All hands on Dec day

Logs
Deqlan

All the kids proudly wearing their shirts!

For you Declan!

Keaton !

Hi Everyone

Wanted to share our photos with you from All Hands on Dec day, held 23 Dec! We recieved our t shirts and decided to proudly share our photos with you all , all in support of our little friend Declan Du Toit and the fight to cure Childhood cancer.

God Bless, please continue the prayer for Declan and all the other warriors around the world!

Christmas pics to follow!

Lots of love Mark,Samm, Deqlan, Logan

BE STILL AND KNOW THAT I AM GOD

Merry Christmas Everyone

To Our Wonderful family and friends, old and new,

Wishing you a very Merry Christmas and the most wonderful New Year ahead for you all

Words are not enough to thank you all for your love and support, prayers and guidance, warmth and generosity you have shown our family over the last year and before...

You are all 'presents' to us - the ones that count, the ones that dont disapear or break or get broken as other gifts can.

We had the most magical Christmas eve , Mark, Deqlan, Logan and I met Great Grandpa, Nanna, Meggie Conrad and Keaton at mass tonight for a most beautiful service - we sang Christmas carols and the kids did a stunning nativity play by candle light - breathtaking - i sat in the church, proudly looking at Deqlan sliding up and down the chairs , watching everyone singing, and kept saying thank You God - this is my gift - Deqlan and his health - the only gift i will ever need. The other is that Logan is with us celebrating this year - the other , we all went to mass together to celebrate the arrival of baby Jesus

We sang Holy night - my favorite Christmas carol over, more beautiful words, i think are hard to find!

Logs and Deqlan are now tucked into bed, having been read the Christmas story and excitement has started to build at the thought of Christmas morn - but, we will always always explain the true meaning and what the significance of this day really is.

We pray for all our friends that are ned, that are having treatment, that are looking for treatment, those in pain, those who have gone home to be with You Lord - we ask for Your blessing on all our friends around the world and their family and friends

Merry Merry Christmas, we love you all so much, God Bless
Mark, Samm, Deqlan and Logan

Verse: Isaiah 9:6For to us a Child is born, to us a Son is given. His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father and Prince of Peace.- Whatever we need, God has for us.- Do you need a counselor? He is the Counselor.- Do you need a father? He is the Everlasting Father.- Do you need peace? He is the Prince of Peace.- It is all wrapped up in the gift of JESUS!PRAYER: Lord, we pray for everyone reading this message. We ask You to protect, bless and provide for them during this special season. Amen.Luke 1;26-38

During Elizabeths 6 month of pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin. She was engaged to marry a man named Joseph from he family of David. Her name was Mary. The angel came to her and said, 'Greetings! The Lord has blessed you and is with you' But Mary was very startled by what the angel said and wondered what this greeting might mean. The angel said to her, ' Dont be afraid Mary, God has shown you his grace. Listen! You will become pregnant and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great ad will be called the most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of King David, his ancestor. He will rule over all the people of Jacob forever, and his kingdom will never end' Mary said to the angel,' how will this happen since I am a virgin?' The angel said to Mary, ' The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will cover you. For this reason the baby will be holy and will be called the Son of God. Now Elizabeth , your relative is also pregnant with a son though she is very old. Everyone thought she could not have a baby, but she has been pregnant for 6 months. God can do anything' Mary said, ' I am the servant of the Lord. Let this happen to me as you say!' Then the angel went away.


We've raise a tree in our hearts and instead of hanging presents, we've put names of friends & family that we love and appreciate so much. A Tree with very deep roots and strong branches so these names cant be easily shaken off. We are glad your names are boldly written on this special tree

Samms little helpers

Keaton helping Nanna clean up
Meggie and Logs decorating the biscuits

hundreds and thousands, millons and trillions!

yum, yum!

mmmmmmmmm

just tall enough to help himself!

shrek!

