Teacher's Birthday!

Maddie and her teacher - Ma'am Loraine

It was Maddie's teachers birthday today and also the last day of school before holiday (or as we would call it - Spring Break). Instead of school today the teacher took the kids down the road to Plantland to see the flowers, fish and birds and then ended the morning with ice cream. I invited myself along on the trip to take pictures and to get to know the teacher a little better. (One perk of Scott working out of the house - he could watch Alex)

Half of Maddie's class - there are a lot of kids sick (5-7 days) with a really bad flu. Please pray that Maddie does not get it!

The fish aquarium. Little different than the ones back home. There were empty glass fish tanks everywhere on not so stable tables. Definitely did not want one of them to tip over - as you can see in the picture - there was not much room to move around.

Looking at the birds - pretty much just parrots, chickens and ducks. The kids seemed to really enjoy it.

Precious Maddie!

Taking time to play together as a class!

Here is Maddie and a boy named John-Pierce. The teacher says they are always together. He will be moving to Australia at the end of the year. Maddie will miss him.

Eating ice cream!!

It was a great morning! Scott and I are planning a vacation to the east coast for a long weekend. Not sure where yet, but I will keep you all posted!

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and here is a little something extra:

My new haircut

A is for Apple

Since I have so much time on my hands - I decided to do a little "homeschooling" with Alex. HE LOVES IT!! The first words out of his mouth in the morning (6:30am) - "Mom, when are we going to do school?" Now if anyone knows me I am definitely NOT a morning person. So my typical response is - "In a couple hours!" The best part of this whole set up is that when I do not feel like it - I don't have to do it. The problem is then I hear about it all day.

We are doing the alphabet. When we are learning the letter Alex always says - "I know, I know, I know, Mom - this is easy peasy!" We finally got to the letter D for Dinosaur!!

Our wall of Letters - Alex excited about the letter D!

With each letter we do a craft - D is for Dinosaur Diorama - You like it?! Now he has a little scenery for his dinosaurs!

This craft was a mess of a lifetime - We did paper mache alligators (oh course maddie had to do one too) I would not recommend doing this - How come is the bigger the mess the more fun the kids have!

My hat off to all the teachers out there!! - this really is not my cup of tea (and to think I am only teaching one kid). It really has been great to see him learn and having so much fun with it! He is a sweetheart! There is nothing like spending quality time together.

The Champions

What a beautiful fun filled day we had on Saturday!! Maddie was a "Champion" It was a great day for her to have some fun and for Scott and I to meet parents and just have fun with the kids! The day started with a parade of teams for the Soapbox Derby. They paraded around the track holding their team signs and chanting their team cheer.

We had a great time cheering on Maddie and her team in the races! They would compete against another class. The smiles on the kids faces were priceless. They all had a turn to race around the track. They would either drive or push the derby car. We are proud to announce that Maddie's team won all their races!!

Maddie's Team - The Champions

Watching her teammates

Maddie rounding corner #1

She was a natural driver - I would be smashing into the tires
Maddie was super fast at pushing!

Alex watching - wanting to have a turn

At the end of one of the races it did not take long for Alex to jump in the track to take a turn!

In between races they had games and activities for the kids. Scott and I volunteered to work at a few different booths taking tickets and filling orders at the "Tea Garden"

Anger management Booth:
Alex and Maddie hitting a car with a sledge hammer - (there were words painted on the car like lying, swearing, lazing, cheating, bullying etc.)

Alex and Maddie helping Dad take tickets at one of the booths

Alex and Maddie went to the "gift shop" and this is what they won - Alex a clock and Maddie a mouse stuffed animal. The "gifts" were white elephant gifts that parents dropped off during the week. The kids went fishing for a number and what ever gift was displayed behind that number they won. Alex has been taking his clock everywhere and makes sure to let me know what time it is. He even let us know that we were running late for church! Maddie's "gift" needs a bath and then I am not even sure it will "survive" in the house.

They had the tallest blow up slide!! But beware of the burns on your skin on the way down!!Alex, Scott, and Maddie

The highlight for Alex was the horse rides! What a smile and enjoyment on his face!! Maddie also enjoyed it.
At the end of the day (which was a LONG day 8:00am - 4:00pm) we stayed for Potjiekos (poy-kee-kawse) - food prepared in a pot kind of like a stew. It is a South Africa prepared meal. The preparing of a potjie meal I found out is an individual thing with every cook experimenting to come up with the "perfect" potjie, I also learned it is a very serious competition on who can make the best!! You do not mess with their pots. It was awesome food!!
The judges making their decision which one was the best - Lamb, chicken, Biltong, Ox-tail, and beef. Oh and note the women with the sash is a finalist of Miss South Africa!! One of the teams preparing their potjie
I had creamed chicken - I was not too daring in trying the others. I really need to step out comfort zone and try more types of food.

Dirty from head to toe!! The end of the day!! Maddie is holding up a little sign saying "Thank you for your support" Thank you to all of you who donated - Maddie had a great time and fun racing with her team!!

