My Girls

While I was pregnant with Hannah, a wise friend (MP) said:
"You think your kids will be the same-they're from the same set of chromosome donors (aka parents), will get roughly the same discipline, diet, upbringing, etc, but they'll be totally differently! TRUST me."
And you know-I took her at her word, she has THREE boys, so she should know...

What I didn't do though, was trust her with the "TOTALLY different" part. Can one get any more different than Donna and Hannah????

DONNA: Tidy, quiet, shy, ma/pa vas (yes-still!), sensitive, an angel.
HANNAH: Messy doesn't quite explain it, loud, a tiny bit shy, not been ma/pa vas yet, doesn't feel a thing, a clown.

But I love them both-totally differently (which another amazing friend told me I would!-JB), but SOOOO much, more than I thought I had, and there's more to come-differences and love-I'm sure!

Christmas at Wafi

Christmas at Wafi this year was Charlie and the Chocolate Factory! We have just finished reading the book together-Donna loved it, so this was an added surprise-timing was great!!!

Double click the picture to make it bigger-I hope you can get a bit of a sense of how well done it was!

Miramar, Fujairah

We had the absolute privilege of staying at the Miramar Hotel in Fujairah the first weekend of December. We had a fantastic break, I took MANY photos and read one of the best books I've read in a long while.

The book is called "Just so something" by Kevin de Young, http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/kevindeyoung/2009/02/20/just-do-something-chapter-1/

The basic message is: if you want to do something, and it is within God's revealed will, and you will glorify God by doing it-do it! Stop worrying about the future, stop waiting to figure out what the Lord has planned, trust that God has the future under His control already and... just do something-and do it for God's glory, of course! Or as Kevin puts it "God’s will is not a bullseye to hit, but a life to live". I don't think I learnt anything totally new, but this guy just put things in a way that made such crystal clear sense to me that it lead to a time that will stand out for me in terms of personal growth in trust in our all loving and sovereign God. I saw things more clearly than I have in a very long time-it was a blessed time for sure!

There are more pictures that I put on my Facebook page, please click on the link to see them there.
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/album.php?aid=165128&id=628056638

Hannah Dancing!!!!

UPDATE!

I do apologize for our long silence-we are OK! I have just tried very hard to prioritize-and everything computer related has taken a very back seat! But to let anyone who might be interested know-we are doing really well! Our family is growing, our little baby is crawling, our little princess is blossoming, Ryan is booming, and I'm getting there! The Lord has been so good and kind and patient to us, He is a Great God!

Hannah is a joy. She has her moments; she teeths badly and her nighttime "routine" has been a nightmare, but ... she is a joy! She makes us all laugh with her games she makes up-she's very interactive and loves doing stuff where she's in with the action. She's eating well, crawling fast, starting to stand alone, loves to bath and swim, and absolutely adores Ryan. She cries when he leaves for work! As cliched as this may sound-she is growing up much too quickly!

Donna, continues to be our princess, and she too is growing so much and too quickly. She loves Hannah, and is my little helper-she loves to help! She is "coming out of her shell" as the saying goes, and is slowing figuring out that other people are not as scary as she thought! She has got such a eager, fast learning brain-it amazes me how easily she picks up concepts! Donna still loves to swim, enjoys cooking food more than actually eating it, dances like the dying swan itself-but it's beautiful-and yes, absolutely adores Ryan!

(Sorry-I downloaded this picture twice and I cannot find a way to delete it!)

Anyway-there we are-all well, happy and still here! We're going away this weekend-so hope to post something about it when we get back-but...don't hold your breath!

Hannah starts eating!

Our baby girl started eating solids! After trying to grab EVERYTHING we were eating, and looking so hard done by when we took it away, and because she is big (aka: fat) enough to start too-we decided to give it a try. She loved it, and I don't think there's any looking back now!

Atlantis Visit

We had the amazing privledge of staying at the Altantis hotel for a night. It was an absolute spoil, an experience we will not forget-ever I think! I'll let the pics tell the tale...

(Double click on the collage to enlarge it)

My attempt at some arty photography....

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COUSINS!!!!

Cand and Kathleen came to visit for almost 3 weeks-and we had a jol! Amazing times mixed in with daily challenges of raising kids was the order of every day...! Almost every evening Donna would ask if Kathleen could stay another day, she absolutely loved the company, having someone who could actually play with her-all day and everyday!

We did alot, but also just stayed at home alot too: trying to balance keeping the girls occupied without going out in the heat (45 degrees +!) AND maintaining some sort of routine, was quite a challenge! We got a little blow up pool for our balcony that we used on the "cooler" days, we went to the hotel for tea, Fun City, Atlantis, and of course did a little bit of shopping!

As always it was horrible to say goodbye, now without them, we miss them even more than before. Kathleen is an absolute joy, so much fun and a true to goodness "laugh a minute". I've already started counting the days to when we'll see them again-thankfully it is soon-less than 2 months!

Thank God for family-thank God for sisters!!

Our Dear Cat Harvard

On the 2nd of June, our dear, autistic cat had to be put down. He had a parasitic infection, very low immunity and a bad anaemia. We don't know what started it, or why he even presented with the infection, but it happened, and it was incredibly sad.

