South Dakota

I thought I would share a couple of pictures of our winter weather here in SD. It has been very cold over Christmas and New Year. We've had temperatures below zero, but we have enjoyed the snow.

Traveling

So much continues to happen that it would be difficult to fill you in on all the details.  But we do hope you had a Christ-centered Christmas as you remembered His birth.  We....well, we spent most of the day driving.  Because of a snow storm we ended up traveling to South Dakota on Christmas day, arriving in time for the evening meal with family and friends.  Between Hobe Sound and SD we have seen a lot of friends; been to a lot of places; and experienced a lot of things.  The boys enjoyed snow in TN, OH, IN, IA, and now SD.  God has been good to us as we have been traveling.  Once we hit some ice and the van decided it wanted to change directions but other than that God's hand has been on us-giving us His protection.  We've seen numbers of vehicles in the ditch and farther south we passed a car on fire.  We appreciate your prayers as we continue to travel thousands of miles. 

I'll add a few misc photos:

We certainly enjoyed our visit with Steve's Grandma Geise.  We miss Grandpa!

Our boys playing with cousins

Snow! Cold!

Shoshanah saying "Hello" and "God bless you"!

A Special Friend

Whenever we are in Hobe Sound we always do our best to visit Sis. Cleaver.  She is a special friend, of more than ten years, and a faithful prayer partner.  She loves the children and always has some special little activity or gift for them.  We are so thankful for people like this that God has placed in our lives.

Our first week in America

I thought I would give you an idea of the week we had after we left Africa.  Phil and Amrie rode with us to the airport and took our car back home. 

 Here we are at the airport in Johannesburg.

 This was Shoshanah's first flight.

 This is how we all felt after we arrived in the US!

Gwen's brother Brent and family picked us up at the airport.

Gwen's family surprised us and met us at a restaurant after we arrived in D.C.

We had snow Thanksgiving morning.  The boys were ecstatic!

 On our way to Florida we spent a week-end with my cousin and family Derek Geise.  Unfortunately we didn't get a picture of their family.  Once we got to FL we visited with my Mom and grandmother.

After arriving at Hobe Sound Mr. Howard took the boys and I on a flight.  It was a little bumpy but not bad at all.  We enjoyed the flight a lot.  There has been a lot of other things happening but I don't have pictures and time to share them all.  We plan to leave Hobe Sound on the 9th and begin our trip North.

Hobe Sound

We arrived in Hobe Sound, FL on Tuesday.  We've been very busy.  We landed in D.C. on the 24th and were in PA for Thanksgiving with Gwen's family.  Then on Saturday we drove to Columbia, S.C. to spend the week-end with Derek and Jessica Geise.  From there we drove to Summerfield, Fl on Monday and came here as I said on Tuesday.  I'll try to put some pictures on in a couple of days.  Pray for us as we begin a busy schedule. 

Wrapping it up!

With ten days to go the pressure is on to finish last minute business, pack, wrap up ministry for this term, set the house in order for Phil and Amrie to move in while we are gone and a host of other details.  Today I will teach the last class of a Bible study we've been working through for about the past 30 weeks.  Monday or Tuesday we will try to get Isaac to a place in his school work where he can stop for a while. Last week we helped Phil and Amrie get a garden plot ready for planting.  We have about 15 services schedule so far with a number of other good possibilities. Thank you for your prayers during this busy time. 

Visitors

We always enjoy having different individuals from our church over for a meal.  We've done that a few times recently.  Here are three men who are a real blessing in the church.  From left to right: Bro. Moshume, Bro. Bokang, Ntate Kori.

Dedication

The other event this week-end was that Pastor Thabang dedicated Titus and Shoshanah.  I preached a short message on Psalm 127; focusing more on the parents responsibility to prepare their "arrows" to hit the mark.  What is the mark? Malachi 2:15 - middle of the verse.

Birthdays

This past week-end there were two birthdays at our house as you can see by the picture.  The reason for the lion head and the cross:  Micah wanted a lion on the cake, so we decided to put a cross also to symbolize Jesus: The Lion of the Tribe of Judah. Not real artistic, but it sure tasted nice. :-)

Sheep Farm

We recently visited some friends who own and operate a sheep farm.  They were in the process of sheering so the boys enjoyed playing in the wool.  The boys also helped bottle feed some lambs.