JUST HAVING FUN

Summer: Over much of South Africa, summer (mid-October to mid-February) is characterised by hot, sunny weather - often with afternoon thunderstorms that clear quickly, leaving a warm, earthy, uniquely African smell in the air. Summer is coming and it is nicely warming up here. The kids are anxious to go swimming!! I was told to wait until the first rainfall (it has only rained once since we have been here). So we headed for the back yard for some sprinkler fun (Hiding our fun so the neighbors don't think we are crazy!!)This Saturday - Maddie has her Soapbox Derby Fundraiser at school. She is so excited. She was able to raise enough money to purchase parts for 3 cars!! (because of all her fundraising she also won a free dinner to one of the local restraunts here!!) Thank you to all of you that donated. She really thought that was special. I will be sure to post pictures of the fun event!!

Writing Lines!!

Do you remember when you were young and your parents had you write lines for a punishment. Well, I did it to Maddie. I have been frustrated with Maddie hitting me - so as I was thinking what I could do to make an impact (because obviously what I was doing was not working), this little light went off in my head - LINES. Since it was her first time writing lines I went easy on her. She only had to write 30. It took her about 30 min. I remember writing at least 100 - I will obey my parents, I will not hit, I will listen, and if that didn't work we would have to get out the good ol Encyclopedia and copy a page.

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Not sure on the impact I left on her, but she was in her room for 30 min. After she was done she was quite proud of herself! Was this the result I was going for??? Was it too much fun for her???

GOD ANSWERS PRAYERS

Here is just a little update on how awesome our God is. Just when you think you are doubting if God hears your prayers, he shows you that he is here and in control.

We have found a church that we really like!! Eastside Community Church. Wow - what a welcoming church with a lot of young families with lots of kids. I have been reading the newspaper and I came across two articles on this church. All on how much outreach it does to the community. One article was about how they had a Bible Club during the "holiday" and over 500 kids attended. That is amazing. And the other article was how they are currently doing the Bible study Purpose Driven Life. Scott and I decided to check it out. We placed the kids in the childrens program and Maddie really took to the teachers. After church they invited us to tea, but not before they introduced us to the pastor and other members of the church. It was a great feeling to be talking to fellow believers. We also signed up for their bible study groups that meet during the week. They do not currently have a girls club so I am excited to introduce it to the pastor. He is very involved in the community and loves to outreach. SO GEMS here we come!!!

The second answer to prayer is I have found a doctor for Maddie and Alex. We have been struggling on how to go about finding a doctor for the kids. I have gotten to know one of the other moms at Maddie's school and she recommended her doctor. She did tell me that it could take 4 weeks to get an appointment (this really did not surprise me because that is how long it takes to do anything here). I was worried about waiting that long to get Maddie into a doctor for her ears. But, God is good - I called and I was able to get and appointment two days later. YES!! So, I took Maddie and Alex to the doctor on Friday - Scott had some training so I had to go by myself - Little Anxiety driving where I have never driven before!! The doctor said that Maddie has Eczema in her ears. Not sure I agree, but we are going to try what he recommends. He did say that if it does not work or feel better in 7 days he would refer me to an ENT. So good news and we are now just waiting to see if the new cream works. Thank you for your prayers it is so good to have a doctor to go to now for the kids. I am very happy.

We can also see God's hand in the business end for Scott as well - Here is his update:

Here are the two newest members to Innotec Construction Technologies. Nkhensani Chauke and the Bakkie. Nkhensani has been a friend of fellow Innotec folks for quite a few years. He is a great Christian man who is very driven to get things done. He has a degree in Corporate Finance so he will be a great addition as finance details are not my favorite thing in the world. The Bakkie (little truck) is a vehicle that was purchased for him to use to get around. These are extremely common here and are rated for 1/2 ton, which we don't plan on testing.

When we need it, we will purchase a 1.3 ton Bakkie like the one above, for handling large loads.

Business itself has been a little slow. Applying for accounts here is difficult and slow. It has taken quite a bit of effort to get bank accounts set up. We are now in the process of applying for permission from the exhange control here in SA to let us receive loans from Innotec to do business. This process can take up to 8 weeks. I also have to be here for 3 months b/f I will be able to get a cell phone contract. They need local bank accounts data for 3 moths to give contracts, the problem is that they will then deny me b/c my work visa will run out b/f the cell contract does. It's little things like this that drive me nuts! I hope they will let me set it up through the business once we have 3 mths of statements to show.

We will be buying a block making machine in the next week. It has a 6 week lead time which means we have that long to get a block yard set up. That, along with meeting with developers, will be our focus over the next month. We pray that the location for the block yard will be clear to us and that we can find some new developers to work with.

The development that we are looking forward to working in has been delayed a few months by government approvals. We are not surprised but are dissapointed at the delay.

So, things are moving forward but at a pace that is slower than I would like. We trust God will keep things moving and will give us direction.

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