To Grandmother's House They Flew!

 Christmas 2022 goes down as one of the THE MOST SPECIAL ever!!!  Our daughter Evangel and her husband Ryan and the three grandchildren flew over from America for just about a month!  Grampa and Mimi (that's me!) LOVED having them around!  

Besides the 8 of us in our flat, Evangel's friend Michelle was there, and The Cousins as we call James and his family, bringing us to 16 people for lunch!  It was a loud, lovely time of a perfectly matched 8 kids to 8 adults.  But we didn't forget the appointment we had with Josh for 2:30 in the afternoon.  Josh gave us some more happy news!  These 3 are not to be our only grandkids for long.  Another one is due in July!!!  Our cup of happiness runneth over...I cried.  

Uncle Tim and Cadie 

The whole gang after church Sunday in our backyard.  

Nathanael and Cadie.  The cousin interaction was wonderful! 

Stuck!

Connie helping Cadie and Cyrus at the Scratch Patch. 

Squishing!  

Mimi and Cadie after visiting the penguins. 

Our friend Megan reading to Clarity.  Clarity is a good listener.  

Table Mountain rises grandly behind us.  

Joe holding Clarity on the stumps. 

Jedidiah posing with a cutaway showing how thick the glass is on the shark tank at the aquarium.  So you can relax, Cecilia.  

James had his birthday on the 29th, marred by his hurting finger from being bit by a dog on the 23rd.  That fast, vicious dog took the tip off his finger and broke the bone!  It's healing, but it's not as long as it used to be.  

Cadie likes to go shopping.  

Evangel and her friend Michelle with Cadie at the Giraffe House.  

Gallup on the highest stump.  

Gallup pulling the kids a bit in the wagon.  It didn't work very well, but we had fun trying.  

The 5 Fords and the 4 Blouws.   

Cyrus thought watching an ostrich eat is the funniest thing.  He wouldn't feed them, but loved watching his Dad.

Evangel got new glasses while she was with us.  Cadie swiped toys from the office by dropping them inside her clothes and we only discovered them later.  I'm still returning them! 

Evangel and Cadie with Berdine.  

The giraffes had to take a back seat to Cadie.  

Cyrus loves sand!  And rocks!  And water.  

Cyrus loved our trip to the Scratch Patch...

And the penguins

And doing cookie art at home.  

The paint was edible, thankfully. 

All the Cousins together for a photo shoot.  Some were making sand piles to get a bit of extra height.  

Clarity, Jedi, and Nathanael, surfing RSA.  

Clarity in the Cousins hammock.  

Clarity and a boulder.  

Cadie has good taste...one in each hand!  

Youngs and Fords

My best Mimi meal.  :-) 

What a special play area!

The day at the aquarium was "The best day Ever!!!!" said Clarity.  Here Cadie and Connie are captivated by something.  

Helping in the kitchen is so fun!

Watching the laundry spin is good entertainment.  

They brought their own wheels!

Clarity and the Agapanthus on a very hot day at the giraffes who are very under-represented in these pictures.

  

Joe and Blessing Malete came after Christmas for a little more than a week. It was fun to have them for their first time in Cape Town. Joe jumped in with outreaches and Blessing did too on the big New Year's Day outreach. So now that it's just the 3 of us again, Tim, Paul and me, we're missing them!!! 

"Children's children are the crown of old men..." Proverbs 17:6

We are crowned and blessed and happy and thankful.  God is good to us!