HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALEX

ALEX TURNED 4 TODAY!!

It is hard to believe that Alex is now 4. Where has my little boy gone! Weighing in at birth at 9 lbs 15oz - he continues to grow everyday. What a sweet little boy. He has been waiting for his birthday for weeks now and is already talking about his next birthday.

What a fun filled day we had! It started with church this morning and then we meet our neighbors for a movie. Alex and Maddie have really taken to the neighbor kids. Alex was sad to not have cousins to help celebrate his birthday so I thought it would be great to invite his new found friend, Emile. He is 12 years old and Alex adores him. They have already come up with a secret hand shake!! We all went to the movie Ratatouille. (What was really neat is one of the rats in the movie had the name Emile).

Elzette, Alex, Emile, and Maddie excited to watch the movie.

Our neighbors - Etienne, Emile, Elsabe

(It has been great getting to know the neighbors!)

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After the movie our family went to a local restaurant (Spurs) to open presents and play!

Alex waiting patiently to open his presents (a golf set, legos, and matchbox car race track)

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Alex and Maddie had their faces painted - Of course Alex picked spiderman!!

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Riding a miniature ferris wheel at the restaurant
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All throughout the week Alex received packages from home! The mailbox was a hotspot!! The first card to arrive was from Ben and Laura Lappenga in Seattle (Laura you are so great at that!). He carried that card everywhere and showed everyone we meet in the mall!!

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Then Grandma and Grandpa Leenstra sent a package.

Thank you Grandma and Grandpa!!

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Alex trying on his new safari shirt (this picture is for you Grandpa!!)

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Later in the week a package from Grandma and Grandpa Dieleman:

Can you tell they love the anticipation of seeing what is inside?!?

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Alex was so excited - Spiderman PJ's

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We also received a gift from Aunt Jen, Uncle Greg, Jacob and Aiden. Foam castles to put together! It was great to see the kids creativity. It took them about an hour to put together their masterpieces!!

Very proud of their designs!!

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I would just like to take a moment to say thank you to everyone who has sent love from home!! It is great to check our mailbox and have such love and encouraging words from friends and family. Thank you also for all the emails too!! We are truly blessed! I do not know what we would do without all your support and love. There were days that were very lonely and sad and then I would go to the mailbox and a friend from church or a family member just sent a beautiful card with a bookmark and encouraging words! It always seems to come at the right moment! God sure has blessed us! He knows what we need to help us get through our ups and downs.

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Anyway - about Alex - what a joy it is to have him around - he defiantly has a sense of humor that can put a smile on your face no matter what mood you are in. He is full of love and kindness. If he isn't giving out compliments he is making a funny face or joke to make someone laugh!!

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Here are a few of his latest sayings:

"Mom, I have never seen God."

"Well you know he lives in your heart right?"

"I don't see him in my heart, but I can feel him pushing in my tummy!!"

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"How do pigs write?" "With pig pens!"

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"Mom, I love you as high as the heavens with Jesus and Peter, around the moon, to the bottom of the ocean, and back again"

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"that's easy peasy!!"

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We are happy to see that Alex is adjusting well here - yet he talks about going home and can not wait until Christmas. I pray that God continues to bless Alex! He is healthy and happy and a joy in our lives. May he continue to love learning and keep his carefree joking spirit! We love you tons Alex!! You are truly a gift from above! HAPPY BIRTHDAY
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We would also like to say happy birthday to those who also have celebrated a birthday lately - Aunt Katie, Uncle Johnny, Aunt Sonny, Arianna, Grandpa Leenstra, Aiden and coming up Jessica. May your birthdays be special and filled with love!! May God bless you!

OUR TRIP TO THE EAST COAST

THE DRIVE

The drive to the coast was about 6 1/2 hours. What a beautiful drive! Mountains all around. The weather seemed to get colder as we headed further east. Very overcast. Not the weather we were hoping for.

