Summer Time

This is the first year that Steph's roses have really bloomed well. We've been enjoying them a lot!

Our Girls

Kristell's smiles are coming easier. She's more fussy than Kaitlyn was, but she's slowly getting into a routine, so things are going better.

Kaitlyn has really grown a lot over the last few months. It's hard to believe that our little girl has gotten so big! Her main interest is reading right now. She tries to read the cereal boxes, books, signs, and everything. She gets really frustrated most of the time, but every once in a while she'll figure out another word.

Team Meetings

This last week Mr and Mrs. Howard were here for their annual Regional Director's visit to the field. We really enjoyed being with them and want to thank God for His presence and help in the different meetings we held.

All of the missionaries were together for a team meeting at the house where Philip and Amrie live. We had a good time together and made some important decisions. We also enjoyed a DELICIOUS meal of pork ribs provided by S.W. van der Merwe. He slaughtered some pigs he had been raising, and we were blessed to enjoy some of the meat.

In Lesotho Mr. Howard spoke at a pastors' seminar on the topic of marriage and the home. His practical advice and solid use of Scripture were a blessing to the pastors during a time when Satan is especially attacking the home and people's marriages.

Thanks to all of you who prayed for us during this important time. We really appreciate your support!

Smile!

Kristell is starting to smile a lot more, but they're hard to catch with a camera. Here's the tail end of one.

Rainy Day

A lot has happened since I last updated our blog! I'm not sure where to start and what to leave out.

A big thing right now is that the rainy season has begun. Saturday night and Sunday during the day we got 7/8 of an inch of rain. During last night (Sunday night) we got 2 inches. I wouldn't be surprised if it has rained another 1 1/2 during the day today. It's a soggy world out there!

As you can see from the pictures, Kristell is growing and doing well. She still sleeps a lot and she still thinks that night is the best time to be awake to socialize. Last night she gave me a couple really good smiles. Steph has gotten a few, too. Fortunately when the lights go off, she settles down pretty quick and sleeps again. I know Steph will be really glad when November comes so that she can let her sleep longer than four hours between feedings. The doctor said we must religiously wake her every three hours in the day and every four hours at night to feed her for the first three months. Murphy's law says that by then she will be so used to eating every 3 hours that she'll wake us up instead of us waking her, but at least she's healthy!

Another big thing is that Steph's mom is here with us. She has been a HUGE help with getting adjusted to another child. We've really enjoyed being with her, and all the food she's cooked has been delicious! I don't know how we would have made it with out her! She leaves a week from today. I'm sure Dad will be glad to have her back, but we're going to miss her a lot!

Kaitlyn will miss her a lot, too! Today the two of them baked peanut butter cookies. Grandma has also been helping Kaitlyn about every day with some kind of preschool activity. Today they painted with water colors.

I don't have any ministry-related pictures to add right now, but I've been busy. One of the things that I'm enjoying at the moment is teach a hermeneutics class (proper Bible interpretation) at the weekend Bible School. It is very challenging because of the vast difference in educational experience of the students. Some are in college, others only went to school for a few years. Also there are virtually no Bible reference materials in Sesotho, not even a concordance.

We have been holding prayer meetings every night here at Matukeng in preparation for tent meetings and evangelism in the surrounding villages. God has been working in all of our lives, and it's exciting to see the congregation growing spiritually. As a result of the focused prayer meetings, several back sliders have come back to the Lord.

Last week we took Mom to the Pilanesberg Game Preserve up towards Pretoria and Rustenburg. We had a really nice time and saw lots of incredible animals. We were especially blessed to see a large male lion, but he was so far away that we couldn't see much more than an outline even with binoculars. From the game preserve we went over to Pretoria and Johannesburg to take care of some mission-related business there.

Here is Kristell's two-month-old picture.

These black-backed jackals are scavenging a rhino or elephant carcass.