A whole weekend of birthday!

I made dinner for my family on Friday evening. It was very good and I think everybody enjoyed it! We only had 3 guests: Simone, Herlien & Mark.

Simone made Decadent chocolate pudding. If you look closely you can see the chocolate oozing out on the side. It was absolutely devine!

We also bought some sparkling wine, which I insisted on finishing. The kids thought that I was very funny! Well, somebody had to finish it, it was too good to waste!

I chose my own present from Robyn and Andrew. I have been eyeing this frame for quite a while and decided that I wanted it. Now I must just decide what photo of Ethan I want to put in it. Their is space at the bottom of the frame where I can have his name engraved.

We had another helping of pudding after breakfast yesterday and then went of to do a bit of shopping and to get Robyn's birthday gift from Richard - a belly ring. We ended up going to 2 shopping centres! It was very sore! I wanted to take a photo, but Robyn didn't want me to put the photo on my blog - how horrible is that!

We left the kids in Michael and Simone's capable hands, and went out to dinner with Stef and her hubby. The food was very good! (We ate far too much this weekend) We went and saw Elvis Forever at the Barnyard afterwards. It was also very good! Strangely enough the spectators were mostly our age and older, wonder why that is? We got home rather late, but it was well worth it.

We went to church this morning and spent the afternoon with friends. We had a good lunch and then my friend and I scrapped for a while. I had a really great weekend and sadly I must now return to the real world again - until next year!!

This is the other photo from my breakfast with Stef:

Birthday breakfast

Stefanie and I went for breakfast yesterday morning. We both like eggs benedict, so we decided to go to this specific restaurant, as theirs are very good! I asked Stef to take her little camera with so that I could have some photos. We asked the waiter to take this photo:

A picture of the eggs benedict:

They were as delicious as they look! And no breakfast will be complete without a decaf latte:

We had a great time together! Thanks Stef!

Will post the dinner photos later, and a photo of our delicious pudding!

I am 45 today!

Yes, I am 45. I must admit, between the stiff neck and sore hip I sometimes feel much older! Colin brought me a cup of coffee and my present to bed this morning. Fortunately he didn't take any photos as I looked particularly sad this morning, bags under the eyes and messed up hair, sure you know what I mean! He bought me a new watch as I battle to see my other "silver" ones face. Sad getting old! Anyway, he sorted the kids out and got them of to school. Afterwards he came back so that we could have some alone time and made certain that the bed was made up and the dishes were done! Sweet man!
I complained to Colin that Robyn didn't wish me happy birthday, so he told me that she is cross as I didn't phone her on her birthday (I was in Kidds Beach). Nevermind the fact that I was busy directing furniture and boxes all day! Anyway I bought her this cupcake to apologise:
Needless to say, I was forgiven! Stefanie and I went and had a lovely breakfast at a shopping centre. We went there as they serve delicious eggs benedict. Stef did take some photos, I will post them when I get them. After breakfast we went shopping. It was a really great morning! My family, Simone, Herlien and Mark will be eating here tonight - I said I would cook. Simone is making a decadent chocolate pudding - I will take photos:

Here is a photo of granny with her little grandson. He is now 5 weeks old and too gorgeous! Seems to be getting darker by the day, but we love him so much that it doesn't matter! (Note to self: start wearing make-up, you really look dreary!!)

The little boy from closer up.

Ethan had a dirty nappy while we were there and Allisen made Michael change the nappy! He managed very well and Ethan's little "bottom parts" were thoroughly covered in fissan paste!

Stef, this is the photo I wanted to put in a frame. Only saw the face when I downloaded the photos - it will just not do!! I think I will use my favourite photo - the one where you can see his little hands.

Michael went and spoke to Simone's mom last night. She was a para-legal and knows quite a bit about the whole custody thing. She suggested that he approaches the maintenance court and then take it from there. We are NOT giving up!!! Please continue praying that the whole process goes speedily as it can sometimes take very long! In the meantime I decided to approach Allisen's mom to see if we can't go and see him again. We will just not let Michael go there on his own again - she is far too abusive!

Later folks, I have to go and cook for the masses!

