The Secret Garden

Despite the busyness of rushing around, meeting folk and having meetings in between the full on weekend commitments we're planning to steal some family time so we have a chance to chill, regroup as a family and recharge the batteries.

This morning was just such an occasion as we set about exploring and rediscovering the delights of Susan's amazing garden. Looking at the pictures (see full album links below) it's hard to believe that we're in the middle of London given how green and lush the garden is.

This afternoon should also be a lot of fun as Grandad & Lesley are here to take the boys off our hands for a bit as we escape for an hour or two.

Here, There & Everywhere

Our feet don't seem to have touched the ground since landing at Heathrow. Having been picked up by Stephen, he then dropped me off in Oxshott on his way home so that I could pick up the car we've been fantastically blessed with whilst we're in Blighty. We then had an afternoon to unpack before joining Paula's family in Weald for Indy's 12th birthday. Not sure how our youngest niece suddenly got to 12 years old, we must be getting old! We had a fun meal out with her to celebrate.

And So It Begins

I'm quite excited this morning as our Mission Education trip finally gets underway as we speak at our first engagement. We're at St. George's in Weald, the village where Paula grew up and most of her family still live. St. George's is a great church family and we always receive a really warm welcome from many dear friends most of whom we've known for many many years. In Paula's case some of the folk have known her since she was a baby!

This morning we're showing our main Powerpoint presentation with our 5 minute HOPE Home Based Care DVD followed by coffee & cake when we'll be showing our 15 minute photo presentation which is a lighthearted look at our lives at work and play.

All to be topped off with a fantastic family roast!

The Eagle Has Landed

I'll claim to be the Eagle given that I'm a Palace fan.

Anyway, we finally landed a mere 5 hours late. Confusion was the order of the day at Cape Town airport as we were told the plane had a battery problem so we'd be late taking off. Then we were told the flight was cancelled and we'd "know more in 20 minutes". This was a much quoted expression which seemingly had no meaning whatsoever!

Eventually after a 3 hour delay we were on board only to be delayed for another two hours whilst a large crowd of drunks were taken off the plane by the police followed by their luggage being removed. 

Fond Farewells

We're never too fond of having to say goodbye to folk, even if we will see them again very soon, but that's one of the drawbacks of the life we lead.

Saying goodbye or au revoir this time has been made a little easier by some fantastic friends who have made time to give us a really fun last few days.

Eli's 5th Birthday Party

Eli was honoured to have an early birthday yesterday as he will be in the UK on his actual 5th birthday in December and school's out for summer here so most of his friends would have been away too.

So, he dressed in civvies to school and pretended it was his big day.  He has been asking for months for a Ben 10 cake, so mum and dad bravely rose to the task and it was a pretty good result we think!!! (see below) Eli certainly loved it, and 10 kids and a few parents managed to demolish the whole cake at his party.

Weekend

One of the joys of living where we do is that no matter how one is feeling or what is going on one can always stop and take a minute or two to enjoy the sheer beauty of the mountains and coastline interspersed with stunning vineyards. We really are incredibly blessed to live in a very beautiful place!

The weekend began with Michael rocking up and doing a load of work in the garden which was a fantastic blessing.

On Saturday we had a fun day at home followed by fish & chips on the beach in Gordon's Bay followed by the obligatory clamber through the rockpools. The boys were as happy as a pair of pigs in mud (see pics below).

Prayer Request

We recently asked for your prayers regarding an important meeting we had. Thanks for your prayers as that went really well.

However, things have taken an unforseen and unexpected twist since then and we find ourselves in a very difficult and very unpleasant situation and once again we must ask for your prayers.

As things work out we'll let you know more but for now please pray for grace to abound, for wisdom on all sides, for integrity and for God's will to be done.

Roses Are Pink...Blessings Are Great!

In the midst of a very stressful couple of weeks and no immediate sign of the stress ending I've managed to have a really blessed day!

As I collected one of the guys for our Men's Group he told me not to rush off when I dropped him back home as he wanted to give me something. So off we went and we had a good group. I'm loving the way some of the guys are starting to talk freely and open up about things.

