The Fey Family

Here are some final pics of the house. I hope you now have a better idea of where we are staying! Braai area, through door leading off of lounge area Playground Picnic Table, courtesy of Uncle Hans Swimming pool and Harding cottage Mama Joye's house (with green overhangs). The entry to our breezeway/kitchen door is next to the brick wall. Laundry lines, driveway, gate leads to trampoline Kitchen window and lounge window (higher) Looking from laundry lines Laundry room, across from kitchen My sitting area, courtesy of my dad Looking out our bedroom window to our sitting area

Here are some pics of the baby room and the playroom. Pray that we will be able to fill the baby room with lots of little ones needing a safe place and that the paperwork to house more children will land in the right hands! Looking in from dining room Looking in from dining room. Right now Amo sleeps here and soon Baby B will join her. Playroom! The gate under the white board leads into the dining room I have arranged and rearranged these drawers and shelves so many times. It's an illness people! The "box", looking out on the outdoor play area. Feeding and changing area. 

We recently rearranged some furniture, and by we I mean me and Mama Sarah. Darin is so not into my obsession with changing rooms around, but we are all happy with the results this time. This is the hallway looking back towards our room. The dining room is on the right and the lounge is on the left through the two arched openings. Dining room before. Lounge before Lounge before (looking into playroom) Lounge after! We moved it into the old dining room and it is so much more cozy now. Dining room after! It is easier to move around the table and there is a chunk of space to do therapy with the girls.  The bookshelf now holds all the girls' therapy supplies. We are happy with our new spaces!

The kitchen is down the hall, after Tyson and Jori's room and the bathroom. It is where I spend a lot of my time and where my dear husband faithfully washes the dishes several nights a week. It is a very busy place and due for some cosmetic updates and a better layout to help the space flow.  The big counter. Love the space, not a fan of the tile and nasty grout.  We are thankful for a gas stove to cook and boil water when the power is out.  This window looks into a small breezeway and the laundry room. Not the most exciting view, but it works.  This pantry is AWESOME. Would not want to lose it  in a kitchen remodel.

Here is a continuation of the house tour: This is the bedroom of two of our little guys. T is almost 3 and N is almost 1.  Looking into the final bedroom, shared by K (almost 5), K (4 1/2) and Miss O Miss O still sleeps in a crib, but sometimes she takes a nap in one of the big beds for a special treat! The bathroom, shared by the staff, 3 toilet trained children, 2 children  being trained and one of two changing areas for the trainees and 2 remaining children.  Still more to come!

Here are some more pictures of Tyson and Jori's room: Looking down the hallway from our bedroom. Their door is the first on the right.  Jori's space. She loves hanging things on the wall and cramming as many treasures on her shelf as possible! Tyson's bed and their shared desk. Their room is rarely this clean, but they do a good job of keeping it picked up. Their closets and cupboards, often crammed to overflowing until I take the time to sort through them and straighten them up. So far the kids are doing pretty good with sharing a room. They would both love to have their own space, but we are really proud with how well they play together and we love listening to them talking at bedtime, as long as they stop after 20 minutes : )

New pictures are up from March and April. Check them out here .Hoping to get May's pictures loaded sometime before August : )

Over the last couple weeks, THREE of my college friends have made offers on new homes. I’ve been looking at pictures of beautiful homes and realized I haven’t even shown where we have been living for the past 6 months. I thought I would start with the room we spend the most time in, our bedroom. As you will see from the pictures, this room is not only a place for us to sleep but also our office, living room, library and more.  The view from the hallway door A couple feet into the room, looking at our closet/cupboards. This is where we stash our clothes, shoes, towels, extra sheets and blankets, backpacks, birthday presents and a random assortment of odds and ends.  Standing in front of the closets, looking at our entertainment area Next to the entertainment area, looking back towards the bathroom (notice the lack of privacy!) All the stuff in the corner is the kids' school stuff, sunscreen, bug spray, hats and gloves and the black tote is full of games....

We have been at Tshepo ya Bana for 6 months. Some days it feels like a lot longer, but most of the time I can’t believe how the months have flown by. We had originally planned to stay here a few months as a sort of “trial” run. We’ve extended that trial, but not by any set amount of time. For now, we just feel like this is where God wants our family and so we are staying put. When we first moved out here, we had all these plans. We planned to stay for 5 years; we planned to run a petrol station; we planned to buy a house; we planned to travel back to the states after 18 months to two years of being in SA; we planned to be making money and seeing more of Africa and supporting ministries that we were connected to. We did not plan to be without income, living on support at a children’s home. Yet here we are and while there are parts of our current situation that are stressful and anxiety inducing, for the most part these last 6 months have just felt right. We have been blessed w...