2011 into 2012

 

For those who missed it: Charis started 2010 really ill and missed her last year of school.  Joanna and Charis visited Thailand for three weeks in July 2010.  Joanna and Adam got married on 24 September 2010. 

2011 started off quite difficult:  After falling off a ladder, Lesley was flat on her back for 8 weeks and continued in the brace for another 5 weeks.  Life continued tough:  Martin's dad has been in hospital six times this year and had four operations.  In between he managed to turn 88!

Lesley had a small op, which was a bit tricky to recover from!
We have managed to "serve strangers" as well!


Martin leading a weekend workshop on using street art.

Martin had a huge teaching load this year: part time at two colleges and some weekends with churches. 

Lesley has worked mainly in our urban-hub project.  The big innovation there being the advent of a blog aimed at not-yet and not-anymore and not-at-all-sure Christians and others! see link below  We both have many privileged opportunities as "life coaches", formal and informal.

Right now, Martin has been painting a nativity scene on the pavement outside a shopping mall; he has spoken to witches, a JW, secularists, Christians and a Muslim, apart from the very angry shop-keeper and the dozens who have looked, enjoyed and commented. Lesley has been blogging about the Festive Season. 

We hope that you enjoy celebrating Jesus.  May God guide you as you reflect on living.

getting there

slowly ... very slowly.

But we feel cautiously encouraged that the annual renovation of space will be effective. We have worked out what we can aim to complete before Friday, and we hope to contain the remaining mess in two areas (a small office-room and a piece of work-space outside).  We have even managed to completely tick some items off the list - those who know us well will be aware that actual completion often eludes us.

 

 Lots of sorting of stray stuff has happened, a small amount must still be done this week, but several cubic metres will remain to be dealt with post holiday.  Two huge boxes of stuff went off to the charity shop, and several black bags full departed this life.  Some painting has begun, the water features are being cleaned, and a piece of our back garden is starting to realise more of its potential as a place for work and nurture.


The trouble is, there is a tension between this work and the work of being out in the urban hub.  Tension can be creative, but this just feels tiring!  Still, we trust God to use what we can manage "out there" and what we can achieve "in here". 


We also incidentally have a whole bunch of admin which MUST get done ...
for example, we have sorted out our internet connection (thanks Rory) and written a nasty letter to someone but we still need to sort out our cell phone contracts and Martin's dad's medical accounts, among others!   Of course, we are trying to be good children to Martin's parents next door: his dad came home a week ago tomorrow after his sixth stay in hospital and fourth operation in 2011.

children are important (part one)

Like everyone we love our children and think they are wonderful ... although they no longer qualify as children in any other sense, by any stretch of the imagination, they are still our children.

I'll tell you about Charis (right at right) in this post ... more about the others another time.

Charis still lives at home with us, which is very nice for us, and mostly quite nice for her.  She is nineteen and her main activity at present is frantic study for self-taught/correspondence AS levels.  This has meant studying even on holiday ... and also always being tired!

  
However Charis is a passionate actor, and can't survive without being involved in the dramatic arts (though she also provides us with more than her share of drama).  She has a job as a drama teaching assistant, is helping a friend with a production of poetry for high schools, and is preparing for Trinity Guildhall associate diploma.

This means she is extremely busy ... we are very glad that she is old enough to have her own drivers' license! 

The big question is not what she eventually wants to do.  The answer to that one is "act, help people, live a life that reflects Jesus" (please note, these are my words, but checked with her).  The big question is what next piece of education/training does God have in mind for her. 

Charis is an awesome young woman with fierce opinions, especially about justice and kindness.   She has a deep spiritual walk with Jesus, and is often a good reminder to us of how to live well.  We try to be helpful parents-of-an-adult for her, especially given the challenges she faces of living with a lot of pain (fibromyalgia).  How amazing to be parents!

Charis still participates in some of the things we do in serving strangers; she is an essential part of who we are, as well as giving us good advice (how else would we understand the latest dialect, or know some of the strange sounds of current music?), and her creativity (painting, flute, flowers, singing, wrting a novel ...) is a crucial part of home.

so we ...

collected 2nd hand books

wrote poetry

ate jolly jammers
to celebrate Jonathan's life

painted pictures

took photographs

had someone do our washing
(courtesy of Whitfireld Parish, Glossop)

had space for visitors

had space for friends

looked at the sky

enjoyed the promise

loved family

walked together

walked on the beach

walked in fynbos

HOLIDAY !!!

Sorry about the long delay in reporting ... But we finally did get to leave on holiday! 
And here we are, at Pearly Beach - between Hermanus and Aghullhas.

 In a lovely house, with a lovely fire place and space around us, and time within us.

 

 

Parents are Important

We are so fortunate to have Martin's parents, Cynthia and Philip Mostert, living next door and part of our lives at the ages of 82 and 88 respectively.  They are an example, an inspiration and a support to us.  Obviously at times they are also a worry!

 

Philip Mostert          and       Cynthia Mostert

Martin's dad was in hospital for three weeks in February for an operation and its aftermath, now he has been in hospital again for several days.  It reminds us of the frailty of our parents, and of how precious they are to us.