Merensky High School

Well, today finally came. Micaela is at school... we will see her again on Friday. She had great fun unpacking her trunk, and getting settled. She and Carissa both appeared to be very excited!

In this picture : Alex Godrich, (also a previous Home Schooler), Micaela and Carissa Ivy. :) She also knows two others (Duane Drosky and Shawn), so does not feel lonely at all.

Open Doors and saying goodbye

Micaela's beloved Sir Prize... loaded like a dream. His very first ride in a horse box, and Cruiser and Blue Jeans are with him. I was so amazed... Ken met Bro. Douglas at one of the cattle auctions, and M started emailing him about the three horses some time back. He breeds endurance horses, and was interested in Blue Jeans, as a breeding mare... He came with his PA whose son is also going to Merensky next week, so the two kids had LOTS to talk about...

Here, she saddled Rocky for her last ride.... our very dear friends, the Spies family, want him! Her best friend's (Bianca) Father, (Hannes) came and rode him... and came back today to collect him.

When I started praying for a horse for Micaela, this horse was the answer to all of what I wanted for her. As much as my heart aches... I know that he is going to be ridden, well loved, and be able to play polox again - which he loves! He has so much go in him... and is just too much of a handful for me! With her going away, she is actually relieved that all of them have gone to places where they will be well loved, and ridden.

So her trunk is packed... her uniform and all of her things have her name sewed on, and she is ready! Tuesday must just PLEASE COME QUICKLY for her... Her dorm buddie has been picked, and we head to Merensky Tuesday. They start school on Wednesday.

Hannes came this morning to load Rocky, so it has been a busy morning.

He loaded so easily. :)

And of course Micaela is delighted that she will be able to see him when she visits Bianca!

Smile for the camera Rocky!!!

If she wants horses again when she finishes with boarding school, then we will look at getting more for her... but I just don't have the same passion for them as she does, and I am too scared of falling (at my age!) off such a large and strong horse!

We head to the States for the month of Feb as a family, so I have much to get done! This computer and my desk feels like it has me trapped in it's clutches. To all of you reading, in the Charleston and Atlanta area, we just can't wait to see you again! We will be in Charleston for Biz's wedding on the 11th Feb, (Micaela has been asked to be an Honorary Bride's Maid) and will be there the week between it and SEWE. Our booth will be at the Sporting Village at the Brittle Bank Park like usual. Please come and see us all! It will be the kids first trip with us. I know we are all looking forward to it.

We are so sad that we will not get up to the Michigan area like we have done for so many years... so please forgive us? We will look forward to hearing your news, and will definitely try to be back there in 2013! The SCI dinner dates clashed with the Wedding date sadly.

I have not got around to sending out personal emails yet, and hope to do that soon. Big hugs to you. From a very dry and dusty part of SA...

ps - we had a fire on Tuesday!!! The kids both helped fight it, as did many of our neighbours. Phew! That was very unexpected and not nice. We were all quite stiff for a while!

Welcome 2012! :)

Jo, Ken, Bren, Roxy, Robs, JohnD, Boris, Ella, Micaela, Susie, Al - Family Christmas. :)

The Zartmann family, the night before they left. :(

Mom, Derek, Dad, Al, Ken, Boris, Jen, Bren, Robs & Susie...

Swimming in the Tzaneen Dam with Wighardt & Saartjie :)

Boating!!! :) Rachel & Micaela out camping! :0

First chance JD had with a fishing rod in some time... but not much time. He made the most of it!

Micaela milking our Foster mommy - boy is the taste so different!

JohnD and his Lady Lulu!

Christmas day - Me above, and Derek & Ken below...

It's a very lazy, sunny, Sunday afternoon - the old has gone and the new has come! It appears that far fewer folks are sending text, email, snailmail, whatsapp, bbm, or any other kind of festive greetings. ??? Or is it only me??? Maybe the year snuck up on all of us too quickly? Whatever the reason, we know that we have a Faithful and Loving Father, who holds yesterday, today & tomorrow in Hands, and we hope that your today & tomorrow are full of His love, His light, His presence, and His passion.

