Glen woke up, in traditional fashion, with the girls singing their rendition of Happy Birthday, which was really entertaining and well practised. The girls had a unique gift for their daddy this year comprising of a beatiful card and 3 wonderful vouchers. One for a foot massage, one for a back tickle and another for a back rub. The first two were cashed in immediately, and so he started off with a king's pampering session.

The Year-for-Lifers also went all out, and baked him a cake, well actually Vince and Stacey actually baked it, but anyway, they all had the idea...


Even though there were pretty sprinkles on top, I must say that the candle lacked the feminine touch...not that Glen cared...

(the paper is there so that the wax doesn't drip on the cake)

After cutting up the cake in Glen fashion he prededed to stuff the whole piece (almost) into his mouth and gobble it up...

I don't think he would have eaten it with so much enthusiasm if he had known Vince's secret ingredient....you guessed it....PUMPKIN! I had absolutely nothing to do with it by the way, and just so that you know...you really couldn't taste it at all. I don't know if the YFLers will still be in his good books after he finds out...uh oh....

Here are some of the other gifts that Glen got for his birthday...what a spoil!!!

A real big chunk of Krugersdorp has been without water since Monday afternoon...I am writing this blog on Wednesday afternoon, and the latest news is that our water will only be on tomorrow sometime....crazy huh? The girls are really starting to smell, and we're all starting to itch...no just kidding - we organized to go freshen up at a friend's place, so hopefully we will be okay until tomorrow.

We really take our lifestyle so for granted...just being able to flush your toilet is really a luxury. Thankfully Mike and Petro, our neighbors from accross the way, and also chuch friends offered for us to use their pool water to flush our toilets. So here is Jacque helping us out by fetching some water from accross the way.



Our pool water storage system in our garage...well half of it at least.


I am really looking forward to some running water again - hopefully by tomorrow.

Now you must think that my life is really boring, as I am even blogging about our carpets being cleaned, but let me tell you that in our house, this is quite an occassion. Amanda even woke Rachel up in anticipation shouting "Rachel, wake up, the carpet cleaner is coming today...let's make the bed...quickly!". After a year of living here, with many social gatherings and a lot of cooldrink and hot chocolate and other things spilled on the carpets, sometimes by our guests, sometimes by us, but mostly by Sugar (our playful cat) I thought it was high time that the carpets got a proper clean.

The added bonus is that our house looks presentable for our special guests who are coming in October...hopefully we can keep them clean till then.

Friday night was supposed to be a games night at Chris and Tarryn's, but their little one was sick, and so it ended up being at our place. Rachelle brougt her poker set along, and so, seen as though I had never played poker, we were all quite keen to play.

Rachelle was the winner for the evening, and you can see the glee on her face as she anticipates her winnings...

and here Jacque is thinking...''My future wife is quite the gambler..."

The poker set was really cool to play with...real chips and everything! - Mine didn't last very long at all...as I just kept betting no matter what hand I had - maybe there is some skill involved in this game after all.

Emiel was probably the most experienced player around the table, and Lisa did have some 'beginners luck', although I think that it had to do mostly with her husband whispering in her ear every now and then telling her when to play on...

and Glen...well, he was almost as bad as me in this game...I guess the Thompsons are just not meant to 'get rich quick'!

All in all a fun, innocent evening of friendly gambling.

My mom received this gorgeous little box with a small gift inside for her birthday. As you might be able to see, it's made out of an old cooldrink bottle. This idea was chosen as last week's craft in 'Granny Time'.


The bottles had already been prepared by my mom (she had cut the tops off and cut the flaps which fold down to form the lid). The girls had to start by sanding down the rough edges.


Then they simply decorated them with a kind of 'glass paint'. The original was decorated with tissue paper which had been decoupaged onto it - really pretty.

Once they were dry, they could be folded down to close. The girls are using them now as little jewelry boxes. They were really easy and fun to make, and look really funky!

A while back we had a skype chat to the Clevelys, and well, as usual things got a little out of hand...Lynn was the lucky one to get 'Skype Snapped' - I don't think she'd mind though...

...just beware - you might be next!

The Lord is truly blessing our family in every way. Here are some new friends of ours, who just love the Lord so much and who love to grappel the Word - Chris and Tarryn.

We thank God for His many blessings - old and new!

For those of you who have been wondering...this is the car that God has blessed us with - a 2004 Mercedes Vito. More than we could have ever asked or thought...

The Lord gives and the Lord takes away - BLESSED BE THE NAME OF THE LORD!!!

This is what Glen discovered in his office yesterday morning. The Year For Lifers built this tower of chairs in his office as a joke...they obviously had nothing better to do...

This second higher tower they built in the church sanctuary for the junior youth to admire...boys will be boys!

The other day the girls just decided to dress like twins - they are such a joy to me!

On Monday the 30th of August we found out that we had once again lost our baby. We don't know WHAT God is doing, but we know that GOD is doing, and God is GOOD. Even though we are very disappointed, we are going to continue trying to have more children.

That same evening Glen had a car accident, and our only car was written off. But thankfully Glen was not hurt, and neither was the other driver.

Now, Emile and Lisa are also looking for a new car as they have their 4th little one on the way, and so here is Lisa, by our computer investigating our vehicle options.

This is just a cute little pic, of little Hannah enjoying Bonnie.

A few weeks ago, we took the long journey to Vereeniging to visit Glen's dad and stepmom. We decided to meet up and have lunch at a place called Magics, which truly was a wonderful place. The girls enjoyed playing on the vast amount of jungle gyms and enjoyed riding the horse and even went to look at the farm animals with Granny Sheri.

Unfortunately I didn't have my camera with me so I don't have any photos of everyone else, but these photos are from Sherilee-ann's camera which she kindly sent to me.