Reformation day

So last night was the Reformation party at our house...it was a massive success. One of the coolest parts for me was having apple cider (I just love the stuff) and watching everyone carve pumpkins for the FIRST time in their lives. Everyone was like...can we carve pumpkins every week? Clint did an awesome message on the reformation...which lead to an awesome Q&A afterwards. Some people who came who weren't Christians couldn't understand that works don't save you, that its grace by faith ALONE that saves. So Clint got to really talk to them about how it is a FREE gift and no matter if you are the best person on the planet, you still deserve eternal punishment cause you have sinned, and it is by believing and trusting in Christ's work on the cross and repenting of your sin that saves you. I think they understood afterwards. What a blessing to be apart of these students lives!! Afterwards we sang "A mighty fortress is our God"

The pumpkin in front won the carving contest....hey we only had 5 pumpkins....but at least we found some to carve considering its Spring here!! It was actually cold enough to have a fire...so we lit up our house with just candles and paper lanterns and lights. It looked really cool and kinda spooky!

Cornerstone!

Pumpkins

Ok, so our Cornerstone group is gonna have a Reformation Day party tomorrow, and I went looking EVERYWHERE for pumpkins to carve. Considering its spring, and no one really celebrates Halloween, it was a tough search. I finally found 2, but they were 15 dollars each (yikes!!) And then I called around, and it turns out a lady in our congregation had some growing in her backyard!! (They are smaller than normal, and not super orange, but I think it will still work right?) We will find out tomorrow!

I baked 2 pumpkin pies for the occasion...no one here has ever had a pumpkin pie, or apple cider, so it will be fun for them to try (thanks to the team for bringing out those heavy cans of pumpkin!!!) They don't really look perfect, but it is my first attempt, and they smell good :)

And we had our 2nd scan of the baby yesterday, and saw its arms and legs and heartbeat, it looks more and more like a little baby! :) They did a test by measuring a fold in the back of the neck and said that it is low risk for Downs Syndrome. So "baby Lime" is alive and kicking! We saw it jump a couple of times, it was hilarious!

Clint has been preaching through the book of Ruth, and it has just hit me how amazingly sovereign our God is through everything in life. Here Ruth was a widow, a foreigner, with no hope of re-marrying anyone, and as the text says she "just so happened" to cross Boaz's field and glean there...the only person PERFECT for her who could be her redeemer. The Lord's timing is perfect in our every step, and in every decision we make He guides our steps. Our God is the best!!

toes....

So this is what our baby's feet are supposed to look like this week (11th week!) Amazing....so much detail down to each toe! You can pray for me cause I get "afternoon sickness"...and its hard to keep up with everything that needs to get done (especially cooking...its sooo hard to cook meat, the smell of anything cooking kills me!) but I keep thinking about how its soo good that I feel sick cause it is a good sign in the pregnancy....and I have it alot better than other women!! The Lord is truely good, I can't believe He is granting us this little gift! We truely are fearfully and wonderfully made. This week its "baby plum"....last week "baby walnut". I can't believe its the size of a plum already, I'm not even showing yet!

Anyone have any name suggestions for baby Archer?!? :) Please comment!!

Safari

This week Clint's parents took us on a safari game drive to Hluhluwe (pronounced Sha-shlu-ee), about a 3 hour drive from Durban.

Clint and I infront of the "don't get out of the car....you might get eaten!" sign.

Both sets of parents/ in-laws and us! :) The rondovels we stayed in are behind us...they were beautiful!!

One of the "Big Five" animals you wanna see in South Africa...a Rhino!! (the others are Elephant, Buffalo, Lion and Leopard). Check this things horn out, its HUGE! It had just gotten out of a nice mud bath...mmm.

Ok, so can you spot it?!? Its a cheetah with its back to us. (right in the middle) There were like 6 cars all looking at this cheetah...they call it a "cat jam" here :) but it was sooooo far that this is the closest my camera could get. But it was still really awesome... Cheetah sightings are really rare!

Zebra crossing (literally)

This is a good perspective of what its like...your in your car and the animals are...well, right there! These our two rhino crossing the road.

More photos next time! :)

City of Durban

Sunset over the city of Durban...pretty big for "rural Africa" huh? This is the harbor view. Click on the photo for a close up view :) Me and my dad. Its funny that you never really do the "touristy" things...like going to actually look at the city of Durban until you've got people to take around. Like I think I never saw the Hollywood sign until I was 21 when there were some friends from overseas who wanted to see it!

Me and my mom

Our Anniversary...

Our 4 year anniversary

Clint took me to the revolving restaurant in Durban for our anniversary. Its 34 stories tall, and revolves so you can see the city of Durban in an hour, the view was amazing! The food was awesome too, its a family owned Italian restaurant, and the owner comes personally to take your order.

So on the table it says that its one of 37 revolving restaurants in the world. We figured we've been to 3 (L.A., USA. Vancouver, Canada. and Durban, South Africa). We made it our goal to try and hit as many as we can in our lifetime. This was the coolest one I've been to though cause you get to see the harbor, the ships out at sea, and then the city, so the view changed all the time. I can't believe we've been married 4 whole years!! It just doesn't seem real. Next year we will need a babysitter! Its "Baby Strawberry" now! :)

The city

The Harbor

First scan!

So I had my first "baby Archer" scan today. We've been naming it by its size, so this week it was "baby grape" last week it was "baby rasberry." Your first scan is pretty nerve-wracking cause you never know what they are going to tell you (did the heart stop beating? is it ok?) but it was amazing to actually SEE the baby...and the heartbeat (most of the baby was just a heart beating!!) So now I actually feel like my "morning" (afternoon) sickness isn't just a figment of my imagination. (The head is to the right by the way...the first one always just looks like a blob!!)

My parents arrived safe and sound this week...and my mom actually was there to see my scan today! This is them in front of the "valley of a thousand hills" just a few minutes drive from our house. The view was amazing! My dad got sick this week (with the same flu I got when I first came here, and practically the whole missions team caught while they were here!) but he's starting to feel alot better! Clint's parents are coming down too this week, so it will be the first time all of them have met!! We are all going on a game drive to see African animals at the end of this week.

My parents under "African Thatch"