SLOBBERDOG: DRIVING INSTRUCTOR

South Africa our Wonderful Land!

Hello Muchos!    

Oh Come on Kieran!  Now what does Muchos mean?

Muchos?  Well don't you know?  It means friend.

Rubbish, you made that up.  What language is it?

Muchos?  French, I believe.

Never ... nothing in French ends in -os-  their stuff ends is -ois- -eau-.  Not -os-.

Well okay, then its probably Spanish or Mexican.  But so what, Jesse?  I made it up, okay?  It's a cool word.  I thought you said you liked words.

Yes, but not made up ones when you say it means something, and it doesn't.  FRIEND!  HA ... how dare you say it means friend ... thats lying Kieran, and lying's a sin.

Oh shoosh, Jesse. How do you know it doesn't mean friend? Maybe it does. Or what about this, Jesse ... listen to this ... this is cool, listen ... Maybe everybody who reads this blog story will start calling each other Muchos, instead of friend.  And then all their friends will call THEIR friends Muchos.  WHAHOOOO!  I'll be FAMOUS.   I will be called the MUCHOSMAKER!  And whenever I walk down the street people will bow down or curtsy and they will say ... um they will say this ... -Well done Muchosmaker -  and they will whisper to each other when they see me coming ... they'll whisper behind their hands and say, there's the guy who made up the word MUCHOS!

LOL LOL LOL   Kieran, you're crazy!

No, Jesse, that's how words start you know.  All the words in the dictionary started like that.  When lots of people use a word then the dictionary people put it in their dictionary.  Then there's this big ceremony and they wave some stuff around and say ... humbelebum is now a word!   The dictionary has millions of words now, but at one time it only had, er ... like a hundred?

You know what Mom told me? ... she said they also take words OUT of the dictionary.  She said they took out words like NUN, and ... I can't remember I think it was Convent and catechism ... and ... monstrance and liturgy and incense.

What?  That can't be true, Kieran, you are making that up.  Just like your MUCHOS.

I swear its true you can ask Mom yourself.  I think she told me she read it in the Time Magazine, but I'm not so sure.  Mom thinks its an evil plan to take away our faith.

Well, if it's true, ...and I don't believe it is, by the way..., Your Excellency Mr. Muchosmaker, LOL ... then she would be right.  But be quiet now ... we have work to  do, remember?

Oh ya, okay.

Today we have quite a bit of news. Some good. Lots bad. And a big bit is very worrying and means we might have to stop doing our Blog stories.

But first we have to report of Slobberdog.  Do you know that he has just started his own driving school?  Don't believe me?  Well, they say a pictures tells a thousand words .... so here goes: 

Aaaah poor Slobberdog!  I'm not even kidding ... he was so excited he really thought I was going to take him for a drive.  He wouldn't get out of the door, even though I opened it for him.  He sat there and sulked for 2 hours.  And that's the truth!  Only when Zoe came home she managed to coax him out.  He loves going for rides in the car and when Zoe goes to the squatter camp and its late and dark sometimes, she takes him along.  People don't mess with her when Slobberdog is in the car ... imagine!

MY TURN!

Well now it's my turn and the news isn't so good.  Mommy got very sick last week. She has been very stressed for a long time, but we didn't really know it because she didn't show it. We are a big family and there is not much money coming in at the moment. Well, not enough for us to pay all the things we have to pay. Mommy has been getting more and more scared. It's interesting that Moms can get scared.  But they can, you know!

My Mom doesn't mind telling us when she is scared.  She will just say, - Come here Jesse, come and sit with me and cuddle me and hold me REAL tight.-  Then I ask her - Why Mom?- and she sometimes says, - Because I am so scared Jesse - And then I always hold her tight for l-o-n-g, and tell her - Everthing will be alright, Mom.  Don't be scared.  I also get scared sometimes, but everything does come right in the end. - And after a while she settles down.

She DOES pray and she DOES trust the Lord ... so don’t any of you think that she doesn’t, because she DOES. But sometimes God tests you and he is probably testing her right now.

Anyway, because she was getting worried and stressed she started to feel funny in her head. But she just kept saying ... Not to worry. I’ve probably just eaten too much biltong or Pizza. LOL - She's so funny!  Then she says ... - I will be fine tomorrow. Don’t worry about me, really!  I'll be fine.-

Postinia - It was still being fixed.  It's not so messy now.  But it IS still PINK!
VERY PINK.  Mom said the little card didn't look THAT pink.

Last of last week she felt bad and went to Postinia for two days and felt much better and we were all very happy that she was up and about again, and smiling. But on Wednesday she felt very, very bad again. She went to see Dr. De Oliviera. Dr. De Oliviera gave her some blood pressure medicine because she said Mom'sblood pressure was much, much too high. She said Mommy could have a stroke. She told Mom to try to relax and not be so very busy. So when Mom came home and told Pippa, Pippa rushed Mom to Postinia and made her comfortable there and put her into bed. She slept there that night. But before she went to bed she took one of the pills that Dr. De Oliveria gave her.  She was all alone in Postinia.

