SLOBBERPRINCE

Dear Blogfollowers,

I’m sorry about everything. About not doing the blog for a while. My Mom was a little bit busy but now we have a nice day to write to you guys.

It's Christmas 2010!

Today I want to talk about a vision of mine. It’s about this movie called Pilgrim’s Progress.  It’s a movie that my Mom and I bought a while ago about a man named Christian who has a burden on his back. So his family did not believe him about anything and every time he was walking on the road fire just came past him. It was a little weird when I watched it. But then afterwards I found the book in my Oupa's collection down at Postinia and I read it slowly.  Then I was thinking and thinking about it and then I began to understand it and now I realise it was a very nice movie.

So this black guy came by and tells Christian to leave his family and go the Celestial City. The place where Christian was staying was called The City of Destruction. So then Christian ran but his wife was telling him to stop and to come back but that man told him not to look back.

So then his two friends, Able and Pliable told him to stop and he said, ‘Come with me and let’s go to the Celestial City.’ But Able thought that he was just crazy. Pliable said ‘maybe he’s right and maybe there is a city with God.’ So then Able told Pliable and Christian that they are crazy so Able went home.

... I need to think a bit ... I will give you the next instalment after Jesse.

Hello everybody on the Blog.

Sorry we haven’t written to you guys in a very long time. My Mom was away for a while and then she came back and was very busy. Also it was the end of year and so we were busy at school getting the year finished with prize giving and stuff. And I got my Class Leader’s Certificate!  Awesome!

About 3 weeks ago I went to go and see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. It was so cool! There’s this snake in the movie called Ningini. That snake was very scary. I shook half of my popcorn into the air! Brrrr! I cannot wait until Part 2 comes in July. But will my Mom take me?

Two weeks ago I went with the volunteers to the Laundry and I scared this volunteer because she was scared of Slobberdog. So I was walking and I made her scream because she didn’t want me to leave her. So I ran back and Slobberdog almost attacked me!! My Mom was walking by and she thought it was funny! She said ... ‘Go away Slobberdog!’ She thought he was just playing with me. But I was not so sure.

Then Pliable said, ‘Come let us run so that we can get there faster.’ So they were running and they slipped into the Slough of Despond. So then because Christian’s burden on his back was too heavy and he could not get out but Pliable got out and Christian was saying ‘Pliable, will you help me?’ Pliable just looked back and said ‘No!’ and went home.

I think it was about three days that Christian had to stay in that pond because of his burden and his sin. So then a man named ... um I think his name was “Help", threw a rope in the Slough of Despond and told Christian to grab on the rope. So Help pulled him out and asked him ‘Where are you going?’ Christian said ‘To the Celestial City.’

The Slough of Despond

So then Christian forgot the way and the man said ‘Follow the right road and always stay on that road. So when Christian was walking he met this man and he said ‘Where are you going?’ and the man said ‘I am going to the Celestial City.’ And Christian said aren’t you supposed to go the right way, and the man said I will make my way through a short cut.

So then Christian just left him and kept on the right way. And then two other men came and said ‘Where are you going?’ and they said, ‘We are going to the Celestial City’ and the two men said ‘Why don’t you come with us. And then Christian said ‘Isn’t this the way?’ and they said, ‘No, we know a short cut.’ So then the other man said, ‘Let’s split up.’ So they all splat up. And then two of the other men went different ways got attacked by Satan.

Jesse is getting impatient ... so I will give him a chance:

Thank you very much Becky for the money for the shoes! We really appreciate it. Becky Baby, you ROCK! Y-e-a-h!!!

Lizzy please can you send me the Harry Potter autographs (or maybe just copies) because I am a very big fan and even now I am reading Harry Potter all day long and when my mother asks me to make her a cup of tea it take a bit longer because I have to read-and-make-tea at the same time, because I can’t bear to put my book down. I am actually reading The Chamber of Secrets. But I would love to get the Deathly Hallows, (the book) but I don’t have it yet. Maybe I will get it for Christmas.  Love you lots Lizzy.

Okay, I want to tell you about Narnia. It already came to the movies and it is so cool but even though I haven’t seen it yet. I would like to go and see it with Matthew and them today, but I can’t because THEO won’t let me go. THEO has some favourites, but I am not one of them.  The Movie is called Narnia, Voyage of the Dawn Treader. (The third movie)

Voyage of the Dawn Treader

I can’t wait till you come, Becky. I am so excited that you are coming back. I need to give you a hug! I love you so much! Even my Mom does! She always says, “That’s a special girl and-a-half!” We love you like the ocean.

.... So as soon as Christian was walking he saw this church and went inside there and saw people shouting and there was this man tied up in the room. I can’t remember what his name was, but he was guilty of something. That’s what the people thought. But he was actually a good man. So they took this man outside and the security guards put Christian in chains and he was in the church. And they ran outside to see what was going on so then this angel came and took the chains off Christian and Christian ran outside but he was hiding and they put grass by this other man’s feet and put fire there on the grass and it was burning until it got to him and he said to Christian ‘I will see you in the Celestial City.’

So then another man was Christian’s friend and told Christian to come and the other man went on the journey with Christian.

So, I am getting a little tired now. I will do more on my next blog.

But I still want to tell you about leaving school and about home school.

I was so happy that I was leaving Aloe Ridge. The very last day was like the best day of all my Aloe Ridge days, for me. That school was not so good for me because I am not so playful. I am quiet and like to read and Tsepo always screams in class and hurts my ears and my head. So, sometimes I hide under my table and just read something quietly. But some of the kids were very sad that I was leaving. I actually was just a little sad. Some of the Grade 7’s were also leaving.  Crispin was one of them.  He is going to High School next year.

I just want to tell you one last thing and then I am going to say goodbye till next time. I think maybe this blog is a little bit boring because I can’t remember all the fun stuff that happened for such a long time.

