My family and other nutcases

I had an interesting childhood.  My earliest memories were actually that of stealing an eraser from a hardware store and then getting caught.  I never walked past that hardware store again, EVER. I have some vague memories which involved meeting my new sister.  Now that sounds strange but yes, its true.  There was a time suddenly in my early teens when my parents started fighting a lot.  The arguments were endless.  My father in the heat of arguments would throw things out the back door.  Nothing was spared, first the kettle, then pots, then plates and even the kitchen chairs, of which there were only 2, but they went.  All I could remember was the name Edith.  Edith whoever she was certainly caused a few problems in my home. I could never work out what on earth was going on but always thought whey does Edith not come and make herself known here.  So it turns out that prior to my Dad and Mom dating my dad (according to him) had a ...

 So the baby was born in 1998.  Jesse certainly arrived into our lives like a bomb.  He certainly was the most helpful and often when we had to leave the kids at home alone Jesse would step up to the plate as the most responsible one.  We often had to leave our kids home alone during school holidays even though all of them were under the age of 10.  Jesse would make lunch for the other 2 even though he was only 5 years old.  One thing about Jesse was that he could talk, A LOT.  Whenever we went out to the shops or anywhere for that matter, he just seem to have an endless supply of words.  One day I asked him to read all the adverts in the motoring magazine.  And so started his passion for cars.  He knew that every Tuesday, a new FREE magazine would come out and he would want to walk to the shop to check out the new stuff.  I bred a new kind of animal by doing this.  Jesse would learn all about cars this way.  He wen...

Jason in Grade 7 at Sea Point Primary receiving an award. An Outshoorn Ostrich Farm visit  Jason is such a special son.  I have such varied memories of Jason as he has grown up.  One of the earliest ones certainly was when he was a baby, he would want mommy's milk a lot.  Whenever he would wake up at night after feeding he would cry non-stop.  One night I eventually pushed him in his pram through to the lounge and closed the door.  He cried for 2 -3 minutes solid before I fetched him.  I think that may have scarred him for life.  That was when I realized that raising kids was not for sissies. He spent his primary school life at 2 schools, viz Star of the Sea and Sea Point Primary School.  At both schools he excelled academically and by the time he got to Sea Point he was doing exceptionally well.  He often finished top of the class receiving various merit awards for his efforts.  Shamwari Game Reserve. Happiness ...

This whole Visa thing can be quite stressful.   Our planning for the application of our visas was rather stressful on me, I think I aged about 10 years.  When applying for our Schengen Visas a few years, most of the groundwork was done by the travel agent so all Debbie and I had to do was show up at the Embassy and present ourselves and our passports, it was that easy. This time around however,w hen we applied online they asked a lot of questions and thankfully we could get a letter from Renata stating that she will cover all our expenses.  The applications are done online and so is the payment with the Visa costing R1522 per person.  Once you've paid they send you a checklist which has to accompany your passport when you go in to do the handover of documents.  This is where my stress levels went through the roof as according to the list you had to bring a mountain of documents with you.  Everyone that's been also tells you to take a whole mountain o...

I met a guy many years ago in Jhb, named Peter Karadas.  He had a daughter called Ashleigh.  I loved that name so much Itold Debbie that if we ever had a daughter, I would name her Ashleigh.  Any other kids could be named by Debbie, but my daughter would be Ashleigh. I remember watching her being born, when the Dr delivered her, I just burst into tears.  Tears of joy I must add but tears nontheless.  She was the most beautiful baby I had ever seen, even my friend Avril said so.  All babies look like prunes to me but Ash was so beautiful.  Amazingly she had blond hair and amazing blue eyes.  She was such an easy baby, even sleeping through the night at 6 weeks of age. This undoubtedly is and always will be my favourite picture of Ashleigh.  She would often just walk around our garden mumbling away even when she couldn't speak.  She was always a shy child and a real mom and dad's girl.  This pic was taken at our friends Cath...

I have often wondered how different our lives could have been if we mad e small decision earlier in our lives.   Many years ago, I was faced with a decision of going into full-time ministry, the choice was East London or Johannesburg.  I spend a lot of time deliberating, praying and seeking counsel so as to make the correct decision.  God laid on my heart that Johannesburg was where I had to go.  That decision ultimately decided a course which God had designed for me. During this time in Jhb (Johannesburg), I had cemented my friendship with my now wife, Debbie.  I shudder to think how much could have changed if God had pushed the East London button.  God knew what my life required as far as a partner was concerned.  Meeting Debbie was one of the best decisions that I could have made, ever.  I mean lets just put this in perspective, I am no Painting at all.  Debs is really beautiful and she could have chosen any guy out of a millio...

I was always a very shy person growing up, but Christ brought some special people into my life since getting to know Him on a personal level.  One such special person is my wife Debbie.  I met her on the docks of Port Elizabeth where we were both volunteering on the MVS Doulos.  She had long flowing hair and the hugest smile ever coupled with the most incredibly beautiful face. The first time I saw her was love.  I knew then what 'love at first sight' meant.  well lets put it this way, I met her, she does not remember meeting me.  Two years later we met again at a YFC (Youth for Christ) camp in Magaliesberg.  I knew then that God had placed this woman in my path as she literally came to the camp for the day and I saw her amongst 1200 young people outside the tabernacle.  Again she has no recollection of this meeting,  But I stuck to my guns and continued to be as charming as ever. Debbie started working for YFC, which meant that i woul...

There are a couple of issues here regarding our trip.  Firstly the pound is ridiculous and the thought of paying  R30 for a can of Coke is absurd or R60 for a cup of coffee is crazy.  Anyway lets back peddle for a bit before i get depressed.  I am a bit of a competition junkie, ever since high school when i won my first prize which was a pencil sharpener when I was in Standard 5 (Grade 7). In matric, i won a brand new car which I gave to my dad.  It was the first brand new car he ever owned.  fast forward a few years and we won a trip to Europe on a Meditteranean Cruise followed closely by a prize to Shamwari Game Reserve for our whole family for 4 days.  2 Flat screen TV's and some jewellery and stuff and the list goes on.   In October of 2017 BP ran a competition to win 300 000 Avios points.  So hold that thought for just a moment as every time that i fill my car up I get to go into the draw.  My sister called me in Decemb...

Oh my shattered nerves, the urge to write something down on paper came and then suddenly by sheer accident I stumbled on this old blog of mine.  Juslaik, reading through this has made me all nostalgic, remembering an awesome time spent with my wife.  I'm thinking about how special it was to have the opportunity to travel.  When we got back from this trip, we would constantly chat to our kids (now Adults) about just how awesome it was to adventure into other countries 'overseas' nogal.  we marvelled at the history and often spoke to them about our listening to foreign accents and seeing things from a different angle.  Our young ones would retort with "Ag here we go again'  My dream after this trip was to take my kids and go 'overseas' together as a family.  now you have to understand that taking 3 grown up, fully grow  sperm cells on any trip is going to cost an arm and a leg.  This has always detered (i don't know how to spell that sorry)...