Corn Starch and Water

On Tuesday nights it's usually just the girls and I, and we like to do fun things. Corn Starch and water, have you ever tried it?
I recommend it, it's really fun!

19 graduates!

Last week on Tuesday was my last day at Amangwe for the Holiday season, but it was the Creche graduation, so 19 kids graduated, and I don't get to see them again, so that was kind of sad.

This picture with the other ladies are the staff that I work with every week at Amangwe.











I will have a break, and it doesn't start back up until January 16th, and that is when I will start going every Friday again.

holiday

We went on a five day holiday this past week. Here we are on our first day, it was raining, but
we decided that we would still have fun. We went to stay in a cabin in Cape Vidal, right next to the beach.














We spent every day at the beach except for the first day because it was raining.




I was having fun spinning the girls around




I even ate some things that I have never ate before. Prawns, they were good, I was a little freaked out by the body's and legs that were still attached.

We had a very nice time of relaxation and rejuvenation.

Language Learning

While I have been home schooling Abby and keeping Emily occupied in the morning, Heather and Kyle have been going to their Zulu classes. They go to class 2 or 3 days a week, and then they go different places where they can practice Zulu. When I got here Heather she did not know very much Zulu, and she has made a lot of progress, which is encouraging. They sit down every night to study this Zulu language. This is encouraging to me and the main ministry that I have here in their home, and in South Africa. They have about 6 weeks off class, so they are going to learn as many vocabulary words possible and find some more places to practice Zulu. Keep praying for them to keep pressing on in this language.

Christmas will be different

This Christmas is going to be a little different but I am excited to see how another family does things. I am sad that this year I will not be with my family, but these people are my family right now, and they are definitely my family in Christ, so it is a blessing to live here, and I am so glad that the Farrans have welcomed me into their home, and let me be a part of their family.

Thanksgiving

I am Thankful for Jesus Christ, and the place He has taken in my life, I am thankful for the Opportunity to be here and serve the Lord. I am thankful for a wonderful family, wonderful friends, and I am thankful for my TJ Shropshire, he is a wonderful blessing to my life. On Thursday it was Thanksgiving, well... not for South Africa, but we celebrated anyway. We went to Durban and spent it with another missionary family, and then stayed the night there, it was very relaxing. We went Christmas Shopping in Gateway mall, the biggest mall in the Southern. I was able to get pretty much all my Christmas gifts. This is an interesting time because this is the first Christmas that I will spend away from home, and I am kind of sad about that, but also excited to see how another family does it, there are good opportunities that come with these experiences so I look at it as an adventure from the Lord, even in the midst of missing home. (If you can see me I am sitting on the bench with the girls in Gateway Mall)

Potato Stamps

Today we made pictures with our potato stamps. It was a fun craft. I like painting... so does Emily.

Music

Today was a bit of a busy Sunday. I played piano for offertory, which was a little bit nerve racking in and of itself, and I got the chance to sing with the praise team today as well. In a few weeks I am going to be accompanying the youth as they lead the church in singing Christmas carols, so we will see how that goes. These are going to be growing experiences for me, jumping into things that I have never really done before. Such is the life of ministry.

Communication

TJ Shropshire is my boyfriend who is studying right now at New Tribes Bible Institute in Michigan, even though distance and time separates us right now we are looking to the Lord for our future. This is me... every night doing the best I can to communicate properly.

This situation is hard, but good, God is teaching me about His sovereignty and sufficiency in my life.

This is also where I spend my time blogging, keeping people in touch, and informed. I am appreciating this technology very much.

A little bit of home

Yay!!!
I got my first package today. My brother Del and wife Arielle sent me chocolate chips, dove chocolate, and some good biographies to read, today was a good day. So thank you to you Delwyn and Arielle, my wonderful family members. :)

Amangwe Village

I have been volunteering on Fridays at Amangwe Village in the creche (day care) for the last month or so. I wash dishes, help mop the floors and play with the 30 + kids. These are children that come from child headed homes and are hungry for attention and love. Amangwe Village supplies them with 2 meals a day, and some English teaching Monday through Friday, so that their older siblings can go to school. This is definitely a cultural experience for me because all the children only speak Zulu, and the workers speak mostly Zulu, and English when they are speaking to me. I am loving it though. I am getting the opportunity to build relationships with the other ladies there as well so that is neat. I have not learned all the names of the children yet, but I am learning their faces and personalities.





















Lunch Time!

Ficeelle works at the Creche, and we have become fast friends.