It’s about Slobberdog. He is not sleeping outside anymore. He sleeps in Mommy’s room and is very happy there. Well, sometimes she trips over him when she goes to the bathroom in the night ... and then they are bad friends in the morning. But still, he is a happy dog. When she got home from her holiday she immediately got an old cot mattress and put it in her room.  She covered it with a very old, soft blanket and a sheet and she said ... “No more sleeping outside for my Slobberprince!” LOL! SLOBBERPRINCE!!! LOL! LOL! THAT’s really what she said! She said she missed everybody so much, but mostly she missed her Slobberprince. And she felt so bad that she made him sleep outside without a kennel because that was no way to treat a Slobberprince.

SLOBBERPRINCE SLEEPING IN MOM'S ROOM

Well, Slobberprince is so happy now. He walks around, just smiling and smiling all day long. It is good that he is sleeping inside now, because every night we have a humungous thunderstorm. It’s lovely and warm and sunny in the day time and then at about 6 in the evening the clouds meet together and the wind starts howling and blows up a terrible storm with thunder and lightning and very big raindrops. But at least it’s okay to have a storm at night. Then in the morning everything is fresh and clean and beautiful again. And warm; but not too hot. My Mom thinks that Johannesburg has the best weather in the whole wide world. Not too hot, and not too cold.  Even better than Ramsgate. I think I agree with her.




Eikenhof Shell Garage Flooded

Except then for this last week it really poured.  My sister, Faith, got very sick in the night and Mom had to take her to hospital.  When they got out on the road it was like a raging river Mom said.  By the time she got down to the Lawn Farm she got very scared because the car was far under water.  Later on in the day visitors told us that the water by the tar road was a meter deep.  That was when Mom got very glad that she turned around and went the other way.  She's very scared of water on the road.

The next day everything was flooded and the whole of Jo'burg and especially Soweto was flooded.  I will show you a picture of the Shell Garage on the main road.  Mom took that picture yesterday, but it was much, much worse than that at first.  And also the Lido Hotel got flooded.  But God was good to us.  We didn't get flooded, only one of our pipes has burst and poor Pippa has been trying all day for fix it because now we don't have water.  It just seems that every Christmas we don't have water!

The other night we had a very big storm, quite early like at about 6 o’clock. And it blew everything around the garden. It broke a big branch off our willow tree and quite a few off the oak trees.

Oh, and I have to tell you, we had a miracle. When Rhys bought the little veld chickens for his vegetable garden project the man told him that there was only one female and about 6 males and so Rhys put that one female and one male in a cage next to Barney Lodge where he was staying. (He doesn’t stay at TLC anymore. He stays in a cottage at Joanna’s house now to look after her so that she stays safe.) But anyway, those chickens were laying eggs and that was fine and then one day these little chicks popped out and that was cool.

In the other cage were lots of male chickens. Then one day Thabang came running in yelling for Mom. “Mom! Mom! The male chickens have laid eggs!” Mom said “Never! that’s not possible. They must be females.” When Rhys came to TLC in the morning Thabang was holding the handful of tiny eggs and showed Rhys and Rhys said. “Oh, ya! I’ve heard that some of these veld chickens are like that. The males can lay eggs.” Mom looked amazed and her mouth was hanging open. Rhys laughed loud and said “It’s true, Ma!” Mom said, “Rhys, the world is crazy enough. Let’s not make it that males start laying eggs as well!” LOL! Rhys laughed his head off, but he still insisted. But he said they would never make chickens, they could just lay these eggs.

E-Mail Chickens

So we ate those eggs. They were yummy! But it was a mission to get into the cage so after a while we stopped eating them because in any case they are so small they don’t fill your tummy as good as proper eggs do. Then a few days later Benjamin came running into the house and said ... “Mom! Mom! Come and have a look! The male eggs have made chickens!” Mom rolled her eyeballs and said ... "The male chickens must have turned into females somewhere along the line." And Benjamin looked and Mom, amazed and said. ‘Turned into e-mails, what are you talking about?’ LOL! LOL!

Okay, so I am going up to the house now ... we are doing this at Postinia, because everybody’s home on holiday and it’s too noisy in the house. Mom says she can’t hear herself think! LOL!

So bye bye everybody. I’m off! WHOO HOOO!

Next year is going to be so cool because I am going to be on my own and I am going to be able to work quietly and to read and to do quiet stuff that is best for the person that I am. I will still work hard but I will not get pushed and bumped and too hot or too cold anymore so I will feel better in my body. I am so grateful I don’t have to go to school anymore.

Mom and Pippa are getting computer stuff for me so that I can learn and stay clever. Some of the kids at school think I am going to become dumb when I am not at school anymore. But I know that’s not true. And Mom says that I am very clever she says I am like Hawkings ... well, not that bad, not at all. But he is trapped in a body that can’t do anything like normal people, but his brain is brilliant. And my brain will be brilliant too, because I won’t have to worry about all those rough kids knocking me down and stuff.

Okay friends, I am so glad we can do the blog again.  I think we lost a lot of good stories, but if I remember them, I will put them in the new blogs.

I love you so much,  and a big hug to you all.  God bless you and keep you all safe till next time.

Kieran.

SLOBBERDOG SURPRISE!

The reason why we called this post

"SLOBBERDOG SURPRISE"

was because we videod it.

But when we tried to

upload it, it wouldn't work

So ... SORRY GUYS!

NO VIDEO!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hi Everybody I am Jesse and here is my brother Kieran

We are sorry we did not write for a very long time, but we were very busy and then my Mom went on a little holiday.

Today I want to talk about light and how we are trying to get our family closer together because we need to do more good things in our life. Every day we are going to wake up and we are going to say let there be light! Its so that the devil won’t come in and make any of our family bad.

Today I want to talk about a special day. My Mom came back from her friends, Sharon and Heinz. It was a special day for me because I love my Mom so much and she’s also going away to Durban (Ramsgate) on Tuesday to write a book about us and I think that will be special for all of us. Because we have got her and my sister and then we don’t have anyone.

