Drakensburg Mtns pics

 

spaceless

When you have about 6 x 2 of walking space to share with your husband—bed, dresser, and closet taking up the rest—you learn what you’ve been overlooking at home. Leaving clothes on the floor becomes very irritating. Tidiness seems ABSOLETLY essential (to the female obviously). At home, he had his side of the bed and you had yours. What he did with his side was basically up to him. The occasional stacks of clothes you could turn a blind eye to—the unwashed dishes—there was space for them—the random screws, nails, coins, etc laying in small piles all around the house—no problem. But when there IS no space, conversations about these former insignificant things take place pretty often. They usually go something like this:
1)Do you need these screws?
I might.
2)Are you done with that book—can it get put away-aka can YOU put it in it’s place?
Sure (aka—go ahead!).
3)Are these clothes dirty?
That’s why they’re on the floor.
—I attempt to put them in the dirty clothes bag—
Wait—they’re not washable dirty—they’ve just been worn before!
4) Do these live here?
Why not?
Because there’s no room for it here—why can’t they go with the rest of your clothes?
Because they’re there.

Yes—living with your spouse in a one-room location for two months sure can get interesting…let’s just hope he survives ☺

lowering my standards of hygiene

When I know that the only people to impress while working are babies and the occasional person dropping off donations, I rarely bother with the formality of make-up, mirrors, or matching (the Aunties already think I’m weird for eating peanut butter on my apples as well as pb & banana sandwiches). The only reason I change my shirt daily is because I really do get tired of smelling like baby vomit (fresh vomit is bad enough, I don’t need day-old vomit). I wear the same shorts three days in a row (they’re not as close to my nose and therefore don’t warrant the smell change). I stop washing my hair but for my day off, or if I happen to be going out that night (not to the grocery shop of course—even though it’s in the mall—that’s too much trouble for not enough time). These are the things I lay out to get ready in the morning: yesterdays shorts, new shirt, flip flops, hair tie, lotion (it’s incredibly dry here even though it’s the rainy season), vitamins (trying not to get sick and therefore get all the babies sick), water bottle, watch (have to write down everything about the babies—when they ate, what, how much—when they peed/pooped), and room key (though I lost that today, so guess that’s not on the list anymore—I’m pretty sure the chair in the baby room ate it), and my current book (I’ve read 3 in the 2 weeks I’ve been here and on my 4th—I get to read on my coffee and lunch breaks—and my days off when there’s really not all that much else to do, since I can’t drive here). It takes me about 10 minutes to get ready cause all I do is dress, pull my hair up in a ponytail, and brush my teeth. I have become ADDICTED to the instant coffee here. When I go up for breakfast the first thing I do is put the kettle on to boil. All the coffee here is mixed with chicory, and I LOVE it! I drink maybe 1 cup a day at home and rarely finish them—I drink at least 3 here down to the last drop!
I wake every morning about 5:30, cause that’s when the sun comes up. I can usually fall back asleep for the next 50 minutes before my alarm goes off at 6:20 to get up and get ready for work. I am off today and still woke up early, guess it’s a good thing I go to sleep before 10 pm! Anyway—I’m famished and need to get up and go get some food (and the yummy coffee of course!). Then Maybe I’ll snuggle back in bed and watch the rest of the 1st Harry Potter movie I started last night ☺. Love and miss you all!

Overall Sunday Best!

 

Alive and Well--from the rainy season

A week and a half we’ve been here now, and I know all my babies’ names by heart. I can tell you who needs to eat later and who likes her bottle very hot (very picky of her if I do say so myself ☺). I know who always needs more attention, and who plays well with others or alone. I know the boy who can’t be let out of your sight for one minute or he’ll be crawling all over the little ones, stealing their toys and pulling their hair. I have worked 4 ½ eleven-hour days this week, and I’m TIRED, but today seems to be flying by. Everyone but my problem sleeper boy took a nap this morning (poor boy—singing, cuddling, rocking—nothing seems to work and he’s so mad he can’t stand it!), a miracle of large proportions. I love them—each and every little face! We got a new set of twins in last week—they were only 4 lbs each and already one month old. I never thought I would hold babys that small, much less feed them, but now it seems to come naturally and I barely think about them being too breakable to touch. Honestly if you could see the way the aunties (and now I’m doing it too) pick these babies up, you would think their arms would come out of their sockets—but no—their just fine! The durability of children amazes me every day! Just today I heard someone saying one of our little ones was 18 months old, and the doctors said she wouldn’t live past a year! Steph (the baby care manager) said, “He doesn’t know the God we serve!” AMEN!