Logs spraying the pine cones with snow

Bev and Logs decorating pine cones!

we have been having tuns of fun the last 2 days doing real Christmas things instead of running around the shops like we do every other year. I have had lots of little helpers preparing all the ideas and Christmas goodies i have in mind for Our Christmas day celebrations.

we have been baking biscuits and icing them and decorating them and i think the people who enjoyed it the most are definitely three little elves called Deqlan, Logan and Keaton! Hundreds and thousands turned into millions and billions all over Deqlans face and hands and Nannas floor! Deqlan was covered in green icing from head to toe and Nanna in cream soda and icing from head to toe- we looked like Shreks family yesterday! Keaton was covered in dark pink icing today a, real little Christmas elf! Thank you Nanna, Logan, Meggie, Deqlan and Keaton for helping to create such lovley biscuits which i hope we are all going to enjoy on Christmas day - another true gift of Christmas time is doing things like this together as a family!

Some very sad news is that Conrads Cousins little 3 year old, Juan, suddenly passed away on Friday afternoon while he had his afternoon nap. Sending your entire family our deepest sympathies, love and prayers for Our Lords hand and guidance over you all.

Please pray for the Du Plessis family and their extended families , especiallu for Juans parents and his little brother of 3 months old.

God Bless, all our love
Mark , Samm , Deqlan and Logan
EVERYTHING IS POSSIBLE TO THOSE WHO BELIEVE
MARK 9;23

First you lick it, then you dunk it

Hannah had an absolute ball!

hey , what about me guys?

Keaton has just learnt how to wave, to precious!

lets jump Deqlan!

Happy Ethan!

in the pool, out the pool!

Megs and Claire watching their water babies- I couldnt get Deqlan out the jacuzzi for this shot

the evidence left behind in the cuboard..

oh oh - you caught me out!

the cooler box makes a great step

now how can i get up to the oreos?

Coreen entertaining Deqlan

Lisa and Keaton

Hi Caden!

its a lovely day for a guiness, dont worry, its just a sponge guiness dad!

Dub, Deqlan and Conrad

Keaton 'the slam dunk kid' Du Plessis takes on Deqlan 'strong as nails' Higgins

1, 2, 3, - youre out!

Keaton loves doing whatever Deqlan does, even if it means holding onto his pants while Deqlan moves across the floor!

Deqlan and Keaton are definitely interacting more with each other - especially since Mr Keaton is a lot more mobie now - when Deqlan is on the floor - Keaton crawls as fast as he cans and holds onto Deqlans legs! He has even discovered wrestling- its the sweetest thing to watch and its though Deqlan doesnt mind as he knows its his baby cousin.

On Monday afternoon we went past Meggie and Conrad for a little braai - we didnt stay though as Mr Deqlan was so tired, i took him home early and he fell asleep in the ca, so good call to leave early - was lovely to see everyone before everyone goes on holiday and away! Caden got his first tooth and he is growing so quickly! Kai was just chilled and relaxed, what a happy little fellow - Coreen, the blushing bride to be, was amazing with Deqlan again, they just seem to bond really well! It was also lovely to congratulate our new pregnant fairy in person, Lisa, who had a great time playing with all the boys!

On Friday Claire, Hannah and Ethan came to wish us Merry Christmas and bring some gifts for our boys - thank you so so much to you all for being such wonderful friends and for bringing the lovely gifts - never mind the gift, Deqlan is besotted with the wrapping paper Claire - he pulls the gift out from under the tree so he can touch and admire the snow flake patterns ! All the kids had a fantastic time in the water- Deqlan and i in the jacuzzi, Hannah and Keaton in the dolphin pool, with Ethan casually wathching dreaming of the day he can join them to. Then Nanna started bringing out her box of tricks and Hannah and Deqlan squeled and danced with delight at the singing skipping rope - Hannah you are to cute for words! Then out came the hose pipe and Hannah made sure we all got some water on us - everything she possibly could wet was wet - it was wonderful - I was running away with Keaton and even he got a face full of water but squeled with excitement for more - we havent laughed as much and as hard as we did in a long time - it was great and another gift of this festive season, laughing and enjoying our precious kids.

Deqlan has taken a great liking to Oreo biscuits at the moment and requests them at least 3 times during the day - he has figured out that he can open the cupboard , stand on the cooler box and reach for the oreo box all by himself. He then twists it, then he licks all the icing off, but thats where it stops, the rest is left in the cupboard! He could be the perfect Oreo add , we love watching how cute he is at his new trick!