Definitely the highlight of my week!

What Can I Do For You?

I had a great phone call with my mate Michael the other day.

Michael had sent me a 'call me back' which I normally ignore unless he follows our pre-arranged code so I know it's important. Anyway, I decided to ring him and the conversation went like this:
Me "Hi Michael, how you doing?"
Michael "What can I do for you?"
Me "You sent me a 'call me back'."
Michael "I know. What can I do for you?"

What a fantastic call!

I hope that Michael's willingness to serve is a response to what I've modelled to him over the years that we've been friends. Either way I was dead chuffed and my garden's looking quite smart now!

Once Upon A Planet...

Here's a couple of photos from the boys recent school production: Once Upon a Planet

They had such a ball and put in a lot of hard work to make a really enjoyable production.  Joel was a "good soldier" and Eli was a robot, who particularly enjoyed "hamming it up" and playing to his audience.  The play was loosely based on Star Wars, so very popular in our house!

Prayer Request

We've got a fairly big and important 36 hours coming up from 9am this morning. Please pray that all goes well and that the Lord's will is the one that prevails.

Thanks guys!

Holiday In Greyton

There's not much you can say about Greyton except... it is a little bit of heaven on earth!  We absolutely LOVE it, and this holiday was made all the better because the boys were a bit more mobile.  They really enjoyed going out on the roads with Dad on their bikes and even trying a bit of off-road too (it's a slippery slope!!).  There is absolutely no need for a car in Greyton, which was heavenly for mum and dad who seem to spend most of their time in a car. We walked to the shop, walked to a coffee shop/restaurant, walked generally and then just lazed around in the lovely house we had rented.  This was the same house we used last year and it is paradise for the boys.  The garden is big and full of hiding areas, ponds, little pool etc, so they literally spent 90% of the time out there making up adventures and - well Eli anyway - swimming!!

The Ucirsive One Dies

Joel & Eli treated us to their puppet show version of The Cursed One (at least we think that's what it was) at lunchtime. We were actually summoned by ticket!!

The story was about a girl (the ucirsive one) who eventually gets killed by Davey Jones, but before that she meets a pirate and Woody & Bullseye, whilst a Krakken wrestles with a lion.

Mary, Mary Quite Contrary...

...how does your garden grow?

One of the fun parts of enjoying the first spring in a new home is discovering just what is in the garden. Our garden was an overgrown jungle when we moved in and it didn't appear that much was going on at all, apart from the marijuana plant in the middle of the lawn!

However as Spring has well and truly sprung now we're seeing some good stuff in the garden.

Puppet Master - Pt 2

Having previously promised a photo of Joel's puppet (Puppet Master) here it is...

Joel finally got to bring Davy Jones home just in time to take away on holiday. He's really chuffed with his efforts and I personally think he's done a brilliant job. The attention to detail is great and it genuinely is his creation from design to construction, nothing was done without his complete approval. In fact, he was so fastidious about the design that it took two days and many many attempts to finally get the hat right.

Holiday Time

At 11 am school turns out for the end of term and we're off to sunny Greyton for 10 days. The boys are uber-excited, poor Joel hardly slept at all last night! Eli can't wait as he's going to ride his bike on the road with Daddy for the first time and Joel just wants to kick-back and chill in the coffee shops of Greyton. Definitely takes after his Mum!

The house is in the good hands of Charmaine who's house-sitting so Rosie will get a break from the boys whilst being well looked after.

So, phones off, computer off, adios Blog, Facebook, Twitter et al for 10 days. Fantastic!

Mission In Practice Impossible

Once a week whilst studying at All Nations our tutorial groups were posed with a conundrum under the guise of Mission In Practice. There were rarely straightforward answers and more often than not no real answers at all, just plenty of discussion, some good arguments and the occassional chance to wind someone up for a laugh!

So here's one for today..

Life, Death & Cake!

Once again the weekend demonstrated what a diverse life we seem to live at the moment, and quite how many opportunities we have to participate in all walks of life and be ready with a word of encouragement, listening ear, tissue(!) etc. etc.

