The Wilby Fam

Oct - Dec 2011

2012-01-11T10:18:00.000-08:00

WOW Time files by quick quick quick! It’s already the end of 2011!! The year flew by and we never got to update our blog so sorry for the HUGE delay!!! but you now have a 4 semester review on the Wilby's family life adventure. Enjoy the overload of NEWS from 2011 be sure to scroll on down to January 2011 and read up to this Merry Christmas blog!!
MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY HAPPY FAMILY TIME FOR ALL OF YOU OVER THE CHRISTMAS SEASON AS YOU CELEBRATE JESUS BIRTH - !!
Our semester was a busy jam packed one with so much on the go it’s hard to keep track of everyone’s activities – enjoy the read!
SCHOOL UPDATE
Troydies teacher was booked off from school for the last semester so he had to change to a new one Ms Natalie – and he just love every minute! Not quite the same as his first one but in all he coped with the change beautifully and enjoyed making friends with her.
He had his concert this semester too and I together with Granny sewed the cricket’s outfits. He was one of the crickets dressed in top hat and tails – very cute. He was most excited to have the chance to do the concert twice once for Granny’s and Grandpa’s and the twins went along to that to watch too. And then again for Dad’s and Moms. They all did such a fabulous job and the singing was excellent.

Cannot believe that it is the end of the year already and now we get ready for GRADE - R we had his orientation day and he is super excited about his new teacher YEY! In all our orientation day was a huge success and he is very happy about next year!
To end the term he had a Christmas dress up day and went as one of Santa’s elves! Loads of persuasion but finally got him to wear the elf shirt.
In all we have had a fabulous FIRST YEAR OF SCHOOL and we are thankful to the Lord for this – so blessed to be happy in the school environment!

FAMILY
An adventure for Mark has been the time to try out his fishing on a fishing ski and what a load of fun he has had practicing on the nearby dam to get the feel of it all. Think this will be a sport that he is really going to enjoy when he finds the time to venture out to back line and throw in a line.

A long time in coming but finally saved enough penny’s to recover our lounge chairs and make some new cushions. I had great fun choosing the fabric and finding the right upholsterer which took 6 months but eventually got the right deal and it has all turned out BEAUTIFUL – we are so happy with the new look lounge.
Baby Eayrs – hip hip hooray – another cousin is on the way and should arrive early Feb 2012. We are all so excited for Trent and Amber as they grow their family from 2 to 3. Praying much for them both as they enter into parenthood this is definitely one of the biggest blessings in life. Praise the Lord!
Dad Eayrs had his knee replace this semester and is on crutches and hobbling along to recovery. All is going fantastically as he rests and exercises his “new” leg. Praise the Lord for answered prayers.

CHRISTMAS TIME
We have had a great time decorating our little home to make it very “Christmassy” and the boyz have so enjoyed the lights, tree, candles, wreaths and advent calendar. We decided to try something new with our advent calendar this year and take a character and or object from the Christmas story for each day of the month of December and teach the boyz in depth about the significance of Christmas. It has been a challenge and a great joy for each of us to approach Christmas in this way.
Tan has also made extra time this Christmas time to do a craft each day with the boyz. Our craft corner in the house was full to exploding with all their handwork of reindeers, trees, angels, mangers, stars etc. and they loved each minute working and creating with mom.
The sunday school had their prize giving at church this month to end off the year and Troydie got his first prize for attendance and memory verse recital – we are very proud of him and praise the Lord for opportunity to teach our children the ways of the Lord and grow their knowledge of His word.
MINISTRY
The mom's group is going well we have about 8-9 moms for study each week and they have so enjoyed the study through Philippians. We had many outings this semester and so enjoyed each one. Two of the highlights for us was the ride along the beach on our bikes and the Christmas photo shoot where all the kids had their pics taken – what a bunch of lovely photos to save our memories.

Mark and I had the opportunity of putting our Carol service together again and we had a wonderful evening of carol singing and nativity. With over 30 in our cast with loads of toddlers all involved some of the little shepherds were throwing their fluffy sheep into the air while we sang “while Shepherds watched their flocks by night”. What a blessing to have so many involved and what a wonderful focus to have right before Christmas.
Some of our other ministry involvement for this semester included hosting and planning a baby shower for a new mommy to join our group. And Mark had the wonderful opportunity of conducting another wedding of one of our deacons to his beautiful bride – what a special day that was.
To end the year on a high note we had many year-end functions and so enjoyed each one. The young family’s met for a spit braai to celebrate Christ’s birth together and it was a fantastic evening with 17 adults and 19 children in all – yes it was loud and very festive. We praise the Lord for this wonderful group of young Christians we have been able to disciple and encourage in the Lord this year.
The Young adults group has also grown bigger this year – praise the Lord and they combined the married group and the single group for a lunch at one of the couple’s homes. We had a wonderful time of celebration together with all of them. They are a great group and we praise the Lord too for all that we have been able to teach, guide and disciple.
The woman’s ministry ended their year with a Christmas luncheon – our theme was “My life is a gift for Christ”. We had many share in testimony to the Lord for his goodness in their lives – what a blessing! We had a delicious meal of cold meats and salads with a very yummy desert. The ladies out did themselves with the décor, serving and giving.
Our ministry year ends with our Senior Pastor and his wife accepting a call to another Baptist Church in Johannesburg. Pray much with us as we step in as Interim to carry the congregation through until they have sought God’s leading in providing the suitable senior pastor. Pray for us at this cross-road in our ministry as we seek God’s specific and pleasing will for our lives as a family in ministry. We want to stay in step with Him and are praying for his leading and guiding for our future ministry for Him.
CHRISTMAS CELEBRATION
We started our family Christmas celebrations by having the Wilby family over for Christmas lunch. We had a fantastic time of fellowship around a delicious meal and so enjoyed the time together. All 7 boy cousins had great fun playing together.

We had managed to save a few penny’s to spoil the boyz with a trampoline as their Christmas present which they got early so that they could enjoy it with the cousins. Mark and I had great fun setting it up the night before as a surpise and yes they were surpised. It was a great day of much excitement as we exchanged gifts with all 7 cousins.

We had Christmas off with no ministry responsibilities in Durban so that we could travel to Johannesburg to visit Trent and Amber who is now GREAT with child. The doctors had recommended that she not travel so it worked out well for us to have the Eayrs Christmas in Joeys.

(don't you just love the moose-staches!!?)

We had 5 days of rest, relax and family time – too fun! We got to camp in T’s garden and the boyz thought this was the best ever. Loads of food, fellowship and fun was had by all. We got to play some outdoor games like corn in the hole and hillbilly golf and the boyz had loads of fun with thier new bats and balls and they all so enjoyed their present from T and Ambs – a water slide. Great giggles and laughs were had by all as they enjoyed slipping and sliding. Uncle T even had a go much to his nephews delight. We had a wonderful time together and so enjoyed time to catch up in person. Praise God for family memories and special family time.

HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS
This Christmas was one with a difference as we normally take our 3 weeks leave at the start of the New Year and enjoy that time down at Kei Mouth on the beach, fishing, swimming and playing in the sand. But with our senior pastor leaving and little leave left from 2011 we planned for a hols at home in Durbs. Following our fun filled time in Joeys we returned in time for Mark to preach the New Year service – what a blessing to bring in the New Year by starting the year in a worship service.

Troydie still had 10 days holidays so we packed each day with a fun outing and managed to get lots of beach time.

(Treyson - left & Tryston - right)
Troydie had many firsts swimming in the waves that were chest deep – he managed to do it by himself with us swimming nearby, riding and catching a wave on his little kicker board which he calls his “surfing board”. We caught great sun on the white bods so have summer tans to prove a great time in the sun. We had several days out in the garden on the jungle gym, trampoline, kicking ball and mom lazily reading under the umbrella. We celebrated New year with both sets of Grandparents and the kids so enjoyed special time spent with both of them. We had a special Fish and Chips dinner out on the Ushaka beachfront – the boys so enjoyed the sea breeze in their faces while we ate.

We also managed a visit to Ushaka’s play place with huge jungle gyms and fun slides. The twins climbed to the top for the first time ever and they thoroughly enjoyed the afternoon of activities with so much to do there. Troydie loved to shoot the water cannon and a highlight was to be PIRATES on the top of the big ship!
To end the hols we had a quick visit to the zoo near Pietermaritzburg and got to see a load of animals the boyz couldn't get over how big the lion was!
We so enjoyed a picnic lunch with the Chimpanzees shouting, swinging and acting for us. A fun filled animal visit we will never forget! We even managed one last dinner with all the Wilby fam before the new semester starts – What a wonderful holiday we had.
We are praising the Lord for his goodness in our lives for the duration of 2011 and praying that He protect, guide and lead us in and through 2012. Pray for us as 2012 has and will have many new changes and challenges especially on the ministry front. Pray that we can be godly role models to our 3 special boys, that we can train them in righteousness to be men of God. Pray to that we remain in God’s special and specific will for our lives so that we may be a blessing to each other and all that we have the huge privilege of disciple-ing.

Thank you so much for all your prayer support and interest in our lives. God’s special blessing on you and your families for 2012.

In his hands, always
Mark, Tan, Troyd, Treys & Tryst

July - September 2011

2012-01-08T06:28:00.000-08:00

PAISING GOD FOR OUR BLESSED LIVES IN HIM!
KEI MOUTH HOLIDAY
The July hols have arrived and yey we have taken some time to be away as family. We took a trip down south to our favorite beach place - Kei Mouth. We had a wonderful break a little chilly as it was the winter hols but hey we still had some beautiful days out and about. MJ celebrated his birthday and we did our famous trip to the tree house for their YUMMY YUMMY YUMMY Chocolate mud pie and had him blow out some candles to celebrate.
The twins did a little bit of fishing with Baba and daddy and they each caught their first proper fishy so they were really proud of themselves we took pictures to prove their “BIG CATCH” – this is no fish story!

We also enjoy a ride up the river to feed the fish eagles and Tan was most excited that she actually caught the eagle on camera this time! This was also the first time that the little boyz actually saw what was happening and just loved retelling the story of "the birdie that came swoosh and got a fishy"! In all we had a wonderful break with loads of food, rest, relaxing and enjoying Gods beautiful coastline.

SLUMBER PARTY
For something fun we decided to carry our pillows and blankets down stairs and do a slumber party with the boys in the lounge. We sit and laugh now as we look back on what seemed like a fantastic family night – ;0) Our evening ended with Mark and I lying on the floor – our blow up mattress decided to give up its air holding capacity so come 12 midnight we were lying flat on the floor!!! Then Mac the dog continued to bark so we let him in and he kept creeping up close and and trying to share our small mattrass space with us! Then to crown it all we used the cushions from the lounge chairs to sleep on after our air mattrass disaster and they got flatter and flatter and flatter the floor bed was HARD in the morning!!! Yes memories and yes we enjoy making them but have decided that a camp out in the lounge will have to wait until we will be sure we have a proper comfy sleelp over sleeping bed !

SCHOOL FUN DAY
This was a most exciting term as Troyd prepared for their big fundraiser at school and then the day arrived when we could go to enjoy pony rides, skittle throwing, darts, prize winning, jumping castle fun and mom even had a try at making pancakes to help on the day.
Troydie had is first big school outing with first trip in a BIG BUS! They all ventured out to the UMGENI BIRD PARK and what a load of fun they all had. Tan had the privilidge of being one of the assisting mommy's and so enjoyed spending the day with all the kiddies looking at all the beautiful birds.

SHIPWRECK
We had a ship wreck and land on our coast line this month and we took the boys for an outing to see the ship up close and on the beach. It was a blustery day out but we still had a great time and view of the huge ship!

CAMPING WEEKEND - MTUNZINI
Seen as the weather was a little cooler we thought we would try the north coast where in summer you would die of HEAT in a tent. We went camping at a place called Mtunzini. Yes it did prove to be a great fun filled weekend – we got to try out our new tent which was very comfy. The camp site was lovely and quiet with buck, zebra and loads of monkeys. The boyz loved the jungle gyms and the trampoline right nearby before they were out their PJ’s they were out there jumping.
We had one day of a visit to the beach to climb and play on the sand dunes
And one beautiful day of a trip down the river on the boat and enjoyed a lovely swim at the river mouth.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TREYSON AND TRYSTON
WOW the little minki pinkies have grown too quick !They turned 3 this month. We had a wonderful Builder Party.
With sand pit fun, jungle gym climbing and swinging, wagons with wooden blocks to build towers and Lego building blocks.
A highlight was the construction time where they got to build an airplane or boat out of wood and this proved to be great fun with hammers and nails.
They all had a wonderful time and so enjoyed their”digger cakes” filled with brownies!! YUM

They even had a BIRTHDAY RING at “Granny school” and so enjoyed the chocolate cake and crowns they got to wear!!

FAMILY
We got to celebrate with Tracy (Mark’s sister) on her soon to arrive baby boy and had a lovely tea time out with all the family. We are all so excited and praying for the safe arrival of baby Simon.

GARAGE FUN
The boys have so taken to building after the builder builder party that they now have their own work bench in Mark’s garage and spend several Saturday mornings building with wood and nails. Great fun for dad to have some special time with them all.

MINISTRY
Camping in the berg
We did the ridiculous this winter and travelled up to the Drakensberg Mountains to CAMP with the young families group. YES it was FREEZING but we all had electric blankets and blow heaters to keep us toasty warm at night. The kids loved the open spaces and the time to camp and enjoy with all their friends. We had wonderful fellowship and formed even greater friendships it was a fabulous weekend for all of us.
The Ladies met this semester to look at inner and outer beauty and had a visiting speaker to show us how to add to your outfit using a scarf. It was a great time of encouragement from God’s word on having INNER BEAUTY for Christ.
The Craft ladies met to learn how to MOSAIC and Tan so enjoyed learning a new craft together with all of them.
We as a young families group all went to a talk by an international speaker from the UK - Rob Parsons. He spoke on parenting and marriage and was a huge inspiration to all of us. Was a great outing for all the young couples they thoroughly enjoyed it.
Mom’s Group
Our mom’s bible study group has really grown in care of each other and friendships have started to grow and form together it has been wonderful to be a part of it all. We have had many fun outings so far this year, picnics to the local parks for the kids to enjoy open spaces and feeding ducks, sharing our wedding albums and memories with each other, book club afternoon where we each shared a book title and author that has inspired us, Milkshake outing on the beach, recipe swops and pizza making arvies. In all we have so enjoyed our time of fellowship and even more grown in God’s word as we have started an in-depth study of the Spiritual Arts through the book of Philippians. What a challenge to be a child of God and to live it out every day!
NAVIGATORS CLUB
Mark and I had the privilege of heading up the Children’s Bible holiday club again this year and what a blessing to have this time to speak into the hearts of children. We had the theme of “THE SEA“ and called it “Navigators Club”. Each of the leaders were a sea creatures e.g. Shark, jelly fish, dolphin etc. We had loads of fun game time with lots of running around, competitions, prizes and fun. Tan (who was the “SKIPPER”) led the worship time with a moral story from the life of TUGGIE the TUG BOAT, some singing with the guitar, taught bible memory verses which was a huge hit done with pictures – the kids really responded well to this. Mark who was “THE CAPTAIN” told the bible story of the day which was one of the sea stories from scripture, Noah, Jonah, Feeding of the 5000 etc. We also had a small group craft time were we made or colored or created something “fishy” e.g. painted fish made from egg cartons, sand art on Starfish necklaces. In all we had about 40 kids each day and so enjoyed the opportunity to encourage in the love of Jesus.

That brings us to the end of another semester in the lives of the Wilby Fam – thanks again for your support in prayer and love of us. We thank God everyday for all that each of you do for us.
God Bless you in a special way – In his Hands
Mark, Tan, Troyden, Treyson & Tryston

April - June 2011

2012-01-07T05:12:00.000-08:00

BLESSINGS FOR EASTER 2011

This semester ended with a holiday at home where we could enjoy some of our local attractions. Tan took the boyz to the botanical gardens to enjoy the open spaces to run and play and feed the ducks. They even attempted to climb the big tree!
We even had a day when the twins tried their hand at WALL ART!!! don't you just love it. Mommy's heart did sink right to her toes!!! but thank goodness it was whiteboard markers and not permanent - I had a friend comment that I should have just bought a frame and frame the wallart right there on the wall! :)
CAYLEE LODGE
We had a weekend off just before Easter and had a wonderful COLD WET weekend up on the Drakensberg mountains. We did a quick fishing visit to the local dam where the boyz enjoyed playing with their fishing rods. They all have the right look when it comes to fishing - don’t you these pics are just too cute!?