When she woke up in the middle of the night she had a very, very bad headache like she never had before in her entire life. She got up to go to the toilet and was falling all over because she was so very dizzy. When she came back from the loo, she couldn’t find the door of the bedroom and was stumbling all over Postinia (it’s a very small cottage) and kept seeing doors but when she tried to go in them, she bashed into the walls because they were not doors, just her imagination.

The next morning her headache was still very bad so she sms-ed Pippa and asked her to bring Panado for her headache. Joanna came right away.  She looked at Mom and said, OH MY GOD! MOM! I’m taking you to the hospital right now.

I knew something was wrong because Mom was not in the house when we got up in the morning. When I asked where she was, Pippa said – Mom is at the hospital. She is very sick. Then I felt very worried, but we all went to school.


Then at lunch time I heard Tammy and the volunteers talking and they said that Mom’s hands swelled up and that she was very sick and even though they did lots of tests they couldn’t find anything wrong or the reason why her blood pressure was so high. The one volunteer said it was 220 over 130.  And the other volunteer said, - Good Lord ... that is VERY  BAD!  I became terrified then.

After I ate my lunch I heard some of my brothers and sisters talking with that same volunteer and I heard her say 220 over 130 AGAIN and I said ... What are you talking about? And then they said - Mommy is STAYING in hospital – and I was like ... Aah stop lying! And then they said NO! Its true. So then I thought Oh my! And I was asking everybody too many questions. So then I thought I should make sure for myself if she was at Postinia, just happy and smiling ... just resting and watching TV, reading her bible and all that stuff. I went walking down very very quickly to Postinia and I passed the Garden of Remembrance and I thought - what if Mommy died and was there with all the dead babies?  And I felt all chokey and the  tears came running down my cheeks.  Postinia's gate was locked and I couldn't get in.  I felt really scared and sad.  

Then I realised it was all true, and that Mommy was very very sick, and maybe she would die.  And I prayed and prayed for her. I made up  my mind that no matter what Pippa or Rhys said, I was going to go and see my Mom in that hospital.  I  wanted to see for myself that she was not dying.  But then Pippa said -But Kieran you can’t visit unless you are 12.  And that was the end of my hopes and dreams about visiting Mommy.

Mom in Hospital

B U T ... the good news is that God answered my prayer and on Saturday in the afternoon they let her come out of hospital because the hospital did not have enough nurses.  She didn't sleep the whole night because she was too scared to sleep in case she had a stroke and nobody would find her until the morning.  In the night she heard somebody ringing the alarm and ringing the alarm and not stopping to ring the alarm. 

And then she heard voices screaming down the passage and feet running.  And she stood at her door because she could not walk far because she was so dizzy.  She could hear ladies' voices tell that a very sick lady was feeling awfully bad and rang the alarm bell over and over but nobody came.  All the other ladies in the ward were too sick to get out of their beds.  So the first lady got out and when she walked she fainted.  So they had to take her to the emergency department downstairs.

Carlton

That was why Mommy did not feel safe there because what if she had a stroke and they did not find out until it was too late?  She could be dead, because she was in a room on her own.   In the morning when the doctor came she told him that she would feel safer in Postinia and he agreed because they did not have enough nurses. So now we made a plan that two-by-two of us can sit here at Postinia with her and we can keep after her.  And its really cool.   She made Pippa buy lots of things and Mom spoils us with them.  Chips, and cold drinks, and sweeties.  Fruit and sausages.  Chicken wings and cool DVD's to watch.  We have to wash her dishes though and keep things clean and tidy ... that's so funny ... washing three or four dishes at a time, in a tiny sink.  LOL LOL. We normally wash 150 dishes at a time!

My turn was on Saturday night, the first night she came home.  I went along with Carflton.  I was so happy she was home I just wanted to stare at her and touch  her hands.  It was Matthew's birthday so Carlton said he rather wanted to go to the birthday party.  But no way ... there's no party in the world I would rather go to than stay with my Mom.  So I made the couch very comfortable with pillows and a soft blanket.  I made a huge bowl of popcorn (with no salt!!!)  I made her a lovely cup of tea and I had a Sparletta Cream Soda.  Then I put her favourite DVD on, called RYAN'S DAUGHTER.  Actually it's her SECOND favourite.  Her favourite is THE MISSION.

So then me and Mom snuggled down very close and warm and cuddled each other while we watched the whole of RYAN'S DAUGHTER.  It's a very long mivie.  You have to use 2 DVDs.  It was so lovely.  Even though I don't like romantic movies so very much ... this one is really beautiful and very interesting. And I loved watching the whole thing sitting next to Mom knowing that she was feeling all weak and tearful.  I felt strong like a big man - like a hero, keeping her safe.  But then again I felt very sad because I am not big and strong enough for her.  She needs and deserves a real hero.  God said about Adam - Its not good for a man to be alone. - But what about a woman?  Is it okay for them ... not to have a real hero?  Not just a little kid like me?

That's just the funniest thing in the world! Such a tiny sink to wash a couple of dishes in!  LOL

Ryan's Daughter, (Sarah Miles)

Its so nice to have Mom home even though she is way down in Postinia.  I love her so much.  She makes me happy, even just to see her face makes me happy.  And I love the funny things she says and does.  She still makes jokes even though she is sick.  I wonder if I will find somebody like Mommy ... like a young girl like when she was a young girl ... when I am ready to marry ... because I would love to marry a girl like my Mom.  But Mom always laughs when I say that.  She says ... "You should speak to your Dad first.  He will give you lots and lots of reasons why you should not marry a girl like me."  And then she smiles, but her eyes look quite sad.

