Playing together

Playing Together

I love that Lucas and Alexis still enjoy playing with our Little People toys! It was so great to see all our kids playing together like this!! (You'll have to click on this pic to be able to see all the kids.)

Scooting backwards

Rebekah is really starting to roll and scoot around. She has recently been scooting backwards and getting stuck under things...like this couch.

So silly!

Joshua absolutely loves to be photographed and he loves to to be silly at the same time. His silly moments make me smile all day!

Lucas' School Program

Lucas' school program

The primary grades at Lucas' school put on a program last Friday. All the children were to invite their grandparents. Since ours are in the U.S. we invited another couple from the finance office whose grandkids live in the U.S. I love how you can grow to have a new "family" when you live overseas! Anyway, each grade performed a song as an African animal. Lucas' class sang about ostriches. Lucas had a little extra part in the song so he got to wear a blue boa and thought that was just great. The whole program was so fun and well put-together. I also got a picture of Lucas and his teacher, Mrs. van der Schyff. Click on the picture above to see a few more snapshots of his school program.

Our Pretty Princess!

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Our little girl is growing up so fast! Such a beautiful little princess! Alexis moves through life a little more quietly than Lucas although she loves it just as much. Homeschooling with kindergarten is going well for her. We do catch her daydreaming every now and then but what can I say? The view out our windows is so nice with all the trees and flowers! She has started another music class that is also teaching piano. She really loves to practice! (We hope that lasts a long time.) She has gained such confidence and will sing in class and even volunteer to play her piano songs first. This is a huge improvement and we are so proud of the progress she is making. She did get to go bowling for the first time last month and really enjoyed it. She still reminds Lucas that her score beat his. Haha. Click on the picture below to see more of what she's been up to lately.

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Fruit of the Spirit

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In June I decided to try something new to encourage good behavior in our home. I made a chart for each child that listed the Fruit of the Spirit. As I "caught" them praciticing "patience" or "gentleness" I would fill in the chart with what they had done. They earned 5 rand for each row filled in. So, the kids were so excited when they had their charts completely filled in and were able to go to Toys R Us to spend their money! I was so proud of them as they began to more clearly understand what each Fruit of the Spirit looked like.

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SNOW? IN AFRICA???

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It snowed today!!!! Yes, it apparently can snow in South Africa! As we talked to our neighbors we learned that it snowed a tiny bit 5 years ago but there hasn't been a snow like this since 1981. As I was driving to get Lucas from school I saw cars pulling to the sides of the roads. They were stopping to get out and take pictures! It was fun for our kids too! I was actually leaving the library today with the younger three when it was snowing hard enough to hinder visability. Joshua just cried. He didn't like it one bit. He didn't like being cold, he didn't want to get wet-he just didn't quite know what to make of this fluffy white stuff. Now, since we do live in Africa the snow didn't last long. It would snow for 30 minutes then completely melt in the next 30 mintues. At least we enjoyed that happening several times throughout the day! What an adventure!

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