happy birthday to my beautiful sister-in-law!

happy birthday amy!! i hope you have a wonderful day! we wish we were there to celebrate with you...we love you!!

muizenburg...

we are staying in the old jewish settlement of muizenburg for the next couple of weeks...it used to be quite the place back in it's day...i still think it's beautiful and it is much safer than our last location so we have a lot more freedom to explore and train back into cape town...


you may recognize these colorful beach houses...they have been in several photo shoots...i love them;)

kandice and i catching some rays...



this is the old hotel that we're staying in...typical for the area:)

i'm in love again ❤

i have been a little down since we left our last location. i have really missed archie and the other boys...but i have met two beautiful little girls that i have really lifted my spirtis and it's been really nice to work with them, i loved working with the boys but i didn't connect with one girl...so it's been nice;)

so here is sinalo and zozo....








aren't they precious?

meet archie...

this is my little buddy archie...

we want nothing more than to bring him home with us. he lives in the township of lwandle (a little run down shack-like village in cape town) with his mother and four siblings.
his father died some years ago from unknown causes or “the illness” which they don’t like to label as HIV or AIDS. his mother works several hours a week, leaving her children unattended and to fend for themselves. when she is home she is often drinking heavily to cope with the pain of her life and decides to lock the kids out of the house more frequently than not....
thankfully for archie there is a christian woman in their village that works at the local crèche that has fallen absolutely in love with him and looks after him several nights a week, feeds him, takes him to the dr. when needed etc.
he is a beautiful little boy with a huge heart. he attends church alone on sundays and has been able to learn english from an early age at the crèche. he did most of our translating from english to xhosa and he did such a great job!!
since he is not up for adoption we have decided to to sponsor him and send him to a private christian school...we will take care of everything from supplies, clothing to doctor visits...it is still unknown if he has HIV...but we want to check right away because with the retro-antivirals he can still have a chance...
we are commited to taking care of his needs, praying for him, writing him and hopefully visiting him again soon....i really feel we came for him....or he was here for us...it is amazing how someone you hardly know can slip right into your heart so quickly...

✌

just a few of our little guys we've been working with...we really want to take the third one home;)

sad day :(....

we just got home from our last dinner with everyone...we had a great going away party...just two more days...but we hope to be back by the end of the summer:)
here are some pics...
teek gets a new hat
boo young...i am crying already!
jess...have fun in china!
kan-dance!! can't wait til SA!
security!!
oh paul...what can i say? ...miss you!
you girls are amazing!!

kailua-kona

here is a photo of kailua-kona bay...right down the street from where we live...so sad we are leaving next week...i think i'm going to cry...

heather don't you miss it? can you see the corner of the scandinavian ice...yummmm...come back with us...k...