Pictures and Movies

Check out our Picasa Photo albums here and our Youtube videos here 





Popular posts from this blog

This time next week, we'll be on an airplane...

Image
How is it possible that we are starting our final week living here in Hammanskraal? I know this is true in my head and I see it is true when I look at the calendar, but it still does not feel real that after almost a decade of living in South Africa, we are about to become residents of Grand Rapids, Michigan.  I can still remember landing here with ALL of our luggage, the group of men who insisted on helping us transport said luggage to the car rental agency in the parking lot, and the extreme anxiety I felt when we didn't have any Rand to give a tip to anyone. I remember celebrating Tyson's 7th birthday and Jori's 5th birthday within a few days of landing, and now we will be celebrating their 17th and 15th birthdays just a month and a few days after returning to the US. Where has the time gone? We have been staying busy since I last wrote. We cleaned the garage and Darin's office is looking more manageable than it has in years. We've gone to a garden centre with a
Read more

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

Holding on to the here and now

Image
Today is March 20 and in two months, if all goes according to plan, we will be back in the US beginning a new chapter in our lives. We have a lot to look forward to; a new high school, a beautiful home, driver's training, a Christmas vacation that is already being planned, summer visits from grandparents and so much more. However, for now this is still our home, the place where we gather with friends, spend time together as a family, go on walks with our dog. This is where we live, and although plans for our next steps are coming together, we still have a lot of living to do right here where we are.  Monopoly, dominoes, Racko, and Clue are just a few of the games these two enjoy playing together. The mini billiards table we bought at a thrift shop is also a favorite, even if a few of the billiard balls are missing.   South African Monopoly Nala, aka Noodle, Lala, Jupie, NuNu, Noodlo Doodlo and a few other odd nicknames. We all love having this silly pooch around. Taking her on walk
Read more