The time of new beginnings dawns

Praying that the year ahead places you

 more snugly in God’s hand

More steadily on His path

Increasingly immersed in His grace

Another gorgeous day in Paradise

Penang-orchidaceous in its "holiday" celebrations is still playing piped Christmas carols in all the malls.Tinsel and artificial snow abound in every available space.
Rita went and had her hair cut and was subjected to an hour of "Santa and Mommy kissing", "Jingling Bells", "Silent Nights" and repeated "Sleigh Rides"! Mid January all that will change to Chinese New Year song repeats at full volume! Which of course is only on the 3rd of February, but will be alive and well for a good two months!

We were blessed to spend an afternoon with friends on Wednesday, we shared hearts and a meal and even had celebratory cake!

Yesterday had us galavanting around the Island with Workers into Kalemantan showing them the 'tourist haunts' of this wonderful place.

Some interesting sights experienced as we travelled around Penang.

At the end of the day we were all 'templed out' and came home to put our feet up. Being on the nineth floor of the apartment block, we were then treated to an amazingly 'close' Fireworks display.

It was the day before Christmas.....

 Some People get silly and others have fun

 on top of this tree is a star... a blue one

 Decorations are quaint with glitter and shine

 Uncle Clause created with balloons and much time

 The rest of us go about our chores like fuelling up

While others stand in the front - living it up!

under the radar

We have been rather studious in our keeping under the radar, but it seems we have become a blip on the screen.....
Last night, while out trawling for dinner, we were discovered by some dear friends.It was rather amusing getting this shot as Rita decided to plonk her camera in the unsuspecting hands of a stranger at the next table. Which in itself is nothing too strange, but when the poor victim starting looking for his spectacles which were not on the top od his head, his nose or even hanging around his neck, Rita solved the problem by whipping hers off and giving him no choice but to use them. Amid much shocked laughter and giggling, this was the result!

This afternoon we have a 'tea time' with some workers here and already have plans for the holidays.

the day dawned bright

This morning was amazing....

the aircon faithfully hummed as the King Fisher trilled from the roof of the building next door, welcoming a day bright with tropical sunshine. The whole day open before us... what shall we do today? Whatever we want!

much ado about nothing!

It’s been a while since there has been any update, so here goes!

Note to self: it’s rather tricky to give updates on what one is doing when one purposely tries to do as little as possible...

 

 trawling the market for Dinner on Tuesday

 Finding dinner!

There are only so many times one tell others about the wonderful place one is staying in. About the freedom of just deciding at whatever time to go out and get something scrumptious to eat for next to nothing.

About how wonderful it is to have a swimming pool on hand that one does not have to worry about the cleaning and care that a pool involves.

About watching the people play on the water outside ones window.

The abundance of tropical fruits that others will have no idea about and the books consumed at the rate of knots. Then of course there’s the clement weather and wonderful sunsets. 

The ease with which one is able to get ‘hot off the rack’ videos to watch at ones’ leisure....and well within a non-existent budget.

We are purposefully staying ‘under the radar’ so to speak, catching up on ‘me time’ and truly still doing as little as possible.

We have the use of a car if it’s raining, and a motor scooter when it isn’t; which we certainly prefer to make use of. I have become very apt at carrying groceries while balancing on the back of the scooter hurtling through the traffic, avoiding the bumps in the road and skirting strangely different plethora of vehicles sharing the streets. Unfortunately here the wind does less ‘blowing through ones hair’ as bike helmets are a compulsory drag here, nonetheless the breeze is muchly appreciated. Careening around pinion with my camera held aloft is rather a thrill, though admittedly the focus on pictures taken leaves much to be desired.

I have taken to walking in the humid warmth for about an hour every second day or so, where Jean-Pierre is more inclined to go for a run on the beach.-------No... no pictures please...

In the mornings, if we deign to get up and out in time we have breakfast at the local wet market which usually consists of noodles, something else (unidentifiable mostly) thrown in the mix accompanied by great multitudes of chillies. 

