I can’t believe it’s been so long since my last update! Time has just flown! Here's what's been happening since you last heard from us... starting with today...June 28th - Today was my birthday! (but I'm not telling you how old I am) Yup! I had a wonderful day, starting with a phone call from my mom, then breakfast in bed from my family. This afternoon, I hosted a traditional birthday tea where all my friends came to my house for b
irthday cake and coffee and brought me presents! Lots of fun! (even though it still feels strange to throw my own birthday party :)
May 12th - David turned 7! (Can you believe it?!) He had a “goofball” party and we rented a jumping castle (thanks to Grandpa’s generosity). With 11 grade1 boys, it was probably the loudest birthday party I’ve ever been at! When the boys went home, we gave out Whoopie cushions as the party favor (you know, those balloon pillows that make that...sound... you know.) It was hilarious!
April 26th - Erwin turned 40 and we had a huge open house! (I lost count around 50 people) It was really a lot of fun! As you can tell from the picture, the kids had a blast choosing Daddy’s present. They bought him a goofy hat, bow tie, and a badge, and we made him wear it all day. I also bought him a professional back massage at the local spa. What a great day!
April 22-24th - Our church hosted the National
Raelynne (Grade 6) – Thank you to everyone who has been praying for Raelynne and her struggle with math class! She has made a remarkable turnaround and is “ace”ing it now! Thank you Jesus! She’s also pulling off honours in most of her other classes, including her Afrikaans class too! Apparently, she has a gift for languages. Well done, Raelynne! Other interests = reading books, drama club, singing in the school choir, being with friends, going to youth group, dogs (even though we don’t have one), etc.
Joshua (Grade 4) – is doing much better this year and says that he’s definitely more settled in school and life in SA. He’s doing very well in school and is maintaining honours in all of his subjects, all except Afrikaans which is around the 70% mark. He has made some really good friends at school/church (and is actually going to youth group every Friday). He has also discovered a love for playing soccer with David and watching the Euro Cup on TV. Joshua has also discovered a love for reading and highly recommends “The Wormling” series, by Jerry B. Jenkins, to all of his Canadian friends!
David (Grade 1) – This is a season of many “firsts” for David. #1 He learned to swim during our last school break (with the help of an excellent swimming teacher)! He can now swim all the way across the pool, tread water in the deep end, and then turn around and swim back. What a relief that is! #2…He has also learned to ride his bike without training wheels! Zoom, zoom… and #3…He can read! We’ve finished working through a set of Phonics books that I brought from
Rachel (Kindergarten) – Like David, Rachel has also had a ton of “firsts” this season. #1… She also learned to swim during the break. Now, she can jump into the deep end, tread water, and then swim the length of the pool to the shallow end. Hooray! #2… Rachel also took her training wheels off her bike. Now she’s a big girl too! And #3… She’s also learning to read! She has almost finished our set of Phonics readers and is making remarkable progress! Other interests = playing “dress-up” and “office” with Raelynne, and doing art, art, art! (she’s wants to be an artist when she grows up)
Erwin – He continues to be an excellent worship leader and pastor! Thursday night rehearsals with the worship team are one of my favorite times of the week – the team is growing and the “family” is enjoying rich times of worship/teaching/relationship building! He enjoys writing and working at his music in the office, but he especially loves getting out of the office and rubbing shoulders with people. From time to time, he’s a guest-lecturer for the
Shauna – I’m still doing the Reading Program at the kids’ school and it’s going sooo well! It has definitely been one of those things that has put “gas IN my tank”. I’ve been delighted to see so many of the students discover a genuine love for reading! That’s huge! Even the teachers are participating which makes the competition that much more fun! We’ve painted the hallway outside of the school office dark blue and have converted it into the Solar System. Every student has a rocket ship and they soar through the solar system based on “how many minutes” they read... Ach, it’ll take too long to explain the whole program… just know that it’s an awesome program and I love being involved at the school!
I’m also VERY involved with the Worship Department, even more so than last year. Because the band and the vocalists/choir meet on the same night (and everyone’s schedules are too busy to meet on separate nights), I’ve been given oversight to the singers while Erwin works with the band. Nice group of
I also went to a Prophetic Voice seminar a little while ago, during the training block that our church has every quarter! I’ve wanted to do it many times before, but the timing had never worked out. It was awesome! The teacher is a good friend of mine (she was actually Rachel’s preschool teacher last year) and she’s so good at “de-mystifying” the prophetic. It's supposed to be simple! "It’s all about Jesus… what is He saying?... what is His heart in this situation?... finding the gold in people (not the sin)" Lots of practical exercises too. I loved it! I’m currently helping Marinda develop/edit a manual for the Part II course that she’s working on with
- By this Christmas, we’ll have been gone for almost 2 years already! Didn’t that go fast? And even though we have times when we ache for friends and family in Canada, we don’t believe that our time is over yet in 
Well dear friends, once again I've written a book. I trust that you are enjoying the beautiful weather and looking forward to a restful summer holiday! We look forward to sitting with you face-to-face and chatting with you very soon!
And we bid you "tot siens" with one last picture of my "Birthday Breakfast-in-bed" this morning. What a precious family!
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