Well! ...

And plus I want to talk about On Friday was special because us Grade 4’s did a Cake and Candy sale at school. It was so fun I wish I could do it every single day. It was so great. I love you guys all and you are very special.

Well! ...

Yes, actually it was very cool to have the Cake and Candy sale and it was so much fun. It was awesome. Slobberdog is growing much bigger and getting more slobbery every single day.  Eeew

What do you want me to say? I want to say this ... You wanna see some high definition? Here’s some high definition for you (shows his muscles) Wow! Yeah! High definition! Yeah!

So, let this be a real message for you today. You must let God into your life so that he will be with you every single day.

Yesterday we watched a movie and it’s about this tribe ... and this this guy loves a vampire and it was disgusting to me. She bit this wolf and she became so old ... like 2,340 years old. And at the end he was like ... 'oh, you are still young!' And then at the very end she turned old ... really o-l-d!  like grey hair and her face flat and burned. And he was like ... 'Wow, you are like really old!' Grunt! It made me laugh and at the same time it was actually sad. It was sad because he actually found her and then he lost her. And the wolf, he turns so ugly he goes - yuck - and lots of face - and lots of hair - and it all goes back - and it was so disgusting.

Plus he said he would always love her no matter how old she is. He doesn’t mind. He will still love her.  That was just so lovely.  Sometimes people stop loving old people.  I think that's sad.

Oh yes, and exciting news from me is this ... I am going to see Harry Potter 7. I know it. I have seen the trailers and they are so cool. Expelliamus! WOW! How they are so old and still get children. It’s going to be wicked! So cool ... humungous. And when I am older, I am going to be a wizard like them. I mean like an actor and show off my moves. That’s all I’ll say ... r-i-g-h-t ... for now.

One day when I grow up I was to be just like the people who love God. I want to show every single body about the bible and I want to tell them about how God is so that they don’t forget about him. That God is special every single day. And we always celebrate him but some don’t. But that doesn’t matter because we do.

We love God so much and we can do nothing without him. God is the best person I ever heard about.

Well! ...

I love everything and I want to say I love movies because I am a movie-holic. Movies are one of those special things for me. If I don’t watch movies and TV I go crazy. I love movies and love to experience nice things because that makes me happy.

Today there was this book about this man named Angus Buchan ... and they also made the movie. Its called Faith like Potatoes. He is like a follower of God and he tells people about God and always has the bible with him and I would like to be just like him when I grow up because he is so popular and so nice to have around. He has such a nice farm and all that stuff.

I don’t mean to mock you... BUT ... sorry guys ... but I don’t think that’s ever going to happen. I think he’s going to change. I think he’s going to do something else!

You don’t know that!

And plus that movie reminds me of faith and all that stuff. Of trust. That movie was like something I never want to let go. I love that movie so much. GRUNT!! That’s why I am starting to read that book.

Well! That’s exciting! It’s wicked! It’s cool! ... BUT ... yeah! Kieran its cool ... but ... (whispers) .. Can I just say one more thing.

Talk!

I love my family and all the things they do for me so I am hoping they will take me to see the new Narnia in December. That’s what I am hoping for.

There was this movie we watched yesterday. It’s called THE TRIBE. It’s about these kids and these grown ups. But the grown ups die because of this virus and there’s only kids in the world. There are three tribes, the locusts the demon dogs and the tribe. They are so cool. I liked that movie so much. It’s about family. It’s about bringing everybody together. It’s the best movie I’ve seen in my whole life.

Ah ya ... just one thing. Becky ... can the High School Musicals CD’s only just be mine? Please ... because I don’t want to share with people. It’s not my thing. I just watch them by myself and that. I don’t share. Sorry! Please.

I just can’t take my eyes off God ... he means everything to me.

WHO?

GOD!

WELL! (To me) Mommy comes first, P comes second and Kieran – you come last.

Pippa: And where is God in all that?

OH SHERBET! LOL.  Okay, God comes first, Mommy comes second, then Pippa and then ... oh you, Kieran you come last. You come fourth.

Well, it doesn’t matter if I come last. At least I am a part of this family and this family means so much to me. I love it so much.

Oh, I forgot one thing. Soon we are doing a play at church. I am singing with my brother. We are going to be in the choir. It’s about a Christmas song. But the only bad thing is ... we are going to wear sheets. I wish we could let us wear white suits and then wear sheets under it.

I wish every single Sunday that everybody, like the whole world, would go to church.

FEeew ... oh ... well, THAT’s never going to happen! So, well, I don’t have anymore to say, so .... PEACE OUT!

I love all of you so much. I’ve never been so spoiled in my whole life. Everybody ... like all of you are like our world's family together. One day I wish our whole family will be together.

I’m going now. Have a good day. I'm ready to rock! You wanna see some high definition? Oo oo oo!

A teacher of mine was telling me about this kid and he doesn’t have God and he is spoiled and gets everything he wants. But every time something is missing in his life. And God was calling his name and trying to talk to him but he doesn’t hear anything.

One day his grandma calls him in and she says “What’s wrong”. She gives him some chips and that kind of stuff but he’s still so sad ...

The second day she asks him again. What’s wrong? And he says “I don’t know what’s wrong”.

The third day Grandma calls him and she says “I think I know what’s wrong. The thing that’s wrong is that you don’t have God in your life. That’s why you are always so sad and stuff. And he says “Who’s God?” and she says he is the Saviour of the world. The one who saved us on the cross.”

And then he believed his granny and he went outside and he called on him (God) and he said “I’m here God.”

And God said “I want you to pray every single night and let me be with you so that I can teach you about everything so that your life will go very well.” And then it did. And that’s the story. And that is all I want to say.

Goodbye everybody. I love you!

Yeah! ... High definition! LOVE YOU TOO OO OO OO!

THUNDERDOG!

Hello there to all our friends, far and wide!

