Where the sunshine causes my mind to wander

We have been enjoying some beautiful weather here in West Michigan the past few days. It has been in the high 40's-low 50's when I wake up (it might be a little cooler when my kids get up!) and the early morning warmth has made my mind wander back to the mornings we had in South Africa. While I was not overly fond of being woken up by the sun between 5:00 and 5:30 or by the pecking of the horn bills, I LOVED sitting outside in the morning with a cup of coffee, the sun already shining, my kids following Amos around, the sounds of so many different birds chirping, the occasional impala sighting and so much more.

I love the sunshine we have been having, but it makes me miss the time we had in South Africa so much. I find myself dreaming up schemes to get us back there. We don't talk about it much, but we were so close to moving to Africa. We had a plan, we were ready to make an offer on a lodge, we were trying to figure out what to do with our stuff and how to say goodbye to our friends and family, and then it all fell apart. Darin and I stopped listening to each other and started fighting, I had a major freak out and the decision was made to not go forward. Then something changed. We had a big heart to heart talk, we prayed, we felt READY and we decided to put in the offer. We found out that someone else had made an offer a couple weeks before us, soon after the time we decided to stop the whole process. It was PAINFUL and it is still something I struggle with. What was God trying to teach us? Had he prevented us leaving because staying was best for us, or was it His plan that we go, but we weren't able to step out in faith and lean on Him so we missed out?

I feel like I am in a good place now, but for the first year I dealt with a lot of "what ifs" and "if only's". The warm weather just stirs up a lot of memories, mostly good, but sometimes they hurt. I just pray that the next time I am ready to step out in faith and that I don't let the fear of the unknown cause me to miss out! For now I'll just drink my morning coffee, close my eyes and, for a few minutes, I'll imagine that I am there again.

One year ago today.

*Sorry for the lack of pictures. Blogger wasn't cooperating : (

One year ago today we were on our way to South Africa. You can read this post to see how I was doing a few hours before take-off. We got on that plane and started on a journey that would exceed all of our expectations. Our time in South Africa was so much more than what we could have dreamed possible.

We were able to experience some amazing things as a family, like petting elephants, bungee jumping (if you want to relive my "near death" experience, read this) , traveling to Cape Town with my parents, living in a beautiful home that was surrounded by an abundance of God's creation.

Our ten weeks in South Africa gave us so many opportunities to grow closer together as a family. Tyson and Jori LOVED having their daddy around so much. We all loved going on walks, heading to Derrick's to ride on the quads or eat dessert, go across the road to play with our friends at TYB. We didn't have a TV, internet connection or telephone to distract us from each other.

We were able to get reacquainted with many old friends, like the Hardings, Derrick and Pixie, members of Temba Baptist Church and Fenna and Francois, and meet new friends as well, including Amos, Mama Rebecca, and Mama Cathrine. These are people that we still think of and pray for and wish we could see often.

Being here and not really knowing what is going on back there is hard. Sometimes I feel myself growing distant and trying to not feel so attached to the people and places that we grew to love. While we were in South Africa, it was easy to think of all the things we could do to help Mama Cathrine, but now that we are here, these things are not so easy to carry out. There are financial costs involved and while we would be happy to send stuff to her, we don't have any guarantees that it would have arrived. Communication is sporadic, at best. Sending money is a whole big process.

Will we ever again have the chance to spend an extended amount of time in South Africa? God only knows. I love being close to family and friends, having reliable internet access, getting to know our neighbors and discovering new things about where we live. Yet I really miss being in South Africa. It is more than just the place itself. It's the people, and the whole way of life. It is a struggle to live life differently here in Hudsonville when you are surrounded by the latest and greatest everything. It is hard to live simply, when thanks to the wonder of couponing, a person can buy so many wonderful things that they don't even really need for so little money.

We don't know what the future holds for us, but we do know that we continue to be blessed by the journey that started a year ago today.

A must read

I just finished reading 28 Stories of AIDS in Africa, by Stephanie Nolen. I don't know how I even found the book, but if any of you recommended it to me, thank you! It was excellent. I was really challenged to examine thoughts and beliefs that I know I have expressed or had at one time or another, about morals and values and justice and just a lot of stuff. I really do think that it is good to look at things from the perspective of others. You may or may not change your own view of a situation, but it is good to be stretched and to wrestle with stuff. There is a lot of "stuff" out there that I would rather just ignore and not have to deal with. It doesn't directly impact me, so why bother. I need to put down the Christian Fiction every once in a while and pick up something that makes me think.

In other news, I have really been wishing we were in South Africa again. It has been over 6 months since we came back home-two whole seasons. I have been terrible about keeping in touch with people. Oh, it is easy to come up with excuses about why this happens, but it really makes me sad. I just wish we could know what is happening in the lives of our friends on a more regular basis.

We did hear some fantastic news recently from Mark Harding regarding Mama Cathrine. She finally received the deed to the property, which means she can now look into putting up some new buildings. It feels so selfish to even say this, but I just wish we could be a part of it. I wish we could be there to help get things organized. To see dormitories going up so that 14 people will no longer have to sleep in a space meant for 3-4 people. Or a classroom that is roomy enough that all the kids could push their chairs out at the same time and not risk knocking someone down. Just knowing that there are possibilities now that they have the deed is amazing. If/when we hear more, I will be sure to pass it on.

Update on Mama Cathrine

My parents forwarded us an email from Mark Harding yesterday. He included an update on how things are going at MC's place. There is some good news, in that the local grocery store, Spar, has been providing large quantities of chicken pieces that the Hardings have been passing on to MC's. This is a huge blessing as meat is something they very rarely or never had because of the expense and, before receiving their fridge/freezer, they had no sanitary way of storing it.

This is the not so good news that Mark wrote:

"I got an SOS from MC this morning to say that they were flooded during last night's storm and all their bedding is wet. I am going over to see what can be done. Their land is very flat and gets waterlogged very easily so all those buildings need to be raised at least one brick's height above ground level where they are at the moment."

I know that problems with flooding are something that many of you from the midwest and northwest can relate to. Those of you that have recently experienced having water in your homes know how frustrating and time consuming it is to deal with such a problem.

We are thankful that there are people like the Hardings who are willing to help MC, even though we know that they are extremely busy with running TYB. Please keep them all in your prayers as they work on this latest problem.

Wishing

We have been home for almost 2 weeks, yet it seems like so much longer than that. I think part of that is because we have not had any communication with the people we spent time with in Hammanskraal. Darin has sent a couple emails trying to get information on how things are going at Mama Cathrine's, but we haven't heard back from anyone. Hopefully we'll know something later this week.

We did send out some pictures to Amos, Mama Rebecca and Mama Cathrine last week, so I hope to hear when those arrive. We'll be sure to put an update on here as soon as we hear anything. I wish that it did not take almost 24 hours to get to South Africa and I wish that the tickets to get there were not as pricey as they are. I have already started thinking about the next time we'll be back there. I hope that it isn't too far down the road.

More Pics

I just finished putting the rest of the pictures on Picasa. Check them here.


Last night we watched our video from South Africa. It was kind of a disappointment. I am not the best videographer, ok I stink at it, but I was the one who was left home with the kids trying to "capture the moment". What that means is there is like 20 minutes of the same thing. As Tyson and Jori's mom, I love it because I like to hear the stuff they say, but really it isn't very exciting. I don't have the most steady hand, so the camera is kind of all over the place. Oh well.

The highlights are my ostrich ride, the lion eating the zebra, Darin bungee jumping and us interacting with the elephants. I also did a whole video tour of Mama Cathrine's (yes, I have been spelling her name wrong), and have some footage of the kids singing. Again, too much of a good thing, but I am glad we have it.

Being Home

It's Sunday afternoon. Jori is in bed. Darin and Tyson are off watching the Vikings game at Monelli's. Jori and I may join them later for some dessert, but right now I am content being inside where it is (relatively) warm. There is snow on the ground. Yes, snow. Having just spent 10 weeks in 80+ degree temps, this is not really sitting too well with me.

We were so glad to be back at our church, Evergreen Ministries, today. We really missed the fellowship and teaching while we were gone. We were excited to see lots of people that we really missed while we were gone. Tyson and Jori jumped right back into their Wonder Years and Little Lambs programs. The only bummer is that I heard a lot of nursery volunteers have decided to back out, which is only a concern to me because I am the nursery director. Argh. Come on people. That will have to get dealt with at some point, but not today.


A few of the people that did know who we are and where we had been asked if we were glad to be back. That's kind of a loaded question in some ways. We are glad to be back with people that we know and good friends that mean so much to us. Tyson and Jori are excited to have their toys back and seem to be perfectly content being back in Michigan. It is just strange, while we were in Africa, they hardly ever mentioned anything from back home, and now that we are in Michigan, they hardly mention anything from Africa. It is sad to me that they already seem to be forgetting so much of what we did and so many of the people that we met. I know it's normal. Their kids, they live in the here and now. And really, if they were asking for things and people from Africa or were really sad about being back in Michigan, that would be really tough to deal with. It's great that they are so resilient.


It's not quite as easy for Darin and I. We have really come to love the country of Africa. We love the people, we love the atmosphere and the pace of life. I know that our marriage was hugely blessed by the time we spent together in Africa. While we were gone, we often talked and dreamed about one day living in Africa. And you know what, it really wasn't such a scary thought. Other than our friends and family, I couldn't think of any reason not to go. Now we are back home. We're trying to get settled in, still adjusting to the time change, still putting away a few final things that we kind of haphazardly unpacked. People have asked if we're happy to be home, and I really don't know what to say. I am glad to see friends and talk to family by phone, but I really feel so out of place right now. People can ask questions about what we did over the last 10 weeks, and I can try to answer those questions, but I can't really put into words what we experienced.


