Ryan's pizza party'tjie and Rowan's visit

As you more than likely realised, we have been quieter than usual! It has been a combination of:
- Izak contracting a very serious version of the flu (that required H1N1 treatment- tamiflu) 
- The starting up of seminary and 
- A visit from my brother, Rowan!

Here are a few highlights from the last weeks...

Ryan and Elna invited us to join them for Ryan's birthday bash at the Botes' and it was a lot of fun! Here are a few glimpses: 
The pizza arrives: (This is a winning formula to a good party!)

The happy celebrating couple: (Note the party hat! hehe)

The lovely hosting family- Ryk and Lynette Botes:

Ryan and Elna had friends visiting from Pretoria and it was great fun to meet them!
Here they are- Jonathan and Joy:

And to top off the delicious meal, Lynette made good old South African milk tart:

and peppermint crisp and caramel tart:

It was a great time of getting to know each other better and lots of laughter!


Then, Rowan arrived for his visit! We have been looking forward to it for the longest time and it was so amazing to have him here. 

One funny thing was that we borrowed an air mattress from friends of ours and it turned out to be a queen size aero-bed which was a very nice type... (it only needs plugging in and a flick of a button to inflate!) Soon enough the aero-bed grew and grew... and grew! And it was higher and wider than our bed and our home was one big jumping castle! hehe! It was fine for a couple of nights but then we were given a twin size inflatable mattress which worked a little better, since it enabled us to walk around in our home and have the bed set up simultaneously! It has been such a fun family camp-up week!

Love this one of Rowan- on our couch in California! :)

Here is one of where we do most of our grocery shopping:

Rowan kept commenting on the palm trees that are all over. It is something that you stop noticing!


We did some other shopping too...

Rowan came along to all the classes at TMS, here he is in front of the sign:

 And the beloved bookstore:

Here is one of Rowan and I:

And... after a week of camping out... These before and after pics indicate how living in each others space can improve family relations!
Before:

After:

Hehe! We had such fun times, we will miss Rowan and are hoping that he returns soon!


Well, last time I mentioned the other San Francisco pics- here are some of our momentos in our home:
Our San Francisco corner:

And our little model pencil sharpener and cable car magnet:

When we got to see this opportunity through Rowan's eyes, it made us reflect on how the Lord has undertaken for us by bringing us across the world to have such wonderful and rich experiences and it has all drawn us closer to Him and made our hearts even more thankful for life and all that it entails!
This Psalm is our prayer:

Psalm 43:3a, “Send out Your light and Your truth; let them lead me..."

I submitted an article to "the Distaff", it is a sem wives journal and it was published this month. It is all about how the Lord made a way for us to get here and it is only a very shortened version, but if you would like to read it, you can click on this link: http://www.tms.edu/semwivesweb/distaff.asp and download the February distaff.


We look forward to hearing from you!