Blog Update

I apologize that it's been a while since I've posted anything.  Life has been very busy since I've gotten home! I am hoping to continue blogging about life on the farm, although I know that we will only be getting busier with the coming summer months! I'm hoping that I can get myself onto a "blogging schedule" and have regular posts.  Also, I am planning on making some changes to the format of the blog.  I got it up and running very quickly and it could use a little attention! :) Hopefully I will be able to get to that soon and it will be easier to read.

Fresh Strawberries!!

There's not much better than dark ruby red, fresh off the plant, ripe strawberries!  It would be a toss-up between strawberries and one of my mommy's steaming hot-off-the-griddle homemade waffles with fresh homemade maple syrup!  I just don't think there is much in this world that could taste better! And even though we've had unpredictable weather, which may be the only predictable thing about Indiana weather, with unusually late frosts and many chilly, rainy days most of the last month, our strawberries are ripening! 

 I don't think there has been a May/June that I can remember where we have not had fresh strawberries, although they weren't always homegrown.  I remember as a little girl, sitting on the stool with water running down my elbows, stemming what seemed like sink full after sink full of strawberries.  In the last ten or so years we have grown our own, and experimented with quite a variety of growing methods and a few different varieties of berries.  Our favorite kinds that we grow now are Early Glow and Fort Laramie.  

When we first started growing strawberries in Indiana, we just put the plants in the ground, like people normally plant strawberries. They did alright, but one year they began to rot with so much water and clay in the soil.  Plus it was difficult to weed them because the runners had made a carpet over the whole patch.  Strawberries need to be tilled under after a couple years anyway, so we replanted and tried putting black paper and mulch around all the berry plants.  That worked well for a year or two, but the paper and mulch disintegrated, the weeds grew back, and we once again had a strawberry carpet that was getting tricky and uncomfortable to pick in without squishing berries or plants.  

Our next experiment was raised beds! I don't know the exact dimensions of the first bed, but maybe 3'x6'x6".  My dad built them with untreated wood, so that nothing would leak into the soil.  We mixed all the soil, which I don't remember the mix exactly either.  I know there were several bags of peat moss and mushroom soil, along with other a few other soils and vermiculite. They did work, but still weren't ideal.  The soil drained quickly and we struggled to keep them watered well enough.  Plus it wasn't much easier to pick the berries while squatting next to the bed, since we did not want to walk in it.  

My dad then built three-tiered beds, and he also rigged up a watering system.  We filled them up with the dirt from our compost pile.  So far they have worked quite well!  There have been very few weeds, and the ones that are there are easy to pull.   The plants have thrived and picking has been much easier as well! After a year we decided that two tiered beds might be easier to pick from still, so my brother built some.  The plants haven't had much time to grow, so we won't get many berries from those beds yet, but next year we may have a better idea of how well those work!

Two quarts of fresh berries that we picked this morning!

Our first bag to put in the freezer

Our three tiered beds, full of plants, ripening berries, and blooms!

Our newest beds, with only two tiers and young plants

Another view of the three-tiered bed

Back Home Again in Indiana!

I'm home again!  I left with Bob and Susie on Tuesday morning and we spent a few hours in Joburg before heading to the airport.  Traveling went smoothly.  We had about a sixteen hour flight to Atlanta and from there I had an hour flight home.  I'm so thankful they were willing to let me travel with them!
          It's so good to be back!  I'm also very thankful that I've been sleeping through the night and I haven't gotten jet lag.  Thank you all so much for your prayers, support, and encouragement!  I look forward to seeing you all face to face again!

All my family was at the airport to welcome me home!

National Pie Day

 Tuesday was national pie day in America because the date, 3/14, is the same as the mathematical number pi, 3.14.  I had been disappointed that I would miss it, but it turns out I didn’t have to! Since pies here are meat pies, most of the kids and mamas hadn’t tasted fruit pie. I wanted to make some for everyone in the village so they could taste it, especially since I am a pie baker. Not only would they be able to taste it, but then they would also have a better idea of what my job is at home. And what better day to make pie for everyone than on pie day?  I had several enthusiastic helpers and we made three 9x13 apple pies with crumb topping, which is somewhere around forty cups of apples.  I think most everyone was excited and really enjoyed their pie!  

Making apple pie filling

Enjoying the pie in the evening.
Several of these boys helped make the pie.