Yes, we greet you - one and all ... so come inside!  LOL!  LOL!

Kieran and Jesse

It was cold today. Blustery and windy. The wind even blew away Rhy’s chickens! The little veld chickens that he has in these small cages. Not only that, but it blew off the roof from Joshua’s pig-houses! This was most awful because two of the mommy pigs have a litter of baby pigs each and the one’s babies are only just a week old.

Strong wind blew the roof off the Pig Sty

Mom called Joshua and he was busy studying for his exams. He was not happy. He said ... “Oh dangit! That’s not good timing.” He had a look out of his window and screamed a word we are not allowed to say. Those little piggies were not a bit worried. We went to the pig houses with Mom because from her bedroom window it looked like some of the dogs had managed to get into the pig pens. She took her new camera because she is learning how to use it. Slobberdog was right on her heels. He could tell something exciting was going on.

Yummy, yummy baby piggy in my tummy!

The baby pigs were just fine! Running after their mommies and not bothered in the least. They were not even scared of Slobberdog! Slobberdog went right up to the fence and was drooling and thinking, ‘Yummy, yummy! Baby pig in my tummy!’ But Mommy pig was standing there ... her hackles were up and her top lip was going up and down and I think SHE was saying ... “In your dreams you slobbering mutt!” LOL! LOL!

In your dreams, you slobbering mutt!

Mommy pigs can be very, very dangerous when they are protecting their little ones. They can BITE a whole big hole in your leg if they don’t know you. Especially if they think you are up to mischief and want to hurt their little babies. Only people they love and trust, like family members or Bernard and Robert who feed them every day, are allowed in the pig pen when there are babies.

Pig Farmer, not a happy chappy

Daddy pig wasn't getting out of the bath for anyone!

Well, then Joshua came to have a look and he was not a happy chappy!  Not with the condition of the pig sty’s and all. He was muttering and grumbling and moaning and “Gotta have this junk goin’ on ... supposed to be studying ... blooming pigs ... more trouble than they’re worth!” Actually, I am sure he didn’t mean a word of that because he makes a LOT of money from his pigs. He has been breeding them since he was 13 and he sells the babies when they are 3 months old and are nice and fat (after eating all that delicious left-over baby-formula!)  YUM! LOL He saves every pig-cent he gets at the auction and ... well ... there’s this rumour ... shhh ... don’t tell anyone ... it is only a rumour ... but they say he will have enough money saved up when he is 18 to buy himself a CAR!!! Howdya like that?

Well after that Mom went down to Postinia because Zoё asked her to proof-read her university thesis and Mom can’t do that with us-lot and all the noise in the house. She tried for two days, but Zoё needs it for tomorrow. So Mom trotted off to Postinia but before she left she said to me and Jesse ... “Hey you two boys, I am going to give Pippa a call when I'm ready and then you need to come down and do Slobberdog. We don’t want to keep all your fans waiting like last week.” So we said ... “Okay Mom!”

Dominique our sister told us to go down to Postinia to do our blog. Me and Kieran are like ...”Are you sure?” Because we were waiting for Mom to call Pippa. But she said . “Yes, I am sure!” So we started walking down to Postinia. At first it was fine. Windy but fine. Till GWARRA! The thunder was growling: GRRRR! BLAM! BLAM! And the lightning was going BZZZZZZZ! ZZZAP! ZZZZZAP!. Then we got SO scared. Did you know that lightening is one of the most common causes of death in the veld in South Africa?

So we started running down, me and my brother. But you know ... he has this ... mmm problem (never allowed to call it ‘dickey heart’ again!  Um Sorry Kieran but what do we say?) HEART PROBLEM!  He goes banana’s when anybody says the other thing. But you know what I mean ... HEART PROBLEM and so he said “Puff ... puff ... oh no ... oh heck ... can’t do this anymore; puff puff puff!” And I said, “Don’t give up Kieran, you can do this, boy! Come on dude! Not long to go now!” The rain! ... Huge, humongous drops of rain fell splat! Splat! Splat! Down on our heads! Worst of all, down on our new shirts that Anna Kruppa had sent for us.

Ceri the volunteer saw us in the rain. She looked worried. Worried about Kieran. So I took my brother on my back and I ran like a madman down to Postinia. Wow, it was cool-wicked. Kieran was going Weehah! Cool Jesse! WEEHAH! SO COOL JESSE! Just as well God made me strong, for all the people I have to piggy-back around here!

When we banged on the door, my Mom got such a fright and said, “What are you guys doing here? Just LOOK how wet you are!  I haven’t finished yet. I didn’t call Pippa.” I said ... We are here to do Thunderdog! LOL ... Yes, and at the very moment he said that ... at the same time I said this ... I said ‘We are here to do Slobberdog!’ LOL! And then Mom just exploded! She said THUNDERDOG? WHA HA HA HA HA HA! She laughed her head off! It was so good to see my Mom laugh that loud. Wow man! It made my heart so happy. Do you know the Bible says Laughter is like medicine to the soul! My wonderful Mom got a great big dose of very good medicine just then. Man ... I nearly cried it was so beautiful to see her laughing like that and then I just ran to her and hugged her and hugged her and we all three hugged each other and laughed and laughed.

But then I started coughing. I couldn’t stop coughing. My Mom was like ... Are you ... are you sick! All I could say was puff puff, freezing, Mom! Freezing! And I was shivering and shivering. Too cold, Mom. And then Jesse said - I’ll make some nice tea for you guys.- And Mom said -That would be great.- And then I went into the kitchen with Jesse and he said ... 'Don’t worry dude!  Don’t worry! ... The kettle will boil in just a minute.' Then he got some towels and wrapped them round me and rubbed me dry. And my Mom got out some biscuits. Yummy. Chocolate chip berries ... that’s what I call them. Absolutely delicious. Postinia’s special. I felt better quicker than quick!