Puppet Master

I joined Joel in class today to help with the final stage of his puppet making. Each of the children had to design a puppet, work out what they needed, get the materials (plenty of running around for Mummy!) and then make the puppets. So today's stage was finishing off the puppets and the parents had been asked to come and help and I was the only Dad there.

Trees

We missed the National Arbor Week last week but may just have made ammends this week.

With a bit of help from my mate Rod we've just planted four indigenous trees in the garden. I love trees so it's a real privilege to be able to plant some and especially to plant indigenous trees that are in harmony with the environment.

You Get Less For Armed Robbery!

Today we celebrate our 19th wedding anniversary which is quite amazing! We keep being asked if we're doing anything special to celebrate our anniversary but to be honest it feels a bit odd as next year is a bit of a biggy being the china anniversary (20th).

Still we've got a great evening lined up as we'll be out enjoying a good meal with good friends as we celebrate Jo With The Blue Car's 40th birthday. It should be a lot of fun!

Bring on the next 19!

A few previous posts about our anniversary.

Elf n Safety

I'm not one for all the politically correct nonsense that surrounds so much of what masquerades as 'Health & Safety', particularly in places like Blighty where it's all gone way over the top!

Having said that, I do think there's a place for exercising a degree of common sense and looking at the 'scaffolding' being used by these plasterers on the house being built at the back of ours, I would suggest this might be a good opportunity for applying said common sense!

Another Fun Morning

We had a lot of fun in the Nature Reserve this morning. The highlights were watching Eli climb onto the roof of the jungle gym whilst a young mum pushed her 18 month girl in the swing. She kept looking at us and then looking at Eli as if expecting us to do something. We just chuckled. If she ever has a boy she might one day understand. She did look really shocked though when Daddy announced "Last one back to the car smells of dog poo." Joel & Eli rose to the challenge!

Is This What Jesus Told You Guys To Do?

I’ve been giving a lot of thought to the whole issue of church and what it is or what it shouldn’t be and what we as Christians should and shouldn’t be doing.

A case in point at present is the whole media circus around a tiny church of 50 and their idiotic pastor. Either he’s a marketing genius who has got himself known all around the world or he’s a lunatic. Either way there's very little of the grace of God in his interviews etc. Anyway, he’s not my main topic here and he’s already had way too much publicity so back to the question in hand.

Two things I’ve read lately have come back to bug me and the more I think on them the more I feel they are simply wrong. It took me a while to come to this conclusion because one of the comments came directly from a church leader I have massive respect for and the other came from a leader in the same church.

Learn To Earn

Yesterday we realised another dream as we were able to take 3 ladies, from the 3 different communities in which we work, to visit a local empowerment project, Learn to Earn. It is based in the largest township outside of Cape Town (around 1 million people!). Their motto is 'a hand up, not a hand out', which we love -that is the only real way to empower people.

They offer courses in sewing, cooking, woodwork, computing, graphic design and admin skills to the unemployed, asking them to contribute 5% towards the cost of the course (ie: approx £20 to £40).

Weekend

The last two weeks have been pretty much a write-off as far as I'm concerned as two weeks ago I had a bout of flu which by last Monday was over and I was starting to feel much better but then on Tuesday I got hit by something else and was feverish and in pain for most of the week. Thankfully this weekend was much more back to normal! I was really annoyed by this having got through winter with no illness to suddenly get walloped just as the season is changing. Not good!

The rest of the gang have been fine throughout, suffering only the vagaries of a very grumpy dad and husband but they seem to put up with me well.

Heroes Of The Faith - Pt 2

I first met this amazing woman almost 6 years ago and remember even then being so impressed by her. As her story began to emerge over the months in my Bible study group and home visits my respect and love for her began to grow. X grew up on a local farm where she lived humbly but happily and later married a man whom she loved dearly. Together they had four sons and, though things were very tight, lived happily as a family and enjoyed the many friends living together with them on the farm. Both X and her husband were committed Christians and taught their children Christian values and ethics as they grew.

