My Holiday (part 4)

The final part of my holiday was the trip back to Bloemfontein from Queenstown.  We drove over Penhoek Pass which was covered with snow, even at midday 2 days after the snow happened!

Here are the photographs:

Mark, at a stop point on top of Penhoek Pass.

The stop point on top of Penhoek Pass (scenery)

Driving up Penhoek Pass, the view.

We got back to Bloemfontein safely after 4pm on Monday.  Mark’s brother, Michael, was good enough to help us offload the furniture I brought back with me (photographs to come after I have arranged it in my house).  Mark and I then rushed to get the trailer back to the rental place before 5pm, only to find out it was open 24 hours and we had until the next day 10:45am to return the trailer.

I had supper with Mark’s parents (his mom is a brilliant cook), showing them the photographs of the trip, and telling them about the trip. 

And that was my holiday!

News: My Holiday (part 3)

Queenstown

Sunday morning I woke up late.  After all the travelling, I decided to sleep as long as possible.  I got out of bed after my mom got home from church.  She called Mark and myself to look outside at the mountain.  This is what we saw from the community balcony at the block of flats where my mother lives:

WOW is all I can say.  The photograph doesn’t do it justice.  This image has not been edited in any way.

We had dinner with my mother, then went out on the Sterkstroom road looking for snow.  My dad always said that if the mountain in the picture above has snow, then we will come across snow on the Sterkstroom road.

Our Sunday dinner (mom did a great job!)

Pictures of the snow (from the car window)

Pictures of Mark and myself in the snow at a stop point along the road

We quickly hurried home because my mom had to go to work.  She works at Queenstown Girls High School and the hostel girls were coming back to school from Winter break, so she had to be there to help out.

The early evening I spent visiting my Uncle, Aunt and Cousin.  And the late evening I did a bit more research on my ancestors (Carsten Langhein and descendants).

The last day of my trip you will get tomorrow!

Sunday News: My holiday

Hello everyone, this is a quick news update post for all my readers.  I’ve been travelling all over the Eastern Cape the past couple of days.

Here is a map of the route we have travelled in the past 3 days.

We started off in Bloemfontein (point A).  This is the place where I work and live, as well as Mark.

Bloemfontein to Queenstown

On Thursday we travelled to Queenstown.  It was quite a slow trip up until Aliwal North, due to construction on the roads.  They are going to look great when the construction is finished.  From Aliwal North to Queenstown the route was much quicker.

A picture of Mark when we were stopped at the road construction site, waiting to be let through.

Queenstown to Frankfort

On Friday we found out that the route we were originally planning to take, through Fort Beaufort to Port Elizabeth had a snow warning, there were rumours that the road was already closed.  We decided not to chance it and rather take the coastal route to Port Elizabeth, which is 2 hours longer.

My mom booked us into the Gonubie Caravan Resort on Friday night, and came with us for the trip.  We left Friday afternoon.  Just after passing through Stutterheim, we saw the sign to Frankfort, and we decided to drive there to take a look.

Frankfort exploration

Frankfort is the town where my ancestor, Carsten Langhein, and his children as well as some of his grandchildren are buried.  When they came to South Africa from Germany in 1858 they lived in Frankfort.  Carsten Langhein was the first Baptist minister of the Frankfort Baptist Church, which doesn’t appear to be a Baptist Church anymore.

I did a little research on Frankfort.  The population is 362 now, and 100% African.  All the German settlers descendants have moved on.  I should have taken photographs, but what I can say is the village is quaint, but in desperate need for attention.  I can see the population there is very poor and unable to care for the village.  They do have a police station, a school, and a post office.

We were successful in finding the graves of my ancestors, the graveyard had street signs showing the way to it, but the entire cemetery is completely overgrown with thorn bushes and various other vegetation common to the area.  We had no problem entering the cemetery because the gate locking it had been broken down by vandals and had never been fixed by any authority.  Carsten’s grave was one of the graves that had had the tombstone smashed, along with many others.  It it hadn’t been for a metal plaque put up by the Baptist church in 1961 we wouldn’t have known it was his grave.

His son Claus’s gravestone was intact.  Here are the photographs from that leg of the trip.

An eerie looking tree greeted us on the way to Frankfort, Eastern Cape

The signs pointing us to the German Graves, the last of 4 (all along dirt roads)

The entrance to the graveyard.  The remains of the blue gate locking the graveyard can be seen on the ground towards the bottom of the photograph.