(Tryston, Treyson and Troyden - from the left)
Other than that outing which did end in rain our weekend was full of RAIN and COLD weather. The boyz played indoor cricket, hide and seek, building blanket tents. We had loads craft time making Easter bunnies, eggs and ears! Tan even got some of her scrapbooking done that now the twins are eventually featuring in picture form in our family scrapbook! Hooray!

We had one bit of outside time with a quick game of putt-putt and a jump on the trampoline. We took a drive out in the country to look around and enjoyed a muddy walk while the boyz climbed boulders.

It was a really restful weekend and we even got to see the top of the mountains in the distance when the clouds lifted early one morning and there was the first sprinkle of SNOW for the winter!

EASTER celebrations
We had a fantastic build up to Easter with the kids. Tan managed to source some “Resurrection Eggs” each morning the week before Easter you open an egg and find a symbol or object related to the Easter story and you tell that bit of the Easter story to the kids. They thoroughly enjoyed opening and learning and hearing all about Easter. We celebrated with an Easter Egg hunt with all the cousins and even playing tent in the garden.

Just had to add this pic - don't you love Troydies new "big boy shirt" Thanks Uncle Matt - love you loads and he thinks he's the bestest in it!! :)

School update
Troydie is so enjoying all the fun in learning at school and making a nice bunch of friends. They had several fun activities that he was a part of this semester so will mention just a few. Will and Kate of the Royal Family got married (national stop as we all watched her walk the isle) and Troydie’s school had a wedding dress up day – too cute he wanted to wear his outfit that he wore to Uncle T’s wedding. They had a fun day full of party food and wedding activities.

Mom’s sing-a-long tea to celebrate Mother’s day all the moms came to school for tea. We got to hear them sing and watch them play musical instruments (Troydie is playing the tambourine). Tan even got a handmade necklace that Troydie had made at school for her – very special.
Sports day was another highlight for Troydie he got to do a relay obsticle course race with climbing, wheelbarrows and bean bag throwing. He did a great job. Dad had a chance to join in the soccer race of all the dad's against eachother and managed to run with Treyson and Tryston in each arm. Mom even got to try her hand at a skipping race and what a laugh that was.
His school even had an evening winter walk that was great fun were he could get sponsorship per lap - what a star he was, he managed to do 20 laps. It was a chilly evening with loads of laughter and fun!
Troydies school semester ended with a dress up day and he went as a Policeman – Quite smart don’t you think?

Treyson & Tryston
The twins are chatting away all the time and so enjoying each other’s company they are great friends and we have had many a laugh at them and their first sayings.
TREYSON is the leader and strong in character, full of spunk and the most independent. He can be quite a “bully” at times and ready to pick a fight. We are training and teaching him to control himself and will say, that has been a challenge but hugely rewarding. He definitely loves a cuddle and thrives on encouragement. He has to keep up with Troyden and likes to be like his “big brother Troyd”!!
TRYSTON is quite different, laid back, funny and at times quite a “dough-ball”. He is a few steps behind the other two but quite okay with that. He loves a good tummy laugh and smiles his way through life. He also loves a cuddle and a love - so mom gets her special times with each of them. They play well together all three and love each other very much – being close in age has made them very close and protective of each other – this is very cute to watch.
We had a huge blessing happen this semester – a granny in our church has twin grandsons too and she asked to take our boys with her boys together for a play day once a week. This little play day has grown to a group of 4 grannies’ with their grandkids all coming together to play while the granny’s fellowship together. They have also asked a retired teacher to come and join with them to make it like a little school – they have story time, playtime inside and outside, sometime they bake, play play-dough, paint and color it has been a wonderful thing for the boys to get out, make their own friends and separate from mommy a little at a time. They even have printed shirts with thier names on! They love their outing with Granny Frances every week and can’t wait for her to come get them. Tan has enjoyed a morning to catch up on all her bible study prep. It has been a wonderful blessing for all of us. - "Thanks Granny Frances"
FAMILY
Baba (Tan’s dad) – the name that the boys call him as their grand-pa managed to get a harbor pass for the boat so the boys have enjoyed some fishing trips to the harbor that have been great fun especially to see the ships in the harbour.
Baba’s birthday – we planned a surprise visit from Trent and Amber to celebrate his birthday. We had a nice quick visit for the family together and had pancakes out on the midlands meander and took the boat for a ride on Midmar dam – FREEZING!

Camping at St Lucia
YEY!!! The Wilby’s had their first camping trip as a family. What a load of fun choosing and setting up our site at St Lucia only to find some of the poles for the one tent missing? Too funny!! We made do and met with Marks folks the next day on their way by to get our missing poles! Our weekend was full of action. We walked the board walk to see the Hippo’s on the Estuary, visited the beach to dig and play in the sand and did a little fishing on the estuary bank. We so enjoyed the cooking on the braai (barbecue) and the boys loved the sleeping out in the tent.
On one of the days we went into Empangeni to celebrate a birthday with one of the cousins. A highlight for our weekend away was taking Troydies bicycle and teaching him to ride without fairy wheels. YEY YEY YEY!!!He got it! Mark had to spend one day running behind him catching if he had a wobbly fall. With all the space and time to practice before long he was riding and so enjoying it.

MINISTRY
The ladies ministry had a Ladies breakfast this semester and it was a wonderful time for all of them to get together to be encouraged from God’s Word. Our focus was on the CROSS and we had 15 ladies represent and read the character’s part in the crucifixion. We had a Mary, a roman soldier, the centurion, the 2 thieves on the cross etc. what a blessing to spend time reflecting on the cross and what Christ did for us there.
Following the breakfast the Ladies craft group met to make wooden crosses that were painted with a paint technique and decorated with rope, ribbon, beads etc. This was a great way to rap up our day of focus on the cross.
To end our semester for the mom’s group we planned a “Mom’s night out” to watch the movie of the story of Esther – it was a wonderful way to end our study through the book of Esther and view the story as a whole. The mom’s so enjoyed the night out while the dad’s did all the babysitting – definitely an outing we will plan again!
MJ’s Ministry
This semester has been another busy one for Mark with all his responsibilities at the church. The youth group has had a change with new leadership and a new team of youth planning the events for each Friday evening. They have had a good number of kids come along and are encouraged by the friendships that have started to form. They have also started a youth bible study that is held right before youth starts each Friday and many of the kids are joining with to be encouraged in God’s Word. Mark has been asked to speak on several Fridays and goes along each week just to pop in an encourage where he can.

The family ministry of the church has been growing in leaps and bounds we now have 10 couples that attend our evening family bible study and between us we have 18 children so when all are together it is a bumper LOUD crowd. The moms and kids planned a Father’s day outing for the dads with a twist. The dad’s did an “Amazing Race” with activities all around town wearing bandana’s that the kids had hand painted. Their activities included a go-cart ride, looking for info at a pet store, they had to buy a water pistol from the party shop, have an ice cream at MacDonald’s, look for clues along the beachfront using GPS etc. We ended the race at one of the families homes with a bring and share supper where the moms and kids waited for them all to arrive. It was a really fun afternoon had by all with many laughs!!
Mark’s preaching ministry has been going well and he is learning and growing with each opportunity in the pulpit – what a blessing. He has also been leading worship on several Sunday mornings and evenings this has added to his load but has been a blessing.
Mission has always and will always be one of his passions and he was able to make a trip up to Mozambique this semester to encourage and help the local churches in the surrounding areas of Ponto d’Oura. He so enjoyed this opportunity to share the love of God cross culturally. Pray that we have more opportunities to spread God’s word in this way.

Mark’s studies have unfortunately taken a back seat this semester with such a load he is carrying at the church – please pray for time management and discipline in this area – we are excited to continue the studies as best we can this would be a huge achievement for
Mark to complete and add to his ministry experience.
That’s the end of our news for the second semester of 2011 – thank you for your prayer support of us as a family in ministry for Jesus. We are encouraged daily from his word and through his provision of us – we have been totally blessed to be in His will for our lives.

Lots of love and prayers for you all
Mark, Tan, Troyden, Treyson and Tryston

Jan-Mar 2011

2012-01-05T23:45:00.000-08:00

HAPPY NEWS YEAR - WISHING YOU GOD'S BEST FOR 2011

Our start to the New Year has been great and wanted to send you a little update of all that we have been doing.
Blessings for 2011 – praying God has wonderful memories to be made and super times to grow for each of you.
WEDDING TIME
Happy Marriage to Trent and Amber Eayrs – we are so excited that our family is growing and just loving the fact that we now have a sister and aunty!!! Love you Aunty Ambs!!!
They had a super day and all Glory to God what a blessing it was with a wonderful service. The little boyz got to be "flower boyz" and throw rose petals down the aisle then T played the trumpet for Ambs to come in. Mark had the privileged of marring them as the best man and he added his own character to the whole event. Dad shared from the word and what a special message for the loving couple. Then T led worship with is guitar and Ambs played violin it was a beautiful time of worship. In all the reception with yummy cake and finger summer lunch out at the farm was all beautiful and made for special memories of the Love filled day – Praying for God’s special blessing on them all
HOLIDAYTIME
We always start our year with a good long break at the beach. We went down to Kei Mouth and spend 3 weeks out enjoying all the lovely sunshine, beach, water and waves.

Boat rides and fishing with many a walk along the beach carrying the boyz .....

and even some kite flying ....

Amber’s family joined with us to relax and enjoy the coastal holiday! The newley weds even came along to enjoy a week with us too! It was great to have the whole family together!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TROYDIE
Wow and YEY all together Troydie turned 4!! And we had a celebration MONTH as we were away on his birthday we got to have Chocolate Brownies at the Tree house – YUM
When we got home from our family holiday we were able to celebrate with all his friends and Lightning McQueen. We had “Ramones House of Body Paint” where the kiddies could paint a stone red and put some goodly eyes on to make him McQueen. “Piston Cup Race Championships” with pull back small racing cars this was so fun to cheer everyone along! “Luigi’s Tire Bean Bag Toss” where the kiddies had to toss the bean bag into a tire. We also played pass the parcel and the kiddies won little cars. Each kiddy got a party car box filled with yummy little treats. We had a great morning of playing together making it a birthday Troydie will always remember!

As Lightning McQueen says “CA-CHAW!!”

SCHOOL
This is going to be a big year for Troydie we start with grade 00. His teacher Mrs. de Freitas is lovely and he is so excited for this adventure. We had a hard start to the year as he didn’t want to say good-bye. And Daddy did the drop off as long as Mommy did the pickup. All has gone smoothly and he is thoroughly enjoying all that he is learning and doing. They have a lovely big sand pit with a jungle gym in it. And many other climbing jungle gyms with slides, swings, see-saw, balancing beams, helicopter jungle gym all set out in the play ground area. Then under cover they have sand and water troughs. Each of the class rooms are geared a certain way. One is for ART, one is the IMAGINATION PLAY ROOM with all the dress up gear you can thank of and one is the CONSTRUCTION room with blocks, puzzles, books etc. As you can see they go dressed in school uniform and this is great on saving his clothes. Thought he looked quite smart on his first day at school. Still can’t believe that our baby is now 4 and going to school! Time sure does fly by.
One of his first activities at school was his BIRTHDAY RING where he gets to sit on a chair next to the teacher, and the choose 3 songs to sing and then wearing a crown he blows out his candles and offers cupcakes (that mom made) to all his friends. Mom got the opportunity to be there with them and share in this special Birthday wish.

Troydie had a first school outing too to the FLAG FARM where they can pet and feed all the farm animals. We were able to take Treyson and Tryston too. They all got to ride on the pony and had great fun feeding all the animals.

Nearer the end of the term he had his FRIST SWIMMING GALA. He was quite nervous but really did well on his kicker board across the pool. The swimming is coming along nicely and will say that his hour with “coach” every week is his most favorite time of the week. In his words he will say “Mom, Coach is MY friend!”

FAMILY
Tan’s birthday – yes they do come around yet again we celebrated God’s goodness in my life and I praise the Lord for all the blessings that he has given me in this year of my life. I turned 32!! we celebrated in the midlands at a place called Lavendar Trout where we so enjoyed God's beautiful creation. The boyz had fun climbing on the jungle gym and petting the farm animals.

Yey we had a great time together and had a good giggle as we celebrated with the mom’s bible study group a few days later and they carried the cake in with the number 3 and 2 and one of the moms said “YEY you 23 today!”
I thank the Lord for health and strength and the opportunity to minster for him and teach and train my children to follow after him too.
Errol & Tracy (Mark’s sister and brother-in-law) accepted a call to Empangeni Baptist Church and we were able to visit with them to encourage them as they start their full time ministry at this church. Praying that the Lord blesses their ministry and grows them to be what He wants them to be as they faithfully serve Him.

MINISTRY
Young Family Ministry
All is going well we are maxing out about 9 moms to our study every Tuesday arvie and we have a great time studying together. For the first half of the year we will be studying through the book of Esther – Great challenges ahead for all of us. This semester we have had some great outings on every alternate Tuesday- just to mention some. We celebrated Valentine’s Day together, we had an older more mature lady come and share some encouragement with us, and we had a picnic in the park and got to make some Ester crafts together with our kiddies.
The Dads have enjoyed the evening study too where the whole family can come along to study together. Mark is leading this study time and we are hosted in different homes every time we meet. The hosting mom gets to prepare and serve the meal and we have had great time of fellowship together. Following from this the Dad’s enjoy a social game of Tennis on a Saturday morning and the moms come along for a chat and a cup of coffee together.
Our group also welcomed into the world another 2 babies – praise the Lord for new life and for the opportunities we have has Christian dads and moms to raise them in the knowledge of Christ!
Sunday School
Tan is still leading the kingdom kids class and each mommy has a turn to teach 2 Sunday mornings in the semester. Our class has about 5 kiddies - they have a story time and craft time and then play time out on the Jungle gyms. It has been great to start this ministry so that moms and dads with littlies can enjoy the sermon time in church while thier kiddies are cared for.
Troyden has graduated into the “big” Sunday school this year and has taken a little getting used to with all the “big girls and boys”. Also he has to learn a memory verse a week so we have had to jack up our bible memory learning at home and this has been wonderful to be a part of so far. He so looks forward to learning each week – Tan has made him a book where we learn the memory verses by pictures and she has had to be quite creative for him to be able to “read”, look and learn.
Mark’s Ministry
He has had great opportunities to work alongside Pastor Stuart in leadership at DNBC this semester with lots of preaching and teaching. He is overseeing the Young adults group now that has split into two groups - married couples and singles. God has provided to wonderful young men to lead these two groups - praise the Lord. Mark has also had many opportunities to help with counseling and even did another wedding this semester.
We have a very full and busy program week to week and Mark is out the home quite a bit with things going on at the church. Pray for us as we train our children in righteousness in this type of FULL TIME MINISTRY. What a privilege, challenge and responsibility to be wise in our investments in their lives.
That’s all our news from the first quarter of the 2011 year – God Bless - In His hands
Mark, Tanya, Troyden, Treyson & Tryston

December 2010

2010-12-02T10:57:00.000-08:00

FESTIVE FUN...

Merry Christmas for 2010 !!!

Oct-Nov 2010

2010-12-02T08:37:00.000-08:00

NEARING THE END OF 2010

Well talk about busy-ness - goodness looking back on October and November, think these have really been the fullest months of our 2010 year!!! So enjoy all the news from the Wilby Fam …

Well we have started our spring/summer with good walking three times a week along beach promenade. Mac (our doggie) is so enjoying all the fresh air and the run/walk with the family. Many a funny look as we step it up with all three boyz in the pram and loads of peeeps think that they are TRIPLETS! The looks and comments are crazy!

The boyz love Mac and so enjoy playing with him – he is rather a naughty puppy and has chewed many a toy and dug up the garden quite considerably!!

October is a special month for the both of us – HAPPY ANNIVERSARY – could not believe that we have been married for 7 years this year – GOD IS SO GOOD!!! His grace and faithfulness in all things we sit back and marvel at what He has blessed us both with in spouse, friend, love and not to mention the three beautiful healthy children – THANK YOU JESUS!

We made several trips to Pietermaritzburg to visit with all the Grandparents and the boyz so love the time with them. It is special to have them all living so nearby for them to interact and build friendships with each other. This is another praise for us to have them part of our lives – Thanks to our parents for the godly example they are to both us and our boyz! We love you all very very much !

FAMILY FUN ON THE HOME FRONT...

Gum boots have been the craze of the month - just love the fashion in our home!

Horray the BOAT BED made it all done and Troydie so enjoys sailing away to dream land! Many a minute of fishing, throwing the cushion anchor and climbing aboard - the boyz are so enjoying it.

Beach fun has begun with Summer on the doorstep we have spent several early mornings out and about on the beach. Troyden is learning to swim so enjoys the water. Tryston is a brave brave little boy and runs into the waves we have to have eyes at the back of our heads. Tryston will not let you go as he is a little afraid of the waves rushing at him. In all we have a busy time on the beach no time to lie out and catch a tan you have to do it all on the run! We are so looking forward to our Christmas holiday on the beach.

