Emyezweni Pre-School

One of the joys of my work is that I get to spend time with a wide variety of people in a wide variety of contexts. One of the best contexts is Emyezweni Pre-School which is run by Debs & Rach as part of HCC's outreach into Lwandle. This morning I took my laptop and projector and played Cars for the kids. Needless to say the film was a huge hit.

The boy in the foreground in the check shirt was riveted

Paddling Pool

We had a fairly lazy weekend and spent quite a bit of time around the paddling pool particularly on Sunday. The weather was great with the temperature in the high 20's rather than low 30's so it was quite comfortable. On Saturday we went to the Nature Reserve (sadly the camera battery died) and had a lovely morning feeding the ducks and trying to coax Spikey the porcupine out of his house, with no success.

Cluster Maps

We've just added the 'Cluster Map' feature lower down on the blog (just above the hit counter) for a bit of fun. We were impressed with the results within the first 24 hours of the map being on the Blog. As you can see from the dots we attracted a fairly broad array of worldwide hits. We figure the dot in Argentina is our dear friends Hazel & Martin but beyond that we can only wonder at the global reach of a simple tool like this Blog.

Hadeda Ibis

The Hadeda Ibis (Bostrychia hagedash) is a regular over our house and can usually be heard long before they're seen as they make a right racket. However, they are spectacular birds and it's a real privilege to have one stop on your house like this.

To see more visit our PhotoBlog

 

Home Based Care

We are constantly amazed by God's goodness and faithfulness regarding Chris Nissen Park. Just when things are getting difficult again in many respects, God sends along a little angel and we can start to dream and plan again for the future! As you know Paula has been dreaming of officially launching a small home based care team this year. Around 20 women from the community have received some training and Paula has done quite a bit of work drawing up requirements, budgets, characteristics of carers etc. However, apart from so far lacking any sort of finance to be able to start the scheme, she also felt quite out of her depth in terms of the more medical side of home based care.

Chris Nissen Update

We're currently melting in the heat, today the temp is supposed to drop to 27°C so that will be a welcome break from the high 30's we've been enjoying. On Wednesday Dean was in Jonkershoek where the temp' was 41° at 9 in the morning! Hopefully this evening it will be a bit cooler as Dean goes mountain biking with a friend. Dean's riding three times a week at present which is great.

Comet McNaught

C/2006 P1 (McNaught) has been hanging around over South Africa for several days and will probably be around for a little while longer. Sadly the weather was cloudy for the best part of the comet's time with us so we've only just been able to see it and get any decent photos, hence the not brilliant photo here! What a pleasure to see something in the cosmos so clearly.

Family Fun

We've had some fun this weekend just chilling with friends and at home. On Sat' we went to some friends around the corner for a lamb 'poitjie' which was delicious. The afternoon was very chilled and the kids played brilliantly. Today we've been hanging out having a braai (bbq) and messing about. The kids have had fun whilst we've melted in the heat, it's well over 30°C today and is supposed to remain hot for the rest of the week. Summer seems to have taken an age to arrive properly but it's arrived with a vengeance.

First Day At School

Our little boy is growing up! This morning he had to put his uniform on for the first time as he got ready to go to the Nursery at the International School. Needless to say we got lumps in our throats as we saw our little boy suddenly looking all grown up. Joel was really excited about going and he was really good when we left him. We can't wait to go and get him at lunchtime!

Family Fun Day

We decided to have a fun family day out on Wednesday before Joel starts nursery on Thursday, so we went to Pringle Bay just around the coast from where we are. The beach is beautiful and deserted and affords great views over the Cape Peninsula and Table Mountain. We had so much fun, Eli loves to eat the sand whilst Joel wants to explore the rock pools. This time he discovered a lobster which was being eaten by the crabs. Joel was delighted to find that the lobster had been decapitated so put it in his net an took it to show Mummy (Eli tried to eat it!).

Last Few Photos From Grandad's Visit

Here's a few last photos of Grandad's visit over Christmas, somehow they were missed in the downloading from the camera to computer.







Daddy & Joel exploring the rock pools

Saddam's Death

I had no intention whatsoever of posting about Saddam's death, mainly because the man really isn't worth commenting on. However, after enduring a week of endless 'sick' pictures of Saddam with the noose around his neck I feel obliged to say something.

Sean Got Married

Sean got married to Susan on Saturday in a really cool ceremony at the Somerset College chapel. The service was really good with many personal touches in it and everybody really enjoyed the occasion. Sean was clearly very nervous beforehand, but soon chilled and took the day in his stride.










Enjoy the photos...

Sean and his best men, Cameron & Jan

Fun With Grandad

Our last few days with Grandad & Lesley were spent chilling out and spending time with the boys, this was especially important for Joel who knows and understands who Grandad is. Joel really loves Grandad and knowing that they might not see each other for another 18 months makes it very important to spend quality time together when opportunity allows.

Tyrone Update

You may remember our previous posts about Tyrone as he waited for his much needed eye operation to correct his wonky eye. Finally at the end of last year he had the operation and he now has two eyes both looking forwards. Tyrone looks so much better for the op' and his family are delighted with the outcome.

As you can see from the photos of before and after, the op' has made a big difference to Tyrone and before you ask, no the surgeon didn't knock his teeth out!

La Petite Ferme

On Tuesday the boys were looked after for the day whilst we went to Franschhoek with Grandad & Lesley. We had a great morning mooching around the shops followed by a superb lunch at La Petite Ferme (one of the top 10 restaurants in South Africa) where the views are as god as the food! The rest of the day was spent taking the scenic route home via Villiersdorp and Grabouw, a fantastic drive through the mountains and lakes.

New Year's Eve

We had a lot of fun on New Year's Eve which was mainly about the kids and having fun with them. We did the same as last year and allowed Joel to stay up a bit later and watch a film with us. This year we watched Hook which had Joel spellbound! He started watching it in his Simba costume but had to change into his Pirate costume quite early on!