April fools are not fools at all.

Doug and I have been married for 16 years . I am so grateful for all the good time we have shared. God has been very good to us!

One of the things Doug loves to do is read the newspaper. This is a photo of my brother Alan and Doug.

This photo was taken at Lynette's 50 party in JHB.

This photo was taken at a friends 40 a few weekends ago. A hot day at Fairveiw Estate and a good breakfast. Fun with friends.

This is a family affair.

This is one taken at Samuel's 7th party a few weeks ago. Some of the highlights of the last 16 years. 1. Living in Melville in an old, character filled home. Our first home together and I loved that spot. 2. Doug's first fish room at the bottom of that garden 3.Reading in bed together until late into the morning 4.Rosebank Union Church 5.Working full time as a teacher in Down Town JHB 6. Doug working at Magus 7.Our citi Golfs 8.Dinners with friends in Melville 9. Listening to live music 10.moving to London 11.Living and working in Oxford 12. Living and working in London 13.Backpacking around South America 14.Having very few possessions on that trip 15.adventure 16. Christ Church Bromley 17. new friends in the UK - Just lovley 18. Having our first little boy - James 20.joy joy joy - sleepless nights and tired 21.Doug working in the City 22. Pregnant with Thomas 23.Coming home 24. Living in Sea Point 25. Moving to Kennelworth 26. St James Church 27. Meeting old friends 28. meeting in the park with little children 29. coffee morning 30 new friends 31 Doug working from home 32 Thomas is born - lovely 33. buying our home 34. samuel comes along 35. constantiaberg preschool 36. sweet valley primary - the journey begins 37. Jethro is born 38.Doug moves to work away from home 39.life begins again - adventure 40. sewing ; wriggle and rhyme ; fish ; dogs and more pets; friends and lots more These are the fun times in list form. Many have been left off. Of course life is not just good times but sad and bad times too. But we serve a mighty God who is at work in our lives and in our marriage and so we look back and say Thank You Father for your kindness and love towards us. Thank you for our marriage and the work you have done.

For Doug You are more than a husband to me. You are my best friend I am so blessed to be married to you Through the fun times and through the storms through the laughter and through the tears you are...... my Dougie Your willingness to be found in God and him in you is a beautiful thing ; a dependable quality. May Our Great and Mighty Lord continue the work he has begun in us .... Happy Anniversary.

The Sausage Machine

I have not written for quite some time now. Life gets a little hectic with 4 boys at times. This week is the last of the first term and we can take a step back and breath a bit. This week has also been Parent/Teacher interview week. With term one under our belts I set off to meet the teacher of 3 of our children.

Lets start with Samuel in grade one. He has had a tough term. Although he can do all the work and is more than capable in the class , he is a little boy who lacks self- confidence. Having walked the road we have with Sam , both Doug am I are not at all surprised at how he is managing with life in grade one. What is a surprise though, is the care and kindness; wisdom and insight his teacher has shown towards him. To put it mildly I was totally blown away by her perception and her analysis and her solution. She is a gem and we are grateful to God for providing Samuel with her.

Thomas' teacher is a fairly new teacher with great ideas and a fresh look at teaching. Her positive attitude towards Tom and her interest in him was very impressive indeed. I was also very impressed with her willingness and desire to know about ADD . She was interested and helpful and keen. Another good experience.

And for the finale, I visited James' teacher today. James has our first experience of a male teacher and I was a little daunted by the prospect of chatting to him. BUT .... what a great experience. This is a teacher who is on the ball. He was insightful and caring and full of good ideas and character analysis. I was really very impressed indeed. He was easy to chat to about our concerns and all in all it was a grand and very encouraging experience....

I end with this.....

A growing sadness had begun to develop and take root in me. I had begun to feel as if this sausage machine of education was ... well ... just that - a giant sausage machine. A nasty machine that was simply not able to recognize and nurture the child as an individual with his or her gifts and talents. And in part it is that but this week I had my faith renewed in the individuals we call teachers who work and care for our children each day. I was reminded that teaching children well is indeed a calling and we have many who are called and who are doing a fine job. This blog is written to salute you and to say thank you. I am grateful to our heavenly father for each of you who are partners with us in helping our children to be who God has made them to be. I know that it is not an easy job and nor are you perfect but I am so encouraged that you do see the individual and you do see their gifts and talents and weaknesses. You see them for who they are and you work for their good. The sausage machine has a few kinks in it....