An amazing story of Gods grace

We went for a second opinion at the severance hospital in Seoul.

The Myoma is gone. No need for a operation. Perhaps the Sun hospital messed up. All we know is if we did not pray and seek a second opinion Chantal would have had major surgery by now. God healed her miraculously, or at least saved her from unnecessary operation.

We are now in Australia on holiday. Christmas will be great with the family and will be a nice time of relaxing.

Praise the Lord for Chantals health which is really great.

The kids are excited about Christmas. Bought them various gifts and especially a wii. Perhaps the wii is more for me.

God bless and have a great Christmas.

More change
Today was another day on the Myoma rollercoaster.
Chantal does have a growth about 7 to 10 cm large. The Dr are recommending surgery but there is no rush and we can wait for second opinion. The Dr at 10am and then on the KTX and off to Severance hospital for a second opinion at 2:30. Further testing and waiting until Wednesday or Saturday for the second opinion.The Dr at Severence needs time for her radiologist to do a review of the MRI and sonars.

So we might need to wait a week but we are at peace with that and feel really content.

Chantal is off with her girl friends to Seoul tomorrow and Shanneth has a party. The boys and I are going to hang out. I will do some work.

Things change fast.

The last 24 hours have been rather intense. Chantal went to the Dr for a minor issue and thought she would pop in and get an antibiotic. One thing lead to another and it was discovered she has a 7cm growth in her pelvic region. That was yesterday. Today she had an MRI. Until this morning we thought it would be a CT scan but with concerns over nasuea and alergic reactions a change to MRI was made. Much less invasive although the claustraphobea of the tube is not for the faint hearted. Tommorow we are going to get the results and go for a second opinion in Seoul, at the Severance hospital. By Friday night we will have a clear idea of what to do.

Ken

Not Much Happening

Not much happening but I want to keep the posts rolling.

I am working hard to get a exam schedule sorted for the High School.
Chantal has a student teacher which is going well.
Josh has a sore back from falling while walking the dog.
Josh won a Thinkers award at school -pretty cool.
Ethan is doing very good work at school and has a great attitude, also learning the trumpet which is cool too.
Shanneth is her cute, too big for her boots self.

It is time to update the blog. It has been a while and life is moving on fast.

The new school year has started and all out lives have taken on an adjustment.

I seem to never have enough time for my life. Work consumes me and I still seem to struggle to make it all work.

Chantal is grading like crazy but still struggling to keep up. She has a great student teacher which might help.

Shanneth is a big girl in kindergarten. Way too big for her boots but so cute.

Ethan has had a rough ride. Grade five has been a major step up and he is working like crazy and doing great but the work load is huge.

Josh has absolutely blossomed in Middle School. He has done well in class and participated in every intra mural there is. Today he went up to Seoul and ran Cross Country at SAHS. This means they go on base and get exposed to mini America.

Chantal went to Shanghai on a technology conference. I am not sure why. She learnt all this cool stuff and finds no use for it and does not bother to tell me. Leaves me in my ignorance and dark ages. Oh well, perhaps she will teach me moodle one day.

I went to Kota Kinabalo, Malaysia. The EARCOS conference was awesome and the venue was spectacular. I loved snorkeling even though I only managed to get out for 2 hours.

Lets hope we do a better job of updating.
Ken

Bethany Rose









Dr.Choo - our vet.








BETHANY: OUR NEWEST MCALLISTER FAMILY MEMBER!

Name: Bethany Rose McAllister (Italian:Beautiful; Hebrew: God's Promise)
She is God's Beautiful Promise!
Age: 75 days (born: 9 January 2008)
Breed: Alaskan Malamute / Artic Wolf
Eye colour: Smokey Grey

She is so sweet, caring and friendly. She loves to chew; bite her own foot and cries when she bites too hard! She is a social butterfly but does not want to sleep on her own!

She is frightened of our old cat Terry - who has threatens to clout her every now and then...
Here are some interesting pictures.

