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.