Happy Thanksgiving!

To all of our very dear and treasured friends and family,
We are so grateful to have you all in our lives and we thank our Heavenly Father for you all.
We pray that you have a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend, and that you are blessed with His presence and provision.
Fond regards,
Ken, Jo, Micaela, JohnD, Dennis and Carol
Champ, Lady and Little Snip xxx

Rifle Licence Renewals

In case you can't see it... the hat says "GRADE A CERTIFIED RIFLE LOONEY"
I believe the change in climatic conditions world wide has to be something to do with the fact that after our initial applications were submitted in March 2008, we finally OFFICIALLY have all of Ken's rifle licence renewals in our sticky mitts!  Four years later, three different submissions, two different offices, and finally someone in the District Firearms Office knows what she is doing! Well done Louis Trichardt DFO! Our faith is restored. ;)

USA Elections

To all of our very dear friends and special family in the USA during the elections... we are thinking of you all!

Champ is almost fully recovered from his bite, and is doing wonderfully well! Here is a picture of him that I took this morning!

 The work at the top of the hill on the Wegkruip side continues... it won't be long and the kraal will be finished!  It sure is a lot of poles to plant! ;)

 Here is a recent picture of little Jean and Wynandt Martin! These two little ones are growing so fast!  We are looking forward to seeing them again some time soon!

 Micaela started with her year end exams today... holding thumbs for her!  This picture was taken this weekend at the Klein Kariba cattle auction.

Sofie, Agnes and Julias Jakobsson visited with us Sunday and Monday! It was so wonderful to see them again, and for the kids to catch up! They had lived here in SA for a year while JohnD was still undergoing chemo.

Its sunny, hot, and beautiful!  I think I would bore you if I put pictures on of every little calf born, but I just have to add this one - as he was born to Micaela's cow Hart.  She has not named him yet, but he was born last week.
Well, big hugs to you all! Lots of love from us "Balls in the bush!"

Puff Adder Bite

It appears that our beloved Champ is determined to make 2012 a year to remember!  It started with the amputation of his left back leg, in February (after the accident).  He then really took a dip with his recovery, remaining quite underweight - despite many different feeding programs, and medication.

On Sunday, we noticed a small wound on his head, and thought he might have been bitten by something - maybe a tussle with another dog. Our little Snip is having her first  cycle, so they have been rather active!

On Monday, a lot of swelling had accumulated, and we took him to the vet. They said that he was showing classic signs of a puff adder bite.  We have absolutely no idea how or where it happened.  

Poor guy - he looks way worse than he feels.  He has still been very excited to go for walks, and has not lost his appetite, so we are trusting that he will make a full recovery! Thank you Lord for modern medicine!

In going though some of the photos of the most recent hunt, Ken thought it would be fun to add this action picture to the blog!  Craig and Allen wanted to learn how to play cricket, so John-D and Ivan taught them.  Snip was desperate to play too, but eventually had to be banned from the game!

We had another 15mls of rain last night, after a terrible wind storm. We have been so concerned to see all of the damage and the horrific ravaging of the NY area by "Sandy".  Our little wind storm was nothing, but it sure had us praying anxiously, and fully aware of how quickly weather conditions can change.  Thankfully there was no damage.  We have had 3 and a half inches to date, which is more than last year's total rainfall!

Our hearts go out to all who have been affected by Sandy, and we are praying for your safety.

Micaela will start writing her year end exams next week, and will finish her grade 8 year at the end of November. John-D will finish his grade 5 year at the end of November too! Luck for him, he does not need to write exams like she does!  He will be playing in the tennis tournament in Polokwane again at the beginning of December.  He has bought himself a new tennis racket, and practices at every opportunity he can!  

Big hugs to you all!  Keep in touch, we love to hear from you.

New Calves and Beautiful rains

My goodness the little weavers are busy this morning, and the veld is just screaming with life and joy.  This really is such a wonderful time of the year.  We have beautiful warm sunny weather, dynamic and stunning sunsets because of the clouds, and of course all of the new life!  What a joy to be alive.
The first of our new calves was born Sunday last week, and we are expecting an "avalanche" of them to come in the next two months!
Ken has been very busy with the soft ground, making preparations for the building of the new cattle kraal.  Despite the long hot days, its so rewarding to see the progress!  Micaela and JohnD both just have until the end of November, and then their grade 8 and 6 school years will officially be over!  Micaela recieved a total of 5 certificates at the prize giving last week, and we are so proud of her achievements this year.  What a long way we have come from home schooling for her first 7 grades, and now public boarding school!  She is still so happy there, and just loves it all.
JohnD has continued to school with Kobie, and it has been going really well - considering the monotony of being the only pupil.... I guess for him, being being consistently in the TOP 10 is easy! ;)
We are so very excited about the news of my sisters coming to visit us with their families - from Zimbabwe and Austraila! At the end of November and early December, we will all be together again - with the 8 children / cousins being able to spend some quality time together. We are all so looking forward to it!
Blessings to you!

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Schools are back in full swing now, and during the 10 day break, Micaela and JohnD had the opportunity to go to the Jame's home up in the Soutpansberg Mountain for a three day "horse camp". They had a BALL! Came home absolutely exhausted, filthy, happy, and very stiff!  Will hopefully get some more photos from them soon, to share.  They not only spent lots of time riding, but also swam, climbed, and just got worn out! ;)

I found this picture online... it was a formal we went to for the Air Force 90th Birthday celebration two years ago.... we so seldom get dressed up, so thought it would be fun to share!

It's pretty cold here today, windy and overcast.... we are praying desperately for more rain.

Big hugs to you all!

20th Wedding Anniversary!

Oh wow, what a fun safari... Craig and Allen, thank you so much. We had a very successful hunt, with happy hunters every day - despite some rainy cold days.  Snip and Champ certainly were kept busy, and Snip is showing amazing potential...  Now Ken officially has 2 PHD's!  (Professional Hunting Dogs!) ;)

JohnD was very involved with this hunt, and it would be impossible to recount all of the small stories collected over the past ten days! Needless to say "reflections" took quite some time, and we certainly are proud of how he is growing in his own hunting skills! 

Ken and I were so blessed to be able to go through to Merensky for Micaela's prize giving for her Tritech project. She was awarded Silver, in the National competition, along with many other talented children. We are so proud of her!

Tomorrow we celebrate our 20th Wedding anniversary.  We truly are blessed! We have so much to say THANK YOU for, and we give our Heavenly Father all of the glory.