The fun we have - holidays in Cape Town - 2014

It is holiday time again!

I love to spend time with my boys doing things we never get to do. We plan some things that do not cost a great deal and try and spend some time with each other and with some friends too.

This morning we spent time with Georgi and Sven at Rondevlei. It is a nature reserve in the Western Cape. It included the vlei or wetlands in the local area. We saw chameleons, 2 mongoose, 2 tortoises, pelicans and many other birds, hippo tracks but no hippo, a said snake but we could not see it, beautiful flowers and spiders, and insects. 

It is an outing well worth it. It costs R12 for adults and R6 for children.

This is our Thomas. 

Thomas loves to move and be active. He is a great sportsman. His fab fav sport right now is squash. He is driven and dedicated to learning all there is to learn and put it into action.

This holiday he is enjoying a three day hocky clinic and squash lessons. 

The Science centre was one of the places we visited.

 The things of science and wonder. We had a fun time with some good friends.

 Spending time with family is an unusual treat for us as we live a great distance from nearly all of them except for the lovley Jones family. Worcester here we come!!

 The evolution of man!!

 Nutella for breakfast!!

The beautiful Cape!!

#Oscar#truefreedom#forgiveness

for  Oscar

You do not know me, but I know you

I know you as the man who won a little hope for us who call ourselves South African

I know you as the runner...

the BladeRunner.

The one who despite his real life disability

fought back at life 

and won.

I heard this week a story of life 

as you lived it.

as a child and then a teen

and now all grown up

with real decisions and real life choices

with the consequences of small moments with big decisions

On a day I spoke with a teen

fresh with new ideas on age old things.

she shared of her admiration

and her strong conviction for you.

"you see"... she added almost as if I should have known this,

" every teen has done their oral on Oscar Pistorious."

You were a hero..an idol of sorts.

You held a place in our hearts and minds

 that none is suposed to hold.

It is the place reserved for a king you see

When you or I place ourselves, any-one, another

in that place

on a throne not fit for just anyone

we create an idol

and every idol will fail us

it lies you see

and whispers sweet nothings as we are lulled to sleep

under the illusion that even you could

deliver us something

I think in part we are to blame

you rose up and we held you there

and now you crash and fall

the idol has awokended the giant within

and we are hungry for blood

your blood

because after all someone must pay

Now, today, again as you raise your head

and fight for your life

I got to thinking and so to writing.

You see, you do not know me, yet I see you

I see a man in pain and sorrow

and I, a familiar fellow traveller

on the road of loss and grief

heard
I saw!

Do you grieve for the loss of the woman you killed

or is it the potential loss of all you have created

that false ivory tower that wealth builds..
is it this life you grieve

and yet I see your

pain

sadness

sorrow

and grief

and for a while I allowed myself the luxury of seeing you

and I felt pity 

and so I pray

You fight for your freedom but you will remain in bondage no matter what the outcome

Real freedom does not come from a judges gavel

It is to be found at the foot of quite another kind of wood.

Here you will find real freedom

 that comes from really confronting the darkness within

and instead of fleeing from yourself 

and blaming the life that was

 the crime that is

 the fear the rules

 take  a long and real look at your very dark and broken self

and take it all

to the foot of the one who created your very soul.

The only person who can set you free

is the one who hung on the tree.

It is here that you will find real freedom

despite the outcome of this trial.

you may walk free or be confined by bars

but neither will bring real ,

soul freedom

if your sorrow leads you

to repentance

repentance

 leads you to salvation

and with this real salvation you will be set free.

But

with the sorrow that this world offers

if you press into it

you will only find death and decay

regret and forever sadness.

so I urge you
 turn from your act of madness

honestly and courageously

turn to him

the One

He

 will really save you from yourself
and from quite another judgement
the real judge of all

He is able to 

 give you life and freedom 

in abundance.

He will set you free indeed!

Thoughts on : When our child is faced with dissapointment.

This world , with its focus on success and triumph, will offer its share of dissapointments. Our children are not immune from this. As with most of the difficulties of being a good enough parent, I find the hard, painful dissapointments of some of the trickiest and personally painful. 

This new week at school began with tears and dissapointment. 

Holidays were over and school is back on. 

The reality of this is no small thing for any ADHD child.

One of our sons has a strong competative aspect to his nature. This is a good thing for him for various reasons. But it also means that he sets his aim very, very high and sometimes he does not reach this target.

Dissapointment is a constant friend when sometimes striving fails.

I am learning to hold his dissapointment with tenderness and care. I am learning to help him feel it and grieve it and thats ok. Today, again, I found myself on my spiritual knees before the Father asking for  the right words..... for wisdom. 

Today again I found myself being able to offer those real words of life. I held them out to our precious son and watched as he listened and drank. 

I talked about the reality of dissapointments that this life has in store for him. I reminded him that God has a plan for him and that plan is good and perfect. That sometimes God allows these dissapointments so that we can hold the things of this world lightly and we can cling to HIM with all we have. 

Jesus is our treasure above all things.

It is painful for me to see his wounded soul and knwoing that there is absolutely nothing I can do to prevent or stop the pain. 

And yet the pain and heartache is ALL in the safe and loving careful planning and care of God.

But I can share Jesus and I can pray.

and these two things are not nothing. They are everything.

So today again , like when he was a little boy, I picked him up and held him near and whispered words of love and comfort from my heart to his. Once again , I shared my faith and my saviour and once again I entrust him to the God who will never dissapoint. 

Ever!