local churches about what is going on and how we can best pray for those affected by the hurricanes. We eventually looked at the Willow Creek website (looking for something totally unconnected) and found the following information:

Birthday Braai

As we said in the post below, it was Dean's Birthday on Sunday and in the afternoon we had a braai with some friends. We hope you enjoy the photos of the kids playing together.


Caleb, Michelle, Joel & Matthew enjoying the food.


Life And Death

Saturday morning was another emotionally charged occasion for Paula as she went to support Anna's family at her funeral in CNP. It was a beautiful, fitting and simple service. Her little house was crammed full with friends and family leaving just enough room for the coffin. We sang our hearts out and the preacher spoke brilliantly about making sure your name is in the Book of Life (or at least that's what Paula gleaned from her limited Afrikaans!). Funnily enough, that is exactly what she has prepared to speak about on Tuesday at Anna's memorial service!

Almost 100%

We're both getting stronger and putting the worst of the illnesses behind us. Dean definitely suffered a bit worst than Paula, but Paula was still very unwell. We are so grateful to Felicity for taking Joel off our hands on Wednesday, there's no way we could have got through the day without her support. Dean said his tummy felt like the roundworm he had in Tanzania whilst the diarrhea was like his Shigela dysentery he had in Zimbabwe, sounds nice doesn't it!

Spiloxene Capensis

Recently we posted a photo of a stunning flower but didn't know the name of it. Well we now know that its proper name is 'Spiloxene Capensis' also known as the 'Painted Peacock Flower', it is classified as a weed (remarkable!) but we think it has to be one of the most beautiful weeds on the planet.

Illness

We have both been really sick for the past 48 hours with some sort of a virus. Unfortunately, it led to Dean vomiting up blood all of last night and we are both wiped out from this and lack of sleep. We have a very wonderful friend however, who, on hearing this, came and washed our dishes, picked up Joel and took him home to her place to play with her 2 year old son for the day. This was absolutely fantastic, allowing us to sleep for the day and try to recuperate. In 14 years of marriage, we have never been so sick at the same time. There was no way we would have been able to look after Joel today, so thank God for friends! We are both feeling a little better tonight- weak but not as sick.

Gert

I eventually found out yesterday (Monday), after much phoning around, what had happened to Gert. It turns out that he was discharged on Friday shortly after arriving at hospital. He had 2 X-rays taken and was given a letter of referral to Ikhwezi clinic (where he'd been on Friday morning!) and then left to get himself home. So that's why the hospital couldn't trace him on Friday evening. Yesterday afternoon in CNP we managed to piece the whole story together. Gert had no means of getting home after being discharged and certainly couldn't walk, so he spent 2 nights sleeping in the hospital car park and spent the daytimes in the waiting room. Luckily, a lady from CNP attended the hospital on Sunday evening and whilst there bumped into Gert and brought him home.

This is an outrageous story but sadly a true one! Sadly it's not an uncommon story for folk in Chris Nissen. In fact, the ambulance had been called into CNP on Thursday for Gert but never arrived.

Weekend

Friday was a busy day for Dean starting with his first clinic visit at 7.15, followed by a second clinic 15 minutes later. It’s quite disconcerting having a car load of sick people when 2 are coughing and wheezing with TB, not a totally pleasant experience! Gert was taken to the hospital by ambulance from the clinic which is what was needed all along. The ambulance was called for him on Thursday, but as so often happens, they refused to attend – can you believe it! More on Gert in a minute.

Bible Study

Dean had an excellent small group this morning with 8 men attending which was a first. They all said they enjoyed the study (we were looking at Samuel) and said they would come again next week, so that's really exciting. To think that just a few months ago I was struggling to get 2 regulars to commit! The three new guys this week were Danny (Anna 'Bop's' partner) Trevor & Willem (see photo below). The group want to continue our season of Character Studies so we will carry on with that and include some New Testament characters in the coming term.

