Knightly Family Journey

2010-09-10T14:45:00.001-03:00

Keeping an eye out for the naughtly little wart hogs on the sides of the highway... would not want one of them as a hood (or bonnet as they call it in Namibia) ornament... that is for sure!

YAH... 70km to Otjiwarongo... where they make the best PIZZA in the WORLD! I took the pictures of road signs for Meagan... she misses that every 10 km you get a new sign... making the trip go ON and ON and ON... actually we liked the updates... lessens the boredom. :)

On the road to Tsumeb

2010-09-10T14:42:00.000-03:00

Yes I am driving and taking pictures at the same time... on the left side of the road... roaring down the highway at about 140km/hr. Good times in Namibia :) Whoot Whoot!

2010-09-10T14:41:00.001-03:00

The ladies teach Vivas a new song...

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Vivas writes out the lyrics to an Oshiwambo song. Isabella helps to translate the words so he understands what they are singing! Cross-cultural ministry... in Namibia! :)

2010-09-10T14:38:00.000-03:00

Here's Isabella getting into the meat... someone caught her on camera! :)

A picture of some of the tears that were shed... listening to 4 beautiful C&C ladies singing their hearts out to God is enough to make anyone cry... in fact, just thinking about it tears me up! Wish I had video of the event... I will have to get on my boys to send me a disc!

2010-09-10T14:28:00.000-03:00

I have no idea now what we were finding so funny... but man did we have a good gutt-laugh!!!! Always good to have those!

Some ladies enjoying the MEAT! Everyone in Namibia loves meat!

Back to Five Rand

2010-09-10T14:26:00.000-03:00

Back to Five Rand and our meeting with the ladies from my Care and Compassion Beading team. What a great reunion.... lots of laughs, shouts of joy, tears, singing and even a little message given by Vivas. It was a great time together. Isabella came to translate, Jenny came along to visit, Vivas, Jelson and Fenguito came from Windhoek and Meme Olivia, Meme Regina, Meme Martha and Meme Helena came together again! :)

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Kisses for Meagan from one of the girls in the choir... Meagan misses Angola, and the Angolan church in Namibia... she misses the choir!

Oh the beautiful faces of Africa....

2010-09-10T14:19:00.000-03:00

My first Sunday in Namibia...

2010-09-10T14:10:00.000-03:00

I went to Pilgrim Baptist church in Katatura (Windhoek)... this is the Angolan church we attended for a long time while we were living in Namibia. It was nice to reconnect, but a lot of the young people were gone back to Angola on holidays so I missed out on seeing several of them. It was great to experience the CHOIR and SINGING... two things I loved about this church. :)

Braai at CHI Headquarters

2010-09-10T14:07:00.000-03:00

I was invited by an American team to join them at a Braai at the CHI Headquarters. It was a great evening of fun, food, and fellowship. One of the gals on the team was an incredible artist and did some great face painting. There is nothing else like a Namibian Braai! :)

2010-09-10T14:03:00.001-03:00

Meme Olivia... one of the ladies who came to Care and Compassion in Five Rand and also came to the MPMC to do beading 2 days a week. I took Bella with me to translate and I asked Meme Olivia to call together the 4 other ladies that I worked with on Sunday afternoon. She agreed but said that she was sure Meme Hilda was in the north. It was nice to see that she is still healthy and strong.

Sad...

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It just never looked like this when Care and Compassion met under the trees. :(

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I guess Isabella is going into modeling....

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The Children of Five Rand

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Isabella and the children she wants to adopt... hehe

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Capturing the CONTRAST!

I guess the goats thought they would also get in on the action... the goat soccer cup! :S

Ok I did watch a little soccer... haha...

