Learning a Language & a Large Harvest

Привет!! (That's Russian for "Hi")

I don't know if I have mentioned this in my blog before but I am currently learning Russian! I love the language AND the food.....Mmmmm.....
I started learning it a few years ago but I only seriously started a course of it this year so, I've only really made much progress this year. I love learning it, the site that I'm using is called Duolingo, here is the link if you're interested :
https://www.duolingo.com/

They have many languages to choose from and you must complete a daily lesson so, it's not a lot crammed into many hours. It just takes a few minutes to do the lesson and it's enjoyable, I definitely recommend it!

Anyway, what's new in Claridge? Well, it's harvest time for the Dragonfruit! We need all hands on deck since we are harvesting from another farm too. Also, Oom Peet is in America at the moment, he's taking services there. Yesterday and today, the fruit was harvested, cleaned and packed. They're ready to be delivered! My Dad says that they may even need to harvest tomorrow.....the fruit might not be able to wait any longer, it ripens quickly!

Curly is missing her bushy fur now, especially her face fur. She loves to groom her "mustache" and she also likes to push the fur over her eyes. We cut her fur around her eyes often and as soon as it grows, she will use her fluffy paws to pull the fur down to cover her eyes! She doesn't like people to stare into her eyes because then she gets all shy and that's why she prefers the fur to conceal those chocolate brown eyes! She's really smart!
Joshy is lounging on the deck almost everyday, he loves to sleep there after the sun sets because it's much cooler then. These days gave been hot! I think there are a few cooler days predicted next week......that's what the weather forecast says! As you all know, one can't really rely on a forecast, things change!
Blitzy is lazy too, she sleep a lot now.....and then gets very hyperactive during the evening and when it's time for us to go to bed!!

До свидания! ("Goodbye" in Russian)
God bless,
Sele'ha Mikhaila ♡

Joshy lazing around.

Joshy meowing at my room window...

Blitzy is trying to open it for him, how cute?! 

I'm not sure what type of flower this is but it's beautiful!

More flowers around the house...

One of my favorites, yellow roses!

This is a Hibiscus plant, so gorgeous!

Blitzy taking a cat nap on the leather sofa.

Fooling around in her (and my) room.

My Mom and I made Chocolate Lamingtons!

A Dragonfruit flower, can you see the buds above it?

Each plant bears a lot of flowers, My Dad counted over 40 on one! 

The Dragonfruit are harvested when they're not fully ripe.

 

A Few Photo's :)

Hey,

I don't have much news to share with you guys now but I do have some photo's!

Enjoy them and God bless,
Sele'ha Mikhaila ♡

Curly went for a "haircut" this week and this is her before....

And after...

Blitzy takin' a peep outside.

My Mom made some sorji with cream.

A hadida on our deck, these birds are so loud!!

He jumped down!

I did some embroidery with my machine and little Blitz accompanied me.

You see what I have to deal with?

We had Milktart this week too!!

This morning my Mum baked some savory scones for breakfast...yummy! 

Another photo of Curly before her trim...

And after....she looks cuter when she's fluffy but it's Summer now.

A beautiful red rose from our garden....though something's eating the leaves!

A Visit From Virginia

Hey everyone!

This weekend has been another blessed one, we made some wonderful memories with lovely people. On Friday morning, an all girl team consisting of 4 came from Goldfields Mission in Virginia, Free State. This is the same mission that we went to in October for Ester and Pieter's wedding. Anyway, those who came were : an Afrikaans girl named Ilze, an Indian girl named Shalona, a visitor from Germany named Christina and also a Russian American girl named Dasha Celick! Dasha is Jessica's older sister and one of 8 kids from the Celick family. My parents stayed in the Celick's house in America when they went on the preaching tour last year.  Dasha works at the bakery at Goldfields Mission.

It was nice having them with us this weekend, though they left on Saturday after breakfast....yes, they stayed just one night. :(
On Friday, we took them to do a little shopping, we went to various clothing and miscellaneous stores. Then, later on, I went with them for a nice walk around the farm, we got some good exercise out of it! They had dinner at our house, we had it on the deck. The girls must've been quite tired at the end of that day because they left really early to arrive in Claridge at mid-morning. The next morning (today), we also ate on the deck with them. We are so thankful for the deck, it's nice to be on it.....
Like I said, after breakfast, they headed to the main mission to drop Christina off and will leave tomorrow after the Sunday service. There is also a wedding at the main mission tomorrow.

I don't think I mentioned this before but there is a lovely American couple staying on the mission here in Claridge and they have been such a blessing to all of us. Their daughter was in an accident over 2 months ago and she's still in hospital. They are with her everyday, for the entire day. We are thankful that Suzanne (the daughter) is making a lot of progress now and they will fly home very soon. We sure will miss them though, they are very special!!