Gods Of Rock

I had the Gods of Rock on VH1 on TV in the background for a while this afternoon and I could see Joel had one eye on it whilst doing some drawing at the table.

His attention was then fully grabbed by AC/DC's Back in Black.

When he'd finished he brought over his picture and proudly announced that he's going to get the red guitar when he's older and play like the man in his school uniform.

He makes me so proud!

Heroes Of The Faith - Pt1

One of the ladies we've got to know recently would probably be dismissed by most as just being a quiet and even timid church mouse. If we were to judge by appearances she's unremarkable and would probably just get lost in a crowd.

Thankfully, we don't judge people on appearances but rather by what we see in their actions in life. This lady is truly a hero to us!

After church on Sunday most of us trotted off home for a decent dinner, maybe some roast vicar with acidic gravy followed by the obligatory kip on the couch.

Heroes Of The Faith - Intro

I'm starting a new mini series which will run sporadically over the coming months about some of the amazing folk who I/we consider to be the real heroes of our faith.

It would be really easy to do just such a series on the likes of the amazing George Műller, Hudson Taylor, C.T. Studd or Jim Elliot to name a few that come to mind. However just about all that can be said about these heroes has been said and I'm not pretending to have any new insight into their extraordinary lives. If you're interested in the lives of some of these heroes and church history generally pop over to the Church History Blog by Lex Loizedes, it's a great read!

Cape Town Museum

We had a lot of fun today as we went into Cape Town and spent ages in the South African Museum and Planetarium.

The guy on the door gave a knowing smile as the boys shouted "DINOSAURS!" and ran off to the dinosaur gallery. Guess where we spent most of our time.

the boys were inspired to ask to go to the museum again after watching Night at the Museum 2, it's a really good fun film and certianly fired up their imaginations.

Afterwards we strolled up to Long Street which is full of great cafés and pubs and we had a cracking lunch.

Caring Through Training

Today was very special as the HOPE home based care team, prospective carers and spouses of some of our patients received customised home based care and HIV/AIDS training from Nicky Welsh. This is something that Paula has been wanting for over a year now and it has taken this long to 'pin down' Nicky and make the most of her excellent training skills!! We had loads of fun as well as refreshing (for some) our knowledge and skills base and having the ability to further customise the training for our final session next Friday.

Wounded Soldier

Eli was whisked off to the Emergency Room for the first time this afternoon as he needed three stitches in his top lip.

Initially we thought he'd fallen off his bike trying yet another daredevil stunt but it turns out Rosie (the dog) bit him. Daddy's first response was to get rid of the dog but the Dr that treated Eli reassured Mummy that this is quite a common injury and not to be too harsh on the dog.

It turns out that Rosie had just been given a bone and Eli bent down next to her to pick up a ball but Rosie thought he was going for the bone. The rest as they say is history.

Wiersbe Quote

"We have two ears and one mouth, which ought to remind us to listen more than we speak."

One of my favourite quotes from Wiersbe which I feel is particularly pertinent to those of us in church leadership. I'm convinced more leaders would at least look wise, even if they're not, if they exercised Wiersbe's advice.

2010 SA Blog Awards

Our blog has been nominated in the Best Personal Blog category of the 2010 South African Blog Awards.

This is pretty neat after 6 years of blogging, thanks to Jo for the initial nomination.

Please click on the image and cast your vote for Facing The Mountain

PS. Voting opens on 1st September closing on the 17th.

Blissful Weekend

Montagu is a little taste of heaven on earth and that is exactly what we enjoyed as a family last weekend! We have loved staying at 'Farmer Koos's' farm over the years and the boys definitely treat it like a second home.

The weather was perfect - 29 degrees in the winter! - beautiful sunny days. Joel and Eli spent the whole time outside making up adventures on the rocks which they could now climb, playing with the animals that roam freely around the farm and enjoying braai'ing and eating Dad's beef potjie!

We also enjoyed a great meal out together on Sunday night at Jam Tarts, a restaurant we have got to know. They cannot do enough to make us welcome and Joel, in particular, enjoyed his garlic prawns - which the lady knows to make, despite them not being on the menu!!!

