Headed to the SA again.... we hope

well the vacation from school is officially getting old. to compensate, we are going to take a few days and get out of gaborone. And while we love it here, there is literally nothing to do here.. so, we're going to get against all financial sense and take a few days to head back over to South Africa. This may seem like a huge thing, but the hardest part of the trip is waiting in line to cross the border. you have to get all the kids out of the car, they look over all your paperwork, etc and stamp a bunch of documents.. It takes 10 minutes on the botswana side and then you repeat it down the road in the South African office . The problem is, one of the babies made a few marks on Michelle's passport.. the passport control people gave michelle a hard time about it the last time.... We're going to play stupid and see what happens tomorrow.



The kids and Michelle are out grocery shopping right now, I have just put the twins(mawelanas in setswana) down for a long sleep... You know the kids are dying to do something fun when they are jumping up and down to go to the grocery store. Don't get me wrong, they are drawing and playing with each other now more than ever, but I think they get tired of the same 4 walls after a few days. Note.... if you want your kids to get excited about going to the grocery store, move to Botswana.





Tomorrow our plan is to head out early and go to Groot Marico, SA... It' s only a 2 hour drive from here and is supposed to be a nice place to go, camp out, mountain bike, hike, etc. Check out the accomodation section on the left hand side, just to get a sense of some of the places you can stay in the area.. Again, about 7.5 rand equals 1 USD. It's time to visit South Africa!!!!
http://www.marico.co.za/ Groot Marica has lots of land, nature and its another place to cross off our list. We love Botswana, but there seems to be a little more choice in terms of family friendly places to pick up and go to for a few days in South Africa. So that's what we plan on doing..

If nothing is on the blog for the next few days, you know we made it across the border.. . If you see a new post late tomorrow or the next day, you know we spent the night camping in our back yard again.. wish us luck..



Lastly, I went to gabane today to take photos. Here's a few of them. Didn't take many, but met up with some old friends. I handed out a boatload of photos that had stockpiled in my back. it was the first time i had been out to the village since going home, and it was a nice trip. the people were saddened by the news of my dad's death and offered their sympathy as if he was a part of their life too. One friend, Thebe, said... "you have become a fixture in this village." I thought that was kind of cool.

All for now... quote of the day from Maura after spilling a cup of dirty paint water.... "It wasn't my fault, my arm did it. "

Mmankgodi visit

Michelle and i decided to take the kids up to Mmankgodi for church on Sunday morning and to deliver a few books and balls to the orphanage that Michelle's mom and brother brought over. We also gave them toothbrushes and toothpaste that were donated by a dentist from Northern Ky. I was really worried about the trip simply because it is impossible to get through sitting for any amount of time with the twins. i didn't want to offend anyone in the church and was worried about making us stand out in the crowd. One thing I forgot to consider was the fact that we were going to a small village in Botswana, and no matter how the kids acted, we would have stuck out in the crowd... 5 kids, only non Botswana in the whole place, it was great.. we were met with stares and smiles and couldn't find the place at first, so we picked up a woman dressed in an elaborate outfit(St. Mary's choir) headed to the same church. She had a sky blue cap on, sky blue cape and sky blue skirt highlighted with red ribbon.

The church is nothing like home. a simple facility with donated plastic chairs with MP spray painted on the back and a few small wooden pews that Jude was interested in moving around as much as possible. the offereratory consisted of a loaf of store bought bread and a dozen eggs. People are extremely poor and the collection was minimal.. a few thebe here and there( a thebe is 1/6 of a pula, 1 pula is 1/6 of a US dollar).

but the ceremony was awesome.... the music from start to beginning was beautiful. a choir consisting of men and women led the whole congregation.. there was swaying and a few times where the would wave arms in the air in celebration, but the music was something I will never forget. It brought tears to my eyes and was the kind of music that goes right through you(make sense?). The mass lasted several hours and our kids sat patiently through it. I left feeling very uplifted but at the same time sad, knowing that what these people need and pray for are beyond me. Their needs are so basic and simple, yet they seem very happy.

Michelle and i took turns watching the twins outside walk around the village, chase chickens and play in the dirt.

We will go back for sure, but probably take turns taking the older kids.

Michelle is off this week, so we're still trying to figure out what to do with her time off...

