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.