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Soccer Game at 5 Rand

2010-09-10T12:27:00.000-03:00

I went to 5 Rand with Isabella to catch a soccer match. It was fun to sit around watching the little one's at play and reconnecting with several people. :) Under the Eucalyptus trees is where Pete used to meet with the ladies from Care and Compassion and have a Bible Study with them. They used to keep the area tidy but now there is a lot of trash kicking around :(

Catherine Duran

2010-09-10T12:24:00.000-03:00

Catherine and her daughter. Tony and Catherine were just coming to Namibia to work with CHI when we left. Our stuff was stored in their garage for a year, until it was moved up north.

The Maritz family!

2010-09-10T12:16:00.000-03:00

Hardus, Joy and Dawn Maritz... another family who was a big blessing to us while we lived in Namibia. They are always on the go and I just happened to catch them at home. So nice to visit with them again. Sadly I couldn't seem to get through to Joy's phone after that and I didn't get to see them before I left. They are now starting to work on renovating their home into a guest house. They quit selling water after we left, and Hardus has started installing cupboards and things, and training others. They are beautiful family... filled with love for the lost in Namibia :)

Reconnecting with the boys school friends.

2010-09-10T12:11:00.000-03:00

I went to the field next to Okahandja Primary school and met up with several of the kids friends. I also met up with some of the parents and that was nice as well. Augusta is the lady who owned Spitz Cafe when we lived in Okahandja... she sold it and took 2 years off and has now opened a new restaurant called Rhino's.

ISABELLA!

2010-09-10T12:07:00.001-03:00

This is Isabella... my sweet hostess for my time in Okahandja. It was so very nice to be able to spend time with her. She lives at Lon and Val Garber's house and runs the Work of Our Hands ministry. She is a talented beautiful young lady. We had a great time together. This night we were at Okahandja Lodge having supper. We were talking with Ndemufayo (in Zimbabwe) and teasing her a little (which prompted her to MAKE SURE she got back to Namibia before I left the country). Thank you Isabella for your hospitality! :)

JENNY!

2010-09-10T12:03:00.000-03:00

It was SO nice to reconnect with Jenny again! She is still beading her heart out... she is working for Work of Our Hands ministry and I am so happy for her and proud of her. She is one of the hardest workers I know... and she has had to overcome adversity like you wouldn't believe. I would have given up a long time ago or become incredibly bitter and angry. Jenny on the otherhand is a beautiful example of Grace and Love. I am so thankful that the ministry has included her and welcomed her with open arms. Sometimes you really connect with someone and there is no one who joins in that connection when you leave... but thankfully for Jenny that wasn't the case. What a blessing!!! SO good to see her again! I left some money behind when I left to help have a new house built for Jenny (yes it's a tin shack, but it is a nice one!)... it is built now and she can move in and get it feeling like home. Hopefully soon she will have her children back with her, one of the difficult things she has had to deal with in the past while. I didn't get to see Tommy and Queen as they were in the North with their Great Grandmother.

Yang Tze Restaurant, Windhoek

2010-09-10T11:56:00.001-03:00

Just look at the spread that Raylee had prepared for us. Phew... it was a lot of food and most of it was taken home for later :) GREAT FOOD! GREAT RESTAURANT! GREAT SERVICE! :) It's a must visit if you are ever in Windhoek Namibia :)

Raina

2010-09-10T11:52:00.000-03:00

This sweet girl, Raina (who was introduced to me as Laina... the Oshiwambo classic swap the L for an R trick)... worked at the bead shop in Chinatown at Raylee's father's shop. She is a sweet happy young lady. She is also very smart. Raylee stole her from her father and employed her at the restaurant when she bought it. :) I suprised her when I arrived... she was jumping up and down and squealing. :) It was so nice to reconnect with her and just to know that she is taken care of makes me feel very good.

Raylee and me

2010-09-10T11:47:00.001-03:00

This is my dear friend Raylee Lee. She owns a restaurant in Windhoek (Yang Tze in Klein Windhoek). Her dad owns a shop in Chinatown where I used to purchase all our beads for the beading ministry. She has been a huge blessing to me and to the ministry in Namibia. She donated 2 large boxes of beads to Leila, so she can start up a beading ministry in her village. She fed me numerous times while in Windhoek. She invited the Groblers to eat with me one night and made take-away for us another night. She is a real gem. I wish she kept up on her email so we could keep in touch :) I guess I'll have to phone her one of these days!

