Things have been quiet on my side for a while now and there have been a number of reasons for that. One is that there has not been very much news on Nikki's health to comment on over the last few months, but mostly, I have been in a bit of an "in between" place where I felt I needed time to put some things down for a season and re-focus. I felt peace about being in this place but more recently, I have felt that I need to pick up the (irregular) updates on the blog once again.

Through this time, I have not been able to move away from the revelation that it (life and all that that entails) is all about Jesus and our lives bringing glory to Him. As the bible says in Hebrews 12:2, "Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith...", we need to keep our eyes fixed on Him. He alone is the source of our strength, peace, joy, everything! He is the reason we live. I have no idea how I would find the strength to walk this road without Him. So now that you know a little bit about where I am at, let me tell you a bit about where Nikki is at...

Nikki has been through some very difficult stuff over the last few weeks. About a month ago, a friend whom she met through her walk with cancer (and the only person she has met to date who had the same rare diagnosis as her), Nina Furno, passed away in hospice. Nina was also a young mother and full of life and character. Her sad passing and the devastating effect it has had on her family and loved ones has really brought a bit of nasty reality into Nikki's life. Also - she has been struggling with the side-effects of the new chemo she is on. Apart from nausea, she has lost most of the layers of skin on the bottom of her hands and feet. For her, walking across a thick pile carpet feels like walking over cut glass. She is also losing her toenails and struggling a bit with her sight. I share these things not for effect or sensationalism or so that you can feel sorry for her but so that you can continue to hold Nikki and her family up in prayer and so that you know what the specific areas of prayer needs are. As always, we continue to believe our God for a miracle of total healing for Nikki.

I have also been holding little Hannah in my heart and in my prayers - She has such a soft, gentle, sensitive spirit and I feel that she is beginning to get anxious about the way things are. Please pray for peace for her precious heart. I pray that she would have a revelation of Who holds her future.

As always, we so value your prayers, love and support. Till next time...

Matt 11:28

"Come to me all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."

Still on a High!!

We are back home from our holiday but are still on a high. Actually, we were back 2 weeks ago (but I have lacked the words to describe it till now!). Wow!! We are now officially spoiled for the ordinary.

The holiday started with a train journey from Cape Town to Johannesburg on the Shoshaloza Meyl Premier Classe train. What a wonderful experience, especially for the children. We stopped for about 2 hours in Beaufort West where we had a chance to walk around on the platform and witness the most beautiful sunset before the heavens opened and treated us to the spectacle of a full on thunderstorm. A feast for the senses!! We indulged in a 4 course lunch, 5 course dinner, full breakfast and high tea (s-t-r-e-t-c-h those pants!!) and massages while aboard the train. From Johannesburg, we hired a Toyota Quantum and drove to Toulon House in the Sabi Sands conservancy (which would be our base for the rest of our stay). Wayne (Adrian's brother) and Heather and their 2 precious children, Cole and Emma, live here where Wayne is the Director of Operations for 4 luxury lodges in the area.

We were blown away by the generosity of complete strangers (Wayne’s boss & family) who gave us the use of their unbelievably beautiful holiday home in the Sabi Sands conservancy for the week. The house overlooks a rimflow pool and then the Sand River and floodplain beyond, so you can literally lie in your bed and game watch! We also had the use of their private chef - who cooked us the most amazing dinners. It goes without saying that we all gained at least 2 kg!!

We were driven around by Wayne (Adrian's brother) on an open-topped game vehicle and got to witness the best-ever sightings of Leopard (one in a tree, one with his Impala kill and another young female stalking a Water buck), a pride of Lion with their Wildebeest kill & vultures circling overhead, a Wild Dog den, Rhino, Buffalo, Hyaena and pups, Elephant, Giraffe etc. etc. etc. all at very close range. Thanks to Wayne's tireless endeavours, my dad managed to get two "lifers" (a lifer is a bird you have never before seen in your life) and that is quite an accomplishment for him! He was ecstatic! We did some very exciting night drives too and spotted Genets and Bushbabys and Night birds. Just driving through that habitat at night, listening to the sounds of the wild is an experience of a lifetime! Pete and I celebrated our 12^th Wedding Anniversary while we were there, with yet another feast at one of the lodges Wayne oversees – just amazing!

Nikki was so well throughout the trip and joined us on most of the game drives – we did an early one on most of the mornings there. In the afternoons, we generally swam in the pool, lazed on the daybeds overlooking the river and ate, ate, ate! A late afternoon game drive / sundowners / night drive would usually follow, with dinner somewhere slotted into the program.

Since being home, Nix has been to see her rheumatologist who is amazed (once again!) at her condition and how well she is. He said that she should continue to do what she has been doing (which is basically self-medicating as she is led and as the need arises) - so she asked him if she could be paid his salary for doing this (instead of paying him to tell her that she is her best doctor!) ...

I have just fetched her from her weekly horse riding session and now she is off to Chemo at Vincent Palotti hospital - so never a dull moment for her. Nikki celebrates her 36^th birthday on Monday (16 May), I can NOT believe it’s a year since we celebrated her special day with the ladies at Shelley Point.

I have tried to upload some of our holiday pics to this post but am battling a bit. Hope to get on to do it soon – when I have some time on my hands (!!!) Till then…

We are truly living the high life! Between two amazing holidays at the moment and we have just had our beautiful Penny come and visit us for 5 days. We had the most amazing, refreshing, fun filled and memorable time together. Thank you so much Pen for sharing your birthday present with us!!! We love you so xxxxxx

P.S. for those who havent seen, go and check out Nix's latest facebook profile pic - it's hysterical!

