love this...

Yesterday Ralden (age 9) brought this home from school ... 
Isn't it precious !!!
The teacher asked them to share their favourite things and to think about what it is that keeps them going ...
I just love this ... made a copy to frame for his room as well.


Oh - if you were wondering his favourite food is STEAK!


Have a good week!

Camping, Cows and "Kleilat"

Last weekend we went camping with a couple of friends.  It was marvellous and magical in a meaningful way ... 

I think as a mom you get to experience things like this in a different way.

The glint in your child’s eye when you first mention the fact that we are going, the excitement when they have to sort out their things that they want to take along... and then getting them to pack half of their room’s content back.

The actual journey to our camping destination filled with ... “are we there yet”

My kids love camping trips – like I used to as a child (and the inner child in me does love it still).  I am not sure what it is about camping that is so magical because, let’s face it, it can be a bit uncomfortable cooking meals outside and fighting off the insects although that is some of the magic as well ... cooking outside and playing war with bugs...

Camping to me is getting away from all that is ordinary ...  It is like the rushing world has come to a stand still for a while where you can really just be – you enter into a world of adventure.

It’s cosy sitting around a fire just chatting with excited kids reliving their day of adventures filled with giggles. And later when all the activities are taking its tall and the kids start falling asleep on laps there comes a different quiet peace.

You hear so much more - distant weather rumbling, the crackling of the fire, the night sounds of owls and if I’m lucky the cry of a jackal (love that sound),

You see so much more – the soft light of the flames on our friends faces, the contentment and the easy conversation under a sky filled with stars like it’s rarely seen ... and the little phrase that always comes to mind on nights like these:  “Starlight starbright- first star I see tonight, I wish I may, I wish I might – have the wish I wish tonight ....  

  

The place we went camping is like a piece of heaven for kids – complete with cold and heated swimming pools, bicycle tracks, hiking trails, farmyard experiences, entertainers that play games like treasure hunting, coin dives and of course “kleilat”.  I really thought long and hard for the English translation with no success (let me know if you have it)

Anyway, kleilat is a game that I used to play as well, growing up on a farm with two brothers.

Basically it is slinging a mud ball from a stick ... aiming at a target – which usually ends up to be one-another... great messy, sometimes a bit painful fun!!!

I think these photos explains it best:

Then there were the farmyard experiences for the kids (and me reliving a small part of my childhood) -  Milking a cow ...

It was a good week end filled with the stuff that I love ...!!!

Questions..??!?...

I have not been here for a while, I know... it is not that I don’t know what to write – it’s that there is so much that I want to share that I don’t really know where to start!!

My life lately has been filled with many moments of ‘little-happening-moments’ of love, laughter, learning and loveliness ... I wish you could see into my mind and experience what I feel when I’m trying to capture all the ‘little-happenings’ into words... (let me just say that the backspace is working well tonight) 

You know that life, in the end, is about all the little moments of everyday ‘happenings’ and learning to make something of them.

The inner me was asking a lot of questions lately .. well, more than usual...

Questioning is good – it forces me to stand back and take a look, to act on that what I feel is the right things for me and my family...    But somewhere between the questions and the actions I realized that the answers aren’t that important ... I am where I am supposed to be ... I am a wife, I am a mom, and I am happy being just that!   

So, I decided that being a working mom is not for me and I am blessed that I can choose this. 

I am blessed to have a supportive husband.  I am blessed to have kids who love having me helping them with homework. I am blessed to have the time to be at my son’s cricket match. I am blessed to be here when my daughter wants to play “make-ups”.

A good lesson which was also a huge blessing!!

I am overwhelmed with gratitude – and a feeling of “I am right where I am supposed to be” 

I think Kelle Hampton said it best in one of her blogposts:  “Because where I am feels good. I am learning. I am striving to be more. I am loving, and that alone makes me happy. 

(If you have not been to her blog yet – you should! It is like she is putting the words to my soul’s inner voice!  { see 'Blogs that I luv'  - Enjoying the small things }  I really do enjoy her writing style, her photography and the fact that it feels like I’ve known her for a lifetime – yet never met her!

Anyway, my list of latest little-happy-happenings are foremost the time we’ve spend as a family enjoying everything from school cricket matches, riding bicycles to camping and milking cows...  But all this I will elaborate on in the next post ...which will be soon, I promise! 

  

For now I will say goodnight and leave you with a picture of one of my favourite local artist's paintings - (Hannlie Kotze)   I just love her work!! 

                                                 

 I

A Fragment in life’s heart...

When love beckons to you, follow him,

Though his ways are hard and steep.

