As I sit to write this I am blown away by the fact that it is already March, 2014. And yes, I expected to have been home already for 3 months! Well I suppose things don't always turn out the way we hoped or expected. For those of you who don't know or who have not realised it yet.....we are staying longer!!! We felt strongly that God was calling us to invest more of our lives here than just one year. So we applied for a new, extended Visa that would give us 2.5 years here. After waiting patiently (Ok, not so patiently) and not being allowed to leave the country while we waited.....8 months after our application went in, we finally heard last week that our visa has been approved!! We are legally allowed to stay now until August 2016....which is what we are planning on doing. Neil is going to start working at an Inner City Mission called "Hope City" and the boys will continue to attend Daniel Academy. Ben will start kindergarten there in the fall.
So, where were we last???? I can hardly remember. Nathan had his birthday and really enjoyed a day of paintballing with his friends and then movies and a sleepover. It's so hard to accept and believe they are growing up so quickly. At 6'1 and 200lbs he is certainly not my little boy anymore, but will always be my baby!!! Don't let him hear me saying that!!!
And then our traditional dinner out, the birthday boy gets to choose the restaurant, and in true South African style, Nathan chose to go the the best Barbecue place here in KC called Jack Stack....Red meat is in his blood!!!
And then came Joshua....... We found a really cool place for his birthday called Sky Zone, which is a huge warehouse with trampolines all over the place. Perfect for a bunch of energetic 12 year olds. They had dodge ball, basketball and track....all on trampolines, so they really got a good workout.
And then all the boys had a soccer match that night....so like some crazy person I agreed to have them all sleepover and go to the game together, then home for movies!! Oh my word...getting 8 12 year olds ready for a soccer game was chaos. I had clothes across my entire house!!!!
Being his mothers child (sweet tooth and all), Joshua chose to go to IHOP for his birthday dinner (International House of Pancakes!!!!)
And last but definitely not least....Ben. He had been counting sleeps for his birthday since Nathan's!! He just couldn't wait to get toys.......because we left all of his back home!
My baby is five...isn't that crazy???? and just a short while ago Lorna (Watt) used to talk to Imso in my tummy!!! It feels like just the other day I had to try and convince Joanne (Jackson) and Audrey (Botha) that I really was pregnant!!! The more I told them, the more they thought I was playing the fool....well here's the evidence, five years later. He had such a fun party at a playhouse with all his friends from school.
And the end of the year snuck up on us before we even realised it. When it should have been an exciting time of getting ready to come home, it was instead filled with mixed emotions as we explained to family why we were staying and why we felt this was the right place for our family to be. As much as we missed home and wanted to be there, we also knew we needed to be here! So, unexpectedly we got to have our "white" Christmas this year. We were so hoping to be home for the holidays to at least spend some time with our friends and explain what was going on, but with our visa application pending, we were not allowed to travel......so a very cold, quiet Christmas for us!! We started off with our very tiny tree....that made me even more homesick...my beautiful 7ft fibre optic tree that Neil had spoiled me with last year, was lying in our store room in SA...the boys thougth it was really funny that they could reach the top of the tree from their knees!!! I didn't quite see the humor in it at first, it just made me more heartsore. We couldn't really buy too much stuff at this point because we didn't want to waste money....if our visa got denied we would be coming home, so didn't want to buy things unnecessarily....and the trees here are really expensive!! But as you know the Americans go all out on decorating their houses etc, so we tried as much as we could and got into the spirit of it all.
Ben and I trying to get into the spirit of things....baking Christmas cookies (Sam Taylor if you are reading this you will notice I need serious help!!!!)
Gingerbread house making competition with friends from Church. Like we always say...everything is bigger in the USA!!! I'm not sure how much they ate as they were making, but I was very impressed by the gingerbread mansions that came out in the end.
and of course the famous "Stringer" Peppermint Ice Cream Pudding....I had to import the peanut brittle and peppermint crisp for this one!!!
Nathan photo bombing us on Chrsitmas Eve at the candle light service!!!!
