SPRING BREAK AND BRENDON'S OPERATION

Hello Everybody on the blog,

 

I looked SO COOL here don't you think?

A great thing happened at school today. The third term ended and we are going on our Spring Break which is about 10 days long. I am very happy about that. But one thing is bothering me. I am doing something a true friend would never do. I invited my friend over to my house for tomorrow, because it is Heritage Day. But now our friend, Fiona, invited me to visit her house in a beautiful nature reserve. I have never been there before, and all my brothers and sisters have. (Even Kieran).

I want my brother to tell my friend that I am sorry I ditched him like that. I feel very sad about what I have done, but I really do want to go to Kudu. It sounds exciting and a place to explore. Does that sound selfish?  When I come back I would have more time with my friend. I am very sorry about it. But he will still have fun at Heritage Day because people are bringing two great jumping castles and a waterslide and everybody is going to swim in the pool because Heritage Day is always the first day we all swim at the beginning of summer. They are also going to have a lovely braai, and I am sure he is going to have a fabulous time. It’s just that I feel bad and guilty.

Listen, you people that are reading this blog ~ take my advice ~ don’t ditch your friend like I ditched mine. You feel sad inside. I think my friend might not even forgive me. Not ever!  Please don’t make the same mistake as I did.  It's probably very selfish.  Aaah.  Oh.  Grunt!

The brothers that are coming to Kudu with me are Thabang, Erin, Carlton and myself. And then of course the whole of Fiona’s family. We are going to have so much fun and I am so excited.

We are busy cleaning the house for Heritage Day. I hope the swimming pool is clean by the time the people come. I hope my whole family has a lot of fun here on Heritage Day. We usually do, every year.



Poor Slobberdog.  Still sore because his bedroom was turned into a homework room!  Here he is getting ready for the night.  Sleeping under the Wisteria.  We took this picture about an hour ago.  SORRY SLOBBERDOG! :-(



We are hoping that next year we can go to the sea. We are all praying to God that it will happen. We love the sea. For my Mom at the sea, it’s paradise. I like it at the sea because we eat a lot of ice cream. But mostly I like those huge, warm waves!  I hope when we go I make friends at the sea like I did in 2008.

Lizzie thank you for the message and Ceri is coming to TLC on the 6th October! I am so excited! When I see her I am going to jump for joy.

FAMILY FOCUS

TAYLOR

Taylor is Joanna’s third heart kid. She is the only daughter in that family. So, you can imagine, she is quite a princess because the others are all boys. She is ten years old and is in Grade 3. When she was smaller she was quite naughty and always told tales and made trouble for us boys. My golly she could make up the worst stories you can imagine and the worst is the Mommy and Joanna always believed her!  But she is getting a whole lot better now that she is getting bigger.

Taylor is very pretty and has a lot of problems with the boys at school. There is especially one boy whose name is Tume and he follows here around everywhere and says rude stuff to her. He doesn’t care if he gets into trouble. He just carries on and carries on. Even when people tell his parents he doesn’t care because they think his behaviour is funny, and they laugh. But it’s not only Tume who runs after Taylor. There are other boys too. That’s why Mom is so glad that Amy and Khensani are in a girls-only school.

Taylor and Khensani have been very best friends ... forever, I think. They love to be together and always wander around the farm.  You can often find them in the guinea pigs run.  They love it there and sometimes they play in the playground and chat and play in Khensi’s bedroom with dolls, and clothes, and then they fiddle with each other’s hair and talk about girly things. Amy plays with them sometimes, but Amy is not a girly-girl like the two of them are. Amy loves to do sports and she is a big tomboy. She rather plays with the boys and does rough things with them. She prefers to play soccer than dolls, for sure.

