We have had an insanely busy two weeks and are feeling so drained and tired – we are so ready to come home for Christmas! This passed weekend was kind of the climax of all my efforts at work over the passed two weeks and El has been an absolute angel in helping me through it.
Two weeks back we had a surprise visit from my dad – he literally popped in for an hour and had lunch with me. He phoned me as I was walking home from the office and said that he was on his way – I didn't even know that he was in JHB! So that was fantastic! Then the next week (last weekend) Mike Horne was in JHB and spent the Sunday and Monday with us. He was playing a corporate gig in the evening out in Town and we were going to fetch him the following morning after church but we found out (just in time) that there was a massive cycle race on Sunday and that pretty much all the roads around us were going to be closed between 4am-4pm… so we decided to fetch Mike straight after his gig. So at midnight we took a drive through to Rivonia/Sandton area and were back home around 1:30am, and we were leading worship 8 hours later… that was just the start of the busyness…
On Monday last week I started off knowing that I had a lot to do, from prepping for three services (two morning services and the evening carol service) for which I was solely responsible for all three, to printing certificates for our Sunday School, finishing the editing of the Church preschool video to practicing carols and printing notices and programmes. So, I went into work with a game plan and then at 09h30 the power went off for four hours!
We continued to have another 6 power failures throughout the week, our photocopier jammed, the church computer lost half the files for the school video that I was busy with and rushing to get finished! Coupled with all these frustrations were a couple of difficult people to test my resolve. Then, to cap the work week off, MTN, who've had my cellphone for almost a month, called to let me know that it was repaired and ready for collection. So El and I went through to Northgate that afternoon to fetch it, only to be told that it actually hasn't been repaired and that because there was liquid damage they would not fix it and that I would need to buy a new phone. This was an absolute nonsense story as it is the second time that they've tried to fix it in three months and the first time they said that the problems were due to software. Now, when they realize that they might need to replace it (as per their policy) they say its not repairable and it's not their responsiblility! So I had words with the manager and they have booked it in for a THIRD time… we'll keep you updated.
El's school is busy winding down and last week we had a prize giving on the Tuesday night and their grade 7 farewell on Thursday night. On the Tuesday evening we had a power failure in the middle of the ceremony which was followed by a massive storm – so it made for a rather interesting evening. The Grade 7 farewell included an honours awards ceremony for which the headgirl took most of the awards and received two standing ovations, so it was quite a stirring evening. All of El's reports and admin are finished so she's pretty much in holiday mode already and comes home early everyday which is really awesome.
This passed weekend was really action packed. El and I had a worship commission meeting in the morning, which was followed by the preschool concert. Due to the computer issues I was unable to finish their video but managed to put a three-minute teaser together, which was well received. Then when we got home I worked on my sermon and the slides, then we went up to church to practice carols and our solo item with Catherine.
Paul and Catherine had bought Pirates of the Caribbean III so we borrowed that from them to chill a bit in the evening. I woke early on Sunday morning to finish my sermon prep and then El joined me at the second service. We had been invited to lunch with the Krige's (the people that gave us the iPod and curtains) and we drove with Paul and Catherine. They live in Dainfern, which is a STUNNING private estate. We were sent an sms for our access code and they literally scanned the car and numberplate at the entrance. We had a lovely lunch and arrived back just in time to start setting up for the carol service. All went well and the service was a great success. Many people have contacted me to say how much they enjoyed it. El, Catherine and I sang a solo item and it was such a blessing to be up their together.
We are looking forward to the next three weeks as we'll be winding down and getting ready for our long drive home – Anthony will also be staying with us for a while and we're really looking forward to having our little brother up here. We miss you all stacks!!
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