A big section of our drive consisted of trees that were being logged. The only problem with that drive is we were stuck behind a lot of logging trucks. We soon learned the ways of the road. The logging truck would slowly go to the side - we would pass (hoping to not get hit by on coming traffic) and then we would put on our hazards as a thank you and they would high beam us back. We did this oh I would say at least 15 times.

We saw a lot of sugar cane fields.

Oh the joys of a long car rides! Snacks - Movies - Toys - More Snacks - Alex glued to the DVD - Maddie "sleeping" The best was listening to the kids conversations and questions:

"Are we there yet?"

"How many more minutes?"

"I'm Hungry!"

"I'm still hungry!"

"Alex tell your T-rex to stop he is going to kill my horse!"

"Alex pretend ......."

"Maddie you say this and I will say that"

"Stop copying me!"

"MOM"

Overall the driving went very well. Our first stop was St. Lucia. This place kind of reminded me of Mackinaw Island - shops on one side with hotels/B&B's and the ocean on another side. Of course the first thing we did was head to the Indian Ocean.

ST LUCIA

Scott and Maddie rushing to test the water. Maddie also started to spot what every kid loves on the beach - SHELLS!!

Alex skipping stones on one of the channels of the Mkuzi River that runs into the Indian Ocean

Maddie comparing her shells with the ones on the chart.

The sign at the beach - we did not see any crocs there, but we did see a hippo in the water.

One of our B&Bs we stayed at. VERY NICE

HIPPO AND CROC CRUISE

On Thursday morning we got up early to go on a boat safari for Hippos and Crocs. It was windy and cold, but very worth the ride.

Setting off into the channels.

Alex bundling up.

Our first Hippo sighting

A clump of hippos in the water - the baby hippos would lay on top.

Holding a Hippo tooth!!! The kids were amazed!!

The Crocs!!

We then started our trip to Cape Vidal. Along the way we passed Mission Rocks

MISSION ROCKS

Beautiful Maddie!

Alex and Maddie sitting for a picture!

Alex and his current smile! He is growing so much - He will be 4 in a few days!!

The path going down to the rocks!

CAPE VIDAL

Well we arrived at Cape Vidal to go to the beach and it was too windy to stay long. The wind would whip the sand on your legs - very prickly. Alex was freaking out. Maddie just laughed and walked the beach (almost blowing away!!)

On our way back to our B&B we toured the animal trails. Here are some of the animals we saw along the rode. I think we counted a total of 19 different animals.

DURBAN

What can I say about Durban other than it is a place we will most likely never visit again. On our way from St. Lucia to Durban we say many beautiful cities and beaches. Then we arrived in Durban, we did not feel very warm or welcomed. We went to our hotel and checked in. That is where I took these pictures:

Everyone seemed to have a space on the sidewalk between the ocean and the hotel to sell something.

We then decided to go an experience the beach. We packed our backpack with swimmies, frisbee, money and Scott's blood sugar tester and off we went.

Busy beach

Scott started building sand castle with the kids, while I relaxed on the beach (and keeping close watch on our stuff). Scott just put his insulin pump in the backpack.

The kids were running from the waves so I decided to stand up and step off the beach towel to take this picture. As I took this picture someone stole Scott's backpack!! His insulin pump, wallet, cell phone, the kids cover up clothes (Maddie's pretty white dress), swimmies and some other odds and ends (totaling about $6000.00) gone!!!!!

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Scott ran down the beach looking for anything, but nothing - he went to the police and they told him there was nothing they could do and sent him on his way.

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I started freaking out because I realize how close this person was to me when they took the backpack and I also realized that Scott now had no insulin pump for his diabetes!!

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So we grabbed what was left of our stuff and went back to the Hotel. We spent the next couple hours canceling credit cards and trying to get medicine for Scott! He did get another blood sugar tester and some needles to carry him over until another pump can be purchased. He now gives himself about 6 shots a day. It is going to cost about $3000 to $6000 for a new insulin pump. The part that makes scott the most mad is that whoever took it probably just threw the pump away because they did not know what it was - SO SAD!!

