Kruger

KRUGER NATIONAL PARK

Last weekend we were invited to go with our neighbors to Kruger National Park. What an experience!

What amazing sites and picture perfect moments. I felt as if we were part of a National Geographic Safari! We saw plenty of elephants, baboons, impala, kudu, buffalo, giraffes, and little animals like lizards and monkeys. It was just weird to be driving and there in front or behind you were these wild animals living in thier own habitat and at any moment can charge the vehicle or can be attacked by a lion or cheetah. We drove for about 7 hours total through the park and we only saw only 1/16th of the park or less. We did not see any rinos, lions, cheetahs, hyena etc, but the rush of the possibility kept you looking for more. Scott even purchased some binoculars at one of the camps in the park. It is a big game park - so beautiful and so exciting! We will definitely be back to safari some more. It is amazing to see God's creatures in the wild and not at the zoo!! AMAZING!!! Here are some of our pictures of our exciting weekend:

Kudu

A Kudu deciding to stop traffic. In the car next to the Kudu is another couple we went with.

Impala fighting

Baboon and her young.

Chillin' out in a tree

Giraffe

Herd of elephants - Look at all the little ones!

Alex, Maddie and Elzette in front of an elephant skull

Buffalo

Here is a video I found while researching Kruger Park. I guess you never know what you might see there. (You may want to watch it first before you let your kids watch)

When I was taking a picture of the buffalo, little to my knowledge this lizard was nestled in a broken tree branch about eye level to me. I turned my head and boom there he was!

At one of the camps in Kruger - notice all the bats hanging over Alex's head!

Maddie and Elzette. They have become very close friends.

Eating Breakfast in the morning

At dinner with the group! What great company!

Gotta love this picture! Scott ordered a rump steak that you cook yourself!

Alex had enough and slept the night away on the bench behind us!

I know I always put pictures of the scenery of our trips - but it is simply breathtaking (these pictures do not do it justice). Kruger is 3 hours from our house and the drive is spectacular!! On the way there it was dark so we did not see any of this - then on the way home we were just taken back by the sights.

BEAUTIFUL! Here is an amateur video of our drive.

http://s221.photobucket.com/albums/dd12/lialeenstra/?action=view&current=krueger032.flv

Ending our weekend with the sunset. Do not let the sunset on your day without giving thanks to God for all the wonderful blessings he has given you!! What a wonderful Creator we serve!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

Thanksgiving is a time

of gratitude to God, our Creator and Provider,

whose guidance and care go before us...

and whose love is with us forever.

Thanksgiving is a time

to reflect on the changes, to remember that we, too, grow and change

from one season of life to another.

Let us remember the true meaning of Thanksgiving.

Let us acknowledge the many blessings which are ours...

let us think of our families and friends..

and let us give thanks in our hearts.

~~Author Unknown~~

We are thinking of all of you on this Thanksgiving Day, wishing we could be there!

We have so much to be thankful for and God has blessed us so much!

We are especially thankful for all of you!

For all your prayers, support and

encouragement over the last few months.

You truly are blessings from God!

GOD IS GOOD!

WE LOVE YOU!

Update from Scott

Everyone wants to know how the business is going. So, here it is.

Setting the business up has been a major struggle. Since the day that I have arrived, we have been trying to get the business registered with SARS (South African Revenue Service). It has been a long process that is still a struggle. The accounting firm that we are working with has stuggled with getting documents to them and SARS has managed to lose documents as well. We hope that by the end of this week SARS will have all the documents they need as long as they don’t get lost again.

For the past 2 months we have been working on getting a location to set up our block yard at. Our first location was a good spot but the owners could not agree with each other where we should be. After 3 weeks of trying to meet with them and get a contract set up we decided to look elsewere. As we were looking for a good supplier of sand, we decided to ask if they had a spot for us to set up. They felt confident that they could accommodate us but wanted to discuss it with all the parties involved. The next week they gave us the go ahead. This was a great opportunity because it meant that we didn’t have to spend money to ship the sand to our block yard (25% material cost saving), they had power and water available so we didn’t have to pay for the cost of installing a power drop and drilling a well, there is 24 hour security on the site, and we didn’t have to purchase a fork truck because they have one that we could use. This sounded great so we had our equipement sent to the site, bought all the necessary stuff to power up the machine and hook into their water system. Today we received a call from the sand quarry that we can no longer put our block yard there. Apparently they had a verbal agreement with their biggest customer that no one could set up a block yard on their sand quarry site or the customer would buy sand from someone else.

