Month: March 2019

Sabbath

This year in homeschool we are studying through history from Creation to the time of the Greeks. A part of this is studying Old Testament Celebrations and Feasts (which in many areas also correspond to Jewish celebrations/feasts).

 

Our first celebration was observing the Sabbath in accordance with Old Testament and Jewish traditions.

The week before we celebrated the Sabbath the preparations began.

We made a challah bread covering.

We made centerpiece Star of David floating candles (even cutting wick out of the center of candles so we could reuse it because you work with what you have access to).

And it was exhausting thanks to the heat index plus the kitchen heat, but we enjoyed sweating to death cooking as we prepped for the Sabbath weekend.

Then we celebrated! And it was a wonderful time of acknowledging God our Creator and Redeemer as well as understanding more fully the Old Testament observance of the Sabbath.

The girls are already asking to do it again. =)

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Roadtrip!

I got the opportunity to return to the Johannesburg area for a women’s conference in the beginning of March.

I had planned to go to this conference months prior to our emergency trip to Johannesburg in December and I was thankful that God had restored my health enough that I could go at nine weeks second post-op.

It was my first time crossing the border without Matt and taking a roadtrip to South Africa with a bunch of wonderful ladies.

Thanks to my buddy and colleague, Liana, we navigated there well and enjoyed a bit of kid free time for a week. Honestly, I didn’t really know what to do with myself with all the free time, but I found some useful ways of enjoying the time.

I even got to visit a dear friend who also happened to be my surgeon during my previous adventure in Johannesburg. Funny how God orchestrates friendship even amongst the most challenging circumstances. While it brought up some triggers, it was such a blessing to get to share a smoothie with a friend who thankfully wasn’t wearing scrubs that day. 😉 She was sick or I would have asked to take a picture together. But I have a feeling there will probably be a next time for a picture. =)

We stayed on a beautiful piece of property with some friends that we partner with here in Mozambique, Palavra da Vida (Word of Life). I even had some added friends join my morning Bible time. The welcome mat was always out! =)

We enjoyed some solid Biblical teaching and refreshment at a conference in Pretoria.

And some fun out with the ladies before returning home.

When we got back to Mozambique, we enjoyed a little time with our team (though we missed our supervisors who are Stateside right now). Matt brought the girls up to the capital where we reunited after a week apart and then after restocking a bit we returned back to Maxixe a few days later.

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Of course we couldn’t miss out on a little bit of fun with our teammates there in the capital. =)

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Yay for restock and a pit-stop at the “grocery” on the way home.

It was indeed a wonderful trip and a wonderful homecoming.

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Re-Entering Well

Upon returning from Johannesburg in January, we set to settling back in. My garden had become a real jungle while we were away. So as soon as my strength returned, we set to work taming the beast.

 

We even found some hiding produce! Yay! (Nevermind the scratch on the table in the picture. We do real life here.)

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The “Garden of Eden” quickly came back together and became my favorite spot to enjoy a morning cup of tea again.

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Routine vet trips for cat vaccinations commenced, complete with the good ole “hang a cat in a bag to weigh it” developing world fun.

 

Homeschool preparations happened faster than I had hoped since we needed to get the school year going and I had donated my prep time elsewhere this year. 😉 And as proved true this year again, a cat is ALWAYS available to help.

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We also celebrated Christmas

 

 

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and two birthdays

 

 

Look at my beautiful birthday present!!!

And then three quarters of the way through January, we were finally caught up and able to start the new school year which can be read about over here.

 

 

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Lemonade

Despite our last trip to Johannesburg not being ideal, we were able to do some fun things there that I don’t want to get lost in the health challenges justifying our visit.

We celebrated Rachael’s 10th birthday there at a very fun trampoline park with our dear friends.

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We also got the opportunity to celebrate some of our friends’ birthdays, which is always a treat because when you live a country apart those opportunities are few and far between.

We went to a zoo and enjoyed eating at a few restaurants with some of our fellow colleagues and friends.

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The girls got the opportunity to go on a park outing with some colleagues/friends too while Matt and I were at doctors appointments.

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A few mornings this wonderful little girl spontaneously decided to cook the whole family breakfast. She saw an opportunity to serve and she stepped up to the plate humbly and quietly. Her little heart of gold.

And of course this guy poured over our little ladies, playing endless games, and shining as a SuperDad while this mommy recovered.

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Yes, even amongst the challenge of that trip, we were able to find MUCH joy.

Together.

Making some refreshing lemonade out of lemons. =)

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