Snowing In Africa

As we were driving home yesterday morning we were amazed by how much snow there was on the Grabouw side of the Hottentots Holland mountains. Sadly I completely forgot to take a picture of the snow until this afternoon when I was on my way into Chris Nissen to deliver the maize meal and sugar to Tiny Bubbles Créche from the boys school.

Zantedeschia

Zante..what?

Zantedeschia is the proper name for this beautiful South African flower more commonly (but wrongly) known as the Calla Lily. They say you learn something new every day and that's what I learnt today. Anyway, the point is that this beautiful flower is growing in our garden which I'm delighted about, though it seems the dog is too as she ate one of them!

Another Average Day

From what I know of most other folk serving in a foreign culture far from home, from time to time they get asked something along the lines of  "What does a typical day look like?" That's a tricky one to answer but here's a great post by Hazel on the subject: Two Days, One Life. What I also know from reading the various blogs and websites of other folk serving in a foreign culture far from home is that this is a bit of a dreaded question. In part because trying to explain running around in ever decreasing circles isn't really very edifying and telling folk that you drink tea or coffee all day whilst talking to locals isn't really deemed to be work by the good folk back at base. Added in to the mix is the need to justify to supporters why they should carry on supporting and it all becomes a bit sensitive.

I would like to pretend that I am above such things but in reality I sometimes feel the need to justify my existence just like anyone else...

Eli Learns To Skateboard

Here's a few of Eli's earliest attempts at learning to ride his skateboard. He's desperate to go to the local skatepark and judging by his progress so far it won't be long before he's there. One senses a trip to the ER might be in the offing.

It's Life Jim, But Not As We Know It

Tuesday mornings are always busy visiting mornings for Paula in Macassar. Today was no exception and a good example of why we love our work so much. No two days are ever the same and quite often we do not know what we will find when we get to people's houses. Most cannot afford to run a cellphone, so quite often we will arrive and find no-one at home because something has come up and we can't be informed - frustrating but that's life!

Wheels Coming Off

If like me you like spending a bit of time watching stuff on Youtube you may well enjoy the stuff where people get hurt. I'm particularly fond of the faceplant clips of cyclists going over the handlebars, but to be fair, I'm happy to watch just about anything that involves someone else getting hurt through their own foolishness. As the old (or perhaps more modern) adage goes; life's only funny until someone gets hurt, then it's hilarious.

Wedding Day

We were privileged to attend another very special day in the life of the church as we celebrated the wedding of the daughter of two of our cell group members.  Taswald and Chrisandre have been coming along to Grace for many months, and we have enjoyed getting to know them a little bit.  Chrisandre's parents, Chris and Veronica are very special to us and we enjoy them and their input - albeit Chris is a Chelski supporter!!

The wedding was beautiful... perhaps the simplest we have ever attended.  The pastor was 'spot on' and the bride and groom's love for one another was so evident, they adore each other!  Perhaps the loveliest part of the service was the prayer at the end for all marrieds - we all had to hold hands with our spouses - aaahhh!

Daft Drivers

As I was driving into Macassar this morning with Michael we noticed this pair of legs sticking out of the back of the lorry. At first I presumed it was a joke pair until Michael pointed out that there was a hand holding the door closed. So I passed him the camera and he got a pretty decent shot of it.

One can only wonder at why someone needs to sit and hold the door closed and marvel at his bravery (or should that be stupidity) for actually doing it.

The Good Life

I finally finished my compost bin this evening, putting the door on and covering the sides with chicken wire to make it dog and rodent proof or at least rodent resistant. I'm quite chuffed and think it turned out well, even if I do say so myself. Now I just need to get an old bit of carpet to put on top to help the composting process.

It's made from old pallets and apart from the latch and the nails for the chicken wire everything else is recycled so I can feel a bit smug about helping the environment.

Ups & Downs

I think it's fair to say that I'm not known for my administrative skills, in fact I would go so far as to say that I actively seek to avoid such unpleasantness but there are times when it is simply impossible to ignore the stack of jobs that just won't do the decent thing and go away.