We have a New Year function at the lodge now... the kids have taken themselves off with their friends, and are swimming at Mucha. Oh the joys of their independence, and motivation! They grow so fast. It seems like just yesterday, we were camping the new year in... and as much as we tried to keep that tradition, the summer rains always thwarted our efforts!

This year we celebrated New Year - a family dinner down the road, and reflected on the wonderful highlights of 2011. Yes, God is faithful, and present with HIS presence in all we have and do.
We have yet another year of good health for all of us.
We have two wonderful children, who are growing up so quickly, and who bring us much delight.
We are surrounded by special friends and family, who add so much value to our lives.
We have an international family too, that continually surprise us with heart smiles and true connections that add eternal value.

We have had a good year with our business, the game & ranch continues to meet our needs.

We have a growing and beautiful Nguni Herd, that brings us much delight - and we are all learning so much.

We have enjoyed the protection of our Father, and are aware of His Goodness and Faithfulness daily.

We are excited about 2012, and look forward to walking each day in the knowledge that we can enjoy each and every gift... celebrating LIFE.

Hope you enjoyed the pics xxx very fond love to you all, and make the most of it! You only have one life to live... enjoy it all. Blessings! The Ball Family

Closing 2011 - HAPPY CHRISTMAS

A very warm and sunny greeting all of the way from Bandolierkop. I don’t know where you are when you read this, but it is our heartfelt prayer that you are happy, surrounded by those you love, and those who love you. We pray that Christmas this year will be special for you and unlike all of the others in a very good way. May you know and experience the inner peace - that passes all understanding – that is our gift from Jesus… fresh and new every day. JohnD has a friend visiting, and the table tennis table has yet again become the source of much hilarity and challenges. He also had the opportunity to play in his very first official SATA tennis tournament, in Pieterburg… it was a two day round robin, and in his age group he came 16th . It was very good experience for him, and while he was thoroughly whipped by many good players, he will go in more confident next time. They played “sudden death” after duce, and the best of 7 games - so the games and matches were over very quickly. (Not sure if this makes sense to any of you, but never mind!)

Most of the cattle have calved – just a few more babies expected for this year, so we have loads of very adorable little ones running around and enjoying the fresh green growth of summer. We have built a small crush and milking pen at Silverbank, and have started milking two of the new first time calvers. One of them is Vanilla, the foster mommy – and the other is a very sweet cow Micaela has named Dolly. We are all enjoying the lovely fresh full cream farm milk!!!

Micaela and JohnD are enjoying the summer break from school. At the beginning of December, Micaela went off to a camp in Pretoria for 13/14 year olds, (all heading off to high school next year). She had a lot of fun, and learnt a lot! She has her school clothes washed and ready, her hostel bedding also ready, and most of her supplies that she needs. She is very much looking forward to the adventure of it all next year! They start mid January. Kobie made this beautiful quilt for her, for her hostel bed.
Our beloved Champ took a tumble off Shrek last week Wednesday and the back wheel went over him. Talk about heart stopping. He has had no less than three trips to the vet, two lots of xrays, and several injections. He is healing up nicely and much to our relief – there is nothing broken or fractured. He has been LOVING all of the TLC, and the pampering, and is recovering very well.

Here at Shi-awela we have a house full for Christmas again this year, and I wouldn’t have it any other way! We have family coming from Zimbabwe (my sister Jenny and her family), the UK, Cape Town and Johannesburg (my Aunt, cousins and their family). We can’t wait!

In closing ... may our precious Heavenly Father, bless and keep you! We look forward to all that 2012 has in store, and we pray for HIS continued blessing over you all.

Very fondly,

Ken, Jo, Micaela, JohnD, Dennis & Carol xxx

Happy Thanksgiving.

For those of you who are not familiar with the bare necked chickens that JohnD is breeding... here is a picture of him with one of his little chicks. They are quite cute... and pretty smart too (as chickens go!) He has quite a flock of them now. His hens have figured out that if they lay their eggs in the chicken run... their eggs get nicked! ;) So - they have taken to laying their eggs in the bush where we can't find them!!!

