Photo updates

Check out my photo blog for some recent pictures.

Just click on this link.

http://mlk30.blogspot.com

Short wheel base!

I would like to introduce you to Jerry!

Look at that frown!

Louise and I have added to our family, much to the rest of the households discussed!

Max, whom you've met in some of my others entries is the kind of dog who just loves to be with other dogs. We often see them on the beach and he goes wild playing with them. At home, with Louise out at work and me working on my studies, finds Max pretty much left to himself and feeling rather bored and depressed. Have you ever seen a depressed dog!! So anyway, for some time we have spoken about getting another dog for companionship for him and Jerry is the result. We can't afford another big dog so we chose to go for a short wheel base version.

The rest of the house is in varying degrees of disarray, the cats just can't work out what on earth we were thinking about and Max is like, man this thing just won't leave me alone! Don't be fooled by this cute face, Jerry is one feisty Jack Russell!

Jerry has been with us for two weeks now and is nine weeks old, he is a hit with ever guest who comes into our home and after two weeks his brother and sisters (Max and the cats, Pippa and Tessa) are even starting to except him. I think all will be well in our house, (one day anyway!).

(Wow, those socks are bad man!)

Max won't admit it I'm sure, but he is starting to like his little mate sleeping with him!

Sad days in J'bay!

I'm gutted to say that this last week has been a bit of a sad one in the Bay. Our Church Sunday school was broken into and the small TV among other things was stolen. Then on Thursday three of the ladies in our Church who were having a small group ladies meeting, in the same Sunday school building were held up at gun point by two guys. It was a horrible experience for them all, particularly for Caryn our associate pastors wife, she was their with her young daughter Kylie. The ladies had pepper spray sprayed into their faces and had things like mobile phones stolen. All four are thankfully fine but are still dealing with troubling memories of the event. I understand that the two guys have been caught by the local police and have admitted guilt. The bad news just kept coming; one of the couples in our small group, Mike and Lynda have just lost Mike's brother. He died very suddenly, the news has really shocked the family.

Their has been a lot of activity in my road this last week with one of our neighbours moving out and what looks like a new couple moving in, removal lorries have been back and fourth shaking the ground as they do.

Our front garden also has seen change and is really starting to take shape; I've been working hard in my spare time moving plants around, Louise and I are really enjoying how it looks. I know I keep saying so, but I will take some photo's soon so that you can see.

I've been busy with preaching at Church lately, I'm down for three straight weeks with the middle Sunday seeing me preaching at the morning service (cool). Together with this, I've been completing my application form for the South African Baptist Union. The Church has now called me to serve as a student pastor, this means that I'm able to approach the union here for interviews and hopefully to be accepted onto there list of student pastors working towards accreditation with the BU.

Monique's birthday braai

It's been a lovely few days in Jeffrey's.

I've been trying to get back into my routine of getting up and walking the dog early since I've been back home.

I went out very early with with him on Friday, even before the sun had risen.

We headed for the beach and were treated to a beautiful sun rise and an opportunity to watch some guys surfing. I've included some pictures.

Today Louise and I went to a lunchtime braai to help celebrate Monique's birthday. A number of us from Church got together and had a great time despite the weather (a cold front has come in, bringing with it some pretty cold wind and rain). Thankfully the weather couldn't stop the great fire that Jacques got going and we all eat very well. Its nice to get together like this, fun was had by all.

Hey, I'm looking forward to the tail end of this cold front!!

My return

I can't believe that its been two weeks since Louise and I left the UK. In my mind it feels like its been ages since I left my mum and brother at the departure gates of Heathrow (thankfully not terminal five!). I've returned home to find that I'm missing my family even more now then I did when I first came out to SA. I guess I had all the frill of being in a new country to occupy my thinking the first time. I keep playing back memories of the time I spent with everyone and wishing that I could just have a bit more time, but it can't be and I have to get myself right back on the saddle and life in J'bay.

