visiting the homeland…

We have been back in Charlottesville, Va for almost two weeks now. It is a strange feeling moving between two countries. It feels sometimes like two totally different lives. Charlottesville and Mossel Bay feel so far apart in so many ways. But, it is soo good to be here now. We are so grateful for the life that we can live, for the huge privilege of being able to do what we love and feel like we were made to do. All the grandparents are having such a good time getting to know Noah and he is loving all the attention. We are loving the little breaks that time with the grandparents is giving us! We actually spent the night away from noah for the first time ever last night. It went really well on his part and i just woke up once in the night panicking that i couldn’t find my baby. Want to post some pics but forgot the connecting cord so will do it later.

Our Drive to Pretoria

A long journey…We left monday at 7 from Mossel Bay. It was such a cool drive. We went up through the mountains, through the desert spent the night and then on to the flat lands…and tuesday afternoon we arrived in Pretoria. We had so much fun. We just took our time, stopped and looked at anything that looked interesting, picnicked and generally enjoyed ourselves. Noah did really well in the car. We were all pretty amazed. He found ways to entertain himself between sleeping and eating and getting out to look around. 

The following clip is him after a long day, with clearly too much energy, making the best of him still being in his car seat…typical noah. typical mommy, i accidentally filmed it sideways. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vr4QOUI4RQU

Josh’s Sermon

Josh had the privilege to preach at our church this past Sunday. It was really cool. He really had a word for our congregation in this time. It fit right in with what God has been doing in our church. 

I will give you a short summary: It was all about Stepping Out. If we want to see God really change our lives, others lives and eventually our city, nation and so on…we need to step out. He gave three areas that require stepping out. 1. we need to seek God diligently. 2. we need to be obedient. 3. we need to serve.

That is a very basic summary. It was really great. God really spoke through Josh and people were really convicted by what God was doing. Cool.

packing…

changing cities, changing countries, changing climates, 2 people and a babe…

 

the outside of the house

our new house

Last week we moved into a new house! We are so excited about the way that God has provided for us to rent this house. We have been praying for a new house to rent. Our cottage was wonderful but we have found that with guests and a baby, the house is a bit small. Also we weren’t able to have cell groups or any groups at our house because it was so small. We prayed really specifically for what we wanted and God answered our prayers. It is a two bedroom house with a huge living room for having lots of people over. And, Josh really wanted a house with a fireplace and I think this house has the biggest fireplace i have ever seen. It has a great yard with a fence around it and, a detached garage with, for anyone who wants to come and visit, a separate guest room and bathroom. It is amazing. Josh worked out a deal with the owner and we are renting for less then the asking price and they are basically redoing the entire inside and outside for us. new paint and tiles.

part of our new huge living room

 

noah loves all the new space to crawl.

noah and i snuggled up by the fire

laundry

Noah decided he wanted to help get the clothes off the line.