For the Beauty...

For the beauty of the earth,
For the beauty of the skies,
For the love which from our birth
Over and around us lies,
Lord of all, to thee we raise
This our grateful hymn of praise.

 ~  Folliott S. Pierpoint

 One Saturday morning, not too long ago, we decided upon a simple picnic at the Botanical Gardens… 

What a delightful time in the Lord’s marvelous creation it was!   

In the chaos of the last while, we had quite forgotten that Spring had in fact arrived in all her splendour…

What a sweet blessing it was to bask in the glory of the new life surrounding us…

...Cheerful yellow Weavers weaving their precarious looking nests…

 

 

…Beautiful buds…

 

…And of course, happy children delighting in the beauty of their Master’s handiwork!

 

^Mr Caleb....

 ^Miss Sofia...

 

^Caleb loved walking and exploring...

 

 

^Miss Beth 

 ^Miss Gabrielle...

 

^Mr Caleb getting started on his picnic lunch...{{Smiles}}

Of course I took my ever faithful camera along and enjoyed a slow-paced walk around the gardens, capturing bits of beauty and splendour through my lens…{{smiles}}

How good it was to be reminded that we serve a majestic and powerful God who takes delight in beauty and loves to see His precious children glorying in the beautiful earth He lovingly created for them…

 Blessings and joy in Christ,

Kelly-Anne

Thursday Pearls

 

"Do small things with

great love."

 

~ Mother Teresa

 

"For who hath despised the day of small things?"  ~ Zechariah: , KJV

 

A very blessed and wonderful Thursday to you, dear readers...

~

 

 ...And here is something truly delightful to brighten your day...{{smiles}}

 

 

With joy,

Kelly-Anne

On The Beach...

I sit here this evening feeling incredibly humbled and blessed.

In just one week our house looks and feels like a home...our home.

It is a grey evening and there is a light rain falling...  We are warm and cosy, surrounded by our loved ones and very thankful indeed for the kindness and generosity of so many wonderful people who have blessed us with gifts of furniture, appliances, bedding and more.  The Lord has been so good to us...we are completely overwhelmed how He took a situation that in our eyes appeared to be a terrible disaster, and worked everything out for our good. 

This is an exciting new chapter in our lives...so much in our lives has changed, but the steadfast love of the Lord has remained unchanging. 

 

I am so thankful to finally be connected to the internet - I could thankfully access my email from my phone and I was beyond blessed and encouraged to read your beautiful, uplifting comments, dear friends.  Your kind words of love, comfort and hope have brought such joy to my heart in a very trying time...  May the Lord bless you all for sharing His love with our hurting family!

 

And now I would love to share these photographs of a few of the little ones with you...

I took them a few weeks ago whilst we were staying in Glentana.  The house we were blessed to be able to use was very close to the beach, but sadly we were all so sick during our month in Glentana that we didn't make much use of the beach.  We did, however, have the privilege of seeing dolphins and whales close to shore from the balcony - this was very special...

 

I took these pictures one day when Mom and Dad took the little ones to play on the beach for an hour or so...  I decided to go along and simply sit on the beach and enjoy watching them play as I was feeling so ill that day.  I was delighted to be able to capture some special moments on my camera - good thing I took it along!  These were the only photographs I took in the month that we were in Glentana...

Just look at how this precious little boy has grown!  Caleb is going on 16 months now and an absolute delight!  He is a very busy little boy and extremely advanced for his tender age, so he keeps us on our toes...

He is so handsome...  I simply adore my little brother and look forward to being able spend more time playing and doing toddler activities with him.  We live about an hour away from the farm now which means I sadly had to quit the lovely little job I had as a shopkeeper...  But, the Lord knows and has given me the wonderful opportunity of investing in the lives of my younger siblings in this new season of life and I must say, I am quite excited!  Besides, who could resist spending time with such a charming little gentleman...  {{smiles}}

 

 These are special photographs I want to have framed!  It took some doing to get Gabrielle and Rebekah to cooperate...  I love photographs that aren't posed...so I had the girls walk away from me and then called them back when they least expected it...  It ended up being quite amusing and I got the results I was hoping for!  

Ah...I just love sharing photographs of this little guy... 

 Rebekah took great delight in thrilling her younger sister, Sofia, with a dead fish she found washed up on the beach.  I thought the whole process of dissection disgusting, but the girls had a wonderful time examing the dead fish and other interesting things they found on the beach...  

The Sofia smile... 

I just couldn't resist sharing this gorgeous capture...look at that little face!  {{Smiles}} 

Gabrielle...love those precious freckles and her sweet smile...

