October - November 2013

OCTOBER

This sees us at the start of the last term of 2013.  This year is speeding along.  A highlight for this month was our 10 year wedding anniversary.  We are praising the Lord for the wonderful memories, friendship and special children the Lord has blessed us with.  Part of our celebrations were to ride up to the top of the Moses Mabida Soccer Stadium in the sky car!  What beautiful view of our city and fun experience for the kids.

NOVEMBER

MOM & DAD EAYRS – Happy 40^th Anniversary !! – we spent a weekend together as imidiate family.  On this weekend Trent and Amber were able to bring Lincoln along – their new adopted addition to their family.  What a special time we all had meeting him and loving on him.  We praise the Lord for spiritual parents who have lived lives as a huge example to all of us.  We pray for God’s special blessing on their future together.

Treyson and Tryston had their very first class concert.  Each of the children in the class were dressed as a nursery rhyme.  They dressed up as the Doctor’s Foster’s who went to Gloster in a shower of rain, he stepped in a puddle right up to his middle and never went there againJJJ  It was a very special little show put on by humpty dumpty, little bo peep, the dish and the spoon and rub a dub dub 3 men in a tub J

We are praising the Lord J Troydie went for his eye check up and after wearing an eye patch on his good eye to make the lazy eye work for 2 hours every day for 4 months.  His vision has improved drastically.  The doctor was so very excited.  Tan had designed a patch that she sewed to fit onto his glasses, something comfortable and not stuck to his face like a band aid.  The doctor was so impressed that he ordered several orders of eye patches from Tan and she has made herself  a little holiday money.

Troydie with Baba, baby Eston and check out the eye patch!

Troyden has his school concert this month too and he was a shepherd in their very own nativity play.  It was fantastic with all the grades R – 3’s singing, reciting lines and dancing.  They all had a great time making the birth of Jesus come alive.

MINISTRY…

The young family’s ministry has been growing really nicely and now as the end of the year approaches 6 families have decided to move out of town up the north coast to Ballito (30min drive away).  We are excited for them to be starting a new phase in their lives but know that they will leave a huge hole in our group.  As of next year Mark will be leading a bible study out in Ballito to help with keeping them together as they start fresh in this new small but fast growing town. 

The moms group has been busy with moms outings, mommy mornings and education expo all hosted in our community center this term. 

Our church bible studies have been studying through a book study called “His Story” this year and all have so enjoyed looking at the bible in whole book form.  To piggy back on this the ladies craft group made “His story bracelets”.  This was a great morning of fellowship as the ladies created their bracelets and were very encouraged to use their bracelets to share the story of the gospel using them.

Tan was able to encourage all the children in the Sunday school to participate in a nativity play that she wrote the script for.  The puppets did the narration and the story unfolded with little people dressed as angels, shepherds, kings and even a star. Our sewing team of ladies did the most fantastic job in sewing all the outfits. Troy was a shepherd; Treys and Tryst were dressed as kings.  They all so enjoyed this special event that ended with a prize giving for attendance and memory verse learning – Troy was so happy he received a prize for learning 80% of the years memory verses J

As you can see – with the end of the year approaching things seem to speed up.  We have had a very busy time and are excited for the Christmas season to begin.

Sending love – God bless you all heaps

Mark, Tan and Troyd, Treyson and Tryston

August & September 2013

AUGUST

Sports day at school was a full morning of activities on the field.  Troyden was in a painting relay as well as several running races.  The twins were in a Tug-o-war on opposite teams it was very competitive and great fun.  Mom even got to be in a hopping race with all the other moms – loads of laughs had by all.

We’ve been keeping up with our fitness program that is slowly helping Tan’s back and of course helping us loose the extra pounds.  We are both so enjoying our runs each morning after school drop off, our best place is along the beach front as the sea inspires us to keep going.  This has been a lovely time for us to chat and catch up and get some fresh air.  Plus now with the boyz all riding we have so enjoyed out outings to ride as a family - mom is even on her bike !

