Goldfields, Graduation & German

Good evening!
(It's 20:34 South African time)

We had a lovely and busy week! We went to Goldfields Mission in Virginia and to the Cedar College graduation!

Okay, this is how it all happened :
Renate's parents came all the way from Germany for her graduation! On Tuesday, we went to the main mission and we could have a nice lunch together at the coffeeshop. It was great meeting them, it is their first time in South Africa! They actually understand English well and can speak a bit too. After lunch we took her parents, Uncle Paul and Aunty Jana, to Durban. We wanted to show them a bit of our country and initially Renate was going to come with us but she couldn't get off from work. She is now a lecturer at Cedar College! Anyway, it was interesting and at times funny how we communicated with each other! We used a lot of hand actions but thankfully, they are Russian Germans and Caleb is learning German and I'm learning Russian so, it was a great way to improve our vocabulary! So, we took them to North Beach in Durban, we used to live there about 6 years ago. It was nice to see the beachfront again although they had made many changes!
Afterwards, we picked my grandparents up, they were going to pet-sit for us.

The next day, we left for Virginia, we decided to take the scenic route through the Golden Gate National Park. The scenery is spectacular! Lots of beautiful and really unusual mountains. As we got closer to Virginia, we passed many sunflower farms, it's so pretty! I think they are becoming one of my favorite flowers now, besides roses and hydrangeas of course. The trip from Claridge to Virginia is about 6 hours, not too long. We arrived at Goldfields Mission during the afternoon. We off-loaded, settled in and visited some friends. Then, Eli Celick took us on a tour of the mission. :) Eli is Jessica's older brother, one of 8 Celick's. My parents stayed at his parents house in America. He is also the brother of Dasha, Sam, Art, Max, Galina and Alex. There are a lot of projects going on at the mission! Every time we came to the mission, it was so quick, we only really got a proper tour this time so that was nice.
Later on, Galina invited us over for dinner at their house, she is married to Jakobus de Wet who is Afrikaans. They have 3 kids who speak Russian, Afrikaans and of course English. Kids pick languages up so quickly! The kids names are Nadine, Janet and Josua. Renate's parents were invited to Eli's house for dinner, he is married to Madelein who is Afrikaans and they have 2 kids, Ellie and Jeremy.
The weather was so nice there! The previous times we went, it was really hot....once it was super cold too.....but this time it was perfect! Warm during the day and cool in the afternoon. It reminded me of Claridge's weather.

We left Virginia after breakfast the next day, the whole point of the trip was actually to pick 3 CCE students up. They did their practice teaching there for 3 weeks, one of the girls is from Claridge. Her name is Lungi and is doing her 3rd year at the college, we usually see her during the holidays. The other girl, Bianca, is Afrikaans and the last girl is Myriam, she's from France.
We didn't leave too early but we got back before dark and we invited Renate's parents over for dinner. They're just like her and it feels as if we already know them for a long time!

On Friday, my parents took the students and Renate's parents back to the main mission. They also took my grandparents back to Durban.
Oh, the kids were very well-behaved, that's what we hear! Curly ate all her food and usually she makes me beg her to eat although she's kinda chubby. ;)
My grandparents had to feed Blitzy by hand of course but she coped well too. Joshy is so easy to look after. You just have to feed him and let him in/out whenever.

Yesterday was Graduation Day at Cedar College of Education! We know a lot of the students that graduated this year. The whole ceremony was so special, you can watch it on Livestream. :) It's available for about a week. Time flies!!! We met Renate and Hanna when they had just began their 2nd year at Cedar College and now they have graduated. The Lord is so good.

Yep......that's all I have to say this time!

God bless,
Sele'ha Mikhaila ♡

We made Kozinaki (Козинаки) before we left.

It's a Russian sunflower seed candy/brittle

This is at North Beach, Durban

Look at this amazing sand sculpture, a castle.  

This is Mini-town, it's a model of part of Durban.

North Beach has many hotels and flats, this is a popular hotel.

