Mielies, Music & a Marvelous Example

Hi everyone,

Yesterday was the funeral of Oom Kjell Olsen at the main mission, the auditorium was so full! People from Europe came as well as from India, where Oom Kjell was called home. There were many speakers and the Cedar College choir and the main mission choir sang, he was the director of the college. He was known and loved by many and he will be missed though we are comforted in knowing that he is with the Lord, his life is an example to us! You can watch the funeral service here and you can also read a summary of the sermon by Rev. Erlo Stegen here .

Renate is back in SA so it was nice to see her again! The Ministers' Conference will be starting soon, it's from Monday 6th March to Wednesday 8th March.

All at Claridge is going well, the dragonfruit flowers are blooming and it's so beautiful! Some of the Mama's from our congregation gifted Claridge with mielies! Loads of them! For those of you who are unfamiliar with it, it's like corn but bigger and not as sweet, you can also call it maize. We ate some on the cob and then my Mom also made some mielie bread. So delicious!
Oh! How could I forget?! Caleb and I have really wanted to learn a musical instrument, so, our parents bought a keyboard for me and a violin for Caleb. It's going good so far, by God's grace! We enjoy playing it a lot and we're trying to learn music theory, how to to read music and so forth. Caleb is getting good with his violin, it's not an instrument you can hide, the sound is loud! My Dad plays guitar so hopefully we'll branch out into that too!

Blitzy has become so clingy lately, she follows me around everywhere and insists on spending quality time with me every evening! Joshy has been so fussy, he only wants a specific creamy brand of milk! He flat out refused to drink anything else until he got the one he wanted! I gave Curly a claw trim the other day, I try to do it weekly, so she gets used to it.

God bless,
Sele'ha Mikhaila
            ♡

My keyboard!!!

Caleb's violin! He put temporary markers on it.

A bird using the new birdbath 

Curly sleeping in an awkward place!

Joshy looks like he's selling mielies here! We didn't clean these yet.

My Mum made steak, chips and creamed kale! Delicious!

Beach & Books

Greetings from Claridge!!

All is well here, we had a visitor named Aunty Lynn and she had previously lived in Claridge for 20 years! So she came to see how much the place had changed and to take a rest too. It's always nice to hear how things were back in the day.

Anyway, ever since we took Blitzy out for a walk last week, she has been crying to go out daily! We were going to do so but now that topic is in review with my parents. Blitzy does enjoy being an indoor cat but she LOVES being able to go outside and explore.
Oh! How could I forget? We received the first printed book from my Prairie Poodle book range! It looks great, the Lord is so good! If you would like to have a look at the books on Amazon, click here.

This week, we went to Durban to visit my grandparents, my Gran was not too well then but now, she is much better by God's grace.
They live in North Beach, we used to live there too before we came to Claridge, it's a beautiful area and the beach is right there! We drove passed the beach so I could take a few photos, the sea looked so inviting because it was quite hot on that day! Take a look at the photos. :) ;)

Have a blessed Sunday and week ahead!

God bless,
Sele'ha Mikhaila
♡♡♡

Can you spot Blitzy?

The sand!

Beautiful ocean

Blitzy at home

Called Home & a Cat Exploring

Hi!

My parents have taken 2 weeks off from work after the festive season and we're enjoying it! The roses are blooming like crazy, it's so beautiful! I'm tempted to take a photo each time a new bud blooms! We're so thankful to witness the Lord's beauty in nature.

This week, we decided to let Blitzy out on a little trial run, it has been a year and a half since she has been outside! Yes, that long! Well, a lot had happened during that time, my parents went to America and then my Dad and Caleb still had work on the deck to do and we didn't think it was advisable to send Blitzy out during that sort of "chaos".
She has been very patient and even enjoyed staying inside, she got into a routine and since Summer came rather late last year, she slept a lot on those cold days. Now, Summer is here and she is anxious to go out! So we did send her out through the window and onto the deck. She loved being outside! She sniffed every corner of the deck and then jumped down and went exploring. She is very cautious but she is quite trusting of other animals. The dogs here are scared of Joshy and her so they won't harm them but we were just concerned about the dogs from the farm across the dam. Their owner sometimes brings them onto our main road and they're quite vicious, one of the dogs even bit Kenzo once!
So, my parents are still contemplating whether to send Blitzy out for good or to keep her as an indoor cat....

