My first airplane ride

So this weekend we are off to Cape Town for the two oceans and a visit to my dad, a Gabby first on a plane : )

We really were not sure how this was going to go... I even told the young lady sitting next to me that I wasn't sure and I was sorry up front for what was about to happen!

Anyway, the plan was for Gabriella to sleep but she would have none of that... Sleep is so overrated. She was good though, unlike the other two screaming kids in the flight. I was really glad we were not that side of the plane by them, at one point it sounded like the Father gave one of th a smack but that just made it worse... The crying got louder and the plan just erupted in laughter!

In am hoping that the flight home will be better and the excitement of being on an airplane has worn off and out little girl will sleep.

What a week, in a good way

So this last week started out with a bang! We got a call last week to go and see the magistrate to do the final documentation for Gabriella to finally become a Payne. We were not really sure what to expect but Debs was really impressed by the conversation she had with the magistrate and said she sounded nice... Well she was super nice and we really had nothing to worry about, the longest part of the morning was the up and down in the elevator! Really it took like 15 min to get all the stuff done.

The other great part of the morning was that we got to share in the joy of the Richter Family as they also appeared before the magistrate to finalize the adoption of their daughter Danelle.

We also managed to finally get our family photos done, it has been rather hectic lately and to get Adam and us on the same day has really posed it's challenges. Anyways we finally managed to do it and had a real blast doing it... Both Adam and Sam (his wife) were truly sports in taking the pics and before we knew it we were on like 2000 photos! In the words of Sam... "you need to take hundreds to get that one perfect shot!"

Adam sent me a taster this afternoon of what to expect and I am like a cat in a hot tin roof in anticipation.

Then this Sunday we finally had our dedication for Gabriella, read up on this in the previous post "Our promise to you... Precious Gabriella" It was nice to have almost the entire family there for the occasion. I think the afternoon feast at our house was a welcomed last minute addition to the plans ; )

Our promise to you... precious Gabriella

We thank God for the Grace that he has given us and through faith the road that he has led us down to get to this point, that we can reflect our adoption in Christ through the life of Gabriella. We therefore acknowledge our responsibility to be intentional in our parenting and endevour through everyday talk to show Gabriella Christ who is the Lord and Saviour of our lives and make the best of every oppurtunity that presents itself to show our Saviour Jesus Christ to Gabriella.

We Commit ourselves to use the means of Grace that are given to us through the local Church and use every oppurtunity to expose Gabriella to the various ministries & teaching of the Church that are available to assist us in adorning the gospel to Her.

We understand and ackowledge that this is a mammoth task, and request that this our Family and our church to assist in this endevour. We call on you as family to be our eyes and ears when we cannot, and help us to raise this precious gift Gabriella in the nurture and admonition of the Lord for his honour and glory.

Business in the front... Party in the back

Preparing for Fatherhood

Hung up on the way your life will change once the baby comes? Here's something to think about.

Have you been staying up all night thinking about all the things you and your partner won't be able to do once the baby arrives — seeing the world, taking up exotic hobbies, or even just going out at night whenever the urge hits? 

At 29 weeks pregnant, instead of thinking of what you won't have in your life any more (or won't have as much opportunity for), start thinking of what you will have in your life: A very special little person to share it with.  Will your life be different (your favorite hobby becomes blowing raspberries on that chubby little belly; your late nights involve rocking instead of dancing)?  Absolutely.  Will it be better?  Immeasurably.

Something new

So today we had lunch after our WOC and one of the platers had chicken livers on it so I decided that this was a winner... And so did Gabriella, she liked it so much so that she kept coming back for more.

The aftermath wasn't so great but I suppose something new every now and then won't harm.

 

A Trophy of Grace

This post has been a long time in the making, I have had to really think about how to lay this out and when would be the most appropriate time...

Let me give you the background before I share my thoughts.

It was in November when I was on security duty at church and one of the men that was supposed to on wasn't there because he had an ear ache. That afternoon when I got to the prayer meeting I was advised that he had been rushed to hospital... that was day 1.

The following Sunday he was still in a coma... that was week 1, during the week most if not all the midweek grace group meeting were praying for this individual and his family... that was week 3.

A month later he was still in a coma, to this day he still lies there... this is week 18!

Now I am sure when you get to this point you are thinking what the heck, and what does this have to do with the title of this post? Well let me explain... if this man comes out of this is will be NOTHING short of a miracle! It would seem that the condition that the doctors think he has has only ever been reported in only 3 other people in the world. Pause and think about that for a second... only 3 other people in the whole world!

So now you see that this will be a trophy of Grace, but what if he doesn't come out of this? Does that change? No, not at all... let me explain, we need to put out theology hats on for a second here and think on the sovereignty of God, absolutely nothing happens by chance and outside of God's control. So the fact that he is lying there didn't or hasn't taken God by surprise...

"all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose" Rom 8:28 b

You see, absolutely everything happens for a reason, we may not know the reasons why but they do. We need remember that if one person get saved through this trial I the life of this family it's for God's glory and the life of this man even unto death would be a trophy of grace!

This has challenged me again (and I hope it will in your life) to think not with our hearts but with our theology.

please if you read this no matter where you may be in the world join in prayer with the family of the Brackenhurst Baptist Church that whatever may come... and we are prying that God will heal and bring this family back together, but we most certainly pray for God's will to be done!

(Please leave a comment on this post so I can use it to encourage the family of your prayers)

Our little girl is growing... at a rapid rate!

Well it's been a while since a post, our little girl is really growing up fast. Today she started crawling and it was one of those moments that we not really paying attention : )


My brother and his family came round for a visit and Gabriella was sitting on the table by his wife Tracy and while we were talking she decided to make her way across the table to Debbie... and then the penny dropped that she did that all by herself!
She has really had lots of milestone moments in the past weeks, we went on holiday a few weeks ago and she started sitting from a lie and even clapping and blowing kisses, my personal favorite was in that week she ate artichokes... yay for Gabby!!

 

WOC 2013

So this week has been one of those crazy one in the life of the BBC family, we have been celebrating our annual World Outreach Celebration. We have really been blessed by the ministry of Ronald who ministers in his home church in Lusaka Zambia.

The main drive of the conference is on the 5 Solas...

● Sola Scriptura
● Sola Gratia
● Sola Christus
● Sola Fide
● Sola Gloria

It has really been tiring coming out every night but it has really been a blessing, there is nothing more satisfying than being exhausted from fellowship and time around the scripture.