I also watched RYAN'S DAUGHTER with Mommy a few times.  (A long time ago, not now.)  She can watch it over and over again.  I think she has watched it like a million times.  Oh well, maybe just a thousand.  When I watched it with her I asked her if I would marry a girl like Sarah Miles and Mommy said ... -And why not?  She would be the luckiest girl in the world to get a super guy like you!! ---  Here's Sarah Miles.  I can imagine my Mom looking a bit like that when she was very young, can't you?  But when I said that she said ...
-W-H-A-T?  Kieran Jarvis ... maybe in my dreams!  And then she pinched my bum!  LOL

I remember after Mom said that to me I went to bed and felt so happy!  I dreamed about Sarah Miles.  I dreamed we were in a graveyard full of yellow daffodils and we were laughing and chasing each other, and picking the daffodils and we had bunches and bunches of them, but the graveyard was still full of them!  Have you ever seen a daffodil?  They are beautiful!  Mom always says that we must cherish daffodils because God made them our special flower.  Me and Jesse's.  She says they don't grow too well here in South Africa, but England is FULL of daffodils in May ... and we were born in May ... so that is why they are our special flower.  Maybe that is why I dreamed about them.  But why they were in a graveyard ... I don't know.  Brrrrrr!

Then we have some other news that has upset Mommy terribly and we need to find an answer to this big problem. While she was in hospital she tried to see if she could see our slobberdogblog on her cellphone. She was so happy when she found it because she had never tried it before. So, she looked down the list because there were lots of slobberdog titles there and she was surprised. So then she opened one or two and got such a big fright that she shut the internet straight away and started to cry. She was in hospital remember and not feeling very well.   What she saw on the other slobberdog titles is when you press the button on slobberdog it takes you to a rude place, all about sex and and teenagers and stuff.  A place that the devil has made especially to try and destroy slobberdog. Oh, no! Oh no! We are all sad now. Mom says she doesn’t want to give Satan a foothold into our family and maybe we have to close our blog stories down.

Well, I don’t think we should give up our slobberdog stories so easily. They belong to us. Maybe we should ask God to show us what to do. What if we put a special password on the thing so that they can only read it but nobody can do that devil stuff with our stories. What if we wrote to the people who manage the blogs and complained that these devil people are bothering us?

But for sure I don’t think we should close it down. Well, if we really have to and if the devil is really getting a foothold into our lives and our family then I know we should. But I would be so very sad to see Satan win because I love doing our stories and did you know that more than 1000 people are reading our stories?  I am sure that's why the devil doesn't want it there because God gets the glory and that makes Satan crazy.

You're right Jesse, I guess that is why the devil is so jealous and is trying to destroy what God is doing through our little blog. Ugh it makes me so mad. I wish I could find them and I would beat the living daylights out of them. But I know God wouldn’t want me to do that. Maybe I could ask my cousin Odiel, because he is a Policeman and he is so strong he can pick up a big fridge. He could surely teach them a lesson, and God won't mind because he's a policeman and its his job to beat baddies up. But I know it would NOT be easy to find these bad people.

Okay, so before we end I mustn't forget ... this is what Dan wanted me to put on Slobberdog.  He wants me to say this ... ‘Jesse I love you like a lamb chop!  from Dan’  LOL LOL LOL!   We didn't know about this LOL thing before we did Slobberdog.  Then we found out it means LOTS OF LAUGHTER.  And Mom said ... she said this ... - That LOL doesn't do your laughter any justice, Jesse.  Kieran yes, but not you.  Because you have the dirty laugh of an old sailor!--  I keep thinking about that and I wonder what she means.  My laugh's not DIRTY.  I know its very, very LOUD.  But EVERYTHING about me is LOUD. 

Please help us to find an answer because we are very worried about it. We don’t want to stop our slobberdog stories and I know that Slobberdog even would be sad that he is no longer famous. LOL

Happy Birthday Matthew!

Matthew is our nephew, because he is Pippa’s son. Saturday was his birthday.  It's on the same day as my Mom's brother, Uncle Berend. He turned 11. But he was a little bit sad because everybody was running around with the problems with Mom and the hospital. Still, Zoё and Chanel, Amy, Julie and Anna were having a bonfire and so they told Matthew he could join them and they would make a little party for him, and bake a cake and stuff.  Actually it turned out to be quite a big party, because I was here with Mom and we heard the vuvuzela's blowing and it was past 10 o'clock already!  And Mom said as soon as she is better she will go and buy him the present she promised him.

Jessica and Kiera are doing so well. They make me happy whenever I see them. They are really growing and smiling sometimes. Mom thinks they might end up being Danish. But first we have to try and find a South African family for them.  Little Caroline got adopted yesterday by an Indian family who live in Lenasia not too far from us.  And little Juanita finally went to live with her grandparents yesterday.  She was such a cutie.  I will miss her, but we do need the space for some of the other babies that are getting bigger every day. 