The Grobler Family

2010-09-10T11:42:00.000-03:00

We met the Grobler family when they lived in Oshakati (in northern Namibia). They owned a lodge and we stayed there when we went for visa renewals for Angola. We became good friends. Adrianne picked me up from this airport upon my arrive in Namibia July 2010. Adri made me feel at home. The girls shared with me (phone, room, etc). Such a blessing! When I returned to Windhoek after my long tour around the country they gave me the keys to their house and I had full run of the place while they went on holiday to South Africa. This family has been such a blessing to ours... God has gifted them with hospitality and giving... we are so thankful for them and feel very blessed to have met them. :)

The Beautiful Bahn family.

2010-09-10T11:35:00.000-03:00

Grace Bahn and me!

2010-09-10T11:33:00.000-03:00

Shortly after arriving in Namibia I had the wonderful opportunity of visiting Julia and Buddy Bahn and of course Baby Grace. She is so sweet. I got to snuggle with her the entire visit.

My Grammy Hill and me!

2010-09-10T11:28:00.000-03:00

It was so nice to have the chance to see my Grammy Hill again. We had a great visit.

2010-09-10T11:14:00.000-03:00

WOW... a LOT has happened since the beginning of JUNE!

Let's see...
Meagan had prom, baccalaureate service, and graduation.
Pete came home for 10 days.
I got a flight booked to Namibia.
Pete went back to north of Ft. Nelson BC.
The boys went to camp (Arrowhead) to work.
I flew to Namibia and spent 5 weeks there.
I went through and organized all of our things left in Namibia, gave everything away except for 1 suitcase full.
Got to reconnect with so many people.
Traveled about 3000km while in Namibia.
Left feeling more encouraged than when I arrived.
Delta lost all of my luggage (including the one suitcase which had the 'few' things I saved. Argh.
Still no sign of luggage.
Pete surprised me and was at my parents house when I drove in August 26.
He stayed for 5 days.
Did school shopping.
Boys went back to school September 8.

This has been a whirlwind summer. So much accomplished. I have looked forward to fall when I can settle into a routine and get back into the swing of getting my boys through school. Other than feeling like I am carrying around a 500lb head (so full of moisture... the humidity makes me crazy), and STILL not recovered from JetLag or climate change or whatever it is... things are going very well.

I will share some more detail on my trip later. For now I wanted to give the quick update.

Love
Charlene

June 2010

2010-06-12T23:51:00.000-03:00

This has been a busy few months... since my last post was in March there are a lot of things that have happened since then so I will just try to share a few here.

Pete left for Ft. McMurray in February... he didn't come home until May for 5 days! That was a long haul! While he was gone I did the usual running kids here to there and everywhere! Our tax dilemma was figured out and we were given back payment of all of our Child Tax Credit and GST credit... which was a HUGE blessing. I did a lot of purging in the house and have a LOT of stuff ready for a yard sale (hopefully the end of this month).

In the past several weeks we have been gearing up for Meagan's graduation. I am making her Prom and Grad dresses, so that has taken a lot of concentration and effort... which I am happy to say is ALMOST complete and when it is I will breathe a sigh of relief... whew! Meagan's play at school went great... Spamalot (a broadway version of Search for the Holy Grail... Monty Python). Meagan was the narrator (historian) and sang in a couple of different scenes. She had a BAD cold but still managed to do her part!

