Stare at the centre of this image for 20 seconds...

...And then look up! What do you see?
(HINT: you may require some faith)

Sunrise Chip 'n' Ranch

The time is correct!

From boardgames with friends, and rounding off with Johnny's (in)famous Chip & Triple Cheese "with mutton gravy" Roti's*.

Good times become great times! In this photo, Allen's "ruptured his roti".

* our wives are asleep, and three of us actually had beans + chips + cheese, only Chris ventured out into the dark realm of "mutton"

South Africa - the land of braaivleis and bil...

...Gates!

Yes, you heard me - Bill Gates!

A brief update from Kat

Bryan is once again nagging me to post something on our blog and although I love reading blogs and especially Bryan's Blah Blah Blah, I find it tough sharing news without some big event having happened. Anyway here is a brief update on what we have been doing from my perspective:

busy busy busy sums up the past few weeks/months/year!!!

Bryan and I have, for some unknown reason (possibly it's end of year madness) been super busy; late to bed and early to rise (unless like yesterday I forget the alarm clock!). I believe this is dubbed burning the candle at both ends...I think we're at the point where there is just wick curling up into cinders :P

I don't know why but every year Novemeber and December became this stressful rush to get everything done. Along with the pressures at work and totally insane work loads (I love my job but it's about 3 jobs in one); Bryan starts freaking that we still haven't got Christmas presents sorted because gone are the days when a few painted pegs, homemade truffles and Christmas cards are sufficient. We end up planning and thinking up gifts (which of course HAVE to be recorded on pages and pages of Google docs) before we leave the house because the alternative is a glaze eyed stagger around a horrible mall bumping into equally zombified shoppers and resulting in lots of money spent and not the equivalent value in spectacular gifts for everyone. All the work parties and church ministry events are happening at the same time so we have tons of events and parties to attend - all of which require you to dress up (which is a pain seeing as my clothes seem to have all shrunk!) and bring something ...food; R50 gift and energy...all in all I feel exhausted at the thought of the weeks ahead and the festivities have barely begun.
Our additional and distracting busyness is exacerbated by the excitement of planing our trip to the US (we leave on Boxing Day) which is a great opportunity afforded by my work, it is however super stressful for too very cautious decision-makers to book flights; hotels and plan the itinerary without breaking the bank and throttling each other.

I'm the only one left at work on Friday afternoon and it's 4:54pm and although I was really looking forward to a peaceful weekend, I had forgotten that I'm helping set up a stall at our church ministry fair (this involves preparing a fake snake..I'm stuffing a pink stocking; baking and icing 50 cupcakes without eating a whole bunch and finding a tree in a pot --- our stall's carnival game is bite the apple with a Garden of Eden theme); there is a YA picnic at Michell Park; I am going to a image consultant event in the morning and along with manning the stall on Sunday morning, I'm watching my adorable 3 year old niece/goddaughter (Gracie) being a moo cow in her first ever play early Sunday.

It is pretty much mayhem and although Bryan and I keep muttering to each other that we need to bring balance back into our lives as we rush past, more like speedboats than slow ocean liners in the night, we can't seem to gear down to park!

Here's hoping that somehow we get the balance back and I get a chance to sleep in and stay in pyjamas for a day!

To all you merry, slow moving people, I hope you rub off on Bryan and I :)

Waffles! A fine way to end a retreat down the coast...

Mmmm... Tasty!

Retreat time!

We've arrived!

Supper time :)

Thanks Layle & Emz!

Kids... We can wait :)

I think this picture says it all...

Welcome back Ryan

Ryan Reeves is back from the USA for ONE WEEK ONLY.

After having had to fly back to the US for his father's funeral, Ryan's made it back to RSA for a few days to meet up with his friends that he made while he was in RSA for the past year.

Friday night was a dinner & boardgames evening with some friends (Nick, Megan, Blake, Ryan, and us).

Fun, fun, fun.

For the record, Megan finally won a game of COLOSSEUM :)

Alastair Lomas-Walker

I've just received some very shocking news. Our attorney is dead!

He passed away last night after having suffered a stroke a week ago. He was married, but I'm not so sure whether he had kids or not.

Sadly, I really liked the guy - he was quirky, even though he was a no-nonsense kind of guy. I guess that's why I liked him - he'd call my Blackberry a dingleberry and he was always ready to throw away a case if he felt people were second-guessing him.

