Fire!

Three wild fires are raging locally between Sir Lowry's Pass and the Schapenberg which is right on our doorstep.

The emergency choppers have been out for most of the afternoon doing their best to douse the flames but the wind is really vicious and they have now been grounded.

The pic here is looking from outside our house up the Schapenberg and it really is looking bleak.

Life Is Cheap

We have been shocked again this morning as a church community by how cheap life is in Macassar and Firgrove.

Many of you will remember Linda's story from previous Road Shows in the UK. Linda lost 3 family members in a shooting incident that turned out to be a case of mistaken identity. Of course, the family have been through agonies as they try to process this and continue with life as the days and months unfold.

Birthday Boy

Here's wishing our baby a very happy 11th birthday.

When Paula first met him in Bloemfontein hospital at a mere 12 hours old he was simply labelled "Baby number 9".

This total world-changer, Eli (the Lord is my God) Thomas Finnie, is destined by the King of Kings to bring light and life to all he comes into contact with. This unique, highly slightly off the wall, loving, funny young man is going to bring together people of all different ages and cultures.

Christmas Soup Kitchen

Last night we had our Christmas Soup Kitchen at The Gathering and it was an incredibly fun and blessed time. It was great too that a few more of our members were able to be there and join in the blessing of our regulars.

Big THANKS go to the high school students & teachers at the International School of Helderberg for providing the shoe-boxes and to Pizza Cafe for the pizzas. The kids were thrilled with their presents and everyone enjoyed the pizzas.

Maths @ Home Presentation

We were thrilled to welcome Mark from Green Shoots to The Gathering on Wednesday night to give a presentation on their Maths@Home project which we will be running from January.

This followed an excellent evening last Wednesday of visiting the homes of many kids who attend our weekly Soup Kitchen. The response from their families was brilliant and that was reflected in the turnout for last night.

Blessings

We had the privilege of visiting our beloved HOPE Home Based Care ladies this morning and were able to bless them with small gifts thanks to the generosity of some special friends in Blighty.

It blesses us so much to be able to love on the ladies in this way and to hear their grateful hearts as they pray and give thanks to God for you.  This is true partnership.

Thank you to those that made this possible!

Shoeboxes

Today was a great day for The Gathering and our boys school; the International School of Helderberg, as the High School have been putting shoeboxes together for the children that attend our weekly soup kitchen.

Here we're receiving the first few boxes, we'll get the rest of them tomorrow and we can't wait to give them away next week when we bless our soup kitchen regulars with pizza too.

Joel and Eli are also thrilled because school finished for the year today. Hooray!

Besties

Joel & Nicholas,
best friends since forever
(2006 to be precise).

2011 v 2016

These two are super
chuffed to have finished
their exams today.

Well done lads!

Green Belt

We are super proud of Eli getting his Green Belt in Karate tonight. He's worked really hard over the last few months and it was great to see how much effort he put in to it..

Kancho Terry Lynn said she was hugely proud of him, that there has been a vast and marked improvement in his technique and attitude and she had no hesitation in awarding him the belt.

During the grading Eli volunteered to do a solo Bo Kata and pulled it off with aplomb, we're proud of you sunshine!

Grey Water

We've taken a big step forward in recent days in terms of harvesting as much of our grey water as possible.

The first picture shows the attachment for taking water from our bathroom to the garden, it's just waiting for the hose to be connected.

The pics below are of our slightly Heath-Robinson method of harvesting the water from our washing machine and dishwasher.

Table For Four

Our weekly soup kitchen was brightened up no end last week by these cheeky little chappies who brought their own table and chairs so they could enjoy their soup in a civilized and comfortable manner.

Joel and I couldn't stop laughing at the way the older girl kept bossing organising the other kids.

It's great to know that they feel comfortable enough to do this.