Tonya Small

I couldn’t figure out how to get all my pictures into the last post the way I wanted them so I decided to encourage  you by updating my blog twice in one day…A shock I know, but I promise I’ll let it get dusty again in no time .

As I mentioned in my previous post, the holiday season in South Africa is time for every outdoor gathering that you can think of. Just in the past few weeks, we have been a part of 2 picnics at Bethesda, a school fun day, a walk-in movie night outdoors and so much more. Here are some photos from the picnic that my church here in SA, Grace Fellowship Church, hosted at Bethesda. It was a great time with the kids and church members. They played an EXTREMELY fun game with a vinyl tarp, dishsoap, and innertubes from bicycle tires. There are even a few sneaky pictures in here from Dana, Lerato & Braeleigh Scott’s surprise visit.

Hope you enjoy the picture bombardment today .

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Unlike the holiday season in America where everyone is stuck indoors due to in-climate weather, holiday season in South Africa is marked by lots of fun outdoor activities. The biggest blessing to having the home that we have is being able to open up our home to Bethesda families for fun family outings. Thus far we have been able to have the Letswalo family of 12 for a day and the Shikwambane family of 10 for an overnighter. The Shiks had a great time playing in the pool, playing Wii, and even took some time out on Saturday morning to help us with some housework as a thank you for our inviting them.

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Over our Thanksgiving break, Heather and I had the opportunity to take our grade 3 teacher, Sam Smith, and our lone intern at present, Sherry, to Kruger. Heather and I always enjoy going to Kruger when we get a chance because it is a fairly inexpensive getaway for us and it allows us to leave a little bit of the stress of teaching behind for a few days. I have to say that this trip to Kruger was not only our best trip sighting-wise, but also enjoyment-wise. It was such a blessing to watch and hear Sherry’s excitement with every single sighting, no matter how small or large. It is amazing how creative our God is in the animals, plants, and insects that He so carefully made, and yet, no matter how creative He was with them, we are still 100% unique and special in that we are the ONLY created things made in HIS image… Hope you enjoy seeing some of the created things that were a blessing to us over the holiday weekend!