six sweet somethings...

wow...posting six sweet somethings for each week has turned out to be an even harder task than I thought.  I'm hoping once the Christmas season has passed and we're finally able to keep our household well, it'll be a bit easier.  Since my last post, I was sick for several days and now Eli is sick.  Besides that, though, we have had a lot of good stuff going on.  The lights are on here in McA, we've had fun Christmas parties to attend, and I celebrated a wonderful birthday this week.  I'm still blown away by how much everyone in my path that day made it so special.  It was the best birthday I've had in while.  Here are several "sweets" from the past several weeks...

From left to right, top to bottom...

1...E's visit with Santa last week

2...First Christmas program at school...don't know that I've ever been more proud :-)

3...Mrs. Karen and I partied hard with the Cubbies for our birthday

4...The Nester Sale with Julie

5...PWC basketball jerseys make great capes for Daddy fans

6...E met the dentist...maybe I was just as proud then ;-) 

the bucket list...

I don't have an official written bucket list, but I have several things in mind that I really hope to do before I die.  I've realized over the last couple of days that a few of the smaller things on my list revolve around this season of the year.  For one...I want to see the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade in person, and two...I want to do an all-night Black Friday shopping trip just once.  I don't want to go with something in mind that I have to get.  I'd just like to go grab a corner bench somewhere, sip on some hot coffee and watch the madness.  I've decided that I'll check this one off of the list when I won't stay busy playing with E the next day.  I might be a bit too tired for that.  Anyway....I happily checked one thing off of my bucket list this weekend.  On Friday, Jesse, E and I headed to Boone for a night in the hills and a fresh cut tree.  Yep...I've always wanted to pick and cut a Christmas tree from a tree farm.  And... it was just as fun as I always thought it would be.  There's just something special about picking out trees with red noses and frozen hands...this girl's really hoping it becomes a tradition ;-)

                         






  

six sweet somethings...

there are a few blogs that I like to keep up with daily if I can.  I've always wished that I could post at least a brief something everyday, but I've found it's completely unrealistic for me....one thing that absolutely shouldn't be added to my daily to-do list.  Some of the bloggers that I follow do a "High Five for Friday" post each week.  Have you seen them?  I think it's such a neat idea and have wanted to do it for a while myself.  I'm now going to attempt and I'm going to pretend that I'm not being an all-out, full-blown copycat by choosing a different name and number :-)  These posts will be called "Six Sweet Somethings".  Often, during the week, there are so many "sweet" things that happen and I don't document them anywhere.  In this context, I've decided that "sweet" can mean many different things...sweet as in an act of kindness...sweet as in the way that Eli's cheeks look on a particular day...sweet as in a "sweet" deal that I run across during the week...or sweet as in something really yummy to eat.  So, here it is, folks...my first six sweet somethings for the week...we'll see how this goes ;-)

From left to right, top to bottom...

1~ my phone was acting up but it wasn't time for an upgrade...my Daddy gave me his iPhone 4 that is still in mint condition

2~ learned to make a new scarf this week and I love it!

3~ $5 bubble earrings that I picked up on my annual trip to the Christmas show with Maw-maw, the great-aunts and Ken

4~ my little sister is engaged...and this is their engagement picture.  How sweet is that?  

5~ new devotional book that I'm really liking...Jesus Calling by Sarah Young

6~ the perfect view from our tent last Friday night....a cross my Daddy made 

Ok...can I sneak one more sweet thing in just this once?  I can't resist posting this video from the week. It's kind of awkward because I had to record it from my phone, but it's full of sweetness...

I love the last part where he acts like he's forgotten the words...I think he's seen someone do this and it's his new thing.  It didn't take him long to realize that he gets lots of laughs out of it ;-)

what a hoot...

E spent this Halloween (his 4th one!) as a wise lil' hoot owl.  Yesterday evening, we trick-or-treated around Jesse's office and tonight we spent some time at our church and around our neighborhood.  We had tons of spooky visitors again this year!  E really seems to enjoy hanging around home and handing out candy best of all.  And...I think all of the trick-or-treaters really liked that he took over the job this year.  He would grab handfuls of candy for them and ask them what kind they liked.  It was too cute!  Hope you all had a fun and happy Halloween...this girl's tired and headed for bed...night!

