Off To The Principal's Office..

Joel had a 'proud moment' on Friday as he had to walk with 'Aunty Zonkie' to the Principal's office to receive the Principal's Special Award sticker for excellent behaviour!! All the children in the class are gradually moved from number 1 to 10 for doing good things/excelling in some way and when they reach 10 they have to go and see the Principal. Joel's 9 to 10 moment came today as a result of willingly sharing the Batman costume with a classmate - something we have all been working on for weeks!

MTB Race Photos

A couple of photos from the Stellenbosch mtb race:

Positives & Negatives (that title will annoy John Humphrys)

Sometimes we stop posting on the Blog for the simple reason that we don't have much to write about but sometimes the silence is due to the frustrations we're experiencing. Our recent silence falls into the latter category (except for the Palace Results!).

For fear of being overly negative, we'll not bore you with the details of our frustrations, but if you've been reading this Blog for any length of time you can probably figure it out.

Stellenbosch MTB Challenge

On Saturday my friend Paul and me went to Stellenbosch for the annual Stellenbosch MTB Challenge. We entered the 60km race and didn't disgrace ourselves! We had a lot of fun but cracked fairly decent times. I've never seen so much mud! Everyboy was havin problems with the mud in their gears which made for some interesting moments.

Harry Potter - Mania Madness

Sometimes you just have to laugh. The hysteria over Harry Potter is just as bad here in South Africa as it is elsewhere, with some bookshops staying open until midnight or whatever ungodly hour it was decided the book could be sold. We know this because our regular babysitter was off to join the queues.

The problem here is that South Africa generally doesn't have a book culture in the way the UK does and so books are very expensive. Harry Potter was going on sale at launch for the usual R240ish (£17). However, Paula happened to see a small notice at our local supermarket saying they would be selling the book for R149 (£10). We knew Paula would be at the supermarket around lunchtime but certainly didn't expect to find any copies left, but lo and behold, there were loads!

10 Years In Mission

This month marks 10 years since God first led us into full time Christian mission overseas when we visited Tanzania for three weeks. Prior to that time we had never thought of serving God outside of the UK and we weren't looking to rock the boat. In '97 we had a very nice life and for the first time we actually had some money and were able to enjoy a few luxuries that previously had been out of our reach. However, God has a funny way of shaking things up and now 10 years on we wouldn't want to give up the adventure He's given us.

Weekend In Montagu

We escaped to Montagu at the weekend and spent a few nights on the farm we visited earlier in the year. The boys had a ball and we were able to chill out a bit before getting back into the routine of school & nursery runs juggled with work commitments etc.

We were very blessed on our last night when Mike the farm mechanic baby-sat for us so we could enjoy the highlights of Montagu's nightlife. Sadly Montagu has no nightlife! Despite that we really did have a lot of fun together.

Roofing Sheets

The Red Cross recently asked us to spend R10,000 on their behalf, the only condition being that the money be used to buy things for those in the greatest need. After a brief assessment (limited by time) we decided that aluminium roofing sheets would be very useful for those living in shacks. The money enabled us to buy 150 roofing sheets and enough nails to secure them (however, the recipients must take responsibility for fitting them). Today Dean delivered the sheets to those who needed them.

An Update Of Sorts

The last few weeks have been really busy as Dean was sorting out our BOB campaign and then undertook a three week intensive Afrikaans language course at Stellenbosch university. The course coincided with the school holidays so Paula was stranded with the kids with no help from Dad. Thankfully it all came together with a weekend away in Montagu this weekend. It was a great way to end the school holiday for Joel and we all had a lot of fun. It's so good to be able to chill out and know your kids are safe wandering around the farmyard looking at the animals and stuff.

We'll post more in the next day or so.

Signs Of The Times?

During the course of a fun day I encountered the following signs, each of which raised a smile

I have no explanation for this other than to say the goats must be very smart to read the sign

Project Fix It - Part 2

On Saturday we completed part 2 of our Project Fix It with a great turnout of folk from church getting involved. This was a great time of blessing for our friends in CNP and a great way for church members to build relationships with people they might not ordinarily mix with.

The feed back from the two days has been very positive so hopefully we'll be able to follow it up later in the year.

Busy Times Ahead..

