Aloha!!!

On the Saturday after my 21st birthday we celebrated by having friends and family over for a fun filled Hawaiian themed party... This came with the yummiest pina colada cocktails, fruit punches, 3 types of meat on a spit, a variety of salads and breads and lots more... After everyone arrived we played some games, the first was a fishing game in which different fish came with different prizes. We then played a drum competition, a hula hooping competition, a bubble blowing competition, a best looking fish face competition and one to see who could break a coconut open first... Ryan was very proud of cracking his coconut open before all the others, including LP... We then went on to enjoy the feast, well most of the guests actually took part in a treasure hunt first in a race to see who could find the treasure first... Surprisingly clues got mixed up along the way and the game was over much sooner than I thought it would be but all in all it was really fun... Towards the end of the evening awards were presented for the best dressed and for the winner of the treasure hunt... A few of the guys also decided to play limbo... I must say I was quite surprised at how low Vince could go... Thank you to everyone who helped out with the planning of the evening, especially my mom who did most of the work, and to everyone who could come and join in all the fun with us... It was a really special evening...

Ryan and I

The out-laws, I mean in-laws

My mom and dad



LP, Jason and Vince playimg survivor



Ryan with his cracked coconut

Jason opening his treasure chest

Best dressed, um, female...

Best dressed under 18

Vince doing the limbo

Me and my wonderful husband

A visit from the Louws

For the past few days we have had LP, Jackie, Grace, Netjie, and Rachel staying with us... It has been such a blessing to spend time chatting, playing board games and relaxing with them... It was especially lekker to have 3 little kids in our home and to see how they are all growing up...

Chocolate pumpkin cake

For a few months now we've been trying to think of how to get Glen to eat some pumpkin, and his birthday provided a perfect opportunity... Vince and I thought we would do this in the form of a yummy chocolate pumpkin pie... It's a very easy recipe, just take a box of instant chocolate cake mix and add about a cup and a half of pumpkin and an egg or two to get the right consistency and there you have it, a yummy cake... And the best thing is that nobody can tell it has any pumpkin in it, it tastes like normal cake... Glen really enjoyed eating the cake, but unfortunately after he found out it had pumpkin in it he couldn't eat any more of it and is now suspicious of all cakes...

Milky lane with the Sunday school

On Monday some of the sunday school teachers and the year for lifers took the SUnday school kids to milky lane as a reward for good attendance during the past term... There were 17 kids in total... Just imagine the confusion with the orders when the arrived at the table... But it was a fun occasion in any case...

Dad's 50th

Friday afternoon and into the evening was my dad's half century and Steven's 60th birthday party... I especially enjoyed making 3 collages for the party... One of my dad's childhood years, one of my dads more recent life, and one of steven... My dad had a great time and enjoyed seeing friends he hasn't seen in a while and also enjoyed recieving a surprise message from his friend Peter in Australia... Just for fun I have added a photo of my dad as a child below...

Whitney's kitchen tea

Last weekend was quite interesting, the first event was to go to Whitney's kitchen tea on Friday afternoon... It was very cool to be able to see her and Leyna again... And of course to see Whitney all wrapped up and looking funny sitting in a basket... Haha...

Visiting from New Zealand

Last week Saturday I went to visit my friend from high school who is visiting from New Zealand, Michelle Geyer... She left just after we finished matric so I haven't seen her in a really long time... It seems that New Zealand has had quite an impact on her... She now has quite a nice accent and is working part time at a christian creche and studying part time as well... Her sister Tracey has grown so much since I last saw her... She is now in what is the equivalent of grade 11 in South Africa...  I also saw Alicia there and we all had a great time of catching up... Really fun morning...

From left to right: Alicia, Me, Michelle

Tower of YFL

We arrived at church on Friday to find a giant tower of chairs on the stage, almost touching the ceiling... This is what Vince and Jason called the tower of YFL... It took them 1 and a half hours to build and about 10 minutes to take apart... Now we know what the year for lifers do for fun when they get bored...

Ryan's Gr7 dance

Last week Ryan had a Gr7 dance at his school as part of his life orientation course where they were put into groups and had to do 4 different dances for marks. I know they did the hustle, boogie and sokkie but i can't remember the 4th one. I can't believe how fast Ryan has grown up. My mom asked me to go past the house before they left to take some photos of Ryan and his friend Xolani. Naturally I got some really funny poses along with the normal ones. And... I caught them on video without them knowing... Hahaha... Well they did realise towards the end... But anyway, here are some of my favourite photos, but unfortunately I couldn't upload the video... Fortunate for Ryan and Xolani I guess...

Power camp

Last weekend some of our youth, along with the year for lifers and Michael and I, went along to Power camp... It was an amazing time of Hearing God's word, fellowship and fund and games... Clint archer, the speaker, taught the youth very practically about getting a christian worldveiw... We met alot of new people as we were split into different teams in which we shared devotions, played team games, completed an obstacle course, and put on a skit... I'm proud to say the STONE team won overall... That's the team Michael and I were the leaders of and Chantelle and Mbali were part of... An amazing weekend...

Alicia's 1920's jazz 21st party

We recently went to one of my friends 21st birthday party; it was a 1920's jazz dress up. When we arrived we got told that at each table one person would have to say a surpise speech during the course of the evening. The 'lucky' one had a peice of paper with a topic on the leg of their chair. Joshua from our table gave the speech. It was a fun night and it was great to catch up with Whitney and her soon to be husband as well. 

Michael and I dressed Jazz

The birthday girl- Alicia

Whitney and her fiance

3rd term youth

Last night was our second evening of the third term of youth this year, and because it's the third term gr7 are now allowed to join the youth... And so we had quite a few new youth members last night which made the youth pad quite packed, although it would still be great to have more teenagers join us of course. We had lots of fun getting to know one another and learning more about what the old testament is all about.

Some of the new members filling out questionnaires

Roses

Yesterday Michael came home with some beautiful red roses for me; it was so romantic and it made my day... I love you lots Michael!...

Exciting news!!

I have some very exciting news to share with all of you... I'm pregnant! Yay! Not sure how far along I am yet because it's still in the very early stages. Please pray that the pregnancy will go well and that the baby and me will both be healthy throughout.

Sunday baptism and lunch

On Sunday morning we were blessed with the testimony of a father and daughter, Mike and Ingrid, being baptised. I pray that the Lord will continue to bless them and draw them ever closer to Himself.

Mike and Ingrid

After the church service we went to family for lunch to wish Andrew our congratulations on his engagement. It was a wonderful afternoon and a great time with family.

Michael especially enjoyed playing soccer with Nathan.

Young adults

We had the young adults over on Saturday evening for a house-warming. It was a fun night of playing jenga on a chair, playing 30 seconds on the trampoline and chatting. Thanks to all who came and to those who gave us gifts.

Our careful timekeeper Vince