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!

http://thea-jarvis.blogspot.com/

http://pippaspassions.blogspot.com/
http://failsafefarm.blogspot.com/

THOU SHALT NOT STEAL

Hello Friends,

Well, I was feeling a bit bored so I asked Mom if I could put up a kind of half-week blog and she said'Sure, Jesse but you must know that I am very busy so I won't be able to help you right away.'  I said 'Ok Mom.'

Well, On Monday Rhys was in the playground and a huge Rinkhals (snake) came out of the bamboo and the dogs all started barking at it and trying to chase it away from the little toddlers who were playing in the playground with the volunteers. Overseas a Rinkhals is called a spitting cobra.  Rhys was very scared because the volunteers don’t know about snakes and he kept yelling at them ... take those babies away. Get those babies out of the way. But they were just standing there, and the babies were just gaping at him and he got quite frustrated.

A rinkhals is a very dangerous snake because it can spit very far and it spits at your eyes. It’s dangerous for little toddlers because they are low on the ground. So when Rhys came inside he was shaking because he was so worried about the little kids and the volunteers, that they did not run away when they saw the snake. He told Mom ... We have to teach those volunteers about snakes and we even need to train those babies to be afraid of snakes and not just to stand there staring at the thing. And Mom said, .. But Rhys, they are still very small, they won’t understand yet. Some of them are not even three yet. Rhys just left and grumbled ... Well, its very dangerous! He said. We have to do SOMETHING.

Hello Friends on the Blog,  My Mom’s friend bought her a whole bunch of shrubs and flowers and two trees for her garden at Postinia. She is so happy. She was just smiling and smiling, and before she had been kind of sad. On Sunday Brendon and Matthew helped her to water them and stuff, and on Monday Bernard and Robert started to plant them for her. They look beautiful. We wanted her to take some pictures for the blog ... but she said ... Let’s wait until they have settled in for a bit.

We heard Mom and Pippa talking and saying that some of the children’s homes like ours have closed down because they don’t have enough money. Mom is trying lots of new ways to bring in the money now because she says the old way does not work anymore. Companies don’t have money to give away anymore like they used to, and the government still doesn’t help by giving us money. But she told us not to worry, because we are not a Children’s Home. We are a family. And we will stay together no matter what. She said, we will always have our farm, and we will trust God that we will have food and the basic things. Staying together like a family is the most important thing.  Mom says that God started TLC and he is not confused.  He doesn't make mistakes.

We were glad to hear that, because my Mom’s friend Maxi and two of her other friends who have children’s homes had to let some of their children go to other places because they didn’t have enough money, and I would hate it if that happened to us. Imagine, if we were not together anymore? We are lucky that we have my Mom and Pippa and Rhys and Joanna, and Zoë and even Faith. I know that we will never break up like other places do.

STEALING

Last week when there were only a few of us here because 4 went to Kudu with Fiona, Theresa and Ellen went to Ellen’s Dad’s memorial and some of the Tigers were also out. So in the afternoon we watched the last of the movie series, 4400. After that we had supper and then Mom called us all together for a meeting in the DEN (that is what we have started to call the Homework Room).  We called it that because it is so nice and cosy, cool and quiet and Mom and Pippa have put a lounge suite in there now, and they play Scrabble in there while we are all working and playing on the computers.  It’s so cool, we all love it. Being together like that is so nice.

So, we all went to the Den to see what the meeting was about. And then Mom was looking very sad and she told us that Tammy (the nursery volunteer manager) had just come to tell her very bad news. Tammy said that somebody climbed through the window in her cottage and stole R100 out of her purse. And then later she came again and told Mom that not only did they steal the R100 but they also stole R600 of the vegetable money that they were supposed to take to the market to buy vegetables. We were all thinking ... and thinking ... who could do such a thing? And each one of us was hoping that nobody would blame US.

Mom told us to remember that Collen and Abram (they were our kitchen staff) and they stole Crispin’s cellphone and would not own up. And do you know what happened? They brought in the Lie Detective people and they put lie detective machines on all the staff and then they found out that it was Collen and Abram who stole the cellphone.  (They are brothers)  Mom loved them a lot and was so sad when she found out for sure it was them.  And because Mom loved them so much, she still gave them a chance and said if they brought the phone back and promised not to steal anymore, then she would forgive them and we would forget about it. But they would not and said that she was just being mean to them because they were from Zimbabwe.

Well, then they had to leave and got fired and even though they phone Mom every week now and say sorry, and sorry and sorry over and over again, and say  if Mom let's them come back they promise they will never ever steal anything again.  But Mom said it’s too late now. She can’t trust them anymore. The time for sorry is over.

