An Omnibus of the End of 2008 (in reverse because image uploading is complex)

My littlest baby spent the last 2 weeks in Hospital, which meant that Christmas was spent partially there as well. Here he is with one of his presents, not looking too thrilled about it. I was actually very impressed with the quality of care and cleanliness at Coronation. From what I had heard Government hospitals in this country are a bit of a nightmare, so it was great that we ended up where we did! Thank you Lord for nice nurses and doctors.

Christmas Lunch -
R-L: Me, Anna, an unhappy baby, and my friend Cathy

A Christmas Turkey. It was very odd to be cooking for 3 instead of 30!

Christmas morning. Anna and I got each other Stocking presents. I was so happy to have her here for Christmas!

Anna in the midst of our Duplo City. This is what we spent Christmas Eve doing... we are SO cool! It was loads of fun though.

"My" babies. I became a house mother in November, which means that I now have 5 children who are legally my responsibility. The pic below is of 4 of them and me at a Christmas Party in December. With these 5, we are now up to 11 kids at the house! It is very noisy!

The Tsholofelo Staff
L-R: Jester, Sue, Me, Ursula, Aggie and Sophie

Learning to Swim

Thanksgiving Day
I was temporarily broke for Thanksgiving, so instead of my usual Turkey Party, my friend Cathy and I went to Sandton and got Pecan Cinnabons and Snapple! It wasn't very traditional, but it was a lot of fun!

KwaZulu Natal
Aggie and I went on a road trip to take one of our little boys to be re-united with his family in KwaZulu Natal. While we were there, we drove to the ocean and spent the night. This is me playing in the waves. Aggie insisted that I go in a lot, since we had driven all that way!

Aggie and I at the Indian Ocean

My Car and Jacaranda Trees (like a lilac bush, only bigger)

Happy 2009 everyone!

WE WISH YOU A MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Exciting times in Africa

This past weekend I took 3 of the kids to see Auntie Aggie run the Spar 10km marathon in Joburg. She did a really good job and we are all very proud of her! It was amazing seeing how many people turn up on a Sunday morning to test their endurance. Almost enough to make me want to take up the sport... almost, but not quite.
Since Nicole is leaving me next week and I couldn't send her away without having seen a lion up close and personal we went last friday to the Rhino and Lion park which is about an hour away from the baby house. You can play with some of the animals and also go on a game drive. We first went and played with a full grown cheetah (above) and some baby white lions (below). They were so cute and surprising undisturbed that you were upsetting their sleep! We saw a number of cool animals, including the elusive water buffalo (now I only have to find a Leopard and then I will have seen all 5 of the "big 5"). We also managed to find both lions and wild dogs in the predator area, which was pretty sweet because those were the two things we really wanted to see. It is such a blessing living in an area with so many cool things to do and they are so cheap (especially with the current exchange rate) compared to what you would expect to see in the states. It cost $8 to get into the park and $1.80 to play with the cats. Crazy!


I will be very sad when Nicole leaves. It is great having someone at the baby house who is always up for doing things and who understands my kooky sense of humour! We have had a lot of fun the last month and a half and I hope God continues to bless me with other great international volunteers.

A bunch of head cases :-)

The staff of Tsholofelo went on a 2 day first aid course last week. We all had a lot of fun and it is nice know that now we can cope with most situations that come our way. Even though it is all mostly common sense stuff, without having done the course I don't think I would necessarily have thought of the right response in emergency situations. It is really quite a miracle that none of our kids have done anything to hurt themselves yet. With 7 kids under 5 you would expect that some of them would be the accident prone little things you always hear about. Happily though, even we have had some close calls all of our children seem to be indestructible! Pray that remains the case!

Aggie - our housemom - was the demonstration victim for most of the weekend.

All of the Tsholofelo gang with "broken jaws".

Me with a "broken arm" that Sue bandaged remarkably well.