Game Reserve Park Safari Drive

         This last week Uncle Brian took fifteen of us to a game reserve park that is about an hour away.  There aren't any guides, but you are allowed to drive through the park.  I'm not sure if it would be considered a real safari drive, but I'll count it.  There are no elephants or wild cats on the reserve.

         People who had been there before were disappointed because there wasn’t much wildlife out that day, but what we did see was still really neat!  We were in the Quantum, so the view out of the windows wasn’t the best, and I know my pictures definitely aren’t the best! 

          I was able to see: ostrich, zebra, guinea hens, a water buffalo, some warthogs, springbok, monkeys, rhinos that were so far away they looked more like specks, but hey, they were still rhinos!  Sadly we never found any giraffes.  The landscape was beautiful though! We drove up one of the tall hills to a lookout point and the view was amazing!

 

We also saw a mama monkey carrying her baby,
but I couldn't get a picture of it. 

Water Buffalo
If anyone knows Veggie Tales,
some of us did sing the water buffalo song :)

Driving up to the lookout

Part of the view at the top of the lookout

 

Visiting the Lion Park

Sunday we got to visit a lion park in Kroonstad which is about an hour away from Welkom.  I was very excited to visit and it was a lot of fun!  The first part of the tour is the lion and tiger cubs.  I have always wanted to see a tiger cub!  The best part though was that we got to play with them!  I took a lot of pictures; they were so cute and fun!  

Tigers greet each other by chuffing (sp?), which is a little like the f-f-f sound.  So when we greeted the tigers it was best to chuff and also to make a fist and let them smell it.  One of the orange tiger cubs was especially friendly and fearless! The lion cubs were a little more shy, but just as adorable.  They also bottle fed them while we were there, but they didn't offer to let us help with that.  :( After playing with the cubs for about half an hour we took a tour of the rest of the place.  

Once the lions are a certain age they move them out of the cub’s pen to a bigger pen.  Inside each of the pens is a watering pool and a smaller pen they can close off to feed the cats in.  The park gets dead cows or chickens and cuts them into four or five pieces.  On Sunday they put a piece for each lion/tiger in the feeding pens.  Then while we walked around they opened the gate to let the cats in to eat. Sunday is feeding day, so we got to watch them eat, which was pretty neat.  The big cats usually gorge themselves about once a week, after eating so much they sleep the next couple days.  Lions only have about a thirty percent success rate when they are hunting, which is why when they eat they gorge themselves till their next meal, because they will only get to eat about once a week.  They also have lighter colored rings around their eyes which helps them to hunt.  Humans have almost an equal amount of light and color receptors in their eyes, but lions have mostly light receptors.  So when they are hunting at night, the ring helps them to see even better and miniscule amounts of light.   Tigers are better hunters, but at the park they stay in the same pens as the lions.  While lions tend to stay together in prides, tigers prefer to be off by themselves. 

We also got to see some leopards, jaguars, and another cat that I don't know the name of.  There was also a little calf in its own pen, its mother had died and they were taking care of it.  There is a side of the park that raises cows and chickens, but we didn't see it.  Everyone was teasing me because at that pen I was petting the calf while they were looking at some more of the lions!  

 

A lion cub

Playing with the tiger cubs

A leopard

These tiger cubs are actually white because
of the recessive gene, their parents were orange tigers.

I cannot remember the name of this cat

Grocery Shopping for the Mamas

One of my favorite days here is Tuesday, for a couple reasons. One of them being that it's the day we help Aunt Jackie grocery shop for the mamas, which is one of my favorite jobs.  First we go to each mama’s house, collect their empty laundry and dish soap containers and get their lists.  Aunt Jackie gives the mamas lists with the food items they may need already printed on it.  If the mamas need it they put a check mark next to the item.  They have a weekly meal plan, so to some extent they all eat the same thing, although the mamas may fix food differently from each other.  Each mama has crates with their names on them, and we line them up on a table in the storage room.  There we also keep a lot of non-perishable items so we can just fill up most of their order.  Every few months the staff has to go bulk grocery shopping to keep the shelves stocked.  There are freezers to keep meat and other frozen foods and vegetables as well.  Aunt Jackie fills up their cleaning supplies and we also keep toiletries on hand as well. When we finish filling the crates the mamas will take their crates home and put their groceries away while we go to the store to get fresh vegetables, eggs, or anything we ran out of.  When we come back to the Village we finish handing out the rest of their groceries and the mamas bring all the crates back.  