Having had a hectic weekend of birthday parties and 'Project Fix It' this week is about to get a lot busier and more hectic. Dean has a ton of stuff to do in preparation for part 2 of Project Fix It such as collating the outstanding jobs, sorting teams for Saturday and buying the outstanding resources needed all of which needs to be squeezed in between his language studies.

Project Fix It - Part 1

On Saturday we had the first phase of our 'Project Fix It' in which we're blessing our church members who live in the local townships by fixing up the things that make for a more bearable winter. So far we've replaced front doors, fixed leaky roofs, built new front steps and replaced many broken windows.

Project Fix It

Starting tomorrow we're launching 'Project Fix It' in which we want to bless our church members living in the local townships by fixing up their houses to make them more tolerable for winter. Many of our members can't come to church in the mornings because they're too cold or wet. So, Dean has enlisted/conscripted a number of folk to come and undertake simple repair jobs such as replacing windows, fixing leaky roofs etc.

Shortest Day

Today is the shortest day (for those of us in the Southern hemisphere) which means that winter should be about half done, but one never knows! Today was unseasonably warm (quick run out and panic about carbon and slap some tax on something!) and a really beautiful day. One of the joys of African winters are the stunning skies. The Southern Cape is the only part of the continent where it rains in winter, but between downpours we get to enjoy the same clear and cloudless blue skies as the rest of Southern Africa. Such skies are amazing and have to be seen to be believed.

Care Packages

Jim over at Missionary-Blogs.com recently asked if we'd write about 'care packages' from home and what they mean to us. So here goes...

"What do you most miss from home?" & "What can we send you?"

These are two common questions which are actually quite hard to answer. When we were in Tanzania we welcomed just about anything, especially Pepperami sticks and Onion Bhaji Mix. However, here in South Africa we can get pretty much anything. Our local fish & chip shop is far superior to anything in the UK, as is most local produce and marmite is on the supermarket shelves. Our local pub (we don't frequent it too often) even serves Kilkenny on draught and Boddingtons is available in the local bottle store!

Mums Come Out In Force

Today saw the culmination of months of prayer, planning and hard work as Paula hosted a meeting in the tent at Chris Nissen for mums of 0-3 year olds and mums to be. The idea was to reach out to this particular section of the community and find a way of getting alongside them as friends on common ground. To do this Paula and 2 fellow mums from the church held a coffee morning with talks on the benefits of breastfeeding and good nutrition for babies followed by a short gospel message.

Time Capsule

Not long ago I stumbled upon a Blog entitled Telstar Logistics where they were following the story of a time capsule which had been buried in Tulsa in 1957 to be dug up 50 years later in 2007. The time capsule consisted of a 1957 Plymouth Belvedere and a few other items. Unfortunately at the time of burying the Plymouth it's proneness to rust was still unknown.

Love Hate Relationship

Today summed up my love hate relationship with Chris Nissen Park. I'd been in the morning on behalf of the Red Cross and had a great time with my friends there as the purpose of the visit was to find the best way to spend R10,000. One particular church member was very happy and helpful! Then this afternoon I went in with Duncan (Morgen's father) who gave a 30 minute basic first aid training session for the ladies running the creche before helping sort their electrics out in the container where they work.

A Proper Curry At Last

We died and went to heaven on Sunday! Yes you did miss the rapture. Heaven was an assortment of real Indian curries cooked by Caroline (Morgen's mum). The food was sublime and we had a really relaxing afternoon with some other parents from Joel's school and Caroline's dad, Maurice who is visiting from the UK. Maurice is originally from India and having lived in Norwood for many years is also a Palace fan which makes him a top bloke! Dean & Maurice spent much of the afternoon playing pool but only when not eating curry. Joel had a ball with his friends Liam & Morgen, so much so that this morning he could only talk about Liam's house and going to play there again.

Bible Study

We had an excellent bible study on Thursday morning looking at the first chapter of Acts. I tried something a bit different, so prepared a brief overview of the chapter and then gave them several questions which together we looked for the answers in the chapter. Whilst it was the usual suspects that contributed; Michael & Cyril, it was a good meeting and they all seemed to be happy with it. I was really pleased and grateful to God for answering my prayer regarding a bit of refreshment for the group as I've struggled with it for a while.