"Mom, are we staying here until I'm big?"

“Mom, are we staying here until I’m big?” D asked me the other day.  I had a good laugh as I told her no and that we would hopefully be going home in about 14 more sleeps or 2 more Sundays.  We are starting to feel like we are in the home stretch now.  Over the half way mark at least!  Hard to believe we have been here for the entire month of July.

We have decided to hit the road again and make a slow drive to Johannesburg from here.   We have greatly appreciated our 2 weeks in Southbroom but are ready to do some more touring and excited to soon hopefully have Z’s passport in hand.  We booked our return flights home right out of Johannesburg rather than from Durban.  Generally passports would be couriered from the Embassy in Pretoria(just outside of Johannesburg) to Durban where families are staying.  We are choosing to pick ours up at the Embassy in Pretoria thus eliminating one of the 3 flights(from Durban to Johannesburg) and allowing us to drive there and see more of this beautiful country.    

The trip from here to Johannesburg is approximately 850km.  We are leaving on this morning, driving along the coast and planning to stop at a game reserve for at least one night.  Hopefully D can finally see her elephants(maybe even lions!).  We haven’t made many plans past that but are hoping to make some more bookings today. We will be driving in small spurts as to not create grumpy children.  Our plan is to be in Johannesburg to pick up Z’s passport on Monday morning and make more plans from there.  We are feeling refreshed enough to be in a new location.

D starts every day by asking what we are going to eat and where we are going to go.  We have meals planned fairly concise as to not over buy groceries so the first question is usually easy.  As to the where: we just tell her it is always a mystery!

Family feet in the sand!

One last braai!

You Win Some, You Lose Some

So we were originally told the Z’s passport would take a maximum of 7 days.  Monday would have been day 7 so after an inquiry by our rep here we found out that it probably won’t be ready until next week Monday.  To speed up the passport process we were to have applied for a temporary passport. Due to a lost document (we are not sure exactly where) Canadian High Commission put the application through for a permanent passport which takes closer to 14 days.  So we gained a lot of time in our super speedy Canadian Citizenship but have now had a delay in our passport by about a week.  Would have been comforting to have the document in hand but we know it is being processed and on its way here in the diplomatic pouch from Canada. 

We have done some exploring around the Southbroom area.  We enjoyed a banana farm which had a small butterfly conservatory, animal farm and play area for the kids. 

We visited a croc farm less than 5 minutes from here and enjoyed watching their weekly feeding.  This has apparently been the coldest winter here ever recorded(went down to a balmy 5 degrees!).  This has made the crocs extra sleepy but enough of them took time to eat to be entertaining. 

D and her baby crocodile!

Yummy! Chicken!

Don't fall!

Massive animals! At the end of the presentation the children were given a chance to hold a 4 month old baby crocodile.  They showed a couple of eggs(D was one of the lucky kids to get to take it home) and then she was the first volunteer to hold the crocodile!  Usually a tentative child in large groups we found it entertaining that she was the first to race forward and want to hold this little crawly creature!

The mothering and protective ability of a female crocodile is definitely one of God’s great creations!   

Hair, hair and more hair!

It was on my short list of things to do in SA to get D's hair done.  I knew that there would be lots of great places here and they should be much faster(and a whole lot cheaper) then home.  On our first day in Southbroom I asked a lady with great hair that worked at the coffee shop where she got it done and low and behold she was a hair dresser! Phindie does hair from home on her days off from the coffee shop and was willing to come to our house which was so convenient.  So after about 8 hours (we pushed 7 days on Wed and then quickly finished on Thursday) presenting D's new hair!!

Started at around 10am on Wednesday

Small poof at the top left by 5 that day.

D's new night time style as otherwise it hurts her head.

Beautiful!  Worth every 8 hours of patience!

Hoping this style can be left in for a couple of months.  Phindie did a great job and was super patient as D needed a number of breaks.  We are realizing more and more that labour is super cheap here.  Phindie charged us R150 for the hairdo which translates into less then $15. Makes it less then $2 as hour!  I'm bringing some fake hair packs home so if anyone wants a new do Phindie showed me how it is done!

The Beach House. . ..ahhhh. . .

We arrived in the lovely town of Southbroom at around 11am Friday morning.  This is a small ocean front area full of permanent and “summer” homes.  The lovely family(friends of our soon to be brother-in-law Adrain, huge thanks Adrian!!) we are renting from actually lives in Johannesburg but uses this as their holiday home.  When we walked through the doors of the home I think we all breathed a collective sigh of relief.  The space is gorgeous and at least 10 times larger than our place in Durban!  Tile floor,  LARGE kitchen, a dining room table(we can finally sit and eat at a table!), 4 bedrooms with their own washrooms, a roomy living space with enough comfy seats for all of us, a BBQ, an outdoor dining and sitting space and much to D’s delight 2 BATHTUBS!!   

Indoor and outdoor living space! 

Lots of outdoor space for D and Z to play.

Elize, from a rental company in town let us in and showed us around.   D happened to ask where Z’s was going to sleep as she didn’t see a Pack’n Play and Elise said she just had one dropped off at her office and we could pick it up to borrow.  We also inquired about getting some internet for one of our computers and Elise said we could use her business’s.  The office is just up the street and there are picnic tables out front.  So hopefully I can get a couple of posts in while we are here  Again we are amazed at how God’s hand is upon all aspects of this trip.  Even Pack’n Play’s and internet!

We aren’t sure exactly how long we are staying here and we are so grateful the owners have said to just keep them posted.  When Z’s passport comes in we will reassess the situation but for now we are just happy that one person can read in a quiet outdoor space and another person can watch TV without sitting 2 feet away from each other!!

