Pirates & Captains

We are learning that you really must never underestimate the power of a 5 year old to 'act out' what is going on around him! As anyone who knows him will vouch, Joel is absolutely potty about pirates - in fact, we're sure he believes he is one - and he is rarely to be found these days in 'civvies'. He must be dressed as a Captain and mum, dad and Eli are always being grabbed to look for Peter Pan, to fight Captain Hook or to debate with Captain Jack Aubrey (Master and Commander)/aka Captain Jack Strawberry after a little early days slip up by Cap'n Joel!! Today found Joel calling a doctor to his bedside to help him with his arm, which had been sawn off, and a bloody neck - all straight out of the film. When mum asked if he would like a book to read in bed (also straight out of the film - good one mum!), he said that that would be difficult with only one arm - good point!

Petzl Adventure Nights

I had a lot of fun on Saturday night riding in the Petzl Adventure Night bike ride in Jonkershoek. Visit my moutainbike blog Epic Adventures With A Mountain Bike for more..

HIV Training

Please pray for Paula and the HOPE home based care team who are attending a week's training course at Jubilee in Cape Town on HIV/AIDS. This is a great, practical course that will really help them in their day to day work in CNP. It has been sobering so far to learn the up to date stats relating to the pandemic, but so exciting to listen to a church leader preaching on the church's response to HIV/AIDS and to realise that we are at the cutting edge of this and are here to motivate the rest of the church now.

A Different Kind Of Weekend

This weekend was far from a normal weekend (whatever one of those is) with Dean having a meeting after church followed by a big meeting between ourselves, Wesley one of our church elders and a church member from CNP who's not very happy with us at present. This particular meeting was quite tough and long but needs careful follow-up to ensure issues are addressed properly and our work in CNP can continue to grow. Please pray for our church members in CNP, we long to see them living lives which glorify God's name and build His kingdom in the community. A huge THANKYOU goes to Jo for looking after the boys whilst this was all going on. You're a star!

As ever the boys had a lot of fun and the trampoline continues to get a lot of use. Joel is getting very confident on it (as you can see) and Eli is determined not to be left behind.

Weekend

We had another busy but lovely weekend as a family. On Saturday we attended the 1st birthday party and dedication of Jemma Joy, the daughter of some new friends of ours. It was a very special occasion and everyone had lots of fun. While Eli was out and about mingling and generally getting up to as much as he could, Joel really enjoyed playing with the toys in someone else's bedroom and watching the TV with all the other boys!

Oxymoron?

Is this an oxymoron?

So What Is Wrong With Africa (and the BBC)?

On Saturday Mbeki made an idiot of himself (see post below) on his way to the emergency summit in Zambia in which a variety of African leaders convened to discuss the electoral impasse and subsequent crisis in Zimbabwe.

Tragically, the summit came out in favour of the Desperate Despot and virtually dismissed Morgan Tsvangarai and the MDC as a sideshow. Despite their clear victory in the parliamentary poll and seemingly obvious win in the presidential poll. If Desperate despot had won we'd know about it!!!

Quiet Diplopmacy = Sitting On Your Butt Doing Nothing!

THE HANDSHAKE SAYS IT ALL

One should always be a bit wary of being too critical of the president of a country in which one is a guest, but equally, one can only take so much rubbish before one has to speak out.

Another Perspective

Recently we had the pleasure of hosting the Mabbett family from Hertford Baptist Church, one of our supporting churches. It's always a pleasure to see folks from back home and it's always a pleasure to introduce people to Chris Nissen Park and some of our friends in the community.

Recent MTB Race Photos

On Saturday I rode in the Vigne à Vigne and had a great time and finished in a very respectable time. For more info take a look at my Mountain Bike Blog.

Here are two recent photos of me mountain biking. The first is from the Vigne à Vigne and the second is from the Boschendal MTB Challenge which is part of the Cape Argus.

Desperate Despot!

How can anyone call for a recount in an election before the results have been declared?

Well believe it or not that is exactly what Mugabe and his Zanu PF lackies are doing. Quite unbelievable. Next they'll be claiming that the elections weren't free and fair!

So here we are, nine days after the poll and still the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) has failed to declare the results of the presidential election.

Hypocrite!

Alex Ferguson has claimed the FA Cup has been devalued by the semi-finals being held at Wembley.

The days of semi-finals being played at neutral venues like Villa Park or Hillsborough appear numbered for the foreseeable future as the Football Association have signed a 30-year staging agreement to host the games at Wembley.