The boys have been enjoying time swimming at the river. They were the first to jump off the bridge this year... something they seem to be very proud of. Tavis fixed up an old bike with lots of miscellaneous parts and he has been enjoying BMX'ing at the bike park and around the yard. Trevor has exams next week so he will have to do a little studying. We had a group of kids over from Korner Youth... Gillis and Rachel also joined us for the evening and it was a great time together... bbq, water fight, hide and seek, movie, etc... it was just a fun evening together! Meagan has 2 exams next week and then she's DONE! Prom is on Friday (18th), Baccalaureate service is Sunday (20th) and Grad is Thursday June 24th.

Pete arrives home Thursday morning (17th) and will be here until the 27th... so that will be nice! Prom night we are having a big BBQ for family and friends, so it will be nice to get together, and it will be nice to have Pete here to help out.

Well... those are just a few of the highlights... I'll have to remember to blog more often and give updates on our wild times here... I forget things if I wait too long. :)

ONE IMPORTANT UPDATE: If God wills I will be going to Namibia in July/August. I really need to take care of our stuff in storage. Please pray that we will have the finances, someone to watch the house, and that everything else will fall into place. It is essential that I get back there to deal with things.

Take care,
Charlene

Thank you chicken for the double yolker...

2010-06-12T23:39:00.000-03:00

Goodbye PEI

2010-06-12T23:38:00.000-03:00

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Crazy times with the Knightly's...

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Wild Tavis...

2010-06-12T23:21:00.000-03:00

Crazy Trevor...

2010-06-12T23:20:00.000-03:00

A little more moi...

2010-06-12T23:18:00.000-03:00

Moi

2010-06-12T23:17:00.000-03:00

Miss Meagan

2010-06-12T23:15:00.000-03:00

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A quick trip to PEI...

2010-06-12T23:07:00.000-03:00

Anne of Green Gables... or is it Meagan of Green Gables??? haha

Meagan's first trip to PEI

2010-06-12T23:04:00.000-03:00

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Goofin Around... silly girls :)

2010-06-12T23:01:00.000-03:00

My wild child...

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Let the GRAD events BEGIN...

2010-06-12T22:56:00.000-03:00

This was the night we went to the Grad appreciation banquet at Lyttleton Pentecostal church... I made the dress that day... she looked very lovely with her new hair cut and in this dress... :)

June

2010-06-12T22:53:00.000-03:00

Trevor is digging a POND... NOT a grave... :)

Meagan LOVES her SIGN!

2010-06-12T22:51:00.000-03:00

River Signs on the Miramichi made this sign!

2010-06-12T22:50:00.000-03:00

Meagan's First Graduation Surprise...

2010-06-12T22:48:00.000-03:00

Tavis is thrilled with his sister's new sign... haha!

Meagan has noticed the sign and is giving the THUMBS UP!

Our friends meet the chicks...

2010-06-12T22:46:00.000-03:00

Gillis saying hello to tiny chick.

Rachel smiling sweetly at the little chick who will one day be dinner... we'll have them over when they're ready :)

2010-06-12T22:44:00.000-03:00

Here's Tavis with the NEW line... and below is the kite WAY up in the sky... look up WAY UP! :)

2010-06-12T22:42:00.000-03:00

Kite flying

2010-06-12T22:39:00.000-03:00

Tavis added some EXTRA line to this kite and he had the thing flying half way to Sunny Corner... ok not quite, but it was a LONG way out there!

Chicks are SO cute when they are little!

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May 2010 Chicks

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The 2 NB Power guys who went above and beyond the call of duty... helping to find an electrician and staying REALLY late waiting for him to come. Nice guys!

2010-06-12T22:29:00.000-03:00

Excitement in the Neighbourhood!

2010-06-12T22:27:00.000-03:00

March 2010 Powerline Down

2010-06-12T22:25:00.000-03:00

In March a wind storm blew through and tore the powerline from the house to the pole down! On a SUNDAY... it was VERY difficult to find an electrician who could come out and fix things up... but the nice man up in the bucket finally located someone and they were able to restore power for the night. After a $400+ bill we were back in business... ugh!

