AND TIME IS FLYING BY

As I figured out how much time we had left before our official date of departure, I typed it in 3 times because I thought it was wrong. Then as I came to reality - I can not believe how fast the day is approaching. It seems like just yesterday we found out we had this great oppurtunity to follow a different path that God has put in our lives. As I am typing this the tears keep coming. I had no idea what an emotional rollercoaster this would all be. I am torn between the excitment of moving and doing what we feel is right and the extreme pain and sadness of leaving all the dear family and friends behind. I know it will be OK. I am always thankful for the wonderful people God has put in my life to love.

Other information: HUGE MOVING SALE AT MY HOUSE MAY 11 and 12 &

I have changed the settings on my blog so anyone can comment (sorry about that while I was gone - I am new to this blogging world.)

AND THE TRIP COMES TO AN END

AFRICA

SOUTH AFRICA

THE GATED, SECURITY, DEVELOPMENT


THE NEW HOUSE

And so our trip comes to an end - It is offical - The owner of the house will be here at Seattle Coffee in 20 minutes to sign a 1 year lease on the house. AHHH We also think we have narrowed down a school to Charis Christian School. (Click on the Ministries tab and then School) It is 10 minutes from the house. The wierd thing is it is almost like driving from our house to Dutton Christian, but only a much busier road.


Becasuse our day ended early and of course the sun decided to NOT come out today - we all went bowling and if you look closly LOOK WHO BEAT THE TWO BOYS - Great Game



Scott and Darin have a couple meetings tomorrow (Thursday) and then off to the airport to come home to our loving family and friends. I am so ready to come home. I am also excited that God truly has blessed our trip and guided us to the right places and people we were meant to meet. I am so at peace and excited (yet sad) to start our new adventure as a family. ALL I CAN SAY - WE WILL HAVE A SPARE ROOM TO WELCOME ALL OF YOU!!!

HERE ARE A FEW THANKS:


Special thanks to Darin Fey who traveled with us and helped us find our way around. It was a huge help to Scott and I.


Special THANKS to ALL the Seattle Coffees for allowing us to sit at their tables (even if we didn't order coffee) to use the internet.




THESE ARE PICTURES FOR MADDIE AND ALEX TO SEE THE PARK/CLUBHOUSE/POOL


In ground Trampoline and the pool is behind the fence


Tennis Courts


WELL, UNTIL WE GET HOME - CHEERS FROM SOUTH AFRICA

IS THIS THE HOUSE?

Impala we saw while eating breakfast

A Women selling smoked corn on the side of the road

Scott, Darin and Quitin looking at a Hydraform House

Yesterday was a blur – I am still waiting for my day of rest. Scott and Darin and I spent a lot of time with a guy named Quintin from Hydraform. (The block building company that is helping Scott). We drove around looking at different houses and fences built by Hydraform brick. Boring to me, but definitely worth while for Scott.

IS THIS THE HOUSE?

We are quite exhausted looking at houses and schools, but all of it is paying off :) We feel this may be the house. Looking for the right house has not been so easy. I was in tears (OK I really cried) – It seems that everyone has an opinion on what areas are safe. Scott and I are having a hard time with this Silver Lakes subdivision (this is where our realtor told us was the safest area )but we came across two issues– 1.) Out of our price range and 2) when we tell people where we are looking for houses they are getting the wrong perception of us Americans. The houses in Silver Lakes run from $1,500 a month to almost $7,000. Scott and I feel that we do not need to portray to his employees and to the people we are in contact with that we are the rich white Americans. We then were walking through the mall and came across another realtor and I stated we should call. She was so excited that she came across a new listing not even on the market yet that she would love to show us - and we were greatly surprised. GOD IS GOOD. We really like it - It is in a safe community - the school is nearby - has a great park and pool for the kids, and just what we had in our head. WHAT A GOOD FEELING. We still looked at other houses today, but they were either not safe, too big, too old, or out of our price range. Let me know what you think?

BACK OF HOUSE

The Top balcony is part of the master suite

INSIDE (Don't mind all the random people in picture)

One of the bedrooms

Looking out of the top balcony

The street inside the secured gated subdivision (the park is across the street with the club house)

We are also learning more about the schools. The one we were thinking of we are coming to find out that the Primary (Grade 1 – 12) is a public school and you need to live in the area. We then visited the school while they were in session and the lady told us of the christain school that a lot of these kids go to instead of the public school. We then checked that school out - Tindley Park - GREAT SCHOOL, Very Friendly, AGAIN ANOTHER GREAT FEELING. There are also 2 Other christain schools that we are looking at (You can never investigate enough to be sure) Hatsfield - No openings unless maddie can test into Grade 1 - and the last school we will visit in the morning.

