The Child Within

Something about the sight of a new airplane excites the child within, so when photos were released of the Airbus A380 I was enthralled as this really is a behemoth of a plane!

Below are some photos of the A380 on its way to Heathrow taken by members of the public. Hope you enjoy them as much as I did (Joel thought they were quite cool too).


Food Parcels

Over the last few months we've been delivering food parcels to some of the neediest folk in Chris Nissen. We have fairly strict criteria as to who qualifies so as to avoid unnecessary conflict (not always successfully) and also to ensure that we really do target those in need. To ensure that this happens we work through relationship with some faithful Christians in the community whom we know we can rely on. We really thank God that we have such a circle of trusted friends in CNP!



Eli Can Travel!

Praise God!

Our prayers have been answered and Eli can accompany us to the UK in June! Today Dean flew to Jo'burg and then drove to Pretoria to get the document for Eli, all went very smoothly and wasn't too time consuming.

Dean has come home very tired but delighted with the result of his endeavour. We really appreciate all your prayers, God definitely smoothed the way and oiled the necessary cogs.

ANSWERED PRAYER!

STOP PRESS!!!!

God is answering our prayers.... Paul Boeteng, the British High Commissioner has agreed to our appeal and Eli will be allowed to fly with us - praise God!!! HOWEVER, we must get his passport stamped officially in Pretoria. So, Dean is now looking for the best flight price to go on that little expedition!

Thank you so much for your prayers, we really can't tell you what stress we were under here

Serious Prayer Need!

Following the final adoption order for Eli, we applied to Home Affairs to change his name (as ordered by the court) and at the same time applied for a temporary passport in his pre-adoptive name in order to allow him to accompany us on our trip to the UK in June. Home affairs were incredibly helpful and got the passport to us within 7 days but informed us that the name change takes up to 4 months (so will happen by August at the earliest).

Two weeks after we applied for the temporary passport, the British Govt. very unhelpfully announced that South African temporary passports would no longer be accepted for entry into the UK. This has put us in a very difficult position as it is simply not possible to obtain a full passport for Eli until after the name change has been completed.

Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson©

A Rare Shot

It's not often that we get a photo with Dean in it as he's usually hiding behind the camera. Hope this one doesn't scare you!

Michael's House

On the Friday before Dean left for Lesotho we managed to get a wendy house for Michael for the exact amount of money that we had raised, so a HUGE thank you to those of you who so generously helped. Michael & Joyce feel tremendously blessed and are so grateful to God for His provision.

City Of Joy - Maseru

Reading the 'Welcome' leaflet


Welcome Break

We're off to Franshoek in the morning for two nights 'sans' kids! We've been trying to organise this for ages (it's not easy when you have no familial support just around the corner) so Joel will be with his friends Caleb & Michelle and Eli will be with another couple who generously offered to help us out.

We really feel the need for this time off and are marvelling at God's timing. We tried to organise this for a couple of dates but it kept falling through, but now after Dean's return from Lesotho and some serious issues arising in CNP this mini break has come at just the right time.

Home At Last

Just a quick update regarding Dean's Lesotho trip... after 12 hours of driving Dean arrived home 24 hours earlier than expected which was a really pleasant surprise for Paula and the boys, especially Joel!

In short, about 400 people were saved in Maseru and countless others were healed. We saw a massive out pouring of God's grace and healing in the city and are in awe of His saving power!

We'll post more later with some photos (Dean took about 650!) but for now bed is calling!

City Of Joy

I'm here in Maseru, Lesotho as part of a team of 100 helping to plant the City of Joy Community Church in Maseru. As Paula said below there are about 100 folk from 11 different churches around South Africa and the UK as well as a small core of people who will be the basis of the church. It is such an amazing privilege to be a part of this event and we are seeing God moving in the most amazing ways! We've seen a large number of salvations so far and lots of miraculous healings. It is so good to know that we do indeed serve the one true living God!

On the way into town this morning we stopped to pray for a man who had collapsed at the side of the road. He was definitely healed and then gave his life to Jesus as we prayed for him! We then took him back to the SU centre for some food. What an awesome privilege to be involved in this man's salvation.

Whilst The Cat's Away!

I thank God for our boys... it is as if they fully understand that mummy can't do everything!! They are both being absolutely fantastic whilst Dean is away. Joel in particular, is being a little angel - thanks for your prayers. He does, of course, miss Dean and asks for him everyday, but he is being very good for me. Tonight was a classic as I stood on a chair in his room to put up his black out material and I heard a little voice behind me - don't fall off mummy! OK I will remember that advice, thank you!

Please keep praying. After a long journey and a tyre blow out whilst Dean was driving, the team arrived in Lesotho safe and well. There are about 100 people from 11 churches in South Africa helping out. Dean says it is very exciting and that no one in Maseru can fail to know about the new church starting on Sunday. The evening meetings start on Thursday, so do pray.

CNP Update

This last week has been very emotional and stressful in CNP, not least because we've been working hard to try and resolve Michael & Joyce's housing situation. Well, Praise God! we've managed to get a wendy house for them. We can take no credit for this as Michael actually rang a local Christian radio station to tell them of his plight and an elderly couple called in to say they had a wendy house and they were willing to halve their asking price which amounted to the sum we had raised! So Thank You to those of you who helped!

Family Weekend

We had a really good long Easter weekend which started with spending the morning at Spier vineyard, they have an excellent play garden for children and do lovely picnics, they also have a small Cheetah reserve which was a treat. 

Evelyn

Dean & Joel popped into CNP briefly this afternoon, mainly to catch up with Michael but also to see Dina. Remarkably as we discussed this at lunchtime, Paula suggested I take Joel to see M.i.c.h.a.e.l to which Joel immediately said: "I see Michael", how did he know that was the name we were spelling out? Never mind!

Easter & Other Bits

He is risen!

He is risen indeed!


Easter is such an amazing time in the Christian calendar as it marks the time in which Christ was murdered but then triumphantly rose from the dead (after giving the devil a good kicking for 3 days in Hades!). Wow what an awesome God we serve!

Gospel Of Judas

There is much debate, speculation and misinformation circulating about the so called "Gospel of Judas", so rather than try to set out our stall in terms of how it does or does not impact on our faith and the Bible as we know it, We'll direct you to the Blog of Ben Witherington who has written some excellent and eminently readable stuff on this whole controversy. In fact, read his whole Blog, it's all really good stuff!

Suffice to say that we agree with Ben's view.

Michael's House

As promised yesterday we're posting photos of the shack that Michael & Joyce are forced to live in (hopefully) temporarily. The first thing to say is that if we had a dog, we wouldn't let it live in these conditions! No-one should have to tolerate this and yet for many in Chris Nissen this is sadly the norm.

The shack seen from the front

Chris Nissen Park Update

Dean visited Michael & Joyce this afternoon in their 'shack' and was appalled by the conditions they've been reduced to living in. When it rains their bed gets soaked, and they have to pay for the privilege!! Tomorrow Dean will take some photos of the shack so you can see just how awful their living conditions are! Michael is trying to remain faithful and believe that God is going to provide his family with some permanent accommodation but he's really struggling and cries himself to sleep at night.

Bloemfontein Zoo

We spent the day after the conference in Bloem and took Eli to meet the social workers who had facilitated his adoption at that end. They were delighted to meet Eli and will pass on some photos we left to the birth mother. This also closes that stage of the adoption and will be the last time we meet with the organisation in Bloem.

We then spent the afternoon in the zoo before flying back to Cape Town in the evening. Joel really enjoyed himself in the zoo, especially chasing the Cape Ground Squirrel which was incredibly tame.