The Turner Adventures

Cape Town, South Africa

2012-01-22T13:05:00.001-08:00

We were able to travel to Cape Town, South Africa for vacation with Brent’s parents over our Christmas holiday. We are so thankful that his family came to spend time with us. It truly was one of the most beautiful places we have ever been. I’ll attach some of our favorite pictures, but if you want to see more head to http://theturnerbabies.shutterfly.com/ .

We hung out at Boulder Beach with some penguins. The water in Cape Town is so cold so the penguins hang out there.

Above: Chapman’s Peak drive with Hout Bay in the background

Below: Chapman’s Peak drive along the coast

Above and below: At Clifton Beach

The shark flags fly on the beaches here since they are seen quite frequently.

Taylor using her camera to take pictures. Love her kid point of view!

It’s funny to see the baboons at the beach. They are such troublemakers. They climbed onto the car beside us (above) and surfed for a bit and then climbed on our car (below) and didn’t want to let us in.

Above: We traveled to both the Cape of Good Hope and Cape Point which is the southern most point in Africa. So fun and beautiful!!

These pictures were taken in Muizenberg. These beaches are known for their colorful changing buildings.

Above:Grammy and Taylor in their new hats at Simon’s Town

Above: Table mountain from a distance

Below: Grammy and Taylor made her 1st “build-a bear” together

Merry Christmas from Botswana!

2011-12-22T19:10:00.001-08:00

We want to thank each of you for your continued prayers and support over the past year for our ministry here in Gaborone, Botswana. Merry Christmas!!

Kits for Kids in Lobatse

2011-12-11T11:52:00.001-08:00

When we first moved to Botswana over 2 years ago, we lived in Lobatse which is a small town 1 hour south of where we currently live. We studied the language of Setswana for about 9 months and during that time, we were able to volunteer at an orphan care centre. This centre is not an “orphanage” as we think of in America, but the kids that come here have lost either one or both parents to AIDS. They come to the Centre after school (if they can afford to go to school) and have a time of bible stories, games, singing, and a hot meal for the day.

When we learned about the kits for kids sponsored by the BGR (Baptist Global Response), we knew we wanted to order some for the children who come to the Centre. These kids probably will not receive anything else for Christmas which is so sad, but to see the joy on their faces when they saw they were getting school supplies was priceless. Many thanks to the kids in America who put together these kits during their VBS this past year for needy kids around the world. We received such a blessing being around these kids and we were able to share the true meaning of Christmas-JESUS-with them.

Above: Playing games outside and of course Taylor and my friend Torie joined in all the fun.

Below: Yola works with the children 5 days a week and loves them so much.

Yola and Granny handed out the kits for kids to all the kids (48 total)

Me, Yola, Taylor, Granny, and Torie

Prayers needed for Jacob

2011-12-05T04:28:00.001-08:00

Recently, we have gotten to know our neighbors Kelly and Jacob. Kelly is a Motswana woman and she has been married to Jacob, a white British man for about the last 1 1/2 years and they were expecting their first son on December 8. We met them on one of our evening walks and it turned out they lived only about 4 houses away from us. Kelly had started coming to my house as she wanted to buy some of my baby things I had for Bradyn and we became friends. We had her and Jacob over for morning tea just 2 weeks ago. This past Saturday morning (Dec 3) Jacob came knocking at our gate. I looked all around and didn’t see Kelly and asked him if he was ok. He just hung his head and said no.

As we opened out gate, he begins to tell us that Kelly had passed away on Thursday. She started having some complications and they ended up doing a c-section and successfully delivered the baby. Kelly though did not make it. Jacob is now left to raise his new baby boy-Letsepa-on his own. Please pray for him for strength as a single-father, but most importantly we don’t think Jacob is a Christian and we pray he can find God through all of this.

This whole week they are doing a Merapelo or prayer services at their house each evening at 5:30pm and the funeral will be all night Friday and the burial is on Saturday. Please pray that our God will comfort Jacob as only He can.

Youth Christmas Party

2011-12-05T04:15:00.001-08:00

This past Saturday, December 3, the youth at our church-Gaborone Baptist Church-had their annual Christmas Party at our house. We along with the Warner family enjoyed having them over. Youth here in Botswana are considered anywhere from teenage years till when you are married, so we had many age ranges.It is so great seeing youth serving Christ boldly.

The youth brought all of their own food and they guys-Brent and Brandon-grilled all of the meat for them. It was so good!

Mochudi visit

2011-11-30T04:26:00.001-08:00

We oftentimes talk about the village of Mochudi in our monthly newsletters and wanted give a brief update. We have been going out there for about 1 1/2 years now. We originally started visiting with the Moreki family (below). They were so welcoming and open to the gospel. Through those visitations, it has opened many doors throughout the village of Mochudi. Brent, fellow missionary Daren Davis, and Jones who is a national believer, go out to Mochudi once a week to tell people about Jesus and do bible storying. Many people have been responding to the gospel and are praying that a church will start meeting there in 2012. God is working here so please continue to pray for God’s guidance.

Above: The Moreki family last year holding Bradyn who was only 1 month old

Below: Mma Moreki holding Bradyn one year later. He is growing up so quickly!

Our friend Jessica from Johannesburg came to visit and went out to the village with us. The kids were pretty tired from about 4 hours of walking. Fun times!

Baby shower

2011-11-30T04:09:00.001-08:00

My friend Marea will be delivering her baby girl in early December. They had a baby shower for her this past Saturday. We had been out of town all day and I thought I was going to be late for her baby shower that was supposed to start at 4:30pm. I was not able to arrive until 5:30pm and guess what…the mother to be had not even arrived yet. I waited until 6:15pm when she finally did arrive and visited for a few minutes and had to leave so the kids and I could walk home before dark. We have definitely had to learn that most things start on “African time”, not the set time and that sometimes you just have to go with it and be patient. TIA-This is Africa :)

Marea and her mom Josephine

Thanksgiving 2011

2011-11-29T21:43:00.001-08:00

Holidays are some of the hardest times to be away from our family in the States. This Thanksgiving we were able to celebrate Thanksgiving with our wonderful mission family and even were able to eat some yummy turkey.

Follow up about Christina

2011-11-23T17:54:00.001-08:00

I have to admit that being away from our family in the States is always hard, but especially at the holidays it is even more difficult coping with that distance. But I have to tell you that our God is so amazing! Sometimes we see little fruit in our ministry, but this week has just been so amazing and He has over and over showed us that this is why He has called us here to Botswana.

Back in June, we shared a story with you about a girl named Christina. We had spent several days in her village sharing Christ and then Christina came to church that Sunday and found Amanda and with tears in her eyes she expressed how she wanted to accept Christ. For some reason, we never were able to exchange phone numbers and Christina somehow fell off the grid.We did not see her in church and we could not find her in the village. On Monday, a young girl who has been coming to our children’s ministry on Friday showed up at our gate with another girl. She asked me if I knew this girl who was with her and it took me a moment but I realized it was Christina who I had looked for for about 6 months. This honestly is a miracle as we are a 20 minute drive from the church and 30 minutes from the village we originally found Christina in. This young girl that the Lord had put into our life actually was Christina’s sister. Christina had been staying about 6 hours away with her cousin over the last 6 months and had just gotten back into town and started looking for me. Out of the million people who live here in Gaborone, it is so the hand of God that we found each other again.

When following up with her about her decision to accept Christ, she told me that she has been trying to read the book of John that we gave her but she didn’t understand it. I asked her if she wanted to start studying the bible with me and she immediately said yes. So 2 days later (today/Wednesday) she came to my house for her first bible study. I told her on Monday that if she would memorize John 3:16, Romans 3:23, Romans 6:23, Romans 5:8, and Romans 10:8 that I would give her a bible. In just 2 short days she came today knowing all of her scripture. She is so hungry for the Word and I am so thankful that God has put her back into our path in only the Sovereign way that He can.

