Who Can Resist?

In the end you just have to pick her up!

Playdate

Andy reading to Isaac, Levi & Lela. Not pictured: Alyssa, Aaron and Anna Laurie, likewise enthralled with Andy's reading style.

Kyla and Joel made friends right away.

Thanksgiving

Number 11

Our front door...


As you can see, Peter had plenty of helpers for the move.


Isn't our kitchen cute?

More pictures after I get more boxes unpacked. :-)

The Move

We are now moved/moving into our own cute little apartment. It is in a great location and the apartment itself is beautiful (and did I mention small?). It is a one bedroom with tile floors throughout. I'll have to post some pictures as soon as I can get a reasonable amount of boxes cleared away.

Kylie

Soooo Close

We are [] this close moving into an apartment. Some "issues" have cropped up but we are hoping they will be worked out in a couple of days. Meanwhile I haven't written anything because I am making sure I am ready for a move! :-)


Sisters

Ping Pong

This picture is of Peter playing on a friend's homemade ping pong table in Mozambique. I understand now they have the table painted green and everything. Is this an example of the phrase "necessity is the mother of invention"?

"Big" Brother

Wonder what Levi is thinking about his new baby sister!

Kyla

My beautiful new niece. Born 10:15 AM September 11, 2007. She weighed 9 lbs. 8 oz.!

Waterfall

Our photographer was trying to get in as much of the waterfall as possible. I like the way it came out even though my eyes are closed in the picture.

Waterfall in NC

I love this photo of Peter and a good friend of ours. I set it as the background on our computer (which I change nearly every other day) and it gives the desktop amazing depth! (At least it gives the illusion of depth.;-))

An African Wedding

On the Way to Church

We drove part of the way and walked the rest. Mostly because the car wouldn't fit on the road at that point.

The Perfect Day for a Mud Bath!

Makes you wonder why they named it Addo Elephant Park...

A South African Elephant

Notice the spider web in the foreground? The visible contrast between the delicate vulnerability of the web and the sturdy, potentially destructive force of the elephant is amazing. (The elephant ended up turning around, leaving the spider web unscathed.)

Home Again

We made it home! And so glad to have done so too! I have been spending the last week catching up on sleep and unpacking - and unpacking and unpacking... We got to stop by my mom and dad's house on the way back from VA to MS and spend the night. That was really nice. I hope to spend even more time with them before they leave for Africa in a few months.


This photo is of the lioness we saw in Addo Elephant Park near Port Elizabeth, South Africa. Of course, we zoomed in on her but she really was quite close to us. I am not good at judging distances but she was close enough for us to talk very quietly and not to want to hang any limbs out of the window! If you look closely you can see blood on her chest and face. :-o

Our 2nd Anniversary!

We had a wonderful time. We went to a small B&B in Matola for supper. It was so nice to just sit and talk, just us.

In other news, Peter has gone on a trip with is dad up north. They will be ministering to some churches up there. They won't be back until June 9th. I miss him already!

I am going to try to do a better job of keeping my posts updated. With the slow internet, it takes so long to do anything that I usually end up vacating the seat in front of the computer before anything to make way for others who need to use it.

Just 19 more days before we start for home!

P.S. I had no idea the picture was going to be that big!
P.S.S. Like my new haircut? :-)

Long Time No Type

A lot has hapened in the last three weeks. During which I have not had the ready access to the internet that I am used to. (I know. Spoiled American...) Peter's parents have internet capabilities that we can take advantage of. It is verrrrry slooooowwww. One really nice thing we were able to do, is download Messenger, hook up the headset, and talk to Jessica and the kids last night. It was so nice to hear their voices! Lela assured me that she would give Levi a kiss for me. :-) I can hardly believe that he will be one year old this month!

Anyway...about our trip. We got into Johannesburg the 28th and bused down to Port Elizabeth a day later. What was supposed to be a 15 hour bus ride took 19 hours because the bus was broken down for four of those hours. Over all, though, I would venture to say that the bus trip was more comfortable than the plane trip (which was something like 17 hours). The bus seemed bigger because of the huge windows. We rode on the top deck and were able to get out of the bus periodically for food and bathroom breaks.

The wedding was really nice. We got to spend some quality time with couple-to-be before the wedding which was really what I was hoping for. Rachel and I were already good friends but our guys had never met. They ended up hitting it off nicely. While we were there we got to go to an elephant park. Would you believe that on my very first trip to a game park of any kind, I got to see a lion?!? Well, a lioness to be exact. Most of the people I was with had been multiple times but had never see a lion. There are only six lions in the entire park so the chances of seeing one were very slim. This lioness was sitting in the shade on the side of the road, cleaning up after a meal. She hardly paid any attention to us. We had just got through speculating on why we hadn't seen any animals at the watering hole just a short ways away. We did get to see lots of elephants, zebra, ostrich, and, of course, wart hogs. We also got lots of good pictures. The problem is we can't access them right now. Because there are so many we had them saved on dvd. Unfortunately, Peter's parent's computer can't read dvds. We have a plan in the works to get to the photos though. So hopefully, I can put a few up here.

Maybe in a day or two I'll post the story about our trip from Port Elizabeth to Mozambique. Whew! I'm still tired just thinking about it! :-)

Last Minute

Whew! I think it will be nice to finally get on the plane so I can sleep! We still have a few days to go for that leg of our journey but we are leaving eeeaarly tomorrow for the first leg. We'll travel north towards DC stopping to visit a couple of good friends along the way and stopping to visit a few more when we get there. We'll fly out Tuesday around noon and (I think) that's when I finally be able to relax a little bit! This post will most likely be my last one for several days. What with traveling and visiting I doubt I'll post again until we are in Africa.

