Trains, Planes and Automobiles

Hope you all had the most beautiful, memorable, cherised Christmas ever.

We had the most beautiful day i could ever have imagined! It started off with Christmas Eve dinner made by Great Grandpa, delicious roast chicken and potatoes and salads. All the boys went off to bed and Mom, Meggie and I went for midnight mass at 1130.

The service started off singing beautiful Christmas carols - it was so beautiful and very emotional. There where tons of people there and a lot made extra effort to where very smart outfits to celebrate the occasion. I was surprised at how many children where there to - from a few week old right up until teenagers - was so wonderful to see! A lot of the carols even had different verses sung in different languages, sotha, xhosa, german, italian, portuguese, afrikaans, french you name it!

The actual service started with my favorite carol of all time Holy night, needless to say, i had tears in my eyes, what a beautiful song it is and to be in church as Father walked down , with the altar boys and girls and the candles lit on the altar, standing next to Nanna and Meggie was unforgetable. The mass was beautiful and we all went up to recieve a special Christmas Blessings - wow - what an amazing way to celebrate the birth of Jesus! He is certainly alive in our hearts and lives. We arrived home just before 2am but it was definitely worth every second.

Our beautiful soldier woke us up round 530am , so i was still very tired, but so excited to start the day off.

Deqlan was spoilt rotten! Thank you to you all for not only your gifts placed under our tree for him, but the gifts you have given us through out the year of love, support, encouragement and prayer!

He recieved a toy in every form of transport possible! I shall be sending you each personal thank you's as the list would be as long as Santa's. Deqlan recieved helicopters, cars by the dozen, trains, fire engines, books, clothes, the cutest shoes you have ever seen, blocks, little people, teddy bears, gorgeous baby einstein producrs, puzzles,frogs, even a jumping castle! Thank you to you all for the most gorgeous and thoughtful gifts! Deqlan even got two gifts from his big sister Logan that even wrote Deqlans name on the gifts herself!

I must metion my very special gift from Mark and Deqlan - Mark created 5 frames, each one with a specific theme - a dedication to me as a mom, Deqlans Christening - the start of his walk with God , all my family, and photos with mark, deqlan and me - the frames and photos took my breath away - they are magnificent and are priceless - i shall treasure them always - thank you My Love and my gorgeous Boy - i love you both more then you will ever know, this is the most stunning gift i have ever recieved! I also recieved the most beautiful and personalised gifts from the rest of my amazing family - thank you all for all the love and time you put into creating our one of a kind gifts - I love you all so very very much!

We headed off to Grandpa and Nanna's house round 1030 and our soldier fell asleep on the way there! He looked so cute, Nanna had tears of joy in here eyes when she saw him. Deqlan was dressed in his Man United outfit, with soccer shoes and gel in his hair - He looked ADORABLE - everyone wanted to eat him up.

While Our Soldier rested and caught up on some energy for the rest of the day, Great Grandpa arrived with Great Nan - what a treat it was to see her again and to have her out of her frail care home. Great Nan has not been out in nearly two years, so needless to say she was in her element. Conrad and Mark helped get her out of the car and she even remarked on Conrads strong muscles! Shame, Nan was in the best mood i have ever seen her in - she was so lovable and so grateful for her gifts and just to watch Deqlan running around was such a treat for her...this is what Christmas is really about.

We had the most DELICIOUS Christmus Lunch that Nanna so lovingly prepared ! Her table was exquisite - done is reds and golds -stunning as always! Deqlan also thoroughly enjoyed the roast turkey and lamb and roast potatoes! We all then delved into the amazing trifle Meggie made and we where all back for seconds!

Deqlan continued to run , walk , jump, sing and entertain us the rest of the afternoon!

We got home round 530 and all had a little bit of a rest after the wonderful amazing Christmas day we spent together.

Again - the real gifts of the day are The Lord sending His only Son to save us, and what we could wrap in our arms, Deqlan and each other!

We hope you also made magical memories with your families and loved ones!

To back track a bit cause its been a while since i wrote.....

Our Soldier is doing fantastically well - his appetite is wonderful, his hair gets longer by the day and he is just the light and sunshine of our lives! He has discovered a few more games he loves playing! The toilet paper, yes, the toilet paper in the bathrooms keeps him entertained for quite some time! He loves to unroll as much as he can and then tries to roll it all up again! Another favorite is Big Cook Little Cook, just like his bloved TV story , he loves to open the drawers and pull the egg lifters, spatulas, spagetthi spoons out and he walks around with his 'toys' making music by hitting them on different surfaces!

Deqlans scar looks fantastic - although it is very long and covers most of his tummy , its now a very thin line and healed beautifully.

We are still waiting on the results, but shall be patient at least into the first week of the new year for everyone to get back to work and back to normal .

Mark also went to see Logan to wish her Merry Christmas from all of us and his boot was literally packed to the brim, as she had gifts from far and wide for her Birthday and Christmas. I think she now has every single Bratz item that has ever been created - she was very chuffed! Thank you to you all for her stunning presies to! Enjoy the photos!

Nanna took on two Christmas projects this Christmas - we had a Christmas tree at church that Father asked us to decorate with spirals - this was the symbol he chose for this year showing the Jesus is the centre point in our lives.Nanna & Grandpa immediately got to work on the spirals and made all shapes and sizes for the Christmas tree , which looks to beautiful! We even made one for Deqlan, Logan and Keaton with their names on. Photos to follow soon!

The other was sweet and goody boxes for Aids orphans. A lady at our church helps this group of orphans and arranged Christmas presents for these lovely children this year . Nanna immediatley offered to put some sweets and treats together and her and Grandpa went out of there way to make the boxes look so beautiful and full of lovely goodies! Deqlan also donated some of his teddies which the children loved and clung onto ! Again, this is the true spirit of Christmas!

Aunty Sheila, Grandpas sister from Cape Town arrived yesterday! As always she brought with the most stunning presents for us all, including some very special hand made presents she put together with so much love. This included the most beautiful advent Christmas tree i have ever seen! She made this for Keaton and actually won the prize at her crafts group for best advent calender its beautiful! Among lots of beautiful gifts, was a beautiful yacht jersey she knitted for Deqlan and The cutest dungarees i have ever seen! Thanks so much Aunty Shei - its lovely to have you here and thank you so much for spoiling us rotten!

Well let me run, thank you for all your lovely Christmas wishes, we truly hope you all had a beautiful and wonderful Christmas to!

God Bless and lots of love

Mark, Samm & Logan

ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE TO THOSE WHO BELIEVE!!!!!!!!!!!