11 weeks 2 departure

Less than 3 months/11 weeks before departure........

We have entered the stage where the count down to departure is now in weeks, rather than months. Heeee HA!!!

11 weeks to our first flight, but only 8 weeks to moving out of our house.... it all start coming together now.

So let me give you a quick wee update:

We are so thankful to God for sending us a buyer for our house. Just short of two years on the market, His timing was and is just perrrrrfect!! The missives still need to be concluded, but we are standing in faith that everything will be sorted by the 8^th of July.

I am working through all the paperwork of the various companies who gave me quotes to pack and ship our earthly possessions into a container, ready for their next life in South Africa. We had 4 companies round:

*a local Kilmarnock Removal company- doing international moves too

*Britannia Movers

*Anglo Pacific World Movers

*Doree Bonner International

According to to consultants our 'effects' will fill (and just a little bit over) a 20 foot container, so the questions is: to take or not to take..... We can go for a 40 ft and put one of the cars inside it, or we can sent the cars ro-ro (roll on and roll off) from Southampton to Port Elizabeth with a private company.

Now this is not the end yet....our 'effects' can only arrive in South Africa with us in the country, otherwise we might be charge income tax on the South African side,which will be VERY unwise. This implies that we need to have our 'effects' in storage for at least 6 months. So me thinks, the company that I can strike a deal with...or negotiate on storage...they might be the one!!! So that's a bit of number crunching ahead for me for tonight!!

We are also so pleased to have new South African friends who just moved into their home. They needed some furniture, so we've passed some things on to them already. Start of a tidying up process that will last for another few months!!! We are looking for a new home for a confection-tumble dryer, a rocking/feeding chair, TV-solid wooden stand, cot-bed and a lovely glass-ware display cupboard...let us know if you are interested or know of somebody who is.

Another pleasant announcement is that we have found the perfect family to re-home Thandi to. Tasha(originally from South Africa) her Scottish husband, Andrew and two daughters will welcome Thandi to their home in late July. Thandi will also have a older dog-'sister' Cloe. I think she will be on cloud 9!! The Duthies live in Aberdeen. Thanks to our mutual friend, Donna, we got connected. This was one of those things that I can only give God the honour for. I've trusted Him with our pooch, to get us in touch with the RIGHT family. And He did!!!

                                                                                                                                                        I've completed my last Women's 10k Sunday passed. It was such a great day! I enjoyed every minute of it.

Not my personal best time, but I made a few stops to take some pictures en route, and to hug and kiss my mini-support crew. I lost count of how many times I have taken part in this event over the last 14 years....the first time I completed the race was in 2001. 4 children later and still running!!!! I made this my Scottish Celebration Run. Will always host fond memories of this great race.

Arno will be departing on Saturday on his celebration-trip. Together with a few blokes form Bridge Church, he will be cycling form Lands End(most southern tip of England) to John O' Grotes(northern most tip of Scotland). They will attempt to have a rider on the road around the clock and to complete the 800 miles in 3 and a half days. This will be done to raise cycling road safety(one of the guys was knocked off his bike last September) and to raise funds for investing into the young generation here in Ayrshire.

I've just complete my second last exam in the run up to achieving a Degree in Practical Ministry through the Christian Family Church International Campus. Over the next month I'll sit my final exam and do a group presentation of a business plan we've been working on over the last year. The vision of the business plan is to create a structure to be built and developed upon with the aim to enlarge the church through the younger generations. I found this topic very interesting and very refreshing!!

Tour update: We've booked most of our accommodation. Still need to sort out the trekking in Nepal and finalise the itinerary for northern Thailand and India. We are slowly starting to work inwards....flights, accommodation, excursions. We've had a main frame, made up with all the destinations and BIG flights. Then we decided on the actual towns and villages we wanted to visit. Now we are booking excursions and activities. What an creative process....and I am loving every minute of it!!

The response and encouragement we are getting from people are overwhelming. Just by listening to us talking about our dream and how we are planning to accomplish it......I can see it in their eyes...it's giving people the permission to start dreaming their own dreams again. It is such a joy to see how we are encouraging people to start thinking out with the box and take a good look at their own 'impossibilities'. With God ALL things are possible!!

So what lies ahead for me, for us?? Sorting out, clearing out and loadsa tidiying-upping!! Do not forget all the partying that needs to be done......... Saturday, 28^th of June is definitely not to be missed!!!! We will be having Painting and Polli-filla Party....... Let us know if you can make it!!!

SCOTLAND!!!!!!!!

Finn McCool and a Big Roman Stronghold

With the Easter school holidays providing us with a few more opportunities to explore, we embraced life and depart ed on our second sea voyage of 2014.

This involved driving the 20min to Troon harbour and boarding a ferry to take us across the Irish Seas!! The 2 hour journey went plain sailing(!!) and we arrived just after lunch time in Larne, Northern Ireland.

Emerald Isle

 The purpose of our short weekend adventure, was to present God's amazing handiwork to the children...the Giant's Causeway.

The Giant's Causeway is a geological wonder steeped in legend and folklore. The 40 000 interlocking basalt columns is the result of intense volcanic activity, of cooling and shrinking of successive lava flows which happened 60 million years ago.....or did it???