So, there is just one last favour I want to ask you (well, two actually). Please will you see if you can help us to find out how to keep our blog stories safe. Because most of you are older than us and have learnt more things and know more things.  Maybe we have to make everybody have a password and they have to get permission and identify themselves like a security thing. We didn’t want to do that because we thought it’s nice if the whole world could read our stories. But we forgot about the disgusting and bad people there are in this world, who want to destroy anything that is good or clean or nice and belongs to God’s people.  I think its great that we have more than 1000 people reading our blog stories now.  And we were thinking it would be so great if you could help us make the whole world green ... but now all those dreams are nearly gone.  It's too sad.

Secondly, please pray for our Mom. We want her to get better completely. Even if it takes a bit of time, we just want her to get back to her normal self.  Here is a picture of her ... can you see how sad she looks?  Even though she was very happy because Lucy bought her those roses and she loves Lucy with all her heart! 

And please when you find people who are mean to her, tell them to be kind to her for now because she is not supposed to stress too much. I know that people are always fighting with her about different things and she always says that looking after her big family and her lovely children never stresses her out, even if they are sick sometimes, or don't do well at school, or chop their fingers off and naughty stuff like that.  And even if money is a bit short. Her family is her heart's biggest joy. 

But when there are so many people interfering, its so hard.  One person wants her to do things THIS way and another person wants her to do things ANOTHER way and when she has to make a decision and its not what one of them wanted, they can become very rude.  My Mom has a very soft heart and she can't stand up to so many rude people.  That's why she gets stressed.  Please keep after her when you see something like that happening.  I just want her to get better!

I always wish Mommy would win the Lotto, REAL BIG! But she will never win the Lotto because she never buys a ticket! LOL. Mommy always says this, she says - There are too many cooks in my kitchen - That means that too many people with too many ideas make life too hard and stressful because she needs them all to stay on our side, and help us with love and not with pride.  She wants them to trust her that she does know what is best for her children.

Now we are going to end by showing you a picture of some of our brothers:  Aren't they cool? We want to start showing you the people in our lives and more photo's so you really get the picture.  You know what Mom calls it when there are a few of us together like that?  She calls it a HOLY HUDDLE!  LOL  LOL

GOING ROUND THE CIRCLE FROM THE LEFT:
JOSHUA, JEROME, JESSE, ERIN; THABANG

So by for now our MUCHOS!   LOL   LOL   LOL

Oh no, not THAT again!   Bye guys!

SLOBBERDOLICIOUS!

Hello Friends,


Tammy said I must do this for her on Slobberdogblog … she said I must say … -Tammy, Tammy, I love you!-

Slobberdog is MUCH happier these days. There are now windows and doors on the garage and he has a lovely warm room and he is SO VERY HAPPY! When Mommy gets up in the morning, she has to open the door for him now, so he can go and make a wee. Then afterwards he was sitting outside in the sun looking so happy. She said ... "Oh my SLOBBERDOLICIOUS! JUST LOOK AT YOU!"  I thought that was so funny!  I ran inside and grabbed the camera and took a picture so that you can all see why she called him SLOBBERDOLICIOUS! LOL; LOL; LOL; LOL; GROSS! Now I want to tell you about the end of the World Cup. We all feel quite sad that it is all finished now and there are no more games to watch. But then again we are happy because we could go back to school and have fun with our friends.

Today we have a huge surprise for everybody. First of all, we decided that we are going to tell you our real names. Jay’s name is Jesse, and my name is Kieran. We thought that since you know our brother’s names anyway, that you should know ours too. But there is another very good reason why we want you to know our names.

One day last week, Mom, Joanna and Pippa went to a Conference. It was important for them to go to it because it was a Kids Rights Conference. Even Archbishop Tutu was there and lots of important people!

When they came back, they went straight into the Nest which is the nursery for the newborn babies. Then they came out and they were all smiling. And they told us - Jesse and Kieran we have a big surprise for you! We thought they were going to give us a present.

But then they told us that identical twin baby girls came in today. And they are TLC’s J & K babies for this year. Jesse and I were the J & K babies for 1999. So they decided to call the new babies Jessica and Kiera! We got so excited! We were jumping and laughing and leaping and ran straight to the nest. There we found the most beautiful baby girls you have ever seen in your life! And they are called after us. I wanted to bring them into the Main House right away, but Mom said, No, they have to stay in the Nest, they are very tiny, Kieran.

We thought that we could keep the babies – like they could be our own little sisters and we could keep after them forever. But then Mom said, NO! When they are old enough they will have to be adopted. Well! What kind of a surprise is that? They are going to take them away. That’s terrible! I don’t see why we can’t keep them. That was just so cruel. Aaaw, they are so beautiful! My baby is the one in pink.

I didn’t want to keep them! I just wanted them to be my sisters for now, until they are adopted. But in the beginning I have to admit I was kind of sad that we could not keep them. But actually we have a big enough family, I think. It will be nice for them to have a small little neat family. But it would be nice to have two more in our family! LOL


Yesterday when Lizzie was in the Nest she let me hold Jessica. And Jessica opened her eyes and smiled at me. She really did! Then she stuck out her little pink tongue. Then I realized that she actually wanted her dummy. So I gave it to her. It was so nice to see that little smile.  My baby is the one in yellow.

