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.

Happy Mother's Day

To the wonderful Mom's who make a difference in their child/ren's lives, THANKYOU !!

You are truly great !
Have a wonderful wonderful wonderful day !

You deserve it !

THE Team !!

Okay so very very very very very sadly the Stormers lost tonight, 13 may 2006.

Bulls won, with a bonus point and sneaked in with JUST 1 more than The Sharks in the points difference.

CONGRATULATIONS

Aldo, BGG, WGC and the Brummer Family and any other sudden Bulls supporters - your team won, let's just hope these boys can play as hard next Saturday in NZ !!!

The celebrations last night were good, the day was wonderful and bright, glory might have been shortlived for us Sharks supporters but it was lived and loved while we had it !

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WOOOOOOHHHOOOOOO

Seems the support paid off ! Well done The Sharks !

Full time
Sharks 41 - 25 Force

Okay so here's the deal : Sharks and Bulls are in contention for the semi-final spot.

Bulls play the Stormers tomorrow !

We're banking on either a complete loss by the Bulls or a win by less than 32 points !

That way ..... Sharks will be winging their way to play the Canterbury Crusaders in Christ Church, NZ !

Where they'll need a whole wack more support !!!

So, for 13 May 2006 ONLY ....

GOOOO SSTTOOORRRRMMMMEEEEEEERRRRRSSSSSS !!!

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Remember to support Our Sharks tonight 7pm (SA time)

GGGOOOOOOO SSSHHHAAAARRRRKKKKKSSSSS !!!!!!