I've posted some photos from James's International Day at school that they had recently - he decided to dress up as someone from Afghanistan with a real Afghan hat that my uncle sent him - the rest was pure improvisation! We're off next week to Kwazulu/Natal for a holiday with Danielle's parents and sister to celebrate her mom's 70th birthday! Really looking forward to it. There's lots of chickenpox going round at the moment so trying to work out what to do about that... and then it's into the Christmas holidays!

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!

Last week, James had a bone marrow biopsy, which he has every three months. The hospital called us last Friday to say that they had seen something funny in his bone marrow, from the biopsy and they would like to do more tests. So, on Tuesday he had tests on him for TB of the Bone Marrow, CMV virus and Glandular Fever. The tests have all come back negative and so the doctors have said that they want to do a bigger bone marrow biopsy than usual on James to see what is going on with him. It is tomorrow morning at 8am. We would love some prayer - for peace and grace and healing. We have been trying not to react too much until we know for sure what is going on.

Some other news...

James loved school last term but coming back after the Easter break he has been incredibly anxious about it. It hasn't helped to have lots of public holidays and some time off for medical things which have made it very stop-start and not given him a chance to get used to it again. We've found this very emotional - his teacher has been fantastically helpful.

We have had my parents here this week and we have had a lovely time together. It has been such a blessing to us (Grandad did his famous making of the boats for the kids! Charis is very proud of her pink boat!!) We all felt so sad dropping them off at the airport this evening!

James had a fantastic first day at school today. A bit nervous (the butterflies in his tummy meant he didn't eat much breakfast), but when we went to fetch him he came running out saying "I love school!" It's the honeymoon phase but it's great to start off so well.

Charis had a fun time with Danielle at Rhodes Memorial while he was there which was great; before she left Mama Mavis got a fright from a gecko in the bathroom; Charis and I went to rescue it and in the end she caught it (by accident I think) in the bath mat and was very proud of herself.

We've uploaded photos from the first day (as well as a few from saying goodbye to Andy and Louise and Mia at the airport)

The world awaits (more photos here...)

It's been a month of refocusing and recovery...

Danielle and I have still felt lots of residual stress from November and December ... I've been struggling to sleep very often and we've both been tired ... Positively we feel like this whole period has pushed us to think through what's important in life and again, and actually prioritize what we need to like never before. Putting the big stones in first - for us that means time with God in prayer and the Bible and worship, quality time with each other and the kids, and having time set aside to planning and decision making and sorting out finances (the things we naturally avoid), as well as good time with friends and family. This has been an encouraging process - we're engaging with life in a new way, and we know that in the long term it'll make a great difference to how we live. One step at a time.

James is starting preschool tomorrow - five mornings a week! It's a wonderful place run by an amazing woman - just 2 classes of 8 kids each, and she has a special place for children going through health issues so she has some understanding of the kinds of challenges he has been facing... He's a bit nervous but mostly excited (when we visited the school with him he was surprised that there were no desks to write exams - in his head school was school and he's heard about exams from our matric friends...) This is going to be a big adjustment to the daily schedule. One implication is that hopefully Charis will have good quality time with Danielle in the mornings - something she's lacked.

James's liver has been a lot better over the last two weeks - there's still discussion about whether it was caused by his drugs or a virus - he's stayed off his anti-convulsant and they've adjusted his chemo slightly, and are investigating what they would need to do if it turns out to be the chemo that's the problem (this could be fairly serious if it developed).

It was also sad to say goodbye to Anni and Richard, Debbie and Jonny and Sammy (going back to Joburg and Bedford), and then Andy and Louise and Mia (moving to the UK). James and Charis really bonded with Sammy and love Mia (as well as the grownups!) so this was hard for them. (We're buying Andy and Louise's car through a deal with my work, which is great, but no compensation!)