Last days in South Africa

Clouds on Oudtshoorn

The time in George was like a homecoming and there are many new friends we met here.  It feels so comfortable here and Jan and I have looked at each other on several occasions and asked do you think you could stay here.  The answer every time has been “If it was God was telling us to."  Memories, good friends, times in prayer, and just a nice place to live are all things that make us feel so at home here.  In many situations the thoughts would cross our minds that something is missing and we would realize that we experienced most of these things with Lucas, Ben and Eileen being with us. 

It would have been fun to take off on a mountain road again and when there was an intersection, the kids were the ones who would make the choice as to whether to turn or go straight often not knowing where the road would take us.  We were on roads with virtually no traffic so there were times they were on my lap assisting with steering.  There were times when we would play in the rivers just before they go into the ocean (or the ocean goes into them depending on the tide) and there were sand walls at the edge of the river.  It would be fun to walk slowly to the edge of the river and slide down into the river with the sand as in an avalanche.  Now we leave again with additional memories of times with the friends we have known for 20 years and many new ones we have only known for weeks.  We want to thank each of you for your input into our lives.  (roger)

Montagu Pass

Monday morning we slept in a little bit, had breakfast and than walked on the beach for about an hour.  It was a cloudy day but just the right temperature for a walk on the beach. After packing up we drove back to George and did a little shopping at the mall.  The mall is new since we were here but is a very nice mall and has most everything a mall in the United States would have.  We than stopped by Dean and Laurie’s and had lunch before returning to Elliot’s where we will stay until we leave on Thursday.

Monday night we hung out with the Elliott’s and Trish’s sister Val and her husband Stan are also here.  In all our time here in SA when we lived here we never met them so it’s been nice to get to know them and hear some stories about Trish when she was younger.

Road to Oudtshoorn

On Tuesday we left about 8 in the morning and drove over to Oudtshoorn on the other side of the mountains.  There are a lot of Ostrich farms in that area and they have a processing plant with a shop that is open to the public so we went to get some ostrich steaks for dinner.  Before doing that we to breakfast in Oudtshoorn …which was quite late…and went driving past town looking for a place they had been before and wanted to go again only to find out it was only open for lunch so we turned around and headed back to town.  There were a few places that had looked like possibilities but they were closed by the time we got back so we ended up going to Wimpy’s.  They have a great breakfast menu all day long….it was about 10:30 by the time we finally ate.

Montagu Pass

On the way home we took a different route over the mountains that is called the Montague Pass.  It’s the old road over and dirt the whole way and quite winding.  It was beautiful views though and I was glad we went  that way even tho I felt a bit sick from the curvy roads.  The hillsides were covered with white protea flowers and heather and lavender along with other wild flowers.  What was amazing was that in Oudtshoorn is was sunny and hot and when we got back to George it was rainy and cool….never fails to amaze me….  Tuesday evening  Brian and Trish’s son Keith and his wife Inneke (pronounced close to anaka) came over for a braii.  It was so fun to see them especially Keith.  Keith was good friends with Lucas and we knew him quite well…fun to see what God has done in his life and is doing…

Jan and Keith at Victory

Wednesday morning….we spent some time going over our marriage presentation for Victory church this evening…we have had the opportunity to present this to married couples…and then something similar to singles…and this one was a mixed group….singles and marrieds.  In the afternoon the 3 of us ladies spent a lot of time in the kitchen…I made peanut butter balls which were a hit…ohhh I enjoyed making sweet rolls on Tues. and it turned out they were eaten at tea time…they were a big hit … and then also eaten as a starter while waiting for dinner …and then as dessert (or pudding as its called here) and then as breakfast too.  Its fun to cook when people are over the top excited about what you made!  We ate an early dinner and then off to the fellowship to do the marriage/communication talk thingy…not sure what to call it really.  It went really well and we enjoyed it...after the first few minutes of butterflies…

Waterfall along Montagu Pass

Today is transition day…again….I think I have been to busy to think about it tho last night as we stood around talking after we came home the conversation turned to saying goodbye and how quickly this 4 weeks have gone.  I am  so glad we stayed that long….it gave us a chance to really reconnect with old friends and make new ones!  We will finish packing up…go by Options to pick up some cards we ordered from the “cardies” and I am hoping to video them singing.  They are quite excited to think I might post the video on our blog (if we ever get internet fast enough to do it).  The ladies were so  sweet when I asked them if I could video them.  There were only a few there that day so they asked if I would wait till Thursday when I came back because they would all be there….then one lady shyly asked if I would watch the video or would we show it in other places like china or Russia (we had mentioned our kids being there) so I said for sure others would see it…that may have been a mistake since I think today they will come all dressed up :)…so then I told them about the blog and writing already about how much I enjoyed hearing them sing while they were working the first day we came there….so hopefully we will get to post it soon.

We leave today about 5:45 from George.  This is our longest stretch of travel…4 legs (why in earth do they call it legs???)  We fly from George to Joburg to Doha (my favorite airport…NOT!) to Bangkok to Chiang Mai!!!  About 20 hours of travel today…

So how am I dealing with transition day by now?  Today I have chosen to  thank God for this amazing time here in George.  We don’t know if we will make it back to this amazingly beautiful country but we know we will see our friends again…if not here…than in eternity…in that I find joy and peace about leaving…tough as it is to say goodbye….again!   (well shoot…the tears come anyway…)--jan