Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday to you
Happy Birthday to you
Happy Birthday Darling Alison
Happy Birthdaaaaaaaaaaaay to YOUUUUUUUUUUUU !

Wishes for an absolutely fabulous day for an absolutely fabulous lady !

Love and miss you loads
Hugs and kisses always
Tracy, Andrè, Aimee and Lucy
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

Our boy back with us :)

Aimee had her very first sleep over Tuesday night with Cheslyn. Don't know how Tammy survived hehehe Aunty Elaine and Uncle Aubrey had offered to take the girls with to an Animal Farm on Tuesday. Aimee went but Lucy 'chickened' out as usual hehe. Aimee ended up staying over with Cheslyn afterwards. Lucy did however go with for a quick trip to the beach Wednesday morning before picking up Dad at the airport. Thankyou Aunty Elaine, Uncle Aubrey & Tammy, you guys are great and the girls had a ball !
The week started off as usual - busy !
Alison went to Headway http://www.headway.org.za/ on Monday to register, fill in forms etc. Back again on Tuesday for an assessment by the occupational therapist and physio. Doing exercises at home on Wednesday showed our break though. We hadn't done anything at home because of the visits to Headway and Alison was quite a bit stiffer and tired sooner than she had previously. Mom was an observer taking notes - with Andrè arriving, we wanted to record the exercises so that others could continue them with Alison while I spent time with my boy :).
Which brings us to .... Andrè arrived this week - some very happy girls met him at the airport. After sorting out the car at Tempest, we had to drive a mile to fetch my Mom's. Durban Airport is in the process of building a huge parking structure but it means the existing parking in front of the airport is no longer. Good thing the girls and I were a little early to pick him up as we ended up parking practically at the end of the runway - actually took a shuttle bus to get back to the airport !!
So back home, we celebrated a belated Father's Day together :)
Next morning my Mom took Dylan for his learners test (which thankfully he passed), girls went along to free Andrè and I up to run some errands - had to drop a shirt off with the Sharks for signatures - thanks for organizinging this PA ! Will be collecting it again before we leave on Friday for the Sharks vs Bulls game next week. The very tight game by the Sharks yesterday gives slight cause for concern although it was the 'B' team playing :) Aldo - here's your warning : stopped off at the Shark Cage and bought you a very stylish Sharks tattoo which Andrè will ensure you wear WHEN the Sharks win next week hehehe seems you're the only Bulls supporter joining us next week, should there be any others, we have enough to share the shame with hehehe
And still on the topic of rugby .... our Springboks - although Andrè says "Don't even bother going there" what a disappointing game :( WOW we love being in the history books but a 49-0 score to the Wallabies is not the way we prefer :( They best do some serious soul searching this week before facing the All Blacks next Saturday ! And if all else fails, hey we could just get a new coach as per our previous track record suggests hehehe. Maybe our Under 21 squad should be called up to represent us if the 'big boys' don't start showing what they're supposedly made of - soon !
Okay so back to us and what we've been up to ...
Friday we took the girls to Brian Boswell's Circus which was in Durban. We got a chance to walk-about-a-bit with the animals before the show.


Although typically I disagree with circus' because of the high possibilities of animal exploitation and mistreatment, the outing was a good one. The animals in the show were minimal, definitely more acrobatics etc which were impressive. The girls were more dumbstruck by the people than the animals :) During the interval children five and younger were offered a pony ride - big sister Aimee was not impressed that Lucy got to ride and not her :(
So now its the weekend, yesterday was spent watching rugby and F1 qualifying.
My Mom has gone off for the day with friends for an outing to Scottburgh which is a nice break for her and we're just relaxing at home.

Some "not so new" photos and a quick Alison update

Okay so these photos were taken of Aimee and Lucy enjoying some time feeding the fish in the pond at home. Must admit we were very sceptical when plans for The Pond were announced but it has turned out really well and proves to be a nice little walk away from home. Before the weather really started heating up, the girls would ask to walk to the pond and feed the fish. These photos were taken during one of Mom's breaks while putting together the school yearbook.