Please pray for us every Wednesday as we study that bible that God would open her eyes to see and ears to hear His Word.

This picture was taken back in June when Christina asked the Lord into her heart.

Children’s Christmas Party at Gaborone Baptist Church

2011-11-19T09:43:00.001-08:00

Amanda and her friend Torie have been working at Gaborone Baptist Church (GBC) on Friday’s alongside of Mma Kabika (the pastor’s wife) doing a children’s ministry. It has been so much fun. The schools here go on holiday in mid November and don’t go back in session until January. During this time most everyone travels to their villages, so this is why we had our Christmas party in mid-November.

Torie teaching about the birth of Jesus

We were very blessed to have gotten Kits for Kids from the BGR (Baptist Global Response). Kids in America put together these kits including notebooks and many other school supplies for the children around the world in need. The kids were screaming with delight when they saw their gift.

Also, Oakton Baptist Church in Chantilly, Virginia sent some Christmas gifts for the kids that included candy canes, Christmas note pads, pencils, crayons, stickers, and bracelets. It was so amazing to see the joy on the kids faces as they received their gifts. Thank you Oakton Baptist Church for your generous giving!

Each of the children made a thank you card for Oakton Baptist Church

The kids have worked very hard since July to learn John 3:16, Romans 6:23, Romans 3:23, and Romans 5:8. If they memorized and said their verses they received a new testament in Setswana. About 15 of the 30 kids learned their verses…we were so proud of them!

WE are so thankful to be able to live here in Botswana and be able to tell others the good news of Christ!

10k run

2011-11-13T01:20:00.001-08:00

My friend Torie and I drove to South Africa and successfully completed out first 10km (6.2 mile) race on Saturday.

Above: Before

Below: 1 hour and 20 minutes after our start we finally finished

We were so tired afterwards!

Pula!

2011-10-28T20:13:00.001-07:00

When we first arrived in Botswana 2 years ago, we were surprised when we went to church and they were praying for “pula”. Our currency here is called pula, so we thought it odd they were praying for money so hard. Afterwards we were told that pula is also the word for rain and that is what they actually were praying for. Most of Botswana is desert and rain is much needed this time of year. It has not rained here since about March and the rain has finally come again. The kids enjoyed playing in the rain/mud for our first “pula” of the season.

Bradyn was trying to drink the water, ugh!

Molepolole Baptism

2011-10-24T11:47:00.001-07:00

Recently 3 new Christians were baptized at Calvary Baptist Church in Molepolole, praise the Lord! Molepolole is the largest village here in Botswana and there are two Baptist churches there. Pastor David Thokwane and his wife Rose began Calvary Baptist Church many years ago. They have an amazing ministry there in Molepolole and we are thankful to have national partners such as them to work with. They are looking forward to baptizing 6 more new Christians in the near future. Our God is so good!

Above: Pastor David Thokwane

Taylor’s 1st hunting trip

2011-10-19T12:17:00.001-07:00

Yesterday Brent took Taylor and Amanda hunting with him while we left Bradyn with Aunt Margaret for the day. We had a blast and Taylor was actually a great little "huntress" and was very quiet. Brent was able to shoot an impala and Taylor was so excited to touch it and watch every bit of the skinning process. I know you are thinking "how could you let your child watch an animal being skinned?" Well we actually put her little chair under a shade tree out of sight of the impala and she picked it up and planted herself front row seating to Uncle Robert skinning the impala. She asked many questions and thought it was the coolest thing ever. WE all had a great time.

Birthday celebration with our mission family

2011-10-19T12:03:00.001-07:00

Yes, this is yet another birthday post. It seems Bradyn’s 1 year birthday just keeps going on and on, but this past Sunday we were able to host prayer night at our home with our mission family and we tagged a birthday party for Bradyn on top of it. We celebrated with a baseball and soccer ball cake…I have a new found respect for people who decorate cakes for a living b/c these were pretty pitiful. Maybe on furlough I will invest in a cake baking class. We love our mission family and are so thankful to have them love on our kids so much.

Cupcakes

2011-10-13T02:48:00.001-07:00

These pictures are mainly for the grandparents. We wish we could have been with you all for Bradyn’s 1st birthday.

So we stripped Bradyn down to his diaper. He loved his first cupcake!

Above: I love how the party hat flatters his chubby cheeks

Below: “Man, that was some good chocolate!”

Bradyn: 1 year old shots

2011-10-11T03:57:00.001-07:00

Our little man is turning 1 year old on October 12. It’s so hard to believe he is already a year old. He is standing on his own, but not walking quite yet. He can say “mama”, “dada”, “tay tay”, and can wave and say “hi”. He has such a sweet personality and is very quiet and contemplative. He loves his big sister and follows her around everywhere. He has 4 teeth and this boy loves to eat. We are so thankful to have Bradyn in our life!

Beautiful flowers

2011-10-11T03:04:00.001-07:00

I love working in the garden. Lisa Jones, the missionary who lived in the house prior to us, had such a beautiful garden. Here are a few of the flowers I have inherited and have enjoyed seeing the blossoms this spring.

“The grass withers, the flower fades, But the word of our God stands forever.” Isaiah 40:1

Swimming and chalk

2011-10-04T09:06:00.001-07:00

It’s starting to warm up quite a bit here in Botswana, so we got the kids baby pool out the other day. They had fun crawling in and out and then they found the sidewalk chalk. Bradyn became Taylor’s canvas and below is the result. They had to both be scrubbed by day’s end but they had a great time.

My boys

2011-10-04T07:12:00.001-07:00

The boys now have matching Botswana soccer jersey’s. Love it!

Visit from the Wint’s

2011-09-29T11:48:00.001-07:00

Our dear friends the Wint’s live in Western Zambia and we were so blessed to have them come to stay with us for a week for their vacation on September 19-25 . We went through missionary training with them back in 2009 and the moment our girls met each other they were the best of friends. They still have such a bond that is just so sweet and they will be friends for life. We each had baby boys this last year so of course they are going to have to be friends as well. We love our friends the Wint’s and we are so glad they came to visit.

Above: Madylanne and Taylor playing in our climbing tree

Below: Matthew and Bradyn playing together

The Warner’s joined us for a bonfire and pizza

These girls love each other so much!

Above: The girls painted shirts and had a great time

Below: Melynda and her sweet baby Matthew

Above:The girls enjoyed running in the sprinkler and then making mud

Below: The girls celebrated their birthday together even though they both turned 4 in June.

Mark and Brent went hunting one day and Mark was able to get a warthog

Remembering September 11

2011-09-29T11:02:00.001-07:00

The US Embassy here in Botswana sent all Americans residing here in Botswana an invitation to come and have a remembrance ceremony for 10 years remembering the victims of September 11. So we all dressed up in our Red, White, and Blue and headed to the US Embassy where a tree and plaque were placed in the Embassy gardens in remembrance. It was so nice to be with other Americans to remember this day that brought so many of us together 10 years ago. Pictures were not allowed inside the grounds of the Embassy so we took some shots of the kids beforehand at our house.

Taylor’s preschool letters

2011-09-29T08:30:00.001-07:00

We started working with Taylor about 9 months ago on her letters. She now can say the sound of each letter and is learning to read. Her first word she could read was “FUN”. Below are her letters that we just completed. It was so much fun doing these with her and seeing her learn so much. She is also learning a memory verse with each letter of the alphabet. We are so proud of her!

A=Alligator and Apple; B=Bumblebee and Beach Ball; C=Crab and Clouds; D=Dinosaur and Dad.