Breakfast sorted we might go for a drive somewhere on the Island or simply haul ourselves back to the apartment to do some serious reading, sleeping, movie watching or nothing at all... what a life.

okidoki, so we are on the Island of Penang

........now on our own. We are oh, so grateful that we were invited to stay here for this time. Thank you Friends. Today our Friends left for Oz to visit with their family till January, leaving us to 'house sit' for them. We are thrilled.
While trying to stay out of the way as final packing was happening upstairs...erm, we were down at the pool.... and the sun caught us-even though we were in the shade... ho hum!

pictures will follow

 Here in the Old City of Chiang Mai, we managed to find the home of the best Phad Thai on just our second day here. Needless to say it has become our 'local dining space' as we are reliant on ready cooked food. Food is so cheap here that it pays to eat out anyway.




there are some places we would choose not to eat at, for obvious reasons......

 In a place where a pedicure is the same price as the cost of a sandwich.....

 Life continues in its eternal cycle.....

 This was before we hired our motorcycle..... and the weather is temperate enough to actually walk... but who wants to do that when you can have the wind in your hair?

For fear of who we would meet, or what, there are some places we will surely avoid....

just some stuff

 This is a shot of JP at the dodgey 'Mickey Mouse" shaped pool in Chiang Mai... we really don't care - the water is wonderful! This is a timeout space for us and we are enjoying the breather.

 Breakfast...this is likely to top the Dodgey list! Somehow these hostels insist on 'western fare' when they have little or no clue... why they don't serve rice porridge or noodles is anyones guess... alas, we brave breakfast each day!

A view of Bangkok housing on the Klong, let's face it, we live differently!

Chiang Mai chill

This was what our move looked like as we deicided one of the hostels was not a good place to stay.
You live - you learn!
What a refreshing breath of cool air! this weather.... so far.... early in the day yet- but it truly suits me better.
It's saying quite a lot when one finds that the most comfortable bed one has slept on in 5 days just happens to be the bunk in the over night train.....
You live - you learn some more!

Hot here in Bangkok!

Another sweltering day here in sunny hot Bangkok. Yesterday spent the afternoon with Deon and Corne', enjoyed a great South African Braai with them and other Friends, if it weren't for the mutant mozzies trying to carry me out of their house, I would have felt right at home! Today spent the day traversing and negotiating Bangkok traffic madness, went to the 'feather butt bird' market.... got slightly lost there (too) and eventually made it home to a welcoming cool shower and aircon room. You just gotta love technology! Andre' and Tiaan were true stars as they played non-stop while in the car.

 

When the river rises, who needs a kitchen sink?

So, the river did not rise enough here and hence the need for the use of a kitchen sink!

Pictures to follow shortly

Long flight.... managed to sleep some - we each had a row of three seats in the final leg, so caught some zzzzzz's.... Staying at rather a .... an....... interesting place! off to inflate mattresses... beds are really hard, uhm... never mind!

 Llew was misbehaving-again-
 Now just battling to get pictures in that are not turned over on their sides....

time are running few!!

A few hours before we need to get all these stubborn elephants onto the plane... meanwhile am looking for the matchbox!!! argh

interesting times

Well the countdown has started, though not sure when exactly it started as we seem to be running out of time... This whole thing of trying to not just fit an elephnt into a matchbox, but FIVE elephants. Somehow whenever we are due to go away for any length of time, we always need to get some major job/s completed before going off! Argh!

One week to go... so many people to meet with. So many meals to share, even more items on our 'TO DO' list. Cars need licensing- bills need paying- friends to visit-deals to strike - board meetings handled and minuted -Granny's pension to be reviewed, which entails taking 85 years worth of body to the police station to show them she lives!Library books for Granny (cuz thats wht she does!) And a few more things....