Dear Friends

Thank you for all your prayers, concern and love. My father died on the 21 December 2007. It was extremely traumatic as he was really well on the 14 December, on the 15 December he felt fluey and had a nose bleed in the middle of the night. Due to the severity of the blood loss, he was hospitalized. I chatted to him on the phone and was told that he had pneumonia. Praise God for the prompting of the Holy Spirit; I booked the earliest flight possible…19 December.
His condition deteriorated rather quickly and I felt extremely trapped – afraid that I would not be able to see him before it was too late. Ken and the children decided to stay as I was sure he would recover once I got there and flights to South Africa are ridiculously expensive. I arrived at his bedside on the 20 December at 2:00pm. It was wonderful to see him, even though he was connected to pipes and comatosed – I was able to hug and kiss him. I then started reading Matthew 25 to him - one of his favourite chapters. I then read Psalm 30 to him and he opened his eyes and said “Where is that?” I was delighted and the nurses were shocked because they had been nursing a corps until now! I then started to sing his favourite praise and worship songs: Guide me O Thy Great Jehovah; Blessed Assurance; Amazing Grace; How Great Thou Art; Jesus Love Me; Noel and many more. He started to hum along perfectly and for the next 45 minutes, my mother; sister and I experienced the most amazing worship session ever! Truly Extreme worship, every time we finished singing a song, my dad would start humming another and we had the privileged to sing along! We managed to take a short video clip (if you are interested) of Dad humming but did not want to focus on recording too much because really this was and is about God. We had two more “worship sessions” with Dad and this time the nurses joined in – surreal to see God working even in the hardest situations. Dad was growing weaker and we kept on telling him to hold on … for the children and his sons to come… Eventually on Thursday 20 th at 11:00 pm Dad opened his eyes… looked at me and said “I’m so tired.” I just knew I was being selfish, wanting him to fight; to live, when God has such a wonderful mansion prepared…. so I said ”It’s okay, Dad – rest – go home to Jesus…”
My sister, nephew and I, each had an opportunity to say goodbye and tell him that we loved him and are so grateful to have had a Dad and G/father like him. My mother spoke to him too and then he said ”Charney look after Bess.” I said I would – he slipped off quietly in his sleep three hours later on the 21 December.
Well his legacy did not stop there – we held a service for him on the 27 December at their home “Edenroc”, Durban. His last wish was not to have a funeral but to have a celebration of what God had done in his life. Everyone was to wear bright colours, no black – his best friend and pastor, (whom he lay preached for every other Sunday) was to preach a SALVATION message… giving hope and sharing GOD’S LOVE, at the celebration. It truly was a celebration - 25 people responded to the salvation message and accepted Christ into their lives! What a tremendous victory for the kingdom and I know that my dad would be thrilled! Heaven and Earth rejoiced.

We brought my Mum with us to spend sometime in Korea and hopefully become more independent – she has been married to my dad for 49 years – this year would have been their 50th anniversary. She is rather confused and still in shock so your prayers are appreciated; especially as she adjusts to her changed life. I know God will protect her and comfort her as HE has us. God is so faithful and true.


Love in Christ
Chantal and Kenneth McAllister.

A Celebration of Buzz Bowden’s Life.

Buzz and Bess Bowden on theor 49th Wedding Anniversary. 2 October 2007.

Bess and Buzz 49 years earlier on their wedding day.

ARTHUR HARRY BOWDEN
1921 – 2007.
Buzz Bowden aka Arthur Harry Bowden was born on the 28 October 1921 in East London. Every thing he accomplished in his life was for God’s glory – he NEVER bragged about anything he achieved – he gave God all the Glory, for the things God did in his life, to God. He would only say that to serve God was such a privilege.
He was educated at Selbourne College in East London where he excelled in sport especially swimming. The motto of the school is the Latin Palma virtuti (virtue has its reward). Dad truly lived this motto and in his last days showed us all what this means….he has reaped the reward of eternal life through living this motto out to the fullest; “Reward is to the brave”.

