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

Add caption

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.

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!