- 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
Paula's Thoughts
This is a picture of some ice we found in the garden this morning, just to prove it really is cold!
Thomas & Gordon
Life has certainly been busy since being back, not least because there's a lot going on in Chris Nissen, mostly encouraging but not all of it. We'll post more over the weekend, but for now thought you might like to see some photos of the boys.
Baby Of The Year Finalist!
Break... What Break?
Dean spent Monday afternoon in Chris Nissen visiting his friends and saying 'Hello' & catching up with many people. It was great to be there again and we definitely feel affirmed that this is where God wants us to be which is great as there is no better place to be!
Praise God!
We are so grateful to God for this massive answer to prayer as it means we can now crack on and get other bits of paperwork sorted such as passports, residency etc.
Arrived Home!
We arrived at Heathrow quite early and had to wait to check in which went smoothly once it happened. We managed to find the only bit of terminal 4 from which you can watch the planes coming and going and Joel really enjoyed that. We had some dinner before boarding and that's when our evening started to go downhill. The manager of the restaurant told us that we'd have to take our trolley out of the restaurant (though it was causing less obstruction than the pushchair) and we had a bit of an argument over this. We couldn't believe how pedantic he was being, plus we didn't want to lose the trolley, so eventually we agreed that he could take the trolley on the condition that he finds us one after our meal. To cut it short, he stored the trolley in the entrance to the restaurant which caused mayhem and resulted in them losing several customers! Pathetic really.
Final Countdown
We're in the last 24 hours of our time here in the UK as we fly out of Heathrow around 7pm on Saturday. Things are getting a bit tense in our house as we struggle with the packing and making sure that we're within our weight allowance, thankful we have just over 100Kgs allowance to return with which is a blessing.
Photo Update
On Tuesday Dad, Grandad and Joel went on the Romney, Hythe & Dymchurch Railway, a real boys day out. We had a lot of fun and hopefully will repeat the event next time we're home, so that Eli can join us.
Our Week In The Lakes
We've had a fantastic week in the Lakes, staying at Santon Bridge near Wast Water. This was a short break sandwiched in between our visits to St.Mary's Cheadle and Holy Trinity Gee Cross. We really enjoyed having some time and space just to ourselves.
Right Text
We arrived in Cheadle on Saturday afternoon and just had time to settle the boys down before we were off to the Upper Room in Cheadle to speak at an evening meeting which was part of the Stockport ‘Big Deal’. The evening was excellent and despite a slight technical glitch with the laptop and data projector the presentation went well. We had a lot of positive feedback and were encouraged by the response. It was also great to see some old friends such as John & Helen.
Mission Education Update
The Boys have been an absolute credit to us as they cope with so many new and different people almost daily, they've also carried on in their routines brilliantly which makes our lives much easier. We know many of you are praying for Joel & Eli in this respect and we know that God is faithfully answering these prayers.
Below are some photos of our time in then Lakes so far.
Down On The Farm
"Avast Me Hearties"
Joel was at the Weald playgroup this morning and really enjoyed himself there. This is a real blessing for us as it allows us to get some stuff done without having to drag him around with us. Eli remains 'under the weather', we're sure he's got hay fever but will keep an eye on him. Please pray against hay fever as he already has a lactose intolerance and suffers eczema quite badly so he really doesn't need any further allergies.
Photo Update
We've also updated Finnie's In Focus so feel free to take a look at that Blog too.
Eli enjoying the garden but getting a bit bunged up as he appears to have hay fever.
Weekend In Wimbledon
On Saturday afternoon we gatecrashed Catherine's 40th Birthday party (she's Susan's youngest), one of the activities they'd laid on was African drumming which Joel really enjoyed.
Eli's Dedication
On Sunday we had Eli dedicated at St. George's Weald. We decided to have the dedication in the UK rather than SA as family are here and we want them to be involved in Eli's life. The service was excellent and was followed by a massive lunch which several good friends joined us for. Many thanks to Lisa for putting so much effort into a magnificent spread!
Itinerary In UK
We'll blog again real soon but for now here's a list of the important dates and events whilst we're in the UK:
Fri 9th June Arrive
Sat 10th England v Paraguay
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