We have now been twice to a lovely coffee shop in town that makes REAL coffee.  South Africa is not big on coffee we have found out.  There is now a great place up the street that also serves a delicious spiced chai latte much to my delight!  Our server the first day just so happens to also be a hair dresser so I’m hoping to have D’s hair done while we are here as well.

There are plenty of monkeys here!  We are told to close our windows when we leave the house and avoid leaving fruit out as they will likely help themselves thus making a big mess. They are apparently quite tame. At the coffee shop the one day there was a large amount of them in a tree nearby.  D and I went to investigate and they chucked food at us from the tree!  Super funny!  Pretty sure they are as bad as raccoons in a campground. 

Lots and lots of troublesome monkeys!

D finally got to experience her fist dip in the ocean and LOVED it.  Unfortunately she found out that it is a little salty and does not taste so great!  Did not deter her desire to go in but she is much more careful about putting her head in.  The water is pretty rough here right now and she loved wave jumping with her dad.  Her continual question now is “can I go swim in the ocean?” as the beach is just a short walk up the road.

We attended Margate Baptist Church on Sunday morning.  We joke that Gene googled “grey haired church in Margate” to find this place as they fit right in.  There was a small population of kids there and even a children’s message as well. The message was on knowing that we will face trials as Christians and how we need to cling to God even more during those times. 

We are praying that we hear news of Z’s passport this week but for now are trying to be thankful for the beautiful place we are living!

And finally. . . Giraffes!

D has been told since we had dates to go to Africa that Gene would take her to see elephants.  Today we got half way there as we went to a game park with a couple of animals.  It is no Kruger Park but we had the time today and it was a short distance away from our house so off we went.  Tala Game Reserve had no predators so only Giraffes, Rhinos, Hippos, Zebras and much more.  It was a great day trip for us and D was SOOO excited this morning when we told her we were FINALLY going to go see some animals.

Zebras at a watering hole.

Giraffes right out the window!

It was a great day but all were exhausted when we got home.  The girls had their naps on the van ride home and the men enjoyed theirs when we got home.  The kids are starting to get tired. . .a little crabbier then normal, some extra wining and testiness.  Z has 3 teeth on the verge of popping and has come out of her shell to show she has a very quick temper.  When angry she tends to slap her big sister and has even been seen to try to bite though hasn't made connection yet.  Needless to say we are ready to move to our new house tomorrow!
Our cottage in Southbroom is a 4 bedroom home which should bode lots of more space.  It is close to the ocean so hopefully D can finally get all the way wet in some warm water and a parent might be brave enough to go in with her.  This area is almost 2 hours outside of Durban so lots of new things to see to keep the adults busy as well.  We are leaving here right after breakfast in the morning so should be in our new location by lunch time.
Z's passport application went out yesterday so we are praying for a speedy response on this as well!  When Z's passport comes in we will look into earlier flights home though our travel agent said due to the business of summer the likelihood of fitting us all on an earlier return flight is not very high.  What ever will be will be.  We may just have 2 1/2 weeks to tour around South Africa!!
This may be my last post for a bit as we will not have WIFI in Southbroom.  I will continue to write and when I get some internet will post all I can!  

Over 2 weeks in . . .

Hard to believe we landed in Durban over 2 weeks ago.  We have been happy to enjoy some quiet days here with a couple highlights. 

Outside of Grace Family Church.

On Sunday we attended Grace Family Church in Umhlanga. This is a large over 1000 member church located right off the ocean.  Nothing like a great view!  It was a little different then what we are used too with loud music(D covered her ears) and smoke machines. The songs were still familiar and the message was on God’s Love and was very applicable for our lives as Christians.  

View from church parking lot.

Gene is on a committee for a mission in Cambridge, Ontario called the “Gleaners”  This program takes “unusable food” by Canadian standards and cleans, chops and dehydrates it into packages for shipping to countries in need.  The Container Ministries which runs out of Grace Family Church in Durban is a recipient of the Gleaners products.   On Monday we enjoyed a great lunch out with 2 wonderfully giving people who run this ministry.  We heard about how they operate and different things they are doing to help the many people in need here in South Africa.

Through conversation we also found out that the Container Ministry is Partners with Z’s orphanage in Matatiele.  We are realizing more and more that though the world is very land big it is small in community!

About every 2 or 3 days we are careful to have some down time were the girls can just “be” at the cottage.  D enjoys some time by the pool or playing quietly and Z usually catches up on some sleep.  Today should be our last day of paperwork and then we will just enjoy some more waiting until Z’s passport is in.  It will be nice to know that everything we can do has been done.   We are feeling so entirely grateful for God’s provision on this trip here is just a small list:

1. For good health and safety in travelling.

2. For 2 beautiful little girls who have traveled AMAZINGLY well.

3.For great food and wonderful fellowship.

4. For the many people God has put before us that have inspired us to do more to help those in need.

5. For SUPER speedy paperwork so far

Canadian Girls!!

Our 2 Canadian girls in their Canada shirts!!

This afternoon we were shocked to find out that Z's Canadian Citizenship has been granted!  This part of the process was to take 2 weeks and it took less then 24 hours for us to get confirmation!  Our rep here says she has never had a response this fast.
We have spent the last week waiting for the Court Order which came in yesterday(Monday).  Our application for Citizenship was sent out right away and we received the e-mail this afternoon that Z is now a Canadian Citizen.  We now have our Canadian Passport Documents completed and they will be sent out tomorrow.  This is the last part of our wait.  Super exciting!!
I have previous things to post from days gone by and will try to get to them tomorrow but had to write a quick note with the wonderful news!!
Our prayers have been answered in an amazing way!