Life

-
It’s the last week of October, which means there are just over 2 months left until the New Year. How is it that time can seem to both drag on and fly by at the same time?

Tyson and Jori are in their last term of school. They will be starting exams in a few weeks. Yes, exams, in primary school. I still have a hard time with this as 4th grade seems just a bit early to be starting exams, but as with most school related stuff here, we just go with the flow. I don’t mind the first couple days of exams as we manage to get the kids to study beforehand for the first 2 or 3 exams. It’s the last 4 that are the killers as it is hard to get kids who have just taken two exams that day to come home and study for two more, and then you know there are still two more to go. It will be nice to have the long holiday break in December and January!

We still do not have any news on a house. So far, I am doing a pretty good job of not freaking out. First, it wouldn’t serve any purpose and second, all that stress would just cause my body to heat up and I am already hot enough with the weather we are having. Thankfully there has been some glorious rain recently, which does cool down the nights and early mornings. It also makes the air a bit heavy, but you can’t win them all!

Last week was pretty slow, which was nice as this week is going to be a bit more hectic. Tyson has two appointments during school hours this week, Darin has two meetings about the pallet wood project, we have a Take Action team meeting on Wednesday, I am going to a women’s Bible study on Thursday and I am visiting two centres on two separate afternoons as well. Those are just the items that we have scheduled now. It seems like other things pop up and we will just fit them in somewhere.

I should have used my time at home today to clean the house, but seeing as I just cleaned on Friday, I just couldn’t find enough desire to pick up the broom. If I just keep my eyes above counter top level, the house looks just fine, so I will let it ride for a few more days. My dear Darin did get us some ground beef today, so we will be having tacos tonight. Yum!


And that, my friends, is our life, or as much of our life as I can put into words today. We are hurting this week, for Darin’s sister, LaShawn and her husband Kyle Van De berg as they are suffering through the loss of their 4 year old niece, Ava. This is one of those times we wish we were close enough to physically offer ourselves to our loved ones, to hold tight, to help out, to sit together with, but we are oceans apart. Please pray for the Van De Berg and Dieleman families as they walk through this time of incomprehensible grief together. 

Comments

Anonymous said…
Just popped on today and saw you had posted... I am home also debating cleaning vs sitting... I have to work swing shift so I am in my Jammie's and thinking Costco and groceries or reading.... Will think of you looking at countertop level and persevere!
October 29, 2015 at 9:35 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Connection and Community

-
Image
When we had made the decision to uproot our lives in the US and move to South Africa, I was so hungry for information about what living in South Africa would look like. We had been to South Africa several times as a couple, Darin had come on work trips, and we had spent 10 weeks here with our children. We knew some people, had been into various shops, and had a familiarity with the sounds of English being spoken with a variety of accents. However, there is a big difference between leaving home to visit a place for a few weeks or months and entirely uprooting your life in one place to start over in another. What were the schools like, would I have access to familiar ingredients to cook with, what about healthcare?  I scoured the internet to find stories about living in South Africa and found a few women who were more than happy to answer my questions, however random and weird they were. There was Annie, an American living in Pretoria, whose entire blog I read in one day and when Darin c
Read more

Family Fun Friday

-
Image
We have almost reached the end of the winter holiday. Tyson and Jori go back to school on Wednesday. We have some fun activities planned for the next few days, but we will also be cleaning bedrooms and setting out uniforms and lunch boxes. Let the school fun begin! Overall, it has been a fun holiday. Tyson and Jori have both had school friends over to play, we've made it to church twice, we've been out for pizza, had donuts, did some baking, and more. Friday, however, was probably the highlight of the school holidays for us. The day started with Jori losing her first tooth! Our baby girl is growing up. We had a few errands to run and took the kids with us. While Darin was busy at Cashbuild ordering supplies for an upcoming building project at TYB, Tyson, Jori and I went to Pick N Pay and King Pie for a little treat. We shared with Darin, of course. We spent a few hours at home, then headed out at 3 for our big adventure. We drove slowly and took a mini game drive on
Read more

More thoughts on motivation

-
When I look back at the decision making process that Darin and I went through, the process which has now brought us so close to a departure date, I have little doubt that Darin felt a call and responded to this call. Yet, when I go back over the different thought processes I went through to get us to this point, I realize that it has been all about me, which might explain why I am now suffering from some "buyer's remorse". It's not that my motivations for moving were necessarily wrong in themselves-I hope that Darin and I will be closer as a couple, I hope that our family will be closer and will do more together, I hope that Tyson will thrive in this new environment, I hope that our family will be able to reach out and help those that we come into contact with, I hope that Darin will be home more often and able to be a bigger part of our family life. Yet as we get closer, these hopes seem to be such small reasons to go. It's not like moving to a new country is goi
Read more