I am overwhelmed at being home and seeing so much stuff. I mean, it's everywhere. And being in this huge house after spending time with people who were living in houses the size of one of our bedrooms is kind of unsettling for me. It would be so easy, I mean so very easy, to just forget about everything that we saw and the people that we met. I could choose not to think about people who are living in situations that I have cried over and I could just jump right back into my life here. That would be easy. I think it is going to be much harder to live here, remember what we experienced in Africa and make changes in our lives because of those experiences.


Today we sang a song that has the line "dancers who dance upon injustice". We listened to that song a lot in Africa, and even though I had heard it a lot before going to Africa, it was such a different experience hearing those words as we drove past rows and rows of tin shacks. What does it mean to "dance upon injustice"? I am not exactly sure, but I think it is not an easy dance to learn.


So I know this post is totally random and rambling, but those of you who really know me should be able to make some sense of it all. I just have so many mixed emotions right now. I am happy to be home, but yet I am sitting here crying because I feel like in order to get back into life here, I have to let go of the life we were living for the past 10 weeks. I just don't want to slide back into an apathetic life.

Pictures, finally

Today I started getting some albums put together. There are a lot to go, and I'll try to remember to make a new post when I add the next batch, but for now feel free to check out our photo website

http://picasaweb.google.com/MIFeys

Hopefully this works! If not, leave a comment and I'll try to figure it out. Now you can pick and choose which things you really want to see and I don't have to send out albums to a bunch of different people. A win win situation. Enjoy!

Home again, home again, jiggity jog

Well, we made it. After the longest 24 hours of my life, we are finally home. We left for the airport around 9 on Tuesday night. We got on the plane with no problems. Tyson and Jori had both slept a couple hours before we left, so they were in pretty good spirits. Our flight from Jo-berg to Amsterdam was pretty empty, which turned out to be an even bigger blessing than we realized. Darin and Jori were in 5 seats by themselves, and Tyson and I had three seats. Actually, I had three seats as Tyson fell asleep on the floor and kept sleeping until about 2 1/2 hours before we landed. Jori also slept great. I was sleeping pretty well, but poor, poor Darin. Apparently whatever bug I had on Monday and Tuesday decided to pay Darin a visit in a big way. I was sound asleep on my three seat bed when I felt someone tapping my shoulder, hard. I looked up and heard Darin mumble something as he walked past me and continued down the aisle. I figured he just wanted me to know he was up so I could make sure Jori didn't fall off the seats, so I checked on her and laid back down. Then I checked again. Still no Darin. It turns out he was in the bathroom throwing up. Poor Darin. I'll spare you all the details, but for the rest of the 11 hour flight, Darin was either in the bathroom or totally sacked out, unable to even sit up. I am SO thankful my parents were on that flight. It wasn't so bad while they were sleeping, other than the tap, tap, tap I kept feeling every time Darin ran past me : ) However, once the kids were awake, it was no fun at all.

We arrived in Amsterdam with a very pale, weak and tired Darin. My dad and I got all of our luggage off and then my parents went with us to our next flight. We told the check in people that we had a sick person in our party and they managed to get us one row of four seats and a row of 2, so again, God was watching out for us. There is no way Darin could have sat in a seat for the next 8+ hours. At max, he could sit up for about 15 minutes, then he had to lay down again. We were really excited to see that there were individual screens on this flight. Watching Dora and the Backyardigans did offer some distraction for the kids. On the down side, neither Tyson or Jori slept the WHOLE flight. The last 3 hours were no fun at all, especially for me. Well, I guess I wouldn't have wanted to be sick like Darin either, so neither of us was having much fun. The kids were having a heyday, running back and forth between where Darin and I were sitting, which meant that I was also running back and forth to bring back which ever child would come with the least amount of screaming. Of course, they both wanted to be by daddy, who would have loved to be alone. Too bad for him, he also wanted to lay in the row of four seats and that only left room for one kid to sit by me.

Anyways, let's just say I don't ever want to be in that situation again and I'll get on with the rest of the story. We made it to Detroit a little before 2. Darin was feeling somewhat better, but was super weak from not eating. He sat with the kids while I hauled our luggage off of the belt and onto a cart and then we re-checked our bags for our last flight to Grand Rapids. Thankfully we had enough of a lay over that we didn't have to rush too much, but it was short enough that the kids couldn't get too crazy. We were all feeling pretty crabby and disgusting about now. All I wanted was a shower and some peace and quiet. I didn't get the shower on the last flight, but Tyson and Jori both fell asleep, so it was quiet.

We landed in grey, gloomy GR a little after 4. The view was depressing and matched the mood I was in. We tried waking the kids up, but ended up having to carry them off of the plane as neither was willing to cooperate. We got off the plane, got the kids in their strollers and headed into the airport, expecting to be showered in hugs and kisses. Unfortunately, we got in a little early, so no one was there yet (we forgive you Rachel and Jenna!). We got our luggage, and then saw our friends coming through the door. Seeing his best friend, Jenna, totally perked Tyson up. Both he and Jori took off running towards them and it was so cute to see them all hugging and laughing and looking so happy. It was wonderful to see Rachel again and know that we were finally home.

The ride home was interesting. I couldn't help but notice the differences between GR and where we had been living the past 10 weeks. I have grown used to seeing people everywhere. Always walking down the street, or waiting for a taxi or just sitting outside of their homes. I am also used to lots of sun and bright skies, lots of trees and open spaces. Now all I was seeing was lots of grey, from the color of the sky to the concrete of the buildings and the roads. We dropped off Rachel and Jenna, then started driving the last mile to our house. Tyson started to get upset, "Where is our house?" he kept saying. I guess the area didn't look familiar to him. We turned on to our street and Jori said "Is this our Africa house?". Sorry, honey, not quite. Then we pulled up to our house and Tyson had a big smile and Jori got all excited and said "Daddy, there your truck!!!". We went in and both kids started pointing things out like "there's our stairs" or "look, here's our table". Then they found the toys. Oh my goodness, were they ever excited. These kids who had been passed out less than an hour before were suddenly wide awake and running from one thing to the next. Darin had passed out on the sofa and doesn't remember anything from the next half hour or so. I managed to get Tyson to eat half a sandwich and Jori had about a third of one. That's all they wanted, which was fine by me. They both wanted to keep playing, but I told them it was bath time. Darin woke up, seemed very puzzled about what was going on, but headed upstairs with the rest of us. I dug out long pjs for the kids, got them clean, and then a little after 6, they were in bed. By 6:30, Darin and I had joined them.

We were all pretty tired. Tyson woke up to use the bathroom around 3:30, and then Darin decided to get up around 4 or 4:30 I think because he couldn't sleep anymore. He must have been feeling a lot better, because he ate a bowl of lucky charms and a whole can of soup. I slept on and off until 7. I couldn't believe how dark it was outside. I have grown used to seeing light by 5 or 5:30, so it just seemed so early still. Tyson and Jori both woke up a couple times, Tyson for the bathroom, Jori for help finding her peeper (pacifier). Tyson finally woke up around 8 and we went in to get Jori a little before 9. Right now they are playing with all of their toys, and Tyson is asking me for gloves so he can go outside. I hope he's ready to be cold.

I am not sure what I am feeling right now. It is nice to be done with all of the travelling and it is great to see the kids so happy, not that they weren't happy in Africa, but with all the travelling we did the last 2 weeks they've been kind of cranky. I am overwhelmed at the amount of all the stuff that we have. It is ridiculous. The funny thing is, I threw out a lot of stuff before we left, but apparently there is a lot more that could go. I keep thinking "do we even need this?". I don't even know where to start. We had missionaries living in our house the first two months we were gone, so I had packed up our clothes and toiletries. Now I can't remember where I put it all. I am just feeling overwhelmed. I wish I could just stay in my pjs, but I know I need to start somewhere.

In Africa, we were living. Here, we have a life. Does that make sense? Darin will be going back to work, Tyson to school. I hope to join a Bible study, we both have things we are involved in at church. We have clothes for all 4 seasons, along with the accessories like hats, gloves and scarfs. I am actually going to have to clean again. I opened the cupboard under my kitchen sink and couldn't believe how many different cleaning products I have. Mama Rebecca managed to take care of our whole house with Mr Muscle and Handy Andy. I have all these bottles of things and I still have never managed to keep our house clean.

We are home. We made it safely. Darin is feeling like himself again, and other than a headache, I am feeling fine too. We hope to stay up past 7 tonight, but I am sure there will be a family nap happening sometime during the day. Thank you all so much for your thoughts, prayers, letters and emails. We are so blessed to have you all in our lives. Please keep praying as we make this transition back into our lives here and try to figure out what God wants us to do with all of the things we have seen and experienced while we were gone. It's time to step back into my Michigan mommy role and dig out the winter gear for the kids. Til next time.

Our last day

Here is it, November 11, 2008. Tonight, just before midnight, we will be starting our long journey back to Michigan. Lord willing, we will be arriving in GR a little after 4 tomorrow afternoon. Darin, Jori and myself have all picked up some sort of stomach bug, so we aren't really super excited about getting on the plane. Hopefully Tyson stays healthy.

