Thanksgiving Greeting

My Home (Away From Home)

Finally, I have gotten around to showing you where I live.

When you think of me living in Africa, 

you may be picturing

something like this~

a Zulu home in Embo

Or maybe you are picturing this~

A round-style Zulu home

Neither of those look like the house I live in.  

Because South Africa is the highest for crime in the world

and

because it is dangerous for a white single woman to live in our village,

I live in a regular home like most South Africans.

(Look for the monkeys in the next 3 pics)

Before you go onto the property where I live,

you must enter through a remote access gate.

Then you drive up the driveway.

I park under the awning or in the garage.

See the monkeys guarding my car.

After parking, I have 4 gates to go through.

The gates make it a very secure place to live,

but they are not fun to open and close when you have alot to carry or when it is raining

(right now it is rainy season and we have not seen the sun in 10 days).

Follow me down the path....

...through 2 more gates...

...now into my garden.

This is the front of my house.

There are bars on all of the windows,

another gate (the 5th gate) on the door,

3 locks to unlock to get in,

an alarm system,

and laser beams.

The first room you come to in my house

is the Bible Study/craft/whatever room.

I am so thankful to have an extra room to put my supplies in.

It will also serve as a guest room when you come to visit!

One of the things that has helped me to feel more at home here 

is to be able to refinish this table and chairs for my home.  

To see more about how I did that go to : http://willingworkinghands.blogspot.com/2012/09/my-stained-table-and-cat-scratched-legs.html

My bedroom is a bright place.

I love the quilt on my bed (made by ladies from my church).

Every night when I go to bed, 

it reminds me of the people praying for me back home.

Next is my bathroom.

I know, people don't really take pics of thier bathrooms,

but I know you are curious, so I included it.

I love to make my place look "homey".

Two of my favorite things about my bathroom-

the curtains that I made are my mom's favorite colors,

and

I love my grass-looking rug!

Now we go down the hallway into the open living area.

The South Africans call a living room the "lounge".

This is where Londiwe and I do our Bible Study and prayer time.

Sometimes we also sit and talk, or play games.

The quilt on the back of the couch is from a church.

They gave that to me at a missions conference.

What a blessing!

 (I use it alot during this cold and rainy season while I sit and study).

Next is the kitchen.

My kitchen is part of the open living area.

The picture over my stove is a treasure I found in my grandparent's garage.

It reminds me of my family and home.

This tractor was a toy I played with as a child.

I made this rug while on deputation.

It is always fun to make something to use in the future.

I do ALOT of cooking and baking for the ministry, in my kitchen.

Love to cook!

The rooster clock on my wall was in my home in the States.  

It was such a blessing when it was mailed here

 for me to have in my South African home.

Food Storage (notice, I am going through a "red" phase)

More remnants of home.

Also, this bookshelf was a gift from a supporting church.  

They wanted me to have a place for my books - THANK YOU!

When you are renting, you have to be careful and creative in decorating.

These are Bible verses and a pic of my great grandparents.

I am also blessed to have a veranda.

To see the bench I made for it - click here

I've planted a garden, but those pictures will have to wait for another time. 

Now, I don't know about you, but my home does not always look so spotless.

So, in an effort to show you what a little bit of my life is really like -

watch the following video.

Thank you again for praying with me about finding a cheap and safe place to live.

This is the cheapest place I found and it is the safest!