WHAT A GREAT RELIEF ON EMOTIONS - UP _ DOWN - UP - DOWN. I am sure glad we had a chance to do this now, rather than later.

We really feel that God is truely helping us to check all options, before decisions. He has blessed us with great people that we have been in contact with - VERY HELPFUL.

We are all exhausted. We will be back soon - THANK YOU FOR THE PRAYERS - WE MISS EVERYONE. LOVE YOU

Words
What they say/What we say
Robot /Traffic Light
Boot / Trunk
Boerwors / Sausage
Watch Tower / Jehovah Witness
Garden/ Yard
Chips/ French Fries
Stand/ Lot
Hire/ Rent
Phone/Call
Fetch//Pick up
Pitch / Show up



Miles driven to date: 400 miles
Average Time to Eat a Meal: 1.5 hours
Time Spent in Realtor office listening to 3 women speak Afrikaans: 1 hour
Animal We Saw Today: Bushbok, Impala, Ostrich, Dead Rat, Go Away Birds
Number of trips to Seattle Coffee to update blog and use the internet: 4

HE HAS THE WHOLE WORLD IN HIS HANDS

Status:
Weather – 85 degrees
Drink in Hand – Appletizer
Sermon this morning – 2 ½ hours
People we have meet – 25
Minutes driving around to send blog - 27
Feelings about Africa – Welcomed and excited

Temba Baptist Church – What a wonderful sound this morning hearing kids sing – He’s got the whole world in His hands. How true is that. Even though we are across the world we were still able to worship and sing praise to God. He is here with us and he will always be with us no matter where we are. This mornings sermon was on discipleship and teaching those around us about God’s love. When we start to understand and know God’s Word and we have that close relationship with him, we will be effective in teaching and reaching out to others.

The sermon was in Tswana and translated into English. I even had a young boy sitting next to me translating all the announcements and greetings. There was one part of this morning that stuck out the most. When it comes to praying everyone says there own prayer out loud. So in this one small church about 50 people are shouting their own prayers to God. I sat a listened. It was amazing. It was almost like everyone had to speak louder to have their prayer heard. I was listening to the women next to me as she gave praises to God. She was saying thank you for all she had and that she will give thanks in all circumstances, even the hard ones. This reminded me of our GEMS theme this year – Having a Thankful Heart. We truly are blessed in the U.S. from the churches we worship in – to our families – even the clothes we have. GOD IS GOOD.

Love to all and may God Bless you in all you do this week. Please continue to pray for us as we still have a long week ahead of meetings, house showings, etc.

LONG DAYS

Friday was a long day of driving around looking for a house and a school for Maddie. The house shopping was quite discouraging (not very big yards to play, compact, or out of our price range)yet at the same time very reassuring that we will be safe. The place(sub division called Silver Lakes) that we are looking at has a very secure entry with key codes and spike strips. WOW, never thought I would have to worry about that. We were able to look around at the houses, but we were not able to see the insides on Friday. We are going back on Monday for a 2 hour viewing of houses. I will have pictures then.

If you zoom in you can see the spike strips

Schools were difficult as well. We received some names of schools from the realtor and that is where we started. The first school we went to is completely full and has a two year waiting list. The second school spoke afrikaans. The third school is getting back to us by Monday and the last school we visited was so very nice (small). We found out that Maddie will probably go to Kindergarten again until January, and then to grade 1. From the sounds of it she will be a little advanced. The school is called Lynnwood Ridge Pre-Primary School. It is attached to a Baptist church. It is a Christian, English speaking school. We met a very nice lady who was doing aftercare and she was very helpful. She moved here with her two little kids from Bolgaria. (She volunteers at the school and her kids go there. The pre-primary school consists of 3-4 year olds and 4-6 year olds. 3 classes 20 kids each class. We are going back there on Tuesday morning because school will be in session and we will be able to meet the principal. I will take more pictures then. http://www.lrpschool.co.za/ (this website is for the primary school across the road where maddie will maybe go to grade 1) the younger ones go to the church.