Yesterday we were able to visit Fenna's daughter Stephanie at the children's home where she works, Doulos Ministries. Doulos means servants I believe. They have a wonderful center with a small medical center to treat the children on site, plenty of room for the kids to sleep and a bunch of farm animals for entertainment. All but one of the children there were HIV positive, which was so hard to wrap my head around. They don't look sick, yet these children do not have much hope. Some of the children were orphans who will remain at Doulos, but most of them will either return to their parents or other family members when they have been brought back to good health and placed on antiretroviral medication for their HIV.

Being at Doulos took up a good part of the day. I wasn't feeling that great already yesterday morning, so by afternoon I was ready for a long nap with Jori. The weather finally cooperated and Tyson was able to go swimming in the Coetsee's pool. These last few days have been a real bummer weather wise. Little sun and quite a bit of rain. Hopefully our tans haven't faded too much! I went to bed early last night, so I don't know what everyone else did. They were probably up drinking 3 or 4 more cups of coffee or tea, as that seems to be the thing to do all day long.

This morning we headed out to do a little more souvenier shopping. We all had a few things we were still looking for, and after about 30 minutes Darin was able to get the price down to where we wanted, so then we were ready to head to the mall. My parents and Fenna went off to check out a few stores while Darin and I took the kids to pick out a special "Africa" outfit for each of them. No, it isn't any tribal garb, just something different than what we'd get in the states.

Now it is about 4:30. We are almost all packed. It is a good thing my parents are here and that my dad is coming out to Michigan in January as we may have to give them some of our things to take home. We did get rid of two big suitcases since being here, but we have picked up a few goodies along the way. I am so glad that Darin has mad packing skills. I just set out the stuff I know we still need and he gets everything else shoved in the suitcases and carryons. In just a bit, Darin and Tyson are heading to Pick N Pay one last time to get a few snacks. Then we'll eat, give the kids baths, put them down and wait until it is time to head to the airport.

I really can't believe we are heading home. Right now I am ready to be home, because I'm not feeling the best and we have just been moving from one place to another the last two weeks. If we were still out at our farm, I would be having a much more difficult time preparing to go. God knew that in advance, so I'm thankful for his guidance in planning this whole trip down to each detail. I wish so badly that we could have gone back to see all of our friends and the places that are familiar to us, as being here in Sasolburg does not seem like being in Africa at all. This is not the Africa that I would choose to live in and I can see why so many people want to leave this area. I just wish they all knew what they were missing.

So, we'll be seeing some of you soon, and others we'll be talking to by phone. I'm sure I'll keep blogging too, but writing about the squirrels in our backyard is going to be far less exciting that the possibility of a rhino attack. See you soon!

11/9

It's been a few days since I last wrote. We have been keeping pretty busy and moving around quite a bit. We left Graaff-Reinet on Friday morning and headed towards Bloemfontein, our second to last destination. We didn't have much planned for the day other than to get to where we were going, so that was kind of nice. For lunch, we stopped at a nice little restaurant in Colesberg. They had a big play area for the kids, with old farming equipment to climb on. The food was so good and I think we were all content to just sit and relax for a while. My mom and I even headed over to the Foschini's across the street and I finally found the jeans I had been looking for. We got back on the road, saw a few random baboons, monkeys and bok and not much else.

We arrived in Bloemfontein around 4. Our cottage was in a neighborhood, right behind the owners house. After getting unpacked and watching a show about lions on National Geographic, we headed out for some really good pizza. We got home after 7, put the kids to bed and played our last two card games. In the end, Willie was declared the big winner. We got up on Saturday morning with plans to hit the mall for a little shopping fun. On our way there, we saw a big farmer's market so we pulled in. They had a giant inflatable slide that the kids loved going on. It was a nice detour. Then we hit the mall, found a McDonald's, then got back in the van for the last leg of our journey to Sasolberg.

When we got into Sasolberg, we decided to stop at a Wimpy so our kids could run off some of their excess energy before we went to Fenna's house. When we did finally get here a little after 4, Tyson and Jori were so excited to find out that Fenna has two dogs. Poor little Dortjie(pronounced Dorkie with a rolled “r”) has been chased all over the house, grabbed at, kissed and hugged by both of the kids. The other dog has been kept outside, lucky guy. Last night after the kids were in bed, two different pastors stopped by. With each guest we had a full round of coffee and dessert. I don't know when we have ever had so much to drink.

This morning, we went to church with Fenna and Francois. We had the pleasure of watching the children's Christmas program. Yes, Christmas in November. School is finished here in December and then all the schools have a month of summer vacation, so they figured that the kids wouldn't be around much in December for practices and the performance. This was the only Sunday in November that didn't have anything else going on. The program was in Afrikaans, so we didn't actually know what was being said, but it was the Christmas story, same as always. After this service, we headed in to a township about 10 minutes away and sat through another service. Darin had the kids outside the whole time because they were a little out of control. It was nice for us to be back in an area that felt more familiar to us.

Now it is close to 4:30. Our kids are out on a walk, Darin is watching a poker tournament, my mom is sleeping and I am catching up on what will be one of our final posts from Africa. There are plans to go to yet another church tonight, but Darin and I will be staying home with our kids to get them to bed on time. Fenna's daughter is a nurse at a children's home near by, so we are planning on visiting her there tomorrow. We'll let you know what other fun we end up having.

What is it? 11/6

So, I've always known that God has made some pretty interesting creatures, but today we got the low down on one of the most awesome, yet bizarre things He has made. Can you guess what it is? I'll give you some interesting facts to help you out.

This creature eats rocks to help it digest its food
This creature has a toenail that grows up to 7 centimeters (3 inches) long
This creature usually walks on its tiptoes
This creature eats its own eggs when it is lacking in calcium
This creature has two sets of nostrils

Do you know what it is?? Well if you haven't figured it out, I'll tell you. This amazing creature, that could have only been thought up by our creative God is the Ostrich. Today, after leaving Knysna, we headed north to Outdshoorn, the ostrich capital of South Africa. There are over 400 ostrich farms in the area, including a few that do tours and other ostrich related activities. We were about 10 km from Outdshoorn when Tyson started hollering that he had to use the bathroom. We saw a sign for a place called Chandelier Game Lodge about a km later, so we decided we may as well just check out the Ostriches here rather than making Tyson suffer for another 10 km. Thank God for Tyson's small bladder, because we had the BEST time.

As soon as we walked through the gate, Tyson forgot all about needing to pee. Right in front of us were a mom and baby zebra, a few bok, and lots of ducks and geese. We all headed right over to get a closer look. The mom zebra kept putting her head all the way through the fence, it was kind of like a corral, not a chain link fence. There was a sign that said “Pet and feed animals at your own risk”, so my dad started petting the zebra. How cool. Of course, I had to try it too. She was so soft and her mane was kind of bristly, but not really hard and prickly. I never thought I would ever pet a zebra, but now I have. There were a bunch of baby ducklings out on the pond, including one little yellow one that was swimming all alone. It was so cute. The kids loved seeing the animals, and we hadn't even started our tour yet.

The biggest reason that we had such a great time today was our tour guide. She had only been working there for 8 months, but I would have never guessed that. She was so patient with the kids, willing to answer all of our questions, and told us so much about the ostrich in a way that was never boring. Our first stop was a breeding pen. There was a male and female in one large pen, and right next to them was a pen with at least 20 ostriches, some adults, some adolescents. Darin and I both let the male “bite” our hands. Ostriches don't have teeth, so it didn't really hurt unless he happened to just catch a bit of skin. Both birds were right up next to the fence so we could get a really good look at them. They are pretty funny looking. I've always thought that an ostrich neck would feel like chicken skin, or like a roosters comb, but it was actually very soft. We learned that the female ostrich lays between 100-120 eggs during the egg laying season and that of these, 80-90 will hatch. The other 30-40 eggs are eaten by the female when she is low in calcium. The female sits on the eggs during the day and the male sits on them at night. Most birds sit on their eggs to keep them warm, but the ostrich sits on its egg to cool it down. It takes 42 days for the egg to hatch, and during the last two days, the male takes over all the egg sitting duties. When he hears the chicks calling from their eggs, he uses his breastbone to crack the egg and then chips away at it with his beak until the chick can get out. There are up to 16 eggs in the nest at one time, so he is one busy guy.

Next, we went into a pen with another pair of ostriches. We were hoping to pet some babies, which were one pen over, but none would come close enough for our guide to grab. She said she could not go into the pen because the male would charge at full speed, up to 60 km (40 miles) an hour, which makes it the second fastest land animal, second only to the cheetah. After he charged, he would then kick whoever was in his way and cut them with his giant toenail. So we didn't get to hold a baby ostrich, but they were cute. So we went in the pen with a pair of ostriches that only had eggs, not babies. We got to feed them pellets, pet them, stand on the egg (it can withstand up to 180 kg, or roughly 400 pounds) and learn more interesting ostrich facts. There were only 2 eggs in the nest, which was just a hole that the male digs in the sand. One of the eggs was actually just outside of the nest. Our guide said that the female pushed it out because she knew that there was a hole in it so there would never be a chick.

Now for some more ostrich trivia. Did you know that the when the ostrich hides its head in the sand, it believes that it cannot be seen? The male ostrich is dark with white feathers on the tips of his wings and tail. When he sits on the eggs, he digs his feathers into the sand to make them dirty so he is camouflaged from predators. Ostriches have membranes that shut over their eyes to keep dust from getting in them. They open and close side to side instead of up and down. They also have an eyelid that shuts from the bottom when they want to sleep.