When we stopped doing home-school and had to go to Aloe Ridge Primary Khensi also came to Aloe Ridge and Amy got sponsorship to go to a private school called St. Katharine’s. But then the following year (the beginning of this year) Khensani also go sponsorship to go to St. Katharine’s and Taylor was very, very sad. She cried and cried and didn’t want to go to school because Khensi was not there anymore. We felt very sorry for her.

But now Taylor has other friends at school and she has Khensi at TLC, so that is good. Taylor is much happier at school now, but she still misses Khensi a lot and jumps for joy whenever she sees Khensi coming home in the car.

 
Hello Slobberdog’s people. There was this girl who went home early today and I wondered why? Then Taylor, my niece, told me that she went to Durban for TWO WEEKS. So then I said to myself ... how come when SHE goes somewhere the teachers don’t shout but when I go away for a week to my uncle Jerry everybody is cross with me?



Me and my brother Brendon.  The day before the op.



On Wednesday my brother, Brendon had to get up very early in the morning and he had to leave with Mommy and Pippa with Matthew. Brendon was going to have a big operation. He was born with a cleft palate and a hare lip and so he has had a lot of operations in his life. Yesterday, he had an operation that lasted 3 ½ hours and Mom says that is a very long time for an operation.

They had to take bone out of his hip and put it in the roof of his mouth. He has been going to the orthodontist for about two years to pull his teeth straight. After that the hole in the roof of his mouth had to be closed, because otherwise he blows air out of it like a whale does.



Braced Matthew

While Brendon was in the theatre Pippa had to take Matthew to the orthodontist because he has to get braces put on his teeth. Since then he has been whining and moaning about it being so SORE. Pippa bought him lots of soft stuff like ice cream and yoghurt ... marshmallows ... and he looks really sorry for himself while he is eating it. C’mon Matthew, don’t be such a woosi.

Then I want to tell you one last story.

You know my big sister, Zoë, works at the squatter camp, Jackson’s Drift, hey? So a few months ago she brought a lady here who had a little baby and the she asked us to look after the little baby for a couple of months because she said she couldn’t look after the baby properly because she had no money for food. So my Mom said, yes, we could put the baby in the nursery until the baby's Mom sorted herself out.

Brendon Pre-op

So the baby stayed here in our nursery and grew big and lovely for a few months. Then one day the Mom came back and said she was fine now and wanted the baby back. So, Joanna gave the baby back to the Mom.

Then yesterday when Zoë went to the squatter camp the people there told her that a terrible thing happened. That the mother of the baby had gone to the shebeen (the bar where they sell beer) and left the baby alone in the shack. And then while the mother was gone, the rats came and chewed the baby’s hand nearly off. The people were very upset and they said to Zoë that we should never have given the baby back to that lady because she is a bad mother and always sits in the bar and drinks beer and never looks after her baby.

Zoë was shocked and didn’t know if she should believe the people so she went to the clinic to check, and it was TRUE. The nurse at the clinic told Zoë she was so shocked to see that baby’s hand because she has never seen anything so terrible before!  The Clinic Sister sent the baby to Baragwanath Hospital.



Poor Brendon!

 School has closed for 10 days. It was a fun day and we didn’t do much work. I do miss my friends already. PLUS my teacher wasn’t so much fun today. She has been teasing me about my blog and has been saying “... he has a blog and they do all this stuff.”

So now I have a serious thing to tell you. My Mom, Pippa and my Principal had a meeting. They decided that school is too hard for me. My teacher told them that sometimes before half the day is up I am so tired, I have to put my head on the desk and can’t do anything anymore because I am so pooped. Exhausted. It’s because of my heart that I can’t keep up.  I feel kind of happy that they DID realise I was not just being bad or lazy.

So they all think that from next year I need to start being home-schooled because then I don’t have to get up so very early like the other kids. Especially winter is a big problem because then my hands swell up and my feet go numb and I start to feel very unwell.



Mom said I need a haircut.  My hair was meeting my eyebrows! 

