At the foot of the cross

My mom and I went for a long walk on my last morning in Kidds Beach. We walked with 2 of her friends and then found two other ladies sitting at the foot of the cross.

I find that I feel very close to God when I walk on the beach. Although we were a group I still found that I had time to myself and I sang chorusses and spoke to God as I picked up shells and walked. Each little shell is so perfect that you have to give thanks for such beauty. The sea is also an example of God's power. The sand is soft and the water is warm and gentle as it flows over your feet, but when you look at the rocks and the force of the waves breaking over the rocks you can see the mighty power of God. Soft and gentle, but extremely powerful! I couldn't help but praise Him as I walked along.

We met the lady whose husband keeps the cross in such good condition. She said that he starts picking up the big shells as he walks along and then checks the cross and replaces the shells where necessary. Quite a task as the wind fills the shells up quite quickly and it could so easily dissapear under the sand!

A new haircut!

I decided that it was time for a change and I think the hairdresser did a good job. This is the front view ...And then abviously from the back:
Why is it that I normally prefer the view from the back? Maybe I should start walking backwards! And then not to even mention the blowdrying, it will not look like this when I have control of the hairdryer!

Well, I am back and reality has hit home very hard already. I had a very good time while I was away and phoned Colin on Sunday to tell him that I missed him, but that I was not ready to leave Kidds Beach yet! I couldn't even book a later flight as I didn't take enough medication with me, but anyway, it is impossible to run away from the reality.

I owe you some feedback. We had a horrible meeting at the school. Listening to all that teachers moaning about Andrew and critisising him was terrible and I don't think anybody should ever be in that situation. I was very upset with the psychologist as he arrived late (car broke down) and then didn't add much to the conversation. The psychiatrist suggested that we add a mood stabiliser to his medication and we started that yesterday. We should be able to see the result in about a week or so. We must take Andrew for a bloodtest next Wednesday to see how the meds is affecting his liver and then go back to the doctor the following week. Inbetween all that we are going to Langebaan for a few days. After the bloodtest, I think Colin can take Andrew for that! He is doing okay at the moment as we decided to give him an incentive for good behaviour. If he doesn't get any red cards for a whole week, we will take him ten-pin bowling, movies or whatever on a Friday night. Robyn goes to youth, so a Friday night is actually a good evening to spend time with him. We also went and looked at a private school on Wednesday, it looks very good, but it is full with a long waiting list. I am actually starting to feel that he needs a good kick up the bum, as he has a very bad attitude towards some of the teachers.

On the baby front, Michael is definitely Ethan's father, so know the fight starts to see him. My sister Lynette suggested that we contact the social workers in HER area, and Michael is going to speak to them next week to open a case file. I would love to see the look on her face when the social worker rocks up at her front door! Please pray that we will be able to see the baby very soon, he is already 6 months old and I don't even know what he looks like now. She also lied to the magistrate by saying that Michael can see the baby and then saying "never going to happen" when they left the court. I think Michael should let the magistrate know, but he is struggling to get through to the court.

I will show you some photos of my break over the next few days. Have a great weekend!

Quick feedback

Almost forgot! We had an appointment with the psychologist on Friday and will also be having an appointment at the school next Monday. The psychiatrist will also be there as well as the school psychologist and some of the teachers. The psychologist reckons that it is a teacher problem.

Please continue to pray into this situation. Thanks!

Smaller clothes

I have now booked my plane ticket to go to PE and Kidds Beach next week, but realised that I actually do not have enough clothes to take with! I bought new jeans, but the rest of the stuff are all getting to big for me now! It also seems hotter there than here. I took some things out that I bought last summer and decided to have it adjusted. I should now have enough. My sister Herlien popped around this morning and we went to Cape Gate after picking Robyn up from school. We saw this blouse at the same time and just had to try it on! The size I tried on fitted me and I bought a size smaller - good motivation! I just love the colours and it is so feminine! As Herlien said, I would never have thought a year ago that I would lose enough weight to be able to fit into this little number. Just a few kg's and it will fit!We had a rather busy weekend again with 2 parties, but it was quite enjoyable. I discovered another little coffee shop in Durbanville that makes the most devine quiche and cake! Will have to go and try their breakfast sometime. Sorry Stef, no Eggs Benedict, but I think it is definitely worth the visit. They had a turkish delight cake there on Saturday that looked very tempting. We went to family on Sunday as it was the one cousin's birthday. Herlien and I also went and looked at the demo of the table for the wedding on Saturday morning. It is absolutely amazing to see how much stuff is out there that you can hire and use. It makes a person want to have a big function just so that you can use all the stuff!

Anyway, enough for now, just wanted you to see my cute little blouse!

