Catching up

We had a WONDERFUL few weeks with Paul, Kathy and Jocelyn.  God blessed us with sunny days most of the time, which isn't "normal" for the rainy winter season here.  It's still definitely winter here and a chill in the air. It is warm in the sun, but cold in the shade and at night.  We got to do everything we had on our list and thoroughly enjoyed our time being tourists!  We also got to take them to the orphanage for an afternoon.  We had a special delivery for the children, as the women from Paul's facility (Water Valley Good Samaritan) had made each of them a winter hat.  There were all different colors and sizes, and it worked out perfectly amongst all the kids...Pastor J was excited to get one too!  It gets so cold at night- especially in the township where there is no insulation and no heat, so they were grateful for the hats.

Another special memory was "Tea with Queen Nana".  Have you ever read that book, "Tea with the Queen"?  It's about a grandma who invites her granddaughter, Ruby, to "Tea with the Queen", but Ruby doesn't know until the end that the Queen is her grandma.  Kathy gave the girls some fancy invitations in our mailbox, and they dressed up and went to Nana's apartment for Tea with the Queen.  It was a special time for the girls with Nana.
Paul and Kathy left first, as they were going to Kenya for a few days.  It was hard to say goodbye...especially for Lily.  She cried and cried and cried herself to sleep that night.  I was laying in bed with her trying to soothe her,  and up crawled Anya to the top bunk and she squeezed in between us.  She said "It's OK, Sissy...Nana and Papa will pick us up for Christmas!"  Then there was a pause and Anya started singing "Tomorrow! Tomorrow!  It'll be better, tomorrow!   The sun will come out, tomorrow!"  from the movie "Annie".  It was so sweet!  I didn't even know she knew that song, and here she broke it out at the perfect time!:)

Kathy and Jocelyn got to see Lily at work in her favorite class- pottery!

They served us tea while we watched them learn a Bible story, sing songs in Afrikaans, English and Xhosa, and talk about the calendar.  Her teacher, Trudi, is so great!  

Lily's class had a music program/potluck one evening.  Lily came home one day and asked me about the Titanic...and I wondered where they had talked about it.  Well, they sang some of "My heart will go on" by Celine Dion.  And they sang some of "Rolling in the Deep" by Adele!  An interesting little performance!

At the end of the music program the kids did a little dance.  After this boy chose Lily for his partner, she said she thinks he is her friend now.:)  And after this dance, each of the kids had to bring a parent up to dance with!  I had fun with it (surprise surprise:))!

What better way to spend a cold, rainy day than at the spa (especially with winter specials!). This "fish nibble" was part of my treatment.  They are a special fish that nibble the dead skin cells off and the enzyme in their mouth replenish the skin.  It tickled!!!  But it really did exfoliate.  I prefer foot scrub, but it was an interesting experience!

We went to a local little Game Reserve (Aquila) for a safari.  We got to see all the animals (hippos, rhinos , elephants, giraffes, lions, springbok, water buffalo, zebras, ostriches and more!) within a couple of hours.  Perfect for the kids!

Anya slept for most of the safari...maybe that's why young kids are free?

Another song that Anya liked to sing (and seemed to be a theme song for all of our car rides) was "Hakuna Matata" from Lion King.  Anya sang it the whole way to the airport with Nana and Papa...though she says "A tuna matata".  :)  But hey, it means no worries either way!