 

~

Dear friends, thank you so much for stopping by...  It has so delightful to once again be sharing on my little corner of the web...how I have missed it!  I will be popping in again very soon...I have more photographs to share of our outing to Mossel Bay...  I will also be responding to your sweet comments within the next few days - how I have missed writing to you all!

 

With love and joy in Christ,

Kelly-Anne



We're Home ~ Update and Pictures

Hello dear friends...

Just want to let you know the happy news that we have moved into our new home!

Praise the Lord, all went relatively smoothly and we brought over our last few things from Glentana this morning...

 

We are still a long way from settled... so much is disorderly and of course, everything is strange and different...  We are completely overwhelmed by how much the Lord has seen fit to provide for us...  From beautiful new bedding to pre-loved furniture to fill our home...  And so many other things to make this house a home...we are amazed at His goodness and grace!

 

I don't yet have a proper internet connection...I am currently using my phone's hotspot to post this, but hopefully within the next few days I will be able to write and share more!

~ 

I would love to share a few special pictures with you which were taken last
week...I have more, but seeing as my internet is limited, I can only post a couple today.  Last week our family went on a wonderful outing to Mossel Bay - we decided we needed to make some new memories together before our move...

 

We went on a boat trip to Seal Island and then had fish and chips on the wharf...  We then visited the Dias museum, but were actually so tired by then that we made it brief and rather walked around the gardens taking photographs...

 

~ Nancy and I ~

 



~ Beth and Nancy ~

 

 ~ The Family, From Left to Right:  Caleb (16 months), Mom, Gabrielle (10), Beth (13), Dad, Sofia (5), Nancy (17) and Rebekah (8).  Not pictured is me.

 

 

~ Dad and His Seven Children ~ 

 

Then Mom, Nancy and I went for tea at a lovely tea garden while Dad took the younger children for ice cream on the beach...

 ~ Mom and Nancy ~

 ~ Mom and I ~



~ Yours Truly ~

 

I will pop by for a more detailed update soon, dear readers...  I do hope you are all well!

 

With love and joy,

Kelly-Anne



A Praise Report...

Hello lovely readers...

 

I hope your week has been a perfectly lovely one...

 

Just stopping in this afternoon to share a wonderful answer to prayer with you...

 

The Lord has opened doors for a new long-term rental house for us in town!

We will hopefully move in on the 3rd or 4th of August...

We are so grateful to have found a place we can call home!  {{Smiles}}

 

I had hoped to share this wonderful news with you sooner, but our family have been very sick with sore throats and coughs! 

We seem to just be passing the bug backwards and forwards...  At the moment, it is myself, Nancy and Mom who are under the weather... 

 

Thank you for your prayers for a more permanent home for us, dear friends!

I am so thankful to be sharing this with you today...  I will be popping in for a more detailed update as soon as I can!

 

With love, joy and blessings in Christ,

Kelly-Anne

 

P.S.

Thank you for all your sweet emails and comments, dear friends...to hear from you blesses me more than I can say!

Something to Encourage Your Heart...

A blessed Sunday to you, dear friends...

 

I thought I would share this beautiful and truly encouraging song with you this afternoon...

I discovered it a couple weeks before the fire and thought it just lovely...I love it even more now...

 

 

Thank you for your continued prayers for our family...this past week has been a very difficult, tiring one in many ways...we are still praying for the Lord to open up the right doors for a home for us...

In the meantime, we are enjoying being near the ocean...

 

The other day we were blessed with bicycles, so us girls have had a wonderful time riding together...the Lord is good!

 

I hope to write a more detailed update later this week...

 

With love and joy in Christ Jesus,

Kelly-Anne

Sunday Afternoon Musings...An Update♥

Two beautiful sisters...  Sofia and Rebekah... ♥

I am sitting snuggled beneath a fluffy blanket, listening to the rain falling steadily on the rood and gazing at the wild ocean which I have a magnificent view of from my window.

I am so thankful to finally have some time to rest...time to simply sit and sip a cup of coffee...time to sit on the swing on the porch and idly sway back and forth, enjoying peace for the first time in over a month.  I can feel myself unwinding...as the tension lifts, so the tiredness sets in and the tears flow.  But this is all part of the process, and I am thankful to have somewhere beautiful and quiet to stay for the time being...the Lord is so good.

On Friday our family moved an hour away from Sedgefield to a quiet town beside the sea...we are staying in a holiday house, kindly offered to us by a very generous lady whom we have never even met.  Such a beautiful testimony of God' goodness and grace!

