Jan-Mar 2011

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

FESTIVE FUN...

Merry Christmas for 2010 !!!

Oct-Nov 2010

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

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