Buzz had achieved a variety of accolades:
A National Technical Diploma
A National Technical Teacher’s Diploma
A National Technical Engineering Diploma
A Bachelor of Arts Degree
A Bachelor of Education (with Honours)
A Master of Education

Two unpublished (due to death of two daughters) Doctorate’s:
Education and of Philosophy
A member of the Human Science Research Council

An Amateur Ham Radio Licensed operator
A Private Pilot’s license
Member of the Royal Life Saving Society (Award of Merit)

Officer in the Royal Navy during the 2nd World War
Medals for fighting in the war:
These are for bravery and as dad sometimes said “staying alive”!
The GRJ Star of Merit (King George Rex Jr.)
The GRJ Star of Africa
The GRJ Star
The GRJ Atlantic Star
The GRJ Africa Star
The Imperial King George VI Medal of Honour
The Africa Service Medal
Medal of Service on the HMS

2 Gold Medals for Life Saving (Award of Merit)
Gold medal for swimming the English Channel
Bronze Medal for swimming in the Africa Games
Won the International Service Gala in Alexandria
Egypt (200 m freestyle 1min:22 sec) this really helped
when his ship sank off the coast of Tubruk!

He taught at the Johannesburg Technical College;
John Orr Technical High School;
Head of Blairgowrie High School;
Rustenburg Technical High School.

Lay Witness Missionary; Gideons; Started and actively involved in many churches in Jhb.

Managing Director of three companies:
Impala Clay
North Riding Electrical
A-Z Agencies.

Greatest Accolade: Child of God; Husband; Father; Grand father and Friend.

He died of Pneumonia at the age of 86 on the 21 December 2007.

Here is our most recent house pictures....

It's the one with the black roof and frame only.

It's so exciting to see our dream become reality. I do have to say though - we will NEVER use Orbit Homes again. A baboon could do a better job! This process has been awful and had it not been for Dad - we would never have got this far. Praise God for fathers!

Shanneth phoned me the other day while I was working at school and said "Mummy my mind is being naughty! Daddy is moaning at me 'cos I keep changing my mind." When I asked her "why?"; she explained that she had changed six times in her room and daddy just wanted her to get ready but she just couldn't decide what to wear!!! At 4 years old? I wonder....

We went to Busan (a coastal village on the east "sea of Japan") for the week during Korean Chusok holiday (family time). What a gorgeous place - I could easily live there - pristine beaches and lots of English signs to read! Ken leaves tomorrow for Bangkok, Thailand for MYP Conference and comes back Monday. Then he gets back for a day and leaves again on Friday for five days to Singapore for an IB MYP Co Ordinators Workshop. I am going on a workshop in January to Costa Rico for a week, this year and for Spring break we are going to China - 3 Gorges dam and Beijing and the great wall. So those are our travel plans. At this stage we want to stay here for Christmas but who knows?

Joshua is a house fly worse than ever. He misses Carson (friend who has left for the States) so much and two other friends left for the States too. I have arranged for him to play with Branford and Morne in this week - so we'll see how they do.
Julie (Ethan's teacher) and Brian (Physics teacher) have got engaged and the kids are delighted.Josh did say that Mr.N. should have asked Ms.G. to marry him earlier because now she's so nice because she's in love!
Ethans eyes continue to improve.
Shanneth is being so cute and getting so big. A real little girl. She is such a joy. Now in Pre K she eats alone (with her class). It gives us more time to ourselves but is much more of an adjustment for me because she no longer needs me. She disappears for hours on end around the campus with her friends.
I had to giggle at Shanneth - she was standing and admiring her new Belle dress in front of the mirror while I was putting a bow in her hair - when she nonchalantly said "mmm(marvelling at her appearance and inspecting the dress fitting), I think I need boobies for this dress!"
We bought a fish tank from friends and now I have to clean the silly thing! We have two turtles, hamster, cat, 4 horn beetles, 1 stack beetle and are becoming quite the zoo.
It has rained and been cloudy consistently. We have had four typhoons through lately but fortunately we didn't bear the brunt of it. The few times we have seen the sun, it has been far too humid. But every morning there is a distinct nip in the air - Autumn is COMING.

