Once again a very happy
Christmas to all our friends in UK, South Africa and even further afield.
Our life continues to fall
into the two halves of five months spent in Fish Hoek in South Africa and the rest in
Letchworth in UK.
The first few months of
the year in South Africa were a very good time and even more than usual we came
home with mixed emotions. We love our South African life and not just because
the sun shines so much of the time but because of the warmth of our South
African friends and church. We all genuinely enjoy one another’s company.
Life in South Africa seems
to revolve around a lot of eating and chatting and South Africans are very good
at both. We have built and continued to
strengthen many relationships. Christopher plays his twice weekly men’s
golf and we both play bowls on Tuesday.
There have been some very
good prayer meetings and as South Africa held a general election in May, there
was much intercession for the nation. In addition I hold a weekly Bible study
for a small group of ladies which we all seem to enjoy.
We had a wonderful 8 days
away visiting four national parks and spending two nights at Knysna on the
Garden Route. The more we see of the country and its beautiful scenery and wildlife,
the more we appreciate it. We had some
very close encounters with a couple of elephants in Addo Elephant Park who
strolled by on each side of the car so close we could easily reach out and
touch them. The problem was we were parked in their way!
The best bit of our time though was
when Fiona, Arran and Isabel joined us. We had an amazing two weeks - on the beach,
visiting wine estates, picnics, visiting the Waterfront and generally hanging out
together.
Back in the UK our focus
is on the family. Our first weekend back we helped David and Jess move in Bristol from
their flat (up two storeys) to a new apartment they have bought which fortunately
is on the ground floor. We returned to Bristol a few weeks later and instead of lugging
furniture we walked and walked around different parts of the city, had drinks
besides the river and ate very well.
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| Clifton Suspension Bridge with David and Jess |
We see Sarah, Chris and
their two children Samuel and Keira fairly often as they live just round the
corner and we are also on hand to babysit as needed. The children are a source
of great joy to us as they know us quite well now. Chris has just started
training as a paramedic and is enjoying life out on the ambulances after
several months in the classroom and then learning to drive an ambulance.
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| Sarah and Chris |
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| Grandpa and Keira |
We get to see quite a bit
of Fiona. Arran and Isabel and had a week cat sitting for them whilst they went
off on holiday. Thame, where they live, is a lovely place to holiday and my
highlight was walking 14 km along the River Thames on a beautiful sunny day. Arran,
after spending months commuting most weeks to Brussels has also had a couple of
trips out to Australia for work.
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| Fiona, Arran, Isabel and Samuel |
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| Segway - birthday gift from Fiona and Arran |
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| At Kirstenbosch - South African national gardens |
We have not been able to
pop across the Atlantic to see Jonathan and Alyssa but they are both doing very
well and have settled into life in USA, living on campus outside Boston. They are in the process of buying an apartment. Alyssa
has a job at a nearby hospital and they have settled into a church where Jonathan works
part time as part of his master’s degree.
Life in UK means we can
overdose on some culture whether it is visiting stately homes or London or going to see a
live stream of Shakespeare from Stratford at the cinema or outings with STARS
(Seniors Taking Active Retirement Seriously) from church.
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| STARS visit to the British Museum |
The bowls season was
enjoyable but at times overwhelming and this year there was a dearth of trophies
for either of us.
However the summer in UK
was dominated by the renovations and extensions to our house which took from
beginning of June to the day before we left again for South Africa in October. We
had weeks of dust, mess and general upheaval but the end result is a new room
on the side of the kitchen, a utility room, an extended bathroom and a second
loo.
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| Before the work began |
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| Completed on the outside |
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| Completed on the inside |
We had a very enjoyable
holiday whilst our builders decimated the bathroom and spent two days on the
south coast with my brother and a weekend with the family in Bristol hosted by
David and Jess.
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| The family in Bristol |
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| Stream walking |
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| David and Christopher |
We then went for five
days to North Wales enjoying some wonderful scenery and historic castles, homes
and gardens. We came home to find we had
a partly finished beautiful bathroom but without a toilet! For the night we were left to use the
builder’s loo in the front garden which was bad enough but at 3 a.m. it was
made worse when tiptoeing into the garden and our neighbour’s security light
come on to illuminate our path! Next day
we had a loo but no door for a week or so but somehow we managed.
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| Relaxing in Wales |
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| Beautiful gardens at Plas Newydd in Anglesey |
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| Conwy walls and castle |
Jonathan and Alyssa
visited from America for two weeks in August.
We had all been invited to a wedding where it was wonderful to meet up
with old friends. Whilst Jonathan and Alyssa were here David and Jess also came
for a visit so we had a house full.
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| Christopher, Jonathan and Alyssa in London |
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| Jonathan and Alyssa in front of the poppies at the Tower of London |
David and Jess then
delighted us by getting engaged with the wedding planned for next May.
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| David and Jess |
This followed hot on the heels of our other
exciting family news which is that Fiona and Arran are expecting a baby next
March so 2015 looks like being a busy year for the Ottaways.
Back in South Africa I think it became very clear
to us that it is not just an escape from the British winter but a God given
opportunity to serve him in a different place.
All sorts of possibilities open up. I re-started the
Bible study where we have been delving into the Psalms. Christopher was invited
to share at our home group and I have been given a variety of opportunities to
speak to small ladies groups including one mainly of African women from around
the area.
It was a very exciting time with vibrant worship
(African style), passionate preaching with many ‘Hallelujahs’ and ‘Amens’ and a
ministry time of power and anointing. Ladies come long distances bringing their
little ones but they were ready to receive from God. It was like
Africa had arrived in our midst but it was fun and a real honour to be
involved.
It has been good to catch with our friends here
and we even had a night away with one couple to do some whale watching and we
were not disappointed. They were jumping and leaping and praising God.
In addition God loves to bless us with a trip and we
have been to our favourite Kruger National Park communing with the animals
and birds. We moved on to
Mapungubwe National Park on the banks of the ‘great, grey-green, greasy Limpopo
River’ in the very far north of South Africa. It has a World Heritage Site, the
ruins of a civilisation that pre-dates Great Zimbabwe. It was very, very hot but interesting.
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| Christine with a friendly nyala |
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| Overlooking the riverbed of the Limpopo River |
Our year is ending travelling back to UK to spend
Christmas with the family.
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| Arran making mince pies |