MINISTRY

Church picnic time – we had many of the younger part of our congregation met just a little drive up the North coast for a picnic one Sunday this month. The kiddies played on the Jungle gyms and all entered into a fun game of rounders. Many were chased away by the heavy rain but those who did make the time to join us all had a great time of fellowship together.

Woman’s Ministry - got together for fellowship and encouragement this month. The theme for the meeting was “THE GIFT OF CHRIST” and all décor was in silver and white. Tan’s mom spoke on this theme and what an inspiration and encouragement she was to all. The drama girls were prepped by Tan and they did a special music item to a beautiful song by Chris Tomlin – “My Soul Magnifies the Lord”. They dressed as angels and so enjoyed the opportunity to be apart of ministry in this way. Tan did a demo on Gift Box making and several ladies on the ladies team shared ideas of how to fill your gift boxes for Christmas. They served Christmas treats for tea and on the whole the meeting was a huge blessing to many. Tan so enjoys the opportunities she has to be involved in ministry to women what a blessing to encourage and uplift women to be “Women of God”!

The Young Adults planned a weekend away to Johannesburg as John Piper was in South Africa as one of the key note speakers for the RESOLUTION CONFERENCE. (just a side note Troyden was referring to him has John HYPER as he could not pronounce PIPER so now he has a new name in our home) WOW what a weekend of great spiritual food. The group camped in Trent’s back garden even with an out door bush shower and traveled into the conference each day. Trent together with the RESOLUTION BAND lead worship for this weekend and we can truly say that God has gifted him to blend the many cultural groups together in worship. If you have the time check out the website RESOLUTION CONFERENCE, South Africa 2010 and be sure to click the link to listen to some of the music. In all the weekend proved to be a huge growing experience for ALL who attended and many of our young adults were challenged and stretched to put GOD FIRST!!!

Tan had the most fun ever she tackled driving around Johannesburg by herself with the boyz and they had such fun with a trip to the Botanical Gardens to spend the morning with some friends enjoying the waterfall and a picnic for lunch in the beautiful gardens!

Then on to Fourways to a fun filled kiddie friendly Coffee shop to catch up with one of Tan's friends from school days and what a load of fun the kids had on the jumping castle, bikes and fun jungle gym boats!

Mom Eayrs celebrated her NUMBER 60 birthday and we spent 2 nights on the Vaal Dam staying in a “Matchbox” house – it was soo teeny tiny that only one double bed fitted into it.

The boyz so enjoyed the open spaces, water and the boat. In all it was a great weekend of rest and relaxing after all the rush around the Resolution Conference. We have a special NEE (the boyz name for mom) and we love her very much – praying that the Lord gives her many more years to be and inspiration to all of us.

Then we think one of the biggest trials of our year has been Troyden’s little ear and all the upheaval it has caused with infection, pain and tears. Many of you walked with us as we met with specialists and doctors and surgeons that at one point Troydie thought he was FAMOUS because 3 doctors had looked as his ear in one afternoon. We stand back now and see how the Lord has used this to teach us many lessons in perseverance, patience, trust and faithfulness. All we can say is that GOD is AWESOME and that He has blessed us yet again. Troyden sailed through the intricate surgery to have this pore removed from alongside this ear. We praise the Lord for the accuracy that surgeon operated with so as not to damage the facial nerve and we also praise the Lord for Troydie’s speedy recovery – WOW we have been amazed at how quick he has healed and he has not even skipped a step. His summary to the story goes like this “did you know that I went to hopsital (he can’t pronounce hospital properly) and the doctor cut out the ugly-ies in my ear and now it is fixed!”
Thank you Jesus for childlikeness in faith – he has prayed often in the past few days “Jesus please make my ear better thank you AMEN”

On another note altogether Mark’s studies are moving along swiftly we have completed the first subject and registered for the second – praise the Lord for funds that we have received to make this all possible. The plan is to have this next subject completed before the end of the year – please pray for dedication and discipline to get the reading and research done. Thank you to all of you who have helped support in many areas already.

God Bless - In His hands as we serve

Mark, Tanya, Troyden, Treyson & Tryston

Sept 2010

2010-11-17T10:25:00.000-08:00

SPRING HAS SPRUNG!!! ....

...And so have our little little boyz! They have grown so quick so big...

Enjoy SOME MORE catch up … with lots and lots of pic this time as we would have liked you all to be around for this month!!!

September saw the TWINS – Treyson and Tryston turn BIG NUMBER 2!! We could not believe that our little double blessing bundles are now RUNNING all around!!
We celebrated with a beautiful day out in our garden SOCCER FEVA again… yes we had all the balls in creation, jungle gym newly built by dad, swing and bouncing soccer ball, face painting and lots of ROUND food to much on.
In all it worked out to be a great time of fun for the little boyz and they had a “BALL”!!
(loads of pics enjoy the look so wish you could have all been there to celebrate with us - GOD IS SO VERY GOOD)

TRYSTON - lovable, friendly, smiley, happy little boy he has a personality just like his MOM

TREYSON - happy, sincere, resurved, strong character - happy little boy he has a personality just like DAD

DAD having fun with all his boyz! Handz full to over flowing - we praise the Lord for our wonderful family!

TROYDEN having a fun time before the party

PARTY - TIME

Soccer cakes --- mmm yum!!

Troydie with his cousin - Joshie

Tryston bouncing

Treyson bouncing

Now we want to bounce TOGETHER ! (with TWINS we find we are always doing thing TOGETHER - togetherness is a big part of our lives)

On their actual birthday we treated them to an outing to USHAKA RAYS PLAY PLACE and talk about loads of fun, painting, climbing, sliding, swinging, and exploring in the “caves” They all had so much fun.

CAMPING – BUSH – MONKEY – HIPPO – I LOVE YOU???
Our camping trip to St Lucia was great as always and the boyz love the great outdoors, the crocs and hippos so nearby. All the monkeys that raid your camp every time you go out and the mongoose that keep you entertained as they scurry along in tribes of hundreds!!!

Big fun in the camp was to shoot the monkeys or BABA on the Bike with water squirters and that kept all three very busy. (Thanks Uncle Arnold and Aunty Marie for the fun squirters)

Lots of walks along the board walk, rides in Baba’s boat, sand play on the beach and hikes through the bush to see some pretty birds. Riding the boardwalk on our motor bikes was great fun!!

We got the boyz some little camp chairs and table and they so enjoyed their meals together.

We spend one day out at Mission Rocks and the boyz enjoyed the cold swim what a beautiful part of our coast line.

Treyson had many a stop and look moment too cute!!

We had a lovely weekend with family and a great time to get to know AMBER and yes Uncle T did pop the question and yes she said YES and YEY we have a new addition to our family – WE LOVE YOU AUNTY AMBER. They have set their wedding date: 1st JANUARY 2011 (01-01-11) we are so blessed to have such a wonderful person added to our family. Welcome to the Family Amber we are excited to get a sister!! Together we are praying for God’s bestest for their lives ahead – all so very excited for the planning of the wedding and the wedding day celebrations. Please pray with us that in all God will be glorified!

The happy extended family - smiles all round!!

MINISTRY

Impact kids ministry has gotten off to a good start this semester. Our new them is the BIRTH OF CHRIST. We are learning each week about a different character of the nativity, Tan is doing the teaching and Mark is helping with the games and looking after of the boyz. The craft for the term is to make a nativity scene and each week we are making one of the characters, eg. Shepherd, Joseph, Mary and Angel etc. Troyden counts the sleeps every week till Friday as he so enjoys hanging out with the older kiddies playing games and doing the craft.

Youth is going well we have another married couple that is helping with the leading each week and together they share the responsibility with Mark. We have a great multi-cultural group of kids about 18 that meet each week to be encouraged in God’s work.

This month was our annual meetings for the Baptist Union Assembly and they met in Cape Town. We have been so involved in ministry and had many commitments at the same time as the meetings so were unable to attend. Pastor Stuart (our senior pastor) was voted in as the President elect for the Baptist Union and will hold this term of office from Sept 2011-Sept 2012. Please pray for him as he feels the Lord leading him into this extra area of ministry and as we are to carry a little more responsibility while he serves his term. We are encouraged and excited at the Lord’s timing in all these things and praying specially for Pastor Stuart and Loren as they embark on this new journey with the Baptist Union.

We still praising God for all the opportunities He brings our way to be an encouragement to others. God has given us so much to be grateful for and we want to take this opportunity to thank Him for all He has given us – WHAT A FAITHFUL GOD WE SERVE!

God Bless - In His hands

Mark, Tanya, Troyden, Treyson & Tryston

August 2010

2010-11-17T02:37:00.000-08:00

AUGUST's BUNCH OF FUN!

ROLL ON WINTER!!!! And boy is it warm for AUGUST!!!

We have had so much fun outside in the warm winter sun that we decided to plant our veggie garden for the spring. Mark made a little fence and Troydie helped me plant our veggies, lettuce, parsley, onions and peas. What fun to work together on a family project. Troydie and I even made and painted some bugs and signs to decorate our little garden – now we water it and wait for it to grow!!! It has been great to teach him all about God, creation, and all that comes from the Lord, sunshine and rain – now when it rains we all say “Jesus is watering the garden so it will grow.”

We have decided to move the house around and put Treyson and Tryston into the bigger bedroom so the boys all get to swop. What a mission to move and rearrange.

Troyden has chosen BOATS as his theme for his new room and what a load of fun Tan has had in choosing fabric to make curtain, duvets and cushion covers. We managed to source out some old furniture and Tan tried her hand at a new paint technique – What fun. We spent a few afternoons out in the garden sanding the furniture and making a big mess. Slowly but surly his new room is taking shape – Baba (Tan’s dad) is making him a BOAT bed and Troydie is so very excited about that hopefully come his NUMBER 4 birthday in January his room will be all decked out with, ANCHORS, BOATS and LIGHTHOUSES. Bring on the RED, BLUE and WHITE!!!

In the middle of all the room moving and ideas flying for that we added onto the Jungle Gym as a pressie for Treyson & Tryston’s birthday so Mark build the next phase with a ramp and rope and a monkey bar swing – the weather at this time of year proved to be great for working outside. Many a fun hour was spent in our garden building, fixing and painting.

We had a fun outing with our friends Callen & Kate to Mitchell Park where we played on the lovely playground with all sorts of fun jungle gyms, swings and merry-go-rounds. It was the boyz first time on a SEE-SAW and ended up calling it the SAW-SAW!!!

They have a small section at the park with birds and animals for you to walk around and look at. While looking at the Tortoises we were attacked by monkeys – each of the kids had a sucker (lollypop) and two monkeys snatched the suckers away from Callen and Treyson!! Tan ran to the rescue and a monkey got into the pram and ran off with the cookie container!! What a naughty bunch of monkeys – THAT’S AFRICA FOR YOU!!!

CHECK OUT THE SUCKER STICK IN THE MONKEYS MOUTH!!

FAMILY NEWS

Troydie is now growing up to quick – next year 2011 sees us the start for School for Troydie – we have found a lovely school in our area for Troyden to attend. Glenashley Pre-primary School will be were he will go each day of the week Monday – Friday 8am-12pm. He is really excited to start school and just loves the jungle gyms! We had an interview that went fairly well - just think he was a little overwhelmed by it all! (so were mom and dad) And the school had their fun day which we were able to go along and enjoy all the rides, stalls and games. We excited and nervous all at once for this new chapter in our lives starting 2011!

Treyson & Tryston - In all are best of play mates our only prob is when Troydie sometimes gets in the way. Sharing is a big ordeal so sometimes we have resorted to 3 of every toy!

A big favorite for all the boyz is our toy car “MATER” (from the Cars Disney movie) with his tow hook, wooden trailer with the baby bath as the boat – Treyson and Tryston even get rides in the boat. They love to fish with their magnet fishies and rods while all three squeezing into the bath boat! We are so enjoying the imagination that is growing. As you can see boats, trailers and tow-hitches are the big thing in our house!!

The boys also love to WORK in the GARAGE with dad and do alot of working with thier tools to fix mater and work on the work bench!

Tan has started working for Macedonian Ministries managing the news of their blog and reconciling the accounts – so far so good she will take it as it comes over the next few months to see if she can fit it into her schedule. Please pray for time management and for some support funding.

Mark studies are progressing with 2 paper down 1 to go on the first subject in all he is enjoying the challenge. We are continually praising God for all that He is teaching us in ministry. Leadership, church discussion, decision making, disciple making, counseling, preaching and teaching, in all areas we are constantly learning new things. Thank you for your prayers there are some days we know we would not make it if we did not have the prayer support to keep us going.

MINISTRY

Tanya is still heading up our woman’s ministry craft group and this month they met to make paper together. What a load of mess and fun they had in the church gardens. Their creations turned out quite well that Troydie even had a try at home and Tan was able to make about 30 sheets of paper.
The ladies really enjoy getting together to learn a new craft and create something while they fellowship together.

The preaching ministry is going well - Mark is preaching through 1 John in the mornings and just completed a series through Malachi in the evenings. He is still preaching 3 services in the evening and 1 service in the morning every month and so enjoying the opportunity to serve the Lord in the sharing of His word in the pulpit. Tan does not get to hear him all that often but she is praising the Lord for the growth that continues to show itself. Praise God for His continual grace as we grow in His knowledge!

Keep reading on we have loads more to share with you -

God Bless and be sure to share your news with us - In His hands

Mark, Tanya, Troyden, Treyson & Tryston

JULY 2010

2010-11-10T01:21:00.001-08:00

WINTER FUN

YEY our news will now be thick and fast trying to catch up quick…

At this time of the year the family birthdays come thick and fast. HAPPY BIRTHDAY MJ – we all love you stack. He is the greatest dad and the bestest hubby in the whole wide world! We celebrated his birthday in true “kiddie style”!! Troyden does not think that a birthday is a birthday with our blowing out your candles on your cake and opening a pressie. So we spoilt dad and so enjoyed having all the young adults around for crumpets and coffee to “Happy Birthday” together!

Tan had the fun outing this month together with a group of children from a local orphanage they went to Ushaka to enjoy the dolphin and seal show and walk through the aquarium – the boyz had a ball even meeting all the real life sea creatures!!

Troydie even got a wave from a turtle! And a kiss from a HUGE Potato Bass!

The boyz so love living near the beach and we had many a Monday down at Vetchies Beach launching Baba’s (Grandpa) boat, fishing, building sand castles, watching the waves, running and playing in the shallow water and enjoying the fresh air. Our Winter has been very mild even warm enough to be out and catch a few sun rays! We got to see a huge catch of sardines – millions of fishies on the beach in a huge net Troyden could not believe his eyes! From the pics it does not even seem like the middle of WINTER!

FAMILY NEWS
This month the TWINS – Treyson and Tryston have been giving the words a good try we have bunches of single words coming from their mouths and we love letting them try.
Tryston is deffinately the more outgoing in personality and he will copy anything you say and try to say it himself. Some of this words – JUICE, BATH, BUBBLES, GO, CAR, TIGER
Treyson will only speak when you are one on one and has the same vocab as Tryston but not as virbal.
The cutest thing – they call each other “brother” a lot of the time and Troydie calls them “THE BROTHERS” e.g. let me go get “THE BROTHERS” that this has now stuck and we all call them “THE BROTHERS”
Troydie has also nic-named them “BOY-KIES” and he is the only one who calls them that.
Following all this I was trying to teach them their names and asked them each “What is your name?” And Tryston replied “TRYSTON” and when asking Treyson he replied ”BROTHER” so right now we have 3 sons, Troydie, Tryston and Brother (Treyson) something that will be special in my memory for always!!

Tryston had his first big booboo – he fell and hit his eye on the coffee table and we had to rush to the emergency room for it to be stuck with the modern day glue (no stitches). He now has a scar just above the right eye and everyone can tell them apart easily if you look closely. We were told every boy must have a scar somewhere to prove he is tough – so Tryston has his mark.
Praise the Lord it was not too serious!!

PLAYTIME - Dad is still our fave and we love to use him as our riding horse and jungle gym - DAD WE LOVE YOU LOTS!!!

Washing bucket - we have all the toys to play with but the best ever is the washing bucket!!! look at our smiles

Bathtime with the balls has proven to be great fun for everyone water and balls everywhere even out the bath!!!

Photography is one of Troydies pastimes here he is learning to take pics of himself in the mirror!

Mark’s studies are going well with the first subject – New Testament Introduction - well on the way. Two papers down one to go. Mark has so enjoyed the extra stretch on his knowledge of God’s word it has been encouragement to see him grow in the knowledge of God again – what a blessing! We have so enjoyed discussing the paper topics he has had to write on and we know that the Lord will use this time of greater learning for His glory.

