Happy Thanksgiving 2008

Goeie more (Good Morning), dear friends!

Thanksgiving is just around the corner and I've already got my turkey in the freezer. Like last year, celebrating the special day with some of the other Canadians living in Jbay (this year that's Becky Vaughn and Adam & Ariel Driedger). My kids have already requested home-made pumpkin pie, which means making everything from scratch - including boiling the pumpkin filling and everything! (Have I mentioned lately how much I miss Costco? sigh...)

Anyway, here's what's been happening in the lives of the "Blaakies" (as Gil Dimas still calls us)...

September 22^nd – Raelynne turned 12! Wow! What a beautiful young lady! And how funny that, now that they're getting close to being "mature" teenagers, she would choose to have a "baby" party! Yup! It's true! All of the party-ers came dressed up like babies! We served "baby" food, apple juice in baby bottles, played "baby" games, and watched "Kindergarten Cop". It was hilarious! What a fun bunch of girls!
September 4^th – Rachel turned 6! Can you believe it? After spending the entire year planning and re-planning her party, she finally decided on doing a Barbie party with her friends. Mommy and Daddy helped her choose that theme because we had secretly planned to buy her a real Dream House for her Barbies! What an exciting day! And since that time, on any given day, you can always find at least 1 of the kids in the room playing dolls together. Precious memories!

July 22-23 - Erwin and some of our Worship Team leaders from Victory Church had an amazing opportunity to host a Worship Workshop in a city called George (about 4 hours down the coast). The workshop was held in the old town theatre and its purpose was to train and empower worshippers, both spiritually and practically, and to impart a mature understanding of what true worship is... to break the "worship of worship".

The organizers only expected about 20 people to attend the 2-day event, but 210 people showed up! No kidding! This was particularly awesome because there was such unity between many different church groups, as well as representation from radio stations, high schools, etc. In fact, the hunger in these people was so intense that they refused to even take a coffee break on the first night! They were like thirsty sponges, soaking up every word!

Concerning Erwin's involvement in the workshop, Adele Visser, one of the team members, wrote "We were SOOO blessed by Erwin. You know how funny he is. People were laughing even before he would crack a joke... Just the fact that he is Canadian already brought us a greater favour for ministry. Funny how people are more receptive when they hear the Gospel in another accent? But this really opened their hearts to receive from the Lord. Erwin really brought a wealth and depth in the outline of the teachings, especially about the real heart-facts about worship. God does not look at what we do - how well and how poorly - but at the heart. And yet, this truth does not give license to neglecting the growth of our gift." Well done, Erwin!

July 2008 - School holidays and our 2nd (and hopefully last) snake adventure. Some friends of ours, Rob and Laura Birch, have a house on the Kromme River, and they blessed us with the opportunity to get out of town for a few days during the school holidays in July. We thoroughly enjoyed our time there! There were no TVs, no phones, no people... unfortunately, there were snakes!
On Wednesday, after enjoying a long afternoon of playing outside and braaiing (BBQing) with friends, Erwin went to pull the garage door closed and a large, black Boomslang (a very poisonous tree snake) slid off the door and slithered into the garage! It had been hiding in the tree just outside our bedroom window, and over top of where we were playing. Aaaagh! Thankfully, Hennie and Adele Visser were there, and together the 2 men managed to smoke that thing out of its hiding spot, and as Hennie pinned it against the wall with a garden tool, Erwin cut off its head with some pruning shears. Yuck! Thank you to all of you who have been praying for our personal safety! Thank you, Father, for Your constant protection!

To add to the adventure, the very next morning the house was assaulted by a troop of Vervet monkeys! Seriously! They desperately wanted to get inside the house and eat all of the food we had sitting on the counter. We couldn't even step outside or open the window for fresh air all day until they left the area! TIA... this is Africa!