Whew - holidays flew by and the kids are back at school again! Just for a few days though, and then the Easter holidays are upon us!

We enjoyed a blissful 10 days at Shelley Point on the West Coast during the holidays - thanks to the generosity of our friends, Leen and Mies Vant'Hof who once again made their beautiful holiday home available to us. As usual, the children spent most of their time on the beach. On one of the days, an enormous shoal of baby Snoek were caught in the rock pools near the house during Spring Low Tide. It was quite a spectacle for the children to see all those fish in the rock pools. They had fun helping the stranded fish back into the deep water.

Nikki had a CT scan the week before we left and, during our stay, received news that her scan had showed a 10% improvement in her condition. Great news!
On the 23rd April, our jetsetting family are off to the Kruger for another holiday! We are so spoiled. - this time, we are taking a train to Johannesburg and driving from there into the Kruger for the week, flying home on 2 May. We are all so excited - especially the kids. They cant wait to experience the adventure of the train, plane and large animals.

Here is a pic of sweet Megan proudly showing off her catch at Shelley Point:

Celebrating 40 years of Marriage

We are in celebration mode! This week our Mom and Dad celebrate 40 years of marriage! They booked a few days away at The Arniston Hotel where they spent their honeymoon 40 years ago. We are so proud of them and the legacy they have made for us and our children.

As usual, Nikki is handling the demands of life like a champion. The extensions to their home are almost complete (they are building on an extra room to accommodate Adrian's work-from-home office) and that will be a relief. I am sure many will understand how invasive having builders in your home can be, especially for Nix who needs to rest every day. Building always seems to take longer than you plan for it to take.

Leen and Mies have kindly offered us the use of their beautiful beachfront home in Shelley Point again and we look forward to spending some time together there at the end of this month.

So we are enjoying celebrating some of the best things in life - family & relationships.

Till next time...

Hello again!

It's been a month since the last blog post (posted by Nikki) and enough is enough! To tell you the truth, I am still trying to come to terms with the fact that we are in a new year (shew!). Our holiday in the Cederberg was wonderful but, as always, definitely not long enough! My face is improving daily but the vision in my left eye is still blurred and I battle to focus so I tend to get very tired by the end of the day. But I am confident it will all come right soon.

The children have settled back into their routines at school - Hannah in Grade 2, Megs and Dan are in the same Grade R class (loving it!) and Sydney is being a very brave Tiger in Grade 0 / Tigers Class.

Nix is as amazing as ever. She is positive and strong and full of wit (how did you like her last post?) even though her new chemo makes her quite nauseous and tired. The doctors told her that she would lose her hair permanently after the intensive radiation she underwent in July / August last year. They said the dosage and intensity would permanently damage the hair follicles. As usual, she didn't accept their diagnosis and her hair is now growing back beautifully, with a lovely blonde streak down the middle parting!!!

Our mom went in on Friday for a 3rd operation on her arm after she broke it a year ago. This time they removed the titanium pin and screws they put in initially and replaced it with a plate and about 10 screws along the length of the humerus. They had to do a bone graft where one of the screws had worn the bone away. She came home from hospital yesterday and, although still very tender and nauseous from the anaesthetic (don't I know that feeling?!?!), she says that her arm already feels better. If you examine the xrays taken this time around, you can see that the bone had not bonded at all in a year. The doctors are not sure it ever will now so the plate will hold everything together for her.

Col 1:9-12 is VCC's scripture for the year, hence it is ours too:

"We ask God to give you complete understanding of what He wants to do in your lives, and we ask Him to make you wise with spiritual wisdom. Then the way you live will always honour and please the Lord, and you will continually do good, kind things to others. All the while, you will learn to know God better and better. We also pray that you will be strengthened with His glorious power so that you will have all the patience and endurance you need. May you be filled with joy, always thanking the Father, who has enabled you to share the inheritance that belongs to God's holy people." (New Life Bible)

Let your HAIR DOWN in 2011

HAPPY NEW YEAR
to all you faithful blog-readers out there!
As we kick off 2011,
I thought this little illustration would be fun...
LETS LET OUR HAIR DOWN!
We can sometimes find ourselves so over-run by demands placed on us by others, or even ourselves... stressing at things that are not important in the big picture, so why not make a concerted effort to go easy on ourselves and change our approach to stress?
It's funny how - when you're forced 'not stress'
... you can! So why not all change our approach? ... just say to yourself... This is not worth me getting worked up over! and try to walk away from it. It might take changing the subject, changing your environment (ie. go for a walk) or Shutting down the computer at reasonable time rather than working till late ...
(hello - still working on that one - it's now 11:49pm -duh!)
We should (and can) all prioritize our own health and general well-being over the demands placed on us!

Another big stress is conflict - especially with those we love,
so I thought I'd share a scripture I love which has helped me - 2 Timothy 2v22:

²² Flee also youthful lusts; but pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. ²³ But avoid foolish and ignorant disputes, knowing that they generate strife. ²⁴ And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, ²⁵ in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth, ²⁶ and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will.

What I understand is that it is a plan of the devil for us to have conflict with the ones we love, and the bible tells us here that we are to avoid foolish and stupid arguments - otherwise we are being used as pawns for the devil - doing exactly what he has planned. Kind of opens your eyes and helps when those silly arguments come up - to see them for what they are. Anyway, this has helped me in some difficult situations and... although I AM NOT PERFECT, I PROMISE YOU! it helps all the same!

Heaps of love to you all!

Nikki
ps. this wasn't supposed to sound like a lecture, it was just going to be the fun pic, but I started writing... and wrote more and more just sharing what's on my heart (and well... that's kind of just... me!)