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!

Easter Weekend

We've had a really good weekend so far, enjoying some great family time and sharing it with friends too. On Friday we went to Betty's Bay to see the penguins but unfortunately the wind was too strong and we had to give up. So we ended up in Pringle Bay where the boys had strawberry milkshakes and tormented the fish (see left) whilst we chilled out and pretended they were someone else's children. We also took the boys to meet Peter & Gloria who run the Wild Olive, a guest house we sneak off to occasionally.

On Saturday we had a braai and a potjie (if you don't know what they are you'll just have to come and experience them) with some good friends joining us for the afternoon and evening. In fact we were all so relaxed that we lost track of time and the kids all went to be very late!

Easter & The Silly Season

Easter is the most important of festivals for Christians and as such we celebrate Easter in a low-key but meaningful way, taking time to remember that by giving up His life, Jesus opened the way for us to have life and a genuine relationship with the Father. For us this is a very important time of year, much more so than Christmas or any other festival.