Okay along with the pond photos, this is us at Lucy's Preschool Graduation.
AND Andre got to meet a few more international rugby players when he reffed or ran touch (I honestly can't remember sorry my love) at an international day at Bahrain Rugby Club. Seen here with my man are Colin Charvis and Dan van Zyl although his photo with 7's legend Waisale Serevi at the Dubai 7's a year or so ago (when he ran touch in the final, along with reffing etc.) was a HUGE thing - if I can find the photo I'll post it :)


News on Alison :
She is coming on so well. We had a good weekend at home this last one - of course Alison getting very frustrated with all of us as we tried to ensure she didn't fall. (She is not 100% on her right leg and still catches her toes occassionally as she walks). Back to Entebeni Rehab on Monday morning and we started doing stair work to get Alison into bending her right knee so that would enable her to walk straight not swing her leg out to move around. It was hard work and after a few times up and down the flight, we were both glad therapy was over for the morning. Her speech is also improving daily and over the weekend she even managed to tell me I was getting fat and developing a bit of a double chin, I should be doing all the situps; bumlifts, leglifts and squats with her ! Sorry to say - NO ! Andre you'll just have to live with the fat, I have no energy to do any exercise :)
Taken a break from therapy today as Alison seems to have a little bug and needs to rest. God is so good and His hand is really on her as she gets well again, Thankyou to everyone who continues to pray for her.

My darling - I miss you and can't wait to have you here with us soon xxxxx

Take a look at this fabulous lady !

Okay, so I arrived in South Africa on Friday morning (JHB) and finally touched down in Durban at 2pm. Straight to the hospital to a wonderful surprise of Alison walking out of one of the offices. Happy Birthday Steven :)
Isn't she just amazing - less than a month after her stroke !
Hit the ground running and it was off to therapy with her Saturday morning. To which we were told "No more walking stick !" now that she had me along at therapy it was her chance to make use of a personal 'trainer' hehehe and get her really walking.
We had a picnic lunch there on Sunday - the photos ....
Happy Birthday Aunty Mary & Val !

Alison and I work everyday from 9-12, in the gym (sittups. leg ups, walking etc.), at speech and even spent some time in the pool on Tuesday. (Thanks Mommy for watching the girls during this time xoxox)
She is now walking everywhere and first it was no cane, someone walking to steady and support her, now she can pretty much walk ahead/next to and I have minimal concern of her falling. Her speech is coming along, we have our moments still when I can't understand but we have a good laugh anyway.
I can honestly say I have an amazing sister !!!

WOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOO !!

Okay so I am very much delayed in updating but it just shows how absolutely chaotic the last few weeks have been.
This is seriously a woooohoooo posting for several reasons, tell you what, let me explain ...
So we'll start with the biggest - Alison ! Truly great stuff, end of May, just over 10 days after her stroke (yes the angiogram confirmed she'd had an acute stroke), she has some feeling in her right side ! Since this she has progressed to being able to leave Umhlanga hospital and move to Entebeni for rehab. She is busy on a daily basis doing mouth and tongue exercises which is helping her speech. Working in the gym and pool getting her right leg and arm used to working again is surely hard work.
She is on the mend and proves again why we are soooooo proud of her !
I arrive in South Africa tomorrow (Friday) and am seriously ready to take off my teacher hat and do my bit at the rehab thing hehehehe so hope you're ready big sister ! Please continue to pray for her as we need her to have the strength to become whole again.

Lucy's whole class
Dhahran Elementary Middle School Preschool Class of 2006 Graduates

Next wooohooooo - Lucy had her graduation ceremony from PreSchool a few weeks ago and as of yesterday, Aimee is offically a grade two student and Lucy will be moving on to Kindergarten in August - WOW ! Lucy continues to have her little anxiety attacks, definitely not constant as they were but still enough to make life a little difficult. Just got to be thankful we know it will pass.

Aimee's First Grade class.

Next wooooohoooo -
I finally managed to finish our school yearbook, report cards, website and online school updating and the other million things to do around here. We ask ourselves every year "why is year end sooooo busy and can't we do some of this at another quieter time". But alas no, things to do at the the end cannot be done any other time AND when is there a quiet time in a school year, seriously ?! Well at least not at our school hehehe There really are not enough hours in the day and I think Andre has been very happy in the last two that I haven't literally walked in the door - after staying 2 hours later at work already - and gone immediately to start working again until late.
Okay and now for a little booohoooo -
Our planned student study trip to SA October 2006 may at the very least be postponed. We needed parents to leave a deposit to secure our accommodation before the end of the school year - needed $1400. Only got $800. So it looks like I won't be bringing students to Jhb, Swaziland & CT over our Eid break as planned, booohooo.
Last one - this one also needs your prayers, so split them between Alison and Bruce please :) My principal is not very well, has been in and out of hospital several times this year. He has been sooo supportive of me not just professionally but also in the recent few weeks in dealing with being so far away from family and Alison especially. He is a great guy and needs all the prayers possible for the improvement of his health !