Well, the Football World Cup is over now.  But the last game was exciting, wasn't it?  I was cheering for Spain from the beginning of that last soccer game. And Crispin was also cheering for Spain. But Crispin cheered for them from the very beginning of the World Cup, except of course for Bafana Bafana. He was so clever, from the start he said that Spain would win. But only on that last game, I decided that I would cheer for Spain. I didn‘t like the Netherlands so much as Spain. I only like them a little bit because my mother’s ancestors are from Holland. But I noticed in their other games that the Holland team was very arrogant.  I never told anybody.  I just thought it in my heart.  So I thought I would cheer for Spain, instead.  Mom said she didn't mind.  But I wasn't like Crispin who cheered for them from the beginning and knew that they were going to win. I think that was so clever of him.  Here is a picture of Crispin wearing his Spanish scarf.

Well, not SO clever! What about Paul, that poor octopus? Kieran, that was an OCTOPUS!  Well, he did such a good job and predicted all the countries that were going to win and he was right ... and then the Germans wanted to make paella out of him? Maybe they thought that if they did that then Spain would lose. LOL! Get it? Paella is a Spanish food. Yessss Kieran!  You saw that on the TV.  Well, if they wanted Holland to win, they should have cooked him before the game. But I don’t think they really wanted Holland to win because Holland and Germany are not great friends, or so my Mom says sometimes. But I don’t know why she says that. I just remember that she did. They put a kind of cup thing in the octopus’s tank and Paul the octopus was all around it and then he opened the lid and chose the country because there was food in there that he liked.

Well, anyway, Kieran its my turn and I was talking about the Soccer. So Crispin and I were cheering for Spain but the whole family was cheering for Holland. We weren’t in the barn that night. It was too freezing cold so we all packed into Mom’s bedroom. It was so squashed and noisy! We thought nobody was ever going to score a goal. It went on and on and on. Even though they never scored, we were all cheering because they DID NEARLY scored many times.

But then, out of the blue, this guy de Jong from the Hollands team jumped up and kicked Alonso in the chest. We were all shocked. The whole room went dead quiet. We couldn’t believe it. All you could hear was our whispers going like this: … g-o-s-h … o-h...n-o … w-h-a-t...t-h-e...h-e-c-k? … t-h-a-t-’s... t-e-r-r-i-b-l-e…
T-h-a-t...o-k-e...n-e-e-d-s...a...r-e-d...c-a-r-d! Then I looked at Mommy and her eyes were wide and both her hands were over her mouth. She said nothing. And de Jong never got a red card, only a yellow one. It was unbelievable. They sent our goalkeeper - OUR LOVELY ITUMELENG - off for making a small mistake and gave him a RED CARD and this man nearly killed somebody and he got a yellow card!!  NO NO NO there was something fishy about that!   Then everybody said … NO! WE ARE NOT CHEERING FOR HOLLAND ANYMORE. NOW WE ARE CHEERING FOR SPAIN! So, the whole room started cheering for Spain. Except Mom. She just sat there quietly, looking sad and disappointed.

Then when Spain got THAT GREAT goal … HOW COOL WAS THAT! We were lucky that our screaming didn’t break the bedroom windows. It was SO exciting. We were all grabbing each other and dancing round and round and Crispin went screaming and screaming up and down up and down and up and down the passage. He was SO happy! We were all happy. Except for Mom. I said, “But Mom they played dirty. That was the biggest foul I ever saw!  You’re not supposed to play dirty.” And Mom looked at me with fire in her eyes and said … “JUST LEAVE ME ALONE JESSE!” And then I said, - But Mom, at least admit that they were very arrogant! -- I thought Mom was going to explode. She yelled -GET OUT OF HERE JESSE! -- Geeee Whizzzz? But then later on Crispin explained to me that Mommy is a very loyal person. And her parents were from Holland so I should leave her alone.

The other thing I wanted to tell you was about my dream. Becky Johnson bought me the DVD, JAWS. Remember that I said I wanted JAWS because it was one of my birthday presents that I never got because my Mom could not find it.

When I told my Mom that Becky bought it for me and Mom said maybe I should wait till Mom and me can watch it together, because it is very, very scary. She said that my cousin, Katja, in Holland watched it when she was a teenager and after that she was afraid to swim in the sea and even sometimes she was scared of swimming in a pool.

But then Mom went to the Conference and I thought I would be brave enough to watch JAWS by myself. So I did. But I was quite terrified and I fast forwarded with shaking hands and panting breath to get past the scary bits. So that was how I watched it, but I DID watch it and saw enough to be scared. VERY SCARED! When Mom came home I immediately told her that I watched it and she said, Oh my gosh! Weren’t you scared? And I couldn’t lie to her, so I looked down, nodded my head and I showed her the box.

Then that night I went to bed and had a dream. I dreamed that I was at the seaside. So I told my Mom in the dream – I am going to swim for a while. And she said – watch out for all the sharks, Kieran. And I said – Mommy please stop teasing me!