What is good is that we managed to get few days away at Dikhololo and then shot up to friend's farm just past Thabazimbi, then Saturday the 5th celebrated a 70th with friends, and now we just have six scheduled appointments with seven days to go and still one big elephant needscoercingintothematchboxandtheregoesmyspacebaragain.....

what's for dinner?

May God bless all the Slow Cookers of this world! 

We seem to have better meals when I don't have the time to cook.

That is probably revealing FAR too much!

Aug Sep data

In house:

• Well what an eventful time it has been! Things went a little pear shaped in a few different fields. The best would be to put them in point form 
• After booking to go to Bulgaria, discovered Rita’s passport had expired. And due to a mass action strike-her ‘fast tracked’ passport application was fulfilled in seven weeks! Thereby leaving no time to get visas... so- cancelled trip!
• Combi was stolen while teaching a Passage to Purpose class in Pretoria 
• Jordan had an accident with a truck while on his motorbike – writing it off - broken elbow, cannot work as he is a handyman without the use of his strong hand! 
• Jordan and his friends were returning from church and were hijacked outside the gate. He was pistol whipped and received four stitches on his head. 

All things happen for the good to those who please Him

•  We had time to help with Jordan’s company’s bookkeeping and jobs. Things are good. 
• Have New Old Combi! God is so good. With insurance payout, and various gifts to add to the needed mount, we have a replacement Combi- one year older but in much better condition. It would have cost at least R20 000 to repair our old Combi...and thanks to the Special Needs we put out, we personally only had to come up with R5000.00 to get the new one-Insurance paid out R48000, the new one cost R68000. God is good
• Jordan has had a lot of time, spending it with God, trying to find out exactly what it is God wants for his life- YWAM seems to be one of the sure options and there re a few more thoughts on the horizon. God is really good. 
• We now have lights up/down our driveway – the motion detector sort.. JP and Jordan are good too! 

  

In Ministry: 

• Sunday 3rd October sees another phase of the Passage to Purpose teachings. Implementation Point offered for all who have completed Mapping Point. 
• There is another Output Fellowship starting in the Pretoria area to accommodate the new group of students. We are so grateful for the people that have pulled in along side us and have bravely taken on the administration and communication side of the courses. 
• The Saturday evening fellowship is running well, albeit sometimes thin... which is not a bad thing as it gives room for wonderful discussions and questions and personal ministry time.

 

In Prayer:

• We thank God that we are able to be His servants in this journey. (even though there have been so many “potholes”) 
• We praise Him for continued health.  
• Please pray with us that we might fine tune our ears to His voice and be prepared to heed it.  
• We pray too that as we seek to serve God in all we do, we might continue to touch the lives of many, that others might turn their hearts towards God’s Kingdom purpose.

 In Parting:
Know that in all things, God is in control. When things seem to be going badly, or simply in our opinion askew, know deep down that God knows all and has a plan. Learn to trust Him in ALL things.

This that and a few more weeks

Rather an interesting place to be --- suddenly having a few more weeks 'added' to my time.Sometimes we wonder why things happen, or not , depending on the situation, and other times, we just go with the flow. This is certainly one of those 'go with the flow' times.
Time to do things at home.
Time to get year end bookkeeping completed.
Time to breathe before the next encounter.
Time to invest in family.
Time... just time.

......breathe in....breathe out..... breathe in.... breathe out.... and

Smell the coffee.

no passport = not going anywhere

Interesting turn of events... while filling out visa applications, I discovered that my  passport was about to expire. When making application for a new one, some inconvenient strike started up the same day ith goverment workers. What was supposed to be a 'fast tracked' passport application, wasn't. Our days are getting very few with regarding getting visa applications in in time to still be able to travel... it looks as though we wil have to cancel flights... ho hum

Awesome Africa

sometimes I just have to accept there are some things bigger than me

colour me!

early morning on the Sabie River

Sabie River just outside of Hazy View

A treat awaits

loved this time

sweet

Two Wrongs

This has to be living proof that 'Two Wrongs DON'T  make a Right'