Load shedding and the first delay. . .

 Summer in South Africa is a new experience for us.  There are a number of things to share on this but will save them for another post.   The biggest challenge we are facing right now is "load shedding".  The simple description of this is that Eskom(the largest hydro manufacturer for South Africa) does not actually have the ability to produce the amount of hydro that the country needs at this time.  Therefore, to avoid a nation wide blackout and total collapse of the power grid they simply turn grids off in a rotating manner.  Since we have moved to this house we go between 4-8 hours without hydro each day.  

The times the power is "supposed" to go out is posted online but it completely inaccurate so no one even looks at it anymore.  

We can't recall the power being out at our last location at all.  The house manager here joked that there must have been a goverment official living on our street. LOL.  

Most major businesses and grocery stores have generators and they kick in within minutes of the power turning off. 

We have a charcoal braii(BBQ) and a small gas burner to get us through the long stretches.  We keep large tubs of ice in the freezer to move to the fridge to keep our groceries cool.  

We have flashlights ready and electronic devices fully charged at all times so there are no surprises.

The WIFI and the home security systems both run off a battery backup.  When the power goes out we still have 2.5 hours of wifi use. Priorities, priorities.   Not really sure how long the security system is good for?

At church on Sunday at exactly 10am the power went out.  No one even bats an eye.  The electric guitar and bass simple packed up.  The worship leader told people to do there best to sing along where they could and an acoustic guitar kept all in tune.  The pastor just spoke extra loud.  So simple, so beautifully uncomplicated.  

We have altered out lives to make things easier in dealing with these outages but the biggest irritation has been the delay in our 1st wait.  Our court documents SHOULD have been back by Thursday but as the issuing office had NO HYDRO for 2 days at the beginning of the week we are still waiting. . . Trusting the Lord's timing on this one and counting our blessings where we can!  

We have adjusted well to this new house.  The middle 2 spend hours on the trampoline and in the pool.  D bikes around the house numerous times a day.  S continues to blossom, adjust(has even let dad pick him up a time or 2!) and sleep well.  We enjoy daily challenging games of Quirkle Rummy and Labyrinth.  School books come out on days when we don't have outings planned.  God is good, all the time.

Large avacodo tree, loaded.  Monkey love them. . .

The monkeys! S asks about them as soon as we step outside.

Our large Braii

Moving Day!

 On Tuesday we experienced our first moving day with S.  We had booked our first Airbnb knowing that it was a little tight for all of us but the location was perfect for trips back and forth to the baby home and we really didn't need to spend a ton of daytime hours there.  It served us very well and the inside was actually much larger then we anticipated!   It was also a great location as it was walking distance to groceries and coffee shops.  The kids even enjoyed the massive hill, especially sending dad down to get the balls that once headed that way were deep into the shrubbery at the bottom. 

D half way down our backyard hill

Someone told us that you pay extra for flat yards in Durban but in Johanesberg you pay extra for hills.  LOL.  The grass is always greener!

So on Tuesday we packed everything up and drove 7 minutes up the hill to our new house.  This new home is a breathe of fresh air.  We had eyed this place up on other trips but it was always booked up.  This time we managed to book it for 3 weeks. We have easily quadrupled our inside space and the outdoor space is flat and large!  Completed off with an inground trampoline, bikes, fenced pool, tree swing, large verenda and charcoal Braii.  The view of Durban is spectacular.  Hoping to enjoy some good days here bonding, adjusting to our family of 4 and relaxing.  

It also comes with a bonus cottage.  We haven't peaked inside but it is cute from the outside.  So if anyone should have a hankering for a quick trip to South Africa we have some extra space! 

Pool from the veranda.

Wrap around veranda and extra cottage

Durban coast, can see ships in the ocean at times.

Tree swing!

The trampoline!

A Family of 6!

On Jan 12 at 11:45am S officially became our son!  A very legal affair: a judge, a small office, reading of legal documents, confirming information, a signature from mom and dad and it was all finalized.  This simple process is due to the large amount of work done by individuals here before our arrival.  A file over an inch thick sat on the desk with ALL of the papers and reports necessary to ensure that all is done in proper order, with no room for questions or objections.  

Following court we arrived at the baby home to take S home forever!  All of us were very ready for this but sad also as our routine of playing and visiting the baby home was a highlight for us.  We plan to go back for a farewell party for S in a couple weeks, once he has bonded to us some and before we leave for Canada.  

S has come out of his shell over the last couple of days.  He now laughs and smiles at his siblings easily.  He is seldom cross or crying. He has no problem telling us what he wants and at this point if we can grant it we do. He has grasped this whole new world with gusto and destroys everything in his path!  So great to see! 

First night is already under our belt and he slept from 8-6.  Win in our books!  Praying he continues to sleep well at night so we can all enjoy or days here.  We have done our first napless day and he seemed to cope well with that too.

