Not for the squeamish

Yes, meet my new shop assistant, Miss Anica Vogel! Such a happy, fun filled 10 month old!

Over this last long weekend, I had the privilege of having Astrella and Anica staying with me for 3 nights. Marius went on a fishing trip to Bloemfontein!

"Pulling all these clothes out of the shelves is exhausting"

Though the weekend was great, it was not without its challenges!
The weather was cold & rainy so poor little Anica was restricted to the confines of my little flat! However, we did go out to bookclub on Saturday and had Sunday lunch with Seth & Shirley after church. The change of scenery really helped!

Unfortunately the amount of wild cats living around the school has increased. These cats are forever ganging up on Tigger and about 2 weeks ago he was in a very big cat fight. Because of his thick fur (not to mention, fatty bulges) I could not see any injury but 5 days after the fight I noticed an area on his stomach which was very sensitive and upon investigation, I found that a huge, painful growth had developed. A friend kindly took us to the vet and Tigger ended up having a massive operation! It turns out that where he had been bitten a hair had gone through and lodged itself, causing an abscess! The vet had cut away much of the dead fat in order to remove the hair, thus giving Tigger his very own Tummy Tuck.
Tigger came home with a huge wound and a cone on his head to keep him from pulling out the stitches! He really was not a happy kitty and soon after his return, he managed to get the cone off his head. Stress levels soared as we tried to put it back on. Thankfully Bev came over and helped Astrella refasten it. The vet was adamant that he wear the cone as he would have bitten the stitches out in no time!
I was so so grateful to have had Astrella with me over those first three days as she helped carry Tiggers sandbox in & out for me and also helped give Tigger his morning antibiotic!

This photo was taken a day after the operation. He has since been to the vet for a checkup and another antibiotic injection. The vet is happy with his progress and his stitches will be coming out next Friday. In the meantime he has become accustomed to the cone for which I am VERY grateful. Not only does it stop him from licking his wound but it restricts his walkabouts to only the courtyard because it is too big and he can't fit through the bars of the gate.

While Tigger is restricted, I am making plans with the SPCA to come and catch the wild cats and remove them from the school!
I would be very relieved if this mission were accomplished!

Christ is the Key

I have been having a very frustrating time with my Bible study girls! I officially have seven precious souls but they are only in Grade 9 and even though I have had them for over a year, they are just not committed. So with them being so inconsistent, I have found it very difficult to go through a book with them systematically.
Lately, for various reasons I have been waking up between 2 & 2:30am and that is it, my zzzzzzzz time is over and instead of sleeping, the grey matter kicks into overdrive! During one of my early morning mental marathons, I started wondering what to do with these girls and how better I could serve them. I remembered how I used object lessons when I gave Bible Study in the Home to intellectually impaired adults! These lessons were short but full of impact. I prepared my first object lesson but last week, only 2 girls pitched up 55 minutes late. I was very discouraged but our Faithful Lord gave me an idea and I suggested to the two girls that we should have a leader who would be responsible for ensuring that the girls remember Bible study, arrive on time or come and inform me when nobody is able to attend! This leader would also be responsible for praying for the other girls with me. They loved idea and I appointed the girl who is the least spiritually strongest out of the two to be the first leader.
Yesterday was the first Bible study with Kabelo as leader and I was amazed! I had FIVE girls and they were only 10min late.
The lesson went very well! I had a locked padlock and asked them to lock my gate (without giving them the key). The same with a can of tuna (without a can opener, they had to open the can for me as I needed it for my dinner). The gist: the padlock is useless without a key as is the reason for living without Christ. This was thickly coated in backup Scripture!
I pray that our Bible study has reached a positive turning point.