  

the creeper....

after about 10 years of hearing great things about the Virginia Creeper trail, I was finally able to experience it yesterday.  My Dad, Jesse, E and I headed up with our bikes and spent some much needed time outdoors.  Although a lot of the leaves had already fallen in the area, it was still nice to see them all covering the path as we rode along and it was nice that it wasn't crowded.  We rode only a portion of the trail stretching between Abingdon and Damascus which was about 15 1/2 miles.  I hadn't ridden my bike in a long time and boy could I tell.  The ride was a pretty easy one and I was still sore and panting by the time we reached our destination.
Our plan was to have lunch and ride the same portion of the trail back to our car.  But, shortly after we started back, my Dad ended up with a flat tire so Jesse rode back solo and picked us up.  I'm thinking maybe that flat was the Lord's way of saving me and E from the trip back.  After hearing about it from Jesse, I know I would have really struggled and E was already getting restless in his little trailer.  Despite my achy body, I can say that it's definitely a trip we'll take again.  If you haven't visited and you're looking for a good day-trip option from our area, it's a great pick!

        

big jack......little jack.......jack, jack, jack...

I can’t remember a stage of Eli’s life where he hasn’t loved lights.  From very early on, I noticed that this little boy just couldn’t get enough of them.  I’ve always thought it was extremely cool, too, how the Lord placed this little boy with such a love of lights in the middle of Christmas Town…what better place could there be, right?  Anyway…now that it’s the spooky time of year again, we’re taking walks around our neighborhood to see all of the lit jack-o-lanterns and cute string lights hanging around.  And…we’ve got several “jacks” sitting around in our house.  We’ve got a “Jack”, a “Big Jack”, a “Little Jack”…about any “Jack” you can imagine.  Two of them hang around and glow in E’s bedroom at night which just thrills him.  On Sunday, we spent some time working on a couple of other jacks to add to the collection.  It was E’s first time pumpkin-carving and he seemed to have a ball…

I spent this past weekend with some great friends at the Women of Faith conference.  If you’re a woman and you haven’t been to one of these, I say you should strongly consider it.  If you’re a man and you haven’t been, take my word for it and don’t go…it would be extremely weird ;-)  I’m laughing at myself right now, but I feel sure that you’re not and that you're probably thinking I'm pretty cheesy....  sooooo…let’s move on…;-)  The weekend included lots of great worship tunes and super great speaking.  Christine Caine, from Australia, was one of the speakers and was easily my most favorite part of the conference.  Ladies…if you have not heard her before, look her up online and check her out!  The story of her life and how she’s used things in her past to provide a future for others is incredible.  I’m convinced that the hour of listening to her speak was one of the most quickly passing hours of my life.  I really could listen to her all day!  I picked up her latest book "Undaunted" while we were there and it's a great read so far.

While I was busy getting blown away by Christine’s message, Jesse and E were busy playing at the apple orchard and talking with Johnny Appleseed.  When I got home, E was sound asleep and dirty which told me that it had been a really good day in his book :-)  I was so glad that Jesse remembered to take the camera with them…AND, that he even remembered to take pictures ;-)  

hermanus...

I was just editing some pictures from the last few days of our trip this summer and realized I never posted about our final little get-away while we were there. Before leaving, we spent a couple of days in Hermanus, a quaint little coastal town that's famous for whale-watching. We stayed in a super cozy hotel named the Harbour House, where we were able to spot a few whales while eating breakfast in our room. I mean, I'm used to occasionally spotting a dolphin from the beach hotels at home, but whales? That was pretty crazy. We took a whale-watching cruise while we were there and at one point were surrounded by 9 huge Southern Right whales. We also saw lots of seals and penguins, a few great whites, and watched a group of shark divers in action. Out of all of the things to be excited about in Hermanus, E was most thrilled by the John Deere pulling our boat ;-)

goin' swimmin' ?

nope.... just weed-eatin' :-)

Jesse brought home a toy weed-eater on Wednesday and it literally took E's breath away. He gasped and then said "Oh, wow!" several times as he ran around the room with it. It was definitely love at first sight ;-)

well hello, leaver...

unusual name, huh? When we asked him what he wanted to name his new pet caterpillar, Eli had no problem landing on this one...Leaver. Of course, it's because he likes to eat leaves :-) Our neighbor, Mrs. Paula, finds these caterpillars in her flower gardens a lot and saved this one for E. We fixed him a nice new home and he's now hanging out in the kitchen window sill, praying that he'll survive the loud, sticky-fingered little boy, I'm sure ;-)

Check out E's faces...can you tell he was just a tish excited?

see ya later...

