Thankgiving

~HAPPY THANKSGIVING~

This year we had a small sit-down dinner at my friends Barry and Natalie's house. It was much less stressful than last year's full house at the baby home! We had all the standards, and it was fun seeing everyone's reaction to jello salad, glazed sweet potato (with mini marshmallows!), and having pumpkin pie for dessert!

It was especially nice to have Holly here. She made us a carrot souffle (definitely a new tradition!) and mashed potatoes, which I cannot make to save my life. We got to the house 5 hours early to start the turkey, so we had a lot of time messing around in the kitchen and watching the Mentalist.

~Things I'm Grateful for this Year~

1) American food! I even had Dream Whip, mmm, chemicals!
2) God's continual provision for me - both financially and spiritually
3) The privilege of looking after my kids, even when they're being whiny
4) My house, especially for having my only toilet and kitchen.
5) Sherlock
6) Having Holly here for 2 months to keep me sane!
7) Friends, near and far
8) My parents and Grandma
9) The fact that Basil (my car) is still running smoothly as so many people are having car trouble
10) The nearly-autumnal weather this past week, which is making me feel so much more festive!

The last week

Well, we've had a very full time since Lego passed away on the 30th. Obviously much of last week was devoted to planning the funeral and I have to say a big thank you to our church and my friends here for getting me through that. We had an incredible turn out of nearly 50 people at the service. Considering how many children in the "system" pass away with no one batting an eye, we felt very supported and encouraged by how many people God touched using Lego during his 7 months with us.


Since the funeral things are getting back to normal here and we're falling back into our routines. I feel like I have a lot of spare mental space though - so much of my time was spent either taking Lego to appointments or trying to figure out how to deal with his latest problem that I feel a bit spare at the moment. Sipho considerately decided to come down with EVERYTHING this past weekend, just to distract me. The poor kid had conjunctivitis, gastro, a new case of excema, and keeps trying to get into the kitchen/bathroom and into all sorts of stuff he's not supposed to tackle.

In happy news, my friend Holly is here now, so I have a sounding board again and someone to do things with in my off time. We've been watching Legend of the Seeker (awesome) and Bones a lot :-) Also, this weekend was my Goddaughter's dedication service, which was a blessing to be a part of.

Day 23

A Picture of Your favorite Book (or books)




These are my 3 oldest and dearest book friends (now that I am too old to justifiably have the Boxcar children on my bookshelf!) and they've made it all the way to South Africa with me. I save them for special occasions, mostly extreme illness, when all you want is a good book and someone to bring you a cup of tea.

Day 22

or at least Challenge 22, we've long ago left those 30 days behind! Today's topic is "A Picture of something You Wish You were better at."

This picture captures 2 things - parenting, and photography, especially of the kids.

Foster parenting is tough stuff. There aren't any how-to books at your local Barnes and Noble and the basic rules of "normal" parenting don't always apply. These are kids that you need to raise to know that they are worthwhile and special, but at the same time you need to find some way to preparing them for the fact that they might go to a "real" family someday. In a normal family a sibling would only vanish from daily life due to death, or maybe divorce. Here, it is a common occurrence, which most of the world thinks is wonderful. We are left to deal with the bereaved siblings. No one REALLY knows how the minds of 1-2 year olds work, so do the 'experts' know what they are talking about? And, everyone you meet seems to have an opinion on how to do your job. So, this is one area where I am constantly praying for guidance.

Also, photographing black kids - try it sometime. It is NOT as easy as it looks! Simply in practical terms, most digital cameras don't auto-set contrast to capture black skin in low light properly. It's definitely an acquired skill and one that I am still working on. I'm photographing Sue's brother's wedding next month, so I need to have mastered it by then!