Life is so short! Too short to eat bad food! And too short
not to make much of life’s milestones. Today started slowly in our household:
After a late breakfast Ryan, Jed and I baked a double batch of banana bread
together which we then used to bake a dozen muffins and 2 loaves. When the
kitchen was tidy again we sat down to do today’s math while Ethan and Aimee
listened to some bible stories that Grampa gave to us. The Bible storybook
comes with an audio version read (fantastically!) by the author, and it was
very sweet to see Ethan and Aimee sitting and listening attentively – waiting
for the signal to turn the next page. Peace didn’t last long as Aimee wanted a
turn to turn the pages too – but they did manage to listen to the first half of
the book in one go, which is much more than we’ve ever read to them in one
sitting!
Oupa and Ouma picked up our new hand-blender and digital
scale for the baby food business the day before yesterday but this morning we
had to return the digital scale. Unfortunately it wasn’t in perfect condition when
we opened the packaging, but more importantly it honestly doesn’t do what we
need it to do. I’m totally amazed at how effortless it is to return purchases
in SA and get your money back without a quibble! We also bought some containers
in the various sizes that we are planning to use to begin making samples of the
various meals in the next week. Now the whole family has been to visit the
packaging store, it really is an experience!
The highlight of my day was Nettie’s birthday tea. Nettie is
one of the lovely soccer-and-homeschooling-moms I get to spend time with most
days of the week. She’s a bubbly German-Afrikaans lady and I like listening to
her stories and experiences. She’s honest, direct and real and I appreciate her
a lot! She turned 40 today and instead of having our weekly ‘Heroes and
Friends’ youth group-cum-play time together with our homeschooling friends this
afternoon we were invited to her home for tea. They live in the most amazing
setting on the outskirts of the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University outside
George and its in the ‘bush’ at the bottom of the Outeniqua mountains. There
are apparently baboons, monkeys, bushbuck and all sorts of wildlife in the area
and their garden is a children’s paradise. It was so nice to watch Aimee climb
a tree and swing off a piece of plastic pipe again and again! The 25 or so
children that were there were peacefully entertained (as usual!) and made the
most of the setting.
Nettie actually spoiled us! I was so blessed by that. The
chocolate cake we shared (there were 4 cakes, I think, just for the adults) was
totally amazing, one of those that you eat slowly and savour each biteful!
Nettie’s Mom and Dad are visiting and her Mom wrote and read a beautiful poem
in her honour after she’d played ‘Happy Birthday’ on the piano so everyone
could sing to her. Her husband prayed for her, thanking God for her beautiful
life and praying God’s blessing, strength, grace and wisdom over her in the
year ahead before she played Matt Redman’s “10 000 reasons” for us. It was a
very, very precious time and I am so grateful to have been part of it.
No comments:
Post a Comment