We can stay here till September if  need be, but we are earnestly praying for a long-term rental house to come available by August as it will be truly wonderful to settle down again...

 

The Lord has already provided so much for our new home... He has moved on the hearts of so many people and provided so much of what we will need!  And the blessings continue to flow in...we are astounded and humbled.  The Lord truly cares...He is a loving God who holds us in the palm of His mighty hand.

 

He has shown us yet again that nothing can separate us from the love of Christ...and that HE works everything out for our good.

 

While on Pinterest earlier to respond to a message there, I came across this beautiful quote...

 

 

I have honestly not had one moment of anger towards the Lord in this trial...my heart may be heavy and filled with pain, but the Lord is my source of comfort and hope and I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that He is close and that He is walking through this with me... 

He is the only One who can give us the strength and power to walk through the valley, so how can I possibly be down, discouraged and defeated? 

 

We are still smiling...of course we have shed many tears, but the Father has given us unspeakable joy and I rejoice at this incredible opportunity to tell the world of God's wonderful love, grace and power!  To Him be all the glory...

 



Thank you for your continued love and support, dear friends...  ♥ I am slowly but surely responding to the beautiful emails I have received since the event of the fire.  I am so blessed by the love shown to our family from those we do not even know us!  You all are so precious...  Thank you for your words of comfort and love!

 

With joy in my heart,

Kelly-Anne♥

Just to Say Hello...

 ~ Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you:  not as the world giveth, give I unto you.  Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.  John 14:27, KJV ~

Hello dear friends...

I am beyond delighted to be popping in to say hello...

We are thankfully reconnected to the internet and I hope to write a proper update within the next couple days.

Ah...it is so good to be writing in the comfort of our ''home'' for the time being rather than an internet cafe...{{smiles}}

This Saturday we move to another holiday house about an hour away from where we are currently staying...  We are hoping and praying that we will be able to move into a permanent home by the beginning of August.

The Lord has been so faithful and gracious and continues to show us the extent of His love...  And He also continues to provide in the most beautiful, extraordinary ways.

The month of June was certainly the most difficult, painful, heart breaking month of our lives...yet so many incredible stories have emerged through the pain and suffering...  I can only praise His glorious Name!

I continue to be amazed by the love pouring in from all corners of the world...our family are truly humbled.  

I want to thank each of you from the bottom of my heart for your precious prayers...they have carried us through and continue to do so...

Thank you for allowing me to share this with you...   And thank you for the love you have extended toward our family... 

We are well and smiling...the Lord is so good to His children.  He is ever near...

I am sorry it has taken me so long to write...unfortunately not only were we without internet, but so was the internet cafe close by!  I hope to start replying to your precious emails very soon as well...

I want to leave you with this beautiful quote which is even more meaningful than it was when I posted it for Thursday Pearls a mere few days before the fire...

"Learn, O saints!  From what has been said, to sit loose to all your worldly comforts; and stand ready prepared to part with everything, when God shall require it at your hand."

~ George Whitfield

It brings me comfort to know the Lord knew what would unfold and had begun preparing our hearts before hand...oh, the stories I have to tell...  I greatly anticipate being able to share the stories of His rich mercies and His everlasting love!  

Blessings and joy in Christ the Lord!

Kelly-Anne

P.S.  I do apologise for the spelling and grammatical errors in my last few posts...I had such limited time to write and a brain that was too full with other things that I couldn't concentrate very well!  {{smiles}}   Hopefully I made sense!

An Update...Prayer Request...And Photographs

Dear friends...

I had hoped to write an update a few days ago but alas!  Life has been absolutely exhausting these past two weeks that I have simply not had a chance to stop in for an update...

 

Thank you for your continued prayers and concern for our family...  We are so grateful for the love that is pouring in from all over the world and praise the Lord for brothers and sisters in the Lord who are rallying around our family through this very difficult time...

 

I have written a brief about below, but I would also like to show you some photographs of our house which burnt down on Wednesday the 7th of June...photographs make everything seem more real...  It is so very sad to see the destruction and I take no pleasure in sharing them...but I wanted to show you a glimpse of the home we loved so well! 

 

And now we trust the Lord to show us the next step in our journey and anticipate being able to share the many incredibly stories of the Lord's goodness and mercy!  What a wonderful King we serve... 

 

~

These were taken by my uncle last week.  I have not been back to the farm since that Wednesday morning we evacuated, as I think it would truly break my heart to see the ruin in person...  Sometime I hope to go back, but for the time being I am focusing on the present and surrendering every tear to the Lord who loves to comfort His children...

