Trimming The Tree

We finally got the tree up Saturday afternoon .... it was a perfect day to do so. We all stayed in our jammies the entire day! The kids loved it. Javan was REALLY into decorating this year and nicknamed himself Santa Claus Javan.

The process started Friday evening but had to be adjourned due to some 'light malfunctioning' :)

Saturday morning after breakfast we got busy

J worked on the outside while we fixed up the inside

I still have a few more things to do but I am in no hurry since its just minor but here's our little table top family ornament tree.

I about had a heart attack when I pulled out the box with these ornaments. The kids were playing with all the ornaments and of cos Ria kept announcing 'look at this ball mummy. this one is green, this one is red' etc etc and would proceed to throw them. So we ended up with several broken ornaments. Thankfully none of the 'special' ones were broken.

The big tree - not the best pic. I was playing around with my settings working toward a good pic when the kids decided they wanted to be in the pics too so we had a little mini photo shoot!

our tree is red, lime green and gold - i just started adding the lime and red in so i don't have as many ornaments (waiting on those after christmas sales!)

I really love this time of year but it's also really hard on me. This December will mark 6yrs since I have been home and been able to spend the holiday season with my family and friends. Every single year Jermaine and I have thought (and Lord knows we have been praying HARD) that is the year everything will change and we get to be home enjoying a sunny Christmas and just enjoy family. It sucks when you get asked 'are you coming home for Christmas?' and the answer has to be 'no not this time but maybe soon' and you have no idea when that soon is.

It's just plain tough.

It's really frustrating when it's not my choice to not be with my family. Does that make sense? We can't travel cos this ridiculous government and immigration system puts restrictions on us while we have documents in process. Don't even get me started on their inefficiency and inability to process simple documents and how horribly they have messed up. Maybe I need to blog about this but lets just say its been biggest headache we've had to deal with.

The simple truth is every single year since 2006, we have looked forward to counting down the days til we get to board a flight to cross the Atlantic. I am so ready for my kids to meet the rest of their family. And, you have no idea how eager they all are to meet them. I have one living grandparent left and I want my kids to meet her. I dream of having a four generation photo with my grandmother, my mother, Ria and I. I won't stop dreaming:)

This post isn't a downer but just the reality of my life right now. I DO choose to look at the glass half full and rather than mourn what we can't have and really want, I once again choose to celebrate this season and enjoy every moment with my sweet little family of four and make the best memories ever.

 ~V

Thanksgiving 2011

Our friends Becky and Mikeal invited us to spend Thanksgiving Day with their family. We ate lots of yummy food, watched the kids play outside (the weather was wonderful) and just enjoyed a very relaxed day. We are so very thankful for great friends! We had a really fun day with their family.

{wake up sleepy heads!}

{the kids: Ria, Bella, Lily, Abby (becky's nieces), Javan, Tucker and Kyle}

{some of the food}

{thanks to my dad and the food network I do know how to carve a turkey!}

should have taken our family before lunch ... this is as good as it got!

There was no Black Friday shopping for me. I did wake up early but I headed to the gym instead. With the amount of junk thats in this trunk of mine, that was a wiser decision for me:) 

We did get the Christmas decor out last night but the decorating stopped after we got the tree set up. The top section of lights aren't working and after 5mins of searching for the faulty bulb, J decided he had enough and called it quits. We'll have to pick up some lights today and hopefully the house will see some Christmas spirit before the end of the day:)

~V

Javan Reading

Just wanted to share a little video clip of Javan reading last night. I am so proud of him. He has improved so much since he started reading on his own (as opposed to memorizing his books) earlier this year. This is the second time he is reading this book.

and since he just watched that video, he wanted me to record him reading The Little Red Caboose so here's another clip:)

 {You can hear Ria saying her letters in background}

 ~V

Chattanooga Fun

The past couple of days have been lots of fun. My friend Natasha and her family were on route to SC for Thanksgiving so they decided to stop by and spend some time with us. Natasha and Neil are both from Durban so its always great when we have fellow Saffers visiting. After a two year stint in Europe, they moved to Wooster, Oh about 5yrs ago.

Sunday morning they came to church with us. They really enjoyed the service and I thought it was pretty cool when Neil asked me if we hire professional singers to do our music:) We decided to spend the afternoon at the zoo and just checking out some fun stuff in Chattanooga.

Javan LOVED playing with Kade

Ria snoozed for a little while

the peacocks were out in full force and they were beautiful

We waited out the rain a little bit and then headed to the Choo Choo. Both little boys were in heaven!

blurry but still cute:)

And look who we found inside the Choo Choo!

We had an impromptu visit with Santa. Neither one of my kids wanted to talk with him so we're thinking about skipping an 'official' Santa visit this year. They did stand from afar and say hi but that was it!

the minute he offered candy canes they were all about him, but still would not go near

Everyone had worked up an appetite by this point so we headed to the Bluff View and ate at Tony's. 

That always hits the spot! 

After dinner, we walked around for a while checking out the Art District, Hunter Museum and the Walnut Street Bridge areas. They really enjoyed all the sights. And it was a pretty night. The rain had stopped and there was just a slight chill in the air. Definitely a perfect evening for a walk.

 On the way home, I told Javan that they were from South Africa too and he says 'that's nice but do they know where our South Africa is?'

Monday night they came over for dinner and we decided on a some Durban Indian cuisine: 

A home made bunny chow

{its basically a half or quarter loaf of unsliced bread with the inside scooped out and filled with curry. I made chicken curry so we had a chicken bunny chow. I also made mince and roti}

about to fill it up with curry

  It was nothing like Orientals or any of the good bunny places in Durban but it had been a while since we have all had one and it really hit the spot :)

The evening was filled with great conversation and my cheeks hurt so much from all the laughing we did.

Tuesday we met for lunch at Chik-Fil-A in Cleveland before they hit the road again. They don't have a CFA near them and wanted to try it out. Of cos we like CFA so no need to twist our arms:)

Tash and Neil we had such a great time with you guys. Hopefully it won't be too long before we meet up again:)

~V