Blessings and farewells...

This summer has been so busy! With Izak working at his summer Greek classes and also with the Grace Advance Academy, things have not slowed down very much at all. In the midst of this, we had to bid farewell to our dear friends, Polly and Brian who left for Canada. Before they left, we got to share two fun meals with them.

The first place that we met them at was 'The Hat' in Pasadena- which Brian loved and wanted to experience before he left LA... Here are some pics from our time there: (It apparently has world famous pastrami)

Then, here we are at Porto's- an amazing bakery in Burbank for our last lunch. We will miss our dear friends, the Rabies.

As many of you know, we have had 'Dodge' car problems for as long as we have been in Los Angeles. I decided to write an obituary for our Dodge, since she has died.

Dodge Neon:

- The Bakkes family's vehicle which enabled us to get from A to B for 2 years (still no idea how it even happened with all her 'health problems'
- A powerful tool of sanctification when she refused to start and needed jump-starting and when even jump-starting failed to resuscitate her
- Loved water to the extent that she gathered it in puddles on her floor and in her boot/trunk
- Was a little scatter-brained and often forgot to keep track of speed, heat and the frequent indicator functions
- Sometimes liked to play tricks on us and make it sound like her bottom was going to give way and no longer be able to hold us up!
- Was a little frightened of bumps and would squeal away to remind us whenever we needed to make our way over one
- Ever the forward thinker, she hated having to travel backwards (reverse) and thought the perfect solution would be to refuse to shine her reverse lights
- She had a definite 'bounce in her step' and never let us forget it with skipping up and down with even the smallest bump on the road
- Quite the avid musician, she would rattle away her percussion's (dashboard and windows) on every trip convincing us that the radio was truly unnecessary
- She had a very healthy appetite and would truly enjoy guzzling fuel and oil as often as possible

All in all, we will think of her and be so thankful for the experience but be very grateful for our new Honda civic...
We are so thankful to the Lord for His provision. He has given us far more than what we needed! It makes such a difference to feel safe in this car when we travel the roads of LA!
Meet Magic Car 2 (friends of ours have the same vehicle and Blue would always fall asleep in it leading us to refer to it as the 'Magic Car' and now we have the same car and it also works it's magic on Blue and helps him sleep!) :)

Recently, Jonathan and I went to visit a sweet South African friend called Megan (who took most of these close-up pics of Blue in the sand) in Santa Barbara and he got to put his feet and hands in the sand... and sand in his mouth... (In that order and all for the first time!) It was such a fun trip and amazing to finally see Santa Barbara!

Here is one of Megan and Blue:

 

Here are some of Santa Barbara:

Well, we hope that you have enjoyed reading our news! I will definitely try to put more up soon.
Closing thoughts, from Psalm 145:8, "The LORD is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love."