So you know what it is like in Umhlanga in Dec......when the locals all complain that the "Vaalies" have invaded, and they act like real "kydaars"? (What's a "kydaar" you are now asking - it's those real cool okes who walk around saying "Kydaar pa!  Kydaar pa!......that's in Afrikaans for those of you who got lost!!!!)Ok, so now you can picture the scenario!  It was sort of like that here these last two days, but I think the locals were all complaining about the damn foreigners......yes that's us!!!!

We get a blizzard warning on Wednesday during the day, and we are so excited we can't wait....we just want to see a real snow storm!  By Wednesday evening they are warning people to please be careful, it will be the biggest snow fall in Kansas in history.....oh boy and we get to be part of it!! So Neil heads out to Walmart to get supplies, you know we are new to this.....we might be stuck in without acccess to food and electricity for days!!! (Wishful thinking)Then it hits!!!! by 6am on Thursday morning, school and classes are cancelled, people are warned please not to leave their houses and drive on the roads, but if they absolutely need to, to please take water and food with incase they get stranded in their cars.....and if they do, please do not leave your vehicle, it is unsafe!!!  Woooo, hoooooo and the South Africans are out there like real "Vaalies"!!!!!

 

Acting like a real bunch of "kydaars", but understandably so!!! 

 

Now the fun and games are over, we realise we need to do some serious work otherwise we really will be stuck in the house for days.  By this time the snow is shin deep and rising...............our driveway is on an incline and there is no way we are getting out if we don't shovel the snow.  What happens when the snow starts melting is that it turns to ice overnight as the water freezes as soon as the snow melts.  So you need to .........shovel!!!! Yay!!!!

 

While the boys are all out there working hard, mom is inside doing the real American thing.....baking brownies,  so a tasty reward for a job well done.  So a long day in the house, but wow what an experience.  It snowed again early evening, but then it stopped and Neil decided to go for a drive to see what things looked like........despite the warnings not to......but keep in mind "kydaars"!!!!!! The roads have been ploughed so it should be ok....right????  I get a call 10 minutes later, and what do you know....he made it to Walmart.  There were so many abandoned cars just left on the side of the road where they had slid off the road and got stuck in the snow and now the cars were covered in fresh snow...quite entertaining.

 

But not as entertaining as getting another phone call about 40min later.......Neil was stuck in the snow on the corner of our street, so Nathan and Josh had to kit up and head out to dig Neil out.  What I thought would be quite a tough job turned into a midnight snow ball fight in the garden......"Kydaars"!  No self respecting American is out in the snow at midnight acting like a bunch of fools......damn foreigners!!! 

 

Classes and school get cancelled again Friday because there is just so much snow around that many roads have not been ploughed yet and parking space etc has not been cleared.  Oh were we devastated?......Nope, these kydaars are back in the snow......until Josh ruined it!  He bled all over the snow that we had to come inside again.......

 

 

The spade slipped on the snow and he got hit on the side of his nose.....thankfully it was just his nose and not his eye.  Bled like crazy but it is not broken or anything....just put a damper on our snow games.  So we decided to head out and drive around to see what it looks like when it has snowed so much.....this is new to us remember!!!

Oh it really is beautiful.  No post card can really capture what it looks like in reality.  Everything is just so clean and quiet. Felt like it should have been Christmas.  We then spent the afternoon sledding....it really was fun.

It was really good to have these 2 days off unexpectedly.  We are loving what we are doing but it does get really busy, the schedule is really hectic and we feel quite exhausted some times, but it's a good tired!  We are settled into a routine here and the days are going by really quickly.  My mom and Karen are coming to stay in June, which is really exciting.  Please feel free to contact Tracy (0829492173) to organise to send me care parcels of South African goodies.  She will arrange for my mom to bring it with her!!!!!!!!While they are here Karen is taking us to a County Concert.....so I thought I should try out my outfit.......

 

Neil and I both passed our drivers licences.  It was so nerve wrecking doing that all over again.  Felt like a teenager again.  I had a blonde bombshell officer take me for the driving part of my test.....she was really intimidating!  And I must just add in here that I kicked Neil's butt in the written test.....my guessing skills are clearly better than his!!!!

 

Thank you so much to all my friends that are keeping me updated and in the loop of what is happening back home.  You make me feel special and remembered,  To those of you who have still not contacted me.....I hope you feel guilty now!!!! I may be out of sight but I certainly do not like to be out of mind.  Love you all and miss you all a lot.