FAMILY FOCUS

MATTHEW

Matthew is Pippa's eldest son.  He is 11 years old and he also goes to Aloe Ridge with the rest of us.  Matthew is very clever.  I think maybe he is the cleverest Jarvis in the school.  His teacher just loves him to bits because he is always very helpful and doesn't get up to mischief like SOME people do!  I don't think he has ever had a detention in his life, because he is just too good for something like that.  Matthew also has a great sense of humour.  He loves to laugh and he has the funniest laugh in the world.  Its like a giggly kind of a laugh and when he laughs, you want to laugh too because when he laughs is sounds so funny and then its kind of catchy.

We all like Matthew.  He's a good brother (and nephew!) LOL.  See, he is Pippa's son, and Pippa is our sister and so he is our nephew.  He gets a little irritated when we remind him of that.  Like he's supposed to respect his elders and all that ... even though he is the same age as us.  But he knows we are only playing with him. But he is a very good brother because he is the eldest of Pippa's kids and he has to look after the little ones when she is away.  He doesn't mind and he does a good job.

Even when he has to look after Ruth, the baby sister, who is not even two yet, he does a good job.  He baths her.  He dresses her.  He even changes her smelly nappies!  Now there's something Kieran and I are not too good at!  You see, God gives us all special gifts but that is not ours.  (Thank heavens!)  And Matthew is not much of a sportsman.  He can't run too fast and he is a little bit chubby, so maybe that has something to do with it.  But he has just started taking chess lessons at school and I think that will be a sport he can do.

Matthew is really good at Maths.  Maybe that's why God gave me the name MATHew!  LOL.  He understands things quickly and doesn't struggle like Kieran and I do with Maths.  I don't struggle that much, but when we have had a holiday or something and we haven't been at school for a while, then I forget my times tables and I struggle to remember what I learned before.  But Matthew is fine.  He always manages everything to do with school.

Everybody in the whole family loves Matthew.  He hardly ever teases people and teasing is what usually makes trouble.  Teasing and name-calling.  But Matthew never does that.  So we all love him.  And another thing about Matthew is that he is very helpful.  If you have a difficult job to do, he will come and help you, even before you ask.  He is a good example in that way.  And also if you are feeling sad he will try to make it better somehow.   Also, if you tell Matthew something that you don't one the whole planet to know, he won't say anything.  He's a good friend.  He's a good brother and he is a very good nephew!

One day when I grow up I’m going to have little puppies like Slobberdog. I’m going to have four. And their names are going to be Slobberdog 2! Thunderdog! LOL! LOL! Gasdog LOL! LOL! and ... Blobberdog! LOL! LOL! My mother laughed out loud again when she heard those names. She said ‘Jesse! Those are great names!’ ... And they are going to grow up just as cute as Slobberdog, the HERO of TLC. Grrrrrr!!! LOL! I think people are going love this blog ... the best one in history!

When I grow up I am going to be a pet-detective for dogs and cats. And if one of them looks sad on their dogfaces or catfaces, I am going to buy them and take them home with me and I’ll be its owner. I am going to take all the cute ones and scruffy ones and the ones look nice and even the ones that don’t look nice. Eeew ... like Electra ... she got something wrong with her face ... a fungus ... and it went all rotten like. Eeew! But Rhys took her to the vet and the vet said it was a kind of fungus that dogs get when they spend a lot of time in the veld. So she got antibiotics and injections and stuff. She’s completely better now and beautiful as ever. But anyway, I’m probably going to be like those weird old people who have like a thousand dogs and cats ... No man Kieran, that’s not good. You have to get them adopted into other families. You won’t be able to look after so many dogs and cats properly.  It's not kind.  Oh ... alright then, I’ll get them nice homes. Mmm ... that’ll be better! Thanks Jesse ... good idea!

Now I want to tell you about YOGA! Yesterday the Indian people came from Lenasia (down the road)... to our house. We had nice Indian food. It was called briyani. Very yummy with dahl. It was very spicy but I liked it. And then after that we did YOGA! It was such fun. We did stretches, body reflexes and yoga silence --- where we had to control our temper and our feelings and our breathing. I loved it so much I wanted to do more. If my teacher, Miss Moosa reads this blog she would be so happy and proud because she is Indian.

Yoga Demonstration Yesterday

They gave us party packs when they were done but before that they put great games on our computers and maths programmes and an Encyclopaedia Britannica. That’s going to be great in case we can never get on the internet if we don’t get money ... then we can get information from the encyclopaedia (just as well my Mom knows how to spell that word, because we DIDN'T!). And then we also all prayed and thanked God for good friends. Because these Indian people have been visiting us for lots of years already and they are very kind. Even their kids are kind.

Yesterday Anna (Kruppa) one of our favourite German volunteers who left quite long ago, sent a huge box of presents and we sat in Mom’s room and Pippa handed out the gifts. (Anna put our names on each one). I think she must have been busy for weeks preparing all that for us. There was something for everybody. It was so amazing. Slobberdog was so happy he even ate one of my marshmallow rats! All the kids jumped up and down with joy! Pippa even gave some of the volunteers like Keisha stuff that Anna had sent specially for them. I was shocked and amazed that we all got presents. Thank you Anna! ... From Jesse and his family and Kieran.

Hello Channelle, Aimee, Julie (my love) and Anna (everybody’s love) LOL! And Becky and Hannah, my beautiful, lovely girls. And Travaughna and Taqueesha! We are missing you all --- our friends on the blog. Keep writing long comments. I know that most of you don’t like to do it. What’s the matter, are you shy? But you know you can also write an e-mail to Mom and she will show us that way too. Sometimes people do that. It is easier for us to answer an e-mail. And Aunty Jay we have not had any comments from you lately. We hope that you are well. Maybe you are just on holiday. Last time you said we are nasty-sweet. We thought about that and we don’t want to be nasty-sweet anymore. We will just be sweet. Sorry that we did not write for long. Maybe you thought we stopped doing the blogstories.

