Home at last...

Just as he was beginning his eighth month in hospital, my Dad was discharged this morning and allowed to come home. He still has a long way to go in terms of recovery, and he's been a little tired during this first day back in the "real world," but he is enjoying being home at last... and it's amazing to see how well he looks, after all that he has been through. This is truly an answer to the prayers of many friends around the world. The installation of a stairlift was a condition of Dad's release, and you can play the video clip below to see him trying it out for the first time.

Homeward bound...

I'm in Scotland this week to visit my Dad who has been in hospital for more than seven months, recovering from the surgery complications that nearly took his life last October/November. Progress has been very slow, and often challenging, but he has remained positive and persevering. Since the better weather came to Scotland a few weeks ago, he's been able to get out of the hospital on his little mobility scooter to enjoy some sunshine and fresh air.

This week we got some unexpected good news: doctors and occupational therapists said that - if we were able to install a stairlift at my parents' house - Dad could be discharged from hospital this week, so that he can continue recovering at home. We're hoping that the lift can be fitted tomorrow, and that he will be allowed home before the end of the week. This will also make a big difference for my Mum, who has been driving to and from the hospital twice a day since the end of October last year, and who's found the circumstances quite exhausting.

End of the LDC...

The leadership development course finished at the end of last week. Under sunny Spanish skies, we presented the students' certificates out in the open air, and sat around the swimming pool for a delicious "graduation" meal of fresh, barbecued salmon. After the outdoor part, the group moved indoors for a time of worshipping God and presenting funny skits that portrayed different aspects of what had been taught, and caught, during the course.

It was really encouraging to hear these leaders speaking about all they had learned during their six weeks of being students in the LDC: some had tears in their eyes as they spoke about how they planned to implement new values in their leadership teams and ministry settings around the world. One of the younger men - who's getting married next month - said to us at the graduation: "Thanks to this course, I'm not only going to be a better leader in the future, but I really believe that it has also equipped me to be a better husband."

I can hardly believe that this was the fifth LDC I've worked with since coming "back to Europe" in 2007. Yes, in just a few weeks' time, it will be five years since I packed my bags and left Cape Town behind. I have to admit that I enjoyed having three South African ladies among the delegates this year. It was fun to hear those familiar accents, and to be wished "Lekker Verjaar" on my birthday again. I'll be keeping in touch with one of them for the follow-up coaching that we offer after the school, and with another for a more informal mentoring connection in the year ahead. My other "coachees" over the summer months will be a Singaporean lady who works in Thailand, and a German lady who also happens to be going down to Cape Town for a few months this year.

Wondering about the weather...

The leadership development course finished yesterday. I'll post one or two photos when I've had time to sort through them. For today, though, I'm wrapping things up (university paperwork, etc) and getting ready to fly home to Scotland to visit my family for a week. My Dad is now in his seventh month in hospital, but slowly making progress and there's hope that he'll be allowed to move back home sometime over the summer. 

When I looked at the weather forecast a few days ago (when it was 33 degrees here) I was amazed to see that the forecast was for warmer weather in Scotland next week than in Spain. The latest update, though, is more like we'd expect - with hot days here in Spain, and one rainy one in Scotland, even amidst fairly nice sunny days there. Watch this space for more LDC news.

Not my Prince Charming...

Push ups? 

When I arrived yesterday afternoon at the large villa where a dozen of our female students have been living during the LDC, someone came and asked me if I could "help them get something out of the swimming pool." To my amazement, I looked to the bottom of the pool and saw a frog, possibly one of the largest frogs I'd ever seen, lying on its back and, somewhat mysteriously, clutching a pair of swimming goggles!
I fished it out with a net and we were amazed to see how perfectly formed it was. We couldn't resist placing it on the staircase leading up to the house - so that the other girls could admire it too. Some thought it was a rubber toy and just ignored it, while others got a real shock and gave it a wide berth. No one, however, perceived it as a potential Prince Charming, and so our froggy friend didn't get any kisses, I'm afraid.

We're in the last week of the Leadership Development Course, so we're beginning to do a time of debriefing and helping the delegates prepare to go home and put what they've learned into action in their own locations. We'll also have a variety of workshops and question and answer times, before finishing the week with a special meal, a "graduation" time of presenting certificates, and a creative commissioning time.

Before and after...

We're gradually getting the mess cleaned up, after having our house painted this week, and we're enjoying getting used to the new look. The living room is not too different from what it was like before, but the biggest changes are in the bedrooms. Gabriela's has changed from blue to lilac. My room has changed from magnolia to turquoise. And Ada's has gone from being simply white to being mostly white, with one wall in a rather bold rusty orange colour.

Déjà vu...

Well, the painter has finished his work in our house. I was a little apprehensive about what my bedroom was going to look like, because I'd chosen a pale turquoise colour for my walls. I knew from previous experience that the finished job is always darker than the shade promised on the tin of paint, so I had had asked the painter to mix in some white to make the colour a little paler. I didn't want to feel as if I was sleeping in an aquarium!! 
Last night I got home late after an interactive workshop in the LDC, so it was already dark in the house and everyone else was in bed. When I switched on my bedroom light, I had a sudden sense of déjà vu: in the initial orangey glow of the energy saving light bulbs, my walls appeared to be the same deep turquoise as my bedroom in Cape Town ten years ago. This morning in the natural daylight, however, it was a relief to see that my walls were a paler shade than they had appeared the night before.
Even so, I had to smile at the impression of déjà vu: I had the same colour scheme, the same pine cabinet by the bed.... only the animal is different this time, as I now have cats instead of dogs.

Painters and panthers...

The owner of our house is a wonderful landlord; he contacts us every spring to ask whether we need any repairs or renovations to the house. This year, we decided to do some repainting - in the lounge and staircase, as well as in the bedrooms. Yesterday, in my mentoring group of seven LDC ladies. I mentioned that we had a painter in our house this week... and I was surprised to see a German lady in the group looking at me with a puzzled expression. She thought I'd said that we have a panther in our house this week. Before I had a chance to explain that I was talking about a painter and not a panther, others in the group jumped in to tell her she was almost right, and that I actually have three panthers in my house - very small ones, of course!

Birthday blessings

It was my birthday last Friday (I spent it teaching in the LDC!) and one of the delegates, a friend from Singapore, also had a birthday at the weekend. Her own cats are back home in Thailand and she was keen to meet my three. So a few of us decided to get together at my house to eat Swiss raclette (a melted cheese dish) and drink Spanish sangría (a refreshing drink made of fruit juice and a little red wine.) On behalf of the furry members of the household, Teddi greeted the guests, Spanish style, by giving the birthday girl a kiss!