To that end both Louise and I have returned to work. Louise has been very busy catching up with her work and I've returned to my studies. This last weekend saw me preaching at our Churches evening service which was great though I have to say, I felt quite dry when I arrived at Church. I did have two brothers in the faith pray for me and then the very stepping up into the anointing that comes from God brought everything together and my dryness gave way to joy. Remember, God equips us for everything He calls us to do, He also looks for us to step out in faith, trusting that He will make things happen (I wonder how many people down the centuries can testify that God always comes through, more then the number of stars in space I would imagine).

I've also been doing a whole load of work in the garden since I've arrived home but I'll save that for another post.

To all my family and friends, I love you all, I miss you all and I pray that God will strengthen us as we deal again with the distance between us.

God bless ya.

Talker or a doer!

Am I a talker rather then a doer?

I don't want to let people down by offering much but not coming through.

We are taught to let our yes be yes and our no be no, isn't this to prevent disappointment?

Lord, please keep me from letting people down!

Family & Friends

I hope that you can see from my recent entries that our time in the UK was great and that we really enjoyed the various things that we did. The highlight of our time has to have been family and friends. We stayed with my mum in her nice new flat. It seems to be new homes all round, Trevor had me over to stay with him and Clare in their beautiful new home as did Jack and Susan. London was our base but we did get to Devon as well. Dad and Pat let us stay with them for a week. Catching up with all my family and doing fun things with them is something that Louise and I are very grateful for.

Friends, real friends are those that remain no matter how far apart we find ourselves. I found getting together with old friends like Jason and Steve to be like we had never really been apart. Jason has three great kids who have grown loads, I got to see them all on a number of occasions and I have to say that I'm proud of my mate who as a single father of three is doing an amazing job. What can I say about meeting up with Steve, again it was like we had never been apart. I met up with Steve for football and for a really nice meal with his wife-to-be Clare.

The four of us enjoyed a night out in "Zizzis" (Louise and I went their on our wedding night) a great Italian restaurant in Sutton.

Our time in the UK also gave us an opportunity to catch up with old friends from Mordern Baptist Church which was great. Kevin and Ellen had us around for a lovely meal, we also went out with a number of friends from our old small group for pizza.

Louise took the opportunity to catch up with her old friends Desiree, Pieter and there children. Louise enjoyed a weekend at their new home and came back with loads of exciting news about the things they all did together.

Gary and Ruth as well as Lesley and Stephanie came around to my mothers flat to share a meal with us. I really enjoyed meeting up with them all and finding out what's been going on in their lives.

If all we could have done in the UK had been to catch up with family and friends then I have to say that for us both that would have been more then enough. Thanks guy's for all of you who went out of your way to catch up with us. We love you all.

We're going to the zoo!

Wednesday saw Louise and I going out for a day in London, we chose London Zoo. We managed to get a great deal with our train tickets and entrance fee.

It's years since I've been to London's zoo and the changes were plentiful. We really had a fun day checking out all kinds of animals from lions to monkeys.

Louise was really frilled at a show the zoo put on where they bring the animals out and tell people all about them.

One of the highlights for me was the reptile house (not Louise's most enjoyable part!!), the snakes and lizards were great. The plan had been to go to a gallery after the zoo but we were having such fun that we decided to stay in the zoo all day.

I'm dreaming of a white Easter!!

Easter Monday was fun, it started with a morning full of snow. I told people that it was some of the first ice I've seen in two years!


The snow was fun but not the highlight. Easter Monday for us was to be Easter/Christmas day! Having missed Christmas with everyone here in the UK we decided our celebrations would cover both.

Mum laid on such a great spread even with Christmas pudding!

It was a bit of a full house but we all fitted in and had a lot of fun playing different board games and just gerenrally having a laugh.

More from Devon

Exmoor is great but for me Dartmoor wins hands down. Dad and Pat took us for a lovely drive all over Dartmoor in Devon. A place that can be rather bleak at times but on this day the weather was great.

We stopped off at a place called Princetown which has the famous "Dartmoor Prison" (the prison seen in the story, "The Hound of the Baskervilles"). There we had a cup of tea and a Devon scone with clotted cream (yummy!!).

