Say hello to my little friends... who live in my backyard...eeek!

This morning started with Drew and I going outside to peg washing (hang our laundry). Drew yelled because he has kicked a frog, and he said it felt super gross. So, we set out to find it and it was huge and well hidden. We would have never seen it, if we were not looking for it. This made us start LOOKING... because what else have we been missing. We pegged our wash and then walked back really looking and we found a huge snail.

Then we noticed all these dirt mounds all over the ground so drew whacked one and a frog came out... but it scared him and he wacked the frog too (poor frog). The frog lived, but it was a nasty, globby frog with yellow spots on it's back. We heard he may be poisonous. I have to google him.

Those were the critters between my wash line and back door. That I saw, there's probably many more.

Here are some others we have found living around our home over the past few months.

Millipede? Centipede? I'm not sure what it is, but I bet it has pede in it's name. These are pretty big, but when you mess with them they roll into a ball. They dont hurt you!!!

This little guy usually climbs up the wall of my house, but today we found one inside...ewww! Anyway, you may want to avert your eyes to the next pictures because I think they are doing something private in these pics???? but I really dont know??? It looks like they should have some alone time.

             what a beautiful color they are!

This is one of the weirdest little things ever. I thought there was a small piece of bark in the house and went to sweep it out and noticed it moved. Upon further inspection I noticed it was NOT bark but some strange bark like "thing". What is it an insect? 

It has a head like thing stick out from inside it's bark like outer shell... strange indeed!

The next is my favorite!!! (said in all sarcasm I can muster) My family and close friends will know how much this just kills me that this is living in the trees outside of my house. Oh, there is a good probability that they are also living in my attic... good times, good times.

This precious little guy is called the blue headed agama. They really are pretty... pretty scary! Their heads and bodies change all sorts of pretty shades of blue and orange/yellow when they are doing their little mating dance. We have lots of these. One day Drew and Gabe were climbing a tree and it ran over Gabe's hand and fell onto Drew's shoulder! If that would have happened to me I would have fallen out of the tree and met my demise. Hence, you will not find me climbing any trees! I was thinking about doing just that... really I was.

That is your nature walk through our yard. What do you think? 

Blessings Friends,

Andrea

Cleaning out the Roundovale, Day 1

This is the before shot of the roundovale.  Check out the dryer in the back right corner as a reference.  This pile was about eye level.  I would say that we got about 20% of the way through the roundovale.  A roundovale is a traditional African building.  They are normally round.  This roundovale is very big, probably about 40' across (or 13 meters if your here).  It at one time served as youth room, with computers for school, a pool table and a small lounge area.  Our goal is to return it to its former glory.  It has since become a catch all for everything.  This is one of two buildings on the site that is not a place where kids sleep, so it has become a storage room.  The second storage room is much smaller and is already pretty filled with clothes.  Hopefully once we go through and organize the clothes they will fit in there.

As you can probably imagine we were wondering what kind of critters we would see in here.  We found rats, baby rats, lots of rat feces, spiders, roaches, and silver fish.

The mattress that are not used at the orphanage will be donated to others in the township.  Alot of what we came across were clothes and toys.  The clothes are being put into the other storage building were the will start to washed and put away.  We will keep you posted on our progress, back tomorrow for day two.

Shelby

Baptized into the ministry of snot...

I thought I should blog next about our orphanage. Oh, how I love all the kids there... but I need to start at the beginning. The second week we were here we ran a sports camp for the kids in the orphanage and in the township. I was super excited about going there for my very first time. I don't know exactly what I was expecting, but what I saw was NOT what I was expecting.

First we entered into a slum area, these are called townships. It was shocking, the homes are very poor, some are nothing more than shacks. It is scary.When we pulled up to the orphanage all of the children ran out to meet us. I couldn't wait to meet all of them, THEN I opened the car door.... what greeted me was the strong smell of urine and rotting garbage!!! The thought ran through my mind to quick close the car door and leave. What you all need to know about me is I am a terrible jerm a phobe, it is very true. Bad smells make me gag and I really just dont want anything jermy to touch me. Yep! The nasty truth about me.

The Lord showed up big time, first He just helped me out of the car. This is when a beautiful little girl ran up to me and put her precious face on my arm, she then wiped her snotty nose from the top of my arm all the way down to my wrist (Let that sink in for a minute). This is when the Lord said to me "Look at her, I love her so much and today you get to love her physically for me. Be my hands and love her." Amazingly, that is just what I did. This is how I was baptized into the ministry of snot.