Poor Becky

2010-06-12T22:22:00.000-03:00

March 2010 Flooding on the Miramichi

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Meeting Baby Sierra

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Meagan's Birthday

2010-05-12T23:40:00.000-03:00

March Update

2010-04-01T10:30:00.000-03:00

This has been a busy month. In February I started ART (Active Release Technique) massage therapy. Last week I had my final treatment and this week I went for a relaxation massage. Jason Driscoll is amazing in his trade. I would highly recommend him, only problem is that he can't be cloned and he is already REALLY busy. He works on people to FIX things not to drag it on forever and he is still busy. After 6 treatments I feel like a whole new woman. It feels a little bit like a miracle. I have suffered with back problems for about 22 years now (they all began when I was working at a meat market in Prince George... I strained my back really bad and ended up having back spasms and having to quit my job due to extreme back pain). Through the years I have always had pain (there was honestly rarely a day that went by without having some kind of ache or pain in my back/neck/shoulders, and I often suffered from migraines)... so this is truly amazing to me that I can feel this good after suffering for so many years. Sure I get achy through the day, but I can do some simple stretching exercises that help to loosen it up and make it feel better.

Pete was working non-stop for about 5 weeks and then it went completely dead. He had to start looking for work elsewhere as things are not picking up at KEM. He would like to go back with them in the fall/winter, but we'll see what happens. For now, on Monday he got the job he was looking for and 3 other offers... this new company he will be working for beginning on April 4 will be a camp job (exactly what he was hoping for). Two weeks on one week off... and currently they will fly to Edmonton or Calgary but it should be opening up to Canada-wide soon!!! So potentially he could come home every 3rd week. It would be nice to see him more often that once every 4 or 5 months, that's a bit much.

I have been working on a lot of sewing projects this past month. http://charlenescreativecrafts.blogspot.com if you wish to check out what I have been working on. My new machine (the one Pete got me for Christmas) is a beauty and so easy to use... I finally learned how to use the embroidery attachment and I hope to make some money and be able to buy the computer attachment so I can download patterns from the internet. That would be awesome! I have also been Spring Cleaning. I moved most of my pantry items into the spare room off the kitchen, and eventually I would like to have a toilet, sink, washer and dryer put in the pantry and move the sink, stove, fridge etc into the spare room and make a proper kitchen/diningroom. We'll see how Pete's work goes first... there are so many remodeling things I would like to do to make things work more efficiently. I have also started making a lot more bread. I purchased a Kitchen Aid Professional mixer. I now make all of our bread, and of course cookies, and other things for the kids to snack on at school. Not only does it save on the grocery bill I find that LESS preservatives make a huge difference in our well-being.

Talitha moved out to Ft. McMurray in March as well. She is taking care of twin 4 year old boys and a 3 year old boy as well. It's a 3 week position and then she needs to find other work. She is staying with friends of ours up there and has made some friends at a Baptist church they (Pete and her) are now attending... even some Portuguese speaking people! Dennis is doing well... he is has entered exam time and is working hard at TRU.

Meagan, Trevor and Tavis are doing well in school. Meagan is gearing up for Grad in June. Trevor is playing Volleyball this term and has been asked to tutor a girl in math 2 days a week. Tavis did a crazy Science project for the Science Fair... he made a shocker! Just like Trevor made in Africa... he took 2 cans and attached wires to it... then he attached those wires to a power switch that had from 3volts to 12volts power. He borrowed a blood pressure cuff from the school office and took blood pressure of people and then shocked them and took it again. He even shocked the Principal. Trevor and Meagan also went to a mission conference down in Halifax, where they met people with MAF who know everyone we met in Angola ;) they enjoyed talking with them. Tavis had mono last year and I think he passed it off to the rest of us... we were all lacking in energy for several weeks... but that has seemed to pass now... although Trevor often sleeps as soon as he gets home from school, but he is busy with 2 or 3 volleyball practices or a game per week, and now he plans to tutor 2 days a week... busy little guy!