Don’t forget to laugh about my puppy Blobberdog. And Thunderdog! LOL! I hope my dream does come true.

PEACE OUT MY FRIENDS. BYE!

LOVE YOU!



RED and BLUE

VISIT TO HARRIET AND LADY WITH ONE LEG

Dear Slobberdog Friends,



I am sorry I have not been here this week. I had to a friend of mine. Her name is Harriet. And I want to talk about her dog, Toby. He is so cute and fussy. He even chases you around when you run. He likes his ball. If you throw his ball and he fetches it and you tell him to give it to you he won’t give it. He is a fast dog.

When we were at Harriet’s house we went to watch the Karate Kid. I never watched it before. It is my first time. It was so cool. We also went to Sandton and we saw a show of snakes. They were real snakes. They hold them in front of you and you can see them up close. It was so cool. And Jesse and I got marbles. We just loved it.


Then when we on our way home we picked up some DVD’s and some PIZZA!!! YUMMY YUMMY IN MY TUMMY. The DVD’s were Planet 51 and Spiderwick Cronicles. Plus we went to go and take Toby for a walk. It was so cool there in the park. We had ice cream there. We even felt like not going home and staying there for long-long. But then I knew in my mind that my Mom needed me and that I should go home. So we came home this morning and my Mom was so very happy to see us!


After we came back from the movies we were playing Karate Kid together. And we swam. It was so cool. I just feel like going there every single day. It was the funnest time of my whole life.



My big brother, Reuel



My big brother, Joshua

 My Mom, Pippa, Zoё, Joshua and Reuel all went to dinner with my Uncle Etsko and his family to say goodbye to our Uncle Berend because he is going away to Holland for a few months I think. So Mom told us that we had so many comments that that we really should do our Slobberdog stories tonight when she gets back. But we were so tired from Harriet’s house. I was still managing to stay awake, but Jesse was whining and whining ... Ooooo whennn is Mommm commming home? I’m so tiiiired. Ooooo I need to go tooooo beeeed. Jesse is always like that. When he’s tired he can’t stay awake. When he is hungry he has to eat RIGHT NOW. When he needs a wee he has to run immediately. He can never wait for anything. So I kept telling him to stay awake because I want to read the comments and I want to see if there are comments from Becky and Hannah. But finally he just kind of rolled upstairs moaning and grumbling and huffing and puffing and I knew that as soon as he plopped on that bed he would already be snoring.


So now Mom and I are sitting here doing Slobberdog, and maybe he will add his blogstories tomorrow after school. Mom said it was rude to wait any longer.


So Becky and Hannah I saw your comments and I can’t say what you should do because really it was Jesse’s biggest wish about the shoes. So you will have to wait until tomorrow to hear what he has to say.

I wanted to tell you cool thing about Zoё, hey? There is a lady at the squatter camp and she only has one leg. So she couldn’t walk anywhere because she only had a walking frame and you still can’t walk with one leg even if you have a walking frame.

And then Zoё found a man who fixes old wheelchairs and makes them good as new and gives them to people who need them but have no money to buy them.

Zoё was so excited she went and asked him for some wheelchairs, but one especially for her lady who has one leg. And he gave them to her and she was so happy. She couldn’t wait to take it to the lady and see the big smile on her face.

Granny struggling with frame

Then that kind wheelchair man gave her .... ummm ... I think maybe it was like 10 wheelchairs for Zoё’s friend in Britstown who looks after dying people. She is a very kind lady. She finds dying people in all kinds of places because their families throw them away like rubbish. Then she fetches them and she washes them and puts them in beautiful, soft beds and treats them as if they are Jesus.

And Zoё has made her a blog too so that she can put her stories on it about her people that she loves so very much, even though they are dying and some of them look like a bunch of sticks, they are so skinny. I think you will be interested to read her stories too, because my Mom loves her very much too and says she has never seen such a kind lady in all her life.

Happy Granny with new wheelchair



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Hello Everybody, it’s me, Jesse,

Sorry I haven’t written to all of you for a very long time. Please don’t stop writing comments because when you write comments it makes me happy.   I know that I probably made you impatient.  But I love you a lot.  Its just that we have been so busy and my Mom is busy when we are not, and then we are busy when my Mom is not and we need to be together to do the blog.

Harriet’s house was so much fun. We rented movies and stuff, but I know that Kieran has already told you all that because he was early and I am late. But at the movies there was a trailer that was called Charlie St. Cloud. It said at the bottom, ‘Live your life and learn to let go.’ And I am really hoping to see that movie. It is about a big brother losing his little brother who died. And that made me very sad and it was moving. I like movies like that. (So does my Mom) She should actually see it. Maybe we can go together. That will be so cool.

So the other thing is that Kieran used up all the nice pictures ... but Rhys to a really cool picture of Slobberdog, so I am going to keep that one for last ... and you are going to LOVE it!

Slobberdog and all the other dogs hurt Jerome. Jerome told me (in sign language) that he slipped and fell down and all the dogs came and stood on him. Then I saw that and I chased them away and carried Jerome to P. I don’t think they were actually trying to attack him, but they just stood on him. Maybe they were trying to help him or something.

Today at school we learned things about science. It was very cool. But some of the boys were being naughty. We didn’t get to do the experiment. I was not that happy with them all. Sometimes I wish that I was magic and could just vanish them away when they behave so badly and make my teachers angry. Because when they do that it affects me as well.

Hello Lizzie. I know I have not spoken to you in a very long time. But every day I still think of you. And one day I’m going to be famous and get some money to meet you in England. There is always a spot for you in my heart. And I was to say hello to you, Becky. Please will you send a copied CD of High School Musical 2. The song CD. Thank you Hannah. My brother and I really appreciate you sending the money to my Mom for our shoes. We are so happy about it. We will wait and be patient until it comes and then we will go and buy them. Hugs and kisses.

In a few days we are having Cake ‘n Candy at school. I am so excited! So I asked my Mom if I could sell ice-creams because ice-creams are my favourite. But she said that would be hard because now it is hot and when the ice-creams get to school they will already be melted.

