Christmas Pictures

These are Kaitlyn's age-mates in Lesotho--Thlohonolofatso Qoane & Thabiso Nthabi

Kaitlyn opening her Christmas presents. She was afraid of the wrapping paper!

Kaitlyn got a stroller and doll for Christmas from Aunt Michelle & Aunt Carol

This is Nt. Mokoena and his family including the newest addition (a boy.) He hasn't been named yet as far as we know. He was born the Tuesday before Christmas. Nt. Mokoena is very proud!

Hope You Had a Nice Christmas!

We had a very nice Christmas yesterday at the van der Merwe's farm.  All the missionaries were here except for Uncle Piet and Aunt Hester.  (They are in George {Eastern Cape} visiting their children.)  We got here about 10:30am.  I think everyone else was already here.  The ladies worked on getting food ready, and the guys sat around, talked,  and played with the children.  We had a DELICIOUS lunch of mostly cold foods.  There was ham, turkey, meat balls, tossed salad, a bean casserole, fruit salad, maccaroni salad, peach jello salad, trifle, pecan pie, fudge, rocky road fudge bars, cookies, cheese ball etc. etc.  We're so glad for our "family" here! 

After lunch we rested, visited, and played with the children.  Around 6:00pm we opened presents.  Steph gave everyone strawberry bread, lemon cranberry bread, cookies, etc.  Kaitlyn got a doll and a toy baby stroller.  I can't remember what Micah got, but Issac got a kite.  He and his dad flew it a little even in the dark. 

People snacked for supper, and we visited until about 10:00pm We spent the night here at the farm and are having a relaxing morning.  I'm writing a few e-mails, and getting this ready to send.  Steph has been helping around the kitchen, but I think everything is pretty much done. 

The Christmas Conference in Lesotho went well.  This was the first year that we had the youth conference at Christmas time.  I think by Sunday morning there were around 100 youth.  I think in the past attendance has been a little higher than that, but I suppose some couldn't come because of family obligations, etc.

The new tabernacle was a great blessing because it rained quite a bit Saturday and Sunday.  The place where we normally pitch the tent was very wet and soggy.  It looks like all the hard work digging drainage ditches paid off.  The tabernacle was dry, and there was plenty of room for people to relax and visit between services.

The Great Christmas Cookie Fiasco

Mama got up early this morning to ice her Italian Christmas cookies. She had just finished and was putting them all away when Kaitlyn realized she could reach them. First she had a lick of icing off her fingers, then she decided she'd have the whole thing. By the time Mama intervened things were pretty messy! I grabbed the camera to document her first Italian Christmas cookie.

Monday night we had supper at the Geises'. Michelle's parents sent money to make a nice meal for all of us American missionaries. It was pretty much traditional American Christmas--turkey, ham, mashed potatoes & gravy, stuffing, sweet potato casserole, and broccoli casserole, salads, etc. etc. It was delicious.

Hope you all have a wonderful Christmas!

Love,

The Gaults

Experiment

I'm trying a new editor so that we can prepare entries to our blog at home, then just send them once we get to an internet connections.  Hope it works!

Merry Christmas

Hi everyone,

This is going to be short! I don't know if we're getting back to normal or not. We're going somewhere fast, but we're not quite sure where!

Kaitlyn is doing well. She eating normally (but a bit picky) and she's sleeping well through the nights except for teething. It looks like she's got at least 3 teeth coming in right now. Usually she wakes up around 3:00am for another dose of tylenol or teething gel.
Can't remember what news we've written and what we haven't. I sort of took the weekend off other than preaching Sunday. It was the weekend of the Bible School and also the church had their annual baptism on Saturday. I didn't go to either one. We got to bed at a decent hour, so we're feeling rested up. I guess it's a good thing because this week will be busy!

When we were leaving Bloem, Steph decided to buy apricots since they're in season. Friday and Saturday she made around 15 quarts of apricot jam. It turned out well. I helped out a little with washing jars, pans, etc. but she mostly did the jam and I did baby sitting.

Kaitlyn is talking more and more everyday. It seems like she can mimic about any word we say, but she doesn't always know what they mean. Her very most favorite word is "no!" She using all the time even if she means to say yes. Most of the time, though she means what she says and is just trying to see what she can get away with. Several times in the hospital when she'd see a nurse coming towards her, she'd emphatically say "No no!" It's amusing at first, but it's starting to get old. I'm sure it's only the beginning, too! :-( A few other recent additions to her vocabulary are "meow" "book" and "light." She loves her little chair, and climbed up on it by herself last night.

Today we are in Ladybrand. I think most of our errands are done except for buying groceries. Michelle's mother gave her money to cook a special meal for the American missionaries, so the ladies are all cooking at the Geises. I think we're having turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes, broccoli casserole, jello cake, and I don't know what all else.

Tomorrow I'll be working at Ha Matala finishing up the tabernacle for the conference. We have to put the ridge cap on the roof, do a little more dirt work, and hang the tarp sides. Another big project for this week is to put together Christmas gifts for orphans. This is the first year we've done it, and knew things always take time. With Kaitlyn being in the hospital, we're really pushed to get this finished up before Christmas. Fortunately before we went home I asked the pastors to make lists of the orphans that attend their churches, so we have some names to start with. I have a feeling that some will get a New Years present instead of Christmas, but I know they will appreciate it!

The conference starts on Friday evening and runs till Monday afternoon. It's a youth conference, so attendance won't be huge. Everyone (adults and children) are welcome on Sunday, but the other days are to be focused on the youth. I have to preach Sunday morning on "Convictions: what I stand for and what I'm willing to die for." Monday we won't be at the conference since the missionaries are getting together for a Christmas celebration in Ladybrand. I think we're going to the farm. I'm guessing the guys will go swimming!

Well I guess that's what's going on in our lives.

Hope you all have a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!