Showing posts with label cousins. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cousins. Show all posts

Friday, February 27, 2015

SA to USA

 That last week in South Africa was intense!  We had so many things to prepare for the trip, and loose ends to tie up.  Included in that was FOUR trips to try to get a driver's license for James and Evangel, two each.  No licenses were scored, but that added to the tension (and tears).  James pulled an all-nighter the last night to finish DVD's for us to take to the States.  Poor guy.  We hope to do better next time.  I'm glad that we could take the time to do a special outing in honor of Connie's 4th birthday!  Gloria and I took these 4 to the World of Birds in Hout Bay. 
 They had enough guinea pigs to make a Peruvian drool!  This could be lunch for 25 people!
 The World of Birds includes many rescued owls, but the thing Connie most wanted to see was the
 monkeys!  We got to go into the squirrel monkey encounter and let them climb all over us. 
 We weren't supposed to touch them, just let them touch us.  They might bite if they feel threatened, but otherwise they're cute little rascals.  It's hard not to touch them, but our kids did well. 


Cousin Josh made the "cake"! 
 On the last day in South Africa, we had a little early pink birthday party for Connie. 
 She liked trying on her clip on earrings, and thought it pretty funny I could wear them on my nose too. 
 Connie testing out her dangerous new stilts.  It was a lovely last day, and very nice and warm.  The next day was all busy and bustling and we flew out to arrive to things like this:
 Brr!  Our kids were very impressed with the first ice storm they remember. 
 I am so pleased they could see all this beauty!
 I think this one will end up on Evangel's blog www.proverbialwomanhood.blogspot.com with a verse like "Behold the beauty of the Lord!" or "the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof!"  Iced over pecan trees in the sun make me know there's a beauty loving Creator!  And our God supplies our needs.  Look where we're going to be staying much of the next 4 months!
 Paul's uncle gave this beautiful motorhome to Paul's sisters who are loaning it to us.  We're going in style! 
This is another thing I'm glad the kids get to experience.  We lived in a motorhome for 3 years before we moved to South Africa, but Josh has no memory of it, and Tim doesn't remember much so now they'll have their own memories of the roving, rolling lifestyle. 

I was a little nervous abut driving it, but when the time came, it's just like driving anything else.  You just can't think of all that is behind you.  And it's a good idea to stay on the right side of the road.  That took a while to get our minds switched over, but I think we're there now.

Sunday, December 21, 2014

Cousin Capers

 For a long time I've wanted to take the 2 biggest little cousins camping, imagining they would be thrilled to sleep in a tent. 
 Our tent hadn't been used since the Zambia trip in 2013, but the boys remembered how to set it up.  One thing to note here, we went camping at the camping area on the end of our street.  Taking a 3 year old means I'm not going to outer Mongolia.  We were about 2 blocks from her house, and 3 blocks from our house which, I know, is a little weird, but it worked! 
 Josh was SUCH a big help.  Notice the solar snowman he's holding to give that Christmas ambiance we needed.  I think Daniel kind of got conked with it, hence the agonized face.

But we did it!  We cooked sausages and marshmallows over the fire Josh made, we played lots of games of Concentration/The Memory Game in the tent, and we went to the playground.  We read 6 new picture books--Daniel liked the one about inventions the best--and we even slept a little!  My air mattress went pancake flat, so I crawled onto Connie's foam mattress.  Daniel started on a mattress and ended up on the ground.  I loved the way Connie woke in the morning--with a huge smile, delighted to still be in the tent.

Another thing on the to-do list was cousin pictures and we did it!  Gloria had the 3 Yarmouth Youngs dressed in orange, so our 3 big kids got into some shade of orange too and ...

 we did it! 
 Nathanael slept through last year's picture so this is his first time to appear in the cousin collection.
He's next to Josh, Connie, Evangel, Daniel, and the inTIMidating Tim. 

 Notice the fancy footwork on 5 out of 6 coordinated Youngs. 
Children are a blessing from the Lord!  and the fruit of the womb is His reward!  We are so thankful for these guys, and so happy to share them with my thousands of readers  :-)  especially the 3 grandmothers and aunts of these guys.  Merry Christmas!