Birthdays and More Birthdays

We don't just celebrate our birthdays but we celebrate everyones birthday at The Village and we have fun doing it. Once a month we have a birthday celebration to celebrate those that had a birthday that month. We have found that individual parties for each child is a bit overwhelming and have decided that one celebration a month with cake, candy, popcorn, games and gifts is the best for everyone. We try to make it a special day where we all gather together to sing to each child and/or adult and have an organized game time included. When a child is new to The Village this will often be their very first time to celebrate their birthday and we try to make it special.

We want each child to feel loved, secure and special within our big family and we also want them to come to understand that they are special in God's family. Our most important responsibility at The Village is sharing God's love with each child and that includes teaching and showing them what it means to be part of a family. We aren't their biological family but we pray that they will come to know that we will always be here for them as their Heavenly Father is always here for them.

In June we celebrated Allison's 21st birthday. Allison is a very dear friend who has become part of our family. She has spent her last 5 summers with us and pours out her life to each child. She has become part of everyones family when she is with us at The Village. We are excited to see where the Lord leads her in the future and as she finishes her last year in college.

Ma Paddy, a dear lady who has become part of our family and blesses us with her talents and love. Paddy spends much of her time with us, the O'Tool family and the kids at The Village. Paddy always has sweets in her pocket for Liam and Lindie. She graciously gives of her time and resources by teaching our oldest girls how to make jewelry. We celebrated her birthday by surprising her with a cake on the 4th of July. (Her birthday is the 5th)

In August we were blessed to celebrate a very special birthday-Pops turned 76 years old. Pops and Nana are so very precious to our family and especially our children. Pops and Nana are our South African grandparents and they pour every ounce of love and energy they have into them. They give of their time by babysitting when I need to grocery shop, run errands, when we have teams or if I just need to get out. Our kids love being with them-actually they prefer them over us.

It is the people like Ma Paddy, Pop and Nana, and other local friends that help us carry-on our daily tasks and makes it feel like we belong in Welkom. In that last few years, we have really felt the love and connection of those around us locally that have given us the extra encouragement to keep going when the times get tough. God has given us these special friendships and it is so important and needed. We love you and Thank You. 

We also celebrated three special girls in August. Paulina, Lerato and Modiehi all had birthdays and they were celebrated in barbie fashion. We had a team from New Jersey with us to help us with the party and Mallory and Lauire planned the games. This was Modiehi's first time to have her birthday celebrated and to receive gifts. It was heart warming to see her face and to feel her appreciation. 

Mal and Laurie planned a little pin the tail on the donkey, musical chairs and an egg toss game.

As you can see, we have a lot of fun amongst our daily tasks in keeping everything organized at The Village. 

A barbie birthday cake for

Paulina, Lerato and Modiehi

Modiehi, Lerato and Paulina unwrapping their presents

Paulina and her new dress

Modiehi and her present

Papa Revival playing Pin the tail on the donkey

Face Painting

Nana and Pops gave Liam face paint for his birthday. Of course, Liam thought painting his face would be too messy but the other kids loved it. Brian had the honors of painting everyones faces. Liam preferred the pirate dress-up toys Meredith and Drake gave him, that required no mess. 

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!

We celebrated the 4th of July yesterday with the O'Tools. The guys made blocks in the morning because they ran out of time on Friday to get them made. For lunch time we gathered at Louie & Amber's to grill. We enjoyed lunch and had a good game of croquet afterwards. I started out doing a terrible job & was in last place most of the game. Louie was in the lead most of the game. Before the game started Louie said he would buy the winner a Coke. Most of the time he only offers a shiny nickel, so this is a big step up for rewards. As it happened, Louie ended up being the first looser and I ended up winning. He still owes me that Coke!

After our game of croquet we played botchi ball but we had to play with croquet balls and a golf ball because we don't own a botchi ball set. It worked just fine. The O'Tools yard is a little small for this game so we ended up playing in the street & just outside the fences of their neighbor's yards as well.

Today we went to church and then out for coffee and pancakes. We enjoy going to Alma Nursery as a family and we often take Nana and Pops with us (Trish and Lawrence are our adoptive South African grandparents).

South African pancakes are really more like crepes and American pancakes are called flap jacks here. We enjoy having cinnamon and sugar inside ours with a side of cream or ice cream. You can get them made either sweet or savory. If you like savory you can choose a wide variety of fillings like chicken, tuna, mayo or tomatoes.

Alma Nursery is a garden nursery with lots of nice plants, trees, and fish ponds. Liam and Lindie both love looking at the fish ponds. They also have a nice playground area for the kids to play while we sit and enjoy our pancakes.

Brian almost bought Liam a gold fish today but the guy working their said the kind of fish they have right now need more then a fish bowl, like an oxygen pump or an outside pond. So no gold fish today but I see one coming our way in the near future.

Happy 4th of July to all our friends and family. Miss you all and love you!