So I was swimming and when I was swimming I was closing my eyes and I just touched the net with my foot.  Then I opened my eyes and I saw a SHARK swimming and then I’m like … - Oh my gosh I swam all the way to the Shark’s net. But strangely I wasn’t rushing … I was just floating peacefully and then I felt something touching my leg. So I looked back and I saw this huge shark. I said to the shark, - Shark, if you are friendly ... because I can’t swim well now, my legs are much too tired, can you please take me on your back to the shore? And JAWS nodded his head. So then I got on his back and he told me he was a Protector Shark. We kept going straight for a while and then I saw a killer whale. I jumped on the killer whale’s back and he was also going forwards and then I jumped back on JAWS’ back and then JAWS took me to the shore.

Then in my dream, I could read his mind. And he said to me in his mind –KIERAN, COME LIVE WITH ME! And I said no, I already have my family, thanks. I can’t go to live with the sharks because what if your brothers kill me and eat me. Then he said, - They won’t! Just come with me. So I said – No, no, but I will come and swim with you again tomorrow. And he said, Sure, that will be a great idea. And that was the end of my dream.

And then I want to tell you just one last funny thing.  My grandfather (My mother's Dad) his name was this:
Jurjen Albert Willem Schuitema.   LOL LOL .... His initials were JAWS!!!!!  LOL LOL;  LOL LOL

At the end of the holidays I suddenly remembered that our teacher gave us a big file full of work that we had to do during the World Cup. I forgot all about it. I only did a little bit. So I worked very hard for two days trying to get it all done. It was exhausting. I was so tired. But I did manage to finish it because Mom was cheering me on all the time.

So then, guess what? I was the only person in my class that finished it all. And my teacher was so pleased that she gave me THREE STAR BADGES. That is a great thing to get, and normally you have to work hard for a long while to get just ONE STAR BAD. Mommy was really proud of me. So she promised she would try to get me another Justin Bieber CD, because my last one was stolen out of my blue trunk. But I will have to wait because she still doesn’t have much money.

The other thing I wanted to tell you was that Hannah Johnson brought me a book of poems, when Becky brought Kieran JAWS. And I’m embarrassed to say that I cried because I was disappointed. But she didn’t see me crying. The thing is I DO like poetry, but I would have preferred a DVD, because DVD’s and movies are my favourite things. Anyway, Mommy said I should not be so ungrateful. If there's one thing God doesn't like, it's an ungrateful heart.  I’m sorry, but I can’t help liking what I like! But then Hannah did give me a DVD later, it was called Horton Hears a Who? My Mom thinks that sounds weird, but that’s the way it is.  And I love that DVD.  It's great.  So now I'm happy because I have TWO things.  And I do love the poetry book second best of all.

When school started again, I got sick. In the night, my hands and feet swelled up and were very cold and itchy. I couldn’t feel them because they were like numbish. I went down to my Mom’s room because I wanted to tell her that I was feeling bad. But she had locked her door because the catch doesn't work, and the cat, Mrs. Wobbles, usually pushes open her bedroom door and attacks Mom’s cat called Stormy. So I called and called but she didn’t answer because she was fast asleep.

So I went back upstairs and told Zoë and Zoë sent me to Pippa. Pippa told me to climb into her bed and she tried to warm me up. But I was cold the whole night long and didn’t feel good at all. So in the morning Ellen came and pulled off the blanket and I got a big fright. She said – You are late, get up for school. That was the first day of school. So then I got dressed and went downstairs but I didn’t feel good. When Mom saw me, she said – What’s wrong, Kieran? Because she could tell that I was sick. So I showed her my hands and feet and told her I felt funny in my head and my voice was quiet and my heart felt like it was not pumping very well.

Mommy got very scared and called Pippa. She told Pippa to get the SATS machine that can measure how much oxygen is in my blood. That was not good at all, and my heartbeat was very slow. So Mommy told me to take my uniform off and put my pyjamas on and I got into Mommy’s bed and stayed there for three days. I went back to school on Friday.

Here is lunch in Mommy's bed.  The best place in the world to be, especially when you're sick!

Well, that’s quite a lot of news. We will write again next week.

Yeah! I hope we will have something to tell, now that the World Cup is over.  But ... we will have to see ... When I say my prayers at night, I always thank God for the World Cup.  It made our country so happy and for a few weeks we forgot all our troubles.  We also learned a lot.  Now we all know which countries have which flags.  We know their capital cities, we know the languages they speak.  We learned so much.  Thank you God for the World Cup!!   (We also know which countries suck at soccer ... even our own!) LOL! LOL!

Chow for now and see you soon.

MEET OUR JARVIS FAMILY!

Before we tell you the news today, we want to show you something ~ this is the house where we live.

And we also want to give you a big surprise and show you how many people are in our family:

And this is our very big, very cool, Jarvis family!


Anybody would be happy to have a big family like this!

These are the brothers and sister who are in the same school, called Aloe Ridge Primary: 

Except the picture is one year old, so Murphy is missing. She was in Frances Vorwerg last year, the same school as Paul. But she caught up so nicely, that she managed to come to our school at the beginning of this year.