The overgrown graveyard of the German Settlers in Frankfort.

The plaque on Carsten Langhein’s grave (for some reason our surname is always spelt wrong).

The Grave as it stood on Friday 13th, July 2012

This is what is left of the tombstone.  It is lying face down on the grave.

And this is what is left of where the tombstone would have sat.

The tombstone of Claus Langhein, Carsten Langhein’s son.  Claus is my great, great grandfather.

The grave of my great grandfather, Julius Langhein and his wife, Johanna.

And this post is to be continued with more of the trip … Adventure is out there!!!

Recipe: Crumbed Mushrooms

This is the starter I made when I had my friends over last Saturday.

So here is the recipe for my crumbed mushrooms:
Ingredients:

• Button or brown mushrooms (quantity of your choice, amounts below are for 3 cups of button mushrooms)
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1 egg
• 1 clove garlic
• breadcrumbs

Method:

1. Clean mushrooms well
2. Place in a bag with flour and shake well to cover mushrooms
3. Beat egg and add garlic
4. Add mushrooms to egg.
5. Place mushrooms in a bag with breadcrumbs and shake well.
6. Place on a tray and leave for 30minutes
7. Deep fry until golden brown
8. Serve immediately

And the last 2 pictures of the evening, Annalenne helping in the kitchen and my puppy Zoey passed out from all the excitement of having so much activity in the household.

Recipe: Chicken and Pumpkin Curry

I’m sorry that I didn’t take a photograph of this dish, but here is the recipe.
Ingredients:

• 50ml Margarine (2 tablespoons)
• 2 large onions, sliced
• 10ml garlic, finely chopped (2 teaspoons or one clove)
• 10ml ginger, finely chopped (2 teaspoons)
• 25ml curry powder (1 heaped tablespoon)
• 1 chicken, cut into portions (or 4-6 chicken fillets)
• 2 large tomatoes, chopped
• 750ml pumpkin, peeled and cubed (3 cups… but I used 5-6 cups)
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 25ml coriander leaves (optional – I left it out on the night I made this)

Method:
(HINT: Chop and cut everything you need before you start.  You won’t have time to cut the chicken pieces and tomato while the onions fry since you have to keep them moving!)

1. Heat the Margarine and fry onions, garlic and ginger for 5 minutes
2. Add curry powder and fry for 1 minute
3. Add chicken pieces, tomatoes, pumpkin, salt and pepper
4. Stir well with a metal spoon
5. Cover pan and cook slowly for 30 minutes
6. Stir in coriander leaves and serve on rice.

And here is another photograph from the evening.  Mark (left) and his cousin Stéfan (right) – pulling faces for the camera – men never really grow up do they?  I think that is why women love them!

Recipe: Apricot Cinnamon Cake

Last night I had some of my friends, Hannes, Maryann (who has been my best friend since Grade 4), Stéfan, Annalene and of course Mark over for Dinner.  The meal was as follows:
Starter: Crumbed Mushrooms
Main: Chicken and Pumpkin Curry
Dessert: Apricot Cinnamon Cake
Over the next three days I’ll be giving you a recipe a day, as well as a photograph taken during the course of the evening.
So here is the first recipe and it is the dessert, Apricot Cinnamon Cake.
Ingredients:

• 250ml flour (1 cup)
• 5ml baking powder (1 teaspoon)
• 125ml castor sugar (1/2 cup)
• 2 eggs beaten
• 150ml Margarine, melted (bit more than 1/2 a cup)
• 1 can apricot halves, drained
• 5ml ground cinnamon (1 teaspoon)
• Apricot jam to glaze

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180ºC (356ºF)
2. Grease a 20cm round cake tin (7.8inch – just find the closes size doesn’t need to be exact)
3. Sift together flour and baking powder then add sugar
4. Add eggs and melted Rama to dry ingredients and beat well
5. Pour into cake tin
6. Place apricots, cut side up, on top of the mixture
7. Sprinkle with ground cinnamon
8. Bake for 40-45 minutes.  Glaze with warm jam.

And as I promised, here is a photograph from the evening, my best friend since Grade 4, Maryann, and her boyfriend Hannes.

Snow in Bloemfontein, South Africa

Last weekend (Saturday, 9 June 2012) it was so cold in Bloemfontein, South Africa that it actually snowed!  It wasn’t a lot of snow, definitely not enough to play in, but it was still snow.  The last time it snowed here was in 2006.  Here are some pictures of the snow in my garden:

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This one is taken looking out of the living room door into the garden.