Shannie in pink!
High fashion hat.
Us with Matt...
Donovan, Josh and Ethan at SA Bodyboarding comp...


At Last! We are resting and on holiday. The school year is over and we are preparing for another year at TCIS.

I am working on preparing lessons on the Shakespearian novels; “Much ado about nothing” and “King Lear”; as well as; Alan Ackyborne’s “A woman in mind”. My poor students are spending their summer writing a 1500 word World Lit. paper and reading the Shakespearian novels I’ve given them. Not much of a holiday.

Durban Beach is stunning – the yearly beach festival was packed out and the children loved all the activities. Ethan and Josh loved watching Donovan (their cousin) defend his Men’s Bodyboarding Title at the Mr.Price Pro Challenge. Ethan got a new HB Bodyboard and a rash vest – so he’s totally following Don’s example. Josh hangs out with his Pappa and loves just shopping with Ginny for bargains on the promenade. Bobby loves spending time with Ello and absolutely loved the circus. Her favourite part was the clowns singing “We will rock you”. It is always great to see family.

We have also spent time with The Herons and Louise. Jessica and Matt are gorgeous. We have had such fun with them and I think Matt loved the circus – he loves animals.

Dad had some major plastic surgery and it was devastatingly scarey as he is 85 turning 86 in October and aenestetic is never great at any age. He did so well – I am really proud of how quickly he recovered – three cheers to the Parklands Hospital – Durban and Specialist - Mr. Cook. He goes back next week for a check up and mum goes for cateract removal in both eyes. So I am permanently nursing and bossing them around. Praise God for dad’s strict recovery and I know he won’t let us down with mum’s op either.

Bobby is hysterically funny – she was looking at her hip and saw the veins on her hip, horrified she exclaimed “Mummy, I’m cracking!” I assured her that it was okay and just viens with her blood. She is so cute!

2007 Chapter Seventeen: Shanneth - our ANGEL!

We have just had a ten day holiday - Lunar break. Ken and I spend most of our time with the children. We took them to Zooland; ice skating; rollerblading; Essboarding; movies - Charlotte's web; shopping and the school grounds to play. We were so busy just having fun and hanging out. We took the OCK's (Out of Country kids - missionary Kids) with us to the ice rink. It was tremendous fun and the kids all had a wonderful time. So did we!

Shanneth gave her life to Jesus on Sunday, 5 March 2007 at 4 years old! I am delighted - Thrilled etc. She asked me to pray with her and I explained what it meant to be a Christian. Joshua had told her about giving her heart to Jesus and she wanted to do it. So her and I prayed together the sinner's prayer and she so clearly followed. When we had finished I said "So, how do you feel now that Jesus is in your heart?" She said " funny and beautiful together." She also said that we have to sing "Twinkle, twinkle little star" because Jesus likes it when he is in heaven cause he looks down at us on our houses. It was an extremely cute and tender moment. Praise God for revealing Himself to her!

2007 Chapter Sixteen: Our House IN THE MIDDLE OF THE STREET.






We bought a house and land package in Australia, Brisbane. Our closest beach is Bribie Island about a 10 min drive and about 30 min from the city centre. We didn't really want to buy in this area because it's a bit far from the IB Schools in Queensland. It is an excellent investment and we love the floorplan as well as our land (see pics). The school, shopping centre and sports centre are all within walking distance. It is a beautiful country area and Steve Irwin's Australia Zoo is 15 min away! I have posted our house package on this page too.

Our Land. Our land with Burpengary Creek in the background.
Ken and our land.

2007 Our New Year in OZ:

192 202

Chapter Fifteen: 2007 HAPPY NEW YEAR!
We had an outstanding NEW YEAR as Australian RESIDENTS! Can you imagine that! Well we couldn't; it was breathtakingly strange. A paradox of desire vs. betrayal. Who and what are we desiring? Who and what are we betraying?

A new life: Australia we desire a fresh start; a place for us to not feel like we owe someone an apology; a place where we can be free - from racism and fear.
Yet being born and bred in Africa and being WHITE Africans we are somehow considered - children of privilege - oppressors - single handedly responsible for all atrocities ever committed.