We had the delightful joy of Kim Rieman's hunt this month! She got three lovely trophies in just four hunting days... and Champ quickly figured out that she was his buddy! It was pretty hot, and many a lunch time was spent inside away from the sun and heat. Kim, we just LOVED having you - thank you so much! Thanks for setting it all up Birgit! ;)

Just to make all of you who are not here in Africa, a little jealous....

One of our Nguni cows gave birth to twins!!! :) This little one we named Krieghoff. His "mom" abandoned him in favor of the the older and bigger twin (Rigby!). We have successfully adopted him to one of the new heifers who sadly lost her calf the same night that Krieghoff was born.

Micaela and her friend Bianca celebrated her "birthday" a little early this year with camping out with Ivan and JohnD. The four of them have done this three years in a row now... I guess with all of the changes ahead next year, we don't know if they will be able to do it again!

They went off in "Shrek" for a picnic and a swim.

We are finally getting some much needed rain - gentle, soaking, consistent and wonderfully refreshing. Thank you LORD! The veld is looking amazing, and you can just hear the grass growing!

Happy Thanksgiving. We have much to be thankful for. We have much to celebrate. We have our Father God, who is faithful. We are thinking of you all, and pray you will have a blessed holiday.

Hello hello hello!!!

I'm not even going to try and apologise for the long time since my last post! Ha ha - It just does not seem to make any difference anyway! :) For those who still read this - it's worth waiting for - I PROMISE!

Yes, the long awaited trip back to Dr de Jager gave us yet another ALL CLEAR! His x-rays and his blood work all could not have been more positive, so we truly thank and praise our Heavenly Father for his faithful hand over us all. The photo above was taken just before we left.

Young Cruiser had his little "snip" operation a few weeks ago - poor chap! He was amazing, and a star patient!!! His recovery has been fantastic, but it was quite funny to watch him under the effects of the drugs... he went down like a little dog!

My Dad and Mom came to visit from Australia - and I actually had the privilege and pleasure of their company - ALL TO MYSELF. "Mommy" was with us for a week, and then headed to Cape Town to see her family there, and after "Daddy" finished in the Sudan and Zimbabwe, he came to us for ten days. It really was the first time in I can't even remember how long, that we had good quality time together, without the pressure of any thing else on the go. It was very lovely!

We had great excitement tonight, Micaela's cow has calved, and produced a beautiful little heifer. She is very pretty - and of course Micaela is in her element... Long may her farming passion continue!

She had a really great time at the All Africa Students Convention in Bloemfontein at the beginning of the month. We had enrolled her for table tennis, 200m dash, checkers and she also exhibited a painting. She came 3rd with her sprint, and actually got a nomination for the International Students Convention in the USA for next year. :) We were all delighted, but none more surprised than Micaela herself. I don't think she knows how fast she really is! Of course I've known for years, as it's me that has to try and catch her whenever she runs off!!!

I also managed to snap her on Rocky - she knows how to get him to rear on demand.... golly doesn't this make a pretty picture? !

JohnD has a very successful little crop of bare necked chickens - which he is enjoying and diligently looking after!

He has done so very well with his tennis this year, and he won the last 'round robbin' for under 12's. He was so proud of himself, and exhibited tremendous maturity under pressure. He is at the bottom left in this picture.

We have had 34mls of rain so far, and the veldt is already greening up and looking magical. Summer is finally here! :D

Big hugs to you all from Bandolierkop.

Sizzling September :D

I think I'm still too skeptical to actually pack away all of the winter woolies, but if this lovely warm weather continues, I just might be tempted!

We were blessed with a successful buffalo hunt with the return of David Jackson and his hunting buddie Joe Trapanese - much laughter and lots of fun... and LOTS of hunting too. It was very special to have Nicol, Karia and Jean back with us for this hunt too! Just like old times.

Blair & Lisa closed our season, and my what a special way to close... he brought with him a very unique and antique H&H Double: 35 WCF. We seldom see such pieces actually working, so it was a rare moment for us all.

Champ has continued true to his name, and is consistantly the hero at the end of each day.

On the home front, we are preparing to enroll Micaela into a local high school from next year, so there has been much energy spent in researching schools, and the different options open to us. We have selected Merensky High School, which was where Ken spent four very happy years. Needless to say, much will be changing for us next year.