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A close up of the tiny little snow flakes:

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The flower bed:

Mark and I spent the day indoors wrapped up in blankets on the couch.  It was definitely too cold to do anything!

The end of an awesome weekend

Sunday morning I finally got around to hanging up the black curtains in the living room.  I have only had lace curtains in the living room since I moved in. 

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Zoey decided that my washing basket was a great deal like her bed and made herself comfortable there.

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Mark finished off the project he started on Saturday morning.  I found a metal wire spider in a tree in the garden, so I decided to hang it where it is more noticeable.

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Zoey was playing in the leaves, and got a leaf stuck to her.  With it’s position it reminds me of the drawings of Adam and Eve in children’s Bibles!

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We had a lovely Sunday Braai with Mark’s cousin and his fiancé. Here are some pictures of the food we ate.  The Braai was held at my house.

The sandwiches I prepared (to be toasted on the Braai)

Mark preparing the Mushrooms.

The food on the Braai

The meal on the table

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My Sunday finished off with Church at the Kovsie Kerk (the student church for those who don’t know).  We had a wonderful sermon on Daniel 6.  And lastly coffee from McDonald’s.

A Saturday well spent

I have had a wonderful week.  I have cooked a total of 4 meals, and I have another one planned for tomorrow.  The meal plan I got from What's For Dinner has worked beautifully well for me, and I cannot wait to see next week’s meal plan.

I set the table nicely for Mark and myself after making Chicken and Veg Pasta for lunch in my little kitchen.

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Below is how I set the table.  I moved the table from the kitchen to the living room so we could watch an episode of Stargate SG-1 while we ate.  We have been watching for some time because we only watch while we eat.

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Below is a photograph of my kitchen (before I moved the table to the living room.  The food was busy cooking on the stove when I took this picture.

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Mark was busy building today.  I have a vine rose bush growing in the garden, but it didn’t have anything to climb, so it was lying in a heap on the ground.  Mark has spent the day building something for it to climb.  Even in the winter it got so hot in the sun he had to take his shirt off to stay cool.

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And this is what it looks like so far, but it’s not finished yet.

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While Mark worked out in the garden, I took advantage of the warm winter sun too.  I pulled out my knitting needles to carry on a scarf I never got around to finishing last winter.  I have since been inspired though to try and use it as part of a larger project (making a blanket), but I’ll see how it goes.  This is the work so far, it looks a little uneven near the top, but that is just because the stitches are scrunched up.

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Lastly, here is a photograph of my little girl, Zoey.  She’ll be 3 months old on 12 June.  Zoey is an English Cocker Spaniel.

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And that has been my beautiful relaxing Saturday!

Willy’s Victory

While I was in hospital for the 3rd procedure of my huge Kidney Stone removal operation, an elderly man came into my room and started asking me about my faith.  He gave me this story and said that it made a deep impact on his life.  He left, I read it and now I am posting it for everyone else who may be impacted by this story.

Willy's victory
Years ago I read a story that made a deep impression on me and I also want to tell it to you.

Willy was a young boy of fourteen years old.  His father had been killed in the war and his mother was a weak, sickly woman who died of her heart as a result of the shock when she heard of her husband's death.

Willy stayed behind alone and he did not know where to go.  One of the chief officers in the Army was a friend of the family and he invited Willy to join his regiment.  Willy's job was to make shine the buttons of the officer's uniforms and polish the shoes.  In the band he also was the drum player.

In spite of the fact that Willy was still a young boy, he had already made a decision to be an honest Christian.  He slept in a tent with three other soldiers.  They were very careless and swore and drank a lot, especially one of the three named Jim.  Willy felt very sorry for him and often talked nicely to him when he had sworn so much.  Usually Jim laughed at him and sometimes gave him a slap.

Next time Willy tried again to let his light shine, but Jim accepted nothing.  "Imagine that I should believe such a silly story that someone died for me on the cross"  and ha-ha-ha Jim laughed.  That night someone caused a lot of damage in the camp.

The next morning the soldiers had to appear before the Chief Officer.  "Are you guilty?" the chief officer asked everyone.  One after the other answered "no" and passed.  At last it was Jim's turn.  Willy knew that Jim was the guilty one, and wondered what he was going to do.  "Are you guilty?" the chief officer asked and Jim answered: "No Sir, I know nothing of the whole business!"