The Waiting Goes On

It looks like the Mugabe circus has picked itself up, dusted itself off and got back to business. The MDC are once again being harassed and intimidated with arrests being threatened and the Meikles Hotel was raided apparently for this very purpose. The MDC have been quoted on the BBC website as saying: "Mugabe had unleashed a war after security agents ransacked its offices in Harare on Thursday." also, at least two foreign journalists have been arrested by Mugabe's circus. The inevitable state crackdown has begun.

Pirates

Joel was given some money for his birthday so yesterday we managed to sneak out to the toyshop without Eli so Joel could choose whatever he wanted (as long as he had enough money).

We don't think Joel could have been more overawed than he was and he certainly spent plenty of time taking everything in. Inevitably the pirate section was given the most thorough scrutiny and eventually Joel chose a Captain Jack Sparrow accessory pack for exactly the amount he had. Paula wasn't too pleased thinking it was overpriced but the sheer enjoyment Joel has had from it is priceless. He even slept with the headdress on last night!

Pirates remain a firm favourite in the Finnie household!

Zanu-PF Lose Majority

Breaking news From the BBC confirms what the Independent Result Centre have known for a while, that Mugabe & Gang have lost their parliamentary majority.

Seats Won:
Zanu-PF - 93 seats
MDC (Tsvangirai) 96
MDC (Mutambara) 9
Independents 1

Results So Far - Pending "Verification"

It would appear that I'm due a large serving of humble pie as the election results from Zim' indicate that Mugabe is losing and has little hope of making up ground on Tsvangarai. However, the results are pending official "verification" so the MDC could well snatch defeat from the jaws of victory with a little help from uncle Bob.

According to the Independent Results Centre the MDC are ahead in the Presidential poll and the Parliamentary poll.

The results so far are:

Cpt. Hook & Smee

Meet our pirates; Capt. Hook & his First Mate Smee.

Joel has been a bit pirate obsessed for quite a while and now Eli seems to be following suit. Joel let him dress in his 'old' pirate costume this afternoon and Eli really enjoyed it.

It's great to watch them grow together. Joel is beginning to realise that Eli's not a baby but rather is good fun, a good play-mate and a great brother. Eli is talking all the time now (his language is very advanced for his age) so they're really enjoying each other's company and getting into mischief together.

They are such a blessing they are to us!

Carry On Camping

We're home and we survived!

Actually we had a lot of fun and are really keen to go again. The boys had a ball and were really tired at the end of each day. Eli loved having Iza around to play with and generally the kids got on great. We had a really good time with Dawid & Petra and feel that at last we're building some good friendships with some church folk (only took 4 years!).

The campsite, Nightsky Caravan Park near Bonnievale was great, being well serviced with good ablutions with hot water and electricity near the tents to plug a fridge into so we had some cold beer. The site was next to a dam and had lovely views of the mountains in the distance.

Are We Mad?

Pray for us!

This afternoon we're going camping for two nights. Quite what possessed us to agree to it we're not sure. We're having visions of the Carry-On film but hopefully things will go a bit better than that. At least the weather will be good and if things go really badly we're only a two hour drive from home.

Breaking News - Mugabe Wins Election

I know that the election isn't until the 29th, but based upon previous knowledge of the Zim' election process and past behaviour by Mugabe and ZANU-PF the election result isn't really up for discussion.

Maybe I'm just overly cynical but I prefer to think of myself as a realist (it's a fine line between the two) and as such I see little reason to get excited about the prospect for change.

Joel The Showman

Joel is surprising and delighting us at the moment with his 'maturity' - dare I put it in inverted commas?!! He certainly reminds us that he is very definitely 5 years old and not a toddler as he was last time we looked! Two class examples from recent days:

(1) Mummy, daddy, that boy's got chicken pox (spoken at 100 decibels whilst walking past a very unfortunate acne'd teenage boy in the Nature Reserve!)

(2) Mummy, daddy (whilst jumping on the trampoline), I've got a good joke. (This should be interesting think m and d whilst preparing to laugh "hilariously"..). What's small, green and sticky? (We don't know Joel.... this could be gruesome!) A frog swimming in jelly! (All delivered with perfect comic timing - we did laugh hilariously this time because it was really funny!!)

This could be why his teacher often says that he has the class in stitches - we have a little showman on our hands. Oh dear!