Shauna - I continue to be involved with the Reading Program at the kids' school, which has now expanded into helping to develop a new library. Have I told you yet that the school is moving into a new facility this coming January? With that move comes the development of their first library! Hooray! Our goal is to have a multi-generational library that can serve the families in the school, sell memberships to the community, and also be accessible to the various under-privileged schools in the "community" that we sponsor. Building a library is a huge job and, despite having some very knowledgeable people on the team, I often feel "in over my head." But it's also very exciting! Remember... living the "Kingdom of God" doesn't mean that you give your own children the best future possible (that's easy). Living the Kingdom means that you do it for other people's children who don't have a hope and a future! That's Kingdom thinking. That's what we're doing.

____________________

Coming home for Christmas! Well, it's official... we're coming home for Christmas this year! Hooray! We feel very strongly that it's time to come home - to rest and re-connect with friends and family! We'll be flying out of Port Elizabeth on December 3rd, and arriving in Edmonton on December 4th at 3:22pm. Our return flight isn't until January 25th, which means that we'll be able to enjoy a White Christmas with all of you! (here's a pic of our last Christmas in Edmonton in 2006)

Thank you so much to all of our precious friends and family who have blessed us with finances toward our plane tickets! To date, we've saved/collected approximately $6000! That's wonderful! Thank you! The tickets are costing $12, 481.80 so we have a little way yet to go. I'm confident that it's going to happen, and I can't wait to see you all on the "homeland"!

We really hope to be able to visit all of our friends and family during our time in Canada. If you would like to book a specific time for us to visit you (or your church) during December and January, please let us know quickly so we can accommodate everyone.

Love you guys! See you soon!

June Update - 2008

Wow! I can’t believe it’s been so long since my last update! Time has just flown! Here's what's been happening since you last heard from us... starting with today...

June 28th - Today was my birthday! (but I'm not telling you how old I am) Yup! I had a wonderful day, starting with a phone call from my mom, then breakfast in bed from my family. This afternoon, I hosted a traditional birthday tea where all my friends came to my house for birthday cake and coffee and brought me presents! Lots of fun! (even though it still feels strange to throw my own birthday party :)

June 5^th – We also celebrated our 15^th Wedding Anniversary! Woohoo! It feels like just yesterday that I marched down the isle to Erwin’s melodious voice singing “Since I Found You!” It's been 15 wonderful years with many more to come!

May 12^th - David turned 7! (Can you believe it?!) He had a “goofball” party and we rented a jumping castle (thanks to Grandpa’s generosity). With 11 grade1 boys, it was probably the loudest birthday party I’ve ever been at! When the boys went home, we gave out Whoopie cushions as the party favor (you know, those balloon pillows that make that...sound... you know.) It was hilarious!

April 26^th - Erwin turned 40 and we had a huge open house! (I lost count around 50 people) It was really a lot of fun! As you can tell from the picture, the kids had a blast choosing Daddy’s present. They bought him a goofy hat, bow tie, and a badge, and we made him wear it all day. I also bought him a professional back massage at the local spa. What a great day!

April 22-24^th - Our church hosted the National Africa Conference for Church of the Nations (CotN). It was definitely life-changing for both of us! We both felt that we went through “new gates” (individually and corporately) in our relationship with God, and in maturity, faith, anointing, leadership and in prophetic worship. You would be so thrilled to see the anointing and maturity that Erwin’s walking in these days! Wow! God’s doing sooo much in us! "Surrender" has been a big part of it.

_____________________

Other than that, we’re in a regular routine of school, homework, playing, chores, church, friends, etc. All of our beautiful “kiddies” are in school this year and they are doing sooo well. (Remember that the school year doesn’t end until December…)

Raelynne (Grade 6) – Thank you to everyone who has been praying for Raelynne and her struggle with math class! She has made a remarkable turnaround and is “ace”ing it now! Thank you Jesus! She’s also pulling off honours in most of her other classes, including her Afrikaans class too! Apparently, she has a gift for languages. Well done, Raelynne! Other interests = reading books, drama club, singing in the school choir, being with friends, going to youth group, dogs (even though we don’t have one), etc.