I felt sad when Mom told me that story, but I think they are right. Still I know I will miss my friends at school and I hope I will be able to go to school and visit them now and again. I will also grow away from Jesse because our lives will not be together anymore and that makes me very, very sad. We fight sometimes, but we really do love each other and I think he is the only person in the world who really, really understands me.

It’s hard to imagine what life will be like all by myself here in the mornings doing work by myself. I wonder who is going to teach me and WHAT they are going to teach me. I wonder if I am going to grow up and be DOM. Stupid. I will have to read and read and read because once my Mom told me that if you read a lot you will never be stupid. At least I can already read well.

Then lastly, hello Hannah and Becky. I hope you are doing well. We are not getting comments anymore. We only had 2 this week. I feel sad about that. I think you readers didn’t like it when I told you about the poor people. I am so sorry if I hurt your feelings, I really didn’t mean it. It’s just that we live here and this is our life. Sometimes it’s not a nice life like other peoples’ because there is poverty all around, but it is still my life. And it makes me think about a lot of stuff, and I want to tell people what I am thinking.  I hope you understand.  So, we have to end now.

Goodbye Friends ... seeya later!
Cheers dears!

THINK ABOUT THE POOR PEOPLE

Hello all our Friends!

Thank you Hannah and Becky for writing to us.  It doesn't matter if it takes long about the shoes.  It matters that I can't talk to you every single day.

Plus ... today I want to talk about wasting.  I thought about this for a few days already and so I decided.  You know that every single person that has a house and kids wastes food.  Hey, hey Kieran. That's kind of rude!  You should say SOME people waste. Not every single person that has a house ...

Ugh Jesse, YOU'RE rude ...  Well, as I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted people waste food but there are poor people on the street that don’t have any food. And that reminds me of something. Please if anybody wants to waste, and you see a poor person on the street please give him the food that was going to get wasted by you.

That reminds me about something else that’s quite sad. There is a little man … a black man … a little black man … he is not very old. Maybe he’s kind of Tommy’s age. He wears sacks and in winter he wears a faded red hoody. We think he might be a bit crazy. He has a crazy look in his eyes. Every single day he walks right up the tar road and then up to Southgate in the afternoon. We don’t know where he goes. We don’t know why he walks like that. We never see him coming back. We only ever see him walking UP.



TV time in Mom's room.  Look at the four ladies on her bed!
Mom always carries on working on her Laptop at night.
Mostly Pippa does too!

 Every day when Mom saw him she would say … oh there goes that poor dear little man. And we would all feel a little sad. So one day she thought if he was Jesus, she would love to buy him something nice to eat because he always looked so hungry. So she went to the Pick n Pay and bought him a nice freshly roasted chicken, 6 hot, fresh rolls, a 2 Litre Coke and a big Cadbury’s chocolate. Then she rushed back to find him on the road and she gave it to him.

He didn’t look pleased that first time. He opened it carefully. Like he wasn’t trusting it or something. When he saw the chicken he plopped right down on his bottom. Right there in the dust and started to rip up the chicken and stuffed it into his mouth. Mom saw this because she was curious and so she kept doing u-turns and driving past him. He didn’t even notice because he was so happy with his food.

So, maybe like two times a week she bought him that same lot of food. Chicken, coke and everything.  He always looked kind of crazy when she gave it to him. I don’t think he ever learned to say thank you. Maybe he never had a Mom to teach him such manners. We don’t think he can even talk because he just kind of grunts. But Mom knew that he was really happy. He never ate the food right away after that first time. He just took it and walked on.

So, one day Mom was coming home with a whole bunch of the girls in the car. They had bought donuts. Then they noticed ahead of them was the little man. So Zoë said, ‘Shall we give him the left-over donuts?’ and Mom said what a good idea. We can’t remember which one of the girls gave him the donuts. We know she was sitting in the back of the car. But he looked in the packet and when he saw the donuts (they were still new and fresh. Not bitten or anything) he went completely crazy. He dropped the packet on the ground and went totally mad and like shaking his fists to heaven and shouting loudly. Walking fast this way then walking fast back the other way again and beating his head hard with his fists. Mom felt so bad. She said, oh, I wish I could talk to him so he could understand. Oh, I wish I could give him a hug or something. She wanted to cry all the way home. She didn’t mean to upset him.

