Semongkong / Maletsunyane Falls

Common home or roadside store

(sometimes both)
Doing laundry
Maletsunyane Falls

Shepherds - very common but usually seen with cattle or sheep

Adventure in Africa

There is no amount of words I could gather to express our trip to Lesotho. I sit here thinking, "Where do I begin?" I'll start with Luke...my biggest concern: him sleeping! Well....God seemed to come alongside us the moment our plane departed from US soil...he fell asleep....Luke was a trooper. He never had any problems sleeping. He slept 8 hours on the way there...and 11 hours on our return flight!

God seemed to take all the inhibitions away...we experienced many things. The Basotho culture is fascinating, and people even more delightful than you can fathom. In fact, the most pleasant people I have every come in contact with. Especially when you make the effort to speak their language. They are loving, considerate, and full of family life. They seem to thrive on relationships and build their entire world around it! People are their life.

For two weeks we stayed in the capital city, Maseru with Nathan, Nicole, and Caleb. They currently reside in a 4 bedroom, 3 bath home. Yes....it's for the ability to host mission teams. We experienced living in "community" as they call it. Living in tight quarters with another family. We were able to see their day-in and day-out "missionary" lifestyle. Nicole, all the while still looking more beautiful than ever! :) We were able to be with Shayla (our dear friend from Gville) for just 2 short days, but we were so blessed to hear all about her trials, challenges, and adventures from her past year of working with Mercy Ships in Liberia. Unbelievable!

God seemed to weave people in and out of our visit like it had been planned all along. The opportunity to talk with other missionaries from Ghana, Holland, US, Australia.........all over the world was priceless.

Patrick and I went into the mountains for two days. We stayed in a Bed and Breakfast in Ramabanta. It was truly paradise. We visited the villages, took a pony trek, and slept in the traditional home called a Rondaval. We went on the following day to Semongkong to see the Maletsunyane falls. Getting there was an adventure in itself...there were times I didn't think we were even on "roads".

The second week Patrick and Nathan went to South Africa for a Discipleship Training School conference. He was able to walk alongside Nathan to experience the life of a missionary, and becoming fully aware of Nathan's role as a coordinator for YWAM.

Meanwhile Jeanne, Nicole, Luke & Caleb did some "sightseeing," house work, and serving within the community. We visiting the famous Cave dwellings and more importantly had time to share our struggles of daily life. Nicole's life is a lot like mine in staying home, preparing meals, taking care of Caleb, while Nathan sometimes does "hands on" work for YWAM. Nicole and I were able to serve some of the children in the city of Maseru. These are children abandoned and left to parent themselves and possibly their siblings as well. We helped serve the children a small meal, and then played with them. We also visited two orphanages. Where images are now carved into my heart for life. Can't I take them all home?


Now I have questions like, "Why do I have granite countertops when people in Lesotho don't even have toilets?" Or, "I didn't choose to be born in the U.S. where I was freely able to get a college education and to have the best of "things," neither do children in Africa choose to be born in a country where AIDS is rampant, killing parents, and leaving millions of orphans. Many questions fill my mind and I am left to ask God, "Show me what puzzle peice I am, because I know I cannot fix all the problems...I just want to be a peice!"

Ramabanta

We took two days out of the city in Ramabanta.

This is village life.

No electricity, no running water, no phones, no cell phones....

ahhhhh maybe we could use more of this!!

Our very "plush" Rondaval where we spent one night

Pony Treking in Ramabanta

The road we took

Village life in Ramabanta

Rondaval Home

Children in Ramabanta Village

Happiest children I have met



Women are effective at carrying their children in their blankets while they work

St. Simons Island

Mr. Calculus

Here is a picture I just had to add because this is how excited Patrick was to know he passed Calculus! We had a peace out party...and no more calculus for the rest of our lives!!

First time in pool this year!

We went to the pool with Aunt "Drewuulie" - that's the way Luke says, Aunt Julie! We were celebrating big time with her, as she is officially going to Chiropractic college in only 2 months!!! We are sooooooooooooooo very proud of her! We are going to miss her a lot...but it will be fun to go and visit with her!

Daddy teaches Luke how to kick...and how to jump in!

Earth Day

We celebrated Earth Day by going and helping clean up certain areas of UF. It was fabulous!

Crawfish Boil

We experienced a true Crawfish Boil! Our neighbors, James & Crystal, are from Louisana (well Crystal is). Her family drove down with 150 lbs of live crawfish for their annual family Crawfish Boil! We were kindly invited...and delighted! It was an ALL day event. We had a blast!







This is a game called "Washer Board", it's a country way of playing horseshoes, except you use two pieces of board with large washers. It was a hit...and Patrick is hooked!

Yes, I tried them...not bad...but a lot of peelin'!

Airplanes

We took a lovely bike ride to the Gigantic Gainesville Airport to watch the planes land and take off. It was so much fun to have them coming to land right over our heads! Luke and I waved to every one of them!