Ok, all for now

DVD quality

Today was Botswana defense force day, and we were all woken up at 6;30 by fighter jets diving outisde our house. It was scary.

Aside from that a very low keyed day. We hung out all morning in our jammies and relaxed, and in the afternoon took a game drive through the Gaborone Gamer Reserve. The 3 older kids got on top of the truck and sat on the roof rack as we chased monkeys and wharthogs for a few hours.

after that we went to BBS Mall and decided to rent a movie at a local shop. The great things about these shops(i think there is 3 of them in town) is that its a complete and total crap shoot. They might have a movie, they might not.. You take a video box up to the counter and keep your fingers crossed. We got lucky tonight and rented the Scooby Doo movie. When we got home we popped it in and realized it was from China.. the english is fine, but it appears to have been taped from a cinema.... You can see shadows of people walking in front of the screen. High quality stuff. Well , it's 9 20 now and the kids are relaxing watching the show.. Tomorrow morning we are hoping to make it to Mass in the village of Mmangkodi. We'll see if we can make it out of here with all the kids.

Wish us luck.

All for now.. Here's a nother great video fo some traditional dancing/singing from Botswana
http://youtube.com/watch?v=SJpTd3CU-Yc

Not much to report

A bit of a boring afternoon. THe older kids are on break from school, so the days are hectic. Kids screaming, beating each other up, babies taking off clothes and trying to climb on the dining room table. Nothing really that new..

Michelle and i ate lunch together down at the Main Mall, during the rush hour traffic. We got take out from Pie City(No its not as good as it sounds). It was nice... sunny and 75, being completely in the minority in a bustling business centre.. I use bustling loosely, but it was busier than usual...

tonight is another braai evening.... everyone heading over for a night of competitive cornhole and some peri-peri chicken..

Maura hurt her finger today, said that her teeth bit it. that's a problem.

Michelle has next week off as well, thinking of what to do and where to go.. Here's some new photos. She wants to take them to the Okavango Delta.... we'll see.

Dinner with Baylor and Cape Town video!!

Michelle and I had a nice evening with some very distinguished guest last night at the Grand Palm hotel. Docs from all over Africa working for Baylor were in attendance as well as the former President of Botswana and the local and most popular music group Matsieng. They rocked. they're like the bad boys of Botswana. Here's 2 of their music videos http://youtube.com/watch?v=Mel9pTZdN04&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGFg2VJ4VH8
.. i actually have their CD... you'll recognize the music b/c I've been putting it with alot of our videos.It seems as if the ladies here dig them immensely... the funny thing is , they knew me..... They live in Gabane.

Anyway, we hung out with the pres, had chicken livers and pap and had a great time... We realize we are a part of something very special here in Botswana and across Africa. it will be tough to leave it.

Here's another video of Cape town.. this is actual video, edited, cut and professional laid out by yours truly. A masterpiece!!! Very boring, but the kids are in it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHt585dmV1k If you want entertainment, check out the Matsieng boys... They're videos I think have been shot in Gabane.

camp out in the backyard.

wasn't as eventful as the night out with the lions, but jacob , kate and i had a nice time sitting in the backyard by the fire. It's getting very brisk here in the evening/night hours, feel alot like home right now. During the day the sun constantly shines and there are no clouds in the sky.

We sat around last night and discussed grandpa's sayings, names, songs, etc. We concluded that Grandpa's old high school girlfriend, Esmerelda Fartknocker was the best name. Oh, the things that get passed down to your kids.

Kate is becoming a true wiz at the piano, really doing well. I attribute most of her success to her teacher, Kabo. She does an excellent job keeping her on task as they sit in our kitchen as 4 other kids scream and holler all around them.

2 notes.....

I woke up at 5:30 this morning to the sound of a choir of men singing in our neighborhood. It was really a nice way to be woken up in the early hours of the morning..

Saturday is BDF day here. Botswana Defense Force day... they are practicing flying all kinds of military planes, etc all above our neighborhood. It freaks the hell out of the kids. I was taking the twins on a walk around the block when a huge plane flew directly overhead... 2 local Botswana men, 1 whom I talk to daily, looked at me and said... "it's Bush, he's coming to kill us and take our land."
i told them they were right, and we laughed.... If they only knew .....

