Saturday, May 29, 2010

Oh Kids-They make such a miraculous recovery

I started blogging yesterday and uploading a new video clip when our internet shut off. We don't have unlimited internet use, we purchase it by the gig and it ran out yesterday. So my blogging and all internet use came to a quick halt. Since we only have 2 days left in the month we bought just a little more to get us by. What we don't use doesn't roll over to the next month, we just loose it, so it is a bit of a balancing act towards the end of the month. I have a few video clips I'd like to post but will wait until June 1 to do that.

Yesterday morning-5AM Liam woke up sick to his stomach. This is the first time he's ever been vomiting sick. I have no clue what brought it on and it only lasted about 6 hours. But in 6 hours he sure did make a lot of dirty laundry. I am so thankful we don't have carpet in our house, it made cleaning up the floor really easy yesterday. He took a morning nap and after he woke up he was just fine. He started acting normal, eating, drinking and then going crazy from the Sprite we gave him. He started out looking rather pathetic and willing to just lay on the couch. (notice that the couch is protected with towels)


And look at all the laundry that he created! I am so thankful it was a nice sunny day so I could get everything dried by evening.


By lunch time he was playing with Lindie



And by 3pm he was feeling just fine. So I did what any good mother would do, I let him go to a birthday party. Our South African grandparents, Trish and Lawrence called at 2:20 asking if they could take him to a birthday party at 3pm. So in 20 minutes time Brian cut his hair and got him dressed. As you can see, he enjoyed himself.



Amongst all the commotion yesterday, Brian was able to do a little work. Even tho it was work, he really enjoys making things with metal. He finds it relaxing to spend time doing these projects. Since moving to South Africa he has greatly improved his welding skills. Metal is cheaper then wood here and is used for almost everything.



Well that is all for now. We need to get ready for evening church service.
Liam says "Bye Bye"

Thursday, May 27, 2010

Life of Leisure--well kinda of

This morning it was just Lindie and me so we decided to have some fun. We went to a coffee shop for a cappuccino and pancakes. The pancakes here are more like crepes with cinnamon and sugar filling. They are really good and Lindie really likes them. After that we decided to do a little window shopping in the nearby shops. I usually don't venture out to do window shopping with both kids. While window shopping I ran into a lady from church and she asked how I was doing. She ended up inviting me over to have coffee at her house, now now. She said she just had to finish a little shopping. So, 45 minutes later we left. I am so thankful that Lindie is a good baby:)


Usually when someone invites you over to have coffee it also means tea, but today no tea was offered so I drank coffee. I don't usually drink coffee. Another side note, its instant coffee. Thankfully she put a lot of sugar and milk in the coffee. Needless to say, I had a lot of caffeine this morning. It gave me enough energy to come home to make lunch, iron and fold the laundry and of course take pictures at the property.

So what happened today at the property. 35 more fence posts were installed. Hope you enjoy the pictures!






Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Building the Fence

Well the saga of building the perimeter fence continues. There is a lot of fencing to erect, so you will be hearing a lot about it. Brian picks DJ and Brilliant up in town every morning and then they come back to our house to load up the necessary equipment for the day.



Liam often goes with daddy for this morning run--and often in his pjs. Ya gotta love this outfit.












Today the guys dug another 35 holes for the fence posts and tomorrow they will set 35 post. According to Brilliant, setting the post is the hardest part of the job, he doesn't mind digging the holes too much.





DJ says the hardest part of the job is mixing the cement with Uncle Brian and pushing it across the property to the fence posts.



















DJ also says that lunch is his favorite part of the day:)




















The other day Louie asked Brian a question about the layout of the property. Brian said "haven't you seen the new layout?" Louie says "No" Brian says "here, let me show you". So what does Brian do, he draws the property layout on top of our car in the dust and then he asks Louie "do you have any questions?"




To see more pictures and video clips of the construction visit RHI's facebook page. Well it is time for bed. Talk to you all tomorrow! Cheers

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Life-What's New?

Life for us as a family is pretty much normal. Brian works at the property from 7:15AM to 5ish. They are making great progress on the perimeter fence. Today they completed 30 more sections of fencing. It is looking so good. It is just amazing how much work has already been accomplished.

30 sections completed today!





The kids and I make at least one visit a day to the property to check out the progress and of course we need to take pictures. Liam always comes home completely dirty-most of the time I have to change his clothes. But that is ok, he sure loves to play in the dirt and to be part of the action.



You may be wondering where Lindie is during all these visits to the property. Don't worry she is there, well sort of, she gets left in the car while we are walking around. But she is always happy and rarely complains about being stuck in her car seat! (don't worry, she is always in eye sight)




As for me, I get to take the pictures and video clips. I'm learning to be more techno savy, which is a big improvement for me. I also get to make lunch and deliver it to the guys. Along with Liam and Lindie, my days seem pretty full and busy. We are loving being back in South Africa and the weather is gorgeous. The evenings are starting to cool off and at times are chilly but the days are filled with bright, warm sunshine at a perfect temperature between 75-80 degrees F.

Don't forget to check out RHI's Facebook page, we've been uploading new pictures and video clips of the construction being done.

Monday, May 24, 2010

Stumbelbloc

Last Thursday and Friday Brian went to Cape Town for training on a new building block system called Stumbelbloc. He had a great experience and learned a lot. We are now going to use this building system at Restoring Hope Village. The blocks are just like big legos--I call them Man Size Legos. These blocks just stack on-top of each other and soon you have a house. The other bonus to these blocks are you make them yourself.

Pictures of the finished product.




Brian also enjoyed nice weather and a beautiful view.
This is Table Mountain in Cape Town

Sunday, May 23, 2010

Daddy's Little Helper




Liam enjoys going to the property and being part of the action. As you can see here, the guys put him to work! To give you an idea of how big the fence post holes are that the guys are digging, Liam is standing in one of them.

Saturday, May 22, 2010

Meet DJ and Brilliant

We have hired two boys from the Bible Study group that Louie was meeting with. Meet DJ and Brillian!They have proven themselves to be hard workers. Installing the precon fence is a lot of hard work and long days. Hope you enjoy meeting Brilliant (talks first on the video) and DJ (second on the video).

Friday, May 14, 2010

Entering the Life of Blogging

This is the start of a new venture for us, we are about to enter the world of blogging and publishing our life on-line. I am actually very excited about this. We have lots of exciting things happening in our life right now and this is going to provide a great avenue to share. Our monthly updates don't always provide enough space to share about what is happening with our children and the funny things that occur just because we are living in South Africa. Just because we've lived here for 4 years, that doesn't mean we have everything figured out or understand why things happen the way they happen. We hope you enjoy our blog and become a follower. Please comment on posts that make you laugh, cry, ask questions or just spur your curiosity. Thank you for being interested in our lives.