Yet in spite of the crime rate - not being able to get jobs in South Africa because we are not African enough - I love Africa. IT'S MY HOME. I love the sunsets; the animals; my people; black; white; coloured; no colour; everyone who falls asleep under that beautiful African sunset and everyone who struggles to leave Africa or who struggles to stay in Africa. Those whose feet have trampled the rich red African soil - who fall asleep in a foreign country, dreaming of their land their Africa - when your heavy eyelids drop and all you can see is plains filled with game; streets filled with hawkers; Mercedes Benz and pickpockets! My Africa! My BETRAYAL!

So this is my terribly sad heart but a new life is the only option and we are so grateful to Australia for giving us a chance. For seeing our value and not our skin colour. For acknowledging our potential and not punishing us for being white.
Our parents who give everything and expect nothing in return! Thanks mum and dad for opening your home to us! So our new year began really new!

The kids loved Australia and are eager to get there someday. They enjoyed walking on our new property and we all walked around it claiming the land and thanking God for His providence.

Watch the video clip! And see the photos!

2007 Chapter 14: God moves mountains and the Hanbit Tower:OKAY! OINK! As we say here " Oink" - translated loosely as "Only in Korea"! There's always something interesting happening here:On Saturday there was an Earthquake 170 km away from our city. So far away you say - well we felt it! Sheryl and I (and of cause Ken, Steve and all the kids: Josh / E.C. / Shannie and Carson / Garret) all went to the Daejon Metropol Laser Light Show at Expo Park.Where strangely enough they had African Tribal dancers doing a "Lady Smith Black Mabasa Hit" in leopard skin loin cloths; under a limbo pole; in the middle of a -10 degree C. snow fall shower! After this outdoor Africa show (which brings a whole new meaning to "OUT OF AFRICA."); we went to see a Russian puppet show which our kids loved. The puppeteer could only speak Russian and a very broken English but the puppets weaved a story of good and evil - the angel won in the end so we presumed that it had a good message. We then were up the Hanbit Tower taking in the view (see photos ... we were in the gigantic hula hoop, tube thingie) when the earthquake occurred! Believe me, it was not a good place to be... Sheryl and I had decided to peer over the side to see the ground, when the structure shook violently! Ofcause we are such good mothers and our children perfect monsters, that we immediately yelled at our kids to "Stop fooling around; get up off the floor and who push whom?! Behave Blah, blah, blah!!!" We never for a second thought that it could be an act of God and I did not think that the "I didn't do anything, mom Ethan just fell!" defense was true - anyway! I felt truly sheepish when we were told that it was an earthquake! We then decided to call it a night and went home marvelling at our good fortune- how many times can one say that one has lived through a coupe in Zamiba, general apathy and petty theft in Botswana, vehicle theft in South Africa and now an earthquake in South Korea! Sounds almost as good as "A wonderful life."
Today is -10 again and we have had three heavy snowfalls. I am sitting in my class captivated by the snowflakes and the stillness, marvelled by God's glory. I would like to invite you to read some of the Blog sites my Grade 11 English students have made. They are second language students so please forgive their English ability but they have some wonderful ideas. We have been doing a literature study on the book Peace Child - Don Richardson - we are looking at the Question of Faith: what is it and how do I relate to it? The link page has links to all of the students sites. Not all students are Christians but God is using this activity to speak to the students. Please pray for them, if you have the time. http://thegalvanizingclassof2008.blogspot.com/
The snow is gently falling outside and piling up in pretty blankets on all the plants and buildings. The city seems romantic and silent for awhile and all is good with us.loveChantal, Ken and kids!!!!