Tan's creativity continues as she has found a new short hobby to decopage old things to make them new!! She has had fun taking a coffee tin painting it and doing serviette decopage on it to make it look pretty. The boyz toys are all stored in tins covered with matching designs to add to the decor in thier room. It has been loads of fun.

MINISTRY

SOCCER FEVA!!!
Yes the Soccer FEVA continued – Our woman’s ministry had their meeting of this quarter of the year and we had an “Around the World Mission” afternoon. We played some ball games with ping-pong balls and decorated the hall with all country flags. We had 10 round tables which represented 10 different countries that participated in the Soccer World Cup and we had a yummy tea with eats from all 10 countries. We had our past National Woman’s Department president share on “being part of God’s team”. In all it was a wonderful afternoon of fellowship, fun and spiritual encouragement.

Tanya had the wonderful opportunity to share with the Scottsville Baptist Church Ladies this month. They hosted a meeting focusing on “Christ the Bride” and they went all out to make the event just like a wedding. With modeling of old and new wedding dresses, delicious eats and fancy cup cakes, with a blue and silver colour scheme and invitations, menu cards and place settings. Tan spoke on the Wedding wisdom – 10 young virgins with their lamps lit – being prepared for the coming of the bridegroom. What a wonderful afternoon of sharing together.

Our Family bible study is flying and we are so blessed to have 8 couples together each time we meet. The girls are enjoying the hosting and the kids are loving the pajama party – great excitement.

A blessing out of this is that the dads are meeting every Saturday morning to play a game of tennis together and are so enjoying growing Christian friendships.

The moms go along to root for their hubbies while having early morning coffee and the kids have so enjoyed the jungle gyms and entertainment from visiting monkeys!! Look at Troydie with his tennis racket trying to "shoo" the monkey away! These are some of his favourite little friends!

Our Young Adults ministry is going well with the weekly bible study well attended and a strong core group of about 17 are faithful in coming each week.

The kiddies ministry has been hard work to get the parents to commit to bring the children each week. This term we have been learning about the “Treasures of God”. Teaching the children some of God’s attributes from the book of Romans.

So fun to finally catch up with all of you – hope you enjoying the pics – still lots more to come. Chat again soon
God Bless and take care - In His hands

Mark, Tanya, Troyden, Treyson & Tryston

JUNE 2010

2010-11-09T23:36:00.000-08:00

JUNE NEWS 2010

Hi to all our family and friends – WOW time seems to just fly fly by!!! Just checked out our blog and my goodness the boyz have grown so here is another update to touch base with all of you.
Thought it would be good to go month by month! Enjoy all the pics and all our news.

We had a great time of CELEBRATING Gran Abrams (Mark’s granny, the boyz great granny) 80th birthday. We enjoyed a special meal with her and the extended family at a hotel in the Natal Midlands. What a joy to have such a godly grandmother so able and fit to be part of our lives. We pray God’s special blessing on her.

SOCCER FEVA!!!
Yes we did get to enjoy the vuvuzelas, wistles, shouts and loud hub-bub atmosphere of living in the world cup host country. We had a family outing to the beachfront to enjoy the soccer fan club with activities on the beach all day long.

Troydie got to run in a huge ball and all the boyz enjoyed a little train ride and Tan ate the messiest ice-cream ever! We were very involved in ministry outreach during the world cup and so enjoyed the extra opportunities to share Jesus with others.

One of our activities was our Holiday Bible Club THE ULTIMATE GOAL – “SUPER LEGUE” It was all centered around sharing the gospel and being apart of “God’s Team”. We had two teams the Strikers and the Defenders and Mark was the leader and was nicknamed “FIFA”.

Each of our leaders had a team name like, left back, forward, kicker, goalie, scorer, linesman etc. Our senior pastor did the Bible teaching each day and each story built onto the next in learning about God’s salvation plan for our lives.
We split the group of about 60 kids into “team talk time” to do a craft were we made, flags, peaks, and shaker and soccer board games. Our game time was busy with many a ball game loads of fun and creativity to make it a challenge and a great time for the kids to play.
Each day we had a crazy dress activity so you can see from our pics we even had a change of hair doo!
What a wonderful week of sharing God’s love with the children. Troyden so enjoyed his FIRST Bible Holiday Club and has been asking when is the next one.

We ended our week with a weekend away in Margate down on the coast were we had time to relax and rest after a busy week of ministry.

We took the kids to the bird park where the birds sit on your head when you feed them and Troydie got to fee the bunny rabbits.

We paddled the paddle boats on the lagoon to see the waterfall. The boyz all so enjoyed riding on the water and mom and dad had a huge work on the thighs paddling the boat.

We treated ourselves to WAFFLES at eh waffle house and the boys so enjoyed playing in their playground on the horsie.
And in between enjoyed walking along the beach, digging in the sand and paddling our toes – great WINTER weekend on the beach!

FAMILY NEWS
Troyden has now learnt how to get dressed by himself and is most proud when he gets his T-shirt on and off all by himself. Can’t believe how quickly he is growing up. We have had so much fun chatting and the things he says are too cute. The one day we were talking about where do you go when you die and we explained that God lived in heaven and that we would go there if we love the Lord with all our hearts and he asked “well how do we get there?” and mommy promptly said “we will FLY!” (the only way I could explain quickly) and you should have seen his eyes and his response with all the expression you could imagine “FLY!!! WOW!! How cool!!”
Then when speaking about tomorrow or yesterday he says “dad, on the other morrow can we do….” So now we use that all the time – on the other morrow lets…. All too fun having kids in the house!

Our puppy, MAC has grown and we took him on his very FIRST walk and oh did he love that!!! Dad even enjoyed the ride with the boyz!!!

MINISTRY
Our main ministry update for the month of June was really all the Soccer outreach that our church family was involved in, services, screening of the games with supper provided in the rural areas and of course our fun holiday club.
We have also started a new bible study that Mark is leading for the young families. Tan leads the moms group and these moms were feeling that their husbands never get an opportunity to chat with other men with the same family, social, work pressures and wanted to have a bible study time for them as couples to study God’s word together. We now meet twice a month with a quick supper for the family and child care provided during the study time. What a blessing this has been to be amongst adults our own age all with different spiritual needs and how refreshing to have new Christians and even some who don’t know much about spiritual things meet together to discuss and learn. We have so enjoyed this new ministry opportunity. Please pray for those who are seeking, asking and wanting to follow Christ more closely.

Thanks for taking the time to catch up with us – chat again soon

God Bless and take care - In His hands

Mark, Tanya, Troyden, Treyson & Tryston

March - April - May 2010

2010-06-02T07:05:00.001-07:00

HELLO HELLO HELLO LONG LOST TIME!!!

Hi to all our family and friends – it has been long overdue that we send you news on the WILBY FAMILY HOME and MINISTRY front. So enjoy the read and all the pics as you catch up with what we have been up to over the last 4 months. Sorry for so much HISTORY!! WOW time fly's by when you have little people in your house!

MARCH saw the end of our Summer and we had great weather HOT HOT HOT so we were out in the garden enjoying planting plants, playing in the water with bazooka squirters, under the sprinkler, up the jungle gym and in the tent. The boys love the outside and so the tans then were looking the best they had all summer.

We went on an outing to the botanical gardens and Troydie so enjoyed riding his bike all around. Feeding the ducks was quite something especially when some of the ducks were bigger than him.

A highlight for Tan was her birthday at the end of March. We celebrated her birthday with a trip to Joeys to visit and celebrate with Trent (his birthday too) and we had a great weekend. We spent a day up in the mountains, enjoying the rest and quite, we swam, braai-ed (cooked out) and took a short walk that even Troydie managed - up the gorge and swam in the cold mountain water river rock pools it was great fun. We had a day of shopping and spoilt ourselves for our birthdays and then the highlight was a day in PARIS!! (Parys) a little quaint town just outside Joeys.

We had breakfast on the main road in an old coffee shop that reminded us of Cracker Barrel (fun old timey restaurant in the USA). We shopped the antique and craft shops and then the boys went fly-fishing on the Vaal river while we picnicked on the river bank. Very beautiful and peaceful. We ended the day with fish and chips for supper and then watched a chick flick – so in all you can say that she was spoilt on her birthday it was quite a celebration!

We have had a trying time with the kids being sick at the end of March WOW!!! Will say it was the most challenging week of mommy hood for me! All three had inner ear infections, tonsils and runny runny runny noses so we now have shares in the doctor’s rooms and our medical aid is smiling!! Praise God they all bounced back great and after that episode we decided for the winter we would try out the flu injection – and we are smiling with some of winter arriving in the air so far we think the injections have helped to keep the BAD germs at bay.

We must say that all THREE boys are a special blessing to us, running around, playing with each other, jumping on the bed at bath time, diving off the couch onto a pile of pillows, tackling, playing “on your marks get set go!” or rather as Troydie says – “ LET’S PLAY MARKET GO!!” all this play can get a little rough at times. Another fun game in the Wilby house is HIDE AND SEEK too funny they have one hide and the other two count together then they shout Ba Ba Ba and the one hiding answers so it’s easy to find. We have had many a chuckle as they enjoy themselves playing together. They are all little individuals and very busy on the go all the time. They love to sing loud and will say the LA LA LA LA’s are too fun - Troydie is still leader of the pack and tells Treyson and Tryston what to do. Sharing has been quite a thing so lots of tears and hard for them all to understand. Treyson and Tryston are now communicating with each other and call one another by shouting Ba Ba Ba and the other answers back it is very cute to see what a unique relationship they have.

BLESSED EASTER to all of you – HALLELUJAH CHRIST IS RISEN!!
A highlight for us was to do an Easter egg hunt with the boys in the dark. We were given glow in the dark Easter eggs and little torches. What a blast the kiddies had looking for chocolate treasures in the garden at night. We all praised the Lord for what He has done for us at our Sunrise service at the beach what a beautiful time we had.

Cousin Joshie celebrated his NUMBER THREE birthday and what fun the kiddies all had. It was a BIKE party where the boys got to ride on little paved roads with signs, robots (traffic lights), hills, traffic circles etc.

They had so much fun ZOOMING around – dad, mom, grand-dad and grand-ma were on the run as this was the first time Treyson and Tryston has free riding what a run around.

Since then we have had a chance to take the boys out to the beach front on their bikes and let them ride along and race each other – they loved the freedom to ride out in the open spaces!

Baby JAMES (Joshie’s baby brother) arrived safely into the world and what a cutie he is. Congrats to mom and dad on another BOY to add to the WILBY BOY BUNCH! Mom and baby are doing great and he is already a big boy at 5 weeks old! Troydie asked if he could run and play with him and is most upset that he sleeps all the times we go to visit.

To start of our Autumn we ventured out on a CAMPING trip to

St Lucia (a little north on the coast from Durban).

They have an inland Salt Water Estuary with crocodiles and hippos. Well what a treat for us to be camping and hear the Hippos grunting in the water. We had to fight of the invasion of monkeys and mongoose every day! The boys were fascinated with them. It was great to be so close to nature and for the boys to learn and see so much of God’s great creation. We spent one afternoon at the Croc Farm where we could come up close and personal with a croc and Troydie was amazed at how BIG they were. We spent some time building cars and castles on the beach and Troyden, Treyson and Tryston so enjoyed the sleeping in the TENT !! (Camping is definitely something that is going to be enjoyed and done often in the Wilby home!)

Another family fun time we have just added to our memories was a trip to the Royal Show (Agricultural show in Pietermaritzburg where farmers show the best of their animals). They have all of everything chickens, ponies, horses, cows, bunnies etc. What a great time to look around and enjoy all the animals as well as all the farming implements, home improvements and novelties for sale. This was the first time Troyden, Treyson and Tryston got to ride the BIG WHEEL, Troydie drove a kiddies train, they touched a bunny rabbit and climb on “GUNDA GUNDA’s” (tractor), trailers, diggers and more.

Troyden
He is really talking really nicely and so enjoys his little brothers. He has reached the stage of asking WHY? So we have had a challenge in having to answer his questions intelligently – especially when you don’t know much about the topic he is asking about e.g. Front loaders, diggers and cranes – what a STRETCH!! He loves individual time and Mom has made the effort to teach him so crafts like painting, play dough, cutting and sticking. Linking logs is by far his favorite and he loves to build log homes and play the cowboy ranch as he builds. He has saved his first bit of pocket money and we had a big outing to go and buy a play cellphone for him what an ordeal to find the right one and then pay for it. He only wanted to spend 6 BUCKS so when I told him it was 30 BUCKS he couldn’t believe it!! (30 BUCKS WHY SO MUCH!!? - Was what he asked). He is growing up so fast it’s quite sad to see him so independent he is even dressing himself now and takes great joy in asking if he is doing a great job.

Treyson
He has a really strong will and it has been a challenge to grow and guide him. His favorite and only word right now is NO! His fun happy bubbly fun character is a huge blessing. He is daring and wants to be just like Troyden. The two of them often play together and Treyson imitates and follows Troyden in everything.

Tryston
He is the smiley child with a happy fun bubbly character too. He definitely will be talking first and is already saying HELLO and WOO WOO (for dog). He is more careful and cautious and plays a lot more gently. He is often the third party so spends a lot of time playing by himself – but will say that him and Treyson often take Troyden on.

MOM - Tan
Well I have had a great time in setting up a work craft station in our study at home. A place for me to mess and then close the curtain on the cupboard to hide the mess and come right back anytime to pick up from where I left off. I have started scrapbooking again to catch up with Treyson and Tryston’s albums and cannot believe how much they look like Troyden. I have also learnt how to do serviette decoupage and have had so much fun in making something old look new and restored. I had a spoil and spent a day at the craft show for some inspiration and what a load of beautiful things and ideas I came away with. I have so enjoyed setting aside this time to be creative even though it is only at night it has been great to relax and enjoy.

DAD - Mark
What a busy busy guy he is and has taken on many more ministries at church so has a very very big load. He is a wonderful hands on dad and loves playing ball, tackle, tickle and throw with the boys they love to hear his keys rattle at the door when he comes home each afternoon. Added to his busy life we have decided to start studying again. He has registered with South African Theological Seminary (Johannesburg based correspondence Seminary) and he will start in the next few months with his Masters in Theology – Biblical Studies. Please keep us all in your prayers as this will take a little adjusting to our schedules to help dad get the studying time in.

MINISTRY
We praise the Lord each and every day as we have the opportunity to work for the eternal kingdom what a joy to have a meaning and purpose to your life!

Impact Kids ministry every week this term we have taught what it means to be on the winning side! With the Soccer World cup round the corner we have had a great time teaching what “Soccer Sam” would do on the Soccer field and compared it to what “Christian Chris” would do in living the Christian life. Our term verse has been Philippians3v13-14 – “Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” We have had a great time painting T’shirts to wear during the Soccer World cup, bandanas and flags with lots of mess, paint and fun.

Kingdom Kids (mom’s, dad’s and little kiddies) is going great and the moms are so enjoying the fellowship each week around God’s word – we have been greatly challenged as we have studied Proverbs 31. What a woman she is and so much to apply to our lives as women, moms, wives and home makers. (On the side Mark and I are writing “Proverbs 32 – the Godly man” (laugh out loud) we have had so many jokes to encourage and spur us on as parents and home makers in our own home – anything to keep one going when you feel swamped with all that responsibility!
The mom’s group meet twice a month for Bible study and the twice a month for an outing and we have had a great time each outing. Many times we meet at one of the mom’s homes and are made to feel very at home with each mom’s own hospitality flare. Each time we have something special where one of us share tips and ideas like, meal planning, shopping lists, creative quick meals, child care ideas, craft and activity ideas, home making décor, time savers etc.

We had an extra outing this month with a group of children from a crèche in one of our rural areas and we all went together to the Flag Farm. What a lot of fun for the kids to feed a lamb and a calf, milk a cow and ride a pony. Troydie really loves the horses and Treyson and Tryston not keen to even get on so he got two extra rides! They have pigs, sheep, goats, duck, bunnies, turkeys, birds and so much more and all the kids got to feed the animals it was a great day of outdoor activity for everyone.

A huge PRAISE – we have just started a new Bible study with these moms and their husbands and families. Please be in prayer for this group as many of the husbands are not saved but are willing to be apart of this time together. We meet twice a month for bring and share supper and study in God’s word lead by Mark. What a blessing to have this avenue of outreach pray that many lives are changed and that these parents can be a testimony and witness to their little children – we are very excited!