At night on Friday we ended at Tamboti Lodge. Very nice place except for all the spiders. Ok ONE SPIDER - IT WAS HUGE!!! Ok not that huge (scott can verify 2" in diameter), but enough to have me wake up at night a few times at night to make sure it was not on me.

Today, Saturday We went to the orphanage – Tshepo Ya Bana – (Tshepo.org). There are 13 kids there and 4 have HIV. How CUTE!! The older boys Kagiso and Matome and Tshapo were playing hide and seek with me. It was so fun to interact with them. And then all the other little ones were so darn cute. We had a lot of fun with them. We will be going back there tonight for a grill out. Enjoy the pictures.

We then were able to go in town (Temba) to see where Scott will be building houses. This was the place where we were defiantly the minority – Actually I do not think there was another white person for miles. I was going to take pictures, but felt a little uncomfortable. Guess where we ate – KFC – It is huge out here. It definitely was an experience of what it is like outside the city – People everywhere trying to sell anything they can.

FEELING VERY WELCOMED IN TEMBA

We are now at the mall 30 minutes away so I can update the blog. I'll send more pictures on Monday. We hve been very busy driving around and Scott has been doing a lot of business meetings - Overall, I think slowly we are accomplishing a lot.

DAD THIS PICTURE IS FOR YOU - LOOK YOU DO NOT NEED TO BUY ANY MORE WORK TRUCKS - ALL YOU NEED TO DO IS LOAD THEM IN THE BACK!!

WE HAVE ARRIVED

WOW - What a crazy few days - Long Airplane rides, swollen feet, walking in Paris, drinking Pepsi MAX, Seeing the Mona Lisa, Riding the Subway, Cancelled flight to Johannesburg, then delayed flight by 2 hours, Renting a car, Finding our way around Johannesburg, business meeting, and if the exhaustion wasn't enough, we managed to see the night life. We now can say we have witnessed the crazy driving here. Not only are you driving on the wrong side of the road, people go 80 and then stop (or try to stop at the last minute). We witnessed a car being rear ended and then pushed into the car in front of him. And we were the next car in line!!! It was amazing we were not involved.

PARIS - What can I say, but what a beautiful city. The buildings are awesome. Here is some of the highlights of our 5 hour stay.

ARC DE TRIUMPHE

THE STREETS

THE EIFFEL TOWER

EATING AT A CAFE'

THE LOUVRE: We were able to see the MONA LISA, but we could not take pictures of the painting. This Museum was amazing. I only wished we had more time to see the whole thing.

AND WE SAW THESE - PAY TO USE THE TOILETTE!!!

When we rushed back to the airport to catch our flight to Johannesburg-they stated that our flight was canceled, then later stated it would only be delayed by an hour, I think it was more like 2 hours. We arrived here at about 9:30 am Thursday. We then were able to go to a business meeting, and find our way to this cute B&B:

And if we were not tired enough, we traveled to some grocery store, malls etc. I was very surprised on how much it is like just any other big city. Curious to see more outside the city.

ANYWAY - Tomorrow we are planning on going to visit some houses to live in, maybe schools, churches (that is if the realtor can meet us). Scott and Darin have a meeting, so I get to go shopping (ROUGH HUH?). Then we will be traveling to Temba to meet some more contacts (Scott is hoping to build some homes south of there). We will also have the opportunity to visit the orphanage there on Saturday.

MORE TO COME when I have a chance to use the Internet.

MADDIE AND ALEX WE MISS YOU TONS - LOVE YOU ALL

WE ARE LEAVING TODAY

Here we go - We are leaving today for our first trip to South Africa!!! I have not even hauled out a suitcase yet for our 10 day trip - AHHHH. I am realizing what a huge procrastinator I am. It is now 12:19 and We leave for the Airport in 4 1/2 hours. You can keep up to date on our travels - I hope - from this blog. You will have to bear with me - I am totally new to this world of blogging. We are heading for an area outside of Pretoria (see map). We will be looking for a house to live in, check out schools for Maddie, attempting the grocery store - And yes I need to see what their malls are like. Please pray for safe travels and for our kids as they will be staying with the Grandparents. Pray for God's guidance in all of these decisions and that we are able to accomplish what we need to on this trip. LOVE YOU ALL -

Tamboti Lodge

We will be staying here a couple of nights.

B&B Home Away

And here a couple of nights