Willy was surprised that someone could tell such a lie, but he kept quiet.  Thin and pale he stood there and looked at everything.  He was a very weak and sickly young boy.  The Chief Officer was desperate: " Nobody admits, who will step forward to be punished?" he asked.  All was silent.  Again he tried: "If somebody does not come now to get punished, I'm going to punish everyone."

Suddenly Willy got an idea: Jim has never wanted to believe that Jesus Christ bore the punishment of his sins on the cross.  Today he has the opportunity to show Jim a slight picture thereof.  Quickly he stepped forward and stood right in front of the Chief Officer.

"And what do you want?" asked the chief officer. "Sir" said the thin boy, "I come to bear the punishment."

"But Willy," the chief officer said quite embarrassed, "I'm sure that you are not guilty!  You are indeed an example of faithfulness and honesty to all of us."

"Yes Sir, but that doesn't matter now," said Willy. "You have just said that if somebody does not come to bear the punishment, then you are going to punish everyone, and now I have come to bear it, then everybody else is free!"

"But Willy.....," and the Chief Officer still wanted to argue but Willy was already taking off his big jacket, one he had received from one of the Soldiers to keep him warm.  He stood there with his naked back; he did not even own a shirt.

"No Willy" (the chief officer told the story himself and said he hadn't been in such big trouble before) but Willy just said: "I'm ready, the others can go free!"  The person that usually gave the punishment stepped forward with his cruel cane.  Now everything was deathly still and tense.  The soldiers looked as if they could not move.  The first lash fell, the second one - the thin face became deathly pale - the third lash - and suddenly they heard a swear, a cry and a sob, and the next moment Jim jumped forward and grabbed Willy in his arms.

"I'm the guilty one" he cried, "do not lash this child any longer, lash me," and he bent to receive the next lash.

"Oh no, Jim" it came softly over Willy's pale lips, "they may not lash you, I bore your punishment," and he fainted in the Chief Officer's arms.  They carried Willy to the Hospital tent where the doctor tried everything in his power to save his life, but he was too weak.  As the sun's last rays died away, Jim slipped quietly into the tent.  He knelt before the bed and took the small cold hand in his big, rough hand. "Willy, Willy why did you do it; you surely knew that I was guilty!"  Willy opened his dying eyes for the last time and said: "Jim, I just wanted to help you understand what Jesus did for you on the cross!"  and he blew out his last breath.

Jim cried aloud like a small child.  Jim, the godless hard-hearted Jim!  He pressed Willy's eyes shut and said: "Willy, Jesus Christ died for my sins, and you died for my sin, and by His grace I promise to go to heaven one day and thank Him and you for ever for what He and you did for me!" After this experience Jim had been one of the best soldiers in the Chief Officer's army until the day he died.

For God so loved the world, that He gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him, should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16)

Now read you own name in the place of the underlined words (the world, and whosoever).
Love: Dennis Hugo

Godly Blessings and Thank You Cards

Dear Readers,

How are all of you doing this wonderful day that the Lord has made?  Are you enjoying the Christmas left-overs still?  Have you cleaned up the gift wrapping supplies?  Have you found time to put away Christmas gifts and find them homes?

Today I spent the whole day thoroughly cleaning my house.  It was a public holiday in South Africa.  Under normal circumstances the 25th of December and the 26th of December are public holidays but our wonderful nation decided to make the 27th a public holiday this year too because Christmas day fell on a Sunday.  It has been such a blessing to get a 4-day weekend.  Not only that, my boss has told all of us that we only need to be at work for 2 hours a day on the 28th to the 30th of December. So I'll be working from 8am to 10am each day and after that I am free to spend the day however I want.

Other than cleaning house today, I have been doing some research on etiquette.  Today I was reading up about Visiting Cards (aka Calling Cards).  I typed out a long post about them, and then I realised something else, so I put that post in a folder for another day to rather talk about thank you cards and letters.

When was the last time you wrote “Thank You” cards or letters for any Christmas gifts you received?  I haven’t done this for a long time.  I usually write one to my elderly aunt, but there are not many other people who I give the traditional Thank You card.

Why don’t many people do this anymore?  In some way’s it may be because they feel that it is no longer expected, but I think it is laziness more than anything else.