SEPTEMBER

HAppY bIRtHDay to You…… TREYSON AND TRYSTON our little twin men turned 5 !!! We set up a race track here at home in the garden with a tunnel, archway and danger tape pathway that included a ramp!  We spent time decorating our bikes with streamers on the handle bars and number plates.  Tan had fun making “cake in a jar” laid out in the shape of a bike.  In all we had a bumper BIKE party loads of FUN has by all.

Something else we love about AFRICA.... you can swim at the beach in the middle of winter - loads of smiles this side of the ocean.

We experienced our first big screen 3D movie with the boys this month - we all went to watch "PLANES". Tryston was ducking in his chair the whole time.  Treyson sat as close to Dad as possible and at time was on his lap.  At the end of the movie when Dusty wins the race Troyden stood and shouted out loud for the whole cinema to hear "YES! He won!" 

This month we had a visit up to Joeys to spend some time at our South African Baptist conference as well as time with Trent and his family.  Good to meet little Eston and spend special cousin time together.

On our way back we met Mark’s extended family in the Berg for a long extended weekend of camping together.  We had fantastic weather to enjoy the supa tubes and pool swimming.  The campsite had putt-putt, trampolines (the boys are now doing summer salts), petting farm where Troyden found a peacock feather, pony rides and  as well as jungle gyms and loads of cricket played by the tribe of 7 boy cousins.

MINISTRY…

The ladies hosted their event of the year "Let's get cooking!".  With a past Masterchef contestant who gave some cooking tips and led a cook off competition between 6 volunteer teams.  We had a visiting speaker who shared the gospel and several ladies responded – for this we praise the Lord that we were able to reach out to our community with the gospel and have over 200 ladies come along to hear about Him as the savior of the world JJJ

The Sunday school ministry have launched a Puppet ministry team with many of the youth involved as the puppets.  This has proven to be a great way to catch the children’s attention and for great participation from the children. 

Church family getaway – a great time of fellowship had by all.  Tan lead the children’s ministry for the weekend with loads of games, crafts, story time and singing.  The children had a wonderful time together.  As always these weekends help to bring the church family closer together and deeper friendships were encouraged.

JUST FOR FUN... we now have the 3 Musketeers in our house.  All for ONE and ONE for ONE (this is how the twins lead the pack of 3.  Granny spent an afternoon sewing them outfits ... 

Writing with lots of love and prayer – God bless you all! - extra love from our two proud NUMBER 5-ers!

Mark, Tan and Troyd, Treyson and Tryston

June & July 2013

A highlight for this month the TWINS are riding their bikes …. They getting so big.  

Ride Tryston Ride

Ride Treyson Ride

Now a weekly outing is on the calendar to head out to the beach front to ride ride ride in the open spaces.  To keep our practice up.

We’ve all managed to ride from Blue Lagoon to Ushaka one way and dad and Troyd turn around ride back and fetch the car to drive and get us.  It’s a beautiful 7kilometer rider along the beach promenade.

We’ve ended the term on the Circus theme – the boyz all dressed up as LION’s and TIGERS J

Our first long holz at home… filled with creative fun – look at all our pics

Jimmy Jungles – jungle gym climbing with milkshakes

Dad spent some busy evenings making some wooden toys for the boyz that they painted and then they played cowboys in the back garden tent J

Outing to People’s Park - loads of brother laughs...

Visits from Grand-dad and Grand-ma with loads of happy times together 

We had a long fun RAIN week during the hols and so enjoyed reading, puzzles and building LEGO our new found favorite pass time.

To end the holidays we spent a day at Ushaka enjoying all the jungle gyms, face painting, crafts and bird show.

WELCOME TO BABY ESTON EAYRS... he arrived safely and what a blessing he is to Trent and Amber.

Happy Birthday Mark …

We had a wonderful weekend up in the Natal Midlands enjoying all of God’s creation and special family time.  We visited the dam for a bike ride, had pizza lunch hand made while you watch and fed the goats at the local "swiss goat cheese farm".

The CIRCUS came to town and we were able to take the boys on their very first Circus visit they so enjoyed the ring master, trapeze, motorbike tricks and the very funny clowns.