Joshua (Grade 4) – is doing much better this year and says that he’s definitely more settled in school and life in SA. He’s doing very well in school and is maintaining honours in all of his subjects, all except Afrikaans which is around the 70% mark. He has made some really good friends at school/church (and is actually going to youth group every Friday). He has also discovered a love for playing soccer with David and watching the Euro Cup on TV. Joshua has also discovered a love for reading and highly recommends “The Wormling” series, by Jerry B. Jenkins, to all of his Canadian friends!

David (Grade 1) – This is a season of many “firsts” for David. #1 He learned to swim during our last school break (with the help of an excellent swimming teacher)! He can now swim all the way across the pool, tread water in the deep end, and then turn around and swim back. What a relief that is! #2…He has also learned to ride his bike without training wheels! Zoom, zoom… and #3…He can read! We’ve finished working through a set of Phonics books that I brought from Canada, and now he’s reading all manner of 'young reader' books, and is basically “leading the pack” in his class! Well done, David! Other interests = playing rugby, soccer or cricket with anyone, at anytime, and any where! ("David, get that ball out of the living room!")

Rachel (Kindergarten) – Like David, Rachel has also had a ton of “firsts” this season. #1… She also learned to swim during the break. Now, she can jump into the deep end, tread water, and then swim the length of the pool to the shallow end. Hooray! #2… Rachel also took her training wheels off her bike. Now she’s a big girl too! And #3… She’s also learning to read! She has almost finished our set of Phonics readers and is making remarkable progress! Other interests = playing “dress-up” and “office” with Raelynne, and doing art, art, art! (she’s wants to be an artist when she grows up)

Erwin – He continues to be an excellent worship leader and pastor! Thursday night rehearsals with the worship team are one of my favorite times of the week – the team is growing and the “family” is enjoying rich times of worship/teaching/relationship building! He enjoys writing and working at his music in the office, but he especially loves getting out of the office and rubbing shoulders with people. From time to time, he’s a guest-lecturer for the Worship Academy students (i.e. teaching on song-writing, music theory, etc.). God is also opening doors of opportunity for some of the band members to play at a local music club in town, which is really cool! Erwin has recently been asked to develop a 2^nd year music program for the Worship Academy – a program which would have more advanced musical training, and will focus more in-depth on skills that are directly related to equipping those called to Worship Ministry. It's keeping him hopping!

Shauna – I’m still doing the Reading Program at the kids’ school and it’s going sooo well! It has definitely been one of those things that has put “gas IN my tank”. I’ve been delighted to see so many of the students discover a genuine love for reading! That’s huge! Even the teachers are participating which makes the competition that much more fun! We’ve painted the hallway outside of the school office dark blue and have converted it into the Solar System. Every student has a rocket ship and they soar through the solar system based on “how many minutes” they read... Ach, it’ll take too long to explain the whole program… just know that it’s an awesome program and I love being involved at the school!

I’m also VERY involved with the Worship Department, even more so than last year. Because the band and the vocalists/choir meet on the same night (and everyone’s schedules are too busy to meet on separate nights), I’ve been given oversight to the singers while Erwin works with the band. Nice group of Worship Academy students this year! It’s been very cool to see the entire worship team grow in their ability to sing new-songs, prophetic-songs, singing in the Spirit, as well as knowing what to do when the worship leader launches into prophetic worship. It takes a lot of energy, but it’s been so good!

I also went to a Prophetic Voice seminar a little while ago, during the training block that our church has every quarter! I’ve wanted to do it many times before, but the timing had never worked out. It was awesome! The teacher is a good friend of mine (she was actually Rachel’s preschool teacher last year) and she’s so good at “de-mystifying” the prophetic. It's supposed to be simple! "It’s all about Jesus… what is He saying?... what is His heart in this situation?... finding the gold in people (not the sin)" Lots of practical exercises too. I loved it! I’m currently helping Marinda develop/edit a manual for the Part II course that she’s working on with Pastor Louis which I’m very excited about!