 

This is all that remains of our beautiful piano...this piano had such a special story...it belonged to a lady who came over to South Africa from England as a baby.  Her father whom she never met, died in the First World War and her mother, a concert pianist, decided to start a new life here.  The piano was a German make and over a 100 years old!  We were blessed to meet this dear lady a month or so before she passed away (also a concert pianist)...  Whenever Nancy played, we thought of the stories it could tell and the beauty that those keys created! 

My father reckons that the build up of heat in the house probably caused it to explode.  Thus, nothing much remains and one cannot even recognize anything!  The doorway on the left hand side was where our dining/living room was.

 

 This was the back of the house, looking out onto the fields.  I wrote ever so many blog posts from the window with the bush in front of it... 

 

 Part of the vegetable garden...this was where we grew our sweet potatoes...

Looking into what was once the school room.  I can't believe how unrecognizable everything is!

 

And now I have a very specific prayer request, dear friends...

We are urgently needing a new long-term rental home...one that is suitable for our large family and that accepts pets.  We need a decent sized garden as our little ones are used to living on a farm and having plenty of open space...  May I ask you to bring this request before the Father?  Houses to rent in this area are scarce, especially now when so many people misplaced by the fire are seeking new homes.

We are currently in a holiday home which belongs to a lady in our church.  She has graciously given it to us to use till the 10th of July...  After that, we are trusting the Lord for provision and learning to wait on Him even though it is quite frightening. 

 

It is so strange to think we have no home to go to and that we have to literally begin again...but the Lord is faithful, and He has moved on the hearts of many and we are being showered with the blessings of furniture...second-hand clothing...bedding, etc.  He is so good to us...

 

Can I also ask you to pray for my dear mother who is taking a lot of strain and is so very tired...

She also strained her neck and is having to see a physiotherapist and take time to rest which is not so easy at the moment...  

 

Thank you for your love and support, dear friends! 

I am overwhelmed by the many beautiful comments and emails I have received! 

You are all so dear to me...

 

I will stop in again soon...

 

With love in Christ!

Kelly-Anen

Another Update...With Joy in My Heart!

Hello dear friends...

I write to you today with joy in my heart.

The Lord allowed us to return to Sedgefield yesterday (Sunday) afternoon after spending the night at a friend's home in George. 

This lady was out of town and couldn't get home due to the fires, so she graciously offered up her home to our family for the night.

This was the most wonderful blessing for us... 

We could rest for a few hours in peace and those who needed to could do so...

How merciful the Lord was to us, I am so deeply grateful.

 

Some in our community thought us very extreme (and perhaps panicked) in leaving Sedgefield with all our belongings and animals early Saturday morning, but we have subsequently heard from many other knowledgeable people that in actual fact, the situation could have gone either way...

 

Praise be the Lord, Sedgefield was spared and operations to help those who are misplaced continue in full force!  There are thousands of people who are homeless right now, but the community have come together and indeed, the whole country, to house those in need and see to providing for their immediate needs. 

 

I am in awe at the kindness, generosity and concern of people and how they have come to the rescue of our hurting, needy area.

 

And we are safe, dear friends...

I cannot begin to thank you enough for your prayers.  I feel so terrible that I could not update you yesterday, but I could only get an internet connection this evening.  Mom and I are sitting at an internet café having a cup of coffee and feeling very humbled at the Lord's mercy and grace towards us.

 

As we receive new information each day, we are more humbled at how merciful the Lord was towards us in keeping us free from harm that Wednesday morning.  More and more we realise how incredibly fortunate we were to evacuate and that the fire did not flare up during the night whilst we were sleeping. 

So much could have happened, and yet, God in His mercy spared us and has truly opened the flood gates of Heaven and showered us with so many blessings. 

 

I greatly anticipate being able to share these precious stories of His grace and goodness with you in time.  What a wonderful Father we have...so rich in love towards His children!

 

Dear friends, we are so well provided for...  We have lacked nothing and gifts continue to flow in in abundance.  We are humbled.  So many are having to sleep in new places each night or being housed along with hundreds of other people in tents...  And yet we have a house and a bed for each member of our family.  This is such a blessing for our family with so many little ones...

 

The Lord has used many people...our church...our close friends...even those we have not spoken to in years to help our family!  How great is our God?

 

Thus, even in the midst of such tragedy, the Lord receives the glory.  Despite the horror of the past couple days, the Lord has given us joy and peace.  And He has given us prayer warriors...each of you are so very precious and I thank you for the way you come to our aid and pleaded with the Lord for mercy.