We are expecting really hot weather from tomorrow until Wednesday.....so, we have our fans, ice cream and fruit salad ready for these scorching days ahead!

Anyway, until we meet again,
God bless!
Sele'ha Mikhaila ♡

The 3 little musketeers 

Admiring their "brother", Joshy ;)

This road is actually quite steep and one really feels exercised after trying it.

Our house, deck and the palm tree, miles away from the beach!

The train that regularly passes through.

 If you look closely, you'll see Curly and Lassie on the dirt road. I was on the deck when I spotted them!

A Perfect Prefects Weekend

Hello there :)

This week I did some embroidery, my Mum and I are going to sew some stuff and I embroidered the material first. It's quite difficult to embroider it after the garment is already sewed. I also did some embroidery on my bag.

This weekend was a busy one for Claridge mission but it was also an enjoyable time! The prefects from Domino Servite School (DSS) at the main mission came on Friday and stayed until Sunday together with some of the teachers. It was a blessing to have them with us. The aim was to equip the prefects spiritually and physically for their tasks at school, the theme for this weekend was Leadership. On Saturday morning, the entire group had breakfast on our deck, we just provided the venue but Bible House prepared the food. They seemed to enjoy it very much.

They had a program for the day and in the evening, Oom Peet showed everyone a movie and some little clips with life lessons. We all benefited from it of course. ;) It was held in the chapel due to the crowd, Friday night's devotion was also in the church. We usually have it in the dining hall but when there are many people, we use the church. 

On Sunday morning, Oom Marius Pretorius preached, it was a blessed sermon.

The DSS group left after lunch, the weekend was over so quickly!! :(  

If you would like to see what DSS is like or just get more info on the school, take a look at their website : www.dss.org.za

I'm sure that they should post about the prefects weekend soon!

God bless,

Sele'ha Mikhaila ♡   

DSS emblem/logo

Joshy in my room....on the couch..

How cute is Blitzy?

My embroidered bag

I trimmed the fur around Curly's eyes. It usually blocks her eyes.

Dragonfruit Flowers & Doing Some Drawing

Helloooo....!

I hope that 2016 has been great for you so far!

Last week, we went into the fields to see the dragonfruit flowers in bloom. It is such a beautiful sight! They bloom at night and early morning, we have seen it before but it is still lovely to view them again. ;)
Joshy loves to spend time with us outside and he accompanied us into the fields and was thrilled that we were outside with him at that hour!

Last week was extremely hot but then as the weekend rolled around, it became cool...almost cold! Peculiar!
It is still holiday time for us here and I got to do some sketches over these days.
We are almost halfway through the month of January, can you believe it?!

Alright, here are some photo's for you guys.......

May the Lord bless you,
Sele'ha Mikhaila ♡


I'd appreciate it if you don't use the photo's of my sketches without proper accreditation and permission from me. You can find my email address on my Google+ page. Thanks for the co-operation!

Joshy loves the camera.

The dragonfruit flowers at night.

This flower hasn't opened completely.

An opened one!

Curly feeling the heat.

And so is Blitzy

Lazy girl....

Blitzy with her "kitty" pals. They're artificial cats.

I baked some oatmeal cookies!

These 2 sketches are not too good...I kinda rushed them. 

Sorry that they are so light.

                                                                                                                                                           

 This one is better, I hadn't drawn a deer before but                                                      I'm satisfied with the end result. You can click on the photo for a closer look.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!!

It's 2016! Time to take down that old calender folks.....out with the old and in with the new!

January is the month in which we regret the over-indulgence at Christmas time and we start to seriously consider embracing a healthier lifestyle......I hope it lasts...
It is Summer here and the days have been HOT! Though, we've had a bit of rain, God is good! This is a very short post but I just wanted to wish all my loyal readers (and the new ones) a blessed new year! 😊

We are so grateful for the deck, it's lovely to just be outside, enjoying nature! When my grandparents were here, they loved it too, we would have breakfast on the deck and just relax there in the afternoons.
Speaking of which, we just had breakfast out there today! There was a cool breeze blowing.....so beautiful. It just makes you appreciate nature and the Lord's creation even more.

May the Lord bless you,
Sele'ha Mikhaila ♡ 😄

Enjoy the photo's! I didn't take a photo of Blitzy this time, sorry!

Here is Curly at the top of the stairs!

She enjoys it too...

Looking out at the view through the railing.

She was looking for food that Blitz had dropped in my room & toppled things over in the process!

My Mum made a delicious cottage pie the other day! Here is a slice. Yum!

Joshy on the deck looking down at me. 

He was exploring our flower patch.