Palele fell asleep
Feel the commotion











At the end of the day all the kids some how fit in the back of the truck to be driven back to their homes.

Calvary Baptist

This is the people of Calvary Baptist Church. Every Sunday the children go to Sunday school, and the Adults go to the church service, when the service is over, a lot of the people bolt out of the door, but some stay to have tea and coffee that is always available after the service.

The kids that come to Sunday school ranges anywhere from 0-60, and a lot of them come without their parents. We get in a big group and sing songs, then everyone splits up into 5 different age groups for the teaching time. So this is a big ministry for Calvary Baptist.

Pretty soon the holidays will begin and there will not be many kids for Sunday school, so then we will start back up in the New Year. When we start off the new year I am going to be teaching one of the Sunday school classes to give the teachers a break. Right now I am just helping in Sunday school with what they need.

Rosemarry

This is Rosemary, she comes to our house on Thursdays to clean. We like her quite a bit, as well as the girls, they like to help clean as much as Rosemary will let them. She teaches me a little bit of Zulu every time she comes, we enjoy talking with each other.

I am praying that she sees God's love through this family every time she comes.

1st grade here we come!

Kindergarten is over and were on to first grade. Last week was Abby's first week of first grade. We had a little ceremony for her to congradulate her. The first picture if of her last day of Kindergarten, and the second one is of her ceremony. Now that she has started grade 1 we have started a new subject, English, so we are going to be learning grammer and how so write sentences and such, so we are excited about that.

Team Meetings

Last week I went to my first team meeting. There is a meeting once a month, for the ABWE Durban team. We fall into that category even though we live 2 hours away in Richard's Bay. The different committees bring up different things and everyone discusses these issues. I just observed, but I found it very interesting to see how a team works. Everyone brings something to add to the lunch, this days theme was baked potatoes, so we had a feast. It was definitely a good time to see how these things work!

What did you say?... Don't touch the bugs?

We have found some some intersting creatures here in South Africa... we don't just look at them, we play with them.

~one of my perks~

I have been living here for almost a month, and one of my favorite parts of being here so far is the time that I get to spend with Heather, we get to talk every day about life, and random things. I see it as a privilege to be able to watch her live her life, I feel blessed to live here in Kyle and Heather's home, to watch their relationship with each other, with their children, and the effort they put into their ministry (and what that consists of) they are phenomenal examples to me. I feel as though I still have a lot to learn from Kyle and Heather and I look forward to getting to know them even better.

Life with Emily and Abby

Last week it rained for almost a whole week. You can imagine what it's like when you have 2 children that havn't been outside for a few days. So the girls and I took a trip to Mcdonalds for the afternoon. So instead of bouncing off the walls at home they got to bounce all over the play room. We ate our chicken nuggets, we made about 5 trips to the bathroom, and before we left we ordered cones, with flakes which is this chocalte flaky stick that you dip into your ice cream. It was a fun, eventful day.

CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES!

South Africa doesn't carry chocolate chips, and I was very saddended about that, but another missionary couple happened to have 6 extra huge bags of chololate chips and wanted to give us a bag (Costco size for those of you who know what that is), so here is Emily and I making our chocolate chip cookies... mmmmmmhhhhhhhmmmmmm!!!

:)

Life in Richard's Bay has begun

Abby, Emily and I have just begun this adventure of spending lots of time together, and learning from eachother. I am teaching Abby 4 mornings a week while trying to keep Emily busy with other things, sometimes she joins in our school fun. I'm trying to find my groove in teaching Abby, and Abby is trying to figure out if she likes my groove. I am loving it so far, and I really enjoy the time I get to spend with these little girls.

Most likely on Fridays I will be going to Amangwe village to volunteer in a daycare type place for children that come from child headed homes. They go around to these homes and pick up the children so that their older siblings can go to school. This is also something that I am really excited about so I will let you know how it goes. The Amangwe village is about 20 min. away,

and I will be driving. Yes I drive the car on the left side of the rode, on the right side of the car, it's kind of fun!

First Couple Days in South Africa

I have just arrived here in Richard's Bay, South Africa. After traveling half way accross the world Kyle and Heather picked me up at 9:00 pm on Monday night at the Airport. So far I am trying to get over this jet lag, and I am getting aquainted a little bit with the country. For this first week I am settling in here in my new home, and next week we are off to a conference that includes all the ABWE missionaries in South Africa. When we get back I will begin homeschooling Abby.