My chandelier

I have been wanting to buy a chandelier for our bedroom since our weekend in Montagu. I used some of the money I earned over the weekend (doing parties) and bought one. I got the boys to put it up for me yesterday and I think it looks stunning! And I believe very romantic as well!Herlien helped me with the party on Saturday morning as Robyn was playing hockey, and Robyn helped me with the party on Saturday afternoon. Both parties went very well. We have another 2 this coming weekend, Friday afternoon and Saturday afternoon. Robyn will help me with both. The Lord is really blessing me with work at the moment!

We are still struggling with our youngest. I phoned and made an appointment with his psychologist today to discuss how we can handle him. The secretary will phone me back as the psychologist is fully booked at the moment. We don't know what to do anymore and hopefully he will be able to help us. Please continue to pray for us. In the meantime I think I must go to Kidds Beach earlier as I can really do with the break!

Teenagers!

My daughter decided a while ago that she needs to get a part-time job. Colin is not very much for that as he feels the kids miss out on too much, like hockey, for example. He saw what it did to Michael and decided that it was better for them to just stay at home, plenty of time to work when they grow up!

I suggested to her that she sticks to doing parties with me, as it isn't a steady income, but pays quite well when it does happen, which is quite often at this stage. This morning I told her that we have another confirmed party for next Saturday and what did she say? Oh no, not another one! How ungratefull is that? I am thanking God for all the work that is coming my way and my daughter thinks of her social life. I think that it is rather scary having an attitude like that. Maybe I should just find myself another assistant. The problem is that we work well together and she is very good with the kids. Anyway, what do you think?

A bit more info

I usually crawl back into bed once Colin and the kids leave, but decided to check on the blogs this morning while they were still all here. I was inspired by Lynette's blog to be a bit more open and honest about myself, so here goes.

Lynette phoned me yesterday to find out why I am so quiet and that made me feel very good, as I always tend to feel that nobody cares, so why bother. Thanks Lynette I really appreciate the phone call. I suffer from chronic depression and always, when things aren't going well I follow a certain pattern. Try and cope, withdraw from everybody and everything, become very quiet, sleep late every morning, stop cleaning my house, even stop scrapping and so the spiral continues downwards. This is not something that very many people know about me, but my confidant at church encouraged me to ask friends to pray for me, us on a regular basis, so here I am asking you guys to pray for us. When I get depressed Colin is probably affected the most, as he is the person closest to me. I am really struggling with my youngest at the moment and as you can imagine it is causing me to be extremely stressed to the point that I dream strange dreams and perspire terribly at night - more like anxiety. He is extremely difficult, disobedient, abusive, intervering, loud and generally has the whole household upset. He just started seeing a new psychologist, but it is still early days and so far we are not seeing any results. Colin and I chatted last night and decided to put a consequence in place for when he refuses to listen to me. He is now far to big for me to physically drag him down the passage and force him to stay in his bedroom for a time-out. We spoke to him this morning and will see how it goes. So yes, please pray for us!

Here is a few early morning photos I took last week. The cockatiels love the door to their cage being opened and performs until I do. They then just sit their looking out! I guess it gives them a sense of freedom:
Andrew getting ready for school. Jamie loves him and tries her utmost best to get to him whenever he is around. A bit frustrating in the mornings because he dawdles like crazy and it is a fight to get him out of the house almost every morning.
Richard having breakfast before work.
Robyn having breakfast: (not impressedwith having her photo taken!)
Colin and Jamie having breakfast! She gets very excited when she sees him bringing his breakfast to the lounge and thoroughly enjoys sharing with him! She then has breakfast with me as well when I eat at about 09H00.
I was very priviliged to spend the day with my sister Herlien and her daughter Stephanie on the day of her matric dance two weeks ago. We picked her up after she had her hair done and then went with while she had her make-up done. She wouldn't let me take photos of that, but I got a few in when she was getting ready to go. Here she is straightening her hair again because she wasn't happy with the way the hairdresser did it:
My favourite photo, taken from the back to show all the detail:
With a very proud mom and dad!
She has really grown up to be a very lovely young lady and I am very proud of her!

I had a very bad hair week last week, but Scruffy didn't. We took him for a wash and trim last Tuesday and he really looked gorgeous!
On the Ethan front we are waiting for the results of the paternity test (will only get the results in September when they go back to maintenance court). I am really hoping that the baby is not his, but don't think that that is going to happen! In the meantime I get my baby-fix when I baby sit my friends baby from time to time. I looked after her last Thursday and almost had to lie on my stomach to take this photo, gorgeous isn't she:
Well that is about it for now. Just enough time to quickly warm up in bed before I have my nail appointment at 09H00 .....