While filling up their crates I also get to see some of the more interesting things they eat.  Something I haven’t tried yet but would like to is buttermilk rusks.  I’ve heard them described as similar to biscotti and they eat them with their tea.  They do drink a lot of tea, I think that is because they have some British background. 

Some other things that happened last week were that on Sunday Mama Thambisa, mama to mostly the older boys, invited us to eat supper at her house.  She fixed chicken, beetroot with chutney, pumpkin (which may have actually been butternut squash, any type of squash they call pumpkin), rice, and potato salad.  The chicken was very good, and they all loved eating the bones as well.  Mama Tselang said when she was growing up the children did not eat meat.  The adults would eat the meat and the children got to eat the bones.  The boys were so excited that we were eating with them and I think everyone had a good time eating together! 

Last Friday, Kholisile, (my pronunciation guide would look like this: Coal-i-see-lay), won first place in track for the 80 meter and 100 meter for this region of South Africa.  He has another track meet Saturday.  We were able to watch him run and I also got a couple pictures.  

Some of these pictures go with the post from last week but I just go them uploaded.  I captioned them so hopefully it will be easy to tell what they are.

Sorting clothes

Clothes sorted

The back of the car loaded up with groceries

A little bit of bulk shopping

Kholisile after winning first in two races!

Beginning to fill the mamas' crates

Busi was our little helper this week!

The Rest of My Week

A couple weeks ago I shared what the beginning of my week looks like.  Here is what the rest of my week looks like.

On Thursdays the staff and interns have a Bible study/prayer time in the morning.  Afterwards the house mamas, preschoolers, and Kaci and I go to Moms and Tots at Welkom Baptist Church.  I’m not completely certain that I understand the purpose for Moms and Tots correctly.  My understanding is that the pastor’s wife, Esther, wants to help the mamas learn how to spend time and be involved with their little ones.  In the African culture the young children that are not in school often entertain themselves while the mamas cook or talk or clean.  Esther would like to help the mamas learn to interact and spend more time with their children.  Not that the children should always have their attention, but to encourage them to read stories, sing songs, or maybe just be silly with the kids.  So at Moms and Tots the children will play while the mamas do a craft or puzzles, then we have story time.  The stories are often read in three different languages, English, Afrikaans, and Sesotho.  South Africa has eleven official languages and the younger children usually speak whatever their parents speak.  English is a second language, most everyone can speak it, but their first language is probably the dialect from whatever region they were raised in.  A favorite book around here for young children is Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? After stories we all sing songs together, then there is usually a small snack and everyone goes home. In the afternoon we help with homework.  We interns also like to make a big meal and eat together on Thursday evenings.

            On Fridays usually only some of the older students have homework.  Throughout the week if the children have come to the bus on time and behaved they receive a tick (a check mark).  If they get a certain number of ticks by Friday they receive an award, like a juice box, a candy bar, nail polish, etc.  When they get off the bus Fridays they all come to the office and we hand out their ticks.  They also have to earn a movie.  Whoever has behaved throughout the week gets to watch a movie on Friday evenings. 

            This Saturday Grandma Becky, Kaci, and I cleaned the room where all the extra clothes are kept then organized some totes of clothes that had been donated.  In about a month, when the children have a school holiday, they will have a change from summer clothes to winter clothes.  There are several totes organized by size, season, pants, shirts, boys and girls.  It sounds like the system has improved a lot over the years, but it’s still quite an ordeal to get everyone’s clothes tried on, handed out, and the old ones put away.  The older girls also have a movie on Saturday since most of them are gone on Friday evenings at youth group.

            Sundays we have church service in the morning.  At nine there is a Sunday school service for all the kids.  After singing and the lesson, they break off into small groups and discuss the lesson and recite their memory verse.  From ten to about noon is the church service.  In the evenings the staff and interns meet usually at Brian and Lois’ house for fellowship, snacks, and games for a couple hours.  

          That pretty much sums up my week, although, of course, every week is different because something always pops up and plans change! But since I'm more of a spontaneous person instead of an organized person that's fine for me! 

Valentine's Day

Since several of the kids did not have school on Monday, we planned some Valentine's Day activities to do with them.  First we planned to make sugar cookies with them.  We had four of them help make the dough, then everyone else who was not in school helped to roll and cut the cookies out.  It had been raining earlier, but while we had been making the cookies the rain had stopped.  So when we were done baking, most of us went outside and played a game of kickball. After lunch the kids came back to the kitchen and decorated the cookie. They were heart shaped with pink frosting and sprinkles.  

