The End is... Here!

Hello!

It seems a little unreal that I am writing this update right now. We always knew it was going to end, but now that we have left Lily and are on our way home, it is a little sad! We are not ready to leave, but we are ready to be home. I am updating this from Frank and Moniques home in Pretoria right now, spending the last few days with family here, before we fly out on Wednesday.

Sorry about the big gap in between updates, our time since Christmas has been absolutely crazy busy. We moved down to the conference center, Courtney's mom came for a couple weeks, and we were just wrapping up all our final jobs.  Even when Courtney's mom was here we were only able to take a few days off, just because we had too much to finish! We won't go into any detail, it was all our standard regular work, with the added bonus of scrambling to pack up and leave.

We would like to ask for prayer at this time not just for ourselves, but for Lily. Since the new year they have had 2 major break-ins, as well as a couple of attempts. It is always scary to know that people have been around at night scoping things out on the same property you have been living on. Also in Mophela (township around Lily) there has been some problems lately, including 2 murders outside the main store, which is just 1 km from Lily. Pray that this will stop so that the people can do their work. We would also just appreciate prayer for our journey home.

As I said we fly out Wednesday, then 4 nights in London with friends, then home to Canada one week from today, on Monday. The Lord willing we will see all you Canadians then!!!!

Gregg and Courtney

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Veranda Gregg built

Rylee helping J wash the car.

Holiday Wind- Down

Hello Everybody!

We trust everybody had a wonderful Christmas  and a very happy New Year. The best description for our holiday season is that it was very "different". Christmas Eve was a busy day preparing for Christmas itself. Christmas day I had to wake up at 4 am to start roasting a pig. We had a service with the kids, and then spent the rest of the day setting up for the huge dinner. The pork was incredible, but I am still not convinced it was worth waiting around a fire for over 12 hours! We had a few relaxed days after Christmas, just hanging about with the kids, until we had to move before New Years. Courtney and I are now living in the conference center, as Lily has run out of accommodation. House 17 is now been occupied by the new village manager and his wife. We have been lucky to have the conference center to ourselves, until today. It is a 9 bedroom building, so we will have to make due living amongst other people until we leave, which is now less than 5 weeks away! New Years Eve was marked by more work as we put on another dinner. Andy (another volunteer from the UK) and myself we in charge of fireworks, which most of the children really enjoyed.



This is the last week of holiday for the kids, so things have started to go back to usual. I have been working again, and Courtney has been helping with a holiday club to entertain the children. I have been tasked with building a large veranda on a building which should prove to be a fun project, so we will keep you updated on that!

Courtney's mom is coming next Monday for a couple weeks which will be quite nice. It is always great having people to share the experience with. Unfortunately we can't take to much time off while she is around because it is our final month, but we know she is coming for a certain little girl who will be happy to see her grandma!


We thank everybody for their continued support, and look forward to seeing you all in 7 weeks time!

Life Gaurd

Might be a little over capacity...

Christmas Day, 5 hours into the roast!

Handing out presents.

Christmas dinner.

He's only happy because of how much cake he has.

Turns out the beach is pretty busy on Reconciliation Day (Boxing day)

New Years Eve braai

Dishing out.

New Years Eve Party

About a quarter of our fire works

December!

Hello Again!

I know we haven`t posted an update in a while, but we have not had internet in 3 weeks, even as I type this I am sitting in a coffee shop with free wifi! A massive thunderstorm rolled through a few weeks back and the lightning fried all the routers, 2 computers, a few tvs, and even a dvd player. Luckily we were unaffected, but it looks like it may be a while before we will be back online. 

We have been having a great (but quite hectic) December. It is hard to believe it is already Christmas season, it just doesn’t seem quite right hearing “Let It Snow” in the grocery store when its 30 degrees outside! It is amazing how different, our December has looked thus far. Several organizations have made donations for Christmas, so the younger children were able to go to a petting zoo and receive a small gift while the older children had the chance to go ice skating at a local mall, and then to the beach. Another couple and ourselves have basically been put in charge of the rest of Christmas, including a pool party Christmas Eve, and a full braai, including a pig on a spit for Christmas day, like I said, not your typical Christmas!!! Courtney has been helping out and just trying to entertain kids on their break, doing crafts, and decorating with them, and I have been continuing with my kitchens, and have even become the new pool boy. It can be a pain working with all the kids around, but at least I have lots of helpers! Late November the teenage boys also went on a 2 night camp we named, "Camp Deprivation". It was meant to be a "manly" camp where the boys only received the very basics such as a few meters of rope, a couple tarps, unlabeled cans, putu (terrible tasting very basic corn based food) and water. As adults we had to stand back and let them learn by their mistakes, but that also meant living with their mistakes! Also in the beginning of the month I participated in a week long soccer coaching course put on by Ambassadors in Sport. It was a very helpful course and I will be able to bring a lot back home with me. I learned how much influence sports can have on people’s lives and how we can use that to minister, and glorify God. 

We hope all is well back home, and that everyone has a very blessed Christmas season! 

Merry Christmas from the Douma's!

I did get to skate in December! Trying to keep the skills up!

Skating! Worst skates ever!

Swingin time!

Swimming race!

Just arriving at camp.

Tired after the 5 am hike.

Maas and putu. Worst food ever.

Fancy cabinets. The one on the end was once a corner cabinet.

Finished bathroom.

New door.

At Duck n' Deck

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The best tree we could find!

First black Santa I have seen!

Just not the same!

Playing in the tidal pools!

Good news, and some pictures.

Hey everyone,

How is everyone back home? Hopefully good, we are very jealous seeing all the pictures of snow lately. It may be hard to believe, but we miss that white stuff! We had a couple of stressful weeks, but in the end everything worked out. We are back up in the village as of yesterday, and our visas were sent out. After 5 trips and 9 hours in the Home Affairs office they finally accepted them. They still have to go to Pretoria, but should come back all accepted. So on both accounts we really can give thanks to God! Other than that it has been a regular couple weeks. Have a great rest of the month!

At first

Framed up.Wood is expensive, a 3m 2"x3" is about $10

Boarded

Taped in

No bead. Hope this works.

Somebody who was lucky enough to get boots!

New cleats!

Rylee climbing to the top!

Hot Saturday, had a water fight. Some would say I lost.

Hanging out on a Saturday

Rylee playing.

Half way through our 17 km hike in the Drakensberg mountains.

Our hiking crew.

Rylee sampling some rocks out of one of the streams.