We got back on Saturday from a wonderful holiday in the Eastern Cape. We really benefited from having a concentrated chunk of time together as a family... and we got to see lots of animals, which we loved!

We had been praying particularly that James would be able to see some cheetah as they are his favourite animal ... one evening just before sunset we saw another family who said they had seen some cheetah nearby - we raced off to where they had seen them, and drove along the road but couldn't see them at all! I thought I should turn around to drive back and try find them again, and just as I was doing a U-turn they popped up over the horizon - really special. We also got to go to a cheetah breeding farm where we were all able to stroke a tame cheetah and play with some lion cubs! (Pictures to follow...) Charis's chest cleared up fairly well, but she was fairly distressed by seeing a half-eaten buffalo in Addo ("I don't think it was very good for him...").

Yesterday James had his next bone marrow test (which he wasn't not looking forward to but went fine! results should be back next week some time) and amazingly his great-grandfather was in the same ward for a scheduled check-up at the same time, so we shared a room! Then he started school this morning, and also really enjoyed it - a great relief!

We're just sitting at the airport about to go to PE for an amazing treat - a holiday in the Eastern Cape, going to the Mountain Zebra National Park and Addo Elephant National Park for 9 days!

The last few weeks have been busy in a good way with people and work. We're looking forward to a time of relaxing.

We've just come back from a wonderful four days in Volmoed, in Hermanus (where we've been before a few times). We caught up on sleep (David has only struggled with sleep for one night out of the last two weeks!), had good time with God, praying and reading Tested by Fire by John Piper (available online as The Hidden Smile of God), which gave us fresh encouragement about God's sovereign purpose... cried, played with James and Charis, made spiders, went for walks, went for a family picnic at a beautiful waterfall, collected fir cones, made a braai and some roaring fires to keep us warm in the evenings, watched movies, looked at the stars (and Venus and Jupiter) and felt very very grateful! We've uploaded some photos of the holiday.

At the start of our adventure walk to the waterfall

Peeking through the giraffe tree

Content
(more photos here...)

On the way we were listening to a recording of the story of David and Goliath, which asked the question "David didn't want any armour to protect him. What was David trusting to protect him?" Charis answered "God", and then a few seconds later, "And maybe his monster suit". Both James and Charis have a wonderful sense of humour which really makes us laugh! (Although I think she was serious this time!) When we asked them what they enjoyed most about the holiday, James said "Playing with Charis" and Charis said "The tablecloth"...

James was nervous again going back to school, so we are trying to help him with this...

And we have even more to look forward to because this coming week Joy (Danielle's sister) is coming to visit, which is so exciting!

This last few weeks it's felt as though emotions ranging from joys to griefs have been running hand in hand...

We had a week away with David's family in Vic Bay. The first time we've all gone away together since we all got married... it was really special to all be together.

Unfortunately we all seemed to contract a stomach bug while we were away, one by one (with the except of Andy and Louise and Mia) - on the Friday night James was throwing up half the night, and again once on Saturday evening; Danielle had it on Sunday afternoon (very relieved that we all made the trip down OK); Charis threw up on Sunday night, and David and James's stomachs have both been out of order most of this week... (they finally seem back to normal now)

On the way back last Sunday we heard the shocking news that Tori (one of James's few fellow child patients at the hospital) had a massive cardiac arrest and died. It left us all reeling... she had an infection and was put in ICU but then seemed to be stabilising - this was totally unexpected and hard to understand.

James still seemed very lethargic after he was over the worst of the bug so Danielle took him back to the paediatrician - his blood tests showed that his liver function is abnormal again, and his white blood cell counts were low. So they've taken him off all his oral chemo for this week (to help his blood recover before his intravenous Vincristine due next week) and his anti-convulsant as well, which should help us see if the liver is being affected by either of those drugs.

James also had an ultrasound of his liver on Tuesday morning and it showed no structural problems which is good news. And Charis and Danielle both went for blood tests at the same time so it was a family outing!

