Not much

Here's a few little newsy items from our lives recently.

You never know how much you miss something until you have to do without it! Our refrigerator gave up the ghost the first week of January, and it took almost two weeks to get it repaired since it works off of propane instead of electricity. The only person I have found who can work on this type of refrigerator is a jack-of-all-trades in the tiny village of Tweespruit, South Africa, about 50 miles away. I don't know if it actually took two weeks to clean the carbon out of the little tubes on the back of the fridge, or if he was so busy fixing cars, selling gasoline, and patching tires that he just didn't get around to working on it. Anyway, we're glad that it's back and working again!Here the new school year starts in January instead of September. Thabiso is back to school (preschool for him) along with most of the rest of the children in the village, so it's been quiet around our place. Steph is doing preschool/kindergarten work with Kaitlyn again, too. She really enjoys it most of the time, but her attention span is still developing. In the afternoons she usually plays with Thabiso. I think their favorite activity is pushing each other (or better yet being pushed by an adult) on the swing in the oak tree outside the front door.
Last week on Wednesday we visited Steve and Gwen Geise out at the farmhouse where they moved. It's a very quiet, relaxing spot in the country, and we enjoyed spending the night with them. As usual, there was plenty of mission business to discuss, but we also enjoyed a barbecue, homemade cinnamon rolls, and a short walk around the farm. The kids really enjoyed playing with legos and riding bikes.

This coming week promises to be a busy one as usual. I am hoping to start the process of getting indefinite residence permits for Lesotho. If we can get them, we won't have the hassle of renewing them every two years, and we will also be able to get a 6 month's border pass that will save us hours of standing in line when we go to South Africa. As the Lord reminds you, please help us pray that this process will be successful. Thanks!

Kristell's Favorite Christmas Present

I think this video and followup picture are pretty self-explanatory!

More Pictures

We opened Christmas presents on Monday before Christmas. Of course Kaitlyn enjoyed that! Again this year she wanted to play with her first present instead of opening the rest. She lives for the moment!

Christmas Day we went to the van der Merwes. We really had a nice time with them, the Cutlers (who were visiting us and the work in Lesotho), and the Steve Geises. A highlight for Kaitlyn was horseback riding with Uncle S.W.

As usual we had a Christmas conference. The services were good and it was also nice to catch up with friends. This is Me Mafelepe and their boy Reabetsoe. If Kristell hadn't been born premature, they would be the same age. He has definitely passed her up in size though. We think he'll be big and tough like his daddy who is a policeman.

Bro. Cutler spoke three times at the conference. They were missionaries here back in the 80's.

Sis. Cutler worked at the clinic here at Matukeng before there was a bridge across the river into Maseru. Their life involved much more sacrifice back then than ours does today.

Ready for conference.

Kaitlyn really enjoyed Rachel (l) and Anna (r) Cutler. Rachel has applied with HIM to come to Lesotho as a missionary.

Saturday after New Years, Kaitlyn was invited to the birthday party of Puseletso Letuka, the child of the former chief (Ntate Lioane) of our village. She turned one on the 2nd of January. A boy in the back row is holding her. Kaitlyn had a great time with the other kids.

Today Kaitlyn went with me (Glenn) to church. Steph has been sick and running a fever with some kind of a nasty cold or flu, so she couldn't go. Kaitlyn enjoyed dressing up in her "church hat" and "church shoes." She did a great job of sitting still on the front seat while I preached!