- 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
Monkeys & Mountains
Home Based Care
Our planned Home Based Care program seems to be gathering pace without our actually doing very much about it. On Friday we had a call regarding old bedding from a local hotel which is replacing theirs. So Dean went into Cape Town and was able to load the bakkie with a huge quantity of sheets, towels, flannels etc. which is an amazing blessing. We just need to find somewhere to store it all!
Strawberry Picking
World Aids Day
Part of the difficulty in posting on this is that here in South Africa things are far from straightforward. Firstly, we have a government which is in denial with the nations approach to HIV/AIDS treatment, & awareness raising being overseen by a health minister who is at best laughable and at worst downright objectionable! She is know as Dr. Beetroot or as the Minister of Garlic as she favours just about any treatment except ARV's. Recently, she was interviewed at the launch of a new 'traditional' medicine in a rural area, but the medicine hadn't even been licensed by the relevant authorities. This is all very frustrating and leaves one feeling very marginalised when trying to get ARV's and counseling for those who need it.
Cell Social
Washing Machine
A Proud Moment!
We got a few looks in church as Dad was also in his Palace shirt (a birthday present from Jo) so we were resplendent in our 'red & blue'.
That's my boy!
We have some good photos to show for a non-event weekend...
Running & Running!
Emyezweni Christmas Party
As usual the Christmas party was a lot of fun, Debs, Rach' and the staff really do put a huge amount of work into it and the whole event is brilliant.
The photos tell their own story, so we hope you enjoy them..
Mountain Biking
Joel & Eli
Kids And Crane
Chris Nissen - Making Progress?
Home Based Care Training
Eli At 11 Months
Eli is 11 months old today. Wow, where did the time go?
We can't really express what a sheer bundle of joy he is and what a blessing he is to our family. Joel simply adores Eli and that is clearly reciprocal!
We look forward to Eli being able to walk and keep up with Joel, as it looks like they'll have a lot of fun together (as long as Eli leaves Joel's train set alone).
Here's an update on how the garden is looking now that Spring is over and summer is allegedly with us (we say allegedly as it's been raining for 2 days, but it is very warm). The grenadilla bush has simply continued churning out its fruit so no complaints there. It's a pleasure to watch different plants come into bloom at different times. The Aloe Vera has finished flowering and now looks quite plain, whilst other bushes and trees are looking fantastic.
Chris Nissen
Lazy Sunday Afternoon
TT Bike Races
It was a really good fundraiser for the nursery and everyone seemed to enjoy cheering for their kids and chatting with other parents.
Hope you enjoy the photos and the video below.
Bike Race - Preparations
Eli Standing
Here's a video of Eli standing. He's getting really confident now and has taken one step on a few occasions so he's sure to be walking soon. Scary thought!
Chris Nissen
There's Mischief In Them Thar' Hills
P. W. Botha
Update On Our Week
Health & Study
Firefox 2.0 - Rediscover The Web
Ditch Internet Explorer today!
Sunday Afternoon
Sickness & Stuff
Bakkie In Action
Lazy Weekend - Part 3
Joel on his bike, he really enjoys charging up and down the drive on this
Lazy Weekend - Part 2
Debs with Eli
Lazy Weekend - Part 1
Birthday Party
Ohh The Shame!!
David (not real name) heavily into stickers at the moment! So much so that he found 6 pantyliners, stuck them on a bit of paper, drew on them, and then insisted on showing them to the Betterware lady when she came to collect her catalogue. Ohh the shame!!
That made us laugh, hope you enjoyed it too.
PS. Apologies to the original author of the above quote as it was used completely without permission!
Fun With My Boys
Meanwhile, back on the ranch... we were having lots of fun, playing silly games, watching Tom & Jerry and playing on the swings.
Men's Bible Study
Mrs Robinson
Jesus loves you more than you will know.
God bless you, please Mrs. Robinson.
Heaven holds a place for those who pray,
Hey, hey, hey
Chris Nissen Park
Nothing Of Note
Dean had a great 40th Birthday and party. We had promised to post some photos, unfortunatley we were enjoying ourselves too much to bother taking any! So all we can post here is the invite for you to marvel at.
Dean's birthday celebrations have been ongoing over a week & a bit and concluded on Monday when Paula had arranged for the boys to be looked after whilst we went for lunch in Franschoek. Then, halfway through the meal, Paula informed me that we were staying the night! Wicked!! My only concern here is the depths of my wife's deceipt! I had no idea!!!!
Birthday Celebrations
"South Africa is losing its way"
Click here for the BBC article and make up your own mind.
Aunty Kuku
We're really grateful to Aunty Kuku's family for looking after her so diligently since Patrick's death, they really did do a great job!
Blogging Friends
Holiday Photos
Eli's highlight was probably learning to pull himself up and then cruise the furniture, he also really enjoyed the beach.
The Lighter Side
We've just had a wonderful couple of weeks in Sedgefield, chilling out with the boys and re-acquanting ourselves with each other, brilliant! The weather was OK, we managed 4 days on the beach and were only housebound on one day due to really heavy rains.
We had a lot of fun doing all sorts of stuff. Joel discovered pizza and can't get enough of it. He also discovered Tom & Jerry and giggles himself silly watching it.
See you all in 2 weeks.
Snow On Hottentots Holland Mountains
Getting The Shakes
Getting the Shakes is the Blog of Roger & George and their preparations for emigrating to New Zealand. Their lives have been very hectic of late especially as they race around and try to catch up with friends and family before they leave on Sunday! Wow that came round really quickly!
Rog' is an excellent writer and his Blog posts are always good. Recently he Blogged about our brief overnight stay with them when we were in Blighty and you can read this post here.
Keep an eye on the WHSmith bestseller list, one day Roger will be there with his novel!
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