Joel's 8th Birthday

After what has seemed like months Joel finally celebrates his 8th birthday today!

He has been so keen to reach this landmark and was so excited last night before bed that it took him an age to finally go to sleep! On Thursday his class came for a now legendary Joel pirate party and they all had great fun. It was so nice to see such a great bunch of children together - some of whom Joel has now known and been at school with for more than 4 years.

Fun With Family & Friends

The long hot summer we have been experiencing in the Cape has brought out the South African in us!! We are thoroughly enjoying time on the beach together playing in the rock pools, swimming in the sea, walking the beach (whilst the boys race mum and dad in the sea!), eating fish and chips and generally enjoying the beauty in which we are privileged to live.

Dangerous Trees?

This sign immediately appealed to my sense of humour as I could just picture someone getting mugged by a dangerous tree.

As I was scanning loads of old photos recently I came across this one taken in Greenwich Park in 1987.

The sign was erected after the hurricane in '87 and many of the oaks in the park were in a bad way, hence the need for Elf 'n Safety to wade in.

Love And Grace

We had such an amazing time with Love And Grace Church in Mitchell's Plain this morning!

What we really enjoyed was the simplicity of the meeting.

Bible based and open to the Holy Spirit. Doesn't come much simpler than that really! Everything was God centred with leadership that felt no need to draw attention to itself which was quite refreshing after our church experiences over the last few years.

It's always great too when God rocks up, meets with you and leads you on further into his purposes. We certainly came away feeling very encouraged and motivated to get on with the next step of what God has in store for us.

Valentine's Ball

So the big day arrived - Joel's school mini Valentine's Ball!  We thought he wouldn't be all that bothered, but, how wrong could we be!!

Joel had everything planned.  He spent the entire day before worrying about what to wear and then spent an hour making a card for his Valentine (we'll let you guess who that is from the girls featured below!).

From the moment he got home today, Joel asked on the hour every hour how much longer he had to wait and from 4 o'clock was dressed and holding "the card" in his hand!

Silence

Silence is a great thing.

It can be very telling but it can also mean absolutely nothing. Silence between real friends is comfortable whilst silence between colleagues or those who assume a degree of authority can be uncomfortable.

Read into our silence what you will, or email us.

What I can tell you is that I've been out for a great meal with the love of my life!

Mission Ed' Videos Part 2

Here's the second video we showed during our mission ed visits. This is our informal photo presentation which is simply set to music with a few captions.

It's a lighter look at our lives at work and play, but mostly at play!

Part 1 is here.

Mission Ed' Videos Part 1

HOPE (Hands On, Prayer & Evangelism) Home Based Care Team video produced for our 2010 mission education trip to the UK. We used this video as part of our main Powerpoint presentation.

This video is a follow up to our previous HOPE video

It's The End Of The World As We Know It And I feel Fine

As many of you are aware from our recent mission education trip to Blighty, things have not been right in our church for quite a while and things really came to a head late last year when two of the elders resigned and left within a couple of months of each other. In short it boiled down to leadership issues.

On our return home we heard a few things about the church, though sadly nothing from the leadership about what was likely to happen and on Sunday Grace Community Church closed up and finished.

Wherever You May Wander...

So, we'd only been home for the afternoon and it started raining. What's that all about then?!?

Despite being fleeced of ninety quid by the thieving swines at BA for having bags over 23kgs (despite our almost 300kg allowance!) we had a long, smooth and easy journey. It's good to be back home and really pleased to be in the midst of unpacking and sorting things out.

On Our way Home

We're off to Heathrow in the next few minutes as we get ready for our 12 hour flight home.

We've had a great time in Blighty and it was fantastic to see so many friends again especially those we hadn't seen for nearly 20 years.

Apologies to those of you we didn't get to see, hopefully you might be able to make use of our spare bedroom in Cape Town sometime soon.

Mission Education - Final Sunday

Today was quite a monumental occasion as we did our last mission ed' visit with St. Mary's Cheadle.

What a great way to top off a brilliant week!

It was a very busy morning giving our powerpoint presentation in two services followed by lunch and a brief talk about some of our friends in South Africa and our photo presentation. This was all topped off with a 4 hour drive down South!