After about four hours of straightening and packing, I'm finally kicking up my feet and taking a second to type. It's after midnight here. We're getting ready to sleep our last night in Cape Town and I'm really sad about it. And, it's strange...if you'd asked me three months ago how I'd feel on the last night...I feel sure I wouldn't have described it this way. I considered a few different titles for this post..."the end", "the last days", etc...just didn't work. I think most of us that have been here together agree that this just can't be it...the end. So, for now, it's a "see ya later". In face, I've already got a couple of future trips in mind ;-) So...to you, my Cape Town friends, it's been a pleasure to share in this journey with you. I'm taking home so many priceless memories that I have you to thank for. I'm praying for safe travels for each of you and that the days between now and the time that I'll see you again will be few
:-) Much love to you all!

Now...to those of you back home...we're coming whether you like it or not. And, the fact that I'm sad about leaving absolutely does not mean that I haven't missed you like crazy, because I absolutely have. And, you know what this means, don't you? The fact that I haven't seen you in three months means that we've got a lot of making up to do ;-) Please pray for us as we travel so far again...Love to you all, too!

oh dear...

I've fallen a bit behind on my blogging and am completely overwhelmed with the thought of squeezing the events of the last two weeks into one meezly little blog post. I feel sure that most of you reading this are not so broken-hearted that I'll have to spare some details, but it stresses me. My goal is to have the posts from our trip bound so that I can save them...and I have simply stunk at making sure I document everything lately. Oh well...life will go on, I guess :-)
So...life in Cape Town lately...hmmm...full of emotion. Anxiety, excitement, sadness, and so much more. Last week was an incredibly stressful week for Jesse and his colleagues as they finished up their projects...and when they're stressed...we're stressed. It meant lots of long hours and them being away from us for one last weekend. But, guess what? We survived and we packed as much fun as we possibly could into those couple of days! Excitement [as mentioned above]...I'm feeling because we're coming home in only a week and will have tons of special people to see and catch up with! And, sadness...because we're leaving behind lots of people who have become very special to us here.
The last two weeks, with the exception of the four days that Eli was sick with a yucky cold, have been really nice. In a nutshell...we've visited the West Coast, where we saw tons of animals and beautiful flowers...we've visited some beautiful gardens, a new park, and a new farm...spent more time at the market and on the beach with friends...enjoyed a slumber party with my friend Neha and her daughter V...took Eli and V ice skating for the first time...spent some time at the Cape Town science center...enjoyed a date with E on Tommy the Tugboat...ate at some more really yummy restaurants...and I just enjoyed another great ladies' night out last night. Whew...no wonder I'm typing from bed tonight at only 9:00!
I mentioned before that Jesse had his last retreat this weekend. It was held in Stellenbosch at the Spier Hotel and Conference Center. The hotel is part of the Spier wine farm so you can imagine it's surroundings are just beautiful. On Sunday, several of us headed up to have lunch with the guys and enjoy the afternoon in the area. Jesse had also made a reservation for us to stay with him there on Sunday night so I was really excited about that. It was a chilly and rainy afternoon/night so it was perfect for sitting by the fire and having a fun dinner at Moyo with my friend Jessica and her family. We had already eaten at two different Moyos during our trip, but it's hard to pass up. The decor and set up of the restaurants is amazing. You'll notice lots of details from the restaurant in my collages. My favorite is the big tree with the colorful couches and lanterns underneath. We ate in a huge tent and there were little what I called "tree houses" all around with tables for guests. So...you can eat in the trees if you want...how cool is that? I could go on and on about the place...really, on and on and on...it was incredible. Anyways...after dinner came the best part... drifting off to sleep by the fire in our room...it was such a nice break from our apartment!
The next several days before we leave are already filled with plans for a few more new adventures and many returns to our favorite spots one last time. They will be bittersweet ones, that's for sure :-)
Hope all of you at home are still doing well...can't wait to see you!

