|| morning drive ||

While my parents were here, we went to a lodge in one of the national parks.  It is a newly opened lodge.  We'd heard great things about it from friends but still weren't quite sure if it was going to be as good as we'd heard.  Well, it completely exceeded our expectations.  Wow.  What a treat.  

Of course, the main highlight and activity at a lodge is a game drive.  Reading the brochure, I found out there was the option for a 3+ hour game drive or a quick hour or so game drive.  I said to the guide - there's no way my kids will last 3 or more hours on a game drive.  So we will just go on a one hour game drive.  

Unknowingly (and luckily), that little bit of information was swept to the wind.  We assembled at the early hour of 5:30 and off we went!  

Here we are crossing the river to get to the lodge's vehicles on the other side.  At this point, I definitely did not think we would be driving around for more than three hours with (turns out) very calm children.

Within two minutes of our start, we saw our first game.  Hard to spot leopard.

The drive was perfect for Liesl.  It hit all of her high points: being outside, riding around with family, and looking for animals.  Those three plus hours absolutely flew by.  

Liesl sat in the front with Omie and Opa in her car seat.  And 12 week old Jules sat in the back with us in his car seat.  The biggest challenge for me were the biting flies.  But we just covered Jules up good with chitenge and he slept through most of it.  Somehow, the front seat passengers escaped the flies.  :)

The last afternoon drive, we finally saw lions.  That was surreal.  It was a little stressful for me because I was so concerned with keeping Jules absolutely quiet.  But, we did it! We were as close to 10 feet or less from the lions.  Unreal.  

As we drove through the bush on that first morning, watching the day break, I couldn't help but feel so lucky to raise my kids here.  It is definitely a challenge in some areas.  Life is not a cake walk (but is it anywhere, really).  But a peace and happiness washed over me.  My kids are so so so lucky to grow up here.  Experiencing the bush.  Getting to go on game drives at two years old and three months old!!!  The enjoyment of outdoor living and freedom!  Wow.  I know many more opportunities like this await us as a family and I want to seal these precious memories in their mind forever.  

|| books ||

^^ Joy loves Little House on the Prairie books  :)

Soon after moving here, I was given the task of the library at our church.  At the time, there were a few faithful kids who would come and get a book but not very many.  I was actually quite surprised to see the selection of books for such a small church.  What a treasure!!  For someone who loves books, it was amazing to see the resources available here.

Within a few months, I began a little contest for the kids.  Each book read and returned merited a star on a fish.  For each five stars, a prize was given.  A simple enough promotion but what a motivation for the church kids!!  Library usage for the kids' side absolutely soared.  To get a free pencil or pen or eraser is a REALLY BIG DEAL here.  I even had to clamp down a bit on who was able to check out books because we started to have kids move away (which is common) and then books get lost.  

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My friend gave me Dr. Seuss decorations that she didn't need anymore.  So last year while in the States, I bought these punch cards.  So if they keep and finish one punch card from start to finish, they will have received four prizes.

This feels a bit unusual to ask but I've been wanting to post about the library for a while.  For those of you that live near my parents, do you have any old books that are just lying around?  Any books that your kids aren't interested in reading?  They don't have to be brand new or even in excellent condition.  We have a lady who repairs damaged books each week.  :)  My friend, Marian, and I who run the library would love new additions to the kids' books section!!!!  These kids are not exposed to books like we had growing up.  Even in school, lessons are copied.  To have a Bible is a luxury, so you can imagine books are even more rare.  And what an opportunity to expose some of the kids who attend our church to good books.  SO, if you have any spare books, would you be willing to drop them by my parents' house or give them to her at church?  They are getting ready to ship a barrel here in a few weeks.  We would be so grateful!!

Gershom and Sylvester are just two of the boys who will say a very big THANK YOU!

|| again ||

We did another bonfire tonight.  Funny how much joy the simple pleasures of life bring us.  Having dessert (puds as we call it here) and coffee around a fire is such a nice treat especially if we have guests.  Conversation ebbs and flows.  A few wayward glances up to the stars every now and then.  The stillness and quiet.  

I'm so glad I threw some logs into that hole about a year ago now.  We had just taken a fruit tree out of the garden and I was anxious for a fire pit. A few logs later and our fire pit was born.  The rains are almost here and then we will wait until next year to enjoy it again.