Facing The Mountain Roadshow - Sheffield

We had a lovely nostalgic drive over to Sheffield on Friday - re-visiting the place of our University days, early courting places, first house, church etc. etc! We also enjoyed the beauty of the area as we arrived in some beautiful late afternoon sunshine and watched the water cascading over the Ladybower Dam.

It was great to stay with friends, Tim and Liz Rose, from old CYFA venture days, whom we haven't seen for a long time.

Ladybower Dam

On our travels to Sheffield along the magnificent Snake Pass we decided to go on a bit of a nostalgia tour and show the boys a few of the sites. One of the most spectacular is Ladybower Dam and to top it off the dam was overflowing which was a real privilege to see.

The boys enjyed seeing Ladybower but were incredibly disinterested in the few other things we tried to show them. Kids eh!

Facing The Mountain Roadshow - Sheffield

This evening we'll be at 30 Bannerdale Road, S7 2DL in Sheffield for our final Facing The Mountain Roadshow.

Facing The Mountain Roadshow - Cheadle

We're really grateful to the folk who made the effort to join us for our Facing The Mountain Roadshow last night!

Big thanks must go to the Markham's for so generously hosting the evening, providing plenty of food and drink whilst opening their house up without knowing just who was going to rock up or how many would.

We had a brilliant evening catching up with some great friends and it was really good to be able to talk a bit about what we're doing out in South Africa and the challenges ahead.

Midweek Mission Ed'

This week in Cheadle is turning into exactly the kind of week we've always wanted with our supporting churches.

In between last Sunday speaking at St. Cuthbert's and this Sunday speaking at st. Mary's we've been busy with some midweek meetings. The joy of the midweek stuff is that we get to meet smaller groups of folk and speak a bit more candidly about the stuff we're involved with.

St. Cuthbert's

It's great to be back in Cheadle again and to be seeing a lot of old friends. We lived in the area from '95 for a few years before getting involved in overseas mission and always enjoyed the area, though we were gutted to learn that Haji's Kebab Shop has closed!

After a long drive on Saturday it was good to decamp from the car into John and Tricia's for a relaxing roast dinner before a busy morning at St. Cuthbert's on Sunday morning.

Our visit to St. Cuthbert's was great! We shared our Powerpoint presentation in the service which was followed by a cracking lunch and our photo presentation which was well received once again.

Good Evening

One of the joys of our mission education trips is getting to spend time with family and friends and finally after many attempts I managed to spend an evening with my brother.

A good evening was had which was topped off nicely with a visit to The Windmill for a real ale or two.

Next stop Cheadle to spend time with great friends in Cheadle and Sheffield. We're really looking forward to the next 10 days!

Lies, Damned Lies & Blame Shifters

Things in life I'm tired of:

Being lied to,
being lied about
and blame shifters.

The lying I can handle even if it does annoy me but the blame shifting is something I'm, not sure I'll ever get to grips with, especially when it's Christians doing it!

Paris Part 2

Things started well and just got better. The Eurostar was simplicity itself and a very pleasant ride. Arriving at Gare Du Nord was a cinch and our hotel was 3 stops away on the Metro. It also happened to be smack in the middle of two Metro stops, a 10 minute ride into town and a 10 minute walk from Sacre Coeur. Fantastic!

We had a great time mooching around the city, enjoying the sites, cuisine and the wine. We'd gone just to chill and other than visiting Notre Dame weren't too fussed about seeing too much else.

We'd certainly been loaded up with plenty of advice on the best things to see and do which we totally ignored.

Jigsaws

Life is not like a jigsaw puzzle. It doesn't come neatly packaged in a box with a picture on top to show how the pieces go together.

How we wish that more folk in life would grasp this simple analogy and accept that often in life we make it up as we go along and have to trust that we're making the right decisions for the right reasons.

As Christians we pepper it all with prayer but that still doesn't give us any superior knowledge as to what is necessarily the right or wrong way. We step out in faith, trusting...

Paris

The city of love with the love of my life.

What more can I say?

Paris

We're off to Paris on the Eurostar in the morning for three glorious nights sans enfantss and can't wait!