Ok, next we headed over to a little arena and sat on some bleachers. The “jockeys”, which is what they call the workers who deal with the ostriches, caught a male named “Speedy” and put him in a little wooden blockade so he couldn't kick or run away. It was funny watching them catch an ostrich. 3 or 4 guys would run after one ostrich, corner it, then someone would grab the tail, and someone else the neck. Then they guy who grabbed the neck would slip a bag over the ostriches head. Once the ostrich can't see, it will follow where ever it is led. Speedy was a very nice ostrich. We all got a chance to climb on Speedy and give him a hug. We also found out some more interesting facts about the ostrich. Did you know that what looks like an ostrich's knee is actually it's heel/ankle? From that joint down is its foot, and while it usually stands on its tiptoes, it does rest on its whole foot at times. It looked really strange when it did. The knee of the ostrich is actually up where it's leg connects to it's body, or where you'd think a hip would be. If you pluck an ostrich feather too soon, the ostrich will bleed. You have to wait until the feather is fully grown before plucking it. However, if you don't pluck the feathers, they will fall out and some of them will not grow back in properly. An ostrich wing is actually like an arm. It has three joints, a shoulder, elbow and wrist, and there are also 3 little fingers hidden under feathers, 2 that you could see and one that is under skin. The male uses one of the fingers to help dig the nest. Our guide also demonstrated how flexible an ostrich neck is. She hooked one arm around Speedy's neck and pulled his head down and around with her other hand. There are 19 vertabrae in an ostrich neck and it can reach all the way around its body and peck at its own tail!

So, now we had learned all sorts of cool facts about these odd looking birds and we had been able to feed and pet them. All that was left now was to get on and take a ride. My dad went first. Two of the jockeys were holding on to the ends of the ostriches wings and my dad had to hold on under the front of the wings, wrap his legs around the ostrich's chest, lean back and ride. That ostrich was crazy fast. After about 10 seconds, the jockeys let go and PJ was riding that ostrich all by himself. It really was pretty funny looking. Then they told him to let go of the wings and slip off, a feat he preformed with great skill. Now it was time for the next rider. My dear husband was very disappointed to find out that the ostriches at this particular farm would not be able to accommodate his weight, so of course I had to step up and experience ostrich riding for the both of us. Once again I was wearing my flip flops, which would prove to be problematic. (Other times my flip flops have been an issue include the quad ride and bungee jump). I did feel pretty comfortable as I was told the jockeys do not let go of the ostrich for female riders, so I hopped on my ostrich, grabbed under its wings, wrapped my feet around its chest and away we went. Ok, this has been caught on video so I won't even try to lie about it. I looked ridiculous and sounded even worse. I was letting out little screams that sounded more like yips and had a look of terror on my face. I was trying to lean back and hold on and do all the things I was supposed to do, but then my flip flop started to fall off. So I unwrapped one of my legs and tried to wiggle my foot around to get the shoe back on. The jockey on that side said “put your leg down” and as I tried to do this, some part of the bird, it's leg or breastbone, connected with my ankle. So I'm yipping, with my face pulled back like I'm in a wind tunnel, the ostrich is tearing around and I am thinking for sure, these jockeys are going to lose their grip and I am going to get seriously injured. Then my flip flop fell off, I heard someone say “let go of the wings” and I was lifted off the beast, safe and sound. If you get a chance to see the video, you will hear my mom howling with laughter in the background. We watched it twice tonight and she was laughing so hard she almost cried. I am just glad I took the opportunity to ride an ostrich, ridiculous as I may have looked.

After hearing my screams, Tyson did NOT want to take a ride of his own, but Darin was able to get Jori to go on by promising to walk along beside her. She looked so cute. The ostrich the jockeys choose for her was really gentle and kind of plodded along, but it was still going fast enough that her hair was blowing backwards in the wind. After seeing that his little sis survived the ostrich ride, Tyson decided that he could do it too. He was so proud of himself and can't wait to show his friends the video of him riding an ostrich. My mom was definitely NOT going to ride an ostrich, so we left the bench area, walked down a fence line and then watched two of the jockeys race. Those ostriches were going so fast.

After all the ostrich fun, we had a little picnic over by the ducks and zebra. Then we got in the van and started making our way to Graaff-Reinet where we would be staying for the night. We were about 20 minutes down the rode from the ostrich farm when we had to make an unfortunate detour back into town. Poor Jori, who had been acting strange all day, threw up all over her blanky and in Papa's bag of cameras, papers and passports. Darin pulled right over, but it was such a mess we decided to turn back to the town of Oudtshoorn, which we had just driven out of. We pulled into a gas station, cleaned her up as best as we could, moved her to the middle seat, and were on our way again. Both kids ended up sleeping for a little over an hour, which was wonderful. Jori seemed to feel a lot better after throwing up, but was still looking pretty sad. I think we were all happy to pull up to our lodging for the night.

As soon as we got all of the luggage out of the van, my parents took off for town. There are several old churches and lots of Dutch architecture in this town, so they are happy as can be. Darin, the kids and I walked into town to get some medicine for Jori's fever and to look for dinner. Almost everything around here closes at 5, but we finally found a Spur that was open. So we ate, then went to the grocery store to get some pop. We ran into my parents in the store so we all walked home together. It is 10:30 right now, we're done playing cards and are getting ready to go to bed. It has been a busy, but very entertaining day. Tomorrow we head for Bloemfontein, the last night of our big trip to the Cape.

Downtown Knysna and the beach 11/5

As you can probably guess from the title of this posting, today we spent time downtown and at the beach. It was a very relaxing, vacationy kind of day. As an added bonus, the time spent downtown was without kids. Papa John graciously offered to keep both kids busy around our cottage so Darin could go to an internet cafe and my mom and I could get some shopping in. What a guy!

Darin dropped us off at the mall around 10. We decided to hook back up around 11 and then away we went. My mom and I had a great time. It was so nice to just walk around together, try on clothes, and just have a chance to talk. We made our way through the whole mall without making a purchase. I found a pair of jeans that I really wanted, but I needed a different size. The store they were at is in almost every mall in South Africa, so my new goal is to hit all the Foschini's from here to Jo-berg until I find these jeans. We left the mall and found some other stores to browse through. I found a dress for Jori to wear when she gets a bit older, but other than that, we left empty handed. We started going down some side streets poking through some boutiques, but I guess neither of us were seeing anything that we just had to have. We got a text from Darin and decided to meet up at the mall again for coffee. We finished our snack, and then I had one last stop to make before we headed back home. I made my way to a hairdresser to get my eyebrows waxed. It had to be done. You guys out there may not understand, but most of you ladies know that if I waited until I got back to the often dreary state of Michigan to get my brows waxed I would have a very noticeable white line below my brow. At least out here I have a chance to even out the tan on my eyebrows, although I have been hearing that Michigan is seeing some sun right now too.

Aren't you all feeling so much better now that you know how I spent my morning? We got back home a little before noon. Papa and Tyson were hanging out on the front porch together and Jori was taking a much needed nap. Those of us who had gone to town ate a quick lunch and started packing up our things for the beach. Jori woke up a bit sooner than we expected, so we piled into the van and headed out.

We got to the beach a bit before 1. It was a beautiful, sunny day, but there was quite a lot of wind at the beach. Wind and sand are not the most pleasant combination as you can imagine. We saw a bunch of people using big rocks as a kind of blockade from the wind, so we tried to do the same, only our rock was not wide enough to offer much protection. This didn't seem to affect anyone but my mom and me, as we were the only ones trying to lay out. The kids were running all over the place, Darin was wondering around the top half of the beach, and my dad was combing the bottom half for shells. My mom decided to join my dad, so that left me to keep an eye on all of our things. I was laying face down most of the time to keep the sand out of my eyes and mouth, so I don't know that I would have noticed if someone had sneaked up and grabbed one of our bags, but I did peek up every once in a while. Jori wandered up by me after a bit and I decided to bury her legs in the sand. She thought that was great fun. Tyson decided to join her a bit later. Darin came and helped me bury both of them so we could surprise grandma who was on her way back to our big rock.

After my mom came back and told us there was less wind where she and my dad had been, we decided to pack up all of our stuff and head over there. I wish we had gone their first. Not only was there less wind, but there were tide pools with all sorts of cool creatures, little caves for the kids to hide in, and a big rock to climb up. Darin, Tyson and my dad all headed up the rock first. There was a ladder bolted on to the bottom of the rock to help the beginning of the climb, so they all skittered right up. Tyson was having a great time being one of the guys. They were having so much fun that I decided to join them too. I am glad they told me to put my shoes on because the rocks up there were so sharp. Again, the combo of heights, water and my kids was too much for me. I did climb up to the top, but was so paranoid that Tyson was going to blow right off the rock into the swirling water below. I think my fear rubbed off on Tyson who started saying he wanted to go down NOW.

We climbed back down and headed to the tide pools. There were anemones, clams, a jellyfish, and more. The water in the tide pools was nice and warm, so Tyson was having fun splashing around in his private “pool for one”. Jori and my mom joined us and we tossed her in one of the tide pools too to get some of the sand off of her body. Then we headed back to where our things were and checked out a couple little caves. The sand in the caves was nice and cool and soft. Once again, it was amazing to see all the the hands of God have made. Really, who but God could make an anemone that closes itself up as soon as you touch it, or a jellyfish that looks like a harmless blob, but is able to defend itself, or rocks that look like castles?

