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.

A Change in Plans...

Hello everybody,

We have had a very challenging few weeks down in South Africa, we have had to make a few big decisions. We have really had to think about our plans for the upcoming few months due to a change in our immediate ummm family structure. Courtney is currently about 9 weeks pregnant, which is very exciting! That being said however, does come with its challenges. It was recommended to us by SIM and especially the team in Mozambique, that it may not be the best choice to bring a toddler, and a pregnant woman to. The healthcare is extremely limited, and it is the worst season for malaria, so we decided in the interest of health we would stay in South Africa the end of February, at Lily. We have built up some great relationships here, and think it would be most beneficial to just stay put for a few extra months, rather than try start fresh somewhere else. That all being said our whole plan hinges on whether or not we can extend our visa. As it stands our visa expires the 20th of Nov. We need birth certificates, marriage certificates, and other things that are going to be very difficult to get a hold of. We are really trying to look at all the options so that we can prolong our stay here, and are praying that at least one of them works out. We just aren't quite ready to leave. So please keep us in your prayer for the next little bit, that if it is His will we can stay, even just a bit longer.

Other than being potentially kicked out of the country, things are going well. My bathroom is nearing completion, as well as the kitchen and just the house in general. For Courtney it has been business as usual, even while feeling a bit nauseous. We have moved down to the conference center, and out of the children's village for a few weeks, due to an outbreak in German Measles. We have been immunized for it, but it was suggested to us, and the conference center has showers, so we did not argue! We have begun to give out the boots, and have made a few boys very happy, and continue to give them where needed.

Hopefully everyone back home has been dealing good with the cold that is on its way. It is very odd reading the calender, and not seeing any changes! Have a wonderful November and God bless!

October

Hello everybody,

Sorry about the monstrous gap in between updates, it has been a crazy month. We had Gregg`s family visit us for the past few weeks, which was a huge blessing! It was wonderful to take a few weeks off and see more of SA. We spent a week in Kruger National Park seeing animals, traveled back to show them Lily of the Valley, and then spent a few days visiting family in Cape Town. It was great to have them here, and prove that we are getting some work done at least! Thanks to everyone who sent things with them, the soccer cleat in particular are a huge blessing. Now we just have to work out the best way to distribute them.

Other wise everything else has been pretty regular, as regular as they get around here. Recently we had a double wide portable donated, and it has been designated as living quarters. I have been given the task of adding a bathroom, so hopefully that works out in the next couple weeks. Courtney has been continuing with her random work, this morning she helped get the conference center ready, as well a sorted food for all the houses.

We hope all is well back hope, even though summer is coming to an end. Hopefully autumn will be full of joy for everybody. Happy thanksgiving to everyone back home, it was quite odd missing out on turkey, but at least we had some Kraft Dinner courtesy of our parents! Also September was Rylee`s first birthday which is crazy! Hard to believe she has been around that long!

Thanks for reading and have a great month.

Gregg and Courtney

The whole family up on Table Mountain

Southern most point in Africa

Rylee at Blyde Rive Canyon

Cleat donation!

Rylee`s birthday party!

September Update... wait what?

Hello again everybody! September already! Where has the time gone? 5 months have gone already, it is absolutely crazy. Things around Lily have been business as usual, a lot of children and work, and not very much time! Courtney's volleyball group have not improved in the least, however they are having tons of fun. When the children show up carpentry has been great, although it is evolving into a handyman class. The youth center is nearly finished, as the Hilton Church group came back to help out again. Also my work on the kitchens has finally been going well, and have currently fixed up 5... of 22. Most of them just need a bit of "support" and caulking, but still it takes time. Soccer coaching with Pete (who is here via Ambassadors in Sport) has also been going great, and have been getting to know the people from the surrounding community more and more.

Work this month did get quite somber last week, as we had 2 separate suicide attempts, one quite more serious than the other. Both children are doing well, however it is still a serious matter that is very difficult to deal with.

Also this month we took a couple personal days to go skiing in Lesotho, the small mountain country within South Africa. We went with a few other volunteers an had an absolutely wonderful time, despite that the ski hill was a single run. Lesotho is very different from SA, a high altitude culture of shepherds and blankets! All in all it was much more for an experience than for the actual skiing, but now we can officially say we have hit the slopes in  Africa!

