Rachel Elisabeth - Our Eternal Treasure

Greetings to all!

It has been so long since I posted on here...not sure if any of our dear followers and readers are still around on the Blogger blogosphere. If you are, I trust that all is well with each and everyone!

Life in New Zealand is very different to that of South Africa so Rachel and I experienced a different lifestyle here with a lot more freedom to go for walks and hikes and outings with family and friends. As we grew older our focus changed from some of the earlier interests to others and, of course, there were different decisions to make and more responsibilities to take on, etc. I'