No kids, no phone, no internet, no interruptions. Just great company, lots of great food, French wine (still the best by a long way) and some of the best sights of Europe.

Do Not Disturb!

Disney

This might sound like stating the obvious, which it is, but Disney is best not viewed through the eyes of a cynical 40 something!! I hated being part of a never ending advert, being ripped off and, being nagged by endless health & safety announcements (which everyone ignored anyway). The list goes on but as I said, Disney is best not viewed through the eyes of a cynical 40 something.

Disney is best seen through the eyes of a highly excited 8 year old!

We had a great time with family and it was good for Joel & Eli to spend time with their cousins as this is a rare treat. I also enjoyed spending time with Bethy, our middle niece, as we made the most of the late night rides to go on the bigger rollercoasters that the others either couldn't ride or wouldn't ride.

Christmas Day

We had a fantastic family Christmas day despite it starting at some unearthly hour! Eventually Dean let Joel and Eli open their stockings at 4am in the hope that they would then go back to sleep. Job done by about 5am but not for long! At least they were excited.

Christmas dinner was fantastic as ever thanks to Lisa's great cooking (courtesy of Delia) and it was great to actually have a family Christmas dinner on Christmas day for the first time in three years.

Happy Christmas

Wishing you all a

Very Happy Christmas

and a

Blessed New Year

Love from

Dean, Paula, Joel & Eli

XXXX

Eli's 5th Birthday

Eli had a day of two halves as he celebrated his 5th birthday today.

The first half of the day was at Grandad's where the family made a fuss of him with some great presents.

The second half of the day was spent back  in Wimbledon (after the now regular trudge along the M25) where he finally got to play with his toys.

The day was then topped off with a lovely family meal at an Italian taverna in Wimbledon where genuine Italian gelato was the winner!

Mission Ed' - QRC

Today was a great day as we spent time with Queens Road Church right here in Wimbledon. This was our church family just after Joel was born right up until we left for South Africa in 2004 and we still have many good friends here.

As our mission education visiting goes this was the lowest key visit of all of them and yet one of the best too. We spoke briefly during an interview with Phil Moore about our work in SA and afterwards enjoyed catching up with many great folk.

Drat And Double Drat!

Drat this pesky snow and its meddling in our affairs!

Friends

One of the joys of our kind of lifestyle is that when we do make it back to Blighty we're able to make time for friends we've not seen in a while and today was one such occassion.

We first met Peter and Sue through CYFA Ventures many a moon ago and we've not seen each other for many many moons! Sadly we only had time for a coffee but it was still great to meet up again and swap news etc. Hopefully it won't be so many moons before we see each other again!

HMS Belfast

Thanks to some great friends we were able to take the boys into town again for another memorable day out. This time they chose the Belfast and were really fascinated by all that they saw.

Joel particularly loved the replica sick bay where a real operation was being performed (by models!).  Eli was very taken by the shell room and enjoyed becoming the Admiral and 'steering' the ship for a while.  It was a really good fun family thing to do and we had a blast.

Half-Way

We're half-way through our mission ed' trip and over half-way in terms of speaking engagements so it's almost downhill until we return home.

For now we're back in Wimbledon for our last 'quiet' stretch before Christmas after which it all gets very busy again as we have a few things on before our tip to Cheadle early in the New Year.

"I Can Do That!"

This is also my first HD movie so I'm quite chuffed with it.

A Day To Remember

We've had such a good day in London!

We started off at the Natural History Museum where it was obligatory to see the dinosaurs and creepy crawlies, of course. Followed by the mammals where Eli wanted to see a tiger and then we spent loads of time looking at various whales etc whilst Eli tested the interactive displays to check they really were child proof. Job done!

Hertford

On Sunday we had one of our busiest mission education visits as we were at Herftord Baptist Church where Dean preached twice in the morning which was followed by lunch and our Powerpoint presentation and informal photo slideshow. We always enjoy visiting Hertford as we've known many of the folk since 1999 when we began studying at All Nations in Ware.

Freeze Before The Thaw?