Baby news

I did take photos of Ethan last night, but do not feel strong enough today to show you. He is absolutely gorgeous and when he looked at me with his big eyes I knew that I would love him forever. Allisen was very friendly and even got Michael to change Ethan's nappy - everything seemed fine. When we left I still whispered in Michaels ear that he must fight for his son. We went onto the internet the other night and discovered that all the amendments to the law is all there, but they haven't gone through parlement yet, and therefore means nothing! On the way home I prayed and asked the Lord to soften Allisen's heart and that she would allow us to see Ethan and I felt very happy after seeing him. Michael phoned me a bit later, very upset, saying that she chased him out of the house like a dog and that she said that we would never see Ethan again, that he was just a sperm donor and that he must just pay maintenance. Her parents can't do anything as she doesn't listen to them at all. I felt sorry for him, but still maintain that their is consequences when we sin, and this unfortunately is his consequence. Unfortunately we as grandparents are now reaping what he sowed when he sinned. I started crying on Monday already, because I just felt that this was what would happen. While watering the garden yesterday morning I just started weeping again - maybe the Lord was preparing me. All I can say is that my heart is broken. All I can ask is that we pray for the Lord to soften her heart and that she will come to her senses. Maybe by some miracle somebody out there will have a solution. What saddens me even more is that he will grow up without knowing who his father is, being told how bad his daddy is, and he won't know just how much he is loved.

Poor Jessie!

Colin took Jessie to the vet last Friday, as she wasn't walking on her one back leg. The poor thing had a torn tendon and the vet operated yesterday. She came home last night and by this morning the bandage was almost completely of. Colin took her back to the vet. Apparently it is because of the shape of the leg. There is nothing to keep the bandage on. We must try and get her to keep it on for another 2 days, and then it can come of. She has 2 big cuts on her leg as the vet had to take a piece of the sheeth of the tendon out to use on the torn tendon - something like that! She is very sore and has been lying in her basket all day. The painkillers doesn't seem to be working that well.
We went to Wortelgat on a Church camp this past weekend. It is a beautifull place! We had a speaker that spoke to us about the end times and she was excellent!
We went for an early walk after breakfast and I took a photo of the view. Gorgeous isn't it.

After the 2nd session we had the afternoon of, and Colin and I went for a walk. We started down on the "beach" and this is him in child mode climbing on the rocks.

Me in my Captain Morgan advert pose:

After that we decided to leave our campsite to go and look at some of the others at Wortelgat. They have a few different "camps" that can be used by churches or schools. We walked down the road and looked at some of the new houses that are being built and eventually decided to go on the Koppie trail. It was quite steep, but well worth the effort once we got to the top. This is part of the view that we saw:

This cross was also on top of the koppie:

We had a great time. It was good getting to know more of the people from our church and the teaching was also very good. We won't mention the food - there was far too much of that!

I really hope that this will become an annual event! Until Jesus comes again that is .......

Relationships

As I am busy waiting for my friend to bring her baby for me to babysit, I decided to do a quick post. I was reflecting on support from family while I was hanging up the washing earlier and I realised that you only know who your true supporters are in times of difficulty. Should you support a family member because you want to keep the relationship going and you love them, or should you point out when you think they are wrong?

It took me back to the time when we believed that a certain baby was our grandchild. I appreciate the fact that some members of the family chose to support us, even though I don't really know what they believed. Other members of the family chose to point out that we were wrong, and I am sure they got a real cheap thrill when we were proven wrong! Personally I have a lot more respect for the people that chose to support us than for the people that didn't. I believe that especially family should support each other no matter what. What they thought when they were not with us is irrelevant. Relationships are very important to me.

I think that this is the only reason why I still think of the baby from time to time, I find it difficult to accept the fact that family can be so unsupportive.

Bedroom makeover

We changed our bedroom to pink and lilac about 5 years ago, and it was really time for a change. Our fitted sheet started to show signs of wear and tear and Colin wanted to buy new sheets. Imagine! Anyway I told him that I wanted to change our bedroom and we slept on the old sheets for a while longer. At the end of March we went out and bought some new linen and then went and chose the paint we wanted. We got the older boys to paint the room for us. Colin insisted on lying on the bed when I took the photo!
And this is the result:

I am very happy with the new look! I got Andrew to paint the bases of the lamps and then found new lampshades at Sheet Street. He also painted my one frame. I didn't mind throwing out the old picture on the wall as it was not expensive and had been on the wall for 2 years already. The new one didn't cost me too much either, but I like it a lot more.

We have been very quiet and laid back since my last post. We took Andrew to see Monsters vs Aliens yesterday and it was really good for a laugh. He thoroughly enjoyed it and that was the whole idea. I can't wait for school to start tomorrow as the same little boy is driving me up the wall today! Colin also started working again today, and I miss him. Richard is still at home as he can only start working once the schools go back and the volume of traffic on the roads are back to normal. Very nice for me as he washed the windows for me this morning - with payment! At least now I can see through them again!

I am looking forward to my life going back to normal tomorrow!