E=Elephant; F=Fox and Fish bowl; G=Goat; H=House

I=Iguana; J=Jaguar; K=Kangaroo and Kite; L=Lion; M=Mouse

N=Nest; O=Ostrich; P=Penguin; Q=Queen

R=Rabbit; S=Snake; T=Two Tigers and Turtle; U=Unicorn

V=Vulture; W=Wally the Walrus with a Wig and Whale; X=X-ray

Y=Yawning Yak; Z=Zebra

Dress girl

2011-09-05T04:54:00.001-07:00

Taylor is into wearing dresses everyday now. So Nana and Pop’s package came just in time this past Friday bearing 2 beautiful dresses and some fun hair clips. Thanks so much, Nana and Pop for Taylor’s package. She loved it!

BGR Kits for Kids

2011-09-05T03:28:00.001-07:00

Back-to-school shopping requires little more than a trip to the store for most American families. But even basic school supplies like pencils, notebooks and erasers are hard to come by - and nearly impossible to afford - for many families living in poverty around the world.

That's why Baptist Global Response is sponsoring the "Kits for Kids" campaign -- and why LifeWay Christian Resources is featuring Kits for Kids as its 2011 Vacation Bible School mission project. It's a unique opportunity to help equip a child with the tools they need to get an education. It's also a chance for families to teach their children what it means to love others by helping needy kids.

Number of Kits Assembled: 6240
Kits Requested: 331,842

Kits for Kids is simple. Church groups and families across the United States assemble "kits" of basic school supplies and drop them in the mail. Then, using its global network of national partners, Baptist Global Response distributes the kits to families in dozens of countries around the globe.

"Kits for Kids" shopping list:

5 Composition notebooks (non-spiral, hardback)
1 Ruler (with metrics)
1 Zippered pencil case
6 Blue ink pens
6 No. 2 pencils
2 Pencil sharpeners
2 or 3 Regular-sized glue sticks
2 Pink erasers
1 box of 12-count colored pencils
1 Pair of safety scissors

Pack your kit!
- Place all the items for each kit in a 2.5 gallon plastic slide-lock bag
- Include a kit label for each bag, either printed on paper and placed inside the bag or printed as a sticker and placed on the outside of the bag. (See resources: kit labels).
- Please do not include items in the kit that are not on the list; the contents need to be similar for each child who receives a kit
- Box your kits securely, with adequate padding, and ship to the address below

Ship your kit!
The deadline for shipping your kits is Oct. 31, 2011.

Address your package to:
Baptist Global Response
c/o A & O Services
2109 Loumour Avenue
Richmond, VA 23230-4109
Phone: (804) 219-1505

Warehouse Information
Warehouse Staff:
Gill Todd and Frank Mack
Warehouse Hours:
Monday - Friday (8am-4pm)

Please visit the following website for all the information you need: www.vbskitsforkids.com

Ministry in Mochudi

2011-08-25T03:17:00.001-07:00

Brent has been going out to a village called Mochudi with fellow missionary Daren Davis and a national believer named Jones for about 8 months. They have been spreading the gospel to all who will listen. We have been praying earnestly about starting a church in this area and the other day was asked when can we start meeting together! This is a huge Praise! Richard is always was so happy to see us because he says we only bring the Word of God to him. He is seeking Biblical truth. Richard went the other day to a local school to start the process about having a group of believers meet together. Praise the LORD!

This man got to hear the Gospel and due to his hard hearing most of the village also heard the Gospel, Praise the LORD!

Romans 10:14, 15, 17: “How then shall they call on HIm in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in HIm of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, Who bring glad tidings of good things!’ So faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”

Cooking with Mma Thokwane

2011-08-25T02:35:00.001-07:00

The 4th Wednesday of every month, all of the missionary ladies get together to do ministry together and to pray together. In July, Shawna Davis, Torie Warner, Margaret Fortenberry, and Amanda went out to the village of Molepolole to visit with Mma Thokwane, the pastor’s wife out at Calvary Baptist Church. We went out to pray with her, encourage her, and to learn from her. We took some flour and yeast and asked if she would teach us how to make Diphapata (Dee-pa-pa-ta) and Fat Cakes. We had a great time learning to cook some traditional breads and also had a great time of testimony and prayer. We are thankful for Mma Thokwane and how she supports her husband and the ministry at Calvary Baptist Church.

Philemon 4-7: “I thank my God, making mention of you always in my prayers, hearing of your love and faith which you have toward the Lord Jesus and toward all the saints, that the sharing of your faith may become effective by the acknowledgement of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus. For we have great joy and consolation in your love, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed by you.”

It took all of us kneading the dough at one point or another!

Frying our diphapata in an iron skillet (they remind me of an english muffin)

We also deep fried our fat cakes…nothing is better than fried dough!

The story of Christina

2011-08-25T02:31:00.001-07:00

Romans 10:13 says, “Whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

Back in June we had a volunteer team from Raleigh, NC visit and they did quite of bit of ministry out in the villages. For 3 days, we went out to the village of Tsolemosessy to do VBS and it attracted quite a few adults as well. I want to tell you about a girl named Christina who is 19 years old. On day 1, Amanda sat beside of Christina and got to know her. When asked if she was a Christian, she immediately said “no” (people here are very honest when asked this question). So Amanda began to tell her all about Jesus and how He came and died on the cross for her sins. The next day Christina came back again and Amanda gave her the book of John in Setswana and was again able to tell her about Jesus, but Christina still was not ready to ask Jesus into her heart. Many times we hear “not today” and this was the case with Christina. Amanda told her that we are never guaranteed tomorrow, but she was still reluctant. The next day was Sunday and we brought all of the people from Tsolemosessy to church at Gaborone Baptist Church. That day Christina found Amanda and this is the day that her life changed.

Christina came to Amanda after church and she had such desperation in her eyes. As Amanda began speaking with her she could tell that Christina needed to say something. Amanda asked her if she had been reading the book of John and thinking about what was shared with her over the last few days. With tears in her eyes, Christina said “yes”. Amanda asked her if she wanted to receive Christ and she immediately said “yes” and you could just see the burdens being lifted from her shoulders. Christina came to know the Lord that day…this is why we have came to Africa!

Lateral learning at Broahurst

2011-08-25T02:29:00.001-07:00

Several of the missionary kids go to a school called Broadhurst. The school has a week called “lateral learning” when the parents can come in and teach the kids how to do something. So my friends Shawna and Torie allowed me to help do cooking days at the school and we taught the kids how to make 6 layer cookies, pretzels, popcorn balls, corn dogs, and mexican tea. It was a great time!

Amanda’s birthday

2011-08-25T02:13:00.001-07:00

Amanda’s birthday was back in July, but we are just now getting caught up on blogging. So sorry for the delay.

We had a great evening of eating pizza and cake with friends and playing “Just Dance 2” on the Wii. Thanks friends for making this day so special!

The Turner Treehouse

2011-08-08T09:43:00.001-07:00

We had an existing treehouse in our yard from the previous tenants, but we’ve given it a makeover to make it a little more safe. Brent used the bones of it and has redone it for our kids. They love it, especially Taylor. She often times pretends she is a pirate and that is her ship. Daddy is “evil Captain Shiverman” and she often will try to sneak up on him and get him with her sword. What fun memories our kids will have on “The Turner Treehouse”

Hair do

2011-08-08T08:48:00.001-07:00

Taylor came out of her room the other day having done her hair all by herself. Being the loving parents that don’t want to ruin her self-esteem, we let her wear it all day like that…even out to the store. Not a single person said anything to her either good or bad which I was glad for. Maybe she will be a hairstylist one day???

Love this girl!!