We had been at the beach for over two hours and were all starting to feel a bit burned. So we packed up our stuff and started walking back to our van. Jori ended up having a major breakdown and I had to carry her up the hill. Fun fun. We made it to the van, piled in and headed back to our cottage. For the rest of the afternoon, we sat around outside and watched the wildlife that lives in the complex where our cottage is. There are so many Guinea Hens around here. I just love those birds. They are so funny looking and when they take off running I get the giggles. I managed to take a little video of them running, after my mom sneaked behind our cottage and scared a group of them towards me. There is also a small herd of Bontebok, which look pretty similar to the deer we see in the states. They are so tame that my mom managed to get within two feet of the baby and even Tyson and Jori were within 6 or 7 feet of it too. There are also some ugly looking ducks, pigeons, and all kinds of other birds that just come on our lawn and start squawking.

Being down here, you could totally forget you are in Africa. It looks so much more like somewhere in the Pacific Northwest, or even parts of Michigan. It is cooler here because we are so close to the ocean, and even the trees and grass are different from what we had up in Hammanskraal. I think it will make it easier to make the transition to being back home after spending so much time away from our “Africa House” and being in a totally different environment, but Darin and I both really miss OUR Africa right now.

It is just after 9. The kids have been in bed since 6:15. They were totally wiped out. We already played both of our card games, watched some news about the election, and now Darin and my dad are watching a Cricket game. Why? I don't know, but they are. Tomorrow we are heading to Oudtshoorn, which is famous for its Ostrich Farms. After tomorrow, some of us will be able to add Ostrich riding to our list of things we have done. From Oudtshoorn we head to Graaff-Reinet, where we will be sleeping for the night. The night after that we are staying in Bloemfontein and then we will go to Sasolberg, staying with Fenna and her family. Fenna is the niece of “Oma” Tena from our old church in Bellflower. Darin and I actually stayed with them the first time we were in Africa in 2002. Then, six days from tonight, we will be boarding the first of three planes that will be taking us back home to Michigan. Time sure is flying by.

How we spent the election day 11/4

So, while those of you in America were busy voting and watching your TVs for the latest election news, we were out seeing the sights in Knysna and Plettenberg Bay. Ok, so you were all probably sleeping when we first got up, but we had a long and busy day. When we got up this morning, Darin called ahead to some places to make sure we could do all the things we wanted to do today. We were all ready for some real adventures and the day did not disappoint.

Our first stop was the Knysna Elephant Park. I missed my chance to walk with the elephants by Hartbeespoort Dam, but there were two elephant parks near Knysna so we decided to check one of them out. We got to the park a little after 10. We started by watching a short video about the elephants in the Cape and also about what to expect during our encounter with the elephants. Just before the video finished, Tyson kicked over a bench that was holding two plastic pails full of fruits and veggies that we had purchased to feed the elephants. We were off to a great start!
Next we boarded a trailer that was pulled by a tractor and headed out to see the elephants. We rode past a mom and her two year old baby. They were not going to be in the group that we were going to get up close to because the mom would have been too protective of her baby and that would have caused some problems. We got over to where the elephants were and all piled out of the trailer. There were 5 or 6 handlers out there and about 8 elephants, including 2 babies-a 9 month old and a 15 month old. There was a wooden railing and as soon as our tractor pulled up, all the elephants lined up behind the railing.

The first thing we did was take our pails of food and start feeding the elephants. It was so much fun. The two babies came out from behind the railing right away and were just walking around by all the people. Most of the big ones stayed behind the railing, although their trunks were long enough that they could reach quite a long ways to where we were standing. Tyson and Jori loved feeding the babies. They were both hesitant to go near the big elephants, which was fine by me. Jori wasn't quite as confident as Tyson, but if our guide took her hand she would go over to the baby and give it a piece of orange. The elephants trunk felt so strange when they would take the food out of your hand. It was kind of prickly feeling. It seemed to me that the elephants that got the most food were the babies and the ones with the longest trunks. The others were out of luck. There was one incident during feeding time. Two elephants were fighting over some food and they caused quite a commotion. It happened so fast that it was hard to tell what happened, but they ended up on the other side of the railing and were heading towards us. The handlers were right there pushing them away and getting them separated. The bigger elephant was pregnant and they herded her away from the people and the other elephants. This ended up being Jori's favorite elephant of all, the one she cannot stop talking about. Why? Because according to Jori, that elephant was in a “time-out”. I think we've all lost count of how many times she has brought up that elephant. She even talked about “that elephant in time-out” during her bedtime prayer. “Why that elephant in time out? He a naughty elephant.” Jori Jori.

After all the food pails were emptied, it was time to touch the elephants. We were told to stay away from the backside of the elephants. My first thought was “oh, they might poop on us”, but then I realized it was because they could squash us without much effort. Jori was pretty content to just be held as all the elephants were now roaming around and most of them were pretty big. Tyson was unaware of any danger, so we really had to keep a close eye on him. We got lots of pictures of us petting the elephants, touching their ears, feeding bottles to the babies, and more. As with many other things, having the kids there made it harder to totally enjoy the experience because you couldn't ever totally focus on the elephants, but it was still awesome. We were out there for at least a half hour and all had a great time.

We left the elephant park around 11:15. Then we headed towards Plettenburg Bay to grab some lunch. After a tasty meal from KFC, we drove on to Bloukrans. What is the significance of Bloukrans, you ask? It is the location of the highest bridge bungee jump in the world. How high is it? Over 650 feet, or the equivalent of a 65 story building. Are you wondering why we were there, or have you figured it out? Darin and my MOST favorite show is “The Amazing Race”. We love to see the contestants face challenges like jumping out of a plane, milking a camel, or riding on a bike that has so much stuff piled on it that the contestant can barely keep the bike up. One of the stunts that they have done on several seasons of the show is the bungee jump. How could we be so close to the highest bridge jump in the world, and not take the plunge??

We got to the check in area and were told that once you paid there were NO refunds, even if you decided not to jump. Darin asked if I was sure I wanted to do this and I foolishly said yes. So he paid for us both and it was time to get harnessed up. Of course we both had to make a pit stop at the bathroom first as we didn't want to pee our pants on the way down. After harnessing up, we joined our group of about 8 other people. I was the only girl in the group that was planning on jumping, although there were two moms who were going out on the bridge just to watch their kids. Our guide, Rhino (that really was his name), told us to follow him, so like sheep to the slaughter we all fell in line.

In order to get out to the jumping area, we first had to walk across a catwalk that was under the bridge. It was terrifying for me. It was a metal catwalk, but the bottom of it was like a fence that you could see through. I could hardly make myself take a step at first. I made Darin hold my hand and tried to look straight ahead. Every time my eyes decided to peek down I'd feel a horrible sense of panic. Then Darin said “I wonder how often they check this thing for rust spots”. Thanks honey. That is so reassuring to think about my foot falling through a rust spot while I am 650 feet about the ground. What a guy.

We made it to the platform and found out that Darin was going to be lucky jumper number 1. It was SO cold up there. Thankfully I had grabbed my moms sweatshirt, because if I had been up there in only my tank top, I might have had to head down before I even jumped. I went and huddled under a blanket next to the two moms while Darin was getting hooked up to the bungee cord. Then it was time for him to jump. Two guys put Darin's arms around their necks and walked him to the edge of the platform. 5,4,3,2,1 and off he went. There was a TV monitor where we were sitting, so I could see his face as he jumped and I could see his body dangling above the earth. It was so freaky, but just awesome. He'll have to tell you about what he was feeling, but when he was brought back up, he said it was great, other than the headache it gave him.

I ended up being the 4th jumper, so right after Darin got back up, it was time for me to get hooked up. I had to sit down while Rhino put some velcro things around my ankles/calves and then tied a rope between my legs and finally hooked it on to my harness. I wasn't really paying attention to what he was saying to me, and this would prove to be quite unfortunate. I was all ready to go. Two guys came and brought me to the edge of the platform. I was freaked. The one guy said “don't make it worse for yourself”, and then the countdown began. 5,4,3,2,1 and with a gentle nudge, I was free falling from 650 feet up. It was awesome, scary, exhilarating, terrifying, the coolest thing ever, and the dumbest thing I have ever done.

Within the span of two seconds, I had my eyes open, then shut, then opened them up again. It was amazing to look down and see the water, trees, rocks and hard hard ground rushing towards me. Then the bungee cord went taut and I was pulled back up towards the bridge. I was still doing ok, but then I went down and up again and felt the stuff tied on my legs slipping down. Did I mention that I was barefoot when I jumped? So here I am, being pulled up and down like a yo-yo high above the earth, and all that I can think about is that fact that my feet are about to slip through the bindings that are keeping me from falling to my death. I SERIOUSLY thought I was going to be the first fatality for this company. I am not a big girl. I have small ankles and my feet are slender. I was praying and saying “please Jesus, keep me safe” and at the same time I was flexing my feet, willing them to stay bent and not go straight. For surely, if my feet straightened and pointed up, they would slip right through the bindings and I would be dead. I knew that at any second someone was going to be coming down to hook me up for my ascent back up to the bridge (someone comes and hooks you so you end up in a sitting position instead of staying head down), and I was asking God to please send this person RIGHT NOW because I couldn't hold on much longer. Every once in a while, I would look around and think “it's pretty up here”, but then I would realize how far my fall to the ground was going to be and it was all I could do to not totally flip out. I am amazed by how calm I stayed in the moments before my certain death. Well, the guy came and got me, and when I told him to hurry because my feet were about to slip out, he just laughed. LAUGHED. The whole way up, even though I was now tethered to someone else, I still felt so horrible inside.