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Needless to say we had a whole day left in Durban - we spent a lot of time in the hotel. Then on Saturday we went to Ushaka Marine Park and Wet N Wild. (the kids were looking forward to this the whole trip) I do not have many pictures due to the fact I kept my camera hidden for most of the day.

USHAKA MARINE PARK - WET N WILD

Alex and Maddie in front of many fish tanks


Watching a dolphin show

Well we saw a lot, lost a lot, and learned a lot!!! It really was a great trip and the kids had a great time. We asked them what their favorite part was and they both responded "Everything we did was our favorite part!" God sure is good to watch over us and we are grateful that nothing worse happened on our trip.

It was great to finally drive home on Sunday. We saw more of God's great creations. What awesome scenery!!

Watching the storms come in! It has not rained here since we have arrived in July, so it was nice to see the rain come.

Lessons In Lizard Care

So a few weeks ago, I caught a baby lizard for the kids. We see them everyday on the walls around our home baking in the sun. We found this little guy in our garage and decided to keep him as a pet. Since this was not a planned capture, we first kept him on the kitchen window sill in some of Lia’s Tupperware. He seemed very happy in his new home where the kids put rocks, grass, water and bugs in there for him to eat. Lia did make it clear however that Lizzy the Lizard needed an new location and a new home.

A couple of days later, we went out and bought Lizzy a very nice new condo. It was much nicer than his old home, much larger than he needed, but we hoped he would be able to grow into the new home.

Well, he did fine for the first couple days eating bugs and laying in the sun. Unfortunately, something went horribly wrong a few days ago. Lizzy the Lizard actually BAKED in the sun. She was fine in the morning eating her ants and then later in the evening, she looked like this: A dried out crispy version of her old self.

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WARNING!! THE FOLLOWING PICTURE MAY NOT BE SUITABLE FOR THOSE WITH A WEAK CONSTITUTION OR SMALL CHILDREN WHO LOVE LIZARDS.

What have we learned?
· Baby lizards should not be kept in direct sunlight for an entire day when the temperature is above 90 degrees.
· A full glass lizard cage can cook a baby lizard in one afternoon even though it has vents in the top.
· Lizards shrink to ½ their size after a full day in the sun in a glass cage.
· We should not have tried to take care of a baby lizard without large lizard care experience.
· We will try an adult lizard next and probably not keep it in the sun the entire day.
· Maddie says that the lizards need some shade during the day the next time we catch one.
· We are much better at taking care of cats than Lizards (Here is a picture of Sylvester who we have managed to keep alive for 2 months now).

9th Anniversary

Hey Scott I need a card first to be able to exchange it!! - Oh Yes Scott did it again - He forgot!

Anyway - Wow nine years and look how far we have come!! God has blessed our marriage!! Scott is a great husband and a wonderful dad. Who would have thought that God would call us to move to South Africa. What an experience!!

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Scott and I have taken this time here to REALLY get to know eachother all over again (this is the most time we have spent together) - the likes - walks to the park, playing tennis together (we both are not very good), taking weekend trips (we love seeing Africa), and just vegging out in our back yard having a braai (BBQ)!! and then some minor dislikes - driving directions for our weekend trips (we never seem to agree - or somehow I mess up the map directions), seeing eachother 24/7 (he works from home - ya know - everyone needs some time to themselves), and the little fights over invasion of each others space.

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Overall, we really do work well together!!

I am sorry to say that because we are across the world I do not have any wedding photos to show you. So a current family photo will have to do. God has blessed us with two wonderful kids.

We will be taking a trip to the east coast to "relax" and take in more of Africa (what a beautiful place) for our anniversary

Happy Anniversary Scott!!

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may God Bless us with many more!!