Jesse

This is our grandson Jesse and today he is 7... I can hardly believe his has been in our family for nearly 7 years.

You may wonder why Jesse is holding a sign saying 'happy birthday Miles'? Well Miles is the son of their friends who are missionaries in Burundi. They did live in SA and when Miles was first born they used to visit the orphanage where Jesse had been placed when he was first found abandoned on the day of his birth. Miles' parents and older brother used to go to the orphanage and spend time with the babies, because Jesse had been born on the same day as Miles they took a special interest I him and prayed each visit that Jesse would be adopted by Christian parents. 

Well skip a couple of years and our daughter and son in law, Vashti & Martin, began to attend a new church in Durban where they met Miles and his family. It wasn't until a while later that they discovered that link and that Miles' parents had already met Jesse before he had been adopted by Vashti & Martin. 

This is a story of Gods faithfulness and also how He places a bond between His people which cannot be broken even when they move miles away. 

We are so thankful to God for placing Joseph and Jesse in our family.....He is good indeed!

This is the first picture that we saw of Jesse, Vashti is on the phone telling me that they have brought him home while Martin took and emailed this photo to us

Jesse and his big brother Joseph

hats

We may be heading towards warmer weather (I repeat may)but over in South Africa where our daughter and her family live, they are heading for their winter season. I know it rarely gets really cold in SA but where our family live, on the farm in the more rural area of Kwa Zulu Natal, it does get a little chilly at times. So knitted hats were requested and my daughter put this link on pinterest (such a clever site) for me to download and make for our grandsons and Angel.

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/slouchy-beanies

I went through my yarn stash and chose lovely bright colours. The pattern is really easy to understand but I found that when I got to decreasing stitches to shape the top all went well until the number of stitches I had on the needle that was suggested (40cm long) were so stretched that I couldn't knit them. So at that point I cut the yarn and threaded it through the remaining stitches, pulled tight and secured. I also found when I wanted to make the smaller size that again the needle was too long to knit the stitches comfortably and so I made the larger size and finished it sooner than requested.

But all in all, with a bit of fiddling around I managed 3 different sized hats, one for Joe, one for Jesse and one for Angel who comes to stay regularly. Hopefully I will get a photo to show you when they arrive in SA.

my grandsons

I don't get many photo's of my grandsons to share with you, just the occasional snap via whatsapp.

This one was taken by their Dad while they were fishing near by where they live in South Africa. 

For those of you who don't read my blog regularly, Joseph and Jesse were adopted. 

Joe was found when he was just born and placed in a lovely little orphanage where my daughter and son in law met him and adopted him at 2 months old. Jesse was also found the day he was born and placed in a foster family, they adopted Jesse when he was 5 months old. Joe is now 7 and Jesse 6. They are the most beautiful boys, we love and miss them very much.

look what we found!

I miss these little guys so much, haven't seen them for 20 months. So when I received these photo's today I thought I would share them. They found this 'pet' in the garden as they were out playing in the sunshine...which we don't have here in the UK at the moment. 

Joe wasn't quite as brave as his younger brother Jesse, as the chameleon was hissing:)They watched him turn brown as he was on the branch and then turn back to green when they placed him back on the leaves. I always say you can teach the whole curriculum out doors!

Jesse Benjamin

Jeremiah 1:5

"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you

Psalm 139:13

For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mothers womb'

So this little guy is 6 today, I cant believe that he has been in our lives for  five and a half years. His life didn't start out too well, being born in the ladies cloak room in the city court house...BUT God had huge plans for Jesse. He was found and placed in a foster home where he was introduced to our daughter and son in law who went on to adopt Jesse as their son and brother to Joseph. Here he is this morning ready for school and carrying the new back pack that Grandma and Grandpa bought him.

We thank God daily for Jesse, we know God had his life planned out before he was even born and we are privileged that God chose our family for Jesse to be a part of.  

And if you have time hop on over to http://littlefingersandfrosting.blogspot.co.uk/ and get his mummy's post 

 

 This is one of the first photo's we saw of Jesse, just hours after they had brought him home. he was a very sad little chap, suffering from reflux and a skin condition

 But in no time, after much care from his new parents, Jesse changed to a happy little boy, reflux and skin cleared up

 With big brother Joseph

 Helping mummy bake

 First birthday

Just recently...enjoying the South African wild life

How Cute are these Little Fellas?

Just had to post this photo of my beautiful grandsons, Jesse on the left and Joseph on the right (with the carrot!) Cute eh?

Birthday Boy!

Today is my Grandson Jesse's 4th Birthday, we have been so blessed since he came into our lives when he was 5 months old. Below is a birthday photo of the whole family. Joseph will celebrate his birthday next month.

Grandsons

My daughter, SIL and grandsons are on their way back to South Africa, we had a great time with the boys staying, their mum & dad arrived back from USA this morning and then they all flew out to SA this evening...they will be tired. We had a trip into London and met up with Uncle Ben, visited Trafalgar Square, Buckingham Palace and St James' Park. We arrived home with 2 very tired boys. We also went out to Ivinghoe Beacon one afternoon, took a picnic and the kites. This was a real hit and the Ordnance Survey pillar served as a great place to sit and hold onto the kites, I think Joe could have sat there all day!!

We have these munchkins staying at the moment, they were all supposed to be on route to USA to meet up with Daddy before they all travelled back to South Africa...however it looks like it will just be Mummy going because they haven't been able to get USA visas for the boys (they have SA passports at the moment) so they will stay here in the UK with Grandma & Grandpa!! Yeah!!

This post is for Joseph & Jesse

When Grandma and Grandpa were away in our caravan we went and visited the Imperial War Museum and saw these 'planes. The top picture is the Tiger Moth that Grandpa went up in, he took over the controls and flew it for a few minutes. He really enjoyed his trip and when we come to visit you in South Africa in the summer I will show you the video clips on my laptop.

We love you!

Where The Wild Things Are

A couple of weeks ago my daughter in South Africa asked if I would make her boys a Max costume each. Max is a the boy from the book 'Where The Wild Things Are' who likes to wear a wolf costume. Well I have never made a wolf costume and couldnt find a pattern. So I copied a pattern for an all in one suit from my pattern book, 'Little Clothes for Little People' and bought some grey fleece and zips. We will have to wait and see what they turn out like. I have added a photo of the boys with their Daddy at a butterfly farm where there was also some little monkeys. The boys were told by the man not to touch so as you can see Daddy is holding Jesse's hands and Joe has put his behind his back to stop himself from being tempted!