Our first time on the roads.

Today we ventured out on our own. We went to the grocery store (Pick 'N Pay) and to a store kind of like Wal-Mart (Game) and to a store like Wal-Green's (Clicks). Lincoln did very good driving on the left side of the road, sitting on the right side of the car. It felt kind of strange to be the passenger sitting on the left side. We were able to drive to the mall where these stores are located, purchase most everything we needed (we cannot find sponges, or night lights that you plug in to the wall here) and drive home with no incidents. Lincoln did have a little trouble parking, he almost ran in to the car parked to the left of us. He says that we weren't that close to it, but I was sitting right there, and my heart stopped a little. There are attendants in the parking lot that will get you a cart, and take your cart when finished and I think maybe they are there for security also. It is customary to tip them a couple of rand (that is the money here, about 6 rand equals one dollar). We didn't have anything less that 5 rand, so our attendant got a good tip today.
THE GROCERY STORE- We were able to find just about anything we wanted, although there is almost no Mexican food here. The Mexican section consists of 1 box of tortilla chips for about 5 dollars, 1 box of taco shells and taco seasoning. We couldn't even find salsa. I noticed that there is a lot of curry here. There are about 5 varieties of spaghetti sauce in a jar, and several more varieties in pouches. They sell a LOT of different types of meat, I believe we can actually get ostrich meat there. The thing that struck me most as being different (aside from the lack of variety of the items) was that everything came packaged in small sizes. There are many more types of chips here (although only 1 brand of tortilla chips), but they come in packages that are about a big as maybe 2 of the bags of chips you would buy in the US to take in lunches. There are no super-sized or even large packages of anything. Well, our power just went out, (I wish there was an electrician around here!) so I better get this on the internet before the battery on my computer runs out.

Happy Birthday Gareth!!

We love you and miss you.

Jet Lag!!

The kids have been so tired that waking them up from their naps has been nearly impossible. We move them from place to place and they just fall back asleep wherever we put them. Yesterday (Monday, our4th full day here) was the first day we all felt pretty good.

First time playing in the shelter

This was the first day that we really spent time playing with the kids in the shelter. The older kids were having nap time, so we played with the infants for about an hour. It was really cool to see Madison and Kyler interacting with the kids. I told Madison and Kyler that they just became big brother and big sister to these kids. It was moving to see these kids that are unwanted by society and to think that God has a plan and a purpose for each one of them. They receive such love, care, and attention here at LCS, they are going to grow to really make a difference in their culture.
Notice Madison and Kyler are barefoot. They are already adopting the African way of going barefoot everywhere.

In this picture, Kyler was giggling and saying, "All of the babies want to touch me." 

Last Day in Denver

Boppy and Kyler made pancakes on their last day together.

Madison presented Boppy and Gee Gee with a South African flag.

Papa came to airport alone, because Grandma Sandy was in Seattle with Great Grandma Hauge.

Our House.

The top picture is our front patio. Kyler and I were eating breakfast our first morning. There are a lot of beautiful birds here. It sounds very pretty early in the morning with all of the unusual bird songs. We're just living here for two months. The family that usually lives here is a ywam couple that is home raising money right now. They help out with running the shelter. We're very grateful for being able to stay here without having to shop for a new home right away.

The second picture is "yum-yum" peanut butter and Jam in a can. The peanut butter is "full of goodness." It really is, too.
The third picture is a little lizzard that keeps reappearing in our kitchen. We're going to name him "Tiny Tim." 

Downtown Rustenburg

Here's a few pictures of downtown Rustenburg. The traffic is pretty crazy. It's going to take me awhile to get used to driving on the left side of the road. People and vehicles seem to coexist equally on the road. People don't really look before stepping into the road, and they get mad at you for driving in front of them as they cross a busy road. The second picture is called a "taxi rank". It is a kind of bus depot for taxis that will take you all over Africa. They don't leave until the bus is full, which seems to be about 16 people in a 8 passenger van. It's also weird because they speak English, but not our English. It's not even like British English as I expected. They have such a thick accent that it is very hard to communicate with them. It almost seems like it would be easier if we spoke completely different languages and used hand motions. I'm sure we'll learn sooner or later.

 

Freedom Park

This is a Shantytown on the outskirts of Rustenburg. People come from all over Africa to find work at the mines and when they get here they find that the mines are not hiring, so they set up these shacks to live in. We will be involved in ministry to the people in these communities.

The lady in the top picture was selling meat on the side of the path. Apparently she's the local butcher for the area. We stopped and had a sandwich from her. Just kidding.

The bottom picture is one of the outhouses that they build for themselves. They build one and then put a lock on it so that they don't have to share it. Can't say that I blame them.

Saying Goodbye

Saying Goodbye was hard for everyone, especially the Grandparents. Kyler still doesn't quite comprehend that this is home now. The kids talk about their "other home" when they talk about Colorado.
We had 13 pieces of luggage. Praise God that we got them all to South Africa with no problems.
 

Monty

This is Monty, the Great Dane guard dog on the property of the shelter. He's a big softy, but he's got a really big bark. The building in the background used to be a garage/shed area we are turning into apartments for visiting volunteers. 

More pictures from SA

This is the front of the apartment we are staying in, and Kyler digging in the front yard.

Pictures from South Africa

Hello! Here are some pictures from our trip, and of where where we are staying for now. We are temporarily in an apartment on the property where the children's shelter is located. It is very beautiful and warm here. We have fallen in love with South Africa already.

We have tickets!

O.K. Here we go again. We got our visas approved and we have tickets for February 21st. We'll be leaving at 6pm from Denver. We'll have a 10 hour layover in London, and we'll arrive in Johannesburg approximately 30 hours later. Thank you all for your prayers and support. We'd appreciate your continued prayers as we depart on this new journey.