 

The fires are under control...sense is being made of the absolute mayhem of the past few days. 

But hearts are still hurting and to be honest, we have not even had a chance to deal with the grief of loss.  Our little ones do not know the terrible news that their little friend is now resting with the Father...  Would you pray the Lord would prepare their hearts and give my parents the right words to speak to them? 

 

I hope to stop in tomorrow to write a more detailed update, but for now I just want to say how amazed I am at the love that has come pouring in from this wonderful community of bloggers! 

I am anticipating the day I can write to each of you personally...it will be such a joy to do that! 

I know you have been so concerned...

 

To God be the glory forever and ever...  He is rich in mercy and His love never fails.  My heart is overflowing with thankfulness....  He is building a beautiful testimony through our family...and how many others will have a similar story to share of God's grace?  I pray many will come to know the love of our Father through our testimony! 

 

We are in our current house till July 10th.  After that, we have no idea what the Lord will do!  We are trusting Him to open a door for a house to lease in town.  Houses are more than scarce, so we are asking the Lord for a miracle!  He has provided thus far, so I know we can trust that He holds tomorrow and has our lives in the palm of His mighty hand!

 

With ever so much love and joy and gratitude,

Kelly-Anne

Update

Dearest friends...

Oh my...where do I begin...I am so overwhelmed by the kindness, love, prayers and concern our family have received during this tragic time in our lives.

 

I never thought I would be a part of such a horrific national disaster...

I am not sure if any of you have been able to follow the news reports, but our house was the one of the first to burn, along with hundreds and hundreds of others in the Eden district.

 

We lived on a farm about 11km outside Sedgefield and the fire started in the valley just beyond us, but within hours, it spread and consumed ever so many homes, travelling so far so fast.

 

And it did not stop there...early Wednesday morning (the same morning we evacuated our home), our neighbours and friends could not make it out of their farm in time and lost their lives.  Oh, how my heart is breaking, dear friends...  We babysat that little boy...knew him from the time he was two weeks old and he would have been three years old today.  The grief is too much to bear on our own...the Lord is our comfort.

 

It has been so horrendous I cannot begin to describe it...

There is heartbreak and loss everywhere...the seaside town of Knysna is a mess...other areas are disaster zones too.  And yet, the tiny town of Sedgefield has been spared...everyone is on standby. People in need are being assisted from Sedgefield (so many have come to the aid of fire victims, sending food parcels, clothing, blankets, etc.)  So far, it has not been touched but there are fires nearby.

 

But...the fires still burn and I ask you to pray for RAIN and for the terrible wind to die down.

We left our house of safety early this morning...after our last experience, we don't want to take any chances and would rather be overly cautious... 

 

We have had another exhausting day...we have not been able to sleep properly and we have had people in and out dropping supplies and clothing off since Wednesday afternoon.  People are so kind and generous.   Messages and phone calls have been coming in all the time and my mom has not been in a place to answer any of them so I have undertaken to keep family and friends updated...

 

We are not safe...not at this stage.  Although fires are under control, the wind prevents helicopters from water bombing the fires.  Firefighters from all over the country have come to fight...they are heroes.

 

I am completely overwhelmed by this tragedy...and absolutely exhausted.

We have been living out of our cars today and are now in the town of George so we can get further away from the fires and also connect to the internet to update others overseas.

 

We are packed into two cars...our dogs, guinea pigs, bird and cat as well as all the children.

We were packed and ready last night to cut down on stress...  The little ones have been tremendous, although little Caleb has been very difficult to manage due to the stress, change of scenery and people stopping by...

 

Please pray for our country and for the safety of the people...please pray that the Lord would send rain and calm the wind.  I am reminded of the storm that Jesus calmed in Matthew chapter 8. 

 

"Then he got up, gave an order to the wind and the sea, and the sea became very calm..."

 

We cling to Him and put our trust in Him.

He is our source of hope and comfort, our God in whom we trust.

 

Through it all, the Lord continues to provide for all our needs and fill us with His joy and strength. 

It has been incredible to see.  People who have come by have asked why we are still smiling and truly, all we can say is the Lord is good and faithful.  He protected us and made a way for us.  He has supplied our every need.  We are not going without, even though we are under such strain.

 

There is so much more I would like to write...but right now I can do no more.

I know you are all praying and truly, we can sense the hand of the Lord upon us.

He gives us just enough for each moment.

His grace is sufficient.

 

I hope to stop in again soon, dear friends...I know you have all been worried and concerned. 

 

Love and joy to you in the Lord!

Kelly-Anne