Maundy Thursday was great, being that we were staying in Exeter we decided to go to the Cathedral for the evening service. It's my first time going to such a service in such a grand setting. We both found the service very special with a senior male and junior male choir singing, the contrast in there singing was amazing.

Exmoor

Part of our time in Devon saw the four of us going to North Devon and Exmoor. It's there where Louise and I had our honeymoon. We stopped of at Simonsbath for coffee and took some pictures of the cottage we had stayed in. Exmoor looked great, a bit different from what it looked like on our honeymoon, there was snow then!

We had lunch in Barnstable, Louise and I had spent quite a bit of time there (it was more exciting on our honeymoon).

I've always said that if I was ever to live in the UK again it would be in Devon; my love for Devon was fed again. Our travels with dad and Pat were great fun, thanks for doing all the driving dad.

More photo's

To see more photo's from my trip to the UK check out my photo blog at:
http://mlk30.blogspot.com/

On the road!

Louise didn't really have much chance to settle before we set of on another journey down to Devon to see my dad and Pat. We travelled down my coach in the pouring rain (I'm glade I wasn't driving). We arrived at Devon and was met by dad. I was expecting him to have changed in the way he looks (shrunk) but he hasn't which I'm pleased about. Seeing him waiting for us filled me with emotion, it's been a long time.

Back at dad's place we met up with Pat who is looking very well but sadly having trouble with a bad leg. We all spent the evening catching up, it was great.

Sunday we all went of to a pub/restraunt called "Carriages" and had a lovely carvery. Wow, we eat well there.

Louise has arrived

Louise sadly was unable to come over to the UK for the full four weeks that I've been here but joined me later.

I stayed the night just outside Heathrow with Jack and Susan. They have a beautiful new home in Feltham. It was great to spend time with them and see how they've been creating both a lovely home and garden.

We set of early to meet Louise at the airport (sadly Louise was also delayed, but not for to long). Seeing Louise come through the arrivals gate was amazing, I can't believe how much I had missed her.

A day out in London

London is such a vast place with so much to do. Mum and I decided to visit first the Victoria & Albert Museum. This museum has a massive range of exhibits from paintings and photography to statues and colossal columns. We had a great time looking around the place.

The V&A isn't far from Harrods, so we popped in their and had a look around, nice stuff if you happen to have a bulging wallet!

Being that I'm now a tourist in London we had to visit the sights! Off we went to Tower Bridge and the Tower of London followed by Parliament Square, Downing Street and Trafalgar Square.

It's hard work being a tourist! London's sites seem to have more of an appeal to me now that they aren't so readily available to me, strange that.

I have to thank my mum for coping with all the walking, she was a little warn out by the time we finished.

God bless ya mum!

Good old UK weather!!

Actually, the weather yesterday was some of the worst seen for some time so the news reports say.

Trees were downed, there was a lot of localised flooding, all in all it was a pretty nasty day. Most of the weather seemed to hit South Wales, Devon and Cornwall but the winds and rain spread pretty much everywhere.

The weather didn't stop us brave, (that's one word for it!) explorers though, we still got out and visited Croydon.

My time here in the UK has been really great, Sunday I visited my old Church (St Peters). Being there was great, St Peters is the place where God poured out His grace on me and saved me. I was invited to talk at a lunch that my Mum helps to organise. The lunch is for some of the older folk in the Church, some who were around when I was first saved. I talked about my life in South Africa and how God has blessed Louise and I. Sharing with them all was very special, in doing so I was able to remind myself of how great our God is and show how God has been at work in my life.

It's Tuesday today and I've spoken to Louise via Skype; man I'm missing her so much. It's the longest we've ever been apart in our married life together. As I said earlier, being in the UK has been great but I've not been able to enjoy it to the fullest because part of me isn't here yet. Louise arrives on Friday and I can't wait to see her.

So, that's about it for now.

God bless you all.

(Photo's from: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_pictures/7287722.stm)

Starbucks!