Anna 'Bop'

During her visiting in CNP on Friday, Paula went to visit Anna 'Bop', a dear friend suffering from AIDS, who very recently became a Christian and who had been attending Paula's cell group on her stronger days. Anna was really weak, but was battling courageously. They prayed together and Paula gave her some baby porridge in the hope that she might be able to keep it down, as she wasn't able to eat anything. Sadly Anna died on Monday morning. Obviously, this has been a bitter blow for Anna's family and all her friends. Death is never easy, even when you watch someone you love slowly deteriorate. Tonight Paula went in to visit Anna's family.

SCAS Team

Dean was in CNP early this morning (Monday) to take Vissy to the Dr's but unfortunately she didn't want to go (that is so annoying when you get out of bed an hour early!) but whilst he was talking to her, he heard that the lady across the street had just died. Anna Bop had been seriously ill for a while and Paula had visited a number of times. On Friday afternoon Dean took her some food and spoke to her partner about getting to the clinic. Apparently they had been and Anna was waiting for test results before being referred to the hospital, sadly she never made it.

Scoop!

Dean's cell was cancelled yesterday morning as most of the members went to collect their grants, so he looked after Joel whilst Paula was leading her cell group. Dean & Joel had a fun morning watching a 'Scoop' in the fields opposite our house. Joel is really keen on 'Scoops' and tractors so he was in heaven watching this one for almost half an hour. After eventually dragging Joel away from Scoop Dean & Joel had a good walk in Radloff Park and spent some time throwing sticks into the river.

Cooker

Aletta is a faithful church member and a lovely lady who really does put the needs of others before her own. For a long time she has been preparing meals for sick and vulnerable people in the community with little or no help from anyone else. Basically, Aletta buys the food and cooks it at her own expense and then distributes it within CNP. Unfortunately Aletta's cooker broke down recently and she was unable to provide any meals for just over a month, which had a serious impact on a few folk in the community, particularly as the last month or two have been very cold and wet.

Rock Star

Couldn't resist posting these photos after lunch. I went home as usual and as I was sorting out my camera for this afternoon, Joel picked up his guitar and 'pretended' to play it (he's only 2½ so can't play it properly), as you can see from his face he really enjoys playing.


14 Years!

Today is our 14th (apparently that's Ivory) wedding anniversary! WOW! Marriage is such a brilliant thing, in Proverbs 18:22 it says: "He who finds a wife finds what is good and receives favour from the LORD." 14 years of marriage certainly feel like favour from God.

Paula & Joel arrived home safe & sound, it is so good to have them home. Joel has clicked back into his routine and appears to be so happy to be home, he's smiling all the time and enjoying rediscovering all his toys. Whilst Joel was away, I bought him a guitar and he hates to be parted from it now and we're really looking forward to Sunday when he'll take it to church. It's so good to have normal service resumed, the house is cluttered with toys and is a complete mess, but I wouldn't want it any other way.


Reasons We Love Africa


©BBCI said in an earlier post that I would try and find a church website in New Orleans with relevant prayer topics etc, but unfortunately I've not found one yet. However, I did come across the following article and photos on the BBC News website.

It's brilliant to know that the church is responding to the gospel by reaching out to those hit hardest by hurricane Katrina. In Galatians 2:10 Paul wrote: "All they asked was that we should continue to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do." The poor are dear to God and close to his heart and when the church acts to help the needy God is really happy. The following article should warm our hearts too.

The following article is ©BBC.

Scarey Photo

Paula's younger sister, Jo, celebrated her 35th birthday this weekend so the family went out for a meal. As you can see from the photo below, there is a striking family resemblance between them all. The photo shows (left to right) Paula, Lisa, Dad & Jo

Dogs Chasing Kites

My weekend's been quite good so far (given that I've not managed a lay-in for 3 weeks, parenthood has definitely reprogrammed my body clock!), on Saturday morning I went to Hermanus on my own, the weather here at home was gorgeous, not a cloud in the sky (maybe Spring has sprung?) but as I drove over Sir Lowry's Pass the fog (cloud) was really dense and once through that it was quite overcast.

