Conference Time and a Clever Poodle!

Hi again :)

These few weeks have been really busy!!!
I had a lot of  studying and assignments but it is going very well by God's grace!

It is holiday time here but I still have assignments to complete and send in. :(
The Youth Conference at the main mission in Kranskop began on Sunday, it is for a week. Last year, I got to stay over at this time, it was such a blessed time!
This year, I got to go for one day on Tuesday, it was so nice. Lord willing, we will go again tomorrow. Although, last year I was sharing a room with Katya and now it's so strange to go there and not see her!
We got to spend the day with Renate and we had a lovely time together. To get more info about the Youth Conference,
please click on this link : www.ksb.org.za

It is Winter here and it's quite COLD!!! Little Blitzy is plastered to the heater virtually all the time. She just stops to eat and drink water during the day, at night, I have to put the heater off otherwise she'd be all dry and dehydrated! She doesn't even bother about going out! If she's not at the heater then she's soaking up the sunlight in my room!

Joshy sleeps all day as usual and I can see that he is getting older now, he is roughly 6 years old. I read somewhere that a cat is cosidered a senior after the age of 8 human years so, he's getting there!

Curly has a new friend, I'm not sure if I wrote about Lassie the dog before...? Well, anyway, she comes every day to see Curly...every day. When Lassie arrives, I usually call Curly and she sometimes hides behind the door and just peeps her head out as if to tell me, "Tell her I'm not at home!"
When I look at those puppy dog eyes, I feel so bad to send her away! Curly then comes outside and greets her little friend and leads her to the side of the house. As soon as Lassie follows her, Curly races to the gate to come inside! How clever?!
Though, today, Curly was the one wanting to play with Lassie!! It was as if their roles were reversed!

I really wonder what Sam the turtle is up to! She must be enjoying her HUGE new home!

Anyway,
Thanks for reading!

God bless,
Sele'ha Mikhaila ♡

Here are some photo's (at last!) from my new tablet! Enjoy!

 I baked a Russian Braid a few weeks ago, it has a lot of cinnamon!

 On Sunday, I baked a Cottage Cheesecake with a strawberry topping!

The main mission baked these biscuits and we had them with Renate! She made us some delicious German tea!!

America and the Agricultural Show

Hello there!

I'm so sorry for the very long wait!

My parents together with Oom Peet and Tannie Andra went to America! They went for about 2 weeks, we had to survive without them! It's the longest time that our parents were away from us. I had to do the cooking, it was a lot harder than I thought but I needed the experience!

They went to Tulsa, Oklahoma to take services and they preached at a camp on the weekend. They also traveled to Branson, Missouri to watch a spectacular play of Jonah, they bought a DVD of it for us to watch. ;) Initially, they were supposed to go to Minneapolis, Minnesota also but the time was short this time so they were in Tulsa. They stayed with some friends, it was my friend, Jessica Celick's family. Tannie Andra and Oom Peet stayed with Uncle Viktor and Aunty Irene who were in SA recently. Jessica's parents are Uncle Paul and Aunty Nadia. They are a wonderful family! My parents say that they really spoiled them!

My parents left South Africa on May 19th and came back to Claridge at almost midnight on June 2nd. They missed my birthday (May 27th) but they did get to phone me which was a lovely surprize! When they got back, we saw how many gifts were sent for all of us! We were really blessed! I just pray that God works in a mighty way there in America.

The kids were alright here, before my parents could leave, Curly sensed that they were going somewhere. She refused to eat anything for over 2 days but after they left, she realized that some of us were still here and she started eating again. Blitz didn't really bother so much, as long as the sun came into her room or the heater was on, she was satisfied! A cat's life!
My grandmother came to stay with us for the 2nd week which was nice, due to work, my grandfather could only come on the weekend.
My brother and I were blessed with 2 brand new Samsung Galaxy tablets! My parents have an iPad. We can use it for our studies and stuff, we are so thankful!

It is FREEZING cold here in Claridge! We have just entered Winter and it is so cold! As I'm typing this, my fingers are like ice!
On the 4th of June was my parents wedding anniversary! Yesterday, we went to the Royal Agricultural Show, it takes place yearly. I couldn't enter anything in the cross-stitching category because I won 1st prize last year and I am only permitted to enter again next year! Oh well!

Anyway, I hope this is enough of an update for you. Sorry that I didn't upload any photos but I'm  using my tablet and there are no photos on it at the moment!

God bless,
Sele'ha Mikhaila

The Basket & the Box

Hey!

I must apologize, I wrote this post last week but I didn't realize that the post didn't actually get uploaded!! I just checked and I saw my mistake only now. So sorry! I will update again soon but here is last week's post :

Sorry, my first post was so nice and long and I hadn't saved yet, then the internet signal went bad, the server was lost and everything got deleted....that long post... :(
So, I'll try to rewrite as much as I can remember of it.

Do you remember that I would say how Blitzy refused to sleep in her basket, she would only use it at the cattery. Well, last week, she went into basket by herself! The sun shines directly on it so, it may have tempted her to warm herself there, she just loves the sun! She was in that basket all day!

However, she soon got tired of sleeping there and shunned her basket yet again!
Last Saturday, we went to a bookstore and because we bought so many books, they gave us a box to carry the books. We emptied the box at home and little Blitzy claimed ownership of it straight away!  It's just a plain old box, nothing special at all but she loves it! So, she leaves a plush, soft basket for a regular, cardboard box! I shall never understand that child! Anyway, I put the box on the middle of the floor in my room and I gave her a little blanket and she is happy! I have photo's but the signal is not good enough to upload an.

Joshy is sleeping inside most of the time now, he just goes out for a few hours at night.
Curly's fur grows too quickly and she is due for a haircut again! Yesterday, Charcoal came! Curly loves him to bits! She cried to go out to see him and they just sat together as the sun was setting.....this strange friendship! Eventually, he went away and she was left all alone, shivering in the cold....!

We are still experiencing this peculiar weather....hot and then cold..

Sorry about the photo's!

God bless,
Sele'ha

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!!!