I have a challenge for you.  Write Thank You cards for every gift you received this year… including the one you received from your spouse.  For an added touch, perhaps send the thank you cards through the local postal service.  Wouldn’t you appreciate a thank you card in your post box rather than a hand-delivered one?

If you want the bonus challenge, get your children to write thank you note’s for their gifts too, and if you are a family that does the “Santa” thing, encourage your children to write a thank you note to Santa too.  It is a sign of great breeding (in my opinion), to send thank you notes.

May God bless each of you!

Ashleigh

The latest relationship news

Remeber I said that I couldn't say anything about some relationship developments previously? Well, now I can since it happened over a month ago.  Mark (the home church host) and I are courting/dating.  We are very serious about each other, but not in an ungodly way.

My heart was won by a '57 Chevrolet Bel Air.  Just like this one, but in green:

At 11:11:11pm on the 11/11/11 - Mark asked me if I would "be his girl".  I said yes I would.  After that he handed me a box, the size of a shoe box - all nicely wrapped in a plastic shopping bag.  Inside was a model 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air.

1957 Chevrolet's hold a special place in my heart.  One night while sitting out at a children's play park, eating ice-cream with Mark, we were talking about how cool it would be if there was still a drive-in movie theatre in our city, but he said "We would need a nice old car with a single seat right across the front for it to be worthwhile." I replied "Like a '57 Chevrolet?" He agreed 100%.  So a '57 Chevrolet became our car that night.

See? I told you I would give the whole story when I was able to.

Unfortunately there were some casualties in Mark and myself seeing each other.  2 people got badly hurt (emotionally) in the process, and it made the situation among our friends a little awkward, but the situation has begun to stabilize now (and hence the reason for my ability to post this now).

Some of the other information is a bit more private, and I cannot imagine the people involved would be willing to let me post it online.  What I can say is that I am a lot happier than I have been in many months.

Mark and I have known each other as friends since 2008 (always having a liking for each other), but neither of us were emotionally ready for a relationship in 2008.  And in 2009 when he left the city to pursue a dream in another city, we lost touch and I thought I would never see him again... God appeared to have other plans though.  He refined both of us into the people we are today, and in my humble opinion, the people we are today are best friends and more.

Sunday News:

Work:

It’s been an interesting week with the new work.  I’ve been leaving my house at 7am and only arriving home at 5:30pm.  I absolutely love the work I’m doing.  Sometimes I am a little scared because they expect so much of me and I am not 100% convinced that it is within my abilities to do everything that is required of me, but I will give the work my very best.  I may not actually talk about my work, due to confidentiality agreements, but just know that I have learned so much in this short time, and I am going to continue learning more and more as time progresses.

Home:

I on Friday I officially had the laundry basket empty for the first time since I moved into this townhouse.  It isn’t empty anymore, but at least it was, so I know that I am succeeding with keeping the laundry under control.  Due to being out of the house from 7am until 5:30pm, there is only one way that I have been able to keep up with the housework and that is getting up at 5:30am and only going to bed at 10pm or later.  I fill the washing machine the night before so that in the morning I just need to turn it on as soon as I wake up.  I hang out the laundry before heading to work.  As soon as I get home in the evenings I change into sneakers and then bring the laundry in, I fold and put away immediately.  If anything needs to be ironed, then I do it the night before I plan to wear it.  This routine has allowed me to keep the laundry under control while working outside the home.

Home Church:

Our home church group has really grown.  We had 8 people there last Thursday, and 5 regular attendee’s were not there!  I have met a few new people and they are all wonderful.  This past week we discussed how the church has changed in the last 100 years (more or less) and that also moved onto how our actions are impacting the current teenagers and their belief.  A few of the changes we noticed included:

• Women covering their heads and men removing their caps/hats
• The way we dress for church (become more casual)
• The style of worship music being played
• How we pray and read God’s word at home – are we showing God the respect he deserves?
• Involvement in charity

Those are the main themes we covered during our Home Church.

Movies:

On Friday night I went to watch Cars 2 with William and 3 of our friends.  Needless to say, William did not enjoy it at all, he thought it was a horrible movie and was bored the whole way through.  On the other hand, 2 of our friends and I thoroughly enjoyed it, it wasn’t the best movie we have ever watched, but it was great entertainment for an evening and there were so many subtle references to various makes of cars.  I enjoyed it enough to buy the DVD for my collection. The 3rd friend didn’t give a comment.  After the movie we went to a coffee shop for drinks. 