Well its early hours of the morning here - never thought I could survive on just a few hours each night but these past few weeks have seen very disturbed sleeping patterns and I have survived so ... just hope the girls crash on the planes so I can get some rest there maybe, yeah right :)

Will post again soon and once I have my life a little sorted I will post all rest of the photos from the last few weeks.
Have a good one everybody, love, laughter, happiness and friendship, God Bless xxx

Some news and our Hawaiian daughters

Firstly, thankyou to all those that have been so supportive and added Alison and for that matter all of us to their prayers. God is great and we're thankful for her progress so far. We're still not out of the woods yet so please keep up with them, we trust God ! Due to this "development", we (the girls and I) have managed to move our flights forward a week - wish it were sooner but just not a possibility at this point. So we'll be arriving in South Africa Friday June 9th...

In the meantime though, life is hotting up here in Saudi and we're looking forward to a little bit of cold and wet miserable weather hehehe
So Andrè turned a ripe old 37 on Wednesday, Aimee actually woke up and said as she was getting out of bed half asleep "It's Dad's birthday today, he's 37 hey?" strange what sticks in their minds hehe. Well he had an okay day I guess and we went out to Rumors (our compound restaurant) for a quick dinner. Obviously our minds were elsewhere and we wanted to stay close to home to get any updates on Alison's condition.
Went across the bridge to Bahrain Thursday to try and sort out our airtickets and ended up staying to take the girls to see Ice Age 2 at the movies. No movies in Saudi so this was a first for us. Very cool and the movie was excellent too :)
Lucy graduates from Preschool this week - graduation ceremony on Monday :) so we're very busy with practicing and preparation. She is VERY ready to move into Kindergarten. Think Aimee is too, Lucy loves watching her doing homework and tries to participate. Lucy's homework is typically done so quickly and she becomes the peanut gallery during Aimee's. Aimee can't wait for her to have 'challenging' work to do hehehe
The photos (excuse the quality, these are scanned prints):
Last week the girls went to Mira Maalouf's 5th birthday party (actually had another one in the afternoon too which made for a very busy day). It was a Luau theme and so these are our lily-white Hawaiian daughters :) Sadly they've lost the little bit of a tan they developed over our December holiday at home in SA.


Well thats about it for now, enjoy the photos of our 'little' girls, more news & photos during the week. Have a great weekend everyone xxx.

Alison

(Alison & Llewelyn at their wedding just 6 months ago)
We need your prayers !
My second eldest sister Alison is in the High Care unit at Umhlanga Hospital. It was first believed she had had a stroke Tuesday night late (SA time). Doctors ran a battery of tests (MRI, CT scan, Lumbar Puncture) Wednesday to try and establish the cause for her paralysis (right side), memory loss, disorientation and inability to communicate amongst other symptoms. She was in Nigeria last month for work and doctors were concerned she may have picked something up there. We have now been informed that she seems to have viral encephalitis which could have additionally caused a stroke. A diagnosis is great as it means the true cause of her severe illness can now be treated and she can start her recovery. She is being treated for both stroke and encephalitis which means all the bases are covered. At first she was being kept sedated but doctors seem happy with her progress and have lessened the sedation. We still await the final diagnosis - the results for the virus could take up to a week to be confirmed.
She is a wonderful person, so full of life and love !
Please add her to your prayers and spread the word too please.

Just some photos

Okay so not much news other than we're busy busy busy but while looking through for some photos to print, thought I'd put some here too, some old, some newish :)

The first - school starts August 2005, very HOT and HUMID day - as you can see the lense on the camera is a little foggy even, just kept happening, typical summer here, even sunglasses are pointless at times - fogging up almost as soon as you walk outside, this was the best we could get considering heehee

Next - Lucy just looked SO cute at the school Halloween parade October 2005

Next Next - Andre taking the girls Trick or Treating on the compound - so I moved and the camera being on night shot ...... sorry :( good memory though :)

Next Next Next - Girls in the car going to Bahrain for rugby - Novemeber 2005, as usual Aimee not too impressed with something her little sister is doing or maybe it was something her parents were doing, who knows but either is feasible :( good photo otherwise :) Notice the Sharks shirt on Aimee :)

Next Next Next Next - A happy day - November 5, 2005 :) Thanks for sending me my love xxx
How often are we going to have a photo of the four siblings altogether now ?

Next Next Next Next Next - leaving to come back to Saudi, January 2006 after a wonderful Christmas at home - don't we all look a little healthier with a little tan, and back to cooler climes :)

And lastly FOR NOW :) - February 2006 - taking The Brummer Family to the airport on a Friday night - hence the tired Lucy, :( Aimee, Lucy and Letitia
The next photo we took was the girls asleep on the drive back home, Aimee drooling on the seat - didn't think it'd be fair to post that one though heehee

Have a good one everybody, miss you all xoxo