Young Adults group is going well they meet for Bible study every week that is led by Mark and the group averages about 17-20. They have just completed Revelation and are now studying 1 Corinthians and finding it a huge blessing! We were able to be part of an outing with them to Karkloof Gorge and enjoyed an afternoon picnic and fun alongside the river. We also had them all in our home for an evening of coffee brownies, ice-cream and chocolate sauce – great evening to fellowship together. It was great to also be a part of a marriage celebration what a blessing to see two young adults, committed to Christ, make vows to build their future together in the Lord. It was a wonderful wedding day - this made Mark and I think back on the vows we made nearly 7 years ago – God is Good!!!

Pastoral ministry has been a challenge and a blessing in Mark’s life as he has faithfully preached God’s word on several Sunday mornings and evenings. He is currently preaching through 1 John in the morning and just started a series through Malachi in the evenings. We have had a baptismal service and what an encouragement to see so many boldly follow Christ.
Mark led his first dedication service and it was definitely one to be remembered. Two families dedicated their little ones to the Lord and one baby cried the whole way through! Mark really did well to keep everyone together.
On the whole he is greatly enjoying being part of God’s family and leading ministry even though some days are really busy with elders, deacons, mission, staff, outreach, devotion, prayer, encouragement and family time. His schedule does get crazy at times. Please pray for time management so that each ministry has enough preparation time!
Many of you may have heard or received an email from us regarding his studies – this has been something we have been praying about for some time and feel that the timing is right so he will begin his studies through South African Theological Seminary (SATS) in the month of June and work toward receiving his Masters in Theology. We both are very excited at the opportunity that has come his way and are praying both for spiritual growth, greater depth in the things of the Lord and a challenge to stretch and equip for further ministry. Please be in prayer for us as we find support in funding this venture and finding the time to get the studies completed in amongst all our other ministry responsibilities.

Woman’s Ministry involvement has been a wonderful time for Tan to grow in leadership. The ladies met this first quarter of the year for a meeting “Soaring on Wings like Eagles” and it was a great afternoon of encouragement and inspiration for all who attended. Tan has also lead the craft event for the ladies and they had a decoupage morning and this was a great time of fellowship and creativity for the ladies to make “something OLD something NEW”!!

Like at the beginning of this section of our news letter we said – WHAT A BLESSING TO BE INVOLVED IN ADDING TO GOD’S KINGDOM DAILY AND WORKING FOR ETERAL THINGS!
Thank you Lord for giving us this opportunity to bring Glory to you in everything that we do!

To end our long newsy letter we have a new addition to the Wilby Family – his name is MAC - our new puppy (Labrador cross spaniel). He is 7 weeks old and is full of mischief. The boys have taken to him and Troydie has a new playmate. He can be a bit rough – so Treyson and Tryston tend to run away when he comes near. We all think he is the cutest little pup ever and what a joy his has added to our home!

Thank you for all your support and care we miss you all and would love to hear your news! God Bless and take care

In His hands

Mark, Tanya, Troyden, Treyson & Tryston

JANUARY - FEBRUARY 2010

2010-02-17T09:39:00.001-08:00

HAPPY AND BLESSED NEW YEAR TO ALL OF OUR FRIENDS AND FAMILY 2010

Our year started quick and has been busy busy busy but we are being blessed in all that we are accomplishing for our Saviour.

TROYDEN's BIRTHDAY

Well lets just say that his celebrations continued for the full month of January with a pre-birthday on holiday in Kei Mouth with yummie death by chocolate pud at the TREEPOT coffee stop and fun playing on the big house jungle gym.

Then we celebrated on his birthday with balloons for everyone and supper with his cousin Joshie and he got to blow out the candles on the Leechie desert! YUM

Then we had a "Fishy Party" down at the beach with boat rides, fun in the sand, pool fishing and breakfast snacks. It was a really fun day and Troydie got to blow out the candles again on his FISHY CAKE! - What celebrations. We praise the Lord for the blessing that he has been and what a joy to see him grow and question and reason things of life - Thank you Lord for his special little life.

NEWS on all the BOYZ - TROYDEN, TREYSON and TRYSTON

Our little boyz are growing so quick and fast it is hard to keep up with all that they are up too. We have great fun playing in the garden on the jungle gym and in the sand pit and summer has been soooo hot we have spent many an hour out in the sun under the sprinkler and in the little spash pool it has been great fun.

On the realy hot evenings we turn on all the aircons and play ball in Troydies room romping and playing throw and catch in the ball pool. Troydie loves his wooden train set and is aways ready for a story from his Thomas the Tank Engine books.

Treyson and Tryston have started climbing up and down stairs now so that has been great we don't have to carry up and down stairs in our double story home and just this month the craze with them has been to wear backpacks and climb - such big boyz!

We have come to learn many things about the "twin relationship" they have their own way of communication. They call each other (shouging Ba Ba Ba) and respond to each others call (very cute to watch.) If Tan gives out juice or a cookie and Treyson gets first he will always give to Tryston - the careing and sharing is quite something. They love playing catch and riding their bikes after eachother - this is quite a giggly time in the house!!! Tea time is their favourite and a quick smile is always there for you - we are so blessed and love our boyz very very much.

Treyson has grown his will and definately is stronger in character. (on the left they are eating Valentines Day chocolate lollies). Tryston just smiles his way thru life - look at that grin!!

The first words are coming and Treyson loves UH-OR!!! and Tryston is saying AH-NO!!! It is too cute - - added to this they are signing THANK YOU and PLEASE (sign language) so we are well on the way to teaching some early manners!

All three of them have tender hearts, are loveable and friendly. Generally they get along great with eachother with big brother as the definate leader of the pack. Rubgy tackling, giggling and "ON YOUR MARKS, GET SET, GO races (or as Troydie says lets play "MARKET GO" have been the order of every days activities. On rainy days we watch a movie (most times it's Troydens favourite - SURF'S UP) and share popcorn (with the couch!)

FAMILY

Both our families are doing well busy in their work and ministry for the Lord. We have had a sad time with good-byes to Mark and my gramps at the end of last year, and then Marks great gran (97yrs old) passed away in January to be with Jesus - Praise the Lord they all had a saving knowledge of our God and King and as we explained to Troyden - Ouma Dickie is now dancing with Jesus in Heaven! (something her frail earthly body would not allow her to do).

Tan's folks are currently in Zululand missioning on for the Lord sharing the gospel, teaching, preaching, doing door-to-door visitation, AIDS care, childrens ministry and loving on the local church and its pastor. Trent (Tan's brother) is with them with several from his church in Johannesburg together with some students from our Johannesburg Baptist Seminary. Praise the Lord for this opportunity.

Mark's folks are busy with dad's business and great blessing mom has been able to give up her accounting job to work from home doing the occasional clients books and help dad out with his business - this is an answer to prayer as she has wanted to do it for a while.

Errol, Tracy and Zinny (Marks sister and family) are in Cape Town for this year as Errol studies though Baptist college to get his recognition and they are ministering as associate pastor in the area. Pray for them as they equip themselves for future minsitry.

Craig, Robs and Joshie (Mark's sister and family) are settled in Pietermaritzburg, Craig is working with dad in his business and they have just bought their first little house that is a do-up project. Big news they have another baby on the way due to arrive at the end of April. Pray for them as they prepare for this new little life to enter the world. - we are all very excited.

Most mondays we try to plan an outing as a family as it is Mark's day off and we went to Waterberries (little coastal forest coffee shop). They boys had so much fun eating cheesecake, drinking milkshakes, climbing on the jungle gyms and playing in the sandpit.

A real highlight for a visit to this little place is the "Forest Walk". This was Treyson and Trystons first "hike" as they walked the whole way by themselves. We saw a baby duiker that was really tame and the boyz pointed and smiled. (if you look really hard in this pic you can see it in the bush on the left). They swung on the boardwalk railings and played follow the leader along the path.

We treasure this time that we can input into our childrens lives and we have had so much fun on our many Monday outings or fun activities.

MINISTRY
Our church ministry is going great and we are having a busy but fun time. Mark is very involved in the leadership and teaching and preaching ministry and enjoying the challenge very much. Pray for him as he stands for what he believes is right and that he remains always true to God's Word.

Lambs Fold We have just completed the extentions to our mothers rooms at the church and what a difference this has made for all the mommies. It was a very memorable event as these rooms were refurbished in memory of one of our very own mommies who lost her life tragically in 2007. A sad but very happy and blessed time for all involved to see her wish and prayers come true. Praise the Lord.

What a celebration to have this legacy left - for moms to use these facilities mainly during our worship services on a Sunday. The prayer of her family was and is that many little lives will be trained in God's love and word through the use of these additions to our buildings. Praise the Lord! Our mom's group has grown from 3 to 11 and between us moms we have 19 children that we are training up as God's little warriors. Pray with us that this ministry will grow and many will come to the saving faith in Jesus Christ.

Impact Mark and I both are involved this semester in leading our junior youth every week and having a blast. They meet every week for a time of games, crafts and study in God's word. This first term has been great fun so far with stories from "HERMIE THE WORMIE" as he the bookworm shares of his adventure through all 66 books of the bible. The group is individually making their own full library of 66 matchboxes representing the books of the bible and this craft has proved to be great fun. Please pray for continued commitment from this group as we are struggling a little with getting the kids to participate on a regular basis and our numbers vary week to week. We decided to include the boyz in our ministry and has been a challenge at times but great for them to interact with kiddies older than them. The twins even got to join in a duster hockey game and they loved every minute of it.

Youth Praise the Lord! We have a young married couple with 3 children that have come forward to help with the leadership of this group and it has been a blessing all round. Mark is speaking every week at their get together and the young couple is planning and supporting in every other way possible. It is great to see parents get involved with their children to help train and build them up. Pray that many more of the parents will want to be involved with this group.

Bible Study Mark is still leading the Young Adults Bible Study group and they are studing their

way through the book of Revelation - challenging but a good study time. They enjoyed a traveling supper this last month and had a lovely evening of food and fellowship with 23 of them all traveling along together.

The Moms Group is going strong and we are just about to complete our topical study by Elizabeth George - "A Woman's High Calling". WOW talk about challenge we have been so stretched to live Christ's example out in every aspect of our busy "mom lives".

LIFE IN AFRICA We are praising the Lord for His blessings on our lives - on our marriage, for our special children, for His constant protection, for His great love, mercy and grace. What a privileged to be serving the Lord in this place and in this way.

Please keep us in your prayers:

Direction for our future ministry as we lead, teach, train and disciple others in the things of the Lord
The Lord's clear leading in the decisions we have to make daily
A continual passion to read and study God's word
The discipline of training and teaching our own children the truth of our Saviour found in His wonderful word - the Bible
Health and strength to mission on for the cause of the Gospel

GOD BLESS and thanks for all your support and prayers they are greatly appreciated.

Mark, Tan & terrific T's

December - CHRIST is BORN

2010-02-17T08:35:00.000-08:00

BLESSED CHRISTMAS TO YOU ALL -
WHAT A REASON TO CELEBRATE!

A quick little note to tell you all we had a wonderful CHRISTMAS TIME - Celebrating Christ's Birth. We had a lovely family dinner with Mark's family and the big cousins Troydie and Joshie were spoilt with new BIG BIKEs.

We all had a wonderful time. Troydie asked Father Christmas for "a Jungle gym, a tent and an umbrella and motor bikes for my brothers".

A highlight for us was to be Father Christmas and Mark got to build our very own jungle gym and that has proven to be loads of fun for all three boyz. Troydie is very chuffed because he gets to climb right to the top out of reach of Treyson and Tryston. However the twins have since learnt to swing like little monkeys and giggle all the while they hang there. (too cute)!

TREYSON (left) TRYSTON (right)

We had the opportunity to spend a week with Trent in Joeys - and still laugh about being inland away from the beach at Christmas when the trend is to migrate to the beach. We had a lovely relaxing time in his home and enjoyed a new game called catank! Its a combonation of carpet bowls and shot put played out on the grass. Many a laugh and Mark and I are still the reigning CHAMPS!

Troydie "played guitar" with Uncle T all the time and had a wonderful time singing "Our God is Mighty to Save"!

We then traveled down to Kei Mouth for our annual hols by the beach and had a wonderful time of fun in the sun, sand and boat. The little minki pinki's (our new nic name for Treyson & Tryston) so enjoyed the WAVES!! Mom had quite a time keeping them all together.

Building sand castles was a new explore for Troydie but Treyson and Tryston just wanted to bash them down.

Troydie flew a Kite for the first time and got his very first real fishing rod and caught his first fishie this was very exciting for eveyone. It was a lovely break to enjoy the out doors and let the boys have lots of fun on the beach.

HAPPY 2010

We were well rested and ready to start 2010 when we returned. What a HOLIDAY!!!

November

2009-11-12T02:55:00.000-08:00

CHRISTMAS FUN to come…

Hi to all of our friends and family

We have had a full year and not had time to update the blog each quarter properly. So sorry for the sudden load of pics and lots of news all at once. Hope you all enjoyed the read!

The Wilby’s are in the Holiday Festive mode and send you lots of wishes for the happy and joyful season to come.

As you can see from our pics some of us are shy!, some excited and happy, others preoccupied with our hats and and others disappeared into our hats altogether!!!

We are at that stage in our growing lives when it is impossible to get us ALL FIVE to sit still for a family portrait! But hey we made a memory and had a blast taking our pics, laughing all the way!!!

(Daddy with Tryston)(Mommy with Treyson)

Praying that you all are blessed to the full over this wonderful CHRISTMAS TIME!!

LOVE to you All

Mark, Tan, Troyden, Treyson and Tryston

SEPTEMBER & OCTOBER

2009-11-12T02:53:00.000-08:00

FAMILY FUN
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU … YES CAN YOU BELIEVE IT.
Treyson and Tryston are ONE TODAY!!! (8th September). WOW this first year of their lives has just flown by. So much to learn and take in we have so enjoy getting to know their little characters.
We had a fun FARM party with all the “farmy” things you can imagine, hay rides in the kiddie wheel barrows, a donkey story told by Nee (Tan’s mom), chicken egg hunt in the garden, picture taken behind a banner, pony rides on play ponies Nee made, wors (sausage) rolls with garden veggies and dip, yummy treats that looked like sheep, chips that looked like hay, and Cow paddy pudding (brownies and chocolate sauce). Not to mention the wonderful creation of Lamb’s cakes for each of the Twins to pull apart and stuff their faces with.

It was a great time of fun for everyone, especially when we all dressed the part in our dungaree farmer outfits!! He Hi He Hi HO!!!

Thier birthday pressies - MICKEY MOUSE RIDERS they just love them you can just imagine all the music (noise) in the house now!!

Praising the Lord again. Mark received his South African Baptist recognition which means that he is recognised by the South African Baptist Union as one of our Baptist Pastors. We went to our convention meetings up in Polekwane for the recognition ceremony and our annual assembly meetings and what a drive that was.

We camped near town and the kids had fun playing in the water and painting faces and enjoying the outside!

We decided to camp the whole trip long and on the whole everyone did pretty well. Dad and Mom never got to sit much but we had a great time. After the convention meetings we drove back through the Kruger National Park and boy did Troydie enjoy all the animals and the camping there too. The African bush was really BEAUTIFUL!

Our first night in the tent was one to remember with the biggest wind and rain storm ever – that the tent was blowing so much as we lay there it was touching our noses!! We definitely made many memories that we will never forget. Troydie got to feed a “bambi” as he called it, meet a lizard that was nearly bigger than him, see a lion and her cubs, elephant, giraffe, zebra and much more. He was very excited for months running up to our trip and he was running around telling everyone that he was going on a “FARI” as he could not pronounce SAFARI!

TRIBUTE TO OUR GRANDFATHERS
In the last 3 months we have lost 2 Grandfathers – Grampa Abrams passed away in July and Grampa Eayrs passed way in September. We praise the Lord for their strong testimonies of Faith and we know that they are both worshiping our Lord in heaven today. Praise the Lord for these special men in our lives.

Visiting at the grandparents house we all get so spoilt and always have so much fun. Check out our ride in the wheelbarrow, first swim in the Jacuzzi

and yes we do we get CHOCOLATE! mmmmYUM!

Ministry Memories
The youths of Durban all got together for a Soccer day to get some what geared up for 2010 World cup. We took the boys along and they had a great time of kicking ball with all the youth!
The young girls of the church have started a drama group and Tan is quite involved there with the training of Worship Drama. It has been a huge blessing to be apart of discipleship in this way. They all so enjoyed studying about “Dance” in scripture and worshiping the Lord in their first drama to the song “Mighty to Save” (too cute Troydie knows the words and actions too).
We are running a discipleship course called Christianity Explored on a Thursday night for non-believers to come and learn what Christianity is all about. We have been so blessed to have many come to sit and listen and explore together. What a great time to be reminded about the basics of your belief and to discuss with openness and honesty.
The ladies craft group has been going well this month Tan lead a course on cement décor for picture frames and ceramic garden pots. She had a fun Saturday morning making a mess with cement in the garden with 10 other ladies – their creations were beautiful and they all seemed to have had a great time of “messy fun!”