It was a moment of temptation for me since William ordered whisky and my female friend ordered a Cosmopolitan cocktail, but I stuck to my ground and ordered a hot drink that was a mixture of Hot chocolate and Espresso.  I was backed up by the host of our home church group since he ordered a Chocolate milkshake directly after I placed my order, so I wasn’t the only one not drinking.  The third friend just had a glass of water.

Braai:

Last night (Saturday) William and I had a Braai at my house.  My friend Theresa (female friend) joined us, and so did Mark (Home Church host), Hannes and Michelle.  Hannes introduced us to Michelle, since we haven’t met her before.  It was nice having her here.

William and Theresa were at the braai until the meat was ready.  Mark and I sat inside and played Band Hero on the Nintendo Wii – it was a bit too cold outside for us.  Hannes and Michelle joined us when they got here, although Hannes spent his time between the two groups.

We all had so much fun though.  After supper Mark and I continued playing Band Hero, Hannes and Michelle said goodbye and William and Theresa sat talking about the fish tanks.

I only got to bed after midnight, but spending time with friends like that is worth it.

Home Church and Growth

A quick praise report, the host of the former home church I went to has moved back to town and he has started up the home church group again.  It was such a blessing being with all my old friends. 

 

I missed the first two meetings because I only found out about it last week.  When the host saw me he apologized and told me that he was telling people as he saw them and hadn’t seen any of the [insert name of bar here] crowd yet since he had not gone there in a long time.  I replied that he should worry because I hadn’t been to [insert name of bar here] in almost 2 years either.  He was rather surprised and asked what happened.  I told him that I outgrew it – which wasn’t the complete truth…

 

The complete truth is that since I started studying God’s word for myself, almost everyday, I didn’t feel right going to [insert name of bar here] anymore.  It started off that I would rather stay at home and have a beer or glass of wine while watching a movie.  Then I stopped drinking beer and it became a glass of wine with dinner.  Then it became a glass of port or sherry when I had guests over.  Now I only have half a glass of port or sherry occasionally when I have guests – and only if they are drinking already.  I few times I haven’t felt like any type of alcohol and have stuck to tea or soda.  Perhaps in a few more months I’ll be off completely.

 

Recently I committed to reading the Bible and/or praying for 1 hour a day, everyday.  I am amazed at how I have grown in only a month of this.

 

Even though I tend to talk big, I have always had difficulty keeping my focus on God throughout my daily life.  I so easily find myself getting carried away.  Just last week I noticed that I think of God much more often during the day.  In everything I do I have found myself asking if God would approve of it.

 

The other area where I noticed a change in the past month is during conversation and also in what I watch.  I had friends over the other night and the conversation moved towards age-restriction 16 topics.  It got to the point where I excused myself and went to wash the coffee mugs.  I was not enjoying it at all – 6 months ago it wouldn’t have bothered me as much as it did that night.  The same goes for movies and TV shows.  In fact, the closer I am getting to God, the less I have in common with my friends – even the Christian ones!

 

And this is why I was so thrilled to find out the home church group was starting again.  It brings me to a place where once a week I’ll be able to talk about God, and also all these experiences I am having during my growth.  It brings me to a place where I can watch the growth in others too.

 

God is definitely blessing my socks off!

God’s hand in everything

Remember that a while ago I told everyone I had a secret that I couldn’t share yet? I have got to the point where I can share the secret.  On Tuesday, I got a job as a Junior Programmer.  Looking back at the whole process I am amazed at how God seemed to move everything into place at the perfect time.

Firstly, I wasn't even looking for a new job, but out of the blue I got a phone call from a recruitment agency (I still have no idea how they got my number) to tell me about the job and ask if I would be interested in going for an interview.  I went with the thought in mind that God must be involved in this because I wasn't even looking for a job.

I was then called for a second and a third interview.  Next I was called to work for the company for 2 days as a trail period.  As of Tuesday I was offered the job.  I am utterly amazed. 

Not only this, but the timing is perfect too.  I recently moved into a larger home and while I didn't overspend and I could afford it, I knew it would be a little tighter on cash than previously.  I need to work because I am supporting myself (my father passed away last year).  My salary has effectively doubled with this new job, so I'll be earning more than enough to meet my needs - God provides!

