Moving On, Settling In

The time has finally come to move into our new place here in South Africa. We move in Sunday, however we will be staying in the apartment section (two bedrooms/bathroom on the first floor of the house) for the first few days as the current tenant who is staying upstairs needs a few extra days before he can move out. 

In our minds, November 1 (our first official day there) marks a lot of new beginnings. Even though we've already begun our life and ministry here, five months ago when we arrived, we feel like moving into our more long-term home symbolizes a point of really establishing ourselves. We are excited to settle into more consistent routines, making our own home, re-evaluating our budget, our exercise schedules, getting into a home Bible study and settling on a church decision, and exploring more avenues to really invest in in our ministry. In ways it feels like we've been here a long time, and we HAVE settled in in many ways by making friends, getting connected in our ministry, and learning some of the culture and our way around. But we know we've just touched the tip of the iceberg and have so much more to experience.

We'll be trying a small home group connected to Hillsong Cape Town that's right in our new area. We are still deciding on churches. Do we pick a church and stay in it, or do we use Sundays as ministry and visit local community churches, and make our own church base our home group? The reason we debate this is that we've made a lot of connections for fellowship through ministry, my moms' groups, and other local missionaries. So we aren't fully looking to a local church for that, but we still believe being involved in a local church and attending weekly are important for our faith and our family. We just don't know what God is leading us to in that area yet. 

Andy (and I) will remain very involved in the ministry program in Khayelitsha, the large black township about 20 minutes from Muizenberg (and about 45 minutes from our new place), but we are also hoping for opportunities to get involved with youth and families in Masi and Ocean View - a black and a Coloured township both less than 5 minutes from our house. We are loving dreaming about ideas for this, and how to help the current Africa Jam programs, using our house to help out.

I'm also excited to just be home more and continue enjoying my family. Norah just started standing by herself! I'm anticipating those steps starting soon. I have started a little bit of "Tot School" with her. This week we tried a few activities based around a theme. Of course that meant just doing one or two planned activities like coloring (which lasted a grand total of about 5 minutes), but it was fun just the same and helped me feel like I had a little bit more of a grip on our day. Most of all, I just enjoyed spending focused time with her and watching her learn. 

enjoying some reading time in the morning

I'll share pictures of our new house and updates soon!