nine days with nanny nancy...

one thing's for sure...I said a while back that I thought the rest of the weeks here would fly...and they are doing just that. The past nine days have been some of the fastest but were packed with lots of fun with Nanny. My mama came into town last Sunday and left today. We had so much fun with her and are praying for her safe travels back to GA now.
Our week with Nanny was the most beautiful one yet. We had lots of sunny days which made for more good times on the beach and touring around. Lots of the places that we visited were places that E and I had already been but are must-sees here. On Saturday, we started out at one of my favorite spots, the Old Biscuit Mill and Neighborhood Goods Mkt, where we got our bellies full of yummy breakfast quiches and omelets. Then, we headed to Stellenbosch, a mountain town about 45 minutes outside of Cape Town. It's also wine country so it's full of beautiful vineyards. We spent some time at the Treasury Market there, where the sidewalks are lined with amazing foods, flowers and handmade goods. We found ourselves loitering around the cheese and olive tables...oh, and the bread and fudge tables (and maybe a few more :-) The markets have definitely been one of my most favorite things about this place and I was glad that Mama really enjoyed it too.
Another new destination for us this week was Charly's Bakery in town. Apparently, the bakery has been spotlighted in lots of well-known magazines and enjoyed by lots of famous peeps. We stopped by late this morning to enjoy some coffee and sweet treats before Mama left...Mama and I had the most massive blueberry muffins ever and E had a chocolate cupcake with cherries on top in honor of the ole' hometown, Cville. It was the perfect ending to a special week. Thanks, Nanny, for coming all this way to spend time with us...we had a lot of fun and miss you already. XOXO

just call us the bravehearts...

we've had a really great second week of my Daddy being here. Several of the days were gorgeous weather-wise so we hung out on three different beaches and spent a good amount of time outside. We've also found ourselves being quite brave this week...very brave :-)
Here's a countdown of our top 5 risky adventures for the week...
#5- we went tobogganing! The park is called Cool Runnings and includes a tobogganing track that's 1.25 km long, which allowed us to be quite speedy. In fact, I got called out for going too fast :-)

#4- we aboarded the Jolly Roger Pirate ship! It was an hour-long cruise around the bay on an absolutely beautiful day. We were able to see the city from a different point of view and a huge whale swimming around near the ship. Eli enjoyed some face painting and I was captured by a pirate and tied up with rope (for the pirate show) before I knew what was happening...it was pretty embarassing but a kiss from Blackbeard made it a tish better ;-)

#3- we went ziplining! It's probably bad that this was my first ziplining experience because now I'm hooked and I'm afraid this trip will be hard to beat! The sliding itself was super fun, but watching Eli's face and hearing him cackle on the way down was priceless.

#2- I visited a hair salon here! I know, I know...it's kind of silly that this one is so close to the top of the list, but when it comes to a girl's hair, it's serious business ;-) Honestly, I was really nervous about it, but decided to take the plunge rather than live with inch-long black roots the rest of the trip. The salon turned out to be such a cozy and quaint place and the stylist was amazing. I was even treated to a homemade red velvet cupcake and a french-press coffee while I was there. It was so nice to get pampered for a couple of hours~ thanks to my sweet Daddy for letting me enjoy!

and...drum roll, please...#1- we took Eli to the movies for the first time! Yes...we did...and yes, I guess we're crazy. I told you we were being very brave, didn't I? On Saturday we got a good bit of rain and decided to try out the theatre for Ice Age 4. We were only able to make it through an hour before I feared that we'd get popcorn-bombed by our neighbors, but we had to try it at some point, right? And for those of you considering the movie, what I saw of it was really cute.

Today was our last day with Daddy, "Pop", here. E and I dropped him off at the airport just a couple of hours ago. I know it's only about 5 weeks until we see him again, but it was really hard saying goodbye and coming back to our place without him. It felt so good to have him here with us...I hope he enjoyed it as much as we did! Please pray for his safety in traveling home and remember my Mama as she'll be traveling to us this weekend! Can't wait to see her and share a week with her!

gerry the giraffe & my muddy birthday boy...

