Bishop Blog

...to continue with Family Time

2010-10-11T07:13:00.000-07:00

Moms taking time out while the dads babysit

Troy & Tarryn just enjoying...

Thanks to all the Masons who also added so much to make our weekend so special!

Emma making sure her mum had enough to eat! Not sure what Guy is thinking???? Maybe that he had already 'tasted' so much while he was cooking that he wasn't really that hungry anymore

Uncle Guy coaching Noah in the art of golf....

Shan, the hostess who worked tirelessly to organise this weekend...you are a star!

T 'n T

The "Master Chef" at work!

Ross and Shan's lovely home and front lawn under the chestnut and oak trees.

The guys all worked very hard on cooking our meat in this fancy spit braai....not sure who was in charge, but it was worth all the hard work.

Some pics from our Family Time

2010-10-11T06:40:00.001-07:00

Emma had a ball!

Look at the expression on Jasie's face!

I love these of all the dads with their kids!

Family is so special! This is the first pic that I have of my children like this since they were teenagers!

Cuzzies - Ryan wanted a group hug but the others weren't so keen...maybe because they were afraid of being strangled!!

The best 40th ever!!

2010-10-11T05:59:00.000-07:00

Well, we had our big family weekend and what an amazing time it was.....hectic! exhausting! emtionally draining! happy!!! Yes to all of those things. It went past in the blink of an eye, but it was so, so special to finally have all my chicks under my wings for a couple of days.

We had a mad time getting enough cars to the airport to transport everyone out to the farm and then it all really started. Loren, Kris & the boys arrived first - it is the best thing ever to have your little ones run into your arms so hard that they almost knock you over! Those two little boys sure know how to make us feel loved!!

Then Guy, Ess & Emma arrived and all the cuzzies met each other and sized each other up! It didn't take long for them to all decide that the airport terminus was a huge place just waiting to be discovered and moms & dads grabbed hands and directed them all to the various waiting cars. Of course, Joburg was in the everlasting process of working on the highway leading out of town and all of us were tested as we took 45 minutes to even get clear of the traffic jams. Eventually, we were on our way and 3 tired little bunnies had a good couple of hours to catch up on much needed time out and rest!

The last few miles of the journey were the most hair-raising - you have never seen potholes like the ones on the road past the farms!!! Anyway, it was worth all the miles and and stress to all arrive and be together - the first time ever!! The hugs, kisses, tears (of course mine), the talking all at once, the kids getting to know one another and seeing all that Ross and Shan had prepared for our arrival was almost overwhelming. Ross had made the most delicious chicken potjie which was just what was needed as a very cold wind was making us remember how cold Lothair can be!

How does one describe those special days??? I can't...but will just say that it was the most amazing time that I could have imagined! I always expect too much and am then disappointed, but this time, it was even better than I could have expected. We were spoilt rotten by our precious children and the minutes just flew by! On the Sunday afternoon, on our way home after a wonderful picnic, Ryan said to me, "Grandma, this was the best day in the whole universe!" And that says it all!

I will be posting pics very slowly on this site - I have strict instructions to be very careful about putting flattering pics up, so be patient!

Family time coming up!

2010-09-07T01:34:00.000-07:00

Our family are all going to be together for the first time ever! We haven't been together since Troy and Tarryn's wedding 3 and a half years ago and we have had new additions to our family since then! We are all going out to the farm to celebrate our 40th anniversary on the weekend of 17 - 20 September, so hopefully I will have a lot of pics of our whole family to post!! Then Col and I are being flown down to stay in a lovely home in Knysna for a week....lots to look forward to!

General news

2010-09-07T01:28:00.000-07:00

Troy and Tarryn are thrilled to be on the move! Troy has been offered a teaching job at a Christian school in Hilton in KZN and will be moving down to this lovely litte house in December....we are going to miss them terribly, but it is so great for them!

More of Noah

2010-09-07T01:21:00.000-07:00

Precious little blue eyes!

Noah on the farm

2010-09-07T01:12:00.000-07:00

There are so many fun things to do here!

It sure is cold!

Noah and Pluto

More Bishop news

2010-09-07T01:02:00.001-07:00

I am a very adventurous young lady!

Grandma visited for a precious couple of days.

The Cape Town Bishops

2010-09-07T00:51:00.000-07:00

Troy and Tarryn went to visit Guy, Esther & Emma and Em loved dressing up with Tarry.

Brothers and sisters enjoying being together!

More Denekamp fun

2010-09-07T00:31:00.000-07:00

The Denekamps went to a working farm for a weekend and had a wonderful break there,

Ryan went fishing with dad and caught a fish!!!

Ryan went with mom and dad to Cape Town - this was the Soccer World Cup mascot

Ryan at school

Just catching up

2010-09-07T00:02:00.000-07:00

Well, it is about time that I did a bit of work on this blog - 7 months is a disgrace!

We have had quite a hectic year so far, that's for sure.

Our first drama happened when Loren, Kris, Ryan & Jason went off to Mauritius for a wonderful holiday which turned into a nightmare!

Jasie picked up some kind of bug and landed up in hospital over there with a severe lung infection which was causing terrible fevers and made it hard for him to breathe. The poor kids were taking it in turns to stay with J and having to schlepp an hour back and forth with R in the taxi each time. Jasie got progressively worse and we were so grateful that the Lord worked it out for the medical aid to pay for him to be airlifted back to the Parklands hospital in Durban. He then went through major surgery to try and alleviate the situation. I was able to go down to Durbs to help care for Ryan while Loren and Kris took it in turns in staying at the hospital with Jasie. Don't you love the fact that Gaga (Tigger) went through it all with him??

We thank the Lord for His incredible grace towards us in healing our precious little one and as we look at him now, we wonder if he really was so sick!! Here he is at his 2nd birthday - full of life! And look at him slip 'n sliding with his dad!!

Noah's 1st birthday

2010-02-01T04:49:00.001-08:00

Our precious littlest grandchild turns 1 year today. We were blessed to be able to spend Friday (Colin & Shannon's birthdays), Saturday and part of yesterday with them in Nelspruit! What a special time we had and were so lucky to be there yesterday when he took his first steps! What a clever little boy he is and such adorable! He kept us firmly wrapped around his little finger the whole weekend and it nearly broke my heart to have to say goodbye when we left.....!

Ryan's 1st Day at big school

2010-01-28T00:25:00.001-08:00

Ryan's Grade 00 classroom at North Coast Crawford Pre-primary.

Ryan in his school uniform on his first day of big school - doesn't look to keen!!!

Ryan and Jason with Mrs Fowlds, his teacher - talk about battling to smile??? I think that this smile is very close to tears! I just want to hug him

Catching up

2010-01-08T02:29:00.000-08:00

I decided to set up a new blog page to keep everyone posted on what is happening in our lives. So here we go again!!

It has been so hard not seeing any of our precious babies over Christmas - it just wasn't the same without those little people running around. We were able to Skype all of them on Christmas Day which eased the pain a little bit. Thank heavens for modern technology.

Ross and Shan and Noah went down to spend some time with her folks in Kwazulu-Natal and Noah loved the pool. He is growing so quickly - almost a year old already. They have now moved to Nelspruit and we miss Noah dreadfully after having him close by for the first wonderful months after he was born. We are looking forward to going down to visit them for a long weekend at the end of January.

Ryan and Jason came and spent a few days at our home in November - what a delight!

These are some of the latest pics of Emma - look how blonde her hair has gone from all the sun and see. She is now two years old and a real character. Don't you love the one of her reading on the loo!!!