And when his wings enfold you yield to him,

Though the sword hidden among his pinions

May wound you.

And when he speaks to you believe in him,

Though his voice may shatter your dreams.

For even as love crowns you so shall he crucify you.

Even as he is for your growth so is he for your pruning.

Even as he ascends to your height and caresses your

tenderest branches that quiver in the sun,

So shall he descend to your roots and shake them

in their clinging to the earth.

Like sheaves of corn he gathers you unto himself.

He threshes you to make you naked.

He shifts you to free you from your husks.

He grinds you to whiteness.

He kneads you until you are pliant;

And then he assigns you to his sacred fire,

That you may become sacred bread for God’s sacred feast.

All these things shall love do unto you that you may

know the secrets of your heart, and in that knowledge

become a fragment of Life’s heart....

Taken from “The Prophet” – Kahlil Gibran

May you love and be loved .... especially on this day when we celebrate just that!!

Bycicle ride ... check X

I am sometimes still amazed at how well Uzaan is coping with her “differentability”.  I still cannot get myself to say "disabled" (in terms of the current normal standards) but I rather think of her as ‘differently abled’  ... because trust me, she is very able to do all that we can – just in her own different way!

A bit of back ground for those of you who don’t know...

Uzaan was born with what the doctors call “Radial Dysplasia” -  

According to the Paediatric Plastic surgery dept of the Missouri Children’s hospital’s definition - Radial dysplasia is underdevelopment, abnormal development, or absence of the structures on the radial side (the "thumb side") of the forearm, wrist, and/or hand. There is a spectrum of involvement, ranging from a slightly small thumb, to complete absence of the thumb, radial wrist bones, and the radius bone itself (the bone on the "thumb side" of the forearm). In some cases, only the radius is involved. The term "radial clubhand" comes from the appearance of the hand and forearm when the radius is very short or absent: the hand is bent at 90 degrees to the forearm, resembling the appearance of a golf club. Radial dysplasia affects only one side in about 50% of cases, and the right side is twice as commonly affected as the left.

.....Which basically means that her one arm and hand did not develop normally. Her right arm is about a hand’s length shorter than the other one and she has only 4 fingers and little movement in her smaller right hand ... see photo:

With that said – a few months ago we were trying to get her to ride her own bicycle without the support wheels, so we showed her and we tried to help, but soon realised that she was not ready. We knew that she would struggle a bit to get the balance and grip right so we didn’t push her into riding the big bike!  So a few days ago, typically in Uzaan’s fashion, she tried all on her own while we were busy with our own things and just called us to come and see something ...

  

Uzaan finally did it – she is riding her bicycle!! 

I was so proud of her and was once again struck with emotion at how determined this little girl of mine is to get it right on her own. I don’t know how long she tried or how many times she practised but she got it right and is riding on her own. 

One more tick on her checklist of things accomplished.

Luv you baby-girl!!

My pic(s) of the week...

                                                           

  I've taken these two photos a while ago but they're still some of my favourites ... luv the warm feeling I get when I look at them

So the night of my previous post I decided that my trainers (tekkies) were friends and not foes ... even though my body felt like it has been in war and my chest sounded like that of an old smoker (I don’t smoke) – I still felt good, because I actually took the first step in getting fit again!  I was psyched for the next morning’s run but then I woke up with a horrible cold  (should have seen the signs of the body ache and the coughing ... but hey, I thought it was the sudden rush of oxygen into my blood after the 2.5km jog)  So needless to say that I have not been running again - yet ...

Feeling much better so maybe tomorrow morning!!

In one of my other previous, previous posts I mentioned that I started a new venture ...very exciting!

For the past nine years I have been a stay at home mom (which to some sounds like a life of leisure and to those who knows – a life constantly filled with many things to do ... not necessarily for yourself!) We (my husband and I) made that decision when Ralden was born and there was not a day of regret... (well, maybe a moment here and there when I thought of the working moms with their travelling, salaries etc, )

I had the privilege of being there for all the firsts in both my kid’s lives for the past 9 years – they are settled happy kids and I am ready for a change! 

 I started two weeks ago managing a lodge. The hours are very flexible, which means that I am still able to attend a cricket match or to help Uzaan with her homework - but now I have another outlet to be creative.  It is for a 6 months trail period to see if that is what I really would like to do but who knows what might happen!  After 2 weeks I am still very excited and actually feel as if I am making a difference at the lodge.  I enjoy the challenge and for now all is working out the way I envisioned!  Have to admit - my life is a bit hectic at the moment, but I am getting into a routine now with work, school, kids, hubby, me-time, etc.   I've always admired working mom's and now have even more respect at how you get to juggle everything!