I shouldn't be surprised I guess. Eli's always been a child who seems to get the most excited over the freedom to run wild, get super dirty and have access to anything remotely dangerous. Instead of a new toy, he'd jump for joy at the opportunity to operate a tractor, play with a string of Christmas lights, or run through a mud puddle deeper than he is tall. And, although it wasn't nearly that deep, that's exactly what he did first at his birthday party this week. We spent the morning at the Giraffe House with some of our SA friends feeding animals, checking out Gerry the giraffe, and letting the kids bounce around in the bounce-house for a while. Later, we enjoyed some cupcakes and silly masks in honor of E turning three. Our friends brought some fun new toys for him as gifts which was really nice. Because we've had a good bit of rain lately, the place was an absolute mess with mud. After his first jump in the puddle, I surrendered and let E run around bare-footed the rest of the time. It was the best gift I could have given my little southern bumpkin by far :-)

Jesse was off on Friday of last week so we planned to travel outside of Cape Town and follow the Garden Route~ it's a really popular and beautiful route along the southeastern coast of SA. We headed out on Thursday afternoon for a pretty long drive to an area called Mossel Bay where we stayed the first night. While our place had a lot of charm, it was very, very cold and required us to bundle up in layers for the night. Somewhere in that cold night came the rain. And the next day, more rain. And the next day, a monsoon :-) You think I'm kidding, but the owner of the second place that we stayed said that he had only seen this type of rain one other time in his lifetime of umm...probably 80 years...it got quite comical really. While we were able to visit some pretty neat limestone caverns called the Cango Caverns on Friday, we weren't able to do the other things that we had considered for the trip because of the weather. So...we returned on Saturday and Jesse and I went out for a date night to the movies which was nice.

On Sunday, we visited Hillsong again for possibly the best two worship services I've ever attended in my lifetime. Robert Madu from Texas spoke for both services and let me tell you...if you haven't heard him...you should. I looked briefly on Youtube and I think some of his sermons are available. Check him out if you get a chance!

My Dad is still here with us and will be here until next Monday. We're supposed to have some really pretty days this week so I'm hoping we can hit the beach again at some point. I have been so glad to have him here and am so thankful that he came all this way for us.

For those of you who were praying for Maw-maw's foot surgery, thank you. Everything went well and last I heard she's already on the move a little again...I can't imagine ;-)

life in the fast lane...

Yes...I've finally hit the fast lane here a couple of times now and despite one episode of being scolded for driving too slow, it's been quite fun. And, once some of the other PWC peeps saw our jewel of a car, they just had to have one...as you can imagine. Several of them have rented the same model in different colors...it's pretty funny to see them parked together. Naturally, as we've gotten more comfortable with getting out and about, our weeks have gotten busier. This past week was the busiest for us yet and went by so fast. I have a feeling it's been a taste of what's to come for the remaining weeks here. This week was pretty full with a few more birthday celebrations (more to come on this later), a relaxing day at the beach, and a fourth of July celebration complete with a trip to the nearby amusement park and a barbecue with the PWC peeps. While it was a nice day, it was very different to celebrate the fourth scarved and without any fireworks. I definitely missed all of my favorite Americans and our family's yearly march of the flag ;-)
On Friday, Eli's third birthday!, Daddy arrived a little after noon. You can't tell very well in the pic, but we made E a very small sign to hold up for "Pop" at the airport. We were very happy to see him! On Friday night, we dined at an authentic African restaurant named the Africa Cafe. The decor consisted of lots of cool artwork and light fixtures made from recycled materials, like plastic bottles and metal scraps, etc. Our server washed our hands in rosemary water before the meal and painted our faces later. The menu was family style, so we passed around our little bowls full of mystery, I mean, interesting new foods. I'm not the adventurous type when it comes to food...in fact, this trip has made me realize that I'm just downright boring in this area. Needless to say, I didn't exactly get my belly full that night, but it was a neat experience and I enjoyed a yummy no-risk pasta dish the next night :-)
On Saturday, Jesse's birthday!, we toured Daddy around a few hotspots since the weather was nice. We spent the greatest part of our day at Cape Point, which Jesse, E and I had not visited before. It's the point at which the Indian and Atlantic oceans meet and is incredibly beautiful. There were some baboons and ostriches hanging out in the area, so they were neat to see too.
Today has been the most dreary and rainy day that we've had so far. We headed to church this morning and enjoyed a great video sermon by Louie Giglio and then had a yummy lunch in town. We spent the afternoon strolling around the mall and doing some grocery shopping. Daddy's with us for the next couple of weeks so I'm really looking forward to showing him around more, spending more time together, and having an extra set of hands during the week.
To all of our prayer warrior friends, would you please remember my Maw-maw on Wednesday of this week? She'll be having surgery on her foot and it feels so weird to not be home for it. She's been in much debate over whether to go through with the procedure or not, so please pray that it will be worth it for her. Those of you who know her know that she's still very much on the go and full of life. She needs those feet to keep her going! Thanks, everybody ;-)

