- The Finnie family in Blighty, December 2021
- Dean and Paula pastor The Gathering together
- The Gathering
- Baptisms at The Gathering
- Preparing to serve at The Gathering's Soup Kitchen
- Soup Kitchen Welcome To 2022 lunch
- Serving hands - the heart of The Gatheirng
- Thankful Thursdays
- HOPE Home Based Care Team
- Gathering Ground
- Staying fit as a family
- The Helderberg - The prettiest of the mountains we face
Finnie's In Focus
We will continue to post some photos here, but obviously we'll post the bulk of them on the new photoblog. We'll try to post as regularly as possible and will include alternative views of the stuff you see on this blog.
Grasshopper & Bits
On Saturday we went to the aquarium and met up with Richard & Felicity with Matthew. Joel and he had great fun charging around and shouting "Wow! Look at that!" when they saw the sharks. Joel has been to the aquarium more times than we can remember and yet he never seems to tire of it, which is great as it makes for a good morning when we go. Afterwards Dean went with Joel on a 30 minute boat tour of Cape Town harbour and they both really enjoyed it. Joel was a natural on the boat and so we're (or at least Dean is) now planning to take him on one of the glass bottomed boats in Hout Bay. Sadly we didn't have a camera with us so you'll have to believe us when we say the views of Table Mountain from the harbour were stunning.
On Wednesday we met with a social worker at a local children's home and were informed that 'yes' we can adopt. This was the 3rd piece of advice from as many professionals! Thankfully the social worker had done some checking out of issues and legalities and has put us in touch with a private social worker who we'll contact on Monday to arrange a meeting. So we're really excited again!
Another Reason Why We Love Africa!
Bien Donné Expo 2005
A Good Laugh
Adoption update
Another Week In CNP
Here goes with an update on CNP..
On This Day In History..
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
Court, Fostering & Reconciliation
Rollercoaster
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
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.
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
Notorious Typos
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
Missionary Blogs
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.
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
Caleb, Michelle, Joel & Matthew enjoying the food.
Life And Death
Almost 100%
Spiloxene Capensis
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.
Bible Study
Anna 'Bop'
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.
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.
Katrina - Christians Respond
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
Dogs Chasing Kites
Jemma & Freya
Three Days To Go...
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
Hurricane Katrina
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
Hurricane Katrina
Football Voicemail Messages
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
Joel On The Farm
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...
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.
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.
Billy No Mates
Table Mountain
This photo is of Paula & Susannah in front of Table Mountain. As you can see the 'tablecloth' is obscuring the top of the mountain.
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.
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