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!)

"Hail the heaven-born Prince of peace!

Hail the Son of righteousness!

Life and light to all He brings,

Risen with healing in His wings." (Charles Wesley)

What powerful words!

Christmas is come and gone and tomorrow morning, the Holloways are off to the spectacular Cederberg, where we will be camping for 2 weeks. 2010 is nearly done and, this morning, I was reflecting on the kindness of the Lord for all the special times spent together in 2010 and for this Christmas. It was such a precious time with our families, with memories to cherish forever. I am so tuly thankful for these times. This scripture echoes my thoughts and feelings so nicely,

"I will tell of the kindnesses of the Lord, the deeds for which He is to be praised, according to all the Lord has done for us - yes, the many good things He has done for the house of Israel, according to His compassion and many kindnesses" Isaiah 63:7

So, the next blog update will most likely be in 2011, from a revitalised, refreshed me :-) There is something in that mountain water, I tell you. I think everybody could do with a dose of it! Until then, keep believing in the One who brings life and light and who has risen with healing in His wings!

I love Christmas time! Especially the excitement of the children who are busy decorating their treehouse at Afton with their home and school-made decorations, play acting "Mary and Joseph" stories, looking out everywhere for Christmas trees and lights, singing their version of "Joy to the World"... Mostly, because we are on holiday and we get to spend so much time playing and being together.

It's been 3 weeks since my operation and I am making a slow but steady recovery. Still battling to see properly out of my left eye and my face is still partially paralyzed on the left side but every day is a little closer to "normal". Pete bought me a funky little netbook so I am enjoying updating the blog from the comfort of my bed! Yay - what a man!

Nix (there is not a "normal" word to describe her!) is doing well being her vibrant self. She went for her regular dose of chemo last week where her oncologist told her that the medical aid have stopped the funding for her regular breast chemo (Hercepton) after seeing the results of her last liver CT. She has been taking regular 3 weekly infusions of this chemo since she was diagnosed in August 2009. This is obviously not great news but the Doc is going to try to motivate for Nikki to go on to an alternative chemo to target the cancer at the source in the breast tissue. The alternative will most likely be an oral chemo. She will also continue with the regular infusions of Zometa (for bone strengthening) and the other oral chemo that she has recently started to target the sites in the liver. Initially, the Hercepton worked really well and managed to clear the breast and liver really nicely. But because of the pain in Nikki's joints as a result of her over active immune system, Doctors suggested she try another type of chemotherapy (Mabthera) which is given in 6 monthly doses and shuts down a part of the immune system. This was a trial (there is no other documented case of dual treatment with this drug together with Hercepton - in fact, I am not sure if there is any other documented case of Nikki's condition!) and, although the Mabthera seemed to have worked well to ease the pain in Nikki's joints significantly, the general feeling is that her own over active immune system was actually working really well together with the Hercepton initially to keep the cancer at bay. By shutting down the immune system with the Mabthera, it caused the cancer to spread significantly.

Nikki continues to say that this news doesn't scare her. In fact, the disease doesn't scare her one bit. Her faith is not in the medicine anyway. She refuses to feel sorry for herself (which I think is the most amazing thing as she spends a lot of time alone and in pain and has plenty opportunity). If she feels sore, she o-c-c-a-s-i-o-n-a-l-l-y allows herself a minute or two to cry (because she is human) and then decides to get up and carry on with life. A good cry can sometimes make you feel much better but self pity or worrying about things won't help or change the situation at all. We can choose our attitude in all things and Nikki has chosen to keep a good attitude and to keep her eyes on the Lord- trusting Him in all things. It is just the most amazing lesson to us all.

Thank you once again for your faithful love, friendship, support and prayers over the past year. We once again ask that you would continue to carry us all in your prayers and continue to believe our God for a miracle of complete healing and restoration for our lovely Nix.

Over the festive season remember... Jesus was born to bring "peace on the earth and goodwill to men" and Christmas time is often exactly the opposite - chaos and greed and more... I pray that you may know the incredible blessing of His love and peace at this special time, of the hope that we have in Him, and may you be blessed beyond measure in your families and relationships.