On a slightly different subject, I bought Rachel's wedding present last night. Shhhh! I can't tell what it is for fear she might read it! ;-) I think she will like it though. To give credit where credit is due, it was Jessica's initial idea. She and Ed got one for Josh and Rachel's (the other Rachel) wedding, Josh and Rachel gave one to us for our wedding. It was a hit both times. Simple. Whimsical. Mostly Fun. In a sense, practical (but only in a sense ;-)). I'd better stop before I either bug y'all to death or give it away!

Anyway, I'm off to pack the last minute things. Talk to you later!

Say Cheese!

Peter bought us a digital camera yesterday! Hopefully, that will translate into some pictures here soon.

Time Flies

It seems like events are moving faster and faster. We will be leaving for DC this Saturday and flying out a week from tomorrow. There is still so much to get done! I also want to call a few friends before we leave - I have a list actually. So far, I feel like I've done good to call my parents, brothers and grandmothers! I'm having fun planning what I'm going to take in my carryon - books. Ok, I'll take some other things but as long as I have a steady supply of books I should be fine. Can anyone recommend a book I just abosolutely HAVE to read?

South Africa

To Pack or Not to Pack

Peter confirmed our tickets last night. We should be getting them in the mail today or tomorrow. I have a list of things I have to get before we go. It just hit me yesterday that I have just over a week before we start the first leg of our trip! Yikes! Do I even have time to be sitting here typing this?!? I am trying to decide exactly how much shampoo do we use over the course of three months? Deodorant? Soap? Toothpaste? I would definitely rather take too much as opposed to too little. I'm sure everyone else would rather we did too. I'm sure if it came down to it we could find all the neccesaries overseas too but what about my BRAND of shampoo? Is that too American of me? Probably. In fact, I'm already embarrassed that I even wrote on the issue. (I'm thinking maybe three tubes of toothpaste - or four to be on the safe side...) ;-) Anyway...

Peter also found out that we can each check two bags that cannot weigh over 50 pounds each. I'm pretty sure the last time I flew overseas (almot 6 years ago) it was 70 pounds. Maybe I should leave off that extra tube of toothpaste. Ah! I just had an epiphany! I should take extra toothbrushes too. Scary that I almost forgot that! Yep. The 4th tube is definitely going to have to stay. :-D

Tickets!

Peter bought the tickets yesterday! We are set to leave March 27th and will return June 19th. Lots to do!

Still Waiting

Still waiting for my passport to get back - not that I expected it to be back by now anyway. I'm hoping for Monday but that may be way too optimistic. The application said 3 business days (which would be Saturday or Monday) but the website said 2 weeks - which explains why we haven't bought the tickets just yet.

I asked Jessica this morning what she recommended I take for a 3 month stay in Mozambique. "Besides the 'no, duh' stuff" I said. Then I paused, "No, actually you may want to include the 'no, duh' stuff - you never can tell how duh I'm going to be!" We had actually started a list when there were two different calls for each of our husbands (who WERE both off today). It seems there was a train derailment in Hattiesburg and Ed had to go into work (EMT) and one of Peter's co-workers got sick and he had to go in too (tax preparer). Needless to say, the list fell by the wayside.

I am trying work extra to get all the files filed away at work. They had started piling up because I ran out of drawer space and had to wait while they got another cabinet. I've almost got it caught up. I worked on it so much yesterday that I dreamed about files last night! Big, heavy, legal size files. Stacks and stacks of them. It was awful. It was nice to wake up and know that I am actually almost done with them!

Travel Plans

So far, the main thing holding us back from buying tickets is my passport. We had to send it off to get the name changed to my married name. We sent it expedited yesterday but I have no idea how long it will take. We were hoping we could leave by the end of the month. I guess we're pushing it pretty close. But, hey, there's joy in spontaneity too! It is our privilege as a young married couple with no children (yet) to be totally spur-of-the-moment! *excitement*

Yard Sale

Jessica and I collaborated on a yard sale today. We actually did pretty good for so early in the season. The morning started out chilly and slow but warmed up and picked up around 10 am. I am thankful for the little extra pocket money and the lot less stuff in storage! I probably have lots more that I could have sorted out and sold if I had given myself enough time. I am happy with the way it turned out - but that's just the after effects of the money-in-hand. Over all, are yard sales worth it? Umm, lemme get back with you on that. One thing I do know is that it will be while before I'll want to have another one!

The Wonders of Water

I love the sound of waves crashing against the shore. I love the sight of the river flowing swiftly by. I love the feeling of the spray of the waterfall. The sound of rain thundering in the clouds fills me with awe. God has done so many amazing and beautiful things with water.

Someday

Someday soon I may be able to see this sight in person!

Who Am I?

Who am I, that the Lord of all the earth
Would care to know my name
Would care to feel my hurt
Who am I, that the Bright and Morning Star
Would choose to light the way
For my ever wandering heart

Not because of who I am
But because of what You've done
Not because of what I've done
But because of who You're

Chorus:
I am a flower quickly fading
Here today and gone tomorrow
A wave tossed in the ocean
A vapor in the wind
Still You hear me when I'm calling
Lord, You catch me when I'm falling
And You've told me who I am
I am Yours, I am Yours

Who Am I, that the eyes that see my sin
Would look on me with love and watch me rise again
Who Am I, that the voice that calmed the sea
Would call out through the rain
And calm the storm in me

I am Yours
Whom shall I fear
Whom shall I fear
'Cause I am Yours
I am Yours

- Mark Hall