So the next time she saw him again, she rushed to the Pick ‘n Pay again and got the same chicken and stuff as she always did before. She rushed back to him and tried to give it to him but he looked at her very crazy-like and sort of growled and hissed at her and punched at the bag (but he didn’t hit it) and then he walked very fast away, almost like running. He just wouldn’t take it.

I wonder why he did that? I think I do understand. Because we were supposed to give him the same thing every single time. In his head that is what he wanted and expected. Maybe he was very, very disappointed when he only saw donuts and no chicken and it broke his heart. Because if you think that a big bag of delicious food like that to such a poor and hungry crazy person, would mean the whole world to him. It would be like promising to giving me a PSP, and when I look in the packet I just find a cheap little toy plastic cell-phone that doesn't even work, MAYBE I would feel the same. I don’t know … I wouldn’t go crazy like that because I know about being ungrateful. But I am trying to explain how his heart must have been broken because he was so very, very disappointed.

The only thing is that when I don’t get the right thing my heart just breaks and I start to cry inside. But you have to have good manners and not be rude to the person who gave it to you. But when disappointment comes in your heart, you can’t help it. You can’t stop it. It just comes and it’s sore.  It hurts a lot. Were you ever disappointed? Well, if you think about the very very worst time when you were disappointed, and think about how that felt. Then I think that you will understand why the poor little man did that. Also, when you can’t talk it must be even harder. Maybe if he could swear or something, it would make him feel better somehow. Not that swearing is a good thing, but maybe if he had words to use it would have been better. Even swearwords.



The homes at Jackon's Drift



We will see if we can have a camera ready and if we see him again we will take a picture of him, but we will make sure that he doesn’t notice because we don’t want to upset him or hurt his feelings. It’s just so you can see what I mean.  Zoe borrowed Mom's camera because she had to take pictures at her work.  She works at the squatter camp in Jackson's Drift, just down the road.  She helps the poor people there.  She tries to make their lives better.  

A lot of our babies come from Jackson's Drift.  Sometimes when I go there, (not very often ~ usually just at Christmas when we give them some of our Christmas presents), then I get very grateful that my Mom found us and adopted us, otherwise we might be living there right now.  Some of those kids live there and don't have parents.  And they are quite small like us.  Not teenagers or anything.




THE POOR LITTLE BLACK MAN
If your computer can blow him up you can see his face

Hello everybody on the blog.

Sorry we have not been up to date this week. Today at school my brother Benjamin was not that well behaved. He got sent out of class and he almost got a discipline mark. My Afrikaans teacher was shouting at Benjamin because every time his undies (his boxers) always show. He was not very happy. I was so embarrassed.

My brother, Crispin, came to our class and then my teacher started blaming things on him. She was saying that Benjamin learns his boxers habit from Crispin. I felt like I was going to die. Crispin looked sad like he thought it was unfair that she was blaming him for Benjamin. He was in a bad mood for the rest of the day (Crispin was).

But after school the teacher caught Pippa and told her that she has to do something about Benjamin. Then she told Pippa the story and Pippa was disappointed with Benjamin.

When Pippa came home she told Mom about it and they talked about it and they said that it is because he doesn’t want to be in Aloe Ridge Primary anymore and he wants to go to Randeor. But he can only go next year so he has to stay at Aloe Ridge in the meantime. But he hates it there and Mom thinks that he’s acting up because he’s angry because he thinks maybe he can just stay at home until the end of the year. But Mom says that’s not a good thing. He still has to go to school for now.