Hannah’s birthday

2011-08-08T08:40:00.001-07:00

This past Saturday, August 6, Taylor was invited to a friend from church’s birthday party. Taylor had great fun! Attached is a video so you can hear them singing happy birthday.

Taylor is so funny!

2011-08-08T07:12:00.001-07:00

Bradyn thinks his sister is the funniest person EVER! Taylor went in to entertain Bradyn after he woke up one day. Oh what great friends these two are!

Friday ministry at GBC

2011-07-06T06:45:00.001-07:00

My (Amanda) friend Torie and I have started working at Gaborone Baptist Church (GBC) on Fridays at 3pm with the children in the area. This is a children’s ministry started by some missionaries many years ago and the pastor’s wife has been trying to continue this on her own. We have recently started helping her and have been enjoying working with the her and the children. We’ve enjoyed doing bible stories, singing, crafts, and games with them.

This day, they did a craft with a cross that said God is Love.

June 29-Taylor’s Birthday

2011-07-06T06:32:00.001-07:00

For Taylor’s birthday, we had a very quiet laid back day. She wanted to go horse riding and we tried to take her but it didn’t quite work out that day. Her other request was to go to Sanita’s which is a little tea garden that has a playground, so we were able to take her there for lunch and she got some yummy ice cream as well. Here’s some shots of our fun day together.

Taylor like most other girls loves the movie “Tangled” She got a Rapunzel barbie and a Rapunzel wig for her birthday (above and below)

Above: Taylor at Sanitas eating her ice cream…strawberry of course!

Below: Taylor opening her package from Grammy and Grandad while Grammy watched via skype.

Love my cute kids!

Bradyn 9 months

2011-07-05T10:50:00.001-07:00

This post may only be interesting for family as we wanted them to see how much Bradyn is changing. Bradyn is nearly 9 months old and seems to be growing up so quickly. On July 4 it was his first time crawling. I’ve put some videos below of his first moments crawling and he also has learned to pull himself up and stand. He’s a bit wobbly when standing but insists on doing it all the time. He is 21 lbs and loves to eat. He still is not sleeping all the way through the night, but we are getting there…one day! He started saying “da da” on June 11 and likes to say it ALL the time. Today, July 5, he has finally started saying “ma ma”, so now we are just waiting on “tay tay” to start coming out. He is such a loving boy and he is for the most part very happy and smiles all the time. What fun he has added to our family.

Happy Birthday, Taylor!!

2011-06-29T00:09:00.001-07:00

Our sweet girl turns 4 today (June 29). She is such a blessing in our lives and we love her so much! Happy Birthday, sweet Taylor!!!

Above: When sweet Taylor was born

Below: 1 year old

Above: 2 years old

Below: 3 years old

4 years old and such a great big sister!

Providence Baptist Church comes to Botswana

2011-06-27T04:27:00.001-07:00

We were very blessed to have our home church, Providence Baptist Church, in Raleigh, NC come with 10 team members to do ministry here in Botswana for 1 1/2 weeks. After a long flight, they arrived on June 15 and hit the ground running on June 16 and did not stop until they got back on the plane on June 25. What a great group to work with and the Lord blessed in so many ways.

On June 16-18, we went to a village called Solemosessy just outside the city of Gaborone. We partnered with Gaborone Baptist Church and normally had about 8-10 people from the church each day helping with interpretting. The team started by prayerwalking throughout the village and inviting kids to the VBS that they would do later that day. During the prayerwalking many people were saved…it was so amazing! They had about 200-400 kids each day at their VBS.

On June 21-23, we went to the village of Molepolole to work with Calvary Baptist Church and the pastor David Thokwane. The first day, they visited with the chief/headman to ask permission to do the VBS in the village. During this visit the chief/headman and many in his family got saved. We can’t even begin to tell you how huge this is to have the headman saved, praise be to Jesus!!! They also were able to visit with many sick folks from the church to be able to encourage and pray for them. In the afternoons, they held VBS and they had again 300-400 kids each day.

Providence Baptist Church team with Andrew their interpreter

They started each day with a game, this day was follow the leader (above and below).

They also did a bible story each day and acted out their stories (above was David and Goliath)

They did games with the kids using parachutes and balls and face painting (below)

Afterwards they had the kids line up for drink/snacks. It as such a special treat for the kids. (above and below)

Many moms also came to watch as their children enjoyed the activities. They too were able to hear about the love of Jesus.

We had the privilege of cooking many meals for the team during their time with us. We had an African meal for them one evening with Impala African stew, Pap, and a green called rape. This night our neighbor Mmampho and my friend Bantle helped cook our meal. It was so good and the team actually enjoyed it.

I had to throw in a shot of Taylor. She also was able to enjoy VBS and had a great time with the team. They spoiled her like crazy when they were here and she misses them greatly. Thank you Providence Baptist Church for ministering to the people here in Botswana!

If you or your church are interested in doing a mission trip to Botswana, please contact us at bltast@hotmail.com

Safari drive with Providence Baptist Church

2011-06-27T04:13:00.001-07:00

While Providence Baptist Church was here they were able to take a day and do a safari at Madikwe Safari Park. They all had a great time and were able to see some amazing animals.

Above: 3 young brother lions were being lazy but still acknowledged that they were being watched.

Below: Zebra

The elephants were enjoying the water. Below you can see how close one got to the vehicle.

Above: Hyenas coming out at dusk

Beautiful African Sunset

Ribs’ Wedding

2011-06-27T04:08:00.001-07:00

On June 11, Brent was able to attend the wedding of a friend whose name is Ribs from Lobatse where we attended language classes. The wedding was held in the home village of the bride and groom in Selibe Pikwe which is about 4 hours north of where we live. Weddings are such a huge event here and it was an honor for Brent to be able to attend.

Above: Ribs and his new Bride

Below: The bridesmaids

Above: The Reception

Nature

2011-06-11T06:48:00.001-07:00

Some days it is nice to just get away and we are so fortunate to have a game park about 20 minutes from our house that we can go do a self-drive and do a picnic. Last Saturday was a beautiful day so we took the afternoon and went to Mokolodi Nature Reserve. Here’s a few of our favorite shots from the day.

Above: Zebra

Below: Giraffe

Rhino are very endangered here due to poaching problems. We are fortunate enough to have 6 rhinos at Mokolodi.

Ditsebe

2011-06-11T06:35:00.001-07:00

Where we live now, we can actually walk to a grocery store. The other day I (Amanda) took the kids with me…Bradyn in the stroller and Taylor holding my hand. When we walked in the store, immediately the ladies at the checkout started looking at the kids, smiling, and talking in Setswana. One word that I clearly understood as they were talking about Bradyn was “Ditsebe” (Dee-tsay-bay). This is not the first time I have heard this word around my kids and I actually knew what it meant. I went back to the lady who said it and I nicely said “Ditsebe, you are talking about my sons ears”. She was stunned and everyone started laughing b/c I understood what they were saying. I went about my shopping and when I got to the counter to check out, everyone just kept saying “she understands ditsebe”. Believe me this was all in fun and everyone was smiling even me. I plainly said in Setswana “Ke bua Setswana gole go nnye. Ke itse ditsebe” which means “I speak Setswana very little. I know ears.” They all started laughing, I think I made some friends and they will remember us. I love my kids so much, especially their Ditsebe!

Photo Shoot

2011-06-07T00:16:00.001-07:00

While we were home we had a photo shoot with the grandchildren on the Turner side. It was such fun and turned out great.

Above: Our nieces and nephew: Noa, Ainsley, and Ian

Below: Taylor and Bradyn

Love these kids!!