Horseback riding

We are in the midst of a community service project from one of the local banks where groups of 4 employees get together and come out to do something for the house and the kids. A few weekends ago some of the employees invited us out to their farm to ride the horses. I was so proud of the kids for actually getting on - they are usually not too thrilled about animals. We all had a great time and will be going again in a couple of weeks.

It is so nice when we have people who want to help us and this group was especially great at trying to get the kids to have a nice day and they also helped us with cleaning in the morning which was a big blessing for the aunties.

My Kids

The kids had a day off on Wednesday for Heritage Day and I took the little boys hiking in the Kloofendaal Nature Reserve in the morning. The wee man below has possibly the worst balance I have ever seen and kept tripping (more than me even!) but we had a good time and they enjoyed running around. Then in the afternoon I took Aggie's daughter and our 4 year old to the garden centre where they have an "adventure land" with different rooms set up like places around town. This is our 4 year old 'working' at the grocery store. They had a good time and even Nicole and I got in on the fun!
This one is just to prove to Anna that our baby does actually smile!
When Anna was here she and I took the girls out for lunch at our local Pizza place. They got balloon animals and had lots of fun.

We also recently recieved a donation of a crawl through tunnel. The kids think it is just the bees knees!

Cape Town Day Two - Lizards Galore!

On the second day Anna and I went up Table Mountain and went Lizard Hunting. We found 73 of them! It was a lovely day and we both got sunburned, but very fun and nice to be walking around in the sunshine!

almost falling over a cliff...

Trip to Cape Town Day One - Whales!

Recently I switched some shifts and ended up with a whole week off! So, I scored some cheap flights and went to visit Anna in Cape Town. It was a great time of refreshing and I enjoyed getting to sleep in without any crying kids. The first day we went on a Whale Watching trip. It was totally awesome but I got terribly sea-sick. It was well worth it and we saw 8 Southern Right Whales, Great White Sharks and Cape Fur Seals.

Anna and I in our cool jackets and life vests on the boat.
A Southern Right Whale spouting
Great White Shark taking the bait of the cage diving ship we pulled up alongside

Anna and a very friendly Dassie

Me and the Dassie - loving the close encounter - they are my new favorite animals.

Kate Turns 23

I celebrated my 23rd birthday at the baby home, my first away from the family! It was a great day though, and the kids sure enjoyed the cake and balloons!
In the evening I went out to MonteCasino - a very cool mall/casino which is done up to look like Italy. My friends and I went to a Thai restaurant for supper.

Thanks to all of you who have sent birthday wishes, cards and presents. I've enjoyed feeling loved! ;-)

A Weekend in Lesotho

A few weekends ago I took a trip to Lesotho with my friend Darren. We went with Dorcas Aid and the Aggregate and Ready-Mix Association of South Africa (Darren works in the cement industry). We took a big group of 4x4s to a remote village to deliver 10 tons of readymix cement and food and blankets. It was really great to see a new country and also very challenging to see the level of poverty there. We spent 3 days driving around the country and got to see a lot of great scenery. It would be really nice to spend more time there actually out and about getting to meet some people, but for an introduction to the country it was very good and with the 4x4s we went some places I wouldn't have otherwise been able to see.

Which way is up? View from the very still Katze Dam.

Me and Tim packing up his Land Cruiser. He, Darren and I were driving buddies for the 3 day trip to Lesotho.

Enjoying my "breakfast" in the car. It was VERY cold there!

Well, nobody can say South Africans are short! This family outstripped me by miles - the little boy next to me is 4.

Darren on one of our early morning coffee shops.

Boerewors for breakfast anyone?

A shepherd boy in Lesotho. They live off the land from a very young age with their flocks or herds and when the cars stop they appear from nowhere to ask for sweets and oranges.

Yes, that's right, actual ice and snow in Africa! Like I said, it was COLD there!

Me at Katze Dam - we went on a tour of it, which was especially cool for the concrete industry.

And an Aerial View....