Prayer Request - By this Christmas, we’ll have been gone for almost 2 years already! Didn’t that go fast? And even though we have times when we ache for friends and family in Canada, we don’t believe that our time is over yet in South Africa. In fact, so many doors of ministry and influence are just opening now, and God has not released us yet from our assignment here. Having said all of that, we feel very strongly that we are supposed to come home for Christmas this year to have a rest and to re-connect with friends and family! The kids are also aching to see their friends, be with Grandma and Grandpa, and play in the snow again! (here's a picture from December 2006) It’s time to come home for a visit. We have booked some plane tickets for the beginning of December to the middle of January, but we haven’t paid for them yet. We know that it's gonna take a financial miracle for us to do that – but crazier things have happened. And if there's one thing that we're learning first-hand is that the impossible is always possible for God! Would you please add this to your prayer list for us? (And should you wish to send an early Christmas gift towards the purchase of these tickets… that would be awesome!)

__________________

Well dear friends, once again I've written a book. I trust that you are enjoying the beautiful weather and looking forward to a restful summer holiday! We look forward to sitting with you face-to-face and chatting with you very soon!

And we bid you "tot siens" with one last picture of my "Birthday Breakfast-in-bed" this morning. What a precious family!

Joshua wins the High Jump

Oh my goodness! I just realized that I forgot to blog one of Joshua's biggest accomplishments... (So sorry, Josh)

This talented boy has recently discovered that he is a "natural" at high jump. On Friday, January 25th, Elijah School had an in-school track meet and Joshua came 1st in the High Jump with a height of 1.06 meters. (Believe it or not, this was the first time that he had ever tried the event.) Nice form, eh?!

Well, the following day, Saturday, January 26th, our school also participated in a regional track meet in a town called Patensie (about an hour away). Joshua was signed up for the high jump competetion and was totally nervous! But guess what? He not only won the event, but he ended up breaking the record in the Kouga region with a height of 1.17 meters! He had jumped 3 centimeters higher than the previous record! Wow!

Here's a picture of Joshua receiving his gold medal! Well done, Josh! You rock!

Retreat Time at Van Staden's

February was really a busy month! Josh's birthday... Chantel's funeral... Wow!
We concluded the month with our first Worship Team Advance, a 2-day retreat with everyone who could make it - from musicians to singers to technical team. What an awesome weekend! We had an amazing time of laughing, playing games, eating, and laughing some more... building relationships! We also had some amazing times of worship together! So sweet!

The venue was also breath-taking! We had the privilege of staying at the Van Staden's resort, thanks to the incredible generosity of Kobus & JJ Smit! "Thank you so much, guys, for welcoming us into your space!"

Erwin & I also want to take a moment now to "give credit where credit is due". We are so aware that the strength of this worship team really started many years ago under the leadership of Peter and Teresa Webber. Pete and Tess are now living and planting a church in Calgary, Alberta, but their hard work can still be seen in the team. "Thank you, guys, for your faithfulness over the years! You're labor is still producing fruit!"

And thanks also to everyone who came on the weekend!

We thoroughly enjoyed getting to know you better,
and look forward to a great year together!

A Tragic Day...

Today was a tragic day in Jeffreys Bay. This morning, one of the VMC 4th-year student leaders, Chantelle Windvogel, died in a tragic drowning accident. The students had been enjoying a special "family day" at St Francis beach when a freak current swept a number of students out to sea. Most of them were able to swim against the current and reach land, but two of the girls had to be pulled from the sea. Kerstie, a first year student in the Worship Academy, was thankfully able to be revived; she remains in hospital but in stable condition. Unfortunately, despite all efforts from medical personnel, Chantelle was not able to be revived. She was 21 years old.

Please remember in your prayers the Windvogel family, VMC leaders Andre & Marike von Mollendorf, Chantelle's fiance Matt Esslinger, and all of the students who tried desperately to save her.

This is a great loss to all who knew and loved her!

Joshua turns 10

Guess who just turned 10?
Yup, that's right! Joshua Evan Blaak is now a whole decade old!
His birthday was on February 19th, and how did we celebrate? We rented a huge "slippy slide" for the back yard and invited all of his friends (and his sisters) from school and church! They had a fantastic time! Nice group of kids!