Surprise Visit

2011-05-31T03:05:00.001-07:00

We have been away from blogging for some time yet again but we have a very good excuse. Back in January some of Amanda’s family contacted us and said they wanted to pay to bring us home for Amanda’s grandmother’s 80th birthday party and to surprise Amanda’s parents. We pulled off the huge surprise and flew to America for 2 weeks to surprise Amanda’s parents and grandmothers and to let the whole family meet Bradyn for the first time. We left Botswana the morning of May 4 and drove 5 hours to Johannesburg, South Africa. We then boarded a direct flight to Dulles, Washington DC at 9:40pm and arrived 19 hours later in America on May 5. We spent a night with Brent’s parents and then we drove to WV to pull off the big surprise.

HOW WE PULLED IT OFF: Amanda’s aunts, uncles, and cousins all met at her Uncle Claude’s house May 6. That night her brother Chris drove the mom and dad to Uncle Claude’s house telling them that he had their early mothers day and fathers day presents at Claude’s house. Our family all hid in the back bedroom as they presented my parents with a basket that was made in Botswana and it contained a note from us ending in the phrase “oh ya, we also sent something else that was made in Botswana”. At that time my brother brought out Bradyn and they knew right away that he was their grandson. Many happy tears filled the room and much hugging was done. Thanks to all of Amanda’s family and Brent’s family for helping bring us home for this special time together.

Above: Amanda’s dad realizing his grandson was coming down the hall

Below: Reunited after 1 year and 7 months

Above: Cousins reunited: Taylor and Jaiden

Above: Who knew so many people could fit on one couch!

On Saturday, May 7 we surprised Amanda’s grandmother Martin at her 80th birthday party Taylor took her a basket that said “I brought this all the way from Africa” (above picture. My grandmother then realized who Taylor was and saw us walking around the corner. What a sweet reunion!

We also surprised Amanda’s grandmother Jones on Sunday, May 8 but unfortunately we don’t have any pictures of that. We spent a week with Amanda’s family in WV part of the time and then at the beach for part of the time.

Above: Mamaw and Papaw with the grandkids

Putt putt golfing at the beach…so much fun!

Above: Grandad came to the beach and took all the girls for rides on his Harley Davidson motorcycle

Our dear friends from Raleigh, NC, Nick and Dana Babbs an their son Caleb, came down and spent a night with us at the beach. It was so good to see them again. Picture below.

We then went to Maryland and spent a week with Brent’s family.

Above: The brothers back together with their families. 5 grandkids under 4…craziness!

Below: The family enjoying a crab feast

Above: Pop with Noa and Taylor

Above: The 3 girls all had a sleepover on the family room floor.

Below: They did have ice cream with sprinkles before bed so maybe that’s why Taylor and Ainsley did not want to go to sleep, ha ha

The kids then had a photo shoot all together at Picture People.

We had such an amazing 2 weeks with our family and are so grateful we were able to see them all. It’s amazing how time does not stand still while we are gone and these little ones are growing up so quickly. It will be another 1 1/2 years before we see them again, but we have some special memories we have been able to share with them.

We’ve MOVED!

2011-04-30T08:19:00.001-07:00

Sorry to have not posted for so long and then posting so many things. We honestly have not had internet for about 4 weeks and on top of that, this past week we moved. We only moved about 10 minutes from our old home and are still in our same city doing church planting, but a missionary couple left the field so instead of renting a home they had us move to a mission-owned home.We’d love for you to visit one day for a mission trip!!!

Homemade Glazed Doughnuts

2011-04-30T08:13:00.001-07:00

Since moving to Africa, I have to say I have really had to learn to cook. I have had much help from friends here learning to cook from scratch and experimenting on recipes found in some of my books or online. Recently, I was craving some yummy Krispy Kreme Doughnuts so I tried make some. They did not turn out so bad, but they did take a whole lot of time work. Here’s the link to the recipe in case you would like to try it out or just think of me the next time you eat a Krispy Kreme chocolate frosted HOT doughnut http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2010/02/homemade-glazed-doughnuts/

Below are some shots of the progress :)

Easter 2011

2011-04-30T08:06:00.001-07:00

We had a great time this Easter celebrating the resurrection of our Savior. As Taylor is getting older, she actually understands what that Easter is about Jesus dying on the cross to pay for our sins, being buried, and rising again on the third day. We also celebrated by coloring eggs and hiding eggs which is fun to :)

Taylor (and Bradyn) coloring eggs our brown eggs

Aunt Sara gave these snowman glasses to Taylor when she was here for Christmas. Taylor still wears them all them time and coloring easter eggs was no exception.

Easter morning all of Taylor’s eggs were hidden and had candy inside of them. She enjoyed finding and eating all she could.

Above is the “Resurrections Eggs” that we did. If you have never done them, you should consider it next year with your kids. So fun!

We celebrated Easter evening with the Warner family. Riley and Bradyn had fun together and then Taylor and the boys hid and searched for easter eggs.

Also, in Botswana, we have an annual Easter Rally lasting 3 days that all of the Baptist folks attend. This year it was held about 3 hours away from us in Radisele. It was a great time of worship with baptist believers from all over the country. Below are the tents where everything was held.

Cluster Meeting

2011-04-27T23:58:00.001-07:00

April 13-19 we were able to travel to Tshipise, South Africa, for our annual meeting with other missionaries in our cluster from Zambia, Lesotho, South Africa, Botswana, and Zimbabwe. It was such a sweet time of spiritual refreshing that is much needed for both the adults and the children. We had a volunteer team come from Highland Terrace Baptist Church in Greenville, TX and they blessed all of us so much. Their pastor and worship leader came and shared with the adults while 12 other volunteers came and did VBS with our children. They did an amazing job with the “Big Apple Adventure” VBS program and Taylor could not wait to go to “school” every day.

One day they dressed up as the statue of Liberty

Getting ready for their program for the adults

Singing and dancing to their VBS songs

They taught the kids how to share the gospel message through the Evangecube. This is Melody and she is 4 years old and she along with the other kids learned to share the message of Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection…it was amazing. Never underestimate what your kids can learn and do.

Birthday party

2011-04-27T23:54:00.001-07:00

Recently Taylor was invited to a birthday party for one of her friends, Junior, from church. She had a great time! It’s interesting to note how things are done differently here. One huge difference is that the one celebrating his/her birthday does not get to open their open presents. They appoint someone to open all of their presents for them and you clap after each present. It really was fun and we enjoyed being a part of Junior’s big day.

The party was held at one of our only fast food restaurants called “Wimpy”

Watching the presents being opened by Junior’s cousin and sister

Zimbabwe Baptism Video

2011-03-31T11:11:00.001-07:00

Here is a video of the baptism talked about in a previous post. Be blessed!

Zimbabwe Trip

2011-03-31T06:31:00.001-07:00

This past week Brent had the privilege to travel to Zimbabwe to see how God was working. In the past 6 months there has been 6 churches planted and in the next year they are expecting 10 more churches. God is truly working and there is real life change happening. Here are some highlights

We started with Baptism on Sunday morning at a well and cattle trough in the middle of the village.

74 people from this village were baptized.

People traveled from all over to watch those being baptized, God is so good!

During the service people from all over the village still came to gather water, it was such a great testimony for the village.

After the baptism we all walked back to church and had a great Sunday service under a shade tree. We then took lunch, rested a bit and later showed the Jesus film along with a Sunday night service. Church lasted all day and well into the night but everyone was so happy to be there. God is truly working!

The next morning we broke camp and traveled to an Orphan care center that will soon be opened. The church members have taken this project on by themselves and have spent many days getting the care center opened by roofing the 16 rondavels

They have been given 16 rondavels (small round houses) and will be able to host close to 64 orphans.