the weekends...

they have definitely been the best part of our time here and this one was no exception. It’s always nice to hit the roads for some longer drives and have more people around. Friday, E and I met up with all of the fams for a lunch/playdate and then we all spent the evening at an authentic African restaurant named Mama Africa. Dinners are generally quite lengthy here. We did have a large group, so that may have added a bit more time, but it turned into a three hour dinner marathon. E was with us and hung in there like a champ. The highlight of the night for me was the great band called Marimba Vibrations. E’s always had a thing for drums so he absolutely loved it…so much so that he ended up using his chair as a drum. The band members noticed and eventually pulled him on stage and let him play the xylophone with them…it made his night and mine too :-)
Saturday was kind of a dreary day but we headed to the park for a train ride along the shore and hung out on the playground for a bit. Afterward, we had lunch at a cozy little restaurant in town called Arnold’s. It’s definitely one we’ll go back to before leaving. Saturday evening, everyone headed to the rugby game. We hired a sitter for the first time since we’ve been here and she was amazing! E had such a good time with her and it was nice for Jesse and I to get out a bit on our own with everyone. The Cape Town team, the Stormers, won the game, so it was really cool to see all of their excited fans celebrating.
Today has been absolutely beautiful! This morning we enjoyed another incredible service at Hillsong and then made our way back to the Camp Bay area for brunch. Although I had been through the area twice before, it still left me in awe today…the views are breathtaking. We spent the afternoon there with friends and E made sure he got his church clothes as wet and sandy as possible. We’ve got a good week coming up here including some birthday celebrations and the arrival of my Dad who is having a great time in Ireland right now. I’m really looking forward to the next several days!

highlights...

Guess what? The sun has been shining brightly the last two days! E and I hit the big road as fast as we could to do some more adventuring. Although... this isn’t a post about highlights from those adventures…it is instead a very brief trip down memory lane. Do you all remember the Highlights magazines? I don’t know if they’re still being published today, but I absolutely loved them when I was young. I never had them delivered to my house, but I always grabbed them up while waiting in the doctor’s or orthodontist’s office. My favorite part was the Hidden Pictures game! If you don’t remember, maybe this will help…

Anyway…I thought I’d do a little “find the pictures” game on here to keep things exciting :-) Because I’m sometimes a sucker for product packaging designs, I’ve found it pretty interesting to see the different brands and appearances of things here. So…the following pics are ones of “different” things here….different brands…different forms of things…different ways of doing things…hopefully I’m not the only one who thinks it’s interesting :-)
So...find the...