Today I did so well in my maths test. I got 100%! I really did! I am so happy and proud of myself because I usually get 80% or 85%. This the first time I have ever got 100%.

On Wednesday my teacher said we must say who our favourite soccer player is. My favourite soccer player is Lionel Messi. He is a good soccer player. He plays for Argentina. And Barcelona in Spain.

Lizzie, thank you for postcard. I was very shocked to hear that you were in China. Can you tell Ceri that I thank her for the Justin Bieber shirt. I was so happy when I got it! I am missing you so much Lizzie. Every time I listen to Justin Bieber’s songs I think of you. I can’t wait until you come back to TLC.

I wanted to ask my Mom if some day we could go to the movies and watch the new Karate Kid. I hear it is a very good movie. I was a Karate Kid once. I don’t really know why I gave up. I think it’s because I was by myself. All my brothers and sisters decided to quit and my Sensei wasn’t there one of those nights. I was upset and then they showed up so late … when it was time to go home. So I went home and then I quit, because I was too scared of being there by myself in the dark. That’s a dark and scary place, a bit farmish and it’s not nice to be in a place like that all on your own. I always remember Macson when I am alone in the dark. Poor Macson!

So look at this cool picture Mom and I made!  LOL! LOL!  LOL!  LOL!

Carlton in full Scout Uniform

Mom is not so happy that we all quit.  She hates it when she we start things and quit them again.  So, we were supposed to move from Cubs to Scouts this year, but most of us didn't want to and she was very cross.  She said, DONT KNOW KNOW?  Winners never quit and quitters never win?   She said ... YOU ARE GOING!  It's good for you.  Some of us were very cross.  (Not me!  I LOVE Scouts even more than I loved Cubs.)  But Brett and some of the others had a very bad attitude.  But I took a picture of Carlton.  He is the biggest of all of us and looked the grandest in his Scout uniform.  He is only 12 but he is the same size as Crispin who is 14!

Tim, I am missing you a lot too. I found the picture that you gave me. I was so happy when I found it. Thank you for the poster. I really appreciate it. Will you please send me a picture of you in the tiger’s cage. I am missing you so much.

I am so excited to hear that Benjamin is going to go to Randeor. It’s going to be a good school for him. I think that is why maybe he doesn’t behave right now at school because he is not happy at Aloe Ridge. People tease him a lot and he gets very upset. He can’t manage the work either.

Happy Dominique with her Danish Gifts

Pippa came back from Denmark. She was only gone for one week but it seemed like much longer. We did manage okay, but it’s not so nice without her here. At least I made my Mom happy and made her lots of tea! That made her feel much better. She always reminds of the nursery rhyme “I’m a little teapot short and stout tip me up and pour me out.” I don’t know why but I always think of that when she asks me to make her a cup of tea.  But it was so great to have her back.  She brought us lots of yummy sweeties and Martin and Martina sent Dominique some presents.  She was so happy. 

She is getting better and better every day now and even spends a small part of her day in the office again. The office has moved down to the school now.

Zoe has been whining for ages because she doesn't like her picture with Slobberdog  on our blog.  Mom kept telling her, don't be so  silly.  Why are you so vain?  But she was getting more and more cross.

Today we went and took the picture of the poor little man, and put it on the computer so that we could do the blog.  With that picture came the pictures from Zoe's work.  Zoe is studying Social Work at university but she does a lot of work at Jackson's Drift, the squatter camp, in her spare time because she really loves those people. 

Last night she went to her friend, Gladys's vigil and today to her funeral.  African's stay up all night the night before they bury their dead.  Gladys was living at the squatter camp.  Zoe helped her build a creche and make it nice for some babies and toddlers.  But last week Gladys was poisoned by somebody.  Zoe says that Gladys had a lot of enemies because she belonged to the Community Forum and there is always a lot of fighting going on there with people who want to do things THEIR way, and don't like the power that Gladys has because all the poor people love her so much.  Gladys was a strong and clever lady and some other people didn't like her at all and were always fighting with her.