The church has been rethatching all of the roofs in order to get ready for the students. The process starts by cutting and drying grass.

Next the grass is tied together on the ground.

It is then rolled out on top of the rondavels and tied to the wood beams.

The last process is to line up the roof and make it look good. It’s so wonderful to see these new church members giving of their time in order to serve the community.

Please pray for the people and the work in Zimbabwe! God is great!

Sanyati Baptist Hospital

2011-03-31T06:24:00.001-07:00

After such a great time in the village we traveled to see the work at a local Baptist Hospital. The hospital has a long term volunteer doctor missionary and his family working there. The hospital over the next year will get a complete makeover from different teams from the states. Here are some pictures.

Hospital waiting room

This is a new born baby that was just a day old. They love to wrap up the little ones in so many blankets it’s hard to find the little ones.

Many of the people in the rooms will take the mats off the the very large bed and put them on the floor.

This little girl was so funny, she watched and watched us for a long time until she decided that she did not like us and let out a warning scream, so much personality.

One of my favorite pictures, such a nice young man. He will be going home very soon.

This little boy was so cute. He was eating Cheetos and just loving life, he is recovering from pneumonia. Nothing but smiles until he had to cough, and then right back to smiles.

Pray for the family that is working at the hospital. The husband is the only doctor on staff right now while the family minsters to those in the hospital. Pray also for the makeover and the teams coming to minster. God is Great!

The next day we were able to go fishing in Zimbabwe, it is so different than living in the desert of Botswana. So much water!

We caught black large mouth bass and Nauticus Brim. The largest going to Gregg, a nice 4 pound large mouth bass. It was so nice to be able to enjoy God’s creation.

Morning fun

2011-03-31T06:17:00.001-07:00

Birthday Fun

2011-03-31T06:15:00.001-07:00

It’s always so much fun to have a birthday when the kids can enjoy the party. Taylor loved the package from Grammy, she is always asking, did we get a package today? Fun times for sure!

We even had a local store make a very nice ice cream cake, so yummy.

Ian Michael Turner

2011-03-28T21:35:00.001-07:00

Our sweet nephew was born in Maryland on March 25, 2011 weighing 9 pounds, 1 ounce. He is just so cute!!

Please keep him in your prayers. He will be in the hospital until at least March 30 due to a possible infection or heart murmur that is causing his breathing to be too rapid. Pray for wisdom for the doctors as they try to diagnose the problem and treat him quickly so he can go home.

Happy Birthday, Brent!!

2011-03-21T02:33:00.001-07:00

Happy Birthday to the best dad and husband in the world!!

Baptism at GBC

2011-03-17T07:58:00.001-07:00

This is Gaborone Baptist Church (GBC). This past Sunday they had a baptism service for 5 individuals. The Lord is working through the people in this church. Please pray for the pastor (Moruti Kabika) as he leads the church.

Gaborone Baptist Church

Pastor Kabika is on the far side. Each service is held in Setswana with an English interpreter.

Here are 2 of the people who were baptized. Praise the Lord!!

Friendship

2011-03-17T04:10:00.001-07:00

One of Taylor’s really good friends is Caden. He and his family live here in Gaborone and unfortunately they are heading back to the States in April. We are going to miss their whole family and Taylor will miss her friend very much. She told Caden in the car yesterday as we drove him home that she was going to marry him. They are such sweet friends!

Taylor and Caden

Funny face pictures are the best!

Baking/decorating gingerbread cookies

Life in Africa

2011-03-14T07:39:00.001-07:00

Normally when we go out we don’t have a camera with us, but the other day we purposefully took our camera with us to capture life here. We live in the capital city of Gaborone in Botswana and it is rather developed but just 10 minutes outside the city you are in the village and very rural areas. Here’s some pretty normal things we see.

2 donkey carts ahead of ous on the road and on the right you can see a lady carrying something on her head as most of the women do here.

We live in a very hot, dry place where most of the country is the Kalahari Desert. Here is a small stream with some cows grazing around it. Most animals here just graze freely and you have to stop for goats, sheep, donkey, and cattle to cross the road.

Donkeys seem like such a sad animal. They do look for shade to stand in as the days get very hot.

The above van is called a Combi. This is the transport system around town. There are normally 3-4 rows of seats and normally they get pretty packed out.

Above is an example of some small “shops” set up on the side of the road to sell candies, sodas, or fresh vegetables.

Most people here send their kids to a nursery school like the one above from the time they are about 1 year old. People look at me strange when I tell them that Taylor is not in nursery school.

Above is a picture of a “Learner” car denoted by the infamous “L” on the back. These are people who are learning to drive and boy do they go SLOW. Yes, this picture was taken as we were driving but don’t worry we weren’t going faster than 5mph. We do drive on the left side of the road and the steering wheel is on the right side of the car.

Molepolole visit

2011-03-14T07:13:00.001-07:00

Last week we drove about 45 minutes to a village called Molepolole (Mo-lee-po-lo-lee) to visit a pastor and his wife. They pastor a very small baptist church in the village. We have come to love this family and they are so devoted to the Lord and making sure others hear the good news. It is Botswana custom to sit outside under a tree to visit and this is just what we were doing. Taylor got to chase the chickens and play in the dirt which is so much fun to her.

The pastor’s wife is called Mamoruti and she enjoyed loving on the children as you can see below. Bradyn was out loud laughing in the 2nd picture as she was jumping him up and down.

Taylor was able to hold her first chicken. She had no reservations at all about holding it.

Preschool

2011-02-27T09:32:00.001-08:00

We have been working on doing preschool at home at least a few days a week. Taylor is doing amazing and learning so much. We’ve started making the alphabet fun. Here is a sample of the letter A that I got the idea from the site http://homeschoolcreations.blogspot.com/ under the “ABCs” tab.

Also, a friend just told me about this awesome site http://www.starfall.com/ where it teaches children letters and to read. I taught Taylor how to use the laptop and she begs to play it everyday.

Our kids

2011-02-27T09:23:00.001-08:00

Brent and I just love our kids so much. The last few days I have tried to pick up the camera a bit more to capture some moments in our lives. Here are some of my favorites:

We picked up this “Toy Story” Woody hat and vest from a friend and have had lots of fun with it.

Cloth Diapers

2011-02-27T08:27:00.001-08:00

We have been using cloth diapers with Bradyn since he has been born. I thought I would do a blog about it to give the positives and negatives just in case you were considering using them. Disposable diapers here in Africa are very expensive, so we looked at getting cloth diapers to be more cost effective…not because we want to “go green”. We ordered the one size diapers that adjust on the inside of the leg as well as the snaps on the outside and spent about $150 total for everything. Overall that is very cheap if it can get us through to potty training. Some of the negatives are that we have to use a specific detergent to make them more absorptive (Charlie’s Soap) because in the beginning we did not use this and the diapers leaked a lot. We have to wash diapers about every 2 days (they came with 6 covers and multiple inserts). Last negative is the poo’s. We do put diaper liners in the inserts but still it can be a bit messy.

Honestly, if I had my choice I would rather use disposables but have been happy with the cloth diapers we have chosen (Fuzzi Bunz www.fuzzibunz.com).

Motsumi

2011-02-23T10:31:00.001-08:00

My little boy is growing up so quickly. He is just over 4 months old and is really the sweetest little boy ever. He loves to smile and try to grab at his big sister. He is a healthy 16.5 pounds now, but still not sleeping through the night…he just loves his momma so much he wants to see her through the night (at least that’s what I’m telling myself). His middle name is Hunter so the Botswana people here call him “Motsumi” (Mo-tsoo-mee) which is hunter in Setswana. We love him so much!

