Hunting, Horses & Heat ...

JohnD with his Chloe (above)

Micaela introducing her Molasses (tiny black kitty) to her Jasmine!!!

Micaela with her Jasmine

These photos were taken on Christmas Day, a full week after the horses arrived here.

They both have quickly learnt the routine of NYUMMY food in the evening, and get very excited with the arrival of the children. Chloe appears to be donimant, and quite competative for any treats... Hope this is simply because she is about 4 months pregnant.

Stephen, Renee, and five other guests arrived the day before yesterday, for a hunt. It's wonderful to have Nicol and Karia here again... the hunters have been doing well, and have taken some lovely trophies. Karia is looking LOVELY!!! What a beautiful Pregnant Mommy she looks.

It's been pretty warm, and it makes hunting a challenge... as it's EARLY mornings, and LATE evenings... with afternoon naps! :)

Big hugs to you all.

JohnD's next treatment is Thursday next week, all going well.

Blessings to you! Happy Christmas.

It's a beautiful, warm, sunny, summers day. Typical for this time of the year. We went to a beautiful evening service in Louis Trichardt last night, and had cheese and wine with the Laubser family afterwards. The kids were all very excited to open presents together. :)
We couldn't wrap the horses though...

Our thoughts cross over the miles to you all, and we wish you all a very special day. Merry Christmas. We have so much to celebrate - the gift of our Jesus to us, and what his life means to us each day.

Love Ken, Jo, Micaela, JohnD, Dennis, Carol, and the rest of the family!
Jasmine, Chloe, Champ, Lady, Kit-Kat and Molasses xxx

New and exciting happenings... :)

Phew - this week has just been quite a whirlwind week. Most of the staff went off on Tuesday, so had to do all of the wages / Christmas stuff before they left. I had to take JohnD in for his bloods - as without nupogen after the last chemo, we were unsure as to what his levels would be like. His white cel count was very low, so we are back on to the injections again.
Thursday JohnD and I went to pretoria for his 3rd last chemo... came back Friday afternoon, and he has been quite well.

While we were on the road, Ken called to say that we had an opportunity to buy two resuce horses who could be trucked up from the Freestate on Saturday. (Months ago, we had called this dealer, looking for very tame and managable childrens horses.) They needed an answer immediately, as they were loading early the next morning to come to Pietersburg to deliver other horses. They had space in their box, and we would not have to pay for delivery.
We were all a bit aprehensive about buying horses that we know are in bad condition, that we have not even seen. ! GULP. Are we sitting ducks for "being taken for a ride???"
We took the plunge / bait / challenge, looking at it as a marvelous opportunity (for Micaela especially), to build a relationship with a horse who needs her T.L.C., and she really needs a horse to love! :) The white mare is definitely pregnant, and the brown mare is possibly pregnant, but we do not know for sure. Both horses have not stopped eating all of the green grass since they walked off the trailer. Shame. Our hearts break to think how badly they were treated. But, we are happy to know how much they are going to be loved!!! They both appear to be VERY GENTLE, managable, easy to approach, and used to being handled. We will only be able to even THINK about riding them in about two weeks or more - once they have regained some of their condition.
The horse dealer said that she will come and collect them in a month if we are not completely satisfied, and she will replace them with others. So - we are now on a fast track learning curve... with yet another rescue animal.
Big hugs from us all in the green, lush, sunny, alive bushveldt!

Bandolierkop Bush is the BEST!

We have had such lovely rains... the veldt is green, inviting and it's just been so wonderful to enjoy the transformation all around us. Kids wanna go camping tonight, so we about to load up and head out. Any one wanna join us? :) You are so welcome. Mucha is calling.