I finally made it back to the bridge and was reunited with Darin. He asked me how it was and I told him that the free fall was awesome, something I would love to do again, but I would probably never jump again because my feet almost feel out of the binding. He kind of laughed and said “oh yeah, mine felt like that too. I didn't want to tell you because I thought it would freak you out”. Huh?? You came back from jumping, told me how all sorts of bad things like getting a bad head ache, feeling like your face was being pulled off, and that you felt like you couldn't breathe, but you didn't tell me that you felt like your feet were going to slip out of the bindings???? If I had known that little bit of information, I could have asked Rhino about it and he could have eased my fears. But no, instead I spent almost a minute of my life believing I was about to die. Oh Darin.

While we were standing around, freezing, and waiting for the other guys to finish jumping, we did ask one of the workers if anyone's feet have ever slipped through. He also laughed and said “No, but if they did, you would still be tethered on to the bungee cord by your harness.”. Oh, yeah. And sure enough, when we watched the DVD of my jump, Rhino first ties up my legs and then hooks on the tether to my harness and says “you are tied on in TWO places”. If I had been thinking straight AT ALL, I am sure I would have realized this, but honest to God, in my mind, I was a goner. So, would I do it again?? You betcha. It was really amazing, other than the neck pain that I am now suffering.

While we were out on the bridge, my parents were watching our kids and trying to take pictures and video of us at the same time. It's a good thing that they were both there, because just before I jumped, Tyson stepped on a nail. It went right through his croc and into his foot. My parents both missed my big leap into space, but thankfully Tyson is ok. Darin and I weren't the only ones who ended up jumping. There was a small group going out after us and once we realized it wouldn't take over an hour, like it had taken for Darin and me to jump, my dad about ran to the cashier to pay for his chance to jump off the bridge. The kids were both screaming at him and telling him “Good job, Papa”.

After playing with elephants and jumping off a bridge, we decided to grab some groceries and head back to our cottage. It is just 10 o'clock right now, and even though there is election information on TV, my parents are both in bed and Darin is sitting on the sofa sleeping, just waiting for me to finish typing this up. Tomorrow we are planning to take it easy and head to the beach. We'll let you know how it goes.

Hermanus 11/3

On Sunday afternoon, we arrived in Hermanus. Hermanus is famous for being a place where whales can be seen from the shore. Soon after we found our B&B, Eastbury Cottage, most of our group headed out to see the whales. I stayed back with Jori who took a much needed nap. My parents and Darin and Tyson both saw a lot of whales, so after Jori woke up, we all headed out again so Jori and I could see the whales too. It was amazing. We were standing up on the cliff overlooking the bay and there were whales in the water within a few hundred meters of shore. We could see them blowing water out of their blow holes and some of them were breeching, so you could pretty much see the whole body. Several of them only had their tails up and they'd leave them up for a long time. Tyson and Jori were not so much into the whales. They preferred to run around on the grass and dig up dirt using pieces of plastic they found on the ground.

We stayed out until about 5. My parents stayed in town to have dinner and we took the kids home for some mac and cheese. We had been home about an hour when out of no where there was a HUGE downpour of rain. My mom and dad were planning on walking home, so Darin headed out in the van in case they were on their way home and stuck in the rain. He came back about 20 minutes later with my parents. Thankfully they had just left the restaurant when the rain started, so they didn't get too wet. The three of them saw a beautiful rainbow over the water and at the end of the rainbow a whale had its tail out of the water. We are hoping my mom captured the image with the camera, but we won't know til they get home because their camera screen is broken so we can't see the image.

Of course, we played cards again last night. Then we woke up this morning, the kids headed out to check out the whales with Papa and Gram, Darin went to Mugg and Bean to get on line, and I had some peace and quiet! We left Hermanus a little after 9 and started making our way towards our next stop, Knysna. Along the way, we made a few stops to check out an old church and the first post office in South Africa.

We made it to Knysna around 4:30. After getting the van unpacked, we took the kids to the pool. One end of the pool is a little over a foot deep. About 10 feet into the pool, there is a drop off that starts at about 4 feet and gets deeper from there. There is a line of tile that shows where the drop off is. The kids were in the water by themselves because it was quite cold and the adults didn't want to freeze. Tyson seemed to understand that he needed to stay away from that line, but little Jori was a different matter. While I was on my hands and knees pointing the line out to her and telling her not to go any farther, she stepped over the line. I reached out to grab her, scraped my knees and shin, but my arms weren't quite long enough to grab her. Thankfully Darin was right there and he jumped in. She was totally fine, but now has a healthy fear of that tile line!

We just finished playing cards and while I sit and write this, the other adults are watching Meet the Press. It's all about tomorrow's presidential election. Strange to be seeing that in South Africa. I just looked up and Darin is asleep, so I am going to finish this up. I'll leave you with something funny Tyson said in the car yesterday. My mom asked if anyone wanted a dutch cookie and Tyson said “if i eat this cookie will it help me speak dutch?” It was really funny, because Tyson and Jori both loving singing songs in dutch and learning dutch phrases from Papa and Gram.

Stay tuned for more adventures from Knysna.

Boulder's Beach 11/1

This morning, after eating pancakes made by Papa John, we headed off to Boulder's Beach to check out the penguins. Yes, there are actually penguins in South Africa. We drove along the coast for about 45 minutes. We went through a lot of cute little towns that I would have loved to stop in if we didn't have children along. We made it to Boulder's Beach right around 11. We had packed a picnic lunch and decided to eat that first before doing anything else. After lunch, we headed over to the penguins. We paid the entrance fee, then headed down the board walk. Sure enough, there were penguins all over the place. I must admit that they were not as cute as I had imagined, but that's because most of them were molting and had patches of bare skin and tufts of loose feathers sticking up all over the place. Whenever they did the little penguin waddle, all the ickiness faded away because they just looked so funny waddling down the beach. Tyson and Jori loved peeking through the railings and talking to the penguins. Our favorite penguin looked like he was in time out. It was standing all alone with its back to all the other penguins and it was facing a bush. A little while later, another penguin came and looked like it was having a little conversation with the naughty little guy. Tyson said that was the mommy penguin talking to her baby.

After watching the penguins for a while longer, Darin, the kids and I headed to the beach for a swim. Yesterday the kids played in the Atlantic Ocean with Pop and Gram, and today they were splashing in the Indian Ocean. It was COLD. I got wet up to my ankles and that was it. Tyson and Jori both went all the way in. Funny how the cold doesn't seem to bother kids. While the kids played with Darin in the water, I found a big rock to sit on. My mom came and joined me a while later, and then Jori decided that she also had to lay out. My dad made his way to the beach and then he, Darin and Tyson went and walked out on a huge rock that jutted into the water. The guys collected shells while the ladies got some sun. Too much sun for me and my mom. In fact, I have a huge hand print on my arm from my loving husband and his sorry attempt at putting sunscreen on me.

We stayed at the beach for over an hour, then decided to head out and drive towards the Cape of Good Hope, the southernmost point of South Africa. On our way there, we ran into a troop of baboons playing on the side of the road. We pulled over to the side and a huge male came over and sat right next to the passenger side of the car. He yawned a couple times and showed all his teeth. His fangs were HUGE. We kept the windows up because baboons are aggressive monkeys to begin with, but the ones that have gotten used to humans are even more so because they know they can get food from them. There were some cute little baby ones playing on the side of the mountain. It was fun seeing them all jumping around.

Doris led us to the Cape of Good Hope, but then we found out that you had to pay a fee to drive all the way down there. We decided it was not worth it as the kids were getting antsy and we had about an hours drive to get back to our cottage. On our way back up the coast, we stopped at a little restaurant called Bertha's for some dessert. Tyson and Jori both loved walking by the water looking at the seagulls.

We made it home around 4:30. My parents headed over to the internet cafe while we stayed back to let the kids run around for a bit and give them baths. My parents were gracious enough to let Darin and I go out to dinner on our own tonight. We went to an awesome Italian restaurant, right next to where we are staying. We had dinner, drinks and dessert for under $25, and we have plenty of leftovers for a meal tomorrow. It is crazy how cheap some things are out here.

Darin and I got home around 7:30 and then we played Canadian Salad and Up and Down the River with my parents. Now I am typing this post, the kids are sleeping and everyone else is watching some CNN program about the presidential elections. I am glad we are missing most of it, because I am sick of it all after 3 days of very limited exposure.

Tomorrow we head out from Cape Town and will be staying in Hermanus, where we hope to do some whale watching. Darin was going to go shark cave diving, but all of the packages he's looked into have you out on the boat for 4-5 hours. Poor Darin tends to get seasick, so he is thinking that going out to see for 4 hours would not be such a good idea. Disappointing for sure, but maybe he'll find a package with a shorter time at sea once we are in Hermanus. We'll let you all know what happens!

Cape Town 10/31

Before I tell you what we've been up to, Darin wants to make sure I wish you all a happy Reformation Day. That being said, we are in Cape Town. We are in the most beautiful “cottage”, which is what the lady we are renting from calls it. It is more of a condo, 500 meters from the beach, with a view of both Table Mountain and Robben Island, where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned. We won't be making it over to Robben Island, as today was booked and from tomorrow through November 16 they aren't taking people over there for some reason, so it is nice that we can at least see it. We did go to Table Mountain today, which I will tell you more about in a bit.