Michelle and i have big dinner plans this evening, the Baylor crew for all over southern Africa and Houston is in town for an annual meeting... It should be a fun night on the town.

All for now.

Cape town

We've returned from the trip to Cape Town.. I arrived there after being home for my father's funeral and was able to spend a few days in this beautiful part of the world. It was good to be back with the kids and michelle, but very difficult leaving my mom and the rest of my family with unfinished feelings/ business.
My father's funeral services were unbelievable. All the people who turned out to pay their respects to my dad was a true celebration of my dad and the great man that he was. thanks to all those who sent an email , visited the wake and attended the funeral . I hope you realize how much we appreciate your kind words and support. We will miss him dearly and I can only hope that I turn out to be half the man he was.

It is now Tuesday and we arrived back in Gaborone after a 15 hour drive through South Africa. It was a beautiful drive, and again was par for the course in beauty. I don't know which one was more beautiful, eastern South Africa or the west. The people were kind and the weather was great. Seems like we lucked out, as we packed up our bags in the morning to leave, it felt like winter was settling in.

If you ever get the chance to come to South Africa, go to Cape Town.... without a doubt. http://www.tourismcapetown.co.za/It's not an African feeling place at all, more like an American city, but absolutely beautiful. And a great mix of people. Very diverse, but with its same racial issues as the rest of south Africa. As you drive through the countryside, you see small shantytowns for the blacks and large spacious farmlands, winelands for the whites. It seems like they have a long way to go in repairing the situation here. But I will tell you that the kindness of those South africans I experienced was great. The kids were able to swim with penguins, go to the top of Table Mountain, and of course, eat at McDonalds. After seeing the city for a day and spending an afternoon at Kalk bay, we headed to Franschooek, a small wineland village in the hills outside of Cape Town. It again was beautiful, felt like hyde park a bit. The farm we stayed in was perfect for the kids... plenty of space http://www.reedenlodge.co.za/.

The kids ran around the grounds, we made fires at night and just hung out. On saturday we packed up the car, and headed back to Botswana. The kids are seasoned travellers, and besides the fact that Franny once was able to get out of her seat, undress herself and stand up in the back of the car, the car trip home was great. We stayed in Britstown on the way home, and then trekked to the border the next day. Now, the kids have a few weeks off of school and are back to destroying the house... I brought some sidewalk chalk back with me and the patio is getting a huge makeover. We pitched our tend yesterday and plan on a campout tonight in the backyard.. Funny story... as we opened our tent yesterday, the was a baby scorpion in it, left over from our trip to Khutse. Kate ran screaming bloody murder while Jude tried to eat it. Here's a photo slideshow of our trip...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5J5wcEK7V-U AND yes I realize there is a huge typp on the title. I made it while holding Jude, saved it without thinking and can't repair it . SORRY. All for now.... And thanks again to those who showed their support of my dad. It meant alot.

My Dad

I am headed back home again in the next day or 2.. My father passed away last night....

If you knew him, you were a better person for it. He was awesome... and I will miss him dearly.

The blog will continue in a few weeks i guess.

Here's a video of our last family trip together... it was right before we left for Botswana.. Thrown in there are a few great pictures of a wonderful man... I'm glad we got to go on that trip.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjrVv7KYZrA

All for now

reds lose in opener and Kate wins with program

did you like that title? I thought of it all by myself.. If you didn't know.. the reds lost their opening day game... I predict they will win the rest of their games this year..
we are all doing well here, getting ready for our next visitor.. Nana..... The kids are excited. I'll give you(Nana) the same advice I've given everyone else coming over here.... take advantage of the free drinks.. you'll need them..

Kate received another award today, this time for trying very hard with her multiplication tables. We are very proud... Jacob is in a class play tomorrow, so we need to check that out.... Maura is doing well at Dipeo and the twins continue to destroy everything in their path.. Michelle has started back to work in the clinic, and did here outreach trip yesterday to the village of Mochudi.. I am staying busy with work on designing a poster and other things for the clinic..
We are preparing for our big trip to Cape Town in a week and the kids are excited about having another month off of school..

Here's a video of a program kate and her class put on about a week ago. they are studying senses and did a report on an animal with keen sense of sense.. does that make sense... Ha! I am on today... Go Reds!!! Here's the video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slv1psRWNgc