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine’s Day to you!

It’s February and we are in “full-swing” here in Jeffreys Bay! But before I talk about February, I wanted to give you a quick update on our time with Grandma and Grandpa last month! What a gift!

It was such an awesome time and we got spoiled rotten! They were here for a whole month and enjoyed the warm weather and beautiful sights. They cuddled baby lions, saw penguins up close and personal, swam in the Indian Ocean (actually Mom got knocked over by the waves - so funny! see below), got sunburned on the beach, "shopped until they dropped" in open African markets, had lunch with monkeys, held a parrot, and even rode an elephant! We were even able to take them to Cape Town for a week! Beautiful! But I think that the highlight for everyone was just hanging around Jeffreys Bay and spending time together. The kids especially enjoyed riding their new bikes for Grandma and Grandpa to see. (We all got blessed with bikes for Christmas! Thanks Mom and Dad! You're so good to us!)

I’m glad to say that, in the middle of sightseeing, Mom and Dad were also able to have a good rest. The funny thing was that Dad rests best when he’s fixing or building things (lucky for us :)! And you can imagine that after a month of staying with us, he was able to fix a lot! And Mom rests best when she is cleaning or decorating! I am so blessed! Even now I look around and I can see their “fingerprints” everywhere! It makes me feel “closer” to home somehow!

Celebrating a Tropical Christmas was definitely a unique experience! We shared our celebrations with Becky Vaughn and it was so special to have her join us! For those of you who don't know Becky yet, she is a Canadian who has been living here for 4 years and is currently working at Victory4All. She's quickly becoming a dear friend! It was weird, though, having to cook a turkey in 30 degree weather. No wonder most people just serve cold cuts and salad (they probably thought to themselves “what crazy Canadians!”). Thank you, Jesus, that it actually rained on Christmas Eve, otherwise we wouldn’t have been able to stand the heat in the kitchen! But, man, that turkey tasted good! It was worth all the effort!

It was definitely tough saying goodbye to Grandma and Grandpa after such an incredible family time for all of us! There were many tears, and even Erwin didn't want them to go home! (How many sons-in-law do you know who actually WANT their in-laws to stay longer?)

"Mom and Dad, Thank You for coming to visit us!
We REALLY LOVED having you here! And you are always welcome!”

Fortunately, we didn’t really have time to feel sad because we went right back into “back to school” busyness. We’re back into regular routine now and here’s what’s happening…

Raelynne is in Grade 6

Joshua is in Grade 4
David is in Grade 1
and yes… Rachel is in Kindergarten!

Can you believe it? This is the first time in 11 years that I don’t have a preschooler at home in the mornings!!! Wow! What a change! So what is Shauna doing? Reading, walking, sewing, etc, and still actively involved in the Worship Department and in the Mentoring Program.

But I’m also excited to say that I’ve got the privilege of heading up the new reading program this year at Elijah School. It’s called “Reading to the Stars” (based on the reading program at Jackson Heights School in Edmonton) and it rewards children based on how many minutes they read, not how many books they read! The response from the student body has been overwhelming and both parents and teachers are ecstatic! I’m delighted because I love to see my own kids read, it’s something I’m passionate about, and it feels good to offer my strengths to see it happen in other families.

Erwin is also doing well. He had a good rest over the Christmas holidays and is now gearing up for our first Worship Retreat on Feb 22-23. (Watch out everyone, the “Queen of Games” is back! :) We’ve also got a whole new group of Worship Academy students, and we’re looking forward to another season of growing deeper relationships with each other and pressing into deeper places of intimacy with God! There's been such an intense expectancy in Victory Church about the coming year! God is doing some incredible things! Please pray with us that God will give us clear direction for the year and favor with everyone we come in contact with!

We love you all and miss you dearly! Please keep the emails coming—we love to hear from you!

Erwin, Shauna, Raelynne, Joshua, David & Rachel

P.S. Isn't this a great picture? Mom took it just outside Cape Town in a place called Hout Bay. What a beautiful world we live in! What precious memories!