Cereal boxes~ although we have found Cheerios, Corn Flakes and Frosted Flakes, these are Choco Scoops and Otees
White, brown, and red packets~ when ordering coffee with sugar, you may be asked if you would like white, brown or red (white sugar, brown sugar, or artificial sweetener)
Silver button~ this is the flush button on top of our toilets. You’ll notice one half has one raised dot, while the other has two. Not exactly sure what this means, but I’ve got a good guess. I’m going to ask if I can remember.
Mickey D’s fries (or chips as they are called here)~ this is a picture of our table top at McDonald’s. It’s quite a bit more stylish here than at home. Notice there’s a fashion magazine on the table.
Reusable grocery bags~ it’s nice to see how many people use these here. I think it’s mostly on behalf of Mother Earth but I’m learning that part of it is so that we can sling them over our shoulders for the long hike back home :-)
Mandarin oranges~ okay…you can only see the middle 1/3 of this picture, so picture and additional 2/3 of oranges. On the way home from the lion park the other day, local folks were selling these on the side of the road. The cost….drum roll please…17 rand…that’s a tish over $2.00!
Snacks~ Jungle oatmeal, Tuc crackers (delicious), and Glen tea
Receptacle~ this is what our receptacles look like here…E loves the little switches at the top and drives me crazy turning them on and off! You’ll notice we have an adapter in one side of this one. We have a couple of different adapters and different plugs work in different ones. Trying to get everything plugged up and working makes getting ready a challenge sometimes.
Faucet~ notice our faucets have separate hot and cold knobs. The hot water is unbearably hot and the cold is frigid. I have yet to figure out how to easily rinse my face each night.
Water bottle~ at restaurants, still water often comes in cool bottles such as this one. You must specify still…these folks drink lots of sparkling water or sparkling anything for that matter! While we’re on the topic, the sparkling apple and grape drinks are amazing!

Coca-Cola~ I’m gonna miss this. When you order a Coke, this is what you usually get…a nice cold glass bottled soda…there’s just something about them :-) And, notice there are always lemons.
Super M and Parmalat~ Chocolate milk and long-life white milk. E now recognizes the big M quickly!
Cookies~ Tim Tam and Iced Animal cookies.
Diapers~ we’re still using these at night…notice they’re called Nappies.
Soap~ we’ve resorted to Dettol because we’re already out of the Dove from home…not too bad, though.
Pickles~ for those who know him, you know E is a pickle man! He’s not eating these Miami dills quite as fast, which is probably a good thing.
Restaurant~ this is McDonald’s.
E in the swing~ all of the swings around here are made from recycled tires, which is really neat. They’re actually much more comfortable than our typical swings at home because they have a back rest and more than just the chain to hang on to.
Chip bags~ Bubbles…yummy, yummy cheese puffs in all kinds of flavors. In fact, it’ll be a while before we have these again…they were eaten way too fast this week! E loves them and the name...”I thought we just blow bubbles, not eat them, Mommy…giggle, giggle”

Before I go, thanks for all of your prayers and words of encouragement since my last post. They mean so much!

the good......the bad......& the just plain ugly......

the good…
Let’s start on a positive note…since my last post, we’ve had as much light, hot water and internet access as we’ve wanted and I have continued to be amazed with every outing at how much beauty surrounds us here. I’ve also enjoyed a girls’ night out to the movies with three new friends, celebrated two birthdays with new friends, visited some really neat handmade markets over the weekend, and attended another amazing Hillsong service this past Sunday. It’s also several days closer to my Dad’s arrival since I last posted, and that’s a major plus.

the bad…
I don’t want to negate the positives by sharing about the bad, but I do want to be honest about our journey and I’m hoping that by doing so you all can continue to be in prayer for us. I know, without a doubt, that your prayers have really helped us thus far. So…the last three days have been gray, rainy, and chilly. As a result, we’ve been inside lots more than before and we’re beginning to get a little a lot stir-crazy. Because we don’t have nearly the amount of toys here as compared to home, E is more difficult to entertain indoors and gets in trouble more often. This is even after my encouraging him to jump on the bed and pass the football indoors…as any good mother would do, of course ;-)

the just plain ugly…
It’s a yucky cycle, really. E is restless and cranky…I am stressed….E falls off of the bed while jumping, I am more stressed. I am more stressed…E is more restless and cranky. It’s amazing what and how much kids can sense from you, isn’t it? Anyways, over the last couple of days I’ve really struggled. I’ve felt very, very lousy at this Mommy-thing due to my short-temper and lack of patience.

So…that being said, or typed, would you all please pray that we’ll have nothing but beautiful sunny days from here on out? Nah…I’m just kidding…I know that I’ve got to learn to have patience despite the weather or circumstances around me. Would you please, please pray that God will give me the patience that I need for sunny or rainy days?
I really appreciate it and I really hope all of you back home are enjoying your beautiful sunny days…(eye roll) ;-)

our geezer is fixed…our geezer is fixed!