This is at the Golden Gate National Park 

Amazing, huh?! There are so many photo's but this is just a glimpse.

Love these trees

Fields and fields of sunflowers...

Arrived in Virginia!

     This is when we were on the tour. These are only part of the stuff that the Daily Bakery makes. They make all sorts of cookies etc.

Tables in the reception hall. At both the weddings we attended, they used this hall.

Eli is busy building a kitchen cabinet.

Jessica is so creative, she did this herself! (The wall hangings)

CCE logo

3 Years, 3 Dogs & 3 Rats...?

Hey everyone! 

On Monday we had a celebration....it has been 3 years since we adopted Curly! She had been living in Claridge for a while, before we came, it's a long story! Anyway, in honour of this "occasion", I baked a cake. Okay, so I guess we were also sort of feeling for cake. ;)

Yesterday, my Mom decided to give Curly a little trim, we just trimmed the fur around her eyes and her paws, I clipped her claws too.

Joshy is such an excellent little hunter, he catches something almost every night and sometimes he brings 2 or 3 rats during one night! Yes, 3! He gets them in the fields and carries it all the way home. I think I've spoken of his hunting several times before but I just wanted to let you know that even though he's getting older, Joshy's still a great hunter! 

Blitzy catches lizards and little insects that come inside the house although she hunts very well when she's outside! She has caught big rats and a bird or two at times.

Oom Peet and Tannie Andra are in Namibia at the moment, Oom Peet was invited to speak at a conference that is being held there. 

Their pets really miss them though! This morning, Roxy, Mitsie and Lassie came to visit us about 4 or 5 times! They were dripping wet, so I reckon they also paid a visit to the dam! When the 3 of them get together, they really can be a boisterous and mischievous little group!  

Alright then, enjoy these photo's!

God bless,

Sele'ha Mikhaila ♡ 

Curly's cake, "Dhew" is the shortened form of our surname which is Dhewnarian. It's not a fancy cake, it was more of a last minute thing. 

We couldn't give her any cake due to the icing but she could pose for a pic!

Plain vanilla inside :)

Blitzy enjoying the sun in her/my room.

This is Lassie and Kenzo at Bible House, the priveleges they get!

Curly, after her slight trim.

See Blitzy in the background?

Blitzy's Feather Fight

Hey everyone!

Okay, I have got some exciting news to share with you guys.....!
Cats of Claridge has uploaded it's very first video to Youtube, it's just a "test" video of Blitzy attacking a feather. It's not a really exciting video but I just tried it out. You're welcome to take a look at it, here is the link :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=duKpo3jTdBY


God bless,
Sele'ha Mikhaila ♡

Here are 2 photo's...

Joshy on his chair with faithful Curly underneath.

Curly the cutie

Easter Conference & an Excellent Weekend

Happy Easter!!

Sorry, this is a late Easter wish but I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend anyway!


Well, on Thursday, my parents fetched my grandparents from Durban and we had pizza for dinner....mmmm....yum!

The next morning, we went out for breakfast, everyone enjoyed it. After that, my Dad took us for a drive through the area where my grandparents grew up and also another area where my Dad grew up. It was good to see it although a lot had changed and there were many more houses built. My grandparents say it's almost unrecognizable!
We came home and celebrated my Grandfather's birthday. His birthday was actually the next day but we celebrated that day because we were going to the mission the next day.  Here is a photo of the table with some snacks.

The next day (Saturday), we went to the main mission for the Easter conference, my Grandmother came with, it was her first time to go there! Uncle Erlo preached and it was a blessed sermon. There were about 7 000 people who attended the whole conference!
Tannie Bonnetta Roos invited us to have lunch at their house, they have a beautiful home! We ate out on their deck and the food was delicious! Tannie Bonnetta made a very tasty dessert...

Inside the 10 000-seater auditorium at the mission, it's empty here though.

Part of it from outside.

This is an aerial view of a section of the mission at night. See the auditorium?