Anyways we are very excited for family to come at the end of this month. They are collecting old soccer cleats to take to us, so if you can, please help out!! As always a huge thanks to all our supporters, we could not be here without you!

Lerato pushing Rylee!

Fresh new toe kicks! Just the tip of the iceberg as you can see.

Solid now. Still quite rotten, but solid!

Support for the U shaped shelf. Turns out a 45"span is not ideal.

Finished ceiling

Fresh paint and windows!

Lesotho! Skiing in jeans!

Almost to much terrain for just one day.

Rylee and Tankiso!

Lily Times

Hello everybody,  

Hopefully everyone is still enjoying their summer back home; the heat here is starting to really arrive. Last week South Africa was shut down due to snow, as much as 40 cm in some parts! It is amazing how a country can be so crippled when it isn’t prepared in the least to deal with it. At Lily we had a massive hail storm, some nearly the size of ping pong balls! After a few rainy cold days the weather turned around and we are now in the low 30s.  

Thing have been great here, we have been getting to know the kids better and better and by now know at least half of the names! Work here is never what you would expect and varies day to day. Every day I make an effort to start working on the kitchens, but then get sidetracked with an airport run, or helping a staff member, or coaching soccer, or any other random thing that Lily throws at us. I have been doing carpentry with some older boys and have mainly been praying that nobody loses and fingers. Somehow the mitre saw turns itself on even after it has been turned off and unplugged. Funny how nobody ever plugs it in but it still gets turned on… I have been starting to feel a little bad for my old shop teachers! Soccer as always has been fun, Courtney even was helping prepare Boboti for a 2 week New York team that came early in the month. She has also been coaching Lily’s first volleyball team and by now they have started to learn to bump. Hopefully the setting and the spiking comes in the not-too-distant future! We have been going to the beach and trying to surf courtesy of Frank's board on our days off, which has been alot of fun.

Yesterday some staff killed a 5 foot Mozambique spitting cobra. As the weather heats up the snakes start coming out of hibernation looking for food. The Cobras are common here, as well as puff adders and black mambas, all of which are extremely venomous. Black mambas for example have been known to kill giraffes, so we are hoping we don’t run into any of them. Lily has never had a snake bite in 20 years, although last year one boy did get some cobra spit in his eyes…. twice! 

Next week we are hoping to take a few boys to Durban to go ice skating, and watch them try recreating Bambi’s first experience with ice! It should be interesting to say the least. Otherwise we have  no huge plans for the next little bit other than to keep on doing what we have been doing, a bit of everything!

Thank-you for all your prayers and support!

An inefficient way to mix mud.

Put it on

Sand it off

New air compressor for lily. Rylee trying to help.

Snow on the hills!

Court's boboti.

Courtney with volunteers Kristy (left) and Steff (right) in Tala

Beginning of the talent show.

A hail man? Courtney teaching the kids new skills!

With Pete and Siya in the hail.

Typically good for cars.

Rylee at the beach!

Hey everybody,

Already over three weeks at Lily, time truly does fly! Hopefully everyone's summer back home is going well, and you are getting time to go enjoy it. Holiday club was a lot of fun, and the children seemed to really enjoy it as well. We even went with the older children a few times out into the community, to give back what we can. One day in particular we went to Howick, a rough slum area, brought some balls, and played with the kids there. The Lily kids then organized games and did a skit and evangelized to the others. It was amazing to see what a few soccer balls can start!

School holidays ended last week and things have gotten a little more regular. Now the the children go to school during the day it opens it up for me to do some proper maintenance. I have recently been trying to fix some of the bikes that are here, but of the 15 I have found I will be lucky to put together more than 3. A group from Pietermaritzburg also came this week and we started to make repairs on the Youth Center. Next week I am hoping to start fixing kitchen cabinets throughout the houses.

Courtney has been keeping very busy with the Nursery every day. After lunch if she has time she usually visits with some of the babies around the other houses. Rylee has made several friends, and loves her mornings with the other kids.

Also I forgot to update the last blog with the before and afters of the pond at Aurora, so there are also a few pictures of that!

Have a great rest of the month everyone!

Before

 

 

 

 

 

During...

Done!

Trying to make sense of these.

SO excited to be doing this.

Even wore my drywalling shirt!

Soccer in Howick

The Lily group (right) singing for the rest of the kids.

Welcome to Lily!! Turn right at the bull!