Easter & An Early Winter?

Hey everyone!

This time I really made you guys wait looooong for a post update! I must apologise for that!

The weather has been quite hard to determine these days.....it was hot and then since last week, it was SO cold!!! As if winter had come early! Though I must admit, I love it when it's cold.... :) Most people don't....hahahaha

We will take Curly to the vet soon because for a while, she's had this little lump on the side of her neck. Now however, it is quite big although she shows no signs of discomfort or anything.
Blitzy is lazy since it's been cold, always sleeping....Joshy too.
We miss Sam but we know that she's enjoying herself there. ;)

We had such a blessed Easter weekend! On Good Friday, my parents went to the main mission for the first service, all the co-workers went. On Saturday, we just relaxed at home and watched lovely movies together. Then, on Sunday morning, we left for the mission again! Uncle Erlo took the service and it was so blessed, we all enjoyed it very much. There were many people there. We missed Katya though, she went back to Russia. Well, we just pray that we can go there and visit her! On Monday, we had a lovely braai (BBQ) and my Mom and I made a Russian salad called Shuba, it's a layered vegetable salad. Jessica and her mom gave us the recipe, it is delicious!!!

During the Easter holidays, Renate, Hanna, Lungi and a few other students came to Claridge. We all had such a wonderful time together! We even played badminton, I love it! Such wonderful memories! Over the weekend, there was a large group of people from Escourt, mostly students. We had services for them here and they even sang for us. Our girls from here, did a skit (like a short play). It was so good and had a great lesson too..

Oh, we have harvested maybe about 1 000kg's of dragon fruit!! God has really blessed this mission! I have uploaded photo's for you to enjoy!

God bless,
Sele'ha

7

Sam's Special Send-Off!

Hello, hello!

Yes, I am trying to post more often now. ;)

Anyway, the other day, we took Sam to the dam on the farm to release her. Yes, you heard right....release her. She was getting too big for her tank and she was starting to get bored in there. Oom Peet says that she is too big for predators to get her so, it was the perfect timing for her. We were sad to let her go but she belongs in the dam, that is her natural habitat and if she is happy, then we are too!

She is just over 9 months old now and has really grown in size since that first day that we "adopted" her. I've attached a photo of her at the dam. We took a video of her being released and I will try to upload it.
First, I put her on the bank and she rushed into the water but there was a lot of brush and shrub near the bank and she actually got a little tangled up there. She just stayed there and stared at us, I decided to pick her up out of the water and my Dad slowly put her into the water at another part of the dam, it was further in. She swam so fast, those fat little "feet" moving at top speed! She even stopped to get some air at a lily pad. We just knew that she would love it there and who knows, maybe we might even spot her again one day! If we can recognise her. ;) She was quite chubby when she left and I'm sure all this swimming will cause her to shed a few pounds!

Sorry that this post is a bit short.....but, see you next time!

God bless you,
Sele'ha Mikhaila

Studying & So Many Visitors!

Hello dear readers!

I am really very sorry for the looooooong wait, I guess there is no excuse however, I just began my second year of studying and it has been busy these few weeks. I'm still doing Christian Psychology and I have already completed my first assignment of the year! My brother is still waiting for some of his books and study material to arrive, he is doing Theology, for those who don't remember! He enjoys it very much and so do I! Our graduation was in Florida, America but we had to miss it and our degree's were mailed to Tulsa, Oklahoma where Oom Peet picked it up. It was so exciting to receive it, God is so good!

The kids are well, little Blitzy is quiet and relatively well-behaved now, she hasn't been meowing to go out or anything! She just wants to sleep....
On Friday, my Mom gave Curly a haircut and a much-needed bath!! She is so white now! She looks like a puppy, an overgrown puppy!

We have had many visitors in Claridge recently. The Ministers Conference at the main mission will start on the 9th and will end on the 11th. For more information, please visit  http://www.ksb.org.za

Since they need accommodation for the ministers there, some of the people came to stay in Claridge for the time being. There is a lady from Belgium who has 6 children! They are so sweet! Apparently, they came across my blog when they searched Claridge on the internet! There is another man who is also staying here and there are still 10 more ladies that will stay in Claridge as well.
Uncle Viktor Schultz from America is in South Africa, he came with his wife, Aunty Irene and 2 of their daughters. Oom Peet and Tannie Andra always stay at their house in Tulsa when they go to preach there. They came to Claridge yesterday and had lunch at our house after church today, they will leave tomorrow. It's so nice to have them here!! They will go to the Ministers Conference at the main mission, then Uncle John Powys will pick them up and take them to the mission in Malelane and then, they will go to Virginia and then to Germany and then back home! Quite busy!!!

Charcoal is now staying in our roof all the time! He comes everyday for a warm bowl of milk, he's very cute!! He even responds to the name "Charcoal"!!!

Anyway.......I think this post is long enough!
Thank you for taking the time to read it :)

God bless,
Sele'ha Mikhaila

Some Photo's :)

Hi

So, I know that it has been long since my last post......sorry!!
Here are some photo's for you to enjoy!