So Mom told us to think about what happened to Collen and Abram because she would have to treat this thief who stole the money from Tammy’s cottage, just the same. So we were all very worried, because what if the lie detective machine said it was us and it wasn’t? Mom said that that machine did not make mistakes, but we were all still very worried.

So Mom told us to remember that we do have a rule here at TLC. And that rule is if you make a mistake and you go to Mom straight away and tell her about it, then she will never punish you. But if you leave it for long, and if you never tell her, and she finds out for herself by some other way, then she will definitely have to punish you. So, she said that she would give the thief one last chance. And if that thief comes and repents to her before she goes to sleep, then there is still time to forgive, even though there will have to be consequences.

So, then the next day we heard that a CERTAIN PERSON came to Mom just before she went to sleep and told her that they knew who stole the money. So Mom said WHO was it? And the person said they could not tell, because they would get into big, big, VERY BIG trouble if they told. So Mom said, it was not helping that this person was not telling her who the thief was. So the person said ... Mom must swear to God that she will not tell one single person in the whole world ... if that person told her who the thief was.

And then Mom said ... FAIR ENOUGH ... I make that solemn promise that this information will stay between me and you. And then that person said ... “MOM, IT WAS ME. I WAS THE THIEF.”  Mom was very surprised, shocked and disappointed because she never thought this person would steal. So she talked to that person for a long time, and the next day we heard that it was all over. But Mom said there will still be consequences for this person, but we will never know who it is ... because Mom promised.

We are all curious to know who it is, but Mom says we have to mind our own business. Still we are all very happy that it is over and that we don’t have to get the blame for something we did not do. And in my heart I am proud of that person for telling the truth. That must have been a very brave and scary thing to do. I wonder if I would have been so brave.  I don't think so but then I would have had to face the lie detective.  Brrrrr!

FAMILY FOCUS

RAYNE

Rayne is Joanna’s youngest child. He is 8 years old. His birthday is on the 2nd December.  He is Joanna's 4th heart-kid, her 4th son and her fifth child. He is a very funny boy. Sometimes we call him Rayne-Beau, just to be funny. It’s like a nick-name.  He is kind of quiet but gets up to a lot of mischief too. He loves to play with the ‘tigers’. Those are the 5 and 6 year old kids. I think he likes them because he can boss them around and gets them to do all kinds of silly stuff.

He is kind of cute as well and often makes us laugh because he says real silly things sometimes. Because of school he has to wear his hair short, but in the school holidays he lets his hair grow long and its very curly and cute. He is kind of light skinned. Maybe he is mixed race or something. I guess we don’t know, but maybe Joanna knows. He is a little bit like Taylor and Theresa when it comes to telling tall tales about us and getting us into trouble because he can be a bit spiteful when he is cross. Mom and Joanna never believe us bigger boys. They always just stick up for the little kids, and those little kids know it and they can get very mean sometimes.

I guess because he is the youngest in the family he is quite spoiled as well and Joanna never shouts at him when he is naughty, like we would get shouted at. When the office was still up by the nursery he used to wreck the office when nobody was there. He used to go into the cupboards and fiddle with everything. He used to cut up papers and scribble on everything and then whenever Joanna got back she should to say to Mom ... YOUR kids are always messing around with my stuff. Now look at this mess. Then Mom used to get grumpy with us, but in the meantime it was nearly always Rayne.

But still, we DO like him and he is a part of our family and when he is not around we do miss him, and then we always say ... where is Rayne? Has anybody seen Rayne? Because when the smaller kids go missing on the farm, it can be dangerous. There are snakes and all kinds of dangerous gogo’s on the farm, and if a small kid is wandering by themselves they might get into trouble and can’t help themselves.

So that will be the last of Joanna's family. Next we will be doing Pippa and her family.

Bye everybody! 

KUDU AND HERITAGE DAY

Hello everybody on the blog. (I always say that … I’m sorry).  I seem to make habits quickly.  We have not written to you for a very long time.

Today was the happiest day ever. My friend, David, came to our house and he was so glad to see me and I got a big hug as soon as he walked in the door. I told him ‘Were you upset when I ditched you?’ And he said ‘No!  Of course not.  I would have ditched myself if I had a chance to go to a Game Reserve!  LOL’ And a big smile came on my face. Next time I must always listen to my Mom because she knows what’s right and she knew he was going to have a great time, and wouldn't miss me or be upset with me one bit. So everybody will you please all clap while my Mom takes a bow ... LOL LOL.