Visit with the Wint’s

2011-02-23T10:18:00.001-08:00

This past Saturday, the Wint’s arrived with their 2 1/2 week old baby boy, Matthew Christopher, to spend a few days with us. We had such a great time watching Taylor and Madylanne play together and the babies were just in awe of their big sisters. What great friends the Wint’s are of ours and we are so thankful for their friendship.

Madylanne and Matthew & Bradyn and Taylor

Melynda with her sweet baby boy, Matthew

Taylor and Madylanne decided to paint the bikes with chalk and then wash them. They did get a bit wet in the process as well.

Above: Madylanne the cat. Below: Taylor the princess

What sweet friends!

Conquering the Giants

2011-02-17T05:38:00.001-08:00

Just wanted to put a plug out there for one of my friends who just wrote a book about her experience. Her name is Ashley Thaba and she used to be a journeyman here in Botswana. She married a Batswana man and they have 2 beautiful children, Anna Catherine and Caleb and live here in Gaborone, Botswana. She wrote this story about the birth of her 2nd born, Caleb, with all of its complications and he truly is a miracle baby. He is now 1 year old and doing amazing. If you are reading this from the US and would like te order a book then please contact me at bltast@hotmail.com and I plan on shipping some to America in May. Below is the excerpt from the back cover and you can check out this link to see a 5 minute You Tube clip of Caleb http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4kmQXuaonE&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL.

“Due to negligence of doctors, little Caleb is missing significant parts of his brain. It is the heartbreaking true story of what happens when a doctor makes a mistake and a tiny life is jeopardized.

An American mother tells of the tragic birth of her baby boy in a private hospital in Botswana. When she suspects her baby is dying, she arranges an emergency air evacuation to South Africa. There she learns she arrived just in time to save her baby’s life.

Readers will relate with her anger towards the doctors, her doubts about whether God can help her son and her hopelessness as she is forced to watch her innocent child suffer. Yet, the story takes a twist as she begins to surrender her life to God and find peace in His promise to take care of her and her son.

Conquering the Giants is a story of hope. Even on the darkest days light can still shine through. No matter what obstacle you are facing. Caleb’s story will give you hope that if you seek God first you can overcome any ‘giant’.”

Feeding Project

2011-02-14T02:50:00.001-08:00

Once a week, Amanda and Taylor have started volunteering at a Feeding Project in an area of Gaborone called Old Naledi. This feeding project was started by 2 of the Baptist churches here in Gaborone. They feed about 130 children Monday-Friday for lunch.

The children are so precious. Taylor enjoys playing with them before their meal is served. Here’s a few shots of some of the children.

It’s Hot here

2011-02-13T08:12:00.001-08:00

We knew that it would be a hot day when we looked at the temperature reading at 9 am and it was already well over 90 degrees!

It was 105.1 outside and 93.6 inside! On top of that the power went off for almost 3 hours yesterday and 6 hours today! When the power is out we have no fans and no way to cool off. We love Botswana but it sure does get hot!

Sunday School and crafts

2011-02-03T08:24:00.001-08:00

This past Sunday, Amanda had the opportunity to teach sunday school at Lobatse Baptist Church to about 30 children ranging in age from 2 years old to 11 years old. We had a great time and were able to do some crafts thanks to a church from Rocky Mount, NC. We talked about the 7 days of Creation. Here are some shots of the precious faces of some of the children.

Monogrammed Towels

2011-02-03T08:06:00.001-08:00

My cousin sent some beautiful monogrammed towels for the children. Couldn’t resist getting some cute shots of them after a bath one night. Thanks, Lisa!!

Random shots with Grammy and Grandad

2011-01-26T10:41:00.001-08:00

Taylor covered Grandad with all of her dolls/stuffed animals

Above: Grandad and Bradyn took a nap together on the couch

Below: Grandad holding a leopard tortoise

Thanks, Grammy and Grandad, for coming to visit us! We had an amazing time and love you so much!

Best Friends

2011-01-26T06:26:00.001-08:00

During our training in Richmond, Taylor met a girl who was 3 weeks older than she was and they became the best of friends. Her name is Madylanne and she is just the sweetest little girl. Madylanne and her parents, Mark and Melynda, live in Zambia so we don’t see each other as often as we would like but the girls always pick up right where they left off the last time. As you can see from the last picture, Amanda’s dear friend Melynda is going to be having a little baby boy on February 2 in Johannesburg, South Africa, so we had the privilege of getting to see them on their trip to South Africa and spending the week with them in Johannesburg while Brent was attending a conference. What a sweet time we had with them and we just love their family. I think Taylor and Madylanne will be best friends for life.

The girls had some fun in a toy store in Johannesburg trying on some masks.

The girls painted some best friends t-shirts and had a great time

They girls were loving on Bradyn and he was soaking up every minute of it.

Amanda and Melynda

Vacation with the grandparents-Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe

2011-01-20T11:50:00.001-08:00

Psalm 19:1 The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork.

This verse just went over and over in my mind as we stood at Victoria Falls and admired the Lord’s handiwork. Certainly we can see this in our every day lives, but when you stop and admire something as magnificent as Victoria Falls, it gives you a new found perspective on His handiwork.

Brent also did the zip line across the gorge and bungee jumped off the bridge. Craziness!!

Taylor watched from the sidelines as her daddy jumped and when she saw him bounce back up she said “Mommy, daddy is ok!”

Vacation with the grandparents-Nata and Chobe

2011-01-15T13:52:00.001-08:00

Brent’s parents arrived on December 26 and after a few days to get over jet lag, we headed to the northern part of Botswana to explore Chobe Game Reserve and Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe. We had an amazing time!

On our journey north, we stopped at Nata Lodge to stay the night. It was so peaceful and relaxing and we had our own little cabin.

Beautiful rainbow at Nata

We got to see our first chameleon there

From Nata, we drove about 4 more hours on to Kasane to stay at Chobe Safari Lodge for the next 5 days. We were able to go on 2 boat drives on the Chobe River and 2 game drives in Chobe Game Reserve. Driving on the road to Kasane, we saw many elephants and giraffes just roaming in the wild. It was so great to see these animals in their natural habitat, not bound by fences.

The open dining hall where we ate breakfast/dinner

Sunset on the Chobe River

New Years Eve dinner

On our first game drive

We saw a puff adder snake just moments after getting into the park

Cape Buffalo

Baboons were all over the place

Botswana has the more elephants than any other country. We saw between 150-200 elephants in a single day.

We were looking for the big cats all day and on our way out of the park we ran into this mating pair. Too cool, they truly are so majestic

We also were able to do some boat drives. We were able to get up close and personal to some hippos, elephant, and crocs

The above picture was taken and about 2 minutes later this hippo behind us decided to charge our boat. We were chased twice by hippos and these big fellas are faster than you think.

Yikes we were very ready to get away from this guy.

A croc basking in the sun

Taylor feeding our hungry fella on the boat. I really need to learn to rub in their suntan lotion!

Elephants love to play and swim in the water

Brent and his dad got to go fishing and Brent caught a catfish

We also enjoyed the pool at the lodge, especially Taylor, but Bradyn was also a good sport in letting us hang out by the pool.

Taylor loved wearing her mask from new years eve the rest of the week just around the lodge. She was “super Taylor” when she wore it and could jump higher and run faster with it on. Love this girl!!

Grammy and Granddad

2010-12-28T10:00:00.001-08:00

We are so excited to have Grammy and Grandad here with us for a few days. We picked them up on the Dec 26th and Taylor ran right to them. We are having so much fun. On our way to Botswana we stopped at a lion park to play with the baby lions.

These are the 8 week old baby lions. There are 4 of them and they are all males. They were pretty active, we all got our fingers chewed on!

Fun times!