I was so happy to hear that Crispin’s name will be on the Honour’s Board for Badminton. And Plovers (Our house at school) came first place in Sports. Plovers always used to loose in sports until the Jarvises came to Aloe Ridge. That’s because everybody whose surname begins with a J is a Plover. And so all the Jarvises are good at sports and now they win all the time instead of losing all the time. Don’t you think that is awesome?

Okay my friends, I will try not to take so long next time.  But actually it was a bit of Kieran's fault because he wanted to do it in two parts and remember I wanted to do all the news at once.  And then I felt so worried because I started forgetting all the stuff that I wanted to say.  So I told Kieran that next time we have a lot of news we will just put it all on.  Because after all you are not simple, are you?  If you are busy or in a hurry or something like that, you know Slobberdog's address and you can just come back and miss the part you have read and then read from there.  But Kieran always has to have these great experiments that are not that clever.

So now, here comes your Slobber Surprise for today!  LOL!!! It's so cool!

So I am going now.  I have some homework to do and Mom had to go and pick up the sports lot of kids at Aloe Ridge.

See you all soon,  love Jesse.

OUR WONDERFUL CHICKEN-LOVING LION, SLOBBERDOG!

Hello all our friends on the blog.  We want to give Slobberdog some space today, because he has kind of been missing out.

My Uncle Berend is here.  (My mother's eldest brother).  He is very upset that Slobberdog doesn't have a nice place to sleep anymore.  Mom said she would have to make a plan.  That's when we thought we should honour Slobberdog with a nice blog this week so that he gets some attention again!

So here is our little skit!



Everybody is very busy doing their work of the day. Especially Ruthi. She’s busy mopping the floor for Mommy. Then Ellen was eating chicken and she had a chicken bone. Slobberdog spotted that immediately and came, smiling and smiling towards Ellen’s chicken bone. Ruthi said, “Oh no! Slobberdog, Ruthi no like you!” Poor Ruthi didn’t know about the chicken bone. She thought Slobberdog was smiling because he was thinking RUTHI was going to taste delicious!



"Oh no!  Slobberdog, Ruthi no like you!"

Ellen felt so sorry for Ruthi, because she ran away screaming in terror. Ellen chucked the chicken bone at Slobberdog and ran off to comfort poor little Ruthi. Slobberdog was a very, very happy Slobberdog. Chicken bones are like Belgian chocolates to Slobberdog!

 Jerome thought the whole scene was hilarious. He was laughing his head off! HA! HA! HA! HA! Slobberdog was not amused. He says to himself ... “What’s that little twirp laughing about?  He better not be laughing at me! Is he LAUGHING at me?  Is he? Well is he?"



Slobber says, "I hope that little twirp is not laughing at me!"

But Jerome loves Slobberdog and would never want to hurt Slobberdog’s feelings. Because Jerome is deaf and many times nobody has time to talk to Jerome.  Then he often goes and sits and signs to Slobberdog, and Slobberdog "listens" to all his signing with great interest.  So when he sees that Slobberdog is fed up because of his laughing, he feels sorry for his good friend, and he goes and gives Slobberdog a great big cuddle!



But Slobberdog is still not too pleased.  Even though he really loves cuddles, he much prefers chicken bones. Jerome realises this, and off he goes, and comes back with a delicious chicken bone! Slobberdog was much, much happier now and was smiling and smiling again.

So sorry Slobberdog!  Here is a nice bone for you!

When Brendon saw how happy Slobberdog was with the chicken bones, he hobbled over to Slobberdog, (because remember Brendon had a big operation and they took a piece of bone out of his hip, so he can’t walk properly yet! But he managed to hobble over to Slobberdog, and brought HIS peace-offering too. Slobberdog was beginning to think it was Christmas! He was so happy and then in the end three “tigers” came over and gave Slobberdog a great big hug and SLOBBERDOG said “Aaaah! I love my FAMILEEEE!” And Ellen came over and patted his big nose and said ... “Aaaaah! And your famileeee loves you too, Slobberdog!”



The other news is that little Faith (Viv’s Faith) is now wearing glasses. She looks SO CUTE. She looks like a university lady. Mighty thinks she is the most beautiful little girl since Barbie. They have always loved each other since they were just babies.

Then there is this great story my Mom was reading to me yesterday.  Somebody sent it to her.  I asked her if we could put it on our blog and she said, YES!  Of course.  That's a great idea!  So here it is:

A blind boy sat on the steps of a building with a hat by his feet.  Beside him was a sign which said: "I am blind, please help!"  There were only a few coins in the hat.

A man was walking by. He took a few coins from his pocket and dropped them into the hat. Then he took the sign, turned it around, and wrote some words. He put the sign back so that everyone who walked by would see the new words.

Soon the little boy could hear a lot of clinking and could tell that the hat was beginning to fill up with coins.  A lot more people were giving money to the blind boy.  That afternoon the man who had changed the sign came to see how things were going.  The boy recognized his footsteps and asked, "Were you the person who changed my sign this morning?  My hat filled up with coins so quickly! What did you write?"


The man said, "I only wrote the truth. I said what you said but in a different way."

I wrote: "Today is a beautiful day ... but I cannot see it."


Both signs told people that you are blind.  But the first sign only said what the people already knew.  That you are blind.  The second sign, on the other hand, inspired the people to give to you, because it told them, not only that you are blind, but that they were so lucky that they are not blind.  Little boy, you shouldn't be surprised that the second sign was much better than the first one?


The little boy said, "Oh, I see Sir!  The moral of the Story is this:  Always be thankful for what you have.  You don’t have to be a genius to be creative.  Break out of the “average” mould. Think differently.  Think positively."




"That's right, Son!" Said the man, pleased.  "And when life gives you a 100 reasons to cry, find those 1000 reasons to smile, for they are surely there.  Embrace your past without regret. Face your present with confidence. Prepare for the future without fear.  Keep the faith and keep God near.