VERSE FOR ENCOURAGMENT

He is the radiance of the glory of God

and the exact imprint of his nature,

and he upholds the universe by the word of his power.

After making purification for sins,

he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on High.

- Hebrews 1v3

JULY & AUGUST

2009-11-11T22:14:00.001-08:00

Holiday fun ... to the Beach in WINTER

It’s that time of the year again and we took some holiday from ministry and spent some time away at the beach. Funny time to go and enjoy the beach we were all dressed in our Winter Woollies playing in the sand!!
Both Treyson and Tryston started taking steps between things on holiday and we had a grand time playing in the garden in the warm sunshine and walking and playing in the sand when the weather was not too chilly. They even had the chance to enjoy their first boat ride.

Finally the teeth are coming. Tryston got his first tooth on the 23rd July – wow they have really taken their time in showing themselves.

Daddy had a birthday and we had a great time celebrating with him while on holiday. The boys loved the wrapping paper and we had a special day together.

Well you will not believe it Treyson is up and walking even trying to kick the ball 29th July. And Tryston joined him on his little legs on August 6th it really does look quite funny having such little people up on their feet!

TRYSTON on his feets!!

TREYSON on his feets!!

We will say at the end of the winter that it was quite a winter!! We spent many a penny at the doctor as our boys really struggled with sickness. Praise the Lord we never ended up in hospital but all the same it has been a hard long haul to keep them well and fit. Many a nappy rash, runny nose, cough and temperature. What a time we have had.

Fun times in the Wilby house the boys are climbing up wanting to be up on the chair, never alone the two of them are always together. Washing time is great fun they love to get in and out and on top of the basket it’s a great play thing!

Ministry Memories
We had our children’s holiday club this month and what a load of fun they all had. The J-Life team were very much involved and we had many children come and learn about Jesus everyday.
The woman’s ministry is going well, Tan spoke at this quarter’s meeting on the Lord being your comfort. The whole meeting was lead with the theme. Is God your comfort or is CHOCOLATE? We ate yummy goodies and enjoyed a wonderful time of “feasting” around God’s word.
Our time has been filled with visitation of many folk in the church, mentorship and discipleship, attending seminars to encourage us as we lead others in the Lords work and encouragement in all areas of church growth. Wow ! it has been a stretch!
Our senor Pastor has been on sabbatical so Mark has been helping out with leadership in many other areas while he has been away. It has been a huge responsibility but a great time of spiritual, mental and emotional growth. It is great to see how the Lord grows one as you take the opportunities that he give you. We are praising the Lord for his special grace in our lives.

VERSE FOR ENCOURAGEMENT

Whatever you do, work at it with

all your heart, as working for the Lord.

- Colossians 3v23

MAY & JUNE

2009-11-11T21:51:00.000-08:00

FUN TIMES ... at Home

Family Fun
Treyson and Tryston are 8months old! Any old toy will do – look at us in the BOX!

Happy Mothers Day to all you mom’s out there – Tan is feeling the awesome responsibility of motherhood and praising the Lord for her wonderful bundles of JOY!

Fun around the house. They boys love to help with washing and hoovering!!

More fun is cookie time when all 3 of them make it a bit deal to sit and eat and "tea party" together on the kitchen floor.

We don’t watch much TV but when we do they are really sucked in!

Playing OUTSIDE is our favourite past time – the more balls to throw and kick the better!

We spend most of our time at home – yet Tan did venture out for the first time by herself to the mall with all 3 boys and they had a blast of a time.
Troydie likes to be like dad and braai (cook on the grill) check out how he’s braaing with the tongs and his cars!!

The big thing now because of our boating outings is to “play fishing” So Troydie had his little Mater rider, hooked on his block wagon, emptied out the blocks and put the baby bath onto the wagon and pulled it around the house like his BOAT AND TRAILER!! Too cute how the imagination is now working. The Twins loved the idea so they climb in the boat and play with his fishing rod and fish, its like “rub a dub dub 3 men in a tub – the older the middle the younger all playing together!!”

Ministry Memories
The J-LIFE team has arrived and what a wonderful bunch they are. We are excited to see how the Lord will use them. Please pray for Lance, Chris, Sheila and Jerri-Lee.
Preaching and teaching ministry is going well – praise the Lord for his leadership in our lives as we share with others in this way.
The mom’s group is going great – Tan has another mom helping out with the leading of the study time and then another mom to arrange all their outings. The group has grown there are 7 mom’s who meet every 2nd week for bible study and what a blessed time they are having studying various women in the Bible.

VERSE FOR ENCOURAGEMENT

Your LOVE, O Lord, reaches to the heavens,

Your faithfulness to the skies.

- Psalm 36v5

EASTER BLESSINGS!

2009-11-10T23:23:00.000-08:00

SPECIAL EASTER BLESSINGS TO ALL OF YOU - HE IS RISEN!!! HALLELUJAH

Family Fun
We took the twins for a weigh in and it was the first time they weighed the SAME (7.1kg’s). They are both doing so well and have been a huge blessing to our little family.

Treyson got his co-ords together on the 17th of the month to CRAWL!! So yes he is also moving. He spent a long time leopard crawling but fiannally got up and is off!!

Troydie is too cute as he is talking a whole bunch more and really have a grand time playing more with his brothers. Tackling games can be rough but loads of fun.
Treyson and Tryston are growing so quick we think that they want to be like Troyden so now this month crawling is boreing and they have learn’t to pull up on things. Just now they will be walking – then what will we do?

HAPPY EASTER – HE IS RISEN
We had a great time explaining the significance of Easter to Troyden but all he was worried about was that the bunny could get through the gate to bring the chocolate!! He kept on telling us to leave the gate open! Too cute.
We had fun with extended family riding in the wheelbarrow and hunting in Grandma’s garden to look for Easter eggs.

The weather has been great not to hot for the beach so we ventured out several morning for a walk and a swim. Then on some weekends Baba and Nee (Tan’s mom and dad) came down and we went out to sea on the boat. Troydie loved this and he caught his FIRST FISHIE!!! Uncle T spent a weekend with us too and got to enjoy the beach with us.

We had a fun time – family building making Troydie a HOUSE. We cut out a door and windows in a big box and painted it. What a lot of joy this piece of cardboard has added to our little boys lives!!

Ministry Memories
This month Mark spent a few days up in Hiddleburg on training for our J-Life youth team. A group of 4 young people will join us in May to help with the leading and discipleship of our youth. Praise the Lord for this blessing to help us with ministry. Please be in prayer for all of them as they prepare to join us to be examples to our church members.

VERSE FOR ENCOURAGEMENT

My grace is sufficient for you, for

My power is made perfect in weakness

- 2 Corinthians 12v9

MARCH Madness!!

2009-10-30T06:41:00.000-07:00

Well Friends and Family we have finally found the time to update you all on our little lives in South Africa. So sorry for the long delay you might have thought we had forgotten about all of you! Well enjoy the long read we have a short newsy little bit on the Family Fun and an update on our Ministry Memeories for each month of this year.

Family Fun
We had a full month of big milestones. Tryston found his TOES!

Look at how we have grown WOW such little “men” in our smart shirts!

Brothers all alike – mom is having fun dressing all THREE the same. Very confusing so many think we have TRIPLETS!!

Both Treyson and Tryston are sitting and playing really nicely and the bottoms seem to not be too round!

We tried out the walking rings a couple of minutes everyday and that has been a hit. Troydie likes to play bumper cars with his brothers so it is quite wild as he pushes them around and into each other. They think it is wonderful and giggle with glee!!

Tryston is up on his knees ready to go and then promptly at the end of the month put his co-ords together and started crawling YEY for Tryston he is on the go.

We introduced the twins to some solid food and boy did they love the cookies, enjoy the porridge and not to sure of the veggies!!

We had a wonderful outing to the Botanical Gardens where Troydie fed the ducks well really they wanted to help themselves out of his hand. Treyson and Tryston were so interested in the birds they just looked at all of this in amazement!

We had a wonderful day of celebration on the 15th of March when we prayed and thanked the Lord publicly for our twin boys. Pastor Stuart shared with us as a family in the dedication service of our boys to the Lord. We are praying much that they come to a saving knowledge of our Savoir and Lord.

We had a weekend off from ministry at Durban North and went up to Joeys to visit Uncle T. It was great fun. We played in the garden, visited a fun coffee shop where Troydie got to ride a horsie! (he just loved it – he wanted to go again and again), the twins even got to ride on a play play horsie and gave big smiles, got to shop, ride a train and enjoy time as a family. (Side note Tan celebrated her 30th birthday this month well done you made it!! The big ‘THREE O’ !!!

Ministry Memories
Mark is still so enjoying his opportunities to preach and being stretch all the time. Tan ran a cark making afternoon to help encourage and teach ladies to make birthday cards. This ministry is one where every lady in the church will receive a hand made card for their birthday via “snail mail”. Many of the ladies have been so blessed through making and receiving special cards in this way.
The Young Adults bible study group is going so well Mark is so encouraged to have so many faithfully attend.
We praise the Lord for all our ministry opportunities.

VERSE FOR ENCOURAGEMENT

Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and your plans will succeed - Proverbs 16v3

2009-02-27T21:39:00.000-08:00

IT'S A NEW YEAR FULL OF FUN

DEC -- JAN & FEB 2009

Christmas and all the fun around that
The build up to Christmas was busy in the church with each department having their year ending function. We hosted the young adults for a dinner and Tan cooked her FIRST gammon (smoked ham) and it turned out delicious. We had fun putting together little gifts for each of our group, Tan spent many moments in between changing nappies (diapers) hand painting little coffee mugs for each one. We have had so much fun this year making our pressies to bless others.
We spent our Christmas celebrations in Durban and Pietermaritzburg with church family and our extended families it was a lovely time to remember Christ’s birth and His coming to earth. This was Troyden’s 2nd Christmas and so much fun was had by all. His favorite pressie was the swing we hung in the tree in our little garden. (We spend many hours out there on the “winga” – as he says so lovely). First Christmas for Treyson and Tryston and they played their part in our family carol service as adorable little angles. We had a wonderful evening of song and dress up as several families with little children depicted the nativity, the Wilby family were “angles”!
We had a few days of holiday with Mark’s folks and his sisters and their families at the beach – the weather and fellowship was great fun, this was the twin’s first trip to the beach and they so enjoyed it.

TROYDEN WITH HIS NEW FOUND FRIEND FATHER CHRISTMAS, HIS CHRISTMAS HAT AND HIS FAITHFUL PRESHIE (passie/dummy)

TREYSON (left) and TRYSTON (right) AS OUR LITTLE ANGELS

TROYDEN ON HIS NEW SWING CHRISTMAS MORNING

FIRST TIME TO THE BEACH SEE HOW WE SLEEP!!! (don't you just love the hats!! Mark thinks they look like little doylies!! - spelling sorry?!)

Annual Holiday to Kei Mouth
This was an adventure that took many months planning for us travel by rail, road, air or boat??? We were nervous to do our first holiday with the twins but will say that it went of really smoothly and we all had a great time of rest and relax. The drive by road in the end took us 9hours and the boys were so good. Troyden really enjoyed this holiday as he is now talking a whole lot more and can associate concepts better. A highlight for his holiday and no doubt ours too was taking a ride up the river on the boat to watch the Fish Eagles swoop down and catch a fish!! As Troydie says (boat - birdie, weeeeee down, fishy) while saying this he has his arm up in the air and as he says weeeeee down comes the arm in a swoop!! Too cute.
Our holiday was a great time of FUN IN THE SUN, we lazed on the beach, fished hard (caught nothing), visited with one another and enjoyed the outside walking the beach and the cliffs of Morgan Bay - we all came back tanned and rested to start the new year of ministry that has started with a bang!

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2009 - TREYSON (left) and TRYSTON (right) 4mths old

WALKING THE CLIFFS OF MORGAN BAY

TROYDIE ENJOYING THE BEACH AND THE BOATING

Ministries at church
Mom’s Bible Study – Kingdom Kids Ministry
Huge blessings, we have 7 moms that are meeting every 2nd Tuesday afternoon for a time in God’s word and encouragement for each other. Tan is writing the material and another mom is teaching the study and it is going great. This has proved to be a huge growing experience for the other mom who has been so challenged it has been a blessing to watch. The Kingdom Kids ministry has launched properly and this gives Tan the opportunity to do some ministry from home. She is coordinating newsletters that go out to each mom at the several milestones in mommy’s pregnancy and babies growth and development. This mail ministry is to encourage the moms and dads as they grow in parenting their children. Linked to this ministry is the mom’s bible study that meets regularly and then a family day were the whole family is invited to join once a month for a meal or outing. Please pray much for this ministry as it grows and encourages new families into the body of Christ.
Preaching & Pastoral Ministry
Thank you Jesus! Is all we can say for the growth and opportunity Mark has had in this ministry. Please be in prayer for Mark as our senior pastor is planning his 3month sabbatical (April, May & June). Mark will be given more responsibility overall and extra preaching opportunities while the other pastor is away. We are finding the pastoral ministry a stretch and leaning on the Lord as we encourage and counsel those who are hurting in our body of believers - pray that we have the right attitude and words for those in need.

Youth Ministry
To start the year Mark is leading this ministry every Friday evening when a group of about 15 youth get together for an evening of encouragement in God’s Word. We are praying much for April as a team of 4 young adults trained by a youth leading organization will be joining our church to help lead this ministry. Please pray much for Mark as he carries this extra load for this semester, and for the team that will be coming to minister along side Mark, as he disciples and mentors them as they minister to those younger.
Young Adults Bible Study
The study group is up and going and working through a book of John Piper’s “Don’t waste your life”, many are finding it deep and a real stretch pray that they grow through the reading and study of God’s word as well as through the ministry of the DVD’s.
@TAP (all things to all people – community center)
We still meet to enjoy the play ground for our mom’s bible study. Pray for the leaders here as they advertise to start an after care homework center for children to come after school to do homework and hang out in a safe environment.

Great Gramps Eayrs
Is doing well and settled down into his new home in Pietermaritzburg frail care. He had surgery this last month to remove a growth on his head and as managed through the surgery very well.

TROYDEN – 2YEARS OLD!!
Troyden celebrated his 2nd Birthday and what fun we had. We chose the theme “Thomas the Tank Engine” and he even had a conductors outfit with matching hat. We had several of his friends from church old and young come around for an afternoon of fellowship and food. He really was the “big 2 year old” and just loved all the attention especially when we blew out candles on his Thomas cake and sang “Happy Birthday”.

TROYDIE AS THE TRAIN DRIVER

PARTY TABLE FOR THE KIDDIES

TROYDIE WITH IS THOMAS TH TANK ENGINE CAKE

The BIG BROTHER
Well as mentioned earlier Troydie is talking much more and making himself understood with the cutest things said. He said his first sentence the other day – Daddy, come see pipe! He was playing in the garden under the sprinkler and wanted Mark to come see.
He is defiantly our sportsman with very good eye, ball, and hand co-ords and loves to run and kick the ball. Playing outside is his favorite, swinging on the swing and in the sand pit. He is collecting matchbox cars to go with his parking garage and will spend hours at a time driving them around all over. Tan has fabric painted a floor map with roads, beach, shops, houses, hospital, school etc. for him to drive and park his cars. The talking is quite a game at the moment and he will copy anything to try say it too. We have fun trying to decipher what he is trying to say. He is generally a very happy little boy and so fun to have around.

PLAYING CAR GARAGE

WINGA WINGA (just like a monkey swinging in the trees)

FUN BIKE RIDING WITH UNCLE T!!!

TWINS grow grow grow
Can you believe it they will be 6months old next week!!! Nearly sitting and trying to be on the go. Treyson is up on all fours rocking to making his first move with the crawling. Tryston giggles all the time and rolls from tummy to back to get him where he wants to go. They love the outside too, watching Troyden all the time and enjoy playing and reaching for their toys. Mom spends 80% of her day out on the picnic blanket on the grass playing with her little boys. The time has flown by and we are so enjoying them they are too cute, very smiley and happy, really easy little babies. We are a little nervous for the next stage of development with them up and crawling all over – please pray that we can keep on the watch from any danger. Generally all goes well with them both, Tan is still breastfeeding and planning on starting some solids this next month. Bath time has become a big splash as they love the water and their favorite is standing on your lap so that they can giggle and smile at you all the time!!!

ENJOYING THE OUTSIDE!

TRYSTON FINDING HIS FEET - LOOK AT THE SMILES!!

TREYSON ENJOYING HIS FIRST SWIM!

