Baby in the Sand

Something that blew my mind.... I was scrolling on my facebook page and

 directly below each other were these two pictures.... both can go by the same name.... but tell such different stories.

What name do you go by? What story do you tell?

December Data

Time for reflection
This is a time of year when one sits down reached our goals, whether we should even have goals, what we could have done to make things better or even just different. And on this note…
This past year has seen many developments. Some for the better and others just different. Some unexpected and others well yes and others! Amazed we stand at how God has been faithful throughout all. Times of growth have been in abundance, and times of laughter and tears have had their fair share through the past year too. Our focus has strengthened and our purpose has been confirmed. This is true both ministry and personally speaking. Even though there have been so many changes, one thing remains the same, and that is, we serve an almighty God. A God who remains the same yesterday, today and forever!
Ministry-wise
We are the proud members of a truly motivated team that is happily taking responsibility on all sides regarding ministry. We are blessed to know you and have them as friends. It is a refreshing time in this ministry not to be the sole carriers of the vision and we are oh so grateful for this.
We have had some interesting developments where we led a team to Asia in the beginning of this past year.
From that another team was taken by Mark and Paulien – team members- to India,
And during that time Jean-Pierre and Rita went with Kobus and Hanneke to ‘spy out the land” of Bulgaria.
All of the above are steeped in good soil and beginning to bear fruit. More details will be shared at the Midrand base on the 21^st January 2012. (watch your inbox for invite)
Family-wise
Well Jean-Pierre’s mother has had a tough ride since breaking her hip and pelvis in February but as those breaks have healed it’s just a matter of her taking up the reins of her life again…easier said than done.
Dorianne is doing well with her choice of work. Freelancing as an illustrator, designer for a few prominent companies. And loving it.
Jordan still has Handyman company yet his passion remains the bush and all that’s in it! Yes that includes snakes… sigh
Thank you so much for your continued prayers and support.
We are still called to be an EFFECTIVE link between church and missions..

that time of year

May this time ahead remind you
Of all things said and done
Of Christmas day and what it means
Though incorrect, the birth of God’s Son

... Throughout the celebrations
Let laughter, joy and cheer
Carry you and your families
Right up till the New Year

Then with your eyes on Jesus
Wide open and alert
Choose His options in your life
Like that you won’t get hurt

He is the reason for the season
As you’ve often heard before
Give all you have for Jesus
And He will surely give you more

Nations ‘out there’ need Him
Of this be rest assured
Reach out and touch the nations
And see all iniquities be cured

landed but still running

Well it has been more than a month since this spaced was scribbled on in any way.... reasons... who knows? I am glad to be back in South Africa again, though sad to have left behind stunning countries visited.
A few highlights of being away from home base are
1) reuniting with friends
2) discovering Bulgaria and subsequently establishing a foothold there.
3)time with my wonderful husband
4)many oppportunities to take great pictures :-)
5)the youngsters at home coping extremely well with any 'fires' that dared to raise their heads
6)returning home to do a major clean up and clear out of "stuff"
Catching up with things left undone during our absence is taking a lot more energy than we feel we are able to spare right now... but we will slog on! (As one is wont)

these are a few more pictures of things seen and done while away.

uncensored shots

Fun and games

We are having a wonderful time with friends! So much so that we are not even updating our blogs...But normally it is said "no News is Good News"
this is turning out to be absolutely true! Seriously though, we are really blessed to be able to just continue where we left off! After many years of separation, coming together again has been as if we were never apart. On the other hand going by the extra "laughter lines" and "highlights" we realise that years have sped by .
Pictures will follow as soon as the censor board releases them...:-)

UK at last!

It has been such a long time coming, many of our friends left South Africa in 1996 and 1997

At least three families came here to the United Kingdom, so now, for the first time we have made the step to actually come and see them.... the whole Mohammed and Mountain thing!

The weather.... one is supposed to talk about the weather whenone is in this country.... has been great! Promises from the weather forcasters of gloom and cold, but well some things are universal.

Gostilitsa!

What an exciting , precious time we have had, so far. House Hunting takes on a completely different meaning..... its there somewhere, under the overgrowth, one just has to hunt for it! LOL. This has been amazing experience. The reason that we are in this country...as far as we could see, (admittedly we are incredibly myopic) was to establish a "Foothold" in the EU. So ... the next 'obvious' step then was... oops, its Bulgaria! What about it? It's affordable - We'll take it!
So.... We did some hunting... and look what we have found! (Actually it was given to us on a platter by Father)

Now we are awaiting the response of the seller of theis amazing God Given Property to accept what we felt we should offer for the place ... and.... erm....
It gets really cold here.

There is a HUGE amount of work needed here.
It gets cold, but there is lots of wood for keeping warm....
Cost of living, erm, much the same as in Yioshne Afrika.

Russe to Turnovo

The van Tonders arrived on Saturday and its been go go go since then! Hanneke was very brave as she is the one who has a valid drivers license and she tackled the drive from Sofia to Veliko Turnovo on the ‘wrong’ side of the road, in a car where she would sit as a passenger normally, with road signs she could not decipher either! Well done Hanneke!

Jean-Pierre studying cyrillic

same thing, just spelled differently!

same same just different!

herewith a peek!

I s'pose these can be found anywhere.... well, just so you know, they are here too

Jean-Pierre's turn to do the laundry

Varna - so pretty

Dobrich- so far an absolute NO NO. We were not impreseed with this city at all.

Varna holds the third oldest Roman Ruins in the world... and this is a genuine "Ruin".... go figga.

Dobrich - one block of blocks upon each other ...eek1

more eek!

Varna has a beautiful centre... We realy liked this city.

So slack so slack!!

I understand that I have been extremely lax in updating you on this site.... excuses could be many but then again they could be of no consequence either. I am in love with this country. I love the people... weather is still a little warm for my liking but the temperatures promise to plummet soon... YAY! no seriously, I enjoy cooler weather above the hot humid sticky stuff that seems to signify the continuance of summer. Today I sat in the middle of a park with multiple choices of wifi connection.... free and no password needed either. What a bllessing that was. Okay that means absolutley no excuse for not updating this blog.... sigh. No, it is not a slog, this is a little space of creativity for me in a busy world. Pictures will follow with next posting as I am sitting at a PC that won't accept my camera card.... so till a little while... stilll withing this day's clock.....

what an honour

 
Being in a 'strange' land, meeting different people, hearing odd languages... what an honour!

Coffee ~ not quite a cup full but enough to put hairs on one's chest!

We have travelled rather extensively and apart from China, I believe this is the next in line for labelling a "confusing place".

Some local clown decided that those who cannot read their language can get lost~literally!

 But I honestly would not want to trade it for anything else right now. Having the assurance that we are where we should be at this time brings an incredible amount of inner peace.

honey pots - for honey in yogurt!

I am so thrilled with the progress being made with learning the language that I can visibly see a very large hand at work. It has basically taken ten days to be able to read the language and write it to a satisfactory degree. This is a huge help while driving (we rented a car for a few days) and for finding appropriate busstops! In a nutshell - God is good!

boats in Nessebar Harbour

a pretty

more birds! oh yes and a windmill upon entry to Nessebar Town/Island

 

A wonderful sense of history even if it is not my own...

Boats is boats is boats

Old town of Nessebar