Yesterday, we got the news that Uncle Kjell Olsen passed away, he was the Dean of Cedar College of Education at the main mission. He had been doing outreach work in India at the time when he suddenly became ill and was rushed to hospital where he passed on. He was a real example of a servant of the Lord Jesus and will be missed! We rejoice in the knowledge that he is with the Lord in Heaven now and are comforted in that. We pray for the family. It will be an adjustment for us not to see him when we go to the mission, he was also one of the main translators at the mission and had a "Word For You" segment on our radio station, Radio Kwezi. Click here to view the announcement of Oom Kjell's passing on the Kwasizabantu Mission website.

God bless,
Sele'ha Mikhaila
           ♡  

Excuse the leaves in the birdbath

Curly

Blitzy on the deck!

Looking over.

Inquisitive much?

Eating grass

Blitzy and Joshy 

Sweet!

Instagram & An Intruder

Greetings dear readers!

I hope that this new year has been good so far!

Things are slowly returning to normal here in Claridge, all the visitors are gone and work has started once again. My grandparents left already, they were here for 2 weeks! This festive season just flew by! Schools and universities will open soon too.

Other than that, there isn't much news! Joshy is still due for his vaccinations but we didn't want to take him to the vet during the festive season because it was a busy time and he doesn't do well with crowds after a vet trip! So we will take him sometime this month, hopefully!
The other day my brother, Caleb, walked into our dining-room to find little Blitzy fast asleep on Curly's chair! Then, Curly arrived and not knowing that there was an intruder on her chair, she jumped onto it! As quick as she jumped up, she leapt right off! Both girls were equally as stunned and sat in shock! It was a classic case of Goldilocks and the 3 Bears. ;)

I mentioned in last week's post that Blitzy has her own Instagram account but now....I've made an account for Cats of Claridge too!
Both accounts have over 100 followers already!

Click here to view Cats of Claridge on Instagram 

Click here to view Blitzy on Instagram 

Thanks for reading and God bless,
Sele'ha Mikhaila
♡♡♡

P.S. Sorry that there are only a few photos for today's post! They're all of Blitzy too....to see more photos from Claridge, check out the Instagram account!

Sleeping on my bag!

Blitzy on Curly's chair

Curly arriving on the scene

Another picture of Blitzy!

A New Year

Happy New Year dear readers!

So, we are in a new year...2017 has come!
We had a blessed service at church today, the message really touched my heart. Our congregation was very small as is usual during holiday time.
We had some visitors from Virginia Mission Goldfields over the weekend, it was Sam and Marike Celick with their baby, Daniel. We attended their wedding in January 2015, click here to see that post. Dasha Celick also came together with Rele Mojaki. It was great to have them in Claridge! Unfortunately they stayed for just one night and headed out yesterday morning for the main mission.

Another family is visiting Claridge too, the van Tonder family, it's Oom Andries, Tannie Lisa and their 4 kids. Their last 2 kids are a set of twins, so adorable! A boy and a girl :) The older 2 are both beautiful little girls, with mouths that can chatter a mile a minute! They're very sweet though!

Oh! I've created an Instagram account for Blitzy, so feel free to take a look, I'll be uploading photos daily! Click here to view it.

I don't have really that many photos to upload on the blog today but I just wanted to greet you all for the new year!

Blessings in Christ,
Sele'ha Mikhaila

Yes, I've posted loads of rose photos so far but they're so beautiful!

2 tone 

Pretty Gaura flowers

My Mom made fresh blueberry tart with ice-cream

Blitzy

A moth