On Tuesday, a few of us hung Valentines on that the staff had made on all the kids' and mamas' doors.  After supper, we all played capture the heart (the same game as capture the flag), boys against girls.  Girls won two out of three!! When we were done playing we passed out the cookies that we had made the day before.  I think everyone had a good time and it was my first time celebrating Valentine's Day in the summer!  

Some of the pictures are out of order, but I was able to post quite a few.  I hope you all enjoy!

Left to right: Lethabo, Kedi, and Busi, ready to win capture the flag!

Enjoying the cookies we made Monday

Rethabile and Thabiso mixed the dry ingredients

Atlehang and Spanky mixed it all together

Cutting out the cookies

Decorating the cookies

The finished cookies

 Rethabile and Thabiso

Relay Iowa

For all the runners who are reading, you may be interested in Relay Iowa, advertised as the World’s Longest Relay.  I first heard about it in June, but I heard more of the details here.

Relay Iowa is a non-profit run that benefits Restoring Hope Village. It started after a volunteer went home from the Village and wanted to do something to help from home. He came up with a 339 mile relay across the state of Iowa.  There is a maximum number of twelve people to a team.  The average minutes per mile of each team must be no longer than ten minutes per mile.  Meaning one person may run a slower mile, but it's okay as long as another person on the team runs faster than a ten minute mile. You can decide how many miles each team member runs as well.  It’s really about working together as a team to finish, not a race.  Runners will run from Sioux City to Dubuque in three days and two nights.  You could also form a six person team if you are really up for a challenge!  The funds raised from the relay have are donated to Restoring Hope.  The relay is held in June and you can read more about it here: http://www.active.com/sioux-city-ia/running/distance-running-races/relay-iowa-2017.  It sounded very interesting to me, but it's definitely something that runners can appreciate more than I can!

A Peek Into My Week

            This is a little of what my week looks like.  Restoring Hope likes for their interns to also serve other local ministries while we are in South Africa.  Monday, January 31, we went to House of Hope which is a baby house.  They are currently taking care of seven babies, I think the oldest baby was a little over a year old.  We held the babies, put them to sleep, and fed a couple of them.  They were the quietest babies I’ve ever seen.  They are being well cared for.  The home they are in has a lot of windows and is very bright, which I was thankful for. But it is sad to see them there knowing that they are there as orphans or because they are sick. I only got one picture of a baby girl named Lesotho. 

            Tuesdays we help get the groceries for the house mamas.  There are four house mamas and two temporary house mamas who fill in when the other mamas get a day off.  They each take care of about seven children each. They give us a grocery list and we help one of the staff members get the groceries ready for each mama.   

           Wednesday mornings are free time for the interns.  This Wednesday we went to the mall and went grocery shopping.  We also visited a favorite coffee shop around here, Mug and Bean, and it was very good. It will probably become one of my favorites as well!
         Since the kids are in school, the mornings are pretty quiet although the afternoons are a bit crazy!  About 1:15 Grandpa Kyle drives the bus to pick up the kids from their several schools.  Grandma Becky picks up the preschoolers first so about 1:30 is when homework starts.  Depending on the day four or five of us may be doing homework for three to four hours.  If there is still time before supper we try to play with the kids.  Wednesday evenings are also Bible study for the Village here.  I haven't had a "normal" Thursday or Friday yet, so I will have to tell about that later.  
        I am showing some pictures of the cemetery that I mentioned last post and a beautiful sunset that we had Sunday evening. For the most part the weather has been gorgeous and I love the sunsets and the plants!

Helping Tumi and Spanky with homework

Lesotho, one of the baby girls at the baby house

Part of the baby cemetery

My view Sunday evening out the front door.

First Day in Welkom

We made it! Daddy, Kaci, and I had a safe trip without any big hiccups.  Our first flight was delayed about forty-five minutes and the flight to Jo’burg boarded on time.  I think the most frustrating thing was my fault!  I had packed as much as I could ahead of time, right after Christmas.  For my birthday I got another suitcase and decided to switch bags and use my new suitcase as my checked on bag. The issue was that I forgot to transfer my lotion, toothpaste, conditioner, and sunscreen into the suitcase and had it on my carry-on instead.  Big no-no for airports! The good part was Mommy was still there and able to take it home so it didn’t have to be thrown away.  