Jemma & Freya

Paula had a visit from Jemma & Freya the other day, (Jemma is a friend from All Nations) Paula really enjoyed catching up with Jemma again and spending some time with Freya. Joel was a treasure and helped her with just about everything and then copied her when she was drinking her milk. The things that amuse 2 year olds!

Three Days To Go...

Paula & Joel are enjoying their last few days together in the UK, only 3 (and a bit) days to go and they'll be home!!!!

Paula & Joel met up with Julia & Rebecca earlier in the week and went out for lunch followed by the kids playing together. They all had a good day, as you can see from the photos.

Coffee & Cake

We (John & I) took the CNP Bible Study to the Spur in Gordon's Bay for coffee & cake this morning and had great fun. Afterwards we drove up to the viewing point by Steenbrass Dam, which offers amazing views of False Bay. Hope you enjoy the photos below.

Katrina - The Aftermath

People on a rooftop desperate to get offLooking at some of the blogs about Hurricane Katrina and life in New Orleans, it does appear that the authorities have dismally failed their citizens, leaving people to fend / fight for themselves, in many cases leaving people fighting for their lives without much success. Government at all levels has failed, locally and nationally and the mayor of New Orleans must take as much criticism as any other authority figure including Bush. Michael Moore has pitched in with a cynical open letter to Bush, which isn't really helpful as the time for mud slinging is not yet - soon but not yet. Now is the time for helping the survivors get their lives back together and help them to rebuild their communities. This will inevitably take a long time, but it's a job that has to start and it will need a huge commitment from all the players. What this job doesn't need is political point scoring.

Wimbledon

Paula and Joel spent the weekend in Wimbledon and stayed with Susan overnight. Paula had a great time chatting and catching up with Susan and then enjoyed meeting up with some old friends on Sunday after church. Joel really enjoyed church as the children stayed in for the whole worship time (here the kids go out after about 10 minutes) and then when he went to creche the 2&3 year olds had their own teaching time, so he thrived.

Hurricane Katrina

Further to my earlier post about the hurricane, I came across another blog: Eye Of The Storm which has lots of amazing photographs of the carnage caused by the hurricane, this Blog is so worth looking at! The best thing about this and the other blog is that they're by normal people living with the hurricane rather than your 'Kate Adie' types who just dip in and out and don't know what it's really like to live in and through the situation.

This is a photo of a train thrown 200 yards by the hurricane, apparently, no-one knows whether or not it still contains any chemicals.

Face Painting

Today is Lytton's 2nd Birthday, so Dina asked John & Sophie if they would come into CNP and do some face painting. Sadly Lytton was too overwhelmed by the whole event to allow his face to be done, but the other kids really enjoyed it as you can see from the photos below.

Face Painting 2

Spickles (on the left) is one of Dina's grandchildren whilst Charlotte is Dina's youngest child.


Face Painting 3

Yet more faces to be painted. It seemed as if the kids would never stop coming!

Hurricane Katrina

I've read quite a bit about hurricane Katrina in the last few day, some good and some very poor. The worst was a supposed Christian website claiming that the hurricane is God's judgement on New Orleans. Where these people get this rubbish from is beyond me! If this really was God's judgement, then things would be significantly worst than they are right now! Read the book of Revelation for full details!

Football Voicemail Messages

I've just nicked these from another Blog which I stumbled across, they're quite amusing.

David James: "I'm not available right now so please leave ...damn, just dropped the phone..."

Wayne Rooney: "I'm at me gran's right now, leave a message I'll get back to you in 3 minutes

Harry Kewell - "Harry was on his way to the phone but has broken down after getting up out of his seat"

Sven G.E - "Hello Nancy, I forgot to set my alarm clock"

Bible Study

We've just had an excellent bible study, we were looking at the life of Elisha as a follow on from the life of Elijah last week. We had seven men plus John & myself which is our largest attendance so far. Ben joined us for the first time and Ernest came too (he doesn't normally like to come out in winter), it's also Ernest's birthday so John brought a cake along which went down well.