We left the Gariep Dam by 7:45 am. My parents were up before 5 and managed to catch the sunrise, which is beautiful even on video. They took the kids out to a playground after breakfast, Darin and I finished packing, and then we headed out. It was another long day of driving. It did not start well. Tyson was crying and saying he had an “owie tummy” and looked all pasty white. He was in the far back, so we switched him and Jori and then my mom held him on her lap and he held on to a plastic bag, just in case. He ended up falling asleep for almost an hour. It was funny, though, because if my mom would try to tip his head back to lean against her, he would pull forward so his face was almost in the plastic bag. Poor kid. He never did throw up, and seemed to perk up after sleeping a bit. We only made two long stops, and a couple roadside potty breaks for Tyson. For like 4 or 5 hours, there was NOTHING to look at, except for some sheep and cows. Seriously, it was barren.

We made it to the “Dune View Cottage” around 5:30. We would have been here sooner, but as soon as we got close to Cape Town, we hit traffic. Such is life in the big city. As I said before, the place we are staying is so nice. It has cement floors, which turn our feet black, but are awesome because there are no worries about the kids spilling anything or tracking in any sand or dirt. Darin and I ended up in the master bedroom. We did offer it to my parents, but having Jori sleep with them was part of the deal as her crib wouldn't fit in the other bedroom. We both have a view of Table Mountain, so it all worked out. Tyson is on his own in the 3rd bedroom. While we do have a beautiful place to stay and a great view, we also have lots of traffic right outside our door. It was so loud all night. Between the traffic and the wind coming off the ocean, I'm surprised I slept as much as I did.

Right after we unpacked the van, we headed across the road to grab some dinner. We went to Spur, as it is family friendly and has a play area for the kids. Tyson and Jori were both pretty restless and a little out of control, so it was a fast dinner and then back to our place to put the kids to bed. Once they were sleeping, we played a quick hand of Canadian Salad, then my parents went to bed and Darin headed back to an internet cafe that was right by Spur. I was going to stay up, but was so tired that I went to bed without him.

This morning we were all up pretty early. Once again Papa and Grandma came through for us this morning by taking the kids across the road to the beach. While they were gone, we found out that our video camera is no longer working. It could be from sitting in the blazing sun the whole drive down to Cape Town, especially since it says right on the camera “Do not leave in high heat, such as in a vehicle”. Bummer. My parents and the kids came back, and we all piled in the van and headed to Table Mountain. Once again we encountered quite a bit of traffic. Thankfully we had Doris with us, so we weren't just driving around aimlessly. For those who don't know, Doris is a GPS system that Leenstra's left behind for us to use. She's awesome. She even knows when there is a roundabout coming and tells you which exit to take to get out so you don't keep driving in a circle. Anyways, we made it to Table Mountain and thought we were in for a long wait because there were already so many cars parked along the road. However, when we were leaving, we realized that we were some of the early birds, as the line of cars now snaked down the mountain about 3 times longer than it was when we arrived.

So, Table Mountain, what can I say. We got to ride up on a huge cable car with a spinning floor. It was pretty sweet. You just stand there, the floor moves and you get to see a different view without doing anything. Table Mountain is about 3400 feet up, so the view from the cable car was amazing. Then we got off and I realized that being on Table Mountain was not going to be so much fun for me. Do you remember what I wrote about being at the Hartbeespoort Dam?? Well, my fear of heights kicked in big time. Don't worry, I wasn't hyperventilating or anything like that, but I was not enjoying myself. Having the kids up there was freaking me out. There were some lookout points where they could have slipped right through the barrier that was supposed to be holding us all back from the edge. When the other adults had the kids, and I wasn't looking at where they were standing, I was ok. It really was breathtaking up there. Then I would remember that my little babies, who tend to not listen, like to run away from adults, and had both already tried to climb on a “barrier” to see what was below, were up on a huge mountain and my stomach would drop and I would start breathing faster and my heart would race.

We left Table Mountain around noon. Then we took my parents to catch the boat to Robben Island, found out there were no spots left on the boat, drove around down town for a bit, then dropped my parents off by a church they wanted to see. It is now after 5, and Papa and Grandma have not returned. They are either taking a bus or taxi back to save Darin from driving through all the traffic. Darin is just starting to peel potatoes, Jori is watching cartoons, and Tyson is in time out. Life goes on as usual, even on vacation.

Til We Meet Again 10/29

Yesterday we said our good-byes. As you can imagine, it was not much fun. We headed over to TYB around 9, so we could catch the little ones before their naps. It was nice to play with them again, but also so hard knowing that we may not see some of these children again. I was doing ok until I said good-bye to Lobisa, the little 3 year old girl. She said “Auntie, you will come back tomorrow” and then I could feel my eyes filling with tears. How do you explain to a 3 year old that you are going away and will not be coming back to push her on the swing, or help her pretend to fly like a butterfly? There are so many volunteers coming and going, so the kids are familiar with saying good-bye, but still, they are so young and have already had so much loss in their lives. Once I started crying a little, I could hardly hold it back. We hugged all the kids, said good-bye to the Mama's, Papa's, Uncles and Aunties. I hugged the Harding's, said good-bye, then made my way to the van before I started bawling. Stompie followed us out and stood by the gate with his thumb in his mouth and his other hand on his ear, the classic Stompie pose.

Everyone else finished their good-byes and then we headed home to make lunch. Tyson and Jori were both so tired that they both fell asleep after we ate. My mom and dad both took naps, Darin was doing something on the computer, and I was able to have a nice talk with Mama Rebecca. She was asking about what it is like in Michigan and if we see elephants there. I told her that all we see are squirrels and birds, which she thought was strange. We also talked about our mutual fear of snakes for a while. I am so glad that we were able to sit and talk for a while without the kids running around and interrupting. I think that's the first real conversation we were able to have.

Around 1:45 we headed to town for one last visit to the internet cafe. While Darin and my mom were on-line, my dad was talking to the owner of the internet cafe about all sorts of spiritual things and I was sitting outside with 2 little girls singing songs. They were so cute. Cindy was 4 and Vicky was 2. Cindy counted to ten for me, and of course her little sister had to try to do the same. Then Cindy sang me a song in Setswana until it was time for us to go.

After leaving the internet cafe, we headed to Kentucky Fried Chicken to meet Julia, Bethuel's wife, who was going to follow us to Mama Catherine's. When we drove up to MC's, we could see that there were several vehicles on the yard, some pulling trailers. The tent was packed full of people, and we could see several white people, which was very odd. It turns out that a group from a church in California had been out in SA doing some mission work, and somehow they found out about MC's. They were doing some sort of program, handing out sandwiches to the kids, and also bringing medical supplies to MC and some toys for the kids. There were so many people milling around. It was kind of chaotic, but it worked. Mama Catherine was so glad that we could finally make it in the afternoon to see all the school kids in their uniforms. The kids all looked so nice. I am so very thankful that Julia was able to go with us. She speaks Setswana, so she and MC were able to communicate so easily and she could also talk to the children. I gave her the tour of the grounds and when we were finished she said “There is much to be done here”. That just made me feel SO wonderful inside, just knowing that someone else had been out to MC's, had seen what she was doing and the areas where help is needed. Before we left, Julia made plans to go out to MC's again. I know that God is at work. So many things have come together in a way that only He could have made possible.

It was so hard saying good-bye to all the children we have met at MC's. Musa, who is about 10 years old, told MC he wanted us to stay. I found little Tshepo in the crowd of people so I could carry him around for a bit. Four little girls were crowding around me, hugging my legs. It was just overwhelming to me to look around at all the faces of people we have come to know in such a short time and not know when we would be seeing them again. MC kept saying “You cannot go. You must stay here”. It was just hard to say good-bye and get in the van and leave. We kept heading towards the van, but then we'd think of one more person we wanted to say good-bye to, like Grace. Then the church group handed out soccer balls, and a huge game of shirts vs. skins started up. It really was so neat to see so many kids laughing and running around and having such a great time. I only hope that there will be more times like that for all those children in the future.

We did finally leave. We said good-bye to MC and her husband one last time, said good-bye to Julia, got in our van and drove away. Only God knows when we will see any of them again. I am hoping it is sooner rather than later.

I am so thankful to everyone who has offered help to MC. She kept saying that a weight has been taken off of her shoulders, and that she is just so grateful for all the things that we were able to do for her. I know that many people are also praying for MC and the work she is doing. Keep praying. There is still much work to be done.

We finally made it back to our house at 4, which was a bit later than we had planned on. Tyson and Jori were having a lot of fun with Mama Rebecca. They had been busy helping Amos too. It was time for more good-byes. We have gotten so used to seeing Amos almost every day and having Mama Rebecca come to our house. Tyson and Jori had colored pictures for them and it was so sweet seeing them give their pictures and say good-bye. It just made me sad. They are so young, and they just don't get it that we aren't going to be seeing Amos or Mama Rebecca again. We were able to spend almost an hour with them, and then Mark came, picked them up and they were gone.

After spending some time packing some stuff up and eating French Toast for dinner, we headed to Tamboti for one last round of dessert. In some ways, it was a mistake to go. The kids were so tired and it wasn't very pleasant having them along. It was nice to say good-bye to Derrick and Pixie and Sam and have one more bowlful of Cape Malva pudding. On our drive home, Jori said “We see Amos and Mama Becca”, which made me sad again. We got home around 7:30, gave the kids baths, and put them to bed. Once they were asleep, we played Canadian Salad with my parents. Then Darin and I finished packing up and finally went to bed around 11.