Today, the orphanage is one of my favorite places to go. The children running next to our car, the hugs when we get out, the joy in their eyes when they see us. They are delightful and I am thankful that they get to see Jesus in us, and feel His love when we are around. I learn so much from them, they have nothing, yet find joy in small things. They have wonderful smiles and joy, there is always a song on their lips and a dance in their step.

Such a sweet face!

This is Analise, I adore her! She calls me Mama.

This is Shelby and Mduzi spending some time together during the basketball camp. They are buddies.

This was one of my many new hairdos that day. Notice they dont have lot's of hair and I do, we played hair salon all day. This was one of the best gifts I could give them.

  Brie is amazing with the kids. They love her and she just shines with Jesus love to them. She will hug and
                      love on everyone equally. She is such a joy for me to watch, when she serves.

There is so much more to say about the orphanage and all we have going on there right now, but I wanted to give you a glimpse of how it all began. Praise the Lord He is faithful to us and meets us right where we need Him. He does not always call us to neat and tidy ministry, sometimes it is dirty, messy and snotty. I love how He gently reminds me that He is in control and it is not about what I like or want... simply put... His will be done. Obedience brings such joy that I should never doubt when He tells me to do something that tears at my flesh. I think He will probably continually be tearing back who we think we are to expose who we are suppossed to be. Praise Him He knows what He is doing and all His ways are good.

Blessings,
Andrea

We have internet.. let the blogging commence! Yeah!!!

Ok, where should we begin... ah yes, 2 months and 4 days ago we boarded a plane bound for South Africa (said in Abraham Lincoln's voice).... ok now you can read regular again. So after 2 all night flights and a 9 hr lay over in London we arrived... yippee!!!

The drive into our area was one I wont forget. I was very quiet, not normal, because I had to take everything in. There were these beautiful hills and mountains, but one thing was distracting, the little shacks of cardboard and metal that littered the hills. I couldn't get over the poverty. The little villages are called squater villages and what I didn't know is this would become a common sight.

Once, we got home our wonderful little body of believers sprang into action. They helped in any way they could. They drove us all over helping us pick up things for our home and taking us to the store. I am still very thankful for all that they did for us in those early days when we had absolutely nothing. They gave freely to us whatever we needed. Thank you Calvary Chapel 1000 Hills!!


First things first, this is our house:

                                                           This is the back yard.

                       There was a swing in the front yard, that the kids have really utilized!

Here is the front of our home. This is one of the porches that goes into the living area. And the cute baby is Eisley, we love her!

I'll upload more pics, but it takes FOREVER so that is it for tonight.

That is our house, now you can kinda picture where we are. The first month was pretty much just getting settled in. There are so many difference here that we have to get used to the way of life, the language and the people. This will probably take quite awhile, but I am enjoying getting to know our knew home.

Maybe next blog I'll tell you about our grocery stores... exciting times in SA!

Blessings,
Andrea

Prayer request

Hey guys,

We are in need of your prayer and help. The vehicle we have is costing us way to much money in gas. We are trying to look for another car, that gets everyone in a seat belt and is more gas conscience, but we are finding that we cannot find anything for an even trade. Vehicles here are very expensive.

We either need a God car, that He just brings us to meet all of our needs for cheap. We also need to sell our car for what we are asking. Please pray that we find something to meet our needs in our price range, that is also safe.

We appreciate you guys praying for us!!!

Blessings,
Andrea

waiting

We are still waiting for our very own internet at our home, but today I am at a neat little cafe using their internet bar. How cool, I almost feel like I'm at home, until I look our the window :)

I miss blogging so very much, it was one of my favorite things and I think of all the blogs I will do when we finally get internet and I can type them out whenever I want. Oh the tales I will tell.

Recently I feel like we have been in Egypt during the plagues... except on a much smaller scale. The bugs are everywhere, regular ants, FLYING ants and some BIG frogs. The flying ants come out at night by the thousands ( I am not kinding, thousands) so we have to run around and close all the doors and windows, but then they try and come under the doors, so we have to shove a towel under the door so they cant get in. It's kinda funny to see us batteling them. Anyway after the initial onslaught all their wings fall off and then they pair up, and walk around in circles. We have told our kids this is when they get married.

We guess they are probably mating then they go lay their eggs in the ground and DIE! That is it, fly around, lose their wings, mate, lose wings and die. Then on the next hot day their kids come out of the ground and it all happens again... crazy.

We are all doing really well. School is getting done, which is a good thing. I still need to order some school for Brie though.Shelby is at the orphanage almost every day, which is a huge blessing and they are getting lots done.

We are planning a Christmas party for the kids at the orphanage and about 45 kids from the township. We are excited about it and hope the kids will be blessed.

Cant wait to tell you all the fun stuff going on.

Love and miss you!
Andrea