Joel On The Farm

Paula and Joel went to the farm in Weald with Joel's Godparents, Richard & Sal (Richard's family have been farmers for many years in the village) to see the animals and have a ride in a real tractor. Joel is just a little bit obsessed with tractors and 'scoops'. As well as riding the tractor and seeing the animals, Joel also watched the cows being milked which was very exciting for him.

Thank you so much Richard, Sal, Josh & Issac for taking Joel to the farm and for lending Joel so many toys whilst he's in the UK. You are such STARS!

Hope you all enjoy the photos below...

14 Days To Go...

Paula & Joel have been gone for a week now and I'm counting the days until their return. I know I shouldn't wish time away, but I'm really missing them!!!

Contrary to popular conception, there is no pile of washing up to be done, I haven't run out of mugs or teaspoons and I've only had one Pizza since being on my own! I am house trained and quite nifty in the domestic department when I put my mind to it, since I've been on my own the washing has all been done and there is only a small pile of ironing awaiting my attention. There's not much chance of me losing weight either as I seem to be cooking for two and then spreading the meal over 2 days - which is good.

Owl

Paula and I chatted on the internet last night (we've been using voice conferencing for almost 5 years, well before Skype) and Paula was telling me about a diaster involving Joel, a tube of toothpaste and Granddad's carpet, Oh Dear! Unfortunately this was followed up a bit later with poo - nice. It would appear from Joel's behaviour that he's missing Dad and dad is certainly missing Paula & Joel!!!

Nature Reserve

That wasn't the best weekend I've ever had, particularly being on my own for Sunday lunch, never mind. In the afternoon I went to the Nature Reserve armed with my camera and went on one of the longer walks (don't normally get a chance with Joel), the weather was stunning (very cold overnight) with cloudless skies and I took some lovely piccys, I hope you enjoy the ones below. 

Mixed Day

Dean has had a mixed day which started with a trip to the magistrates court to support Dina as Donovan appeared on two charges of assault. Unfortunately Dina was very angry and was complaining about ho so many people in CNP (especially our church members) were gossiping about her, however Dina proceeded to do exactly the same to the crowd of Rastas who were also there to support Donovan. Dina is so angry at the moment that she can't listen to reason, please pray for her as she said she is going to give up on church. This would be really sad and a real backward step in her life.

Billy No Mates

Paula was really fed up yesterday as Dina failed to make herself available despite the fact that she had agreed to meet Paula. Dean will try and catch up with Dina during the week. Please pray for Dina as she's really struggling with the situation at the moment and as a fairly young Christian she needs a lot of help in dealing with her emotions and how she handles other people. Pray too that Dean will catch up with Dina at some point this week.

Arrested!

As we said in our post on Tuesday 16th 'Interesting Afternoon', Dina's husband, Donovan has been arrested for allegedly assaulting two young men in CNP. Unfortunately, one of the alleged victims is the son of another church member; Aletta, who until this incident was good friends with Dina. Sadly, things are very tense between them now with Dina refusing to speak to Aletta. We really need you to join with us in prayer over this situation. We want to see Dina & Aletta maintain their friendship and to be able to support each other through this messy situation.

Table Mountain

We finally made it up Table Mountain on Sunday afternoon, we were on our way to Stellenbosch when we saw the the mountain was clear of cloud even though the weather was wet and cold. A quick detour home to get some waterproofs and we shot into Cape Town and up the mountain. There were very few people around which was great as it can get quite crowded on the top. Afterwards we decamped to the Mount Nelson for High Tea which was very civlillised, although Joel isn't quite ready for such activities!

Table Mountain

Paula & Joel in the cable car on our way up Table Mountain.