The timing was perfect in another way, at my current job the easiest time of year to make a switch in career is June/July or December/January.  This is because the University holidays happen at this time of year so the campus is very quiet and my work is at it's end until the next semester starts.  My new work wants me to start on the 1st of July!  The timing was absolutely perfect!

One more thing happened that I saw God's hand in.  There is one student who is really struggling financially.  He is working every odd job that he can to get through university and guess what?  He is the most qualified person to take over my job from me!  He knows more about how I run the course than anybody else (excluding my boss).  It hasn't been confirmed that he will get my old job yet, but I know he needs it - so this is perfect for him too!

Even though I want to be a stay-at-home wife and mother someday, it cannot be denied that God's hand has been in this change of jobs for me.  It seems as though this is where he wants me to be for now because with every interview I prayed that he would stop the process if it wasn't his plan for me for the moment.

Praise be to God!

Plunging on into the weekend

It’s Friday morning right now, and I am siting at the computer with a cup of lemon tea while writing this post.  I am way behind on reading emails - 751 in my inbox from various forums and groups I am part of.  I’m going to to a quick read / delete this morning and see how far I get with it.

On the bright side I have been able to get parts of my morning routine back on track.  Yesterday and today I woke up, turned the kettle on, turned the washing machine on and packed away the clean dishes.  I’m waiting for the washing machine to finish so I can hang out the laundry before work today.

Today is going to be a busy day.  I need to get to:

• check the post office box,
• pay an account,
• go to a hardware store to buy a door handle for the bathroom door
• Send the assistants a reminder to fill in their claim forms so they will be paid
• Go to the nursery to buy a gift for my previous landlady and return the keys for my previous home.
• Water the garden

And that is just what I can think of on the top of my head.

I must say that I do enjoy busy days because at the end of them I actually feel like I got something done.  The quiet days I seem to mess around doing a little bit of everything and not actually getting anything finished.

News: Been a while

It’s been some time since I last wrote a post here.  I have finally finished moving everything from my old home to my new home.  Today was the last load.  Now I need to do the final unpacking and it will all be over.

 

There has been a lot going on in my life, but most of it I cannot post about just yet.  Typical isn’t it?

 

There is something very important happening tomorrow, and I am absolutely dying to tell everyone what it is, but my lips have to remain sealed until I inform all the parties concerned.  I have spent the afternoon and evening preparing for it.

 

William and his brother made me a late lunch or early supper today so that I didn’t need to cook and could focus on the preparations for tomorrow.  They made a fire and cooked Boerewors and lamb chops on it.  I am so grateful to have such caring people in my life. 

 

William’s brother even helped me wash dishes and clean the living room this morning.  That really cut the time it would have taken me in half.  And William washed the Mercedes while we were doing this!

 

Our neighbour’s child, Gareth, came to visit us this afternoon.  I have a Nintendo Wii, so we played games on it.  Unfortunately, I had to cut the games short so that I could get to work for tomorrow.

 

Oh, I think I should mentioned that the Spider I mentioned in the previous post is dead.  It took a bit of skill to catch it, even with the vacuum cleaner.

 

William went to see one of the Major’s at the army base on Friday.  It sounds like there is a very good chance that he will be accepted for training.  Which means we won’t have any contact with each other while he does his Basic Training.  He has to go for a second interview and then we will know for sure.

 

That’s the news from me.

 

May God Bless Each of you!

Sunday News: The Holidays (Part 1)

I had such a wonderful holiday with William.  We left for my hometown the Monday before Christmas.  My 2 budgies came with us in the car.  The trip was mostly uneventful.  Here are some pictures:

 

 The view out my window while we travelled.

 

William driving the car with my budgie (Leya) on his head.

We stayed over at my mother’s house for the night.  It was a 4 hour drive and we had only left at midday.  My mom spoilt me rotten by cooking for us.  Nothing is better than a mom-cooked meal.  The next day we were on the road again to visit William’s family at the coast.

 We stopped for tea and lunch at Buddaford farm stall.  It can be found 10km outside Fort Beauford on the road to Whittlesea.

William enjoying a nice cup of coffee.

The best toasted sandwich and salad in the world (or so I’m told)

Roosterkoek – The bread is baked on an open flame.  Served with Strawberry Jam and Cheese in this case.  It is one of my favourite light meals and I very seldom get to enjoy it.  It was delicious.

And this is where I shall close for today.  God is great and I am so grateful he allowed us a safe trip this holiday season.