Oh wow, before all that (I almost forgot...) we got to take Ben to Disneyland. We really had so much fun!! I'm not sure you can ever outgrow that place. Nathan and Josh were able to go off on their own this time and find all the rides they remember from when they were younger and stand in the lines for ages to go on them....but they did it and loved it. That left Neil and I to spend time with Ben on all his rides and meeting the characters. We had managed to get accommodation on one of those timeshare offers where, if you listen to the talk, they will give you the accommodation....well we did it. I always said I never would, but we did, and it was worth it.We did have a really good laugh after the talk, at the salesman who tried to sell us a tiny apartment in Las Vegas for R400k for 4 nights midweek!! And his reaction when we explained to him that we were actually unemployed missionaries living in the US with no formal income!!! He nearly fell off his chair. He even asked us how we feed our children and if they were hungry!!!!!! Not to mention his reaction when we told him we drove 24hrs to get there because flights were too expensive!!! (We were staying in a four or five star resort...so keep in mind these people usually have money)
I suppose one of the hardest and most emotional times for me so far has been my birthday....yes, I am finally 40!!!! I had planned my party in my mind for so long, remember....I was going to have an ABBA party and I couldn't wait to squeeze myself into one of those white, bell bottomed, bling body suit things!!! And I was going to have it at the best possible venue in the world....Riverside!!!! It was really hard for me not to have all my very special SA friends with me to celebrate and yes, I cried....but not because I am 40....okay, maybe that was a small part of the reason...but mostly because I did not have my friends and family from SA around me. Neil and the boys spoiled me beyond description and I had a really, really good day. My tear ducts worked over time when I read all the emails Neil had collected from people back home.....thank you all for the special words and messages...I felt truly loved and special. You all have such a special place in my heart and believe me when I say that you are in my thoughts daily. My new friends here also went out of their way to make my day special...I think especially because they all knew how I was feeling about missing home.
I had a party SA style, with Neil out in the cold and snow "braaing" ribs and fillet for us all, and he had ordered me an ice cream cake from Ben and Jerry's (Eat your heart out Tammy!!!)
And then finally Neil's birthday......
The shirt I had made for Neil....Ben was in his element!!!
The boys are really enjoying school and have settled in and adapted to the new different approaches and subjects. They are doing really well too and the school is really everything we wanted for the boys. The academic side is good but they are so focused on developing the kids into who God intended them to be. There is such a Presence in the school and the boys are growing every day in their walk with God and finding their identity in Him. The fun side is really good too. In November they had what is called Spirit Week, so every day of the week the kids are given a topic and they have to go to school dressed up. This was a stretch for me who is not at all creative, but they did really well and took part everyday. Both Nathan and Josh were even nominated for best dressed on some of the days and Josh even won his category on one days.
Mismatched Monday
Inanimate Object
What you want to be when you grow up.
Superhero Day
Farmer/Cowboy Day
The 70's
Photo Bomb Ben
Ben is taking after his big brothers and wanting to play every sport possible. Every time they practice something he also wants to take part. The club we joined for him is called i9 Sports and every 3 months they can choose a different sport do....so season he did baseball, now he has just finished a basketball season, and if I must say so myself, he was pretty good. He got a few baskets in every game and by the end he had the idea of running and dribbling. It was really cute.....next season he wants to do soccer......
A few weeks back Ben had high tea at school. They had to dress up and they made cucumber sandwiches and tea with their teacher.
The boys enjoyed some of the snow days by sledding and playing in the snow. I can't say I am a fan though, it is very messy when you live in it day in and day out!!! Snow gets walked into the house, in the car, everywhere!! And it gets sludgy and muddy!! But it is beautiful and makes things seem peaceful!
Sho, that is quite a mouthful of a blog.....trying to catch you up on the last few months!! I hope it was not too much for all of you.
We are in the process of planning and sorting out things now that we know our visa application has been approved. We have so many decisions to make and things to arrange for our slightly more permanent move. We will be moving house,into something a little bigger with some more space for the boys....this was only supposed to be for a year, so the house we are in is a little small!!! We are also now trying to plan when we will come home for a holiday....and it looks like it will be at the end of the year. We were thinking of coming now in June, but then figured most people are still at school and work etc, and then we would be leaving 6 months of winter here, to come to winter there....that just doesn't sit well with me!!! And Christmas is such a special time to be with family and the African Summer if beautiful, so for now we will probably come home then. My heart aches for home and my emotions are very torn. Please know that this is not an easy move we are making as a big part of my heart lies in Springs (believe it or not!!!!). I struggle to understand how people make the decision to leave SA permanently and then adjust so quickly......I will be honest, I have found this to be the hardest decision I have had to make, but I know in my heart that it is the best place for us right now. And I miss home every day....I won't lie and say that I don't and that I am happier here...But don't get me wrong, I am happy and have made really, really good and special friends here who I love dearly....but there is just no place like "home". (Can you see why I say my emotions are torn!!??) I wish I could mention all of you by name and tell you what is so special about you and why I miss you, but just know friends, that I do think of you all daily and wish staying in contact was easier, but I do know that we are all busy and life does go on. When you think of me, please drop me a hello on whatsapp! I so love hearing from you all and love hearing any news of what is going on back home. Even little titbits keep me going!!!
Love to you all.........until next time!