So although this has been a busy month it has been a good one. Sure it ended with me being sick with a bad cold, but all in all it was an improvement over the last year! Next week I go for a follow-up appointment with my OB/GYN and I am doubt I will have to see her again until next year!!! That would be nice. I am very thankful for GOOD health... it makes all the difference in one's outlook on life. It can get pretty depressing and stressful to feel badly for so long, so I am very thankful to GOD for granting me the opportunity to feel better!!!!

Take care,
Charlene

Pete has a job in Ft. McMurray! YAH!

2010-02-19T00:01:00.000-04:00

Well it is for sure... Pete has a job with a trucking company. It is for sure because he is already on a trip to Calgary ;) I just wanted those of you who were praying to know the good news! I'll fill you in on the details when I know more of what his job entails... for now we are just excited that he has his foot in the door!

Blessings,
Charlene

The Roller Coaster Ride of Life...

2010-02-18T12:23:00.000-04:00

This last couple of weeks has been a major roller coaster ride of emotions. Pete left to go out to Ft. McMurray to find work. He arrived on a Friday afternoon so it was impossible to start the job hunt, so by Monday he was getting pretty frustrated. Then on Tuesday he thought he had a job (he was offered one out of the blue in A&W...) however after chasing the guy down for a couple of days it turned out to be a dead lead. This caused a lot of frustration.

This week has turned out MUCH better... he was about to hop on a bus on Tuesday and a man waved him down to see if he could help him get his wife's car out of the driveway (it was stuck)... so he helped him and then the man drove him downtown. On their way down they were delayed for a while and got chatting... turns out he's a Christian, he's from Egypt, he's a Pharmacist, and he has lived in Ft. Mc for several years and has lots of connections. He asked Pete if he would give a mission presentation for a group of men, and they had him over for the evening last night, which was very nice for Pete. Pete applied for a trucking job which looked hopeful and then he had 3 or 4 other leads that he was following... it looks like he will get this trucking job, and the lady who does the hiring earlier in the week was on the fence about hiring him because he might find a better job in a month or two... but after thinking about it that evening she decided it would benefit them to have the extra driver even if he didn't commit to stay for 6 months or a year... so we'll hear this afternoon if it is all FOR SURE or not.

Well... I need to go finish making my bread... just thought I would give a quick update! Might share more later!

Love
Charlene

Trevor's Drawing of a Zebra

2010-02-18T11:55:00.002-04:00

Trevor drew this a while ago. He sketched it from a picture I took at Etosha National Park in Namibia!

Trevor's Drawing of Trip Lee

2010-02-18T11:48:00.004-04:00

From the "If They Only Knew" Album... this is one of Trevor's favourite Christian Reformer Rappers! Trip Lee is an awesome Rapper and Trevor is an awesome sketcher! ;-)

Quick update...

2010-02-07T00:50:00.000-04:00

We had a great trip to Sussex and managed to surprise my mother on her 70th Birthday. We had it planned that I would ask if they would like to come with us and go to the Big Stop in Salisbury for lunch... when we arrived several of my mom's family and a couple of good friends were there to shout SURPRISE. We had a great time, and a few of the family members managed to take to the idea that I had about bringing 70 things in a gift. My cousin Ruth and others in her family put together the best box of 70... they wrote out a few things that happened the year my mother was born and then they bought stuff that went with the theme... it was the most interesting gift.

This last week has been a busy week. Pete took his last trip on Monday (to Moncton with Meagan). On Friday morning he flew to Ft. McMurray where he will search for a job on Monday. We are praying that he gets one VERY quickly. We have accumulated debt that we need to pay ASAP. It has not been easy starting all over again since returning from Africa, but that is life.

I am working on some quilts, dresses, and some other things these days... I have enough projects to keep me busy until spring. Which is probably a very good thing.

Well, I am off to bed now... it's been a long day and I have been suffering from a migraine off and on all day long. I guess my body needs some sleep.

Night all...
Charlene