I am so sad that we have to go back to school on Monday. I am angry about the strike because if they had not striked our holiday would have been 2 weeks. Now it is one week shorter because they striked. My Mom is VERY happy because we are going back to school, though. LOL  Right now in my head I think she is jumping up and down for joy.  She keeps saying, "I'm not getting a stitch of work done with all your shenanigans!"

Hi Becky ... Okay, Jesse and Kieran  ... yes, this is us together (Because we are cowards and we are both too scared to tell you so we want to say it together) We wanted to ask you if Zoë could take us to the mall with the money to buy the shoes. We are embarrassed to ask you this because it seems very rude. But you DID say that we should choose, so we are choosing, but we hope it’s not very rude.  It's just that God hasn't blessed us with patience ... (OR shoes! LOL)

On the 14th of October it’s my Mom’s birthday. I am so happy for her ... but on the 16th of October it might be her party. She has not decided to have a party yet.  She doubts she will.  She says we need too much money for other stuff.  But we are going to our friend Harriet’s house, even if she has a party or not. I’m very sad for what I am doing, but when I get back home I will have a present in my hand for the best Mom in the world.  Well, I really want to stay with my Mom too.  But Harriet's house is SO LOVELY!  WHAAA ... don't know what to do!

Hello Ceri. I hear that you are coming back on the 6th of October. I am going to be very excited to see you. My brother and I are jumping for joy. My brother wants to say one more time … THANKS FOR THE SPIDER MAN!  I want to say THANKS FOR THE JUSTIN BIEBER T-SHIRT. I cannot wait to see you.

This movie I like is coming to cinemas soon. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. It sounds very scary and exciting. I have seen the adverts and it looks so cool. I am hoping that my Mom will take me one of these days.

Hello blogreaders,

Don’t you worry about home-school. Thank you for all your comments about home-school. I think you are right. It is going to be great. And Becky I can’t wait until you come. Because you will be there when I am in home-school (I think). That is just going to be so fun.  So fun.  My Mom says 'so fun' is bad English.  But if it is bad English, why is everybody saying it?  She couldn't answer that question.  Does anybody out there know?

Brendon is doing well. He had some of his stitches taken out on Wednesday and the doctor says he is looking great. He still has to take some more stitches out next week.

I prayed for that baby that got eaten by the rats. Our wonderful friends, Papa Ron and Aunty Lynn were very sad when they heard the story about the rats. So when it was their day off, they went to Baragwaneth to find that baby. And guess what … THEY DID FIND HIM. And it was a miracle because they did not know his real name. But they found him anyway. And his hand is healing so well. There are just two little fingers that are still sore. But all his fingers are on his hand - he hasn't lost any - and he will probably have some scars but they say he is looking quite well.  Isn't it cool to pray and then you wait a while and then you see God answered your prayer.  It's like the coolest thing.  I love God.  He is SO cool!  And Mom's right.  God loves babies.  I wonder why that is?

Plus … last night I sat on my mother’s bed and I read ALL the comments. ALL 14 comments. It was tiring but I did it!  That was so awesome that so many of you made comments. And a lot of you are TEACHING. Becoming teachers. Plus I needed to talk to Emma:

Emma, I remember you came with me to Swaziland, didn't you?  Are you that same Emma?  It was such a great time. I just want to say that you were the best and we had a lovely time, didn’t we? And thank you for giving me courage and I know that I will do my best and be so good in home-school.

I just realized I forgot to tell you about Kudu. It was so fun. (bad English ~ sorry Mom)  We swam in the rock pool. I was very scared … because I don’t like swimming where there are fish. It really scares me. People think that is funny and my brother is even laughing right now, but you know what? My MOM doesn’t like swimming with fish either, too much.  She says she's always scared they might suck her toes!  LOL

Here is a picture of Thabang jumping into the rock pool.

Thabang jumping into the rock pool



At the bottom of the water there was slime. Eeew. It looks so disgusting. When I got out of the water, I was screaming for my Mom! LOL. Romy (that is Fiona’s big daughter) and her friends were all laughing at me.



Thabang swimming in the rock pool



Something made my heart sad. Poachers went into Kudu (although I did not see it, Fiona just told me about it) and they chopped off the rhinos’ horns. Even the baby one. It was very sad to see them without any horns. It would be like seeing those criminals without their noses. Imagine!  That would make me delighted and it will teach them a lesson about how the rhinos feel.

All of us kids were in the landrover and we saw these giraffes. This mommy giraffe wouldn’t let the baby giraffe have milk. So the baby went to its daddy to stand by him and the daddy almost kicked that baby giraffe’s head. Fiona was angry to see that.