The Tank that Gladys Organised

Gladys told Zoe the day she got sick and Zoe thought she just had a tummy bug.  She came home and asked Mom for some medicine and nobody thought it was serious.   Zoe was broken hearted the next day she found out that Gladys had been poisoned and had actually died.  She cried the whole day because Gladys was so strong and managed many things to help the poor people.  She managed to get water for them and that was a great blessing because before they had to wait for a truck and buy 5 Litres of water a day for some money and it was hard for the Moms to wash themselves, their children, their clothes and still make food and drinks with so little water.  Glady was very loved because she helped them to get a tank for water.

Yes, and so today we talked to Mom about the picture that Zoe hated.  We think its a great picture, but she hates it and so we thought we should change it because its disrespectful to use somebody's face without their permission.  Then we saw that Mom felt bad too and said ... You are right boys.  Let's change it.  We are so happy because Zoe is such a good girl.  She lives to help other people and we love her so much because she helps us all the time too.  So we are glad that we changed the picture and the new picture and the new logo aren't too bad are they?

Again, we want to say sorry that we took so long this week. It was a busy week. But we love you all so much. Do you know that our clicks are now 4000? That’s so cool. Mom is very proud of us. But I am proud of every one of you 4000 clickers.  THANK YOU!!!

Because we are so late this week we don't have time to do a FAMILY FOCUS so we are going to leave it this week, if you don't mind.  We will start it nice and early for next week to be sure that it will be there.  In a way ZOE was a FAMILY FOCUS for this week.

See you again, from Jesse

Yep! Till next week then.  KIERAN

A LETTER FROM MOM

Dear Friends,

Please forgive me for using Slobberdog for a "Mommy letter".  I needed to get this letter out to my Facebook friends, but it is too long for a Facebook page.  The only way I could think to do it, was like this.  Thank you for your understanding:

Well, here I am! Before I even start I want to thank you all for your love, your good wishes and your prayers during my time of need. I can only imagine what confusion there must have been amongst you all, concerning my condition. Well, if you could see my face now, you would see a great, big smile. Because, dear friends ... I hope it was not too much of a shock for you to discover that Thea Jarvis is indeed, human! She doesn’t glow in the dark. And no, she cannot walk on water. She is made of flesh and blood just like all the rest of us!

It was a simple case of having burned the candle on both ends for too long. Running and running until I was running on empty, and that brought me to a standstill. I, of all people, should have known better, but you find yourself on that treadmill and you are marching; day and night, day and night ... it just goes round and round until one day you fall over. And that’s what happened to me.

What happened was that my call to duty became so strong that I could no longer hear the call of God in my life. If that happens, particularly in THIS line of work where you are giving so much of your inner being on a 24 hourly basis, you are sure to run into difficulty. When I survey that picture of myself, (poor thing!) I feel quite sad. Having once been a person who walked so easily and confidently with my God; who was able to bend a knee at the smallest beacon of God in my heart ... I had become very needy indeed.

Where once it was God and only God that I had relied upon for provision of anything we needed here at TLC, be it for the babies, the children, the volunteers, the family, the staff ~ any part of this large task ~ my confidence waned. The complete lack of time I spent in prayer crippled my relationship with Him. I found myself trapped by anxiety and fear and the spiral downward was pretty swift and painful.

There I was, no longer looking to God as my source and my help; but turning to the world instead. Like the proverbial prodigal son, I sat at the feet of the world, with a begging bowl in my hand. That was a very tragic state of affairs for a child of God to find herself in.

My first wake-up call was when somebody I dearly love and respect and who has made an incredible impact on TLC’s funding over the years, took issue with the fact that I have a little cross at the bottom of my e-mail, as part of my signature. She said that it was very unprofessional and that crosses belonged in graveyards and not on e-mails. She demanded that I remove it ... or else!