I couldn’t sleep much on the plane, maybe an hour total. Last night I was able to sleep for five hours, but I haven’t been tired all day, which is a blessing! So I don’t really feel like I have jet lag yet.  

Kaci, Daddy, and I on our way to Johannesburg

Close to Johannesburg

            Once we landed and went through customs and picked up our luggage, Brian and Lois drove us the last three hours to Welkom.  Fun fact: in South Africa the speed limit is 120 mph on the big road (similar to the interstate, only I don’t know what it is called) and you drive on the left side of the road!  There are also a lot more trees than I thought there would be.  There are pines trees and palm trees, and several others that I don’t know what they are.

            Monday we had orientation the morning, then Uncle Brian took us for a drive around part of Welkom.  Welkom has a lot of mining, although not as much as it used to, but you can still see the mines.  We also stopped at the cemetery.  There are two sections, the baby section and the adult section.  The graves were marked with everything from cardboard or tin to marble headstones.  Often the baby section would have bottles or something the babies had used on top of their graves.  When you look at all the graves it puts a lot more perspective on the HIV/AIDS epidemic. 

           We stopped at a fast food place to pick up lunch on our way back to RHV.  My meal was a quarter of a chicken seasoned with lemon and herbs served on top of French fries.  It was very good, but it was too much to eat for one meal!  When the kids came home from school I helped with homework for a few hours and then played with them for a little while before supper.  After supper we talked and went to bed.  And that sums up my first day in Welkom!  

             

Four Days Until Departure

Only four days left until I begin the journey to Restoring Hope International Village in Welkom, South Africa where I will be staying for a little over nine weeks.  If everything goes as planned it will take around twenty-four hours from the time I leave my house to the time I reach the Village.  But the beginning of this journey really began several years ago.

My Mom met Bob and Susie Niehoff and their family around twenty-five years ago at her church in Iowa.  Since then, their son, Brian and his wife, Lois, have moved to South Africa to help families, especially children, who were suffering from the global AIDS epidemic.  They started their own organization, Restoring Hope International, which is a children's home that they have built.  They are currently providing love and care for twenty-eight children.  If you would like to learn more about RHI you can visit their website: restoringhopeint.org   

In the last ten years that Brian and Lois have been in Welkom, we have received updates and e-mailed occasionally.  For about as long as I can remember I have loved reading missionary biographies. It was always really neat to be able to be in contact with Brian and Lois and hear about what was going on now instead of a hundred years ago.  Around eighteen months ago, my sister and I began sponsoring a little girl through RHI, which was another connection.  Then in summer 2015 Brian and Lois were able to make a short visit to our home, which was actually the first time I remember meeting them.  After praying for a long time I believed God wanted me to go to RHV.  I wanted to be very sure that I was doing God's will and not my own, because for years I have wanted to travel and be a missionary in a foreign country, and I love kids!  I did not want to go for my sake, but to do so out of love and obedience to God.  I was learning that ministry is an attitude and a lifestyle. There are so many opportunities to minister to others, big or small, right here at home; and sometimes they are the hardest to do and often the easiest to overlook.  I felt like I needed to be better at that before I did anything else.  But God also showed me that sometimes He will use our desires and dreams to bring glory to Himself.  If we have a strength or a gift or something that we enjoy, we can't be afraid to give it to  God.  If we are truly going to serve God we have to kill all of our idols.  But by worshiping God alone, sometimes He still uses our dreams.  

It didn't work out that I was able to go in winter 2016, I needed to be eighteen before I left and I wasn't going to turn eighteen for two months.  About six months later Bob and Susie visited and said they would be willing to take me home or take me down so that I wouldn't have to travel alone, which was a big concern.  I was able to get my passport and my boss agreed to let me have the time off if it worked out that I could go. (I think I have the best boss and co-workers!)  My Dad decided that he would go with me (And the best parents!  While I'm at it I better add my siblings too!) and we got our plane tickets in August!

I don't know many details of what I will be doing.  I know that I will be helping with a lot of homework and spending time with them.  I'm praying that I will just be useful, able to see what needs to be done and then willing to do it.  Some other details are that my flight from Atlanta to Johannesburg is about fifteen hours long.  Welkom is seven hours ahead of the Eastern time zone and since it's south of the equator it will be summertime there.  Daddy will be flying home about a week after we get there and I am flying home with Bob and Susie at the end of March.

I will try to keep everyone updated.  I have never done a blog before, so please bear with me as I try to figure everything out!