- 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
Time Flies When You're Having Fun
So here's an overview of just what we've been up to....
Joel's 7th Birthday Tea
To top it all off he also got some long desired Bakugan Brawlers which he sneaked into school to show his mates. Needless to say neither his teacher nor parents were too amused!
♫♪♫Happy Birthday To You...♪♫♪
A bit of a Star Wars theme going on with Lego, action figures and a Darth Vader costume.
At Joel's party yesterday his mates were well impressed with his Star Wars cake.
This evening we're out for a family tea at Joel's favourite restaurant so we'll post more about the whole day later.
It's Book Week at school this week so everyone gets to dress up today as a favourite book character. Joel chose Flat Stanley whilst Eli is Harry from Harry and the Bucketful of Dinosaurs so he's gone to school replete with a bucketful of dinosaurs feeling very proud of himself.
Joel was a bit gutted when he arrived as so many of the kids were dressed as Ben 10 and other TV characters but Mummy pointed out that they'll all be immediately disqualified from the judging when prizes are awarded for the best and most imaginative BOOK characters. He cheered up no end at that news!
We don't seem to go to many weddings these days so when the occasional invite comes along it's really good fun to go. Today we were guests of the groom's parents who we've got to know quite well through church. Dean also spends some time each week with Ernest which he really enjoys. Ernest recently had quite a major stroke but looking at him in the pictures one would never know. God has performed an amazing miracle of healing in Ernest's life!
Fantastic Day
Today was a really satisfying and rewarding day in which I can't help but feel tremendously blessed by God.
Through Facebook I recently 'reconnected' (don't you just love social networking speak) with Vanessa a friend from my days at Town Church Sevenoaks. I've known Vanessa since 1984 but last saw her sometime in the late 80's. Paula knew Vanessa from Girl Guides and being baby-sat by her. So after many many years we met up again in Cape Town of all places.
Joel's Bent Arm
Star Of The Week
Sweet, he was so proud of himself!!!
Back To School
We return to the consultant on Monday to hopefully have his plaster removed which will also delight Mummy & Daddy as we're a bit ground down from being woken at goodness knows what time in the small hours to take him to the toilet as he can't get down from his bunk bed. We had suggested he and Eli swap whilst he was crook but that was not a welcome suggestion.
Please continue to pray for full healing for his arm and hip.
Cracking Friday
So on Friday morning it was a real pleasure to watch two worlds collide (not literally) as Ernest came to our house for the morning and Michael joined us too. They got on really well and were swapping plenty of stories about their days as skelms (rogues).
Wounded Soldier Update
This morning I took him for a blood test, just to rule out the viral possibility. I was dreading it as the last time we took him for injections he was a nightmare. Thankfully however, whilst I was riding in the Cape Epic last year I discovered a local anesthetic cream called Anethaine which was great for my bum (long story which you really don't want to know about!). Anyway, I smeared a generous dash onto Joel's arm a few minutes before the needle so that when the nurse attacked him he couldn't even feel the needle going in. Fantastic!
Irritable Hip
The Dr said he needs complete bed rest for a week and must not put any pressure on it. Tomorrow he's going for a blood test to rule out any possibility of an infection and at some point he needs to go for an MRI to check that there is no serious underlying thing going on.
Top Gear Live
Fantastic show with Jezza on top form form rudeness and crass comments. Priceless!
We were some of about 6 English folk but we certainly made our presence felt when England scored during the 'football' part of the show.
All in all a great show and a must see if you get the chance.
Palace R.I.P.
If God Shows Me A Miracle I'll Believe!
As Christians we know this line to be complete rubbish as we have a wealth of historic examples down the centuries of God pulling some amazing miracles and yet still people fail to believe in him.
It's felt like a long journey getting to the point of having these documents and we're really grateful to have them! At last we can open bank accounts, get local a driving licence etc etc. Amazingly, your first ID book is completely free. Now there's something the so called 'developed world' could learn from!
Someone in the UK asked whether having permanent residency means we're now South African citizens and the answer is no. We could apply for citizenship in a year's time but that's a bridge we'll cross then.
New School Year
Eli has a teacher we knew from Joel's Reception days and Joel as a new one, so it's all very exciting. They both came home full of it and with stories to tell (which is quite something for Joel) so we pray that it will continue in this vein. Joel told us tonight that there is one new rule (he seemed quite proud of this) - only one break time instead of two. We don't think he has put two and two together yet that this may not be such a good thing!
Why Does God Allow Natural Disasters?
I find the arguments quite interesting and am always keen to know what the world makes of our Lord.
Fish & Chips By The Sea
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