Thankfully it all happened quite quickly, so our memories of our "Tootie" are really fun, good, funny and cute ones.

He was one special cat, in many ways, and we count it such a privilege to have looked after him for 5 great years. He will be missed for sure...

Paul Tripp Marriage Conference

We had the privilege of attending a Paul Tripp marriage conference-"What did you expect? Redeeming the realities of marriage" held at our church. We were invited by our pastor to have lunch with him as well-we are so, so, so grateful for both opportunities!

Paul Tripp is a great godly man, faithfully teaching, reproving, correcting and training all by God's inspired scripture. His message was unbelievably convicting, but even more encouraging as he practically taught how to live a more God-honouring life by loving one another properly as husband and wife.

It was awesome!

Hannah is 4 months!

Man, keeping track of time has been difficult!

Our "little" girl continues to grow-beautifully! She is the genuine "bundle-of-joy", when she smiles-even at 3am-it brightens your life! I thank God daily for her, she is such a blessing!

Hannah is 3 months!

Our little baby is 3 months! OK, I know she is not little, she is getting more rolls than the Oros man-but she is beautiful!

What a blessed 3 months it's been! Hannah is so responsive-smiling enormously when you talk to her or smile at her or laugh at her, basically everytime you look at her -IF she's not hungry- she smiles! I know coming from her mom this doesn't mean much, but trust me: she is the cutest baby ever!!

She has started "talking" (see the video below) and it is just so awesome to hear! Also she has started swimming just a few days ago, and loves it-TWO water babies, lovely!!

Donna continues to be the best big sister (again, only from a mom!), she just can't do enough for her little sister. And now that Hannah smiles and talks back to Donny, it's brought a new dimension to this budding relationship-it's wonderful to see!

Hannah Singing!

Donna's Party

Donna turns 3!!

Our dearest Donna has turned 3! It's one of those times when I cannot believe she's already 3, but at the same time can't believe she's only 3!! Life without her seems very very long ago, I struggle to remember what all I did before she came along.



She has continued to grow into a very special little girl. She is shy to those she doesn't know well, but is a beeming light to all she does. Donna is soft, yet loud; clever, but silly; sensitive, but loves teasing and getting teased; girly, but fun; she's caring, loving, sweet, considerate, beautiful... she's our little princess!



Donna is truely a treasure that can only come from a truely caring, loving and giving God. We are eternally thankful to Him for blessing us with a ongoing miracle like our precious Donna!

Making the Fairy Cake!

Donna has been asking for a Fairy cake since her second birthday. Finally she got it! But even better than that-she got to help to make it too-getting to taste it at every stage!!

Thanx go to Granny for her hard work!!

Granny and Granpa Diggers' Visit

Granny and Granpa Diggers came to visit for two weeks for Donna's birthday, and of course to meet their new gorgeous granddaughter too! We had a great time, doing non-holiday stuff like voting, vaccines and a surgical consult for Hannah, cooking, washing, cleaning and baking cakes (!!), but I also gave them a break and took them to see a few places in Dubai!

I think Donna had the best time-got very spoilt with a new present every day, a 24 hour playmate (aka Granny), and someone who would take her swimming any time of day (aka Granpa Diggers)! She loved the attention and love, and is missing them alot now that they're back home!

Thanx for the good times we spent together, it was really a good visit!

The Collett's visit!

We were treated by the Colletts who came to visit for 2 days-2 wonderful days of sweet fellowship!!

We had a picnic out in one of the gardens on Friday, then went and did the tourist thing on Saturday. To be honest-Ryan and I felt like the tourists-Dubai has changed so much since the last time we went sight seeing!!

To Brian, Tanya, Ashley and Michael:

Thank you so much for stopping over! We had so much fun catching up with you guys! We so appreciate the friendship we have with you.

Ash: THANK YOU for how great you were with Donna and Hannah-you are such star! Donna has not stopped talking about you!

The Girls

Just a few random pics of our beautiful treasures!

Ashton's 1st Birthday Party

We had such a great time at Ashton's 1st party-Donna enjoying it the most definitely! Well...there was a pool and cupcakes-that's about as good as life gets for Donna!

Hannah was also there...

Photoshoot with Aunty Cand's tutu

Hannah turns 1 month!

Our little baby is 1 month! It has been an amazing and blessed month! Getting used to life with a new baby has been easier than I thought-but Hannah has been an absolute star baby-she has made the adjustment an easy one! She is making life so special, the smallest smile and "coo" just melts our hearts!

Donna loves Hannah, I think she just can't wait for her to grow a bit to be able to play! But she has been so patient and just adorably cute in the way she handles and speaks to Hannah, it's just incredibly special! Here they are in their onesies-Donna as Piglet and Hannah as Eeyore.

For Hannah's "birthday" we made a raw pumpkin pie (with juiced sweet potato!). Believe me-I know you'll think we're crazy-but it's delicious!!

In a way it's sad that our little baby is growing up, that she is not at her "littlelest" anymore, but it's just so fun to watch her grow! And we look forward to the coming interaction and growth that is to come!