Lions and more!

We just finished our second week here in SA.  Below are a few highlights.  

• We love our team! It has been so fun getting to be in their lives.  They are such an encouragement to us and serve our family by loving on Evie and William all the time.  
• Chad had the opportunity to speak at the weekly meeting and share with about 70 students.
• Evie and William got new bikes!  They love riding them on the tennis court at the lodge we are staying at.
• Chad surprised me and took me to a play for a date night.  It was so refueling to get a night to hangout and so thoughtful of him to pick something he knew I would love to do!
• We saw lions! Lots of them.  We went to The Lion Park where we had the opportunity to drive through a game reserve and have lions walk right in front of our car.  Evie and William loved this (so did we). It was one of the most incredible experiences!

Please be praying for:

• Team health - Chad and I have been sick for the past week with an upper respiratory infection. We are feeling better now but there are a few team members that have colds/sore throats too.
• Joint Winter Conference (June 15th-17th) - we will help host a retreat during their winter break. Please pray SA students come.  The potential is huge for this weekend as many will be exposed to spiritual things for the first time.
• Bible studies that started on campus last week.
• William has been getting up all through the night and walking around his room! He did great without a crib for the first two weeks, but he's struggling now and we aren't really sure what to do! :(

Evie on her "big girl" bike!

 This kid loves zooming as fast as he can on his bike!

 This is my favorite spot here in Joburg! I go a couple of times a week to meet with students while the kids play.  We have also been dining here on Tuesday nights for our family dinners as well.

 Such a cute place!

 Chad reading to Evie after dinner at Bambanani

 At the Lion Park!

As we drove around we got to see giraffes, antelope, zebras, ostriches, buffalo, wild dogs, 

cheetahs, and of course, LIONS! 

 Dozens of lions swarmed our car! We probably saw 40 lions up close that morning.  They were beautiful.  I wanted to really soak it in so I didn't take very many pictures and so 

these few pictures don't do it justice.  

  (I am going to get some pictures from some of the students who actually took really good pictures!)

 William doesn't know what to think! ;)

 After driving around we got to walk around and see some animals up close.  

We even got two minutes in a fenced in area to pet baby lion cubs!  Crazy.

We also go to feed giraffes- This giraffe completely surprised Evie as we 

were taking this family picture! :)

 After a busy day seeing the animals we went to a really fun African restaurant called Moyo.  The food is amazing and the atmosphere can't be beat.  We were serenaded by drummers and 

got our faces painted too!

 Enjoying a night out together!

Week One!

I can't believe we've already been in South Africa for a week and a half!
Thankfully we all adjusted quickly to the time difference (6 hours ahead of Indianapolis) because driver's training started at 7am our first morning! That first weekend was our Orientation where we spent time getting to know the city and campus, learn about South African culture, and get to know the students we would be spending time with.  Friday morning we went to the apartheid museum- even though I was chasing the kids around half the time, I learned so much and loved getting to know more about SA history.
Here are some pictures of our time there.

Saturday night we went to a Braai (BBQ) at Tim and Naia's home. They are the staff couple here and have 2 little girls, Thandiwe and Naladi.  Here we had our first taste of real SA food- wors (pronounced "vors" which is like a sausage) and pap (pronounced "pop", and it's kind of like grits) with chakalaka (a  very spicy gravy that I can't eat!).  That night we played a name game with about 30 Wits students, it was funny trying to learn everyone's names since they all sound so different from ours!
We started our regular weekly schedule on Monday.  We eat breakfast and lunch here at the house with our team and then after lunch they go to campus and I put the kids down for naps.  The students are on campus from about 1:30-9:00. My schedule is a bit different from everyone else's.  After naps we either play here or have an outing.  One day I took the kids to Naia's to play with her girls.  That was so fun for me, to hang out with another mom and let the kids play! The next day I went to a mom's tea social at the church.  It was kind of like MOPS but without the childcare! Another day I went with Naia and another staff mom, Kris, to an amazing place called Bambanani.  It is a really cool cafe with the neatest playground in it! The great part is that they hire girls to watch and play with your kids so you can enjoy conversation and your meal!  Evie and William loved it there and so did I- I will definitely try and go there several times a week!
At night I have cooked simple things for me and the kids, one night we went to campus, one night we went out as a family, and one night Chad and I had a date night! When we went out as a family, we went to this really neat place called 44 and Stanley.  It's kind of like a little outdoor courtyard with really great shops and restaurants.  But after we paid for parking and walked in, everything was dark and quiet.  It looked like everything was closed down and was kind of creepy! But we found one lady and she said her place was open- she walked us in and it was a huge place with several rooms.  She said we could pick anywhere we wanted to sit so we chose a little table by a fireplace since it was getting cool out.  This place was so nice and definitely more expensive than we normally would spend, but thankfully the kids did really well and didn't break anything! (They don't have highchairs or cups with lids here so meal times out are usually pretty stressful!) We ordered a pasta dish we were all going to split and after I gave Evie and William their portion I noticed a little bowl of cheese and a bowl of green stuff I thought was pesto.  It look good so I dumped half the bowl in our dish and mixed it all up. However, it was chopped jalapeños! So I basically ruined our fancy meal.  :( And people started showing up as we were leaving the restaurant and we realized people here don't eat as early as we do!
Here are some other pictures of things we have been up to:

 Everyone (minus me and the kids) got to enjoy a South African soccer game!

 Mother's Day!

 I felt so loved- not only did Chad and Evie give me cards but every student wrote me a card as well!

That night we went to the airport and picked up Michaela, who had to come 3 days later than the rest of us. It was fun to finally have everyone here together!

 These are pictures of a Braai that we planned and held at our guest house.  We had such a great turnout and had fun eating, talking, playing ball, and dancing!

We made it!

There was a lot to do to prepare to leave our home and pack for 7 weeks!  We had several family members and friends stay with us the 2 weeks leading up to the trip, and we just had lots on our schedule, so we felt busy amidst the need to pack and think for what needed to be done before we left.  Thankfully my mom came the 5 days leading up to our departure and she was a tremendous blessing to us!  She served us by playing many hours with the kids, helping me pack, doing our laundry, making us meals, and running errands with me.  It was especially helpful since Chad and I both had to take a trip to the doctor because we got sick right before it was time to go! :(

One way we wanted to prepare to leave was to see if William would sleep without his crib rails so we wouldn't have to haul our pack n play with us.  We turned his baby bed into a toddler bed two days before we left and he loved getting to be a big boy and be like his sissy!  He did really well- he didn't try and get out which was my main concern, although he did fall out of bed the second night!  My mom was sleeping in his room so she just put him back in and he was fine! 

Proud little guy in his big bed at home :)

 

Bye Bye Indy!

Ready to go!

I wrapped little dollar store gifts for the kids to open along the way!

Boarded our plane in Atlanta and waiting for the 15 hours of "fun"!

Although I expected the plane ride to be hard with the kids, it was so challenging to actually experience it! Overall, I guess they did pretty well, they at least slept some, just never at the same time, so Chad and I didn't get a chance to sleep.  And just like the last time I flew to SA with Chad 6 weeks ago, I ended up getting sick towards the end of the flight which was so not fun.  Landing and walking off the plane, I burst into tears, probably from sheer exhaustion and disappointment that I had expected it to be a little easier on my body.

But we were welcomed by a sweet group of new friends at the airport, and we are getting settled in our new "home"!