Making our li'l place 'Blue' friendly...

Izak started back at TMS again yesterday! It is hard to believe that it is the beginning of the new semester.


We have made some changes to our space in order to accommodate Blue. Amazingly, by God's grace, our space actually feels bigger now after making space for the little one! Go figure! :)


Another thing that Izak and I realised recently was that we have literally been given everything that we have for Blue! We have not spent a cent apart from the fabric storage bins that we bought to keep his things in! What a remarkable testimony of our God's faithfulness!


Here is an action pic of Izak in the midst of building the bookcases (which we managed to find on sale at Target!) Yay for Target!

 Here are some pics of the changes: (We had thought that we may need to take the couch out of our home in order to make space for the little one, but we are so thankful that we could keep it as it fits in a different corner!)

 Here are the assembled bookcases with Blue's things stored in the fabric storage bins: (Note the South African flag sent by family ... on the bookcase- Blue will have no doubt that He is South African... or African American at the very least... :) )

My friend Rebecca made us an African LION storage box for some of Blue's things:

Izak had the amazing idea of changing a full sized bookshelf into a 'stand on his desk' bookcase and it works sooo well! 

People have shown us such kindness! We are so thankful to the Lord for the support that we have received! Gifts, thoughtful messages, parcels from family and friends back home... the list goes on... It has been so encouraging to see how it has gone far beyond our needs being met and we can honestly say that we have more than simply 'just enough'!


We got sent a package from friends and family in Jeffreys Bay (also from Jeffreys Bay Bible Church...) and that was so precious to open on Christmas day! It really helps make us feel like we are not THAT far away from home... In the package, Heleen (Izak's sister...) had sent a mobile that she had made herself. The amazing thing is that I had not even mentioned the desire for an 'Africa' baby theme. Here are some pics of the mobile- we plan to hang it next to the cradle...

The Frields let us use their beautiful cradle, which they used for their last born son... so special. And... as the Lord would have it, it fits perfectly into our little space!
Here are some pics of the cradle, and notice how the bedding is perfect for the African theme!

Then, a few nights ago, friends brought us an envelope with the most thoughtful idea- they had printed out some Scriptures on a page and then stapled some little envelopes to the page with specific treat ideas and the money to make them happen! It was such an exciting gift and we have already had a pizza party! :) ... there were even gift cards for two ice cream places which I have been eyeing out for quite a while now, and had even told Izak that we should try out before heading back to SA! It was so encouraging because our landladies have offered to babysit Blue and now we may actually have something to go and do one evening! :)

We have our baby bouncer set up for when the little one arrives:

And... even have the beginning of our hospital bag packed! (Note the fun penguin hat and mittens a friend got us from Baby Gap... I plan to put those on him when we travel back from the hospital! It is quite chilly here at the moment...)

The most amazing part of expecting Blue has been to see the support that we  have received from everyone! It has been so encouraging to see how not only family, but the church has reached out to us and made it such a precious time! It reminds me of that passage in John 13:35, which says, "By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."

So, with Africa and acts of love in mind... I end off this blog post with a song in my head, from the movie 'The Lion King', .... "Can you feel the love... tonight?..." :) 

His grace is sufficient for us.

Merry Christmas festivities...

It is hard to believe that it has been our SECOND Christmas in Los Angeles! It is fun to think back to how different things seemed last Christmas when we had only been here for a few months! Things seem way more familiar now even though we miss friends and family just as much!

We had planned to have Christmas dinner with some seminary friends but Izak was so sick with flu that we had to give going out a skip and instead rest at home. Despite this, we were still fairly festive!
The Steins brought us a little Christmas tree to use this year... (It is the same one that Wynand and Delila used when they were here!)

Look at how sweet the little miniature ornaments are:

We had a couple of packages from back home which we could put next to the tree!

Pat (our landlady put up some fun Christmas lights for us outside our home!)

And even let us use one of their wreaths!

Then... on Christmas eve... we heard a knock on our door and and found no-one there, only these beautiful home-made stockings that Ina (our other landlady) had made for us- stuffed full of fun goodies!

We had such a fun Christmas despite not feeling 100%... we opened our gifts from home (will put up some pics of some of the things we received in a later post...those that have not been eaten yet!) and also we got to speak to family over skype which was such a blessing! And to top it all off... Pat and Ina brought us some Christmas dinner which just added to the day's gaiety!


We hope that you also had a lovely day with family! It just blows my mind to think that Jesus came to earth as a baby- the humility of that action is so powerful (Phil. 2:6-8). I think it hits home even more so now, with us expecting Blue! What a blessing to be expecting a little one over the Christmas season...


Lots of love!
Your festive LA Bakkes'

Blue's shower at Lynette's, An African rocking chair and Whitney's surprise birthday bash!

Izak wrote his final Hebrew Exegesis exam this morning and he has one more exam to write today and our third semester will be O-ver! It is hard to believe that this is my last semester being a student alongside Izak at TMS! It has been so much fun and I am so thankful for a year and a half of solid studying and learning! What an incredible opportunity!


A couple of weeks back my friend, Emily Joki held a Baby Shower for Blue at Lynette's house. It was such an encouraging experience and I am still pretty close to tears when I consider the love and fellowship from that morning! 
You'll be pleased to know that I have pictures to assist with the telling of this story!
First of all... the Botes' home was so beautifully decorated! It was incredibly festive and fun! Here are some pictures of the decor:

And... GUESS WHO SURPRISED us with a visit all the way from San Jose???? The Gillies! I was so blown away that I cried... TWICE! They are such a precious couple and their love blows me away!
Here I am squeezing Mary Gillies with some serious South African love! It made it feel like I had family there!

Look at the tasty food selection:

Here is one of Brenda Frields (my EWG leader and on the left) and Christine Dixon on the right (many of you heard about her through the amazingly encouraging emails she sent us when we were applying to come to TMS)...

 Here are Christina and Brenda from our Mainstream Fellowship Group's Bible Study:

Meet two sweeet Sem wives and their new little one's:
Jessie and little Judah:

And... Rebecca and Adonias:

It was such a blessing to have all these special ladies in the same room at the same time! Life in LA can be so busy and it is rare to find moments like these...
Here is one of me with Pat and Ina (our precious land-ladies):

 This is my friend - Emily Joki, who organised the shower:

Whitney and I (Whitney took the pics...)

And dear hospitable Lynette (So pleased that it was at her home!)

Emily read a beautiful and inspiring letter to me...

And then all the ladies prayed for Izak, Blue and I: (This was so sweet and a real highlight for me!)

Then... to the gifts! And there were soooo many!

Ending off with the unveiling of an African-looking rocking chair... and matching footstool from a few of the ladies!

 We are so blessed! We have been given such lovely gifts and such precious friendship while here. It really is incredible to see how the body is so loving and that the Lord provides such encouragement and blessing through His body!
It did not take long for me to get Izak to set up the rocking chair and the foot stool! I believe it was that same evening! (I love it when he does DIY type things- he can really pull it off!)

And then... Whitney's surprise birthday bash! Her husband Jason, organised some of her friends to come round as a surprise and it was fun to hear how surprised she was! (Rebecca and I travelled together and the traffic was an absolute nightmare- so we weren't part of the initial 'surprise crowd'!)
Here Whitney is... with some of her friends:

Jason (Whitney's husband...)
Making some AMA-zing home-made Pizza! Mmmmmm.

And the Wii games kept a constant crowd entertained!

Well! If you have made it this far, you are in need of a prize! Hehe. Thanks for reading! It has been a fun but very busy time and I hope to have more news soon!
Please feel free to leave comments and let us know about your news!

The Bakkes'!