Pre-Thanksgiving fun

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

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

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!

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

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”

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

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!

Trying to get a passport picture

It is very hard to get a correct passport picture for a newborn baby. The head and dimensions have to be correct (not easy) but Bradyn also had to have his eyes open and looking at the camera with his hands down. Here are a few tries.

Hands down, hands down

Look this way, almost

Not sure what happened on this one, not even trying!

Wake up, come on wake up, look this way

Here is the final picture – much thanks to photo shop. We used the eyes off of one picture, the head from another, and the body from a 3rd picture. We had to paint the back ground white They accepted the picture and we were able to travel home! Fun times, he had his first passport at 9 days old, traveling little man!