Prayer Requests
Thank you each and everyone for your special prayers, God is Good all the time.
· For our parenting discipline and child rearing to be constant and fair.
· Our individual spiritual walks with the Lord as we nurture them and manage ministry together.
Ministry at Durban North
· Young family ministry for a bible study leader who can get the families together each week to study God’s word.
· Youth Ministry and the group that will start with us in April. Pray for Mark as he oversees this ministry in discipleship, mentoring and encouraging.
· Our senior Pastors sabbatical and the extra responsibility this places on us individually and as a family. For our senior pastor and his wife as they rest and replenish in the Lord.
· Our involvement in leadership at church and the responsibility that places on us as a family. Help us to lead by example as Christ would have us lead.
PRAISE THE LORD WITH US!!
· Our healthy little bundles all THREE thank you Jesus for the blessing of children!
· For our finances – we have had a challenge to make the ends meet especially in today’s economic climate and the addition of TWO babies - we praise the Lord for little miracles each month.

CELEBRATE CHRISTMAS!!!

2008-12-15T01:51:00.000-08:00

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND GOD'S RICHEST OF BLESSINGS FOR THE NEW YEAR 2009!

God's Double Blessings!!!!

2008-12-15T01:08:00.000-08:00

NEWSLETTER - September, October, November 2008

The arrival of our TWINS
This is a little note to all of you special people in our lives. We write to say a HUGE thank you for all your prayers, emails, gifts and support through the birth of our twin boys, Treyson and Tryston. We had a wonderful time over the arrival of our boys, with family so near by to visit and encourage. We have been so blessed the boys are really good babies. They only cry when they are hungry or tired and we have them in a good routine. They feed every four hours (tan feels a little like a mommy dog with her puppies as she breastfeeds them together at the same time!). They have a good sleep from 10-12am (big brother Troyden sleeps then too – to give mom some “ME” time).
Both of the boys have grown so nicely and are now 3months old! Can’t believe that the time has gone so quickly WOW! They have kept up with each other in growth, Treyson 5.2kg’s ( lbs) and Tryston 5.3kg’s ( lbs), they have doubled on their birth weight. They are happy smiley babies and very similar in looks!! We had to paint Tryston’s baby finger with nail polish so we don’t get them mixed up. We as mom and dad can now tell them apart but most people think they are identical twins! Well all this to say – Tan is home with the boys and they consume most of her time but she is finding time to do her creative thing and enjoying being involved in some ministry at the church. On the whole going anywhere is a HUGE event to move the family that even making it to church on a Sunday morning on time is quite a thing! Tan has a good friend in the church (actually the nurse that helped with the delivery of the boys) who has grown to enjoy the time she gets to spend with all three Wilby boys, so Tan has some company when she needs to get the errands run! We are both very proud parents and counting our blessings of these two special little boys!

FIRST SMILES

Big Brother TROYDEN
Well well well what a sweetie pie we have here!! Troydie just loves his brothers and know that he wishes they were bigger so he could play with them. He is very loving and gentle with them it is too cute to watch how fair he is what he does to one he does to the other!
He is quite the sportsman already with really very good ball skills he is now drop kicking and throwing the ball into the air and hitting with the bat. Still working on the catching but that is coming along nicely. Balls are definitely his fave toy!
The talking is coming along nicely and we have quite a vocab. Over the past 3 months we have added WOW, church, cheese, ass (as yes), no, more and ball. This past week we played under the hose pipe in the garden and now all he can talk about is the “pipe”, “pipe”, “pipe” – so cute! He fully understands and so enjoys company of other kids. Mom is kept quite busy having to watch the twins and still run and kick the ball in the garden. In the last three months we have learned what it is to draw, paint and play with play dough!
He has nick named Tan’s folks as “BABA” and “NEE” and loves it when they come to visit – all the more attention.

He has nick named Mark's folks "PA" and "MA" and so enjoyes playing with them too. On the whole he has managed the addition of his brothers and really is quite protective and proud of them. All this said DAD is definitely his favorite and he finds it real hard to say goodbye to him.

ME AND MY DAD!!!!

ME WITH PUPPY, "DUZI" blanket and "PRESH" (dummy/pasi)

10-12 weeks old ... and so we grow

Ministries at church
Ladies “Basking in the SON”
The ladies had their quarterly meeting this past month and what a fun time. The hall was decorated like a beach with towel, umbrellas, sand, shells and deck chairs etc. 4 ladies shared how they are “Basking in the SON” and were a huge blessing in testimony to all the ladies who came. The afternoon was ended off with a competition between each table – who could make the best sun hat from the materials that were provided what a laugh. Fellowship was great round ice cream and fruit salad!
Youth Ministry
The Youth has had their final meeting for the year and the group has really grown spiritually even the friendships are stronger. We have a core group of about 15 that are regular every week and growing in the Lord. Please continue to pray for this ministry as we seek out God’s plan for new leadership for 2009.
Preaching Gods Word
We are still praising the Lord for Mark’s opportunities in this ministry. Please keep him in your prayers week by week as he studies and prepares to share God’s word with His people. We thank the Lord for growing him as he shares in the pulpit.

Kingdom’s Kids Ministry
This ministry is going great and we are finding it a wonderful time for all of us as a family. Added to the mail ministry to the “new families” and the mom’s bible study that meets twice a month we have decided to get together as families for a meal once a month. This as proved to be a huge blessing to all of us and such an encouragement for us to meet together, not to mention all the fun the kids have playing with each other.
Young Adults Bible Study
Well the study has ended for the year completing their discussions through Philippians. We will be celebrating Christmas together this coming Wednesday. Tan is cooking a “Christmassy” meal. We praise the Lord for His growth in these young peoples lives so many have grown so much this year, many are more involved in other ministries too – Thank you Lord!
@TAP (all things to all people – community center)
We have so enjoyed the use of the new coffee corner for Troydie to run and play – our mum’s bible study meets there so the kids can enjoy the outside.

On a sad note
Mark’s granny – Granny Wilby passed away on September 21st. This was a sad day but we praise the Lord for her life and the special person she was to each of the family members.

HAPPY 5TH ANNIVERSARY
We celebrated out 5th wedding anniversary on Oct 4th and we praise the Lord for His blessings on us. 5years and we are now 5 in the family! We had a little giggle as the two of us were planning on going out for dinner and ended up getting ribs delivered so we could all be together to celebrate!

Christmas plans
We will be in Durban for Christmas eve and Christmas day service. The family will be with us for dinner on Christmas eve. Then we celebrate with Mark’s family on Christmas day in Pietermaritzburg and with Tan’s folks on Christmas day in the evening. Trent will be flying in to town after his Christmas day service. We will spend a few days with Tan’s folks following Christmas day until Trent returns home and then onto Port Edward (beach) with Mark’s family for 3 days break. We have planned to take our leave for the year in the middle of January and going down to Kei Mouth for 10days.

Family news
All our family is doing well and excited for the Christmas celebrations. (Mark’s sisters -) Errol and Tracy arrived last week for 6 weeks holiday with the family in Pietermaritzburg. Craig and Robyn have settled down in Pietermaritzburg and Craig is enjoying working with dad in his business from home. Tan’s family is doing fine mom and dad Eayrs working on their involvement in mission in our state and keeping themselves busy with a lot of traveling. We have had a young girl visit from the states as an intern for 3 months and her visit is going well she will be celebrating with us for Christmas. They are on a prayer road trip right now with a visiting family from the U.K. (Tan’s brother -) Trent is doing well at Florida Baptist in Johannesburg, keeping himself very busy with church life. aLooking forward to our family holiday together.

Prayer Requests
Thank you each and everyone for your special prayers, God is Good all the time.
· Our little family as it has grown from 3 to 5 – for the Lord to help us raise our children to love Him in a special way.
· Continuing to pray for financial support for a suitable vehicle for mission trips
· Christmas plans and travels – that it will be a blessed time for all!
Ministry at Durban North
· Christmas celebrations to be reminded of Christ’s Birth and the reason He came to earth so many years ago.
· Youth Ministry and the need for a leader that Mark can mentor and come alongside of.
· Our involvement in leadership at church and the responsibility that places on us as a family. Help us to lead by example as Christ would have us lead.
PRAISE THE LORD WITH US!!
· Troyden’s easy adjustment to the addition of the Twins! He just loves them!
· For our finances – we have had a challenge to make the ends meet especially with the addition of the new babies and we praise the Lord for special miracles each month. So many people have been a huge blessing to us.
· For the healthy BABIES the Lord has blessed us with – we are so enjoying them!
· For our new home – pray that we can use it for the Lord’s glory in every way, and not to miss the opportunities to share it with others.

All for our Saviour,

Mark, Tanya, Troyden, Treyson and Tryston

7 WEEKS OLD NOW...

2008-12-06T04:47:00.000-08:00

We are so enjoyin our boys - thanking the Lord that they have settled into a routine and the Wilby family life goes on...

TROYDIE AND HIS BROTHERS!!

OUTING IN OUR PRAM...

FAMILY FUN - TRYING SO HARD TO GET US ALL TO LOOK AT THE CAMERA AND LOOK OUR BESTEST!!!

6weeks old ... so we grow

2008-12-06T04:24:00.000-08:00

Some more pics for you to follow as our boyz grow grow grow. Tan is still breast feeding and the boys are gaining weight well. Troydie is loving his brothers and having so much fun. Life at home is busy busy busy but full of fun fun fun!!!

US JUST 6 WEEKS OLD NOW!!!

Mom and her TWIN BOYZ!!

Can you see we are different!?

Twins first outing at 6 weeks - we did not venture out much!!

Troyden with his "duzi" blanket on his head!

SEE OUR TWINS GROW...

2008-12-06T03:24:00.000-08:00

FAMILY OF FIVE...

DAD, MOM, TROYDEN, TREYSON AND TRYSTON (2weeks old)

OUR BOYZ!!!

TREYSON (left) TRYSTON (right)

4 WEEKS OLD (in the nude)

TREYSON (1mth)

Tryston (1mth)

TRYSTON (left) TREYSON (right)

Dad & his TWIN boys!!

PRAISE THE LORD !! HALLELUJAH!!

2008-09-16T02:29:00.000-07:00

Our Twin Boys Have Arrived!!

Tan went into hospital on Monday the 8th September 2008 for a planned ceaser. Our Twin boys were born healthy and strong - Thank you Jesus for much answered prayer.

Name: Treyson Mark Wilby

Weight: 2.4kg's (5.29 pounds)

Length: 50cm (19.69 inches)

Time: 10.04am

Meaning of his Name: Sacrifice

Romans 12v1

" Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God - this is your spiritual act of worship."

Name: Tryston Trent Wilby

Weight: 2.6kg's (5.73 pounds)

Length: 52 cm (20.47 inches)

Time: 10.05am

Meaning of his Name: Bold/Valient

Joshua 1v9

"Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go."

TREYSON (on the left) & TRYSTON (on the right)

THE FIVE OF US!

We praise the Lord that he has blessed us with this DOUBLE blessing and wanted to share some pictures with you. Troyden (big brother - now 21months old) is so enjoying his brothers. He is gentle, protective and very caring of them both - too cute to watch him with them.

Mommy Tan is breast feeding them together every 3hours and doing well after the opperation. Daddy Mark is there to help with bathing and burping at every feed time. We are enjoying this time together as a newly bigger family - keep us in your prayers as we grow our little boys for God's Kingdom.

BIG BROTHER TROYDEN LOVING ON ONE OF HIS BROTHERS!

MOMMY WITH HER BUNDLES OF JOY

Much love to all of you
God Bless

Mark, Tanya , Troyden, Treyson and Tryston.

ALL THINGS NEW !!!

2008-08-26T12:26:00.000-07:00

JUNE, JULY, AUGUST 2008

HORRAY HORRAY!! WE NOW HAVE PROPER BROADBAN INTERNET IN OUR NEW STUDY IN OUR NEW HOME. SO YES WE CAN COMMUNICATE ALL THE MORE OFTEN!!! DROP US A LINE TAN’S AT HOME WITH THE KIDS SHE CAN NOW EMAIL BACK ANYTIME!! YEY CAN’T WAIT TO CATCH UP WITH ALL OF YOU SEND THE NEWS!!

Contact with you…
We have lots to catch up on as we have not had time to set up our “Blog” and get to the computer at the church to keep you all informed, so will try to give you an overview of the last 3months of our busy little lives.
HERE GOES enjoy the read…

SURPRISE BABY SHOWER
Tan was hugely surprised by our church family ladies who threw her a TWINS baby shower where she got 2 of everything. Such a blessing and so spoilt with so many gifts and lots of love. It was a wonderful afternoon full of fun. In these times you are reminded how blessed you are to be part of a church family.

BABY ZINNY ARRIVED!!!
CONGRATULATIONS are due to Mark’s sister and hubby – Errol and Tracy at the arrival of baby Zinny Jack Cronje. He was born on the 7th June and weighed just over 3kg’s (about 7 and a bit pounds?!). We have not met him in person yet but they will be visiting now at the end of August for the birth of our Twins. We can’t wait to meet the little man!

MINISTRIES AT CHURCH
We have been busy busy busy with church ministry and Tan has been slowly letting go of all her involvement over the last three months so that she could rest through the end stages of the pregnancy. God has been so good in blessing us in our work at Durban North Baptist Church.
Family day picnic at the Beach
We had a wonderful day out at the beach, with fellowship and fun in the sun. We braaied (barbecued) and enjoyed God’s creation and family time together as a church body.
Ladies “Soup Sip”
We had a wonderful group of ladies gather to fellowship round God’s word and some delicious soups. Being the middle of winter we all enjoyed the warm time of encouragement together. Tan was very involved in this meeting as it will be her last one for a while with her getting the Twins onto a routine. The young adult girls did a skit on soup making, the little girls from Sunday school sang a happy song item and they had a visiting speaker who shared from God’s word on “ENCOURAGMENT”.
Preaching Gods Word
WOW! God is so good He has giving Mark so many opportunities to share from God’s word in our pulpit and for that we praise Him. Mark has grown in this ministry found it a challenge, blessing and a stretch. It is wonderful to see his freedom to share what the Lord has laid on his heart from His word. Thank you Jesus for this ministry opportunity.
Young Adults Bible Study
Mark has started a study through Philippians and changed the format of the study to allow for smaller group study so that more can participate in discussion. Our group averages 20 and this makes the fellowship really sweet. The group is really enjoying getting into God’s word deeper and deeper.

Elders wives prayer meeting
This is a new little ministry Tan is involved in every two weeks the Elders wives get together to pray for the ladies of our church and this has proved to be a great encouragement not only to the ladies of our church but to the elders wives too. They meet at our home for an hour and share in prayer together.
Youth Ministry
Be in prayer for this ministry as our leading couple has decided to give their involvement a break here as they are expecting a baby. Mark is running with the leadership for this semester and praying around finding a young single guy to come in alongside him to help him with the youth and children’s ministry. Pray that we find God’s person to help support Mark in this way.
Kingdom’s Kids Ministry
This is a new ministry Tan has started, one that cares for new expectant mom’s and dad’s and for the new baby. The ministry is one that cares for the “new” family through care packages in the mail, newsletters with tips and guidelines for raising your children God’s way. The ministry runs from the start of pregnancy to until the baby is 2years of age and is then introduced to Sunday school. Already the moms’ and dad’s have so enjoyed the encouragement!

NEW HOME
Praise the Lord! We managed to find a new house to move to before the twins arrived. It was a huge answer to prayer and big decision that we had to make. We now live a little north of the church about the same distance we lived south. We have the mall across the park from us. Troyden will learn to love the park and the swings as the babies get bigger. It is in a quiet neighborhood and we have frequent visiting monkeys, that have posed to be a little bit of a nuisance.
The house is divided into two with one duplex on the right and one on the left. (Duplex = double story townhouse/simplex) Tan feels safe here with the neighbors on the same property and we share an electric gate for security. The house has 3 bedrooms and two bathrooms upstairs and lounge, dinning room, kitchen open plan with a study come spare room and visitors bathroom down stairs. The Lounge has a small sun room adjoined to it that opens onto a safe garden for Troyden to enjoy the outside. We have settled nicely and have much we want to do to make the place more “Homey”. The only unfortunate thing is that we are still renting and would really have loved to buy a place but the cost of property in South Africa is expensive – so we thank the Lord for giving us the space we have to raise our soon to be 3 children, and thank him that we could move before the twins arrived.

PACKING TO MOVE FROM FERNGROVE TO OAKLEIGH AVENUE, LA LUCIA

HELPING WITH THE HANGING OF CURTAINS IN THE NEW HOUSE!

MISSIONS
Opportunities to be involved in sharing Christ on the mission field are becoming more frequent and the need for a suitable vehicle to access these areas with mission teams is becoming a necessity. Please pray with us that God would enable us to raise enough money to purchase such a vehicle that many might hear the good news of Jesus Christ.