These are the next steps with approximate timelines, each item can not be filed until the previous is completed:

Court documents filed -about 7 days 

Canadian Citizenship - 24 hours to 28 days(there is never a pattern in how long this takes)

Canadian Passport - 5 working days following the grant of Cit

At this point we are now just waiting and waiting and waiting.  Please continue to pray that all will fall into place with as much haste as the Lord sees fit. 😊

Turning 6! and other things

 On Monday we celebrated E 6th birthday!  He had requested McDonalds, homemade pizza and cake.  All things we could handle from here to make a 6 year olds birthday wonderful.  We have all decided that McDonalds taste better in South Africa.  The kids get more french fries and the strawberry milkshake is MUCH more strawberrieee.  E was perfectly content to spend the day by the pool with his new brother to celebrate his day.  On our home days E spends on average 4 hours in the water.  Swimming is one of his favourite activities.    

Thank you to all in Canada that sent birthday greetings to him.  No one has ever had so many birthday songs sung to them to celebrate their big day.  Was extra special for all!  

A great 6th birthday!

Another standard South Africa activity for us is a flat tire.  Our first trip here years ago we experience 2 of them.   No biggy!  We just drove into the closest petrol station on the way to the baby home and a kind man found the puncture, pulled the nail and plugged it all while the kids sat in the car.  This service was a wopping 75 RAND and took about 15 minutes.  So far so good!

Thanks Richard!

We are now 2 days into full days of S visiting our home and each day he continues to get more comfortable with us.  We have figured out some triggers(saying "bye" causes him to tear up every time?).  He now tolerates "Dada" in the same room and even gave him a couple smiles and S like faces.  A BIG victory was the car ride home today, no tears at all!  Arrived back at the baby home for his bath and tuck in with a smile on his face.  Ahhh, does all our hearts good!  Huge thank you for all your prayers,  I never expected this much progress from the hysterical little boy after our car ride on that first day.  He continues to express himself more in leaps and bounds each day.  He is a huge talker and quite the jokester.  So fascinating to pick up on his little personality as we get to know him more.  

As we do our best to limit the crying and trauma, napping in a completely new location for the first time in his life can be a struggle.  Mom's lap is his home for now and there is really no better place at this time for him to rest. . .we have years to create other routines.  

Meeting the Family!

We are 3 days into visits and it is slow moving. . .while all the other littles seemingly enjoy us and the extra attention, our new son has decided we are a new entity to be watched very closely.  He has warmed to me some(as I seem to meet his need of carrying him around, safe cuddles and taking him where he wants to go).  Z and E are just child like competition . D can get him to laugh at his happy times.  Dad on the other hand is a new species to him and will take a while to not have him be glared at with an eye of obvious concern.  We have been here before and time will help build trust. 

We did our first visit off property today and the vehicle has become another obstical.  The last 2 years have not created alot of exposure for these children to anything outside of the home and people within it.  The vehicle is terrifying to him and at this time causes a fair amount of distress.  Trying to come up with some creative ideas to distract him and make it more fun on our 5 minutes ride to and from his current home. 

Tomorrow we have another half day visit and then Monday he will spend the entire day at our home.  Monday is an extra exciting day as it is also E's 6th birthday!!  It will be a very special day for us all!

We have been incredibly busy over the last couple days as most of our time is spent visiting the baby home, putting food on the table and sleeping but we have appreciated the home we have been blessed with.  Outdoor safety not so much meeting Canadian standards but we are used to that by now and accomodated accordingly.

Please continue to pray that our transition happens in its own time and we have wisdom to help our new son in as many ways available to us to have peace with the changes in his young life.   

Rocco, the dog came with the house.  Kids really enjoy him!

View from the outdoor cabana, being uphill has boded well over the last 2 days of torrential rain.

The hill in our back yard, much steeper then the picture makes it appear.  The kids have learned in a hurry that what goes down does not come back up.

    

Our long trip and jet lag

 It has been quite the 4 days!  It has taken until now to see a slow trickle of sleep patterns onto South African time but last night all slept from midnight until 8am.  Praying for even better tonight.  The night before E awoke at 1:30am and could NOT go back to sleep. It was a long day of random naps and trying to convince a very grumpy child that sleeping during the day was not a good idea regardless as to how tired he was.  

We have arrived at our first "home" away from home.  This place will be our home for the next 2 weeks.  The kids are enjoying the hot and humid weather and pool to go with it.  

Tomorrow is our first meet with our new son!  All of us are very excited!  We will be visiting his home and just playing with all the children there so he can observe us and interact at a level he is comfortable with.

Our travels in pictures.  

Getting ready for our 6 our flight from Toronto to Amsterdam.   The airport was a breeze, no lines to be found. 

Girls watching the sunrise in Amsterdam(this is at 4am old time, nobody had slept yet!)

Who needs first class?  We were blessed to have 6 seats for the 5 of us on our 11 hour flight to Johannesburg. E took full advantage to get some shut eye.

We spent Monday visiting friends before taking a short flight to Durban Tuesday morning.  This is the Indian Ocean from our plane window. 

 

Our current pool.

1, 2, 3, 4? GO!!

 It is with thankful hearts that we begin travel for this fourth adoption!  Another son, 18 months old!  We officially signed on to begin the process last January and here were are less then a year later ready to board our first plane on the long trek to South Africa!  God is so good!  

We are all as ready as we can be.  

Please pray for safety(and lots of patience) in travel.  We are simply amazed to be in this position and so grateful for all the support we have received through words of encouragement, gifts, and willingness to help in so many ways.   With all our hearts!  Thank you!