 

 

 

 

Birthdays.........do we ever outgrow the excitement of being loved and spoiled on our birthday? Well, I don't!!!!!  I love my birthday. No change on that this year, was so excited and once again, I was extremely loved and spoiled by my "boys"! Not so blown away by the huge gift left on my forehead overnight by the pimple fairy though. I mean seriously, I didn't think she visited anyone at my age anymore!!!!

Wow, it also kind of seems that a Tornado came through in the night!  I've got quite a fringe going on there....oh well, getting closer to 40 really stinks!!!!

We had a really busy day on Friday and went to church in the evening, so Neil took us out for dinner on Saturday night.  We went to a Barbeque Restaurant (steakhouse) which was really amazing - called Jack Stack!  Waited in a queue for 45min but really worth it.........not so sure if the chest pains we experienced when the bill arrived was from overindulging or shock...but hey, it's only your birthday once a year and there's no Jack Stack back home!!!!

 

Have had some really beautiful days here, even though it is the middle of winter.  Makes me look forward to a nice hot summer.  This was Monday, 28 Jan....it got to 22*C and as you can see the boys were so excited to put on summery clothes....Ben of course couldn't wait to take some clothes off.  What an awesome winter day!

And ....................... this is Wednesday, 30 Jan.....absolutely crazy.  Two days ago we were ready to unpack our swim trunks (very American terminology) and head off to the beach!  Now we are looking for our skiing clothes and as many layers as possible to keep warm.  Very confusing????  So one extreme to the other.....to say the least.

 

We have a life group which meets every Wednesday night for supper.  It is a group that we are assigned to at the start of our course. Much like a cell group or fellowship group where you get together and talk about what's going on while you here doing the course, or about your life before coming here etc. We talk about our experiences here and discuss prayer needs and our walk with God. We have a really awesome group varying in age from 26 to 66..... really good people.  We enjoy each others company so much after only such a short time, and have some really good laughs together.  All our group discussions get done in these groups and we do our service assignments together, so really getting to know each other well.  Wow, some really amazing life stories.  We also do a Revelation quiz on a Friday in our groups.  It is fun way of making us learn Revelations, and they run it like the TV game show - Jeopardy.  It's quite exciting, and I am proud to say that our group won last Friday!!!!!! 

 

And so the big 4........0 .....rolled on for Neil!  He's not a big birthday person, not like me!!!  He likes it but it's not really such a big deal!!!!!Or maybe he was just trying to pretend it wasn't happening this year! Hmmm, not sure, but he had a really good day.  It was our day off on Monday, so he spent his birthday vacuuming the house while talking to the so many people who called him on the phone.  I really wish I had taken a picture of that for you all to see.  Quite something....but hey, all the boys are becoming quite domesticated......

 

 To celebrate Neil's coming of........AGE........We went to a Mexican Restaurant for dinner with our group ........ yes friends, I tried to eat Mexican food...... you would be so proud of me!!!!!  Quite something, they let us bring our own cake into the restaurant for dessert.  As a gift from the group, Neil got about 8 bottles of the hottest chilli sauces that America has to offer!!  Neil made the mistake of egging them at one of the group sessions saying that he could not find a HOT sauce in the States, that they were all rather mild.  So now he has plenty to get through.....although he hasn't tasted them all yet, he still hasn't found one that really takes your breath away.

 

 Nathan and Joshua finally got brave enough to let me cut their hair.  After finding out that it would cost R250 minimum each.......we bought a set of clippers and hey, what do you know......I am now a hairdresser.  I must say, I think I did well for my first attempt (Will not post photos until they have recovered!!!!)  Ben still not letting me though.  I told him yesterday his hair was getting so long that I would need to clip it out of his eyes soon or tie it up......his response: "Oh that's fine, then I will look like a girl....I want to look like a girl."  How can I argue with that?

 

So excited that my mom and sister are definately coming to visit in June.  Am really looking forward to it.  I am sending huge shopping lists home for groceries to be brought with.....I'm telling you there is a market here for a lot of our food stuffs!  I bet none of you think you will miss Mealie Meal......but just wait until you cannot have it!  I wish Joyce was here to make me "Krummel Pap"!

 

Missing you all very much.  Please keep us up to date with what's happening back home.  We get so excited to hear news from anyone, so even if it is a few lines, let us know how you are and what you are up to.......Facebook is our only source of information about what's going on! We are on Skype, Whatsapp and Email.  Look forward to ALL the news!

 

Lots of love