Well Don, I went to starbucks just for you!

I've found that my time has been pretty full since I've been here which has been great. Mum and I have spent a good amount of time just being together, it was nice to simply walk around the shops with her (prices here seem to have dropped on a lot of things).

I've spent time with both Steve and Jason. Steve and I met up and checked out a new display of Wimbledon Football Club memorabilia. It was a fun day (even getting on the wrong bus eh Steve!).

Jason was great and ended up being my driver for a day. We drove around my old stomping ground looking at the changes the biggest being my old home, looks like new things are happening there.

Today I'm hoping to spend a bit of time with Trev and then tonight I'm going out for a meal with a number of my mum's friends, some who I've known pretty much all my life, it should be another great day.

That's about it for now.

God bless you all.

Trip to Kew

Wow, its great to catch up with people eh?

Sunday I went to Mordern Baptist Church with Jason and his great kids. It felt like I hadn't seen him for a couple of days rather then a couple of years. Jason is doing well and the kids look great, big but great (they've grown so much). Our visit to MBC was very exciting, though I went to the wrong service really, most of my friends went to the earlier service but we will all get together soon.

Monday I went to Kew Gardens with mum. It was a bit cold and much of the trees haven't given their spring display yet but it was a great day. We went into some of the different houses to see some of the more exotic shrubs and things. It felt strange seeing various plants that we have in our garden at home on display. It was a great day with Kew giving us both much too enjoy.

I've also been able to spend a good amount of time with my brother and His wife. They've had me stay over in their beautiful new home, Trev's been showing me what a great cook he is (show off). Trev and I went out for a nice long drive on his day off through much of Surrey, Sussex and Kent. We stopped of in Dorking for coffee which was really nice. Seeing some of the areas where I would often have walked reminded me of days past (I have to say that I miss the English countryside a lot). Trev has also been the one who has made sure that I've had a good supply of curry (Trev, you are the best) Wow, it's so nice to have a proper "ruby" again!

Today I'm meeting up with Steve in Sutton, a day that should be filled with us doing a lot of catching up, I can't wait.

 

That's all for now folks.

Marching Army!

So, Saturday I got to see AFC Wimbledon play Hastings. We won the game 4-0 (Go Wombles). It was great to be back watching my team, it's sure been a long time considering how often I used to go. The ground has changed a bit with a new stand for the home fans, it sounds great when the fans are singing.

Not only was it the first day that I got to see AFC, I also met up with my old mate Steve. We've been going to footy together for years. Man it was good to see him; all seemed just like old times.

With a 4-0 win for the Don's we are now in second place and hoping for promotion. The team I saw should be able to do it. I have to say that I didn't really recognise to many of the players, the team seems to change often.

This is Haydon our team mascot!

DON'S GO MARCHING ON!

My travel to the UK!

I'm here, and loving it.

The journey was an experience. Everything started great with Louise's folks kindly taking me to the airport and seeing me off (thanks again guy's). I left Port Elizabeth and arrived in Jo'burg.

The walk to international departures takes you all over the place, including out into one of the many car parks. But all was well I made it to international departures and started my wait for my plane.

Things started to go a bit wrong from their. First the departure gate was changed then a delay was announced. One hour, not so bad I felt till one hour became four hours. There were a number of very angry travels I must say. For me, staying calm about it was the way to handle it, being frustrated wasn't getting anyone anywhere. My only real fear was that we would end up being put in a hotel for the night. SAA found us a plane and a great crew and finally we set off. I only managed a rather broken night’s sleep but even that is better then what is normal for me.

Arrival in the UK took a while due to their being no place for the plane to taxi too. I was concerned because I knew I had family waiting for me. We did depart from the plane and my luggage made it all the way from PE (thanks luggage guys).

How does the saying go? “We fly by faith, not by sight”!

All the problems were worth it for that moment when I saw my mum, Jack and Susan. We hugged and the joy was amazing.

So I'm here, safe and sound. I've much to look forward too of which I will try to record on my blog (not least, the arrival of my wife).

God bless you all.