MINISTRY…

This half of the year as proven to be very busy with a full load carried by both of us.  Mark is still enjoying his preaching. He is involved in visitation, bible study leading, overseeing the young adult and family ministry.  Tan is leading the Ladies ministry, Sunday School and Mom’s group.  All has been going great with very little time to spare between ministry events.  We are praising the Lord for this wonderful opportunity to be involved in serving Him in the Body of Christ at DNBC. 

Thanks for your love and prayer for us – God bless you all!

Mark, Tan and Troyd, Treyson and Tryston

Little bit of NEWS!

APRIL

This newsletter starts as the hols begin.  YEY!!! We get to spend time together again after a busy time of school happenings.    We had a fabulous Easter with a big visit from the “bunny” The boys so love the Easter hunt out in the garden in the dark.  So much excitement as they set out the carrot and basket the night before and then even more shrieks of laughter the morning of Resurrection Sunday for them to find the bunny’s been.  We have had a wonderful time teaching them the meaning of Easter this year as we discussed the full story and list of events leading up to Christ’s death, burial and resurrection.  Tan was even asked “mom why do they call it GOOD FRIDAY when what really happened to Jesus was BAD”.  Oh the child like faith- what an encouragement to see first-hand the acceptance, truth, faith and understanding in a child.  We had many discussions about heaven, hell, death, life and what Jesus is like.  When eating one of his chocolate eggs – Troyden took a bite and said look mom it’s hollow and empty inside it reminds us of the empty tomb – Jesus is ALIVE!!

We had a fabulous short week long hols at home with a shopping outing, outing to the bird park, play days with friends and special movie night and then not to forget the constant camp out in mom and dad’s room J

We had special family time with family from Nelspruit – they camped at the beach on the south coast and we were able to visit in our rain macs and gum boots what buckets of rain we had!! J

Tryston and Pelican 

Treyson and Albatross

Troyd and Flamingo

PIRATES are our thing at the moment – take a look at these fun pics of them scary pirates – aaaaarrrghh

The boyz are now all sleeping in one room – Troy is in the “Castle” – on the top bunk, Treyson is in the “Cave” underneath Troy in his very own “hide out” and Tryston is on the “Raft” – alongside the Castle for an “easy get away”!  This all fits into the fun games of Pirates.  Not to mention all the giggles as we drive to school each morning.  Every red car is “captain hook” so the canon blasts, sword clanging and gun banging as we make believe our quick getaway across the busy intersection which is rushing with cars that are crocodiles and zoom quickly to our “hide out” along the jungle path to school J yes this does add to our ADVENTURE !!

HAPPY MOM’S DAY to all those special moms out there – you are a blessing to each and everyone!  Tan counts her blessings each year round it’s a great reminder of the wonderful children we have been given – what a responsibility to bring them up in the knowledge of Jesus as Savior.  Praying for all you moms as you live out godly Motherhood. 

MAY

Check out Troyden – yip he is the proud wearer of “spectacles” J  He was diagnosed with a lazy left eye which is causing him to develop a squint.  He has been tested extensively and now is to wear these smart additions to his face.  He is very chuffed with himself and feels very important.  He has coped really well with this adjustment and his teacher and peers at school have all been very understanding and supportive.  Please pray that this rehabilitation work will help with the squint – we all think he looks supa smart!

MOUNTAIN SPLENDOUR – yes it’s that time of the year again – we headed off to the cold mountains to enjoy some WINTER CAMPING with our young family’s group from church.  What a great time of fellowship, time in God’s word, building of friendships, riding bikes and warm chats around the camp fire.  Loads of fun was had by all!! 

To end off the month of may we took the boys to enjoy the ROYAL AGRICULTURAL SHOW in Pietermaritzburg they so enjoyed the tractors, army trucks and a highlight was their first ever ride and drive in a BUMPER CAR – great fun had by all !!

Thanks for your love, support , care and prayer for us – God bless in Heaps

Mark, Tan and Troyd, Treyson and Tryston