It was also wonderful to see all our friends again! It's always so special when we visit the main mission. My Grandmother seemed to enjoy it too. There were 3 services on Saturday but we only attended the morning service and left after lunch. We are thankful that all the services were streamed via Livestream so, we could watch them right at home too! If you would like to watch it, then click on this link :  http://livestream.com/accounts/10578297
You have to create a free account to access the videos. Hope you enjoy it! :)

We ate on our deck on Sunday evening, the weather was great! All in all, we had a very blessed weekend remembering what Jesus Christ did for us on the cross.

Blitzy taking a peep outside during the evening.

Curly putting her whole weight on one side of the basket! It will break!

Curly's not allowed here, we saw her there as we were leaving for the mission.

Joshy and Blitzy, so sweet!

Joshy enjoying himself outside.

May Jesus truly be risen in our lives!
God bless,
Sele'ha Mikhaila ♡

Cross-stitching & a Cross Kitty

Hi!

Well, it's been a quiet week here for us....

On Sunday afternoon, we had a "braai" on the deck, braai is the Afrikaans word for barbecue and all South Africans use that word. Who doesn't love a good braai? It went well and Caleb even concocted an on-the-spot dessert. I commend him, he just through some stuff together and it turned out brilliantly, everyone enjoyed it! It's so nice to be out on the deck in the fresh air.....

This week was a trying time for Blitzy, on Tuesday morning, we took her to the vet for her monthly tablet. She is usually quite calm and before she knows it, the vet has given her the tablet and she is on her way home again. This time however, the vet tried to give it to her by hand instead of using the pill dispensing instrument and that was a bad idea. This made her quite upset, she even gave the vet a little scratch. Blitzy was quite fidgety and she moved a bit as the vet was giving the tablet so we weren't sure whether it went down her throat or if she spat it out. Well, we looked everywhere for it but to no avail so we presumed that the tablet was given.....
Later that day, I noticed that the tablet was stuck onto her fur! She didn't digest it after all! Well, we had to go back to the vet a day or so later but her usual vet was performing an operation at the time so, we went to the other vet there. He used the instrument but she spat it out several times and then became quite "woedend", as they say in Afrikaans!! This means furious, really, really angry!
She gave this vet a nasty scratch on his arm and she broke free from my grasp and as she did so, her claw snagged my hand......ouch! It was not normal to see her like this, poor little Blitzy. Eventually the tablet went down and the vet suggested using drops instead of the tablet, we'll do that the next time for sure! Blitzy was fine for the rest of the day though.

On a lighter note, I've started cross-stitching once again! Well, in 2014, I entered my cross-stitched picture in the Royal Agricultural Show and it won 1st prize! Well, if you win, you are not allowed to enter in that same category of crafts again the next year, so I didn't enter in 2015 but this year I'm eligible to enter in the cross-stitching category since it's 2016! I won't show you the picture until I have completely finished it but here is a hint : Joshy & Blitzy are in the picture this time instead of Curly.
If you remember from the last time I did that picture, Blitzy loved to sit on the material in the hoop and liked catching the thread as I pulled it through. She hasn't forgotten about that because as soon as I pulled that hoop out again and began cross-stitching, she was at my side! It's actually quite dangerous for her because of the needle so I try to do it it discreetly or when she is asleep or even in another room. It's safer that way!

Yeah anyway, that's all for now!
God bless,
Sele'ha Mikhaila ♡  

The kids at dinner time, all assembled in the kitchen. 

These beautiful flowers outside Bible House and our church.

Blitzy the day before her vet trip, how innocent?

Waiting to go...

This is after the tablet ordeal, she fell asleep with her head hanging down!

And woke up with a fussy look on her face.

 Blitzy on the cross-stitching hoop.

When I came out of the shower, all 3 kids were in my room, waiting for dinner! 

Joshy and Blitzy having a staring competition.

My Dad is a wonderful artist...here are some of his paintings. This is my favorite.

And another one.