This happened at a time when our funding was at its lowest since the very inception of TLC. It threw me into a terrible turmoil. I felt so incredibly threatened by those two little words “or else” yet at the same time I felt that all the angels and saints in heaven were standing on tippy-toes ~ and peering down ~ watching ... to see what I would do. And I COULDN’T do it! Whatever the cost ... my little cross had to stay. Professional or not!

Obviously, my little friend does not know Jesus. And I feel certain that she will be reading this letter! She could never understand that I find all my energy and inspiration in the power of that cross. So neither she, nor her words were an issue really. The issue was the fact that I had actually faltered. I had actually stopped (even though it was only for a short time) but I had stopped to consider the consequences of her threat. It was a sudden and frightening awareness of my spiritual condition.

I have heard Christians say, over the years ... that the way back to the Father is never easy. It is fraught with guilt, pain, fear and just plain heartache. The accuser is there in all his might and force to keep you where you are. I never understood it until now. It was really hard. After I wrote you all that last letter, I came to my little Postinia all broken, and yet I imagined that after a few prayers and reading of the Bible, I would be good as new. If only it was that simple!

It was a real struggle. In fact, at one point it was sheer agony. But thank God there came a point when his grace finally shone through and tears started to pour, and then you must know ... where there are genuine tears ... God is always near. So from then on slowly but surely there was progress and healing and I am so happy to tell you that today I am really fine. Even my broken heart of seven years, has finally been healed.  My Christian flag is flying high and there’s peace in my heart once more. A lovely, warm, special peace that ‘passes all understanding’. Thank God! And thank all of you for your love and your prayers and your patience and kindness. I really love every single one of you ... very deeply.

My life has changed for the better. One of the problems that led to my demise was the fact that I had to rise at about 5am-ish every morning so that Pippa and I could get all the school kids breakfasted, dressed and ship-shape for school. I could never see a way that I could find time to pray because of this. By the time they left for school and I had managed to tidy myself up for duty ... it was past 8 o’clock, and I thought that was too late for prayer. And by evening time I was so tired, I couldn't stay up passed 8 pm.

Silly me! There is always a way ... So, now I still do all those things in the morning, and then at 8 am I head for Postinia where I spend 2 quiet hours, praying, reading my Bible, listening to beautiful music ... all kinds of things that build you up on the inside. And I am really happy with this state of affairs. It means that my day starts on a high ... I can get prepared for whatever comes my way during the day. It’s really great and has given me a new lease on life.

Altogether I was ‘away’ for three weeks. I spent two silent weeks in Postinia and then one week in Swellendam with my brother Jerry and his good friend, Yvonne. It was a wonderful time of ‘catching up’ with my brother, and also my cousin, Nel, who now stays in Swellendam as well. It helped me to rediscover all the goodness and inner nourishment that can be had from your family and those that you love.

I also visited my nephew Gerard in Cape Town which was very special. These were very neglected matters in my life, and I will not allow that situation to repeat itself, ever!

I also want to take this opportunity of thanking so many of you for following Jesse & Kieran’s blog. Their self-image is soaring right now and it has been so good for them. I am considering offering the opportunity to the other kids as well, even though most of those don’t have the same “gift of the gab” that the twins have. I still think there is a psychological element to it that should be harnessed for all of them because of the benefits they will receive. But I will have to wait until we get some help because it can be very time consuming!

Actually, I am toying with the idea of setting up a blog for myself as well and writing after my two hours here at Postinia in the mornings. But I will wait until Pippa is back from Denmark before I embark on such a courageous endeavour!

God bless you all, dear friends and families ... thank you again for your patience and understanding.

And for all my friends in Denmark, I will be thinking of you this coming weekend as you enjoy yourselves at Bosoere, with my little Pippa! She is very excited and I know that she is in for a great treat! Please remember I will need pictures!

All my love to you,

Always,

THEA