Here are the brothers when we were little, and below is the picture of the same brothers, when they are bigger.
Back row:
Matthew, Reuel, Tommy, Joshua holding Kay and Jay in high chair.
Middle row:
Brett, Brendon, Erin and Benjamin
Front row:
Carlton and Crispin

There are many more brothers than this now ... smaller ones.

Remember we went to Lynette last week. It was so cool! We didn’t manage to take any pictures though. That’s a pity because her house is fantastic. Anyway, on the first night, Lynette said that we must all go to sleep, so we all went to sleep. A little bit early in the morning Jay woke up when it was still dark. He was standing by the cupboard in Lynette’s room and waiting for Lynette to wake up. He was poking her with his finger, saying – Lynette wake up, Lynette wake up! I think that was a bit rude, actually!  She kept saying go to sleep Jay … it’s not morning until its light.

Eventually it was light, then she woke up and the two of them went to eat breakfast while me a Benjamin were sleeping. Then we heard this ding-ding-ding – trying to play happy birthday. That was Jay. Then I woke up and asked who was making that noise. Amy (Lynette’s daughter) said the same thing. We realized it was Jay.

I went to eat my egg. I always have egg in the morning. After that we went to the movies and watched Marmaduke. Then we went to a restaurant and had pizza. It was so yummy. I love pizza. I was listening to music on Amy’s ipod and playing with Dean’s guitar. Dean is Lynette’s son. He and Amy and brother are sister. I went to play Lego and the others were all watching Twilight.

Since Kay has told you about Lynette I will tell you about the rest of the week. On Tuesday all of us big kids went to the movies. We watched Twilight Eclipse. The third Twilight movie. It was so awesome when Jacob took off his shirt! And he said this to Edward … (with his hands on his hips) he said … I’M HOTTER! And then all the girls screamed and they said – Jacob my d-a-r-l-i-n-g!  LOL!  I loved that movie! Twilight is my favourite … I am a great fan. It was the best movie I ever saw. Then we ate popcorn and Astros and drank Coke. The movies are the best thing in the whole wide world!

We were all very sad when Ghana lost the World Cup Soccer against Uraquay. Because they are African we all hoped they would win! That was so bad. We all felt sad because we really wanted them to win. My Mom was so excited she was sure they would at least get through to the quarter finals. They played so well and we think it’s a pity that they had to do the penalty shootout because that’s what made them lose when the guy did a handball on purpose.

I love soccer. I am midfielder in my soccer at school. I scored 7 goals against another school and that was awesome. All the fans were saying “GO JAY! GO JAY!” It made my heart feel so good.

My Mom said to me when I am thirteen I will be very wise. That’s because I like to read a lot. And plus I had a dream that if I listened to my teachers and do what my Mom tells me to do, I will be very, very wise. Wiser than anybody in my school. Imagine!

I know how to fry an egg now. That’s great because I don’t have to ask Tommy or somebody to do it for me. Once when I was little I always thought that I would do something super-amazing or make some kind of miracle that was a great happening that has never happened on the earth before. I thought of that, but it hasn’t come true yet. If it did, I would wish that I could make everything go back to normal. I mean like back to the old days like when I was small. When my Mom first saw me. Because these days aren’t so good sometimes. I loved the days when I was small because I didn’t have so many worries. I didn’t have to do anything except play.

It wasn’t necessary to think so much about things. About what’s right and what’s wrong. What’s fair and not fair. Why people have to suffer and why so many people are hungry. Why some people have too much and some people don’t have enough. I think about those things all the time and try to figure out ways of fixing things. But the world is too big to fix, I think. And too bad. That’s why I wish I could be a small kid again, like I was in this picture.  I am on the right and Jay is behind me on the left.

But the thing is, even when I was so small I couldn’t play very well because I couldn’t walk or move around lots like the other kids of my age. Even when I started school, I had to be pushed down to the school in a pram. When I was quite little and still sleeping in a cot, I used to throw my toys or my bottle out of the cot and then I asked Jay to pick it up for me, and he would climb right out of his cot to pick it up for me. We can both remember that. My Mom thinks it’s amazing that we remember that because we were just small babies.

Slobberdog is still not feeling too well. We took some small red ticks off him. Some people say the small red ticks are the ones that give animals and human tick fever. I am very worried about him. He looks depressed. When he is older I am going to take him to my house with my mother because I want her to live with me. My Mom and Slobberdog are stars to me. They protect me and make me feel happy. Without Mommy I wouldn’t be alive. I can always count on Mommy whenever I feel sad I call for her and she is always there for me. I will fight for her until her heart stops beating.

My brother Kay has always been there for me too. Our Dad and Mom made us because we were special. My Mom and Dad knew that one day God was going to make us something special that nobody has ever been before so that our adopted Mom will feel so proud of us. And we would hug her every day. And we will make her feel happy. She will see her grandchildren (my children) and I am happy that God made her in this world. She makes the world a better place.

I think Slobberdog is about 5 years old. In dog years that’s 7 X 5 = 35. So that is still quite young for a dog. LOL LOL.