Onto a little about us: we are getting to know our way around the place, or at least Dave is. As the Eddy females last of direction never ceases to amaze me, I can’t seem to figure out anything but how to get to the mall (you laugh, but it’s only 3 turns away and that’s where we shop for groceries too)! Another volunteer is leaving today, which leaves just three of us here at the baby house. I can’t imagine what it would be like being the only one! We get together quite frequently on our days off. They recommend you get off base on your day off as much as possible, otherwise you burn out quickly. I could see it for sure—as much as you love the babies you need time without them to recoup! Dave is working at the toddler house today—fixing something I think, not really sure. The Aunties are all quite taken with him as he’s constantly working and fixing things for them—they are always asking me, “Do you know where Uncle Dave is,” so he can fix something. We haven’t done anything too extraordinary yet, other than getting locked in the game park (yes the one I posted pics of on FB), but it was fine ☺. We both got rather burnt that day though, I’m still recovering, hoping it goes quick so I can get back into the patchy sun. It rains daily here (it IS the rainy season), but then the sun will come out brilliantly and hot (it’s 72 at the moment). We are hoping to take a weekend trip soon when we’re both off (I get every other weekend—and working 3 days on, 1 day off). Anyway—that’s all for now—it’s long enough—sorry about that! Don’t forget to get online at 1:00 pm on Sunday to chat or skype! We miss you all!

The FUN has ARRIVED!

Hey all! Well, we’re here! We arrived about 5 on Saturday and were greeted by Beth and little baby girl G (I’m not supposed to post the names, sorry, I slipped on FB, won’t happen again). Dave fell in love with G immediately and has been with the babies as much as possible since we got here. It’s been pretty rainy—it gets really stormy this time of year, so hopefully we’ll get some nice days soon. As we got here almost week earlier than previously intended (we told the director we would arrive on the 5tth or 6th), we are not on the schedule yet. So, we’ve been running errands, getting our room set up (we’re in bunk beds, but they come apart pretty easily, so we’ve been putting them up every morning and down every night), and helping with the babies in between. This will be like Dave’s orientation week I suppose. He did change a baby right away (he keeps forgetting which way around the nappy goes), but not anything serious yet ☺. Today Dave fed a baby—he got an easy one (he ate his whole bottle, no fuss, and burped without being “burped”)—and held a new, preemie baby girl that came in this afternoon (we actually got three new babies today, 2 girls and 1 boy—two weighed about 3.5 lbs, an average for the DOH babies). After Dave meets Uncle Collin tomorrow, the all-around-fix-it-build-it-guy, and finds out what he’ll be doing while he’s here (along with caring for babies), we’re most likely heading to Bruma (an amazing place of wonder, excitement, culture, and food from every continent), a HUGE open market. Later this week I’ll be training Dave how to bathe, change, and dress babies. I gotta say, I think he’s doing rather excellent, as he had NO interest in doing any of these things in the States. Who knows; maybe we’ll have babies after all some day! ☺ Well, that’s all for now. I’ll keep you updated, though pictures will come less frequently as they take a long time to upload. Love you all!
L

We're away!

Well: It's been awhile since I posted our trip news. And it might be a few days till I tell you more, cause WE'RE LEAVING TODAY! So, before we leave, I wanted to give you our address where we'll be staying cause WE LOVE MAIL! So, without further ado:

15 Barbara Rd.
Glenvista, 2091
Johannesburg
Republic of South Africa

It only cost .98 cents to send a letter!

We'll be checking in soon, but I need to finish packing--LOL--hopefully soon!

Love you all and THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU for all your support!

much love,
Leigh & Dave

More info :)

So you know we're going back to Joburg (Johannesburg) S. Africa, but not much else. Much has happened since my last post that is truly amazing. We are hoping to head over the first week of January--hopefully before the 7th. God has worked through so many already to provide for us! Our friend has again graciously offered us two buddy passes which will cut $1500 off our budget. Also, another friend has given us information that will allow us to suspend our phones for two months without cutting off our agreement; this will save us another $200. Our boss at Nantahala Gorge Canopy Tours has offered us the canopy tour course on December 12th, and several of our fellow employees are volunteering their time to help us zip around 35 to 40 people through that day for donations to help raise money for our trip. Beth Maennle, our friend who volunteers permanently for Door of Hope(DOH), talked to the director of the organization, and she said we could stay in a room there, and Dave could use a truck they have for his trips to fix different baby houses. Dave and I have both been given information about jobs when we return as well, and positive feedback for us to attain those positions. God is breathtaking how he cares for us in ways we never expected! We are both extremely joyful about ministering to DOH and our friend Beth while we are there. We expect to be there through February and return early March, unless I can convince him to stay through March too! That's all for now, and, as we'll be seeing most of our extended family in the next few days, I can't wait to tell you more about it! I'll try to remember to bring the laptop to the Eddy gathering to show you all pictures! Thank you for gathering with us in prayer about this trip--we love you all!
P.S. I am pumped about getting to see that girl in the picture; she is SO beautiful! She is still there, walking & talking, and I get to kiss that sweet sweet face again and hold her in my arms! Praise the Jesus!

