Eli's 4th Birthday Party

Today we celebrated Eli's 4th birthday with a party for his friends. Eli had a blast and was really proud to have his friends at his house. Because Eli's birthday is on the 21st Dec' we have to have his party in the last week of school otherwise all his friends will be away on their summer hols.

Sadly his best mate "The little Daniel" couldn't be there but everyone else rocked up. We kept it all low key and only did two organised games but because there were so many boys they were more than happy to run riot in the garden and explored it to the max. From a brief post-party examination it seems they left no corner untouched.

The girls were a bit calmer but they still had a lot of fun. The parents of Eli's friends are a really nice crowd too so it was a pleasure getting to know some of them a bit better.

Leaders Training

This morning I attended the Senior Leaders Training hosted by Jubilee Community Church in Cape Town. To be honest I didn't really want to go but thought I ought to given that I've signed up for it and paid.

As I was driving into Cape Town I was really struck by the beauty of where we live. One of the highlights of the drive is Table Mountain as it starts of quite small in the distance and just keeps getting larger and larger the closer you get. What a privilege to live somewhere so spectacular!

The training was great, as ever and really helpful. I always enjoy listening to Steve Van Rhyn but this morning it was listening to Lex Loizides that really spoke to me. Steve had spoken about the Sovereignty of God followed by Lex on Our Authority in the Supernatural.

Prayer - Answers & Needs

Praise God for answered prayers!

Our biggest and most important prayer request recently has been for the boys and their schooling. After another meeting with the Principal yesterday we have agreed that Joel should remain with his current class group so he'll be with the older end of his age group again but with a new teacher next year who also has a lot of special needs training and experience. Hopefully she'll be really good for him. We also agreed to let Eli go to Reception class with his age group (although he'll be the youngest by some distance) and see how it goes. If he really struggles the school are happy to revisit his situation so we'll remain in close contact with his teacher and the Principal.

Freight

Hooray! The UPS man found me at home today so we finally got the paperwork for our freight, which means we're much clearer about where the freight is right now and when we're likely to receive it.

Presently it's wending its merry way South aboard the MSC Sophie somewhere off the coast of Portugal.

Frustrating Day

The day started so well with taking Michael to the hospital followed by a good trip to Aunty Florrie's in Macassar. She has a lovely house but is desperate for a few simple jobs to be done and as is so often the case she can't afford to pay much and she's very likely to be ripped off by some cowboy. So I came away with a small list of jobs which I'll do for her in the coming days.

Documentation

Just had a call from UPS to say the documentation for our freight has arrived so they'll deliver it tomorrow. It should give us a clearer idea of when the consignment should arrive.

Brilliant!

Apology

Sorry seems to be the easiest word these days with politicians declaring themselves 'sorry' for this, that and the other, so why shouldn't I?

A while back I got into Facebook. It took three goes but on the third try I was hooked. Initially I had planned to use FB as a means of directing more friends to this blog and it worked. I quickly realised that a lot of our friends on FB were reluctant to venture much deeper into the web and some actually admitted that they didn't know what blogs were and were a bit intimidated by them. So my plan was to use the RSS feed from the blog to post onto Facebook so that friends there could follow the blog from the comfort of FB.

Pirate Michael

This morning I was up unusually early to pick Michael up before the traffic got too bad and take him to the hospital for his cataract operation. Amazingly he was only in for about an hour when he rang to say he was ready. I've got to take him back tomorrow for something else to do with his eye and apparently the Dr will put a new lens in in about 12 months.

There's much that's wrong with the State healthcare system here but praise God that this op' has finally happened.

Joel thinks Michael looks cool as a pirate!

Dirt Is Good For You

Here's something every parent who uses common sense has known forever, but for some reason it required a team of scientists with funding to make 'official': Children should be allowed to get dirty, as being too clean can impair the skin's ability to heal.

Apparently the study confirms the "hygiene hypothesis" which holds that exposure to germs during early childhood primes the body against allergies. Well hooray for science!

Weekends

Last weekend we went to see our friends Sam & Cindy in Noordhoek just outside Cape Town. They've got a smallholding and are showcasing sustainable farming and living. Check out these two great websites for a better explanation: My Farm Online & Start Living green. It was great to see what they're up to and to get some ideas for our new house when we move next month. I was particularly keen to see the worm farm in action whilst the boys loved the animals and took the seed planting with Sam very seriously. They still check each day to see how the seedlings are doing.

Prayer Request - Update

Apologies for the delay. We had a useful meeting with the Principal, thankfully we get on quite well with her. She explained how the school is having to get in line with the International Baccalaureate system and as such the school have had to revisit the whole strategy of who goes where in the primary school. The upshot of this is that Joel will be going to P2 next year. This is more akin to Year 2 in the UK as the school needs to fit with a more international standard. This is generally a good thing as at the moment the school system is a bit stuffed by the South African families who expect it to fit with their understanding of the school system. In SA children start a year later than in Blighty consequently Joel has some 8 year olds in his class! Anyway, Joel will be moving up which we're pleased about although the reasons for him moving up aren't necessarily right. Please hold him up in prayer as he does have his struggles with school.