Deqlans nappies have been awful the past week, but have greatly improved the last two days - there could be a few reasons for the upset tummy - i have put him back on probiotics & stopped the bio strath - it could also have something to do with him being very sensitive to wheat and dairy - the things he craves the most - alot of kids on the autism spectrum have issues with their gut and a lot believe that trying a gluten and wheat free diet has shown enormous improvement, even in speech - so we are definitely going to give it a try after seeing the DAN doctor in Jan. We have also made flash cards out of real photos with the word underneath in the hope of a communication tool for Deqlan , to show us what he wants instead of taking us by the hand - we want him to show us on the photo -but we will say the item to him to - this want replace the speech but will hopefully aid in the frustation of him not being able to always tell us what he wants and needs.

Logan is back with us tommorow and we are very excited to be spending Christmas all together this year - i have a lot of little things planned for the build up to the big day and hope Logs and Deqlan will enjoy them to! We are most excited to go to the childrens mass on Christmas eve - what a gift to have Deqlan Keaton and Logan blessed by Father Russel on the eve of baby Jesus birth!

Please continue praying for our soldier that he continues to remain NED forever and ever. Please continue praying for all the warriors around the world - especially those who will be spending Christmas in the hospital and away from their family and friends. I ask you for very special prayers for Yolandie and Ruan - Ruan is still recovering in ICU after his 2nd stem cell transplant - he had a lot of complications with his lungs and the cmv virus continues to prevent his bone marrow from growing - please pray that he will be healed totally and permanently from his leukimia

Please pray for baby Declan - i am awaiting an update, but believe he continues to have radiation- we recieved our ALL HANDS ON DEC tshirts on Thursday and i cant wait for the kids to wear them - in support of our little friend and to create awareness to support the cure for childhood cancers anyway you possibly can.

Let us know what your plans are for Christmas, continue to remember the true meaning of the celebratins, the birth of Our Lord and Savior.

God Bless , lots of love

Mark, Samm, Deqlan

BE STILL AND KNOW THAT I AM GOD

Happy Birthday Eloise

Dear Elie

Wishing you a fabulous Birthday for today and many many more!

We hope you are spoilt rotten, and that he gifts of love,laughter , happiness, pure joy flow from above!

Thank you for being such a great friend to me and for all the love and support you continue to give me and our little guy Deqlan!

Cant wait to see you and Peyton again, we must have a play date soon - i am sure she has grown so big!

Have a stunning day, with lots of love, God Bless, hugs and kisses

Mark, Samm, Deqlan & Logan

Happy 30th Birthday Bron!

To my dear friend Bron,

Wishing you a magical 30th Birthday today and many , many more!

We hope you have a fantastic day celebrating, we hope you are spoilt rotten and that you know your real gift is in the form of Matt and little Chene arriving next month!

Stay the very special, caring, supportive, inspiring friend you are - thank you for all you have done and continue to do for us - thank you for being such a huge part of Deqlans prayer army.

I am so glad our paths met again, and i look forward to many more adventures and journies with you Bron!

May all your dreams become a reality, know that you are loved and thought about today and every day!

Sending you lots of love and hugs , God Bless

Mark, Samm, Deqlan and Logan

Happy 50th Birthday Uncle Ken!

Nanna and Keaton enjoying the grass

Jeran taking Deqlan for a swim

I told you Deqlan is going to be a surfer...

mmmm...i wonder whats in this glass?

Keaton enjoying Aunty Henriettes Glass

Meeting Uncle Dan The family all together again!

the water boys

Justine, Aunty Shirl & Vanessa

Dear Uncle Ken,

Wishing you a huge congratulations on your 50th Birthday! What a fantastic achievement, know how very very proud we are of you!

We think you are a great uncle, inspiring godfather, a motivating, positive ,sincere, fun loving friend.

We wish you a fantastic day of celebrating and reflecting on all your amazing achievements and all those that you have your eyes set on, become that much closer in the year to come!

It was wonderful celebrating with you all on the weekend and i thought id send you some pics

-what a gift to have a lot of our family together again, its has been a loonng time and we should do it more often!

Have the most wonderful day today, fantastic holiday in the weeks to come - and we will definitely make a plan to meet up with you all along the coast!

A very Happy 50th Uncle Ken and many many more! Gods richest blessings always

All our love, God Bless

Mark, Samm, Deqlan & Logan