Troyden UPDATE
WOW our little baby boy is about to become a BIG BROTHER and we look at him and he is still so little. We have so enjoyed him over the last 3months. He has adjusted so well to all the changes at home. The new house, all the space to run, the stairs up and down and most of all he is now sleeping in his very own BIG BED!! No real words are coming from his little mouth but communication is there and he really knows what he wants. His favorite play mate is DAD and they have lots of fun romping on the carpet, playing ball, playing catches and unpacking the toy box. Hide-and-Seek is most fun behind the curtains and bath time has become SPLASH TIME! He loves animals and the sandpit is a fun place to play. (Something we need to add to our garden)
His favorite food at the moment is yogi-sip (yoghurt drink), but on the whole is eating everything that we are and does well to feed himself a bit messy but he does well. He is sleeping really well – 2hours in the morning which gives mom a little time to catch up on a few things and then right through the night with maybe one wake up to check dad and mom are there. He had his 18mth vaccinations this past month and managed well with them; he has had his first real flu and managed with that too. All round all we can do is praise the Lord for our healthy, happy, helpful little boy. He is such a blessing and so friendly to all!!

Me in moms shooz!!

Day outing to play in the Sand pit!

Our little tourist !

Update on the Pregnancy
PRAISE THE LORD AGAIN AND AGAIN!!!
Well we write this part of our newsletter with gratefulness to our gracious God! Tan has managed to carry the twins all the way to the end and keep her lifestyle as normal as possible. At the moment we are seeing the doctor every week and will do so right up until the ceaser date – 8th September 2008.
The babies both weigh 2.25kg’s each and Tan measures 115cm around her tummy, a little heavier and rounder than with Troyden. On the whole she has had a healthy pregnancy and the doctor is very happy with how she has done. With only 2 weeks to ceaser date we praise the Lord that He has enabled Tan to manage this far and for the babies to be growing and kicking and moving so much. Please keep us in your prayers as the big day comes closer. We are so excited!!

TWO WEEKS TO GO UNTIL WILBY TWINS ARRIVE

FAMILY NEWS

All our family is doing well and excited for the twins to arrive. (Mark’s sisters -) Errol and Tracy arrive on Friday for 3 weeks holiday with mom and dad Wilby. Craig and Robyn have had a couple of changes in the last 3 months and are now moved into a new home in Hilton just outside Pietermaritzburg and Craig will be working for dad Wilby for a while. Tan’s family is fine mom and dad Eayrs working on their involvement in mission in our state and keeping themselves busy with a lot of traveling. (Tan’s brother -) Trent is enjoying the ministry at Florida Baptist in Johannesburg and things are really going well. Still praying for a special helpmeet for him, he will be coming to Durban for the birth of the twins so the whole family will be together to celebrate God’s special gift to us. All the great grandparents and the one great great granny (she turned 97 this last month) are all doing well considering their ages – we praise the Lord for family and the support they are to us.

PRAYER REQUESTS

Thank you each and everyone for your special prayers, God is Good all the time.

Knowing God’s will and leading in our own lives as we continually seek direction from him.
Pregnancy – Tan and the twins for the last 2 weeks to go smoothly and most of all for the birth to be easy on all of us. We pray mostly for two healthy babies we can raise for the Lord Jesus Christ.
Troyden and the adjustment of having other siblings in the house for him to feel included in all the changes that are about to happen.
Our little family as it grows – for the Lord to help us raise our children to love Him in a special way.
Financial support for a suitable vehicle for mission trips.

MINISTRY AT DURBAN NORTH

Marks preaching praise the Lord for his continued growth in this area. Pray much for him as he is preaching through Colossians in the mornings and doing a series of doctrine teachings in the evenings together with the senior pastor
@TAP ministry and the focus to remain on the Lord Jesus Christ and the sharing of His love through the gospel. For many to be reached through this new ministry at Durban North.
Youth Ministry and the need for a leader that Mark can mentor and come alongside of.
Our involvement in leadership at church and the responsibility that places on us as a family. Help us to lead by example as Christ would have us lead.

PRAISE THE LORD WITH US

For our finances – we have had a challenge to make the ends meet especially with the change to a bigger home and the addition of two new babies the church has really come alongside us and helped us to meet our needs – we praise the Lord for their support in this way.
For the healthy DOUBLE pregnancy that Tan has been able to enjoy.
For our new home – pray that we can use it for the Lord’s glory in every way, and not to miss the opportunities to share it with others.

Philippians 1v27

Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ...

NEWSLETTER - More Double Blessings

2008-05-30T06:46:00.000-07:00

APRIL and MAY 2008

God’s Word
And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purposes. - Romans 8v28-29

Ministries at church
We started April with a BANG.
The Lion King Holiday Club
Our overall theme was the Lion King and our daily theme was based on the “Lords Prayer” which we also learned as the week’s memory verse. Mark was the Game Ranger and he led the ministry every day to the children. We had 7 leaders all with an animal African name. Each day consisted of a time of worship lead by Nhembe the Elephant, with singing, actions, plays, video clips, memory verse teach (done by Polly the parrot) and the senior pastor was the Game Hunger he visited every day with moral lessons from the bush. Toto the monkey was our mascot and she visited every day with letters for the leaders from the children and replies for the children from the leaders this proved to be a great way to share the gospel with the kids. We had a game time with loads of action, tea and eats and fabric painting. We ended each day with a small group time where the children were taught lessons from Jesus life and had time to do a craft too. We had about 50 kids attend each day and they had a wonderful time. We thank the Lord for the blessings of working with the children in this way. Our week was ended with a Parents evening where we had a time of prize giving and worship for the parents to get an idea of what we had done with the children for the week. In all we can say that the Lord was glorified in it all and as leaders we were greatly blessed.
Preaching Gods Word
Praising the Lord for all the opportunities Mark has been giving to share in this way. I have been able to see him grow in this ministry and we thank the Lord for his provision in this way.
Quick review on all our other ministry involvement
Mark is still leading worship for several morning and evening worship services. Tan has been helping once a month on the guitar but is finding a bit hard to play with her tummy getting in the way.
Young adult’s bible study has grown through the year and they meet every Wednesday evening averaging about 20 each night this has been a huge encouragement to us both.
Sunday school we are helping lead where we can and giving support to our new Sunday School Leader who is doing a great job with the children.
Youth leadership will be a new ministry Mark will be more heavily involved with as our leaders are wanted to take a break for a while. Please pray for special leadership of the Lord in this area as we are wanting to try something fresh and new and ministry to youth has been tough!
New ministry just starting – sewing ministry. Tan has been involved in helping a sewing ministry start where we will be mending new damaged clothes from a factory to give to our pastors in the rural areas of Zululand and Mozambique South Africa.
Another new ministry “All Things To All People” AT TAP. We are doing renovations to our existing hall and facilities that was a play school. The idea is to start a homework center for children to come to in the afternoons to do homework, hang out and been encouraged and ministered too. This project also includes a coffee-shop and play center for little children. Be in prayer for this big project as we hope to grow our children and youth ministry through this project. Hoping to start fresh in the New Year with children of all ages having a Christian environment to “hang-out”!

DOUBLE BLESSING NEWS
Most of you would have heard by now that we are growing our family to number 5. Tan is pregnant with TWINS. Praise the Lord, Praise the Lord. We were so excited to find that we were pregnant again for our second baby and for Troydie to be a big brother then to find a double blessing of TWINS on our 9weeks scan at the doctor. We know that this is a God thing as we have no history in the family of twins and praise the Lord for this privilege to raise two more children for his glory. We ask for special prayers as our needs are great. Mom and babies are grown, Tan is seeing the doctor every month to monitor the progress closely. Her tummy is as big as it was at 6months with Troyden’s pregnancy and she is 5 and half months (23weeks now)! Tan has made some new preggy clothes (bit bigger than last time as we think she will be really big later) and enjoyed planning out her wardrobe. The start of the pregnancy was very hard, Tan was extremely sick with morning sickness all day but has gotten over that hurdle and is just feeling a little more tired that with her previous pregnancy. We are praying that God in his will will make the rest of the pregnancy easy and that Tan will be able to carry the twins to the end. The due date is 22nd September 2008 and she will be having a C-section 2 weeks earlier (around 7th September 2008) all going according to how she carries at the end.
Keep us in your prayers as we prepare for the arrival of our two babies. God’s Biggest Blessing Yet!

TAN at 5 AND HALF MONTHS PREGGY (decided to put on a tight top for you to see how big she really is!)

Family News
Mom and Dad Eayrs have completed their ministry as Pastor of Central Baptist Church in Pietermaritzburg and have taken on a new position partly with the Natal Baptist Association as Mission Developer and Macedonian Ministries (mission organization). They will be overseeing mission in and around our region of the country. Please pray for them as they take this huge step in faith to follow the Lord’s leading into Mission Full Time.

Mom and Dad Wilby are doing well, Dad has made some changes in his home cupboard business which has proved to be less stressful and he is enjoying the work. They are very excited by the time Christmas comes this year they will have 5 grandchildren. Tracy & Errol, Mark’s oldest sister and her husband will have their baby in June please be in prayer for her the baby boy joining their little family.
Robyn & Craig, Mark’s youngest sister and her husband are facing a change in their future ministry – please be in much prayer for them at this time. Their little son Joshua is growing big guns he is 4months younger than Troyden but bigger than him and has just started to walk and become a busy busy little body.
Trent in Johannesburg is doing well, the church is enjoying a study through John Piper’s Desiring Gad series and many lives have been challenged through it. Still praying for someone special for his life to helpmeet him in his ministry. Please pray for him and stress of being a senior pastor, loneliness is a struggle!

UPDATE ON TROYDIE
Running
Well we are well on our way the walking was taking too slow so we now like to speed along as quick as we can. With this we have had some minor boo-boos with falling and bruising the little bod. One of which was a fall into the bath while mommy was leaning over washing her hair. OOPS!
Favorite Games
At the moment Troyden likes to play with DAD. He climbs on him and rides on his back like a cowboy riding a “horsy” and this is so much fun. DAD is his favorite at the moment and we are learning to say good-bye without tears.
Words
We know that when they do come they are all going to come together. Right now he is communicating with his own little monkey like sounds which are too cute – like oo oo ah ah and then thrown in there is dadadad and sometimes it comes out like dad!

Prayer Requests
Thank you each and everyone for your special prayers, God is Good all the time.
· Family needs as listed above, especially for the delivery of Tracy and Errol’s little bundle of joy (June 20th).
· For Tan and the twins, their development and her strength to cope with the pregnancy and Troyden. Pray for this to be a blessed time for all of us as we prepare for their arrival.
Ministry at Durban North
· Youth ministry and the way forward with God’s leading and guiding.
· Ministry in general – to remain focused on the Lord and to be reminded often that this is for His glory and not our own.
· For Tan as she pull out of ministry to focus on caring for the needs of Troyden and the twins to come this has been a hard thing for her as she loves to serve the Lord in many ways. Pray for special patience for her as she redirects her focus for this season in our lives.
NEEDS
· With the soon arrival of the twins we are facing many needs, new housing as our home will become too small too quick and the housing market is very very expensive, a bigger car and all the usual needs facing one when adding a new baby but now in our case two babies – please pray that the Lord will lead and guide us into our future.
· Our finances – the challenge to make the ends meet.
PRAISE THE LORD WITH US!!
· Troyden has been our biggest blessing and we are praising the Lord for his health, able body, strength, personality and development what a miracle! THANK YOU JESUS

NEWSLETTER - EASTER BLESSINGS

2008-05-30T04:58:00.000-07:00

January , February and March 2008

Still battling to get proper internet connection – everything is Africa is so slow! Here’s our news up to date!

EASTER BLESSINGS
This is to send you special thoughts and prayers at this very important time of our year. Christ came to earth for the Salvation of us all. Thank you Jesus for the sacrifice you made for us.

Start of the year
We had a huge start to the year with Troyden’s FIRST BIRTHDAY. It was a great time of celebration – we had his friends and their moms around for a party our theme was Noah’s Ark. The party was followed by open house tea for all the church family to stop in wish the little man on his big day. It was so fun because he had just started to walk and was enjoying trying to be on his feet all the time.

Troyden with Jack having fun with the "Arky Cake"

Ministries at church
Ministry got off to a bang and were have been busy busy busy with all that is going on at the church.
Friendly Circle Granny’s Meeting
Tan had the opportunity of speaking at the Granny’s Valentines Day meeting and they had a wonderful time thinking on “Love”-ly things, singing some love songs and learning our Hearts are to be in Christ!
Church Getaway
Mark together with a committee planned the church getaway to a camp site in the foothills of the berg (mountains). 70 church folk joined us at the conference center for a weekend of fellowship, fun and getting back to the basics of our Christian Faith. We had a session on Prayer, one on Personal Devotion Time and Mark lead the one on Church and the importance of it in our lives. Tan helped plan the children’s ministry. We all had a very blessed time together.
Preaching Gods Word
This New Year has more opportunities for Mark to be in the pulpit as our senior pastor has taken on the President position for our Natal’s Baptist Association (our States Association). This position will require him to visit many of our region’s churches and preach for them. At the moment he is preaching through Colossians in the morning services and Jonah in the evening services.
Young Adults Bible Study
Our young adult’s ministry is up and running for the year and our group is loving the study of God’s word each week.
Guitar Lessons
Tan has been teaching on the side some of the young adults from church to play the guitar. Is has been a fun time to fellowship and sing together.
Ladies “Treasures and Gems” meeting
The ladies of the church had their quarterly meeting and the theme was Treasures and Gems we had 4 church members share their own personal testimonies of how God is their treasure. It was a huge blessing and such an encouragements to us all. We had a time of worship and made some gem salvation bracelets together to end of the afternoon.

Friends from the USA
We had the best opportunity to take some time off after the busy festive season and holiday down the coast with Terah, Nicole and Matt – good friends from USA. We made many memories and enjoyed the beach house a few meters from the crashing waves. It was very relaxing and a most enjoyable time was had by all.
We did some fishing – and everyone caught something. We swam in the African ocean which proved to be a huge experience as our waves are stronger and wilder. Some of us got stranded on the sand and boy did we laugh. Shopping and a little pampering at the “All African experience” Spar were also some of the things we added to our holiday time.

HOLIDAY FUN OUTDOORS

UPDATE ON TROYDIE
Walking
Well we are well on our way by the first party the little man was up on his feet and thought he was the greatest been able to walk around on his little feet. TOO CUTE!
Personality
Troyden is developing his little personality. He is outgoing, friends and very smiley. He will go to anyone at church and is quite comfortable to walk about by himself. He is like Tan’s little shadow and goes everywhere with her as she does the grocery shop and runs errands.
Soccer
He has become our little soccer player. He loves to kick a ball and run with it. At the moment it is his most favorite toy.
Counting our Blessings
We are so blessed to have such a content and happy child and true blessing from the Lord!!

March BIRTHDAY time
We took our weekend off over the Easter Weekend and traveled up to visit Trent in Johannesburg. It was lovely to spend the weekend with him. Tan celebrated her 29th Birthday on the Saturday; we went shopping to some of the big malls in Joeys and watched a Rugby game at one of the local schools. Easter Sunday was Trent’s 31st Birthday and he preached to God’s glory we so enjoyed sitting under his teaching as a family. We celebrated our birthdays with a big roast dinner as the weather was a little chilly with winter on its way. It was a lovely weekend of family and fun together. We so miss him living so far from us but praise the Lord we are all together in Africa for this season of our lives. Troyden so enjoys playing with his Uncle T they get along really great. Our Easter had extra blessings of being together as family.

Prayer Requests
Thank you each and everyone for your special prayers, God is Good all the time.
· Knowing God’s will and leading in our own lives as we continually seek direction from him especially in the leadership of ministries.
· Tracy (Mark’s older sister) pregnancy has gone really well and her little boy will be born: due date 20th June.
Ministry at Durban North
· Marks preaching – we are praising the Lord for his continual stretching teaching and guiding. Mark has so grown in this avenue of ministry please continue to pray for him as he ministers in this way one Sunday morning a month and 3 Sunday evenings a month.
· Sunday school involvement we have gotten involved there to over see the ministry to the children and are planning our first holiday bible club for April 2008 – The Lion King.
PRAISE THE LORD WITH US!!
· Praise the Lord for a church family that has welcomed us and made us feel part of their ministry in South Africa, Durban. We also thank the Lord for much space to minister together with the senior pastor and his wife and for their leadership and guiding in our lives, they have allowed us so much opportunity to grow and we thank the Lord for them and all the members at Durban North Baptist Church.
· For our finances – our challenge to make the pennies stretch continues but we continue to praise the Lord for his provision in all things.

FROM GOD’s WORD
He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty - Psalm 91v1