This morning was a rare morning in that not only did I get a lot of the yucky admin jobs done but they seem to have been done quite well (even if I say so myself). I guess time will be the better judge of this but I'm optimistic that my efforts will stand the test.

The Blog Is Back In Town

We're back!

So here's the revamped blog in all its glory.

First things first, a MASSIVE thank you to all of you who took the time to enter the Renaming Competition. We had some great ideas but were really struck by Facing The Mountain suggested by Katie Machell.

Entries Close Soon

Well I'm very excited about the relaunch of this blog.

I've got a totally new template with some neat features in it.

I've almost got a new name, there is a clear frontrunner at present but there's still time to stick your two-penneth worth in so go on and give it a go. You can submit your ideas via any of the following: blog comment on this post, Contact Us button at top, Facebook or good old fashioned email. Now if that's not enough options you need help!

Life Is Messy

The nature of the work we're involved in is completely relational and as such it tends to be quite slow with many ups and downs. All too often the downs are more noticeable than the ups but that is the reality of many people's lives and as we get to know folk and walk with them we experience their highs and lows with them. Obviously this brings joy and sometimes heartache but we love what God has lead us to do. It's a real privilege to get to know certain folk intimately and to be there for them as they walk the narrow path with God.

Leadership Facing Up To Reality

We heard recently that our dear friend Pete Smyth (known to most as PJ) had been diagnosed with  a cancer known as Hodgkin’s lymphoma and Pete is now undergoing a six month course of chemotherapy as the Dr.'s seek to destroy the cancer.

Cancer really is the word no-one ever wants to hear and is a word that can truly crush even the bravest soul, so as I was reading Pete's Personal Blog I was really encouraged by his positive outlook on the diagnosis and prognosis.

Competition Update

Thanks for your comments, emails and encouragements.

Maybe I should clarify one issue; I have no intention of giving up on the Blog. What I am intending to do is revamp it as after 6 years of blogging it feels like time for a change.

Air Powered Car

On our last trip to the Sciencentre we got a kit for making an air powered car with a coke bottle so this afternoon I set about having some fun with the boys seeing just what this air powered car can do. As you can see from the video below the results weren't stunning although we did have some better successes later on. The main thing we found was that the harder we pumped the car the better it did on the grass.

Competition

So here's the thing; I'm bored of this blog!

I'm bored of the way it looks, I'm bored of the name (more on that in a mo'), I'm bored of the layout and I'm fed up with the lack of interaction from you our readers, assuming that anyone is actually reading this stuff given that hardly anyone ever leaves a comment.

Back To School

Today is the last day of the school holidays and we had a lot of fun with the boys as we took them to one of their new favourite places - the MTN Science Centre in Cape Town.  This is always a great fun and educational day out for the family - and they do great coffee, which is a bonus!!

We certainly have 2 very different boys, 1 is thrilled at the prospect of school re-starting tomorrow and the other is very non-plussed... no prizes for guessing who is who!!  Despite that, both are very much looking forward to seeing friends again and mum and dad are thrilled at the prospect of life returning to 'normal' again and being able to get on with work without having to dance around the other in terms of child care!

Happy Birthday!

Today Paula celebrates her birthday so to help her we all piled into a coffee shop in The Strand for lots of coffee, milkshake and cake.

It's been such a lovely day that we just had to take a stroll along the beach to ensure we all had sufficent room for the cake which seemed to work well.

Paula has been pleasantly overwhelmed by the number of sms's and phone calls from friends wishing her a happy birthday and feels particularly loved by our family at Grace!

Spain v Portugal

I had the pleasure of enjoying my last World Cup game last night and have to say it was a joy to watch the game as a neutral. Whilst I started off hoping Portugal might win it after their demolition of N.Korea, it quickly became apparent that a different Portugal team had rocked up for this game. I reckon the best I can say about them is that Spain were brilliant! Apart from Torres who's been ineffectual through most of the tournament the rest of them were great and what a pleasure to watch the likes of David Villa in the flesh. He really has been impressive in this World Cup.