 We completed the puzzle that Renate bought for us for Christmas!!

We baked a chocolate cake topped with chocolate ganache! Yum!!!

Visitors, Vacation and Very Happy Kids!!

Hello!!!

It has been a while..........and I am so sorry for the long wait! These few weeks have been            so busy! After the wedding, it was just one thing after another. 
As I had mentioned in the last post, Katya was here for a week or so, then, Jessica Celick came to Claridge! Yes, her parents went to the main mission and she came here together with her oldest brother Alex and his wife, Olga. Alex and stayed for a day or two and then they flew to Cape Town. Then, Jessica's cousins and the family came for a few days. Oom Peet showed them the main mission and the other mission in Maqhogo (spelling?). 
We had a braai at our house for them, Jessica's cousins are Emily and Abigail and their parents are Uncle Sergei and Aunty Ella, the grandparents came to. They're also from America but Uncle Sergei Selyukov and the family moved to South Africa over a year ago, I think. They live at the Schulzendal Mission in Malelane, you can check out the website, just click on the Malelane link on the side of my blog.
Max and his other brother, Art, also came for the braai and Oom Peet and Tannie Andra, Makhosi and 2 and a half year old Grace, it was SO nice to have a full house! They all also came for breakfast the next morning, everyone enjoyed the food and the company so much!! They left that day after breakfast.

Then, about a week or so later, one of the students at the college (he's from the Netherlands) came to visit with his parents, they stayed over for one night though. His name is Jeffrim and his parents came to visit South Africa, they will leave sometime in February. They had breakfast at our house too, also of course, Tannie Andra and Oom Peet.
On the 24th, we went on vacation to Sodwana Bay, it was beautiful! The weather was hot but we went to the beach and also, we rode quad bikes! That was the best part! We had a short run-down on safety and the controls of the quad bike and then we went on the tour. Each of us rode our own 4 wheeler!! Our vacation was 1 week, we came home on the 31st. 

We picked the kids up from the cattery, we got Joshy his very own carrier! Curly was ecstatic to see us, she could hardly contain herself! Even Joshy was excited, little Blitzy was squealing! We brought them home and Joshy has been going in and out, meowing every few minutes! Just like he did when we came back from our holiday at Mtunzini! 

I won't put any photo's up just yet.....

I just noticed....I got over 2 000 page views!  I reached my goal! Thank you all so much!!

God bless,
Sele'ha Mikhaila 

A Beautiful Walk :)

Hey,

Katya came here the other day, she will be in Claridge for a few days!! Yesterday Katya, Sammy and I went on a lovely walk, although the road was quite muddy due to the rain. Poor Curly got her paws all dirty! Yes, she was also with us. Here are some photo's of the dam on the farm. Curly also met the new pups!

God bless,

Sele'ha Mikhaila

Goldfields, Growing Pups and a Great Weekend!

Hello everyone!!

Once again, I apologise for the long wait...I do have a valid excuse though!

On the 3rd of January was a wedding in Virginia. It was the wedding of Sam Celick and Marike Bruwer. Sam is the brother of Max (the tiler).
We left on Friday morning and it was a 6 hour drive to Virginia! Although, it didn't really feel long! That mission is called Goldfields. If you would like to see it or read about it, please click on the link of this mission on the side of my blog.

Anyway, it was so hot there! It was lovely to be there despite all the mosquito's! That first night, the mosquito's had a feast with us! The next day after the wedding, we bought some mosquito repellant. Then, it was payback time!! The second night was pure bliss, no little buzzing noise in my ears and no bites!!!! Yay!!!!

Oh, I got to meet Jessica Celick, she is the youngest sister. There are 8 children and 5 stay here in South Africa currently and 3 stay in America. I hadn't met Jessica or her parents in person before. We were just email friends and we would send things for each other through Oom Peet when he would go to preach. It was so nice because the whole family were in SA for Sam's wedding!
The wedding was so beautiful! Caleb and I were waiters and it was a nice experience!

We stayed for the Sunday service and we ate lunch, then we hit the road and headed for Claridge!!

The next day, we went to fetch Blitzy and Curly from the cattery/kennels. I mentioned that we would put them there in my other post. We walked passed some of the cages and we saw little Curly there! First, I just thought, "Wow, that dog looks just like Curly!" and when I looked closely, it WAS her!!! She was overjoyed! Even Blitzy was excited! We brought them back amd they settled in quickly by God's grace.

The other day, I went to see Kenzo and the 2 pups, Roxy and Mitsie. They are gone SO big!!! I was so amazed!! There are many photo's from Virginia but I didn't upload them yet.

Enjoy these photo's though!

God bless,
Sele'ha Mikhaila

Kenzo, Mitsie and Roxy!

 

Blitzy went right back to sleeping near to her brother!
Look at Joshy in the next photo, he is asleep on the unfinished deck!