In between all of this we were celebrating Christmas. We had a great time on Christmas morning with the kids reading through the story of how Jesus was born - right from the angel appearing to Elizabeth until John the Baptised baptised Jesus. Charis is convinced that Jesus died on the cross for our fins - you know, the things on a fish like a tail - although she is gradually admitting that that's a joke.

Danielle and I are both feeling quite exhausted and stretched. It's felt like there are months that are easier and harder and this last month or two has definitely been harder! We had some good talks while we were away about how to recharge in times of stress - both of us get our energy from keeping our eyes fixed on a big vision of God - but didn't expect to need that battle to intensify straight away! I've been reading Don't Waste Your Life by John Piper which has been a refreshing and challenging stimulus.

For anyone who didn't see - we had a wonderful family holiday in the UK in July / August - there are photos of our time in London (including James's excitement at seeing Big Ben), Shetland and Bedford).

Since then we've been back in Cape Town going on with the ups and downs of life...

We had a wonderful holiday at Volmoed in Hermanus. It's a most beautiful Christian retreat center in the Hemel-en-Aarde (Heaven and Earth) valley that we've been to for church camps and also for holidays from time to time, so it was so lovely to go back there. We also had an afternoon at the beach which was just lovely for James and Charis...

Drama when I was coming back from a work meeting in Fish Hoek on Monday - Danielle was playing with the children on the field and making nests out of grass etc. They went across to another patch to collect some flowers when she noticed a massive snake sliding through the grass (probably about 8 meters away from them). She grabbed the children and took there things across to the other side of the road, but Charis then wriggled out of her arms twice to go and look (she thought it was a joke) and she had to grab her again. She called one of the men working on the farm and so him and a few others rushed to their aid, took one look at the snake, ran and grabbed a pole and dispatched of it. Turned out it was a Puff Adder so was actually very dangerous - I arrived 5 or 10 minutes later and was very relieved to find them all safe.

Had our ups and downs emotionally but was fantastic to have the space for that for all of us, to have good quality time together as a family, and especially for Danielle and I to have time out together in the evenings - we've had more chatting time than we have in ages, and of course we love that!

We came back leisurely on Friday, had breakfast together on the way, and then took James off to his appointment with the paediatric neurologist. She was absolutely brilliant - she asked detailed questions of us, was great with James, and picked up that there is indeed something a bit funny with his gait and his reflexes in his legs. She would like to seem him again when he has one of his periodic pain episodes in his legs to compare that to the base line examination she did with us, and the working hypothesis at the moment is that it could be partially a side-effect of one of the chemo drugs but may have some other complications. They're going to do tests on his nerves in his legs in a few weeks time to see if they can measure an underlying issue - if there is it probably isn't serious (especially in comparison with everything else he's gone through!) but physio etc may be the way to help it.

On Friday night we went out for yet another celebratory meal - we just feel so grateful to God for all he's done for us as a family and for each other, so we're not underdoing the celebration!

Danielle's parents have just been for two weeks and it was such a precious time - full of all kinds of activities from her dad making a model boat with James, to Danielle speaking on a students camp, to visiting penguins at the beach, to having a birthday party for James and Charis with both grandparents there for the first time. We just said goodbye to them and we're off tomorrow for a week to Hermanus to stay in a beautiful place in the mountains with lots of ducks! Very exciting...

We went away for the weekend with Ulrik and Andrea and stayed in Betty's Bay. Seems a bit crazy with only 11 days to go now before we leave and much to do - but it was actually brilliant to just have relaxed time with friends and I don't think we would have had that otherwise! James and Charis loved their little Staffy puppy called Mimi. We went for a walk to Disa Kloof and saw some baboons on the way back.

Our visa application went in and they said everything was fine but they can only issue it a few days before we leave otherwise it will expire too soon (it expires 3 months after issue). We've been making progress getting everything else ready - a very special time, sad to leave here but can't wait to be in Japan