This morning the kids were up around 5:30. Darin let me sleep for another 45 minutes, but then it was time to get moving. I just felt so heavy all morning. It was so sad to think we were leaving our Africa House and we wouldn't be coming back. And yes, I did cry. This has been our home for 2 months. Two WONDERFUL months. We really have been so blessed by this experience. It is overwhelming to think of going back home and losing the closeness that we've experienced here. It's always stressful trying to get packed up, but it was especially hard this morning because I was so emotional. We did eventually get everything packed in the van. Amos arrived earlier than usual, so we were able to say good-bye to him again, which was nice.

After a very long morning, which included picking up our original car in Montana, bringing it back to it's owners in Johannesburg, and heading to Sasolburg to drop off our extra luggage, we finally got on the road towards Cape Town. We encountered a lot of road construction on the way, which added a good hour to our trip. We finally made it to Forever Resort Gariep Dam at 6:30, made some mac and cheese, and put the kids to bed. Now it is just after 10. We just finished playing two rounds of Canadian Salad and now we are heading to bed. Our next stop is 3 nights in Cape Town. It will be nice to be in one place for a little while. Til later.

Back to Pilanesburg 10/27

It's Monday night. The kids are in bed, Darin and my dad are getting ready to head over to TYB to go on-line and talk to Mark about some stuff for MC, my mom is resting on the couch, and I'm writing this post. We got back from the Pilanesburg area around 4:30. We had a wonderful time and saw so many awesome things.

We left our house around 7:30 Sunday morning. Our first stop was the Hartbeespoort Dam, which everyone except yours truly enjoyed. I am not a huge fan of heights or water, so being way up high looking down on water is not my idea of a good time. Having my kids way up high looking at water is enough to make me sick. Seriously, my stomach hurts just thinking about it. We all made it safely back to our vehicle and headed off to our next stop, but before I get to that, I want to report that we are so happy to NOT have the POS van that we took to Pilanesburg with Jason, Liz and Robin. We lucked out and got an SUV for not very much more money thanks to the workings of one of the volunteers across from TYB. We can actually fit a couple suitcases behind the back seat, so we are super excited for that. I'll call it a van anyways, because that's what I'm used to) Getting back to our trip, after the dam, we went to the Elephant Sanctuary. I was totally stoked to go walking with the elephants, but it was not to be. We found out that the elephant walking was part of a two hour program that included feeding, brushing, walking and other elephant activities. We did not have two hours to spare, so we did not get to walk the elephants. Maybe next time : )

We kept heading towards Pilanesburg and I think we entered the gates around 10. It was a beautiful day and we were ready to see some animals. There is no way I will be able to remember all of the things we saw or in what order, so I'm just going to put it all out there. We saw so many rhino. They were everywhere. We also saw a lot of elephants, but not up close like we did back in September. There were impala, wildebeest, warthog, waterbok, red hartebeest, and lots of zebra. We saw a little fox-like creature twice, almost hit several guinea hens, and saw a few groups of giraffe eating leaves that were way up high. We stopped and ate lunch in the park and let the kids stretch their legs for a while. We saw warthog, more guinea hens, and even a rhino while we were having lunch.

Soon after we left the lunch area, we saw a few cars stopped on a rode straight across from us. So we turned around and headed over to see what they were looking at. When we got there, we could see the driver of one van pointing something out to a driver a few cars ahead of us, then he spoke to the next car and the next. Finally, it was our turn. What was so interesting that this guy was staying put to pass it on to so many other people? Do you want to know? Really? Ok, I'll tell you. Right at the base of the hill, under a curved tree branch, there were some lions eating a zebra. I KNOW!! Of course, I couldn't see a thing at first. It turns out I was looking under the wrong curved tree branch. Even when I knew where to look, it was still hard to see. Then one lion stood up, looked over our direction with blood all around her mouth, walked a little ways away, and then plopped down in the tall grass. Another lion soon took her place. You could see the zebra's leg flopping back and forth as the lion tore at the meat. Darin even took a video and you can see the zebra being eaten! It's pretty amazing. Our kids had no clue what was going on, and they really couldn't see much of anything. Tyson did ask if the zebra needed a bandaid, so Darin filled him in on the whole circle of life, or whatever you want to call it. Sad for the zebra, but pretty awesome for us to see.

After seeing the lions, we could relax our eyes for a while. Up until that point, we had all been straining so we wouldn't miss any lions that might have been hiding out. We saw more rhino and elephants and hippos, and a whole lot of other game. Our kids were getting pretty restless, so we started making our way to our game lodge, Bakgatla, which was actually in the game reserve. We got there around 4:45 and as soon as we brought our bags in to our chalet, we put on our swim suits and headed to the pool. Tyson and Jori had so much fun. I don't know how many times Tyson had asked “Now can we go swimming”, while we were driving. I think he even asked when we were watching the lion eat the zebra, so he was obviously excited about going swimming. The water was not very warm, but that didn't stop them from having a great time. There was a kiddie pool, and it was shallow enough for Jori to sit in, and if she kept her head tipped back a little bit, she even kept her mouth out of the water. She thought it was hilarious, and we all did too. Just a little head poking out of the water.

We let the kids swim for about an hour, then went back to our chalet to get ready for dinner, which started being served at 6:30. This is usually when our kids go to bed, and neither of them had taken a nap, so they were pretty wound up. Thankfully, the dining room was really empty, and there were a few other kids who were also running around, so they didn't create too much chaos. Dinner took a long time to be served, and when it did come, our order wasn't quite right, but we ate, had drinks and dessert, and then headed back to put the kids to bed. Once they were sleeping, the adults started playing Up and Down the River, a card game. Our intention is to play every night and keep a running total of points. We haven't decided on what the winner will get, but I'm sure we'll come up with something.

After a very good nights sleep, we woke up this morning and headed straight into the game reserve when the gates opened at 6. The animals tend to be most active early in the morning and at dusk, so we wanted to maximize our opportunities for spotting game. We saw warthog and impala right away. We saw a few rhino too. We were trying to decide what road to turn down, when two game drive vehicles came past us. We decided to follow them to where ever they were going, because the drivers often radio each other if they see something exciting. We turned on a dirt road and could see cars and game trucks all lined up on the side of the road. We made our way over and were told by one of the guides that there were at least 5 lions in the area. We had to wait for some of the traffic to clear up, and then we saw them. Two lions, a male and a female, were laying under some trees. The area must have burned recently, because there were only bare branches and hardly any tall grass. That made it so much easier to see the lions. One of them stood up, but only for a moment. We backed our van up a bit and we could see where a few more lions were laying under a bush. You could see them move around a bit, but otherwise they looked like rocks from our vantage point. After taking some pictures, we drove ahead a little bit where a few other vehicles were stopped. Right in plain sight was a huge male, just lounging in the burnt field. His back was to us the whole time, but you could see him perfectly. We took more pictures, waited in vain for him to get up, then finally drove off.

We decided to head back to Bakgatla to have some breakfast and get ready to go. We all ate together, then my mom and dad took the kids to the pool (Tyson had put his suit on before we headed out at 6!) so Darin and I could go back to the chalet, get ready, and pack up the van so we could be ready for the 10 a.m check out. We got everything finished, turned in our key, then went to watch the kids swim for a bit. They were laughing and splashing and having a great time. We let them swim for a little bit more, but then they had to get out so we could go see more animals and also because the sun was shining pretty brightly and they didn't have sunscreen on (bad mom, I know. Jori had major tan lines just from being out for less than an hour this morning!). We headed out around 10:30, and started making our way to the gate we had come in through the day before. We knew our kids wouldn't be able to last for too long in the van, and we had already seen so many wonderful things. We did see some rhino right next to the road. There was a mom and baby on our left side and two other rhino on our right. We also saw some kind of bok that was only a few days old. It was so small and cute. It was chasing a guinea hen around, which its mother did not approve of. We saw more hippo just before we left around noon. Jori had fallen asleep, so we decide to give Tyson some fruit snacks to keep him happy, and drive on to Chameleon Village for lunch.

We made it to Chameleon Village around 1. The kids were both awake and crabby. Thankfully, they could run around outside while we waited for our food. After eating, it was time to shop. I had a list of things I wanted to get, but kept getting side tracked by the vendors telling me that I must come see their shop next. I wish I had taken a picture of the place. It's like a giant indoor flea market, with all little booths. So many of the people are working together, so if you are looking at something in one shop, but don't like the color or the size, they just run over to their partners shop and bring you what you are looking for. I let Darin do all the haggling once I had picked out what I wanted. Papa and Grandma bought the kids each a little something, which they were just thrilled with. At lunch, Tyson had whispered to both Darin and me that he wanted a crocodile, which was an odd request because he has never talked about crocodiles and we didn't see any at Pilanesburg this time, but whatever. So Tyson is the proud owner of a wooden crocodile, and Jori has a new dolly, with a baby on its back. We were at Chameleon Village for a couple hours, then we packed up and started for home. Tyson fell asleep, Jori played with her new doll, and after a quick stop to pick up some milk, we made it back home in time to see Amos before he was picked up by Mark.

Now it is just after 8. The guys are still gone, my mom is in her room reading. I can't believe how much I've written. I also can't believe that tomorrow is our last day here at our Africa house! I started packing a bunch of stuff tonight because I know that there are so many things I'll want to do tomorrow. We are hoping to leave pretty early on Wednesday morning so we can get to our first B&B early enough to look around a little bit and enjoy some of the fun things they have on site. We're staying at another Forever Resorts (like at Bela-Bela), so there should be plenty to do. I'm sure Darin will find plenty of internet cafes to stop at on our Cape Town trip, so you'll be hearing from me!