Christmas in New York!!

As many of you have probably picked up from our GOOGLE TALK statuses, we are going to New York for Christmas!

You see, Katherine's work is flying her to San Francisco for some meeting for two days, and the main guy there says he's fully booked until 21-23 December, and wanted to know if that would work for us. HECK YES! A free flight for Kat to the USA over Christmas, and free accommodation for the both of us while we're in SF? Essentially half-price to USA for Christmas? Who wouldn't want that!

News justin...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MR. JONES!

Our very dear and old (in more than one sense of the word) friend, Justin, has just hit another milestone! Our GOOGLE SMS service isn't working at the moment (stupid VODACOM) so we aren't getting our IMPORTANT DATES SMS reminders so we are a bit behind on important events, but we'll get around to having you guys over for a nice dinner and maybe a boardgame or something, to celebrate the coming of another year, and the going of more of your life :)

God bless old friend!

Senseless tragedy

Today a good friend of ours sent out an sms around midday that told us his sister-in-law had passed away.

The shock of this sudden loss, and the painful reality that it was a close friend's family, was made so much more unbearable owing to the nature of her passing - an attempted hijacking.

Usually we'd feel horrible and sad simply because it's a friend's tragedy, but for some reason we feel even more gutted than we would normally be - not sure if we've grown more compassionate over life, or because we know the bereaved personally. Whatever the circumstances for our pain, I felt the need to share.

The loss that has occurred wasn't only senseless, but far more tragic because Bianca wasn't a threat to anyone. That two would-be thieves made a decision today to do something this heinous and become murderers just completely shakes my understanding of humanity. The gravity of the events today are even more overwhelming when I consider that these two people loaded a firearm and went out to steal, and to kill. What other reason would someone have for having a loaded weapon?

Reports are disjointed at the moment, but some articles say Bianca was just shot. Plain and simple. How can someone fathom such a thing?

To the family - especially Careen, Cliff, and Bianca's brother and parents - our deepest condolences. We may never fully comprehend your pain but we feel the loss as if she were our sister too. To Hylton, we will always be here for you during this time, and well after the shock and anguish has passed. We know it's hit you hard and we have been praying for you and the rest of the families.

I want to see justice, but I also need to remember vengeance will come under God's authority. Right now we must simply thank God for bringing Bianca into everyone's lives, and pray that the Lord Almighty will be our comfort and our strength. For the Waburtons and Bianca's family, we will keep you in our prayers.

This is completely shocking and I've felt so numb - I don't know of anyone who hasn't been affected by this. This is absolutely senseless and right now is a tragedy beyond compare.

Pizza and boardgames

Thursday night is FUN night at the Johnstons!

We hosted Ryan Reeves Campus Crusader and the Botha's for make-yer-own pizza and boardgame night, and fun was clearly had by all. We didn't end up playing a single boardgame, but instead a boatload of cardgames (admittedly it's a pretty small boat).

Bronwyn McPherson (as in person) arrived with none other than Magnus Pimpus at the latter stages of the evening.

High fives for Bang! victorious sheriff (il sceriffo), Badbreath BrYan and his thar deputies Oldman Botha, and Righteous Reeves McGee.

Mom's blowout fracture

Yes, unfortunately it's official, my mom has to go under the knife again for yet another operation, and this just ten days before her 69th birthday (sorry mom, is that inappropriate?).

That fall she had a week ago has resulted in a blowout fracture to her eye socket / cheek area and she now has to undergo a bone graft and some other surgery to repair the damage and restore feeling to her face.

It's all becoming a bit much for me to handle, because I hate to see my mom in any discomfort, and I really think something needs to change for her lifestyle - she can't keep falling and breaking things - life is better than that! She deserves so much more!

Please keep her in your prayers (if you're the praying type) and I'll keep you posted on the progress and surgery etc.

Greg and Bronwyn - 2 years!

Life seems to pass us by very quickly nowadays. Our best man, Greg Landwehr, and his equally wonderful and lovely wife, Bronwyn, have been living together now for two years, and praise God they've been happily married for every single day of those two years!

Congrats guys and here's wishing you both a whole lot more of happiness and God's blessings, as well as copious amounts of little Landwehrlings clawing at your ankles :)

... speaking of which ... when are the kids coming along? :)