Cape Town

On Friday we arranged for Joel to be looked after and headed of to Cape Town. Unfortunately the cloud was hanging around Table Mountain so we weren't able to go up, but we managed to have some fun before heading off over Chapman's Peak to Simon's Town to see the penguins at Boulders Beach.

This photo is of Paula & Susannah in front of Table Mountain. As you can see the 'tablecloth' is obscuring the top of the mountain.

Hermanus

A delayed second part of the 'Cape Agulhas' post:

On our way home from Cape Agulhas we drove along the coast road to Hermanus in the hope of seeing some whales. There were a few in the bay but due to the grim weather they were quite a way out and certainly not performing for us. Never mind, we continued on the coast road and as we got to Gordon's Bay we saw several whales enjoying themselves and they were very close to the shore. As you can see from the photos below, we had a great view of the whales.

Cape Agulhas

We've just been to Cape Agulhas and then Hermanus with Susannah. When we arrived at Cape Agulhas the weather was truly appalling and the guy we got to take the photo of us nearly got blown off his feet, hence the lack of focus in the picture!

Interesting Afternoon

Dean had one of his more interesting afternoons in CNP today. Initially he took Tyrone and his mother to Hottentots Holland hospital and then returned to CNP for a meeting with the Social Worker from ACVV the Afrikaans Christian social service. Whilst Dean & Dina waited for the social worker Dina received news that her husband Donovan had been arrested. As the social worker was late we decided to go to the police station but passed the social worker on the way so had the meeting. This was a constructive session and although Dina has some issues with the social worker, she calmed down towards the end of the meeting and hopefully we can start working together a bit more.

CNP

Susannah went into Chris Nissen yesterday afternoon with Dean but unfortunately the weather was gross so they couldn't stay for very long. Susannah met Henna, mama Jane and Rosie who are members of Paula's cell and then had a brief guided tour of the community before being accosted by the kids to push them on the roundabout (see photo below). In the evening we went to Lorna's for an Indian which was very nice! 

Susannah Arrived

As you can see from the photo above, Susannah has arrived safe & sound, we appreciate your prayers in getting her through, it sounds like Heathrow was still in chaos as she left. Sadly the weather has been horrific since Susannah's arrival and the forecast is not looking too good for the rest of the week. We're really hoping for good weather on Wed and Thur as we're traveling to Cape Agulhas (the Southern most point of Africa) and the driving back through Hermanus in the hope of seeing some more whales (see post: Whale Watching below).

Joel Drumming

Well the good news is that Susannah is due to fly out tonight so we'll pick her up from the airport in the morning. We can't wait to see her as we've got quite an itinerary lined up including going back to Hermanus to see more whales!

As you can see from the whale photos we've had a great day. Over lunch we wandered around the craft market in Hermanus and Joel had a drum with some of the guys there. Joel enjoyed this and the guys were really accommodating!

Whale Watching

We drove out to Hermanus this morning as the weather was so bad (it's been raining for days!) thinking we'd just have a nice drive, but as you can see from the photos below we were blessed with an amazing morning! Joel was so excited to see the whales and exclaimed: "I can see it, whale" on several occasions. These whales are all 'Southern Right Whales' so called as they were regarded as the 'right' whale to catch back in the bad days of whaling.

Strike Chaos

We're quite gutted this morning as our oldest Niece (Susannah) should have arrived for a ten day stay before returning home with Paula, but due to the catering strike at Heathrow, her flight has been cancelled and we're not sure whether or not she'll make it. Please pray that Susannah can get a flight either tonight or tomorrow (Saturday). We'd love to see her and we're sure she'll be really upset if she can't come.

Clinic Visit

Dean took Basil to Ikhwezi clinic in Nomzamo yesterday morning as Basil has been in a lot of pain for the last few weeks with some large growths on his chest and back. Basil was diagnosed as being asthmatic, suspected diabetic(he has to go back in a month for further checks) and as for the lumps Dean couldn't really ascertain what they were!