pssst.....

smile...giggle...well--I'm going to Africa again, and this time I'm not going alone! Since Dave and I didn't find permanent jobs for the winter, we decided to go work at Door of Hope for a couple of months. My parents have GRACIOUSLY agreed to keep the dogs (Mom--you're awesome and I love you). I'm super ecstatic and so is Dave. He is going to help out with building and repair projects while he's there and I get to help out with the babies again--and whatever else they might need. They're really short staffed right now so it should be interesting! So--if you haven't done any Christmas shopping for us yet--PLEASE DON'T--we would love it if anyone that can could donate to help support our trip. This is a huge leap of faith for us right now, so please keep us in your prayers! Thanks for stopping by--I'll update more soon, but right now I need to sleep!

On the Blue Ridge Parkway

so Dave and I have blessedly been working all week this last week since we got home. It's been busy, but a good busy. We love our job at the zip line (get to meet lots of fun people and go zipping every day!). But it's been kinda hectic as well. I seriously thought it was Monday on Thursday. Then Sunday hit and I thought it was Tuesday--jeez! When you work on weekends you totally forget what day it is! Well, Tuesday we got off at and decided to hit up Subway, grab the dogs, and then drive up the parkway from Cherokee. The colors up here right now are absolutely breathtaking, especially up on the parkway. We got up there about 6:30-ish and it was already getting a little dark, but we snapped a few pictures and ate dinner. Then we found a short hike and let the dogs run up the mountain to get some energy out. Good thing Dave brought his headlamp, cause we ended up walking out in the dark, but we did get to see the sunset from the top! Here are a few shots he got:
--I love the long distance view on this one

I don't think the comp. screen does this justice--that tree was flaming red!!!


See the fog rolling over the mountain as the sun goes down? So cool


Dave set the camera on a rock at the top and took this pic. on timer. I love that last pink streak before it all goes black

Waterfalls in the area

All of these waterfalls are out of Franklin--towards Highlands

you can drive your car under this waterfall



The color is all messed up--but you couldn't see the faces of anyone so I had to adjust it

Dave and I doing the pairs side of the ropes course a few weeks back

getting all roped up

the scary pole with the detachable boards that come out very easily if you don't put your weight on them JUST right

We made it!

Piece of cake! We got this!

Got to stop laughing! Hey--stop holding on so tight--jeez!

Glad you're the first one--that board was heavy!

Dave--I am so not happy with you for making me do this! I am NOT going to have fun!

Dave--SEE! I'M NOT HAVING FUN--THIS SUCKS!

Me--How can people not love this?!? It's AWESOME!

Granddaddy's cookies

Granddaddy Fisher's sugar cookies were always my favorite. He would make them especially for me when I was home, and he even mailed me some when I lived in Canada. In general I don't like sugar cookies because they're too sweet, but Granddaddy's never were. I got the recipe from Grandmama a few years ago, but was never brave enough to try it out. But today, I thought I would. It was a tedious process to say the least (I had never actually sifted anything before, and the recipe calls for a lot of sifting, lol), but it was SO worth it! This is my photo journal of the preparation process, minus the mixing. Too bad I didn't get that, cause it was a hoot! I'm not great with sifting (flour everywhere!!!), or electric mixers (you shoulda seen the walls, plus everything else), but I was too messy to touch the camera to document!







P.S. maybe it was the hat that inspired me <3

I love how much confidence Granddaddy's hat gives me!

Dave + I at the Gatlinburg aquarium

5 myths about health care around the world

EVERYONE needs to read this--it's only 3 pages long and it's worth it! Comment on what you think of it--i would be REALLY interested.

Click on the title of the blog to go to the link!

Beach pix--vol 2--the Battleship

Big Guns :)

All of us--don't I take great timed photos???

The four amigos--depending on their mood

G says it's a little bright out here

Dave in the battleship workshop--he was pretty impressed with the machinery and tools!

G is steering--watch out!

No S isn't strangling Dave--Dave is trying to do a pull-up with him on his back! yes--his shoulders hurt for the next few days, that's what 40 extra pounds does to you!


P.S.--fixed the video so now you guys can watch the dancing fun!

Beach pix--vol 1--Wyatt's birthday celebration

glum smile :)

action shot!

S and I (covert elephant climbing)

G wasn't much for pix this particular night

The elephant was jealous of W's quaffed mohawk

G did not agree to this picture--but since he was on the second level he dealt with it

Limbo putt-putt style! Course Aunt Leigh thought this was a great idea--until someone went face first into the turf

I would say Landon is on his crackberry--but it's an iphone--so I guess that makes it his crackphone? not as catchy

Oh man--i love this picture--come over to my house and we can practice a bit more Shannon--I got my own ddr set!