The snow has melted a lot overnight in the rain which also means the big freeze never materialised. At 8pm the outside temp was down to -8°C but by 11pm it had warmed up to around -5° and it must have kept getting warmer. It's hardly an Indian summer out there now but it is a welcome relief!

So we're off to Hertford at lunchtime today ready to speak at two services tomorrow morning followed by our Powerpoint over lunch as our mission education trip continues. Really looking forward to seeing good friends again!

Thaw Before The Freeze

We managed to venture out to Tunbridge Wells this morning after spending an hour or so clearing the drive (and car) of snow.

All was going really well until we were ¾ the way up Morley's Hill leading out of Weald when another driver decided he was coming down regardless and forced me off the road. Three attempts later we made it with the subtle odour of burnt clutch.

Walking Off The Pain

I'm not entirely sure how, but in getting our bags in from the car last night I put my back out and have been in a lot of pain ever since. I've never had real backpain before and am not enjoying it one little bit! Sitting down is the worst so I've found that if I keep walking things are a bit better.

So having had a short walk with my boys this morning which they enjoyed right up until the cold killed the fun, I then had a decent walk this afternoon down to Westwood Farm.

Before & After

I took the first pic of the car after making it onto the drive and abandoning it where it stopped. Since then the snow has barely stopped and now the car is well and truly stuck for the time being.

Guess we're not going anywhere in a hurry!

Sledging!

With two very excited boys in tow Daddy got to go sledging for the first time in donkey's years.

After a slow but thankfully uneventful drive to Weald we managed to get to Grandad's house without incident. sadly the guy who backed up to let us pass wasn't so lucky as he wrote off the car behind him! We took a bit of a run up to the drive and once on abandoned the car where it stopped.

Richard was then a star as he came and picked us up in the Landy to take us to the farm.

There's Snow Business Like...

Joel and Eli finally got to experience snow for the first time and they loved it! Joel has wanted to play in snow for years so he was really thrilled to be in Susan's garden finally playing in it.

Snowballing Daddy seems to have been the highlight (Mummy was a bit wiser and remained firmly indoors - only cos she doesn't have any wellies!) but building a snowman came a close second. Daddy was sent back indoors to find a carrot for the nose and something for the eyes and the result looks pretty good for a first ever attempt by the African boys.

It's Snowing

Apparently the current snowfall is the earliest in the UK for 17 years and we have two very very excited boys who are desperate to be playing in it.

This is the view of our garden in Wimbledon which leads me to surmise that if the snow has settled this much down south in London Town how much worse/better must it be out of town.

Guess we'll find out tomorrow when we'll be venturing down to Weald.

Chillin' Out

What else is there to do in this freezing weather than to chill in front of the telly?

Don't you just long for those days when you could lounge around on the furniture like that?

Got to admire Eli's style there!

Old Friends (Less Of The Old!)

Sometimes life does a full circle and today was one of those days as Paula caught up with a friend she made in her first few months in South Africa 2004. Nikki and her family subsequently moved to England in May 2006 and today was the first time they have seen each other since then. It was lovely to catch up and to meet new additions to the family!

Ice Age

Joel & Eli have never experienced ice in it's purely natural state so the current weather here in Blighty is a bit of a shocker and not just for them!

Having wrapped up as warm as we could (more layers are needed in the next shopping trip!) we popped out for a bit of fun on Wimbledon Common.

Although we didn't see any Wombles on the common we did get to see the frozen pond and then set about trying to see if we could break the ice by throwing sticks and stones onto it.

The Week So Far

Getting used to life back in Blighty is one thing but trying to adapt to life and the weather is very trying! We had to scrape ice off the car for the first time in many many years and couldn't believe how long it took for the heater to kick in and start pumping hot air into the car. When we go home in January we might be going home to the fag end of summer but we really can't wait!

We've been phenomenally blessed so far, not least by the loan of a car for the two months. Once again we must thank our friends at St. Andrew's in Oxshott for sorting this out for us. The car is a Fiat Stilo (we'd never heard of it before) a five door hatchback and it's perfect for our needs.

We've managed to get out and do a bit of essential shoping without the kids and we've even had them looked after for a couple of nights already allowing us to catch up on a bit of sans enfant sanity.

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!