Random news of the week

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In 2 days, my parents will be arriving in South Africa! We spent all Saturday morning cleaning the house in preparation for their arrival. The kids are so excited to show Papa and Gram all around our little corner of the world and Darin is all geared up to play Canadian Salad, his favorite card game ever!

We went on a game drive on Saturday night and saw a HUGE kudu by the side of the road. Darin and I both jumped when we saw it because it was RIGHT THERE, looking right at us and showing off its beautiful twirly antlers. It really was amazing. The kids are getting to be such good animal spotters. Jori has to keep count of how many things she sees first, which drives Tyson nuts. It is fun seeing how excited they both are when they see something without Darin pointing it out first. I must say that I am also quite proud of myself for making a spot because my vision is so poor that I rarely see things without having Darin (or Jori) point it out to me first. 

I have made pear crisp twice in the past couple weeks and it is delicious! The pears here look the same as our pears back home, but they aren’t soft, which is a bit strange. Thankfully they do cook up nicely in a crisp. I also made caramel sauce to go on top of the pear crisp. The first time I made it, it turned out perfectly. The second time, it burned. The third time, it didn’t want to thicken and then it ended up getting a little too thick and was more like chewy/crunchy caramel candy. Not bad, per se, but a bit rough on the teeth.

Our kids have been having a great time swimming in the neighbor’s pool. We are so thankful for generous friends who are willing to share their space with us! It has been quite hot here, so cooling off in a pool is a huge treat for the kids and Darin and I both love having a chance to snuggle with some babies while the kids are splashing around. 

A couple nights ago, we read about the fruit of the Spirit during our bedtime devotions with the kids. After we had read through the list a few times, we talked about the one fruit that each of us needs to work on. Right away Tyson said that I need to work on patience and that he needs to work on self-control. Those were the exact same answers that Darin and I both would have said. We had to think a bit harder about what fruit needs to ripen in Darin and Jori’s lives. We finally decided that Darin could work on being more joyful. Jori was even tougher to decipher as she is really pretty mellow and good natured, but Darin and I figure she could be more faithful. She tends to be a bit wishy-washy. She can go from really loving a person and being your best friend, to giving grumpy looks or saying unkind things when she isn’t happy with you. So we all have a bit of work ahead of us!

Today we saw a rhino on our farm! Darin actually saw it crossing the road when he was coming back from Tshepo Ya Bana, so he zoomed home and picked the kids, Amos and me up. Then the 5 of us tracked the rhino down. It was HUGE. We followed it all over our farm and onto the next farm for about 20 minutes. We did not have our camera, but we called the Hardings, who also came to see the rhino, and one of the volunteers with them did have her camera, so we’ll have to get some pictures from her so we can show you all what we saw. 

Did I already mention that my parents will be here in 2 days? Can’t wait for Wednesday night to get here!

Comments

Anonymous said…
lucky.. so glad that you are ready for company.. it will be so much fun for all.. we have been playing settlers and i have actually won the most.. (yeah me) that never happens.. but it is nice to have someone to play games with.. have a blast with mom and dad.. xox me
October 17, 2011 at 12:32 PM
Whitney said…
Hey Jonna! Catching up on your life in SA! Missing you guys. Have a great visit with your mom and dad!
October 19, 2011 at 6:06 PM
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