Technically, I think it’s spelled geyser, but the locals pronounce it geezer when referring to our hot water heater :-) And, for the past two days our poor geezer has been giving us lots of trouble. In the end, it resulted in us losing power at several points and me almost losing my mind. Today, I’m so thankful that the problem seems to be cleared up and we can continue around here as normal.

The last couple of days have been pretty uneventful and we’ve mostly stayed around our place. PWC hosted a resiliency session for the families yesterday, and while it was really kind of them to think of us, the situation was quite comical. Picture a guy named Sven lecturing for two hours about research related to a healthy diet, healthy sleep patterns, relaxation techniques, etc. while children (including my incredibly wild little man) were wandering freely around the very small conference room with markers in their hands. Needless to say, E and I made it through less than half of the session. I’m hoping I soaked up enough info. to survive from here on out :-)

This morning, E and I headed to a lion park in an area called Drakenstein with Phil, Steve and their children. There were numerous lions there that have been rescued from abusive situations, including a female that they feel sure is the oldest lion in the world…she’s 21! Our favorite part was when they would roar back and forth with one another…I have a really neat video of it, but it takes forever to load videos here...maybe later :-)

whew...that was long...

The last four days without Jesse crept along a little more slowly than I expected. Although we don’t see him during his workdays here, it’s amazing what a difference our few evening hours with him make. And, to make matters more challenging, Eli has been the most rowdy yet over the last couple of days. Often, he gets this way just before getting sick so I’m praying that this is not the case. We did get to know some of the other families a little better over the weekend…we enjoyed some yummy meals with them…some good playground time….and a nice trip to the aquarium yesterday. Thankfully, we haven’t run into any major language barriers among us and all seem to get along well. There are two guys here that are keeping their little ones while their wives participate in the program so it’s nice to have males along as we travel around. E and I took the car out today for a quick trip to the grocery store. The driving wasn’t as difficult as I thought it would be but I did at one point get the cold sweat “what in the WORLD am I doing right now…I have NO business doing this” feeling. With the exception of that moment, getting my first drive over with was a big relief. One thing’s for sure…I’m a girl who depends on her wheels! Here are some aquarium pics…



I really missed wishing everyone back home a happy Father’s Day on Sunday. I’m thankful to share life with so many awesome Daddies and I hope you all had a wonderful day. E and I spent the first part of our day at Hillsong Church, which I mentioned in an earlier post, and it was amazing. It was a little overwhelming at first because it’s a really large facility, it was packed full of strangers, and I had to be apart from E for a while. To my surprise, he did well and I was able to enjoy the entire service. Next week, they will be having an “I love my church” celebration in honor of their 4 year anniversary so I’m really, really looking forward to that! When I first heard of Hillsong here, I was completely forgetting that I’d heard of them before…particularly their music. I actually have a beautiful song by them on my ipad. If you haven’t heard them, you should definitely check them out. Of course, all of the music won’t be from the Cape Town church as they have different locations, but all that I’ve heard from them is great.

home alone...

I guess I should say “home away from home” alone. Jesse and the other participants had to leave early this morning for a four-day retreat away from the office and their families. If they’d asked me, I would have suggested that our retreat to SA was enough, but then, they didn't :-) I have to confess that earlier in the week I was beginning to get a little aggravated at the thought, but I eventually decided I might as well make the best of it. I’m trying to see it as a time for those of us left behind to get to know each other better. Today, we met up with some of them for lunch and we’ve made plans for the next few days so I feel pretty good about the situation. I talked with my Mama for a while this morning and she’s set to come visit for a week in late July which makes me really, really happy! I’ve always known it, but this trip has re-affirmed (is that a real word?) for me that God has given to me two of the most special parents on the planet. They are both making pretty big sacrifices of their time and money to come see us. I’ve got to spend some time practicing behind the wheel so that I can tour them around. Tomorrow, E and I are going to check out what seems to be a great church here in Cape Town, called Hillsong, so that should be fun. It’s just a short walk from our place. Here are some pics from our day yesterday…we made one of our stops at Boulder Beach, where there are lots of penguins. We’ll probably be making our way back there a few more times :-)


Images © of CA :-)