Ipitombi in Korea
Expo Park
href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgc_qBiMsEB0_cyzP_o2eRQOzheC14oLv9_LlD2Vw1HffPjLGl79bZFFlhQPi5JsBKj0mL2j7egiP40hJOn6aksl0gwnXjDfWUnSxiqNjKYaHnsbXUMHj3imFvMoK89gTcz7Uad/s1600-h/expo_hanbit.gif"> Hanbit Tower

2007 Chapter 14: God moves mountains and the Hanbit Tower:

2006 Chapter 13: So Spiritually Speaking:
I can only imagine - video

Itaewon, Seoul.
Seoul Skyline. Shopping in Seoul.
Itaewon and Steve.

Sheryl and I jewelry shopping!

Chapter 13: So Spiritually Speaking:


(Some adventure shopping pictures and see a bit of Seoul.)
We serve such a mighty God who is able to do all things! (Even with the likes of me!) Where to start? Spiritually we are well - healed and enjoying focusing on God and His ministry here for us. We're in a place of great significance - being in the East and particularly in satan's backyard - unbelief is the order of the day and budda is held in high esteem. This ministry is challenging in that it has an awesome vision and lives of students are changed on a daily basis. We also nurture missionery kids from all over - being responsible for their physical, academic and most of all spiritual care is mind blowing; that God would entrust these special kids to the likes of us? Amazing - yet He is such a loving Father who carefully creates opportunities for all the children here. Amidst all of this and the families in China - who are under extreme pressure and we hold them up in prayer - so that their work may continue. We have Korean lessons once a week and we are both learning to read Korean. The kids, especially Joshua, are doing really well learning Korean - he says he wants to preach in Korean so that people will hear about God. This school has really equipped the children for God's plans. Yet inspite of all this we are totally insignificant - there are so many wonderful Christians here and yet none of that matters, it's all about HIM and HIS plan.Anyway God bless love to you all. LOVEChantal

>2006 Chapter 12: We're Good Guys...

Thank you for your concern and prayers! They worked! Ken finishes his medication tomorrow and is feeling much better. Not 100 % yet but it takes up to two months to feel good again. Japanese River Disease is quite a serious illness and if it goes untreated there is a 50% morality rate - Praise God the school nurse insisted that Ken go to the hospital on day three of his illness. Ken did not use insect repellant on holiday at the beach but I smothered the kids and myself in it. Apparently this is what enabled us to stay healthy!Shannie had here ''ear op'' on Thursday - which was low key and took all of 10 min. They used a vacumn needle and she was asleep before the procedure began and remained asleep throughout. She woke up from her a nap on the way home - unperturbed! So alls well and we are more relaxed than we have been in awhile.The boys had a soccer tournament on Saturday but were most disgusted because they only won one game and lost two! Josh and Ethan played fantastically but their coach is laid back and played the really weak players too. Josh was livered and says he is not going to play soccer ever again! We tried to talk about sportsmanship and "it's not whether you win or loose..... " etc but Josh just looked at Ken with tears in his eyes and said to Ken "Ja, like you really believe that DAD!" - The silence was deafening! I had to leave trying not to giggle - he's a good South African! May God be with you guys.Love to you allChantal.

Chapter 11: Japanese River Disease - Japanese what?

Ken has just been diagnosed with Japanese River Fever and is as sick as a dog! He has been running temperatures of 102 / 103 / 104 since Friday night. They wanted to hospitalize him yesterday but we managed to persuade them that he'll be okay at home and our school nurse will check on him regularly. He is medicated and hopefully will recover soon - he has to go back on Wednesday to hospital and they will have the blood test results available at the moment it's all guess work.
Shannie has a blood clot in her ear canal and has to have it removed on Thursday at the same hospital. So we have our own assigned International Nurse - who meets us at the front foyer and stays with us while we are at the hospital. The hospital is state of the art and has of cause, it wouldn't be Asia if it didn't have a shopping mall on the first two levels! Prada, Celine, Dior, Gucci and the like all form part of the lavish decor; waterfalls - flowers, ponds - fountains and fish make for a surreal experience at the hospital. Some rooms have fish tanks and plasma screens with Internet and courtesy computers so that you can surf the net when you feel better. I've got lots to do and will write again as soon as our family are all well. Thanks for thinking of me - I really appreciate it. love Chantal