Never underestimate the power of your smile.


Always be aware of the power of a gentle touch. It has the power to lift someone’s spirits to a place of new hope and confidence.


And that is the end of the story.  I thought it was b-e-a-u-t-i-f-u-l!  But guess what?  Mom says she doesn't understand it that much.  She feels sorry for the blind boy because that man didn't make him feel better about his blindness.  He just made the people feel better that they weren't blind.  Mom thinks that was kind of cruel.  But I don't think so.  What do YOU think?

FAMILY FOCUS
PIPPA 
http://pippaspassions.blogspot.com/

Pippa with her two sons, Christian and Jerome



I am certain that EVERYBODY wants to know all about Pippa because now THERE is somebody who is exceptional. Better than normal. Above average. I don’t think I have ever met anybody quite like Pippa, and I am so glad that she is my sister. She’s just amazing. She has so much energy and Mom loves her to bits. Mom is always saying ... “Oh if I only still had Pippa’s energy.”



Pippa wakes up really, really early in the morning and she gets about 6 little guys dressed. (Sometimes Teacher Sue is here to help her, but right now she has to do it on her own.) So these are her kids ~ Matthew who is 11, James who is 9, Mighty who is 7 (hiv+, Christian is 6 (hiv+), Jerome who is 4 (hiv+ and deaf) and lastly little Ruth, who will be 2 in December and is also hiv+ and GORGEOUS! We all adore that little girl ... everybody from Mommy right down to Jerome ... She is amazing.

Pippa will be taking over TLC one of these days. She is really running TLC but Mom is still the “big boss” for now. I am not sure how long it is going to take for Pippa to take over. I guess it’s a bit scary for her to have so much responsibility. But she runs the whole household. It’s a very, very big job. She has to shop for everybody. She has to manage the cooking for 100 people, sometimes more. She has to supervise all the staff and that’s hard because there are many of them and sometimes they don’t do their jobs well and she has to tell them to shape up. They don’t like it most of the time, but everybody does love Pippa and so most of the time there isn’t a big fight or anything like that. Even with Joanna, and Rhys, Zoe and Mom. They don’t usually yell at each other. They talk nicely and softly.

I once went to my friend’s house and his parents were really yelling at each other and that’s scary. I’m glad they don’t do that. But actually RHYS does! He can yell so that the guys in hell can hear him. He is really scary when he yells. I have to say that Pippa yells at us sometimes. Because it's our own fault when we are disobedient and we frustrate her. We are untidy and lose our school stuff and then she has to buy more and that makes her crazy. Yeah, she yells at us sometimes.  And Mom too, sometimes. Even the big boys can drive them both crazy sometimes. But that is why we are a family.



Pippa and Zoe



 Pippa is such a good manager. She always manages everything. Like when we go on holiday she packs up everything ... and I mean everything! Imagine doing that for 30 kids? But we do help her though. We are all there and she says, you take this, you take that, you take the other thing. Then we put it all around the buses and cars ... whatever we are travelling in, and she comes and packs it all up. She always says ... ‘One thing my Dad certainly taught me was how to pack for holiday!’  Pippa really knows how to love and how to sacrifice.

Pippa with Christian and Mighty

Pippa is a great cook.  Imagine cooking for our big family!

That is the thing that I love most about Pippa. When I think about her my heart goes soft and I get tears in my throat sometimes. To think she gave up her whole life for us. She is a real Jesus person. Like a Jesus with skin on. She has so much love and she helps everybody who asks for help. She never says ... “Oh go away” to the poor people or so. She always gives them something. She MIGHT sometimes call Zoe and ask her to deal with the poor people if she's very tired, because poor people are really Zoe’s passion and she loves to help them. But Mom and Pippa ... even though they love the poor people, their real passion is our family and all their kids.

We still have a lot more to say, but Mom says that the Blog experts tell us that your blog should never be much longer than 1000 words. So this one is now a bit more than a 1000 words which means that we have to make a PART 2, or otherwise, we have to make another blog and post it in two or three days time.

Kieran and I have argued about this. Kieran wants to do a Part 2 right now, and I think it is better to do another blog in two days time. Finally, Kieran has agreed with me because otherwise people will get bored when they have to read such a lot of stuff. I know that when I read, I like to read small bits now and again, not a big long thing all at once.

Well, Kieran is the opposite he can sit and read all day long. Even the BIBLE! Can you believe it? Even the Old Testament ~ all about Saul and Samuel and Methewship or whatever Jonathan’s son was called. Geeeez Louise, I tell you the truth I have no idea how he sticks that out.

Well, you wouldn’t know, Jesse, because you’ve never tried. You should try it sometime. Those are the coolest stories I have ever read. You will never find stories like that anywhere else ... well, maybe Lord of the Rings. But that’s about it. You should try it sometime, Jess.

No, no! I know I don’t like that stuff. It’s so BORING.

BORING? Well, you sit and gobble up every word when I tell you the stories ... what about that story about the widow and her little boy and the last drop of oil. And what about the story about when Moses parted the sea and all those soldiers were drowned. You loved those stories, you’re just lazy. You don’t want to read them for yourself.

Ya ... okay. You’re right. Maybe when I am older and can read better.

Jesse, you won’t read better until you read more.

Shoosh now Kieran, I’ve had enough of your whining. The thing is that we are not going to do a PART 2, but when we have too much news we will post it two or three days later. We will still do it all at once, because it’s easier for Mom that way. But then she will post it a few days later so that our friends don’t get BORED ... because MOST people are NORMAL Kieran ... like ME! LO!

Yeah well, who wants to be normal anyway? I’d much rather be exceptional.

What’s that?

Exceptional ... well, it’s kind of ‘not normal’ but better than normal. Above average I think.

W-h-a-t-e-v-e-r!

See you next time friends ... Yes, have a happy weekend!

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