The next lions we saw were much older, 5 months old, and they seemed to like to play and bite mom a lot. Above is right before this one turned his attention to mom.

Grandad took Grammy’s arm out of the lions mouth only for the lion to attach to her knee, way to funny!

Merry Christmas

2010-12-28T09:51:00.001-08:00

We had a wonderful Christmas here in Botswana. It was very hot and we even set up Taylor’s Christmas present, a new kiddy pool!

Here is Bradyn with Aunt Kelly, Meredith, and Micah, check out those pants.

Style I say, style!

Bradyn at his first Christmas Eve Caroling service, he did wonderful.

Taylor putting out Christmas cookies and carrots for Santa and his reindeer.

Taylor waking up Christmas morning, still trying to figure out what to do first.

A new ball for the pool!

Bradyn watched Taylor open all of his presents and loved every minute of it!

A new dress from back home, she loves it!

Later that day we went to a friends house for food and fun, this is Taylor checking out the boys new Wii game, she loves these boys!

After dinner we were able to play games, we are so blessed to have such a wonderful mission family!

Merry Christmas!

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Merry Christmas from the Turner’s!

Visit From Sara and Scott!

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Aunt Sara and Scott came for a visit and we had so much fun with them. Taylor loved seeing Sara and did not stop talking to her the entire time. We had a great time showing them our city, where we work, and our home. We also were able to show off some amazing game parks close to the house, here are some pictures.

Sara did a wonderful job showering Taylor with lots of love!

Getting in the Christmas Spirit with snowman sunglasses.

Aunt Sara holding Bradyn, she won the race and was the 1st family to hold Bradyn, sorry grandparents!

We saw tons of animals and really enjoyed our time in Mokolodi. Here is a beautiful female Kudu.

We even saw and got very close to a huge heard of Eland. Fun times.

The next day we were able to travel to Pilanesberg where we were able to hold and even feed 6 week old baby lions, here is Sara and Scott.

Taylor also picked up the lions, she truly has no fear when it comes to animals, we both think she will work with them one day!

We thought that the highlight of the day was the mommy rhino and the baby rhino right before we left the park, until we saw 3 elephants swimming in a lake, having a blast(below).

They all swam to the other side, got out and went right back in a minute later, it was so much fun! We were so thankful that Sara and Scott were able to make it all the way to Botswana! We love our family and can’t wait for Grammy and Grandad to arrive in just 5 days!

Fall fun

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Yep, we are that family that dresses our kids up in funny little costumes. Enjoy!

Kittens

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Taylor has been helping out with some friends kittens while they are on vacation. She has loved playing with them.

The family has 4 kittens, 1 cat, 1 puppy, 2 birds, and 2 Great Danes, Taylor was loving life.

Taylor tried very hard to keep them all in the basket but this was after they all escaped, hard work for sure.

Wii with JB

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Taylor has found a game that she truly loves to play on the Wii, chicken shoot. She gets the gun and shoots chickens, it’s fun to watch her grow up, she is getting so big!

This is her and our friend JB, notice the tongue hanging out! Watch out chickens!

Pre-Thanksgiving fun

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To be honest, it is a little hard to get into the spirit of Thanksgiving when it’s 90 degrees outside and all of our family is on the complete opposite side of the ocean. But with that said, this year we have tried to make the most of this Thanksgiving season. The weekend before thanksgiving, we vacationed at a place called Pilanesburg with some of our American friends that also are overseas. We were able to go on a game drive, eat a wonderful Thanksgiving meal (including a turkey), and play at a wave pool. Thanks to the Norton’s for joining us for a fun filled weekend and being some of our family away from home.

Our dear friends the Norton’s, each of us with a new family of 4.

Judah and Taylor playing in the dirt…it so much fun to be a kid.

Juliana (left) and Bradyn (right). Juliana is just 10 days younger than Bradyn, so you can see what a big boy Bradyn really is in comparison.

The rest of the pictures below are from a place called Sun City at their Wave Pool.

On the lazy river

Bradyn and mommy sat on the side of the pool the entire time. Bradyn wasn’t much company as he slept the entire time…guess that is better than crying the entire time!

Taylor got the above booboo on her knee right when we were getting ready to leave. Ice cream always makes booboos better though (below).

Birth announcement pictures

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My sweet friend Keely came over the other day to help us get some shots of Bradyn for his birth announcement. She did an amazing job…thanks so much, Keely!!

Random shots

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It’s so hard to believe that Bradyn is 6 weeks old. Here are some shots of Bradyn and Taylor over the last few weeks.

Taylor and Bradyn wearing their camo pants from mamaw and papaw

Taylor loves holding Bradyn and helping out with him. If Bradyn is crying he immediately stops when Taylor comes around.

Our friend Febby Toka visiting to see our newest addition

That Girl has Style!

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Taylor got in trouble the other day for drawing on the outside of the house with red sidewalk chalk. She had to clean up her mess but she did not let the opportunity go to show her style. Here are some pictures.

Taylor working that sponge

Taylor deep in thought trying to decide if it was worth it.

Taking a much needed water break!

She was all smiles when she finished! She is such a good girl!

African Culture for babies

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Living here in Africa, I have discovered that Africans are not shy about telling you how you need to take care of your children and what you clearly are doing wrong. Recently, my dear friend and Taylor’s former nanny, Bantle, came to visit us to see Bradyn, so I thought I would ask her some questions culturally about what Batswana people do/expect after having children.

You should stay inside your house for 3 months with a new baby. As we were coming home from South Africa and entering into Botswana, I was again reminded of this by a Batswana lady and I tried to explain to her that I was just trying to get home after having the baby. My neighbor as well told me this when she came to visit, so Bantle just said culturally the women here after having a baby will normally stay inside for 3 months and just eat, sleep, rest, and take care of the baby without going outside of the home. This is also a time in which the father is not around and can only view them from a window if he needs something. SO that said we are trying to stay in as much as we can as not to offend anyone culturally. Bantle did say if it’s the 2nd child that it could just be 1-2 months. We have not booted Brent out though, he is still inside the house helping out like the wonderful husband he is.
Holding a baby with an umbilical cord still attached is taboo. Bantle did tell me that not everyone believes this is taboo. She did say when the umbilical cord falls off that it is tradition to shave the babies head, mommy’s head, and put all of the hair and the umbilical cord into the toilet. Wow, definitely not participating in that tradition!

All of the Africans point out how big Bradyn’s nose is, so I try to say nicely that we love his nose and it’s the traditional “Martin” nose. I am trying to just take things in stride and not be offended as it’s their culture to be very blunt. Too funny!

We truly do love living here and learning about the people and all the different cultural aspects. We definitely want to learn the culture and how to appropriately share the Love of Christ.

Sweet “family”

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Here’s a glimpse into some of our sweet visitors that came to visit us at the hospital when Bradyn was born. At times like this we miss having our family around, but these folks treated us as their family and loved on us so much. Children here call the grown ups “aunts” and “uncles” and they truly do treat our children like family.

Aunt Jane

Aunt Anna

Uncle Robert and Aunt Margaret-these are the folks we lived beside during our time in Lobatse. They came down and watched Taylor for 3 days while we had Bradyn.

Aunt Diane

Aunt Jessica

Uncle Tim

Uncle Larry

Aunt Denise

Long Summer Days

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The days have become very long and very hot here in Botswana. Amanda took a phone call and all of sudden realized that Taylor had become quiet. She had fallen dead asleep on the floor with her favorite blanket. Taylor has not napped for almost a year now but with this hot weather this is her 2nd nap already this week!

Being a big sister is hard work!

Bradyn did not want the quiet time to go to waste and took a quick cat nap in his bouncy chair. Well it’s time for us to try to get in bed before the craziness starts again!