With these extraordinary hexagon shaped rocks you can expect some Irish myth and legends will be carved into the culture of a nation. 

Here is Thomas's account of the story behind the Giant's Causeway:

The Myth Of The Giants Causeway

Finn McCool is a great Irish giant. Now he had millions of fights with a Scottish giant called Benadonner. Though they got nowhere near each other because they were on different islands.

One day Finn had had enough fights with Benadonner, so Finn built the Causeway to get to the isle of Staffa. When Finn got there he got the fright of his life Benadonner was huge then Finn ran back across to Ireland but Benadonner just spotted him and chased him over the Causeway, but while Finn was running away he lost his shoe.

When Finn got home he told his wife about Benadonner. Then his wife gave him the baby toy and said “ act as a baby”.So when Benadonner came to their house Finn's wife welcomed him in and said “Finn is out hunting”. Then Benadonner heard a wailing sound. Now Benadonner is very nosy and peered trough the curtains and thought if the baby is that big the dad is even bigger. So he ran away crushing the Causeway behind him.  

We were blessed to stay in the caravan of the Well's family between Port Rush and Port Steward and doubly blessed with Julie and Adrian who joined us in their homeland, for the weekend.

With Julie and Adrian Wells

Arno secretly organised the babysitters and I was taken out for my birthday dinner to the legendary Ice Box Restaurant in Port Steward. As we were sitting at our cozy table, overlooking the North Seas, we again wondered why we had never been in this beautiful place before??

Reflecting on our 14 years in the UK, we were reminded of all the wonderful places we have seen...and how there is a time and a place for everything. Not to think to much about lost opportunities and moments that are no more.... but focussing on soaking up the moment and enjoying it!! And that is just what we did!!!

All too soon we were woken up by the alarm clock on Monday morning(5am) to catch our ferry back. Yes, my birthday this year...had two more hours added to it!!! Yay....

Short and sweet was our wee visit to Ireland and awesome to have witnessed nature's gift to us.

Easter holidays were far from over... we had the lovely McPhail-family-of-six-from-Ceres to stay for the actually easter weekend. We have known these guys since 2002. Felt so privilege to have shared many of life's moments with them. We are always encourage by their faith and strength and their creative ways of pursuit in an eco friendly lifestyle. Luckily we will meet them one last time at Port Ban before we depart, so at least this good bye was not THAT final yet!!

With Stephen, Leigh, Ben, Iona and twins Noah and Oran

A flying visit to Hadrian's wall was next on the agenda....carpe diem. We are totally take control of every minute!! WE've made the final decision to go, round 3pm and by 5pm the car was packed(with all our camping gear, kids and dog) ready to roll. Beside exploring this ancient Roman stronghold, we also wanted to give our new 4-man VANGO lightweight travel tent a wee practice run. (We tried to pitch it inside the living room in January, but this tent actually needs pegs to hold it all in position, so that was a bit of a challenge....!!)

It was still light when we got to Herding Hill Farm campsite, just outside Haltwhistle. Pitching a tent for the first time is always a bit of a challenge, but we did ourselves proud and all the guide ropes were secured before darkness!!

Luckily we've packed the dawn sleeping bags.... we needed them. It was COLD. Arno and Alana did an awesome job of getting our meat barbecued, but we just gobbled it up quickly and then got ourselves wrapped up inside.

Tent feedback – fantastic. All 6 of us had a good sleep, not squashed and just perfect for taking with us on a trip around the world!!! The tent has a rather big porch area which was so good to prepare the breakfast in, preventing those crumbs and lost cornflakes from finding a way into our sleeping bags....At 8kg in weight for all of that, mama is smiling!!

The campsite was so lovely!! I will totally recommend staying there. Even if you own a caravan or just want to relax in a bunkhouse with friends (do not forget the tee-pees, some with jacuzzi...), there is a option for your style of doing the outdoors your way!! Wonderful kids play are and beautiful country side walks. We were really disappointed that we did not have more time to spent in this amazing place.

We were blown away by Hadrian's wall it self. 2000 year ago an imposing Roman Army were marching along this 73-mile long frontier. This used to be the northern edge of this powerful Roman Empire. The first stone was laid in 127AD and took round 6 years to complete, so that made this wall dates from the time of Christ's time on earth!!! Wow. That's perspective for you. Each of the 17 forts housed round about 600 soldiers.Although many sections of the wall does not exits today anymore, there are awesome very well preserved sections. We explore the section between the Birdoswald Roman Fort and the Housesteads Roman Fort.

There are many different theories why this wall was built; to keep the Empire protected from the barbarians form the north, or to reflect the power of Rome, and was used as a political point by Hadrian (Emperor who instructed the built) After Hadrian's death in 138, the new emperor, Antoninus Pius essentially abandoned the wall. The region near the wall remained peaceful for most of the rest of the 3rd century. It is thought that some in the garrison may have married and integrated into the local community throughout the years. In time the wall was abandoned and fell into ruin. Over the centuries the stone was reused in other local buildings.Hadrian's Wall was declared a World Heritage Site in 1987.

We were really so blessed with this opportunity to experience and present this ancient history and magnificent creation to our children.

Easter 2014 = basket filled with memories!!!!