Fiona was on a bike ride. And when she came back she fell down and hit her elbow on a rock and scraped open her hand and her arm and elbow. We were very shocked to see that. After that we could not go to the swimming pool because she hurt her arm and hand badly.  Poor Fiona.  I love Fiona.  She's the kindest lady in the universe.  Even though she calls us all 'Little shits!'  She really does!!  LOL LOL  And she also calls us 'RATS'.  Mom says ... 'Oh don't worry about that.  It's her good heart that counts!'  And that's true.  We all love Fiona.  Every single one of us loves her.  She is like a member of the family.

When her arm was better she let me DRIVE THE LANDROVER!!! I was so happy, I was going crazy. I drove into the bushes. I almost crashed into a tree! LOL!  Erin was laughing his head off.  He was laughing till he was lame. It was one of the best experiences of my entire life.

Thabang and Carlton were jogging while we were in the Landrover. I was hanging on the step of the Landrover and tried to get Thabang’s hand onto the step and I never saw this tree. It scratched the top of the inside of my arm. I was screaming and told Romy to drive home fast because it was hurting so much.  I thought I was dying, but you know me, I ALWAYS think I'm dying.  That's why they call me 'Drama Queen' around here!  LOL

We saw buffalos in the game reserve. It was so cool to see them up close. We even took pictures of them.  One day I will have my own camera.  I couldn't take my own pictures and I really wanted to because Mom would have been so happy to see the pictures.  But she said, 'Not to worry Jesse, one day I will go with Fiona myself and then I will see everything for myself.'

Afterwards we saw a mommy warthog and a baby cross the road. It was so cute.

We were driving in the night and we went to this waterfall. Wow! It was beautiful. So ~ so beautiful!  It was so white and amazing. We wanted to swim in it. But we really came there to watch the sunset go down. It was so amazing. The sun was pink and orange as it was going down. Romy and the others told me to do the waka waka dance. I was too shy to do it! LOL I just wiggled my bum a little bit. LOL. I was very shy of Romy’s friends. Not Romy because I know her for years already.

So, there was Heritage Day. We were SO excited. We got everything cleaned up and so nice and NOBODY CAME! Nobody except DAVID. It was so rude, embarrassing and disappointing because every single year a whole bunch of people come and we have a great time. But not this year. We had the jumping castles and slides to ourselves. Oh, yes, some of Tommy’s friends did come.

We did have a great braai. Pippa braai-ed the meat and it was delicious. She was as red as a lobster in the sun. But she was smiling all the time and was so good. The little kids were all playing under the willow tree. I was a little bit tired so I ended up sleeping on my Mom’s bed for some of the day. That never happened to me before that I have been sleeping so early these days. Even sometimes in the morning I sleep. I once slept until supper time. People had to wake me up to go and get my medicine.

I forgot to tell you something. In Cape Town there were these machines that you put money in and there’s a claw that you can move when you press a button. So there was one like that in Cape Town and it had watches with money inside. So I put the R2 in there and I pressed the button but it didn’t work. Not at all. Not even a tiny movement. So they cheated us. And I was a little bit sad, because once at the zoo there was another one like that and it had sweets inside, so then I said to the lady at the zoo ‘[Does this work?’ and she said ‘Yes’ and I said ‘Are you sure?’ and she said ‘Yes’. So I put the money in and I tried to work it. And I said ‘It’s not working’ and then she said, ‘No, because it doesn’t work.’ So then I said to her ‘But you just said it works.’ And she said this to me … ‘I know, but I was joking.’ So as soon as I walked away there was this lock on the machine and she opened it with the key and she took my money. I went and told Pippa. And Pippa said … ‘Yep! People cheat.  Get over it!'

Well, I think that will be enough for today.  Sorry there aren't a lot of pictures.  My Mom's camera was lost for the whole weekend.  And she only found it on Monday.

Mom has been working very hard on her own blog.  It's finished.  I read it yesterday and I think its beautiful.  She will probably post it up soon, but I think she's nervous. 

Yeah I know why she's nervous.  Its because she knows that nobody will read hers, because they prefer ours!  LOL!  ONLY JOKING.  ONLY JOKING.

Sis Jesse.  That's ugly!

I was only joking man!  Mom can take a joke.

Okay everybody, we'll be going now.  See you next week!

Oh, and don't forget to drop a couple of cents in Slobber's PAYPAL box!  LOL

Okay bye everyone.  See you soon.  I love you.

Kieran.

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