One of our dogs who died was called Tequila. He was very old when he died. He was about 11 years old. I cried for him when he died. He died in pain. He was Rhys’ dog actually. But in my heart he was also a bit like mine. Every day he would lick me and walk with me around the farm and when anybody was threatening me he would be watching them. I loved Tequila a lot! We buried under the nut trees next to the duck pond. Every time I walk past there I see a huge big stone, and I know that that is where Tequila is resting. He is in peace in doggy-heaven.

My favourite dog that died was Iceman. He was also an Afghan but he was blonde. He was my favourite dog. I always liked walking with him. He was very big. I would hold onto his long hair or tail while we walked. He loved me very much too, and used to sit on the grass with me and keep after me when I was still small.

My Mom doesn’t believe me that I went with her to go and fetch him. She thinks I would have been too small to remember. But I do remember. It was a day when I was small and I couldn’t go to the shops with Mom because it was my ‘standby’. Because we have so many brothers and sisters we used to have standby. When it was your standby day you had to stay very neat and clean and then when somebody was going out in the car to the shops or something, you could go with them.

So it was my standby and that was why I could go and we went to fetch him, but I didn’t know that that was where we were going. Then the lady told my Mom the story of when Iceman was with this other owner that man was always beating and hitting him. This happened because the lady and the man were getting a divorce and Iceman belonged to the lady and the man did not like Iceman. So that lady called and asked Daria to fetch Iceman and we went in the red combi to fetch him.

I remember that they were bathing him and brushed him and he looked beautiful. I took that leash thing on his neck and Mom was doing this – come Iceman – come Iceman in her sweetest voice, and she was patting her knee to make him come. I said come Iceman too. I copied her sweet voice and patted my knees and Iceman came. So he sat in the back of the red Combi with me and as soon as we got home our other dog, Cassidy tried to bite him because she was jealous. So I chased her away. In those days my Dad was still at home. Iceman didn’t like my Dad and he tried to bite him.  My Mom says its because the other lady's husband used to beat him.

Every time when Iceman was sitting in my Mom’s room and my Mom wasn’t there but working on her computer, I took the leash and I put it on him and then we went outside and I would be walking around the house with him. As soon as my Mom came in she would say – where’s Iceman and I would say I went to walk him.

One day Iceman got out of the gate and he was following Sasko. And they were walking and walking and they went on the tar road. The tar road is much more busy than the sand road next to the farm. Iceman didn’t know about busy roads and so when Sasko, our white mountain dog, ran away from him, Iceman got a bit lost. So then Sasko came home, but Iceman didn’t. My Mom was crying and praying for Iceman to come home. She phoned the SPCA and put adverts up everywhere but nobody knew what happened to Iceman.

Then when Pippa was taking Zoe to university very early one morning she saw something that looked like Iceman on the side of the road. But she couldn't see properly because it was still a bit dark.  So she called Mom and Mom came with her car and with Reuel and Joshua. Then she saw that Iceman was dead. Reuel and Joshua picked up Iceman and put him into the boot and Mommy did not drive for a while because she was crying too much.

Then she came home and Abraham and Colin dug a grave for Iceman next to the old duck pond. We were all standing around and watched them putting Iceman into the grave and we were all so sad. Then we were all crying, because Iceman was dead and Mom was broken hearted. Even Abraham and Colin were crying. And Mommy said a prayer and then we all went inside and were very quiet all because of Iceman.

Before we say goodbye, I want to tell you something awesome that happened to me.  I discovered poetry.  I was very bored you see, because of the long holidays for the World Cup.  So Mom bought all these cool books for us and we were reading them a lot.  I finished them all now.  But the ones I liked best were the Hannah Montana ones.  So, I found these kind of word things like songs that rhymed and the words were so cool.  I started reading one to Mom and she said ... that's beautiful, Jay.  That's called Poetry!

Wow! What a cool word.  Poetry!  P-o-e-t-r-y!  It has to stand for something cool because its an awesome word, don't you think?  Well, Mom also likes poetry and she knew about it for a long time already.  So she likes it when I read the poetry to her.  And we can talk about it.  She likes words too, just like me.  And she says she thinks that Jesus also likes words.  After all, she says, he BECAME one!

Anyway, I want to share this most favourite of my poems with you today.  It was one that is in the Hannah Montana book.  Here it is:

I see you there in front of me –

Your face, your hands, your eyes.

I hear you talk, I hear you tell

Your hopes, your dreams, your lies.

I walked with you, a sunlit trail,

Together hand in hand.

Then twilight came, and you were gone,

And now alone I stand.

The woods are cold, the trees are black,

The dark is closing in

And you have gone away from me,

Your faultless light has dimmed.

Betrayal is an empty space,

Raw night, cold room, alone.

And no one can redeem your face,

Sweet knight, safe light, you’re gone.

So, it's bye from the two of us for now.  Hope you liked our stories.  If you do like poetry I will share some with you again, because I love it so much.  But if you don't think its cool, I will just keep it to myself.  Bye for now! And please don't forget that we think its cool when you become FOLLOWERS!

Yes, and bye from me too.  We love doing these stories.  It makes us feel good.  So, we are very happy to have friends who are interested.  My Mom told us that there is a whole classroom of kids that read our stories.  It is Emma Underwood's class.  That's so cool.  HI CLASS!

God bless you all from Kay.