We have other options for a block yard, but this means we have to start over again with getting things set up. We will more than likely need to pay a bunch of money to get power to the site, get water, buy a forktruck, and also build a building with bathrooms and showers. We have been to 12 meetings in the past 3 weeks at possible block yard sites where the people don’t show up because “something else” came up. Which we would understand if they would at least call and cancel, but we have driven out to the site (20-30 minutes) and arrive to meet with no one. So 1 hour round trip x 12 meetings is a bunch of wasted time.

Sales have been slow. We are quoting a large church and are excited about getting that business. We are also still planning on doing a bunch of security walling for a large development. Both of these projects will probably start February of next year. This is probably good seeing as we don’t have a place to manufacture our blocks yet.

Our truck has been in for repairs twice in the past month, so we are doing a good job at spending money that we are not yet making. J The good thing is that Khensani hasn’t quit yet and we are still positive (most of the time) that we will get this thing going. We are learning patience and how to deal with set backs. Pray that things turn around and we can get things moving forward soon.

Check out our flyer!! (just click the picture to make it larger)

Library Days!!

The Library!! What a great place!! Because we were limited in how many books and toys we brought from home to South Africa, we have been utilizing the library and the toy library! You might be asking A TOY LIBRARY? Yes, and it is great!! The kids are able to check out 3 toys and use them for 2 weeks. You then have to make sure you have all the pieces and then you return it in clean condition. HOW GREAT IS THAT!! Some may say GROSS, but think about all the toys you have a home that after two weeks never get played with again. This way the kids have "new" toys - they have a blast playing with them and then they go back and pick new ones.

Some examples of toys would be - Any type of Baby toy you can imagine, games, computer games, videos, educational toys (we have been getting a lot of these), whole kitchen sets, trampolines, barbies and tons of accessories, spiderman, cars with floor mats, puzzles, swings, outdoor games, legos/blocks, dress up, and the list goes on and on. The only draw back is spending an hour before you have to return them to make sure you have all 100 flash cards, or all the silverware in the kitchen set, oh and this one was fun looking for all the little, micro barbie accessories. I have learned that the smaller pieces I keep in a discreet location so the kids do not play with it. Anyway, the kids love it and are excited to play with new stuff every other week.

The pick of the week!

Checking out a handful of books - THEY LOVE IT




Next Post to Come:

Update on Scott's Work

Going Green

Plastic Grocery Bags - We all have a stash somewhere right? Well what if you had to pay for them at the stores you shop at? Would you purchase them? Here we pay about 5 - 7 cents a bag anywhere you go (grocery store, pharmacy, department stores). I know it is not much, but it is the issue of having to purchase them that bugs me. You see in 2003 the plastic bag was joked as being the "national flower" here in South Africa. You see them everywhere!! I understand the concept and the issue of a better environment and since plastic bags are breeding grounds for cockroaches - I went Green and bought the reusable grocery bags! It is incredible how much fits inside these bags.

Here are some other uses for plastic grocery bags for all of you who have a huge stash in your pantry!!

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A great mitt for things you don't want to touch, like picking up after your dog, yucky cat litter and yes even to fish out the toy or money that the kids dropped into the toilet (you know you have to get it out or the tears will keep coming!)

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Shoe Covers, you know when you come in from the mud and you don't want to track it all over your house.

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Poop bags/Dirty Diaper Disposal - especially when your kid had a "BIG" one.

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Travel - wet bathing suits, dirty shoes, dirty laundry bag

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An Everything Stuffer Bag - take home projects from school in, return items that were left behind at your house (my mom does this and writes our name on the bag).

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Re-use in the wastebasket in the bathroom.

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Lunch bags.

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A Pick It up Bag - tie one to the handle of your vacuum and all the items that you find while you are vacuuming (paperclips, legos, my little pony hairbrush, Polly pocket) can be saved!

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Leak prevention in your frig - wrap up meat so there is no spills

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Sink liner - egg peeling, husks from the corn, etc.

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And last you can always reuse them as a grocery bag!!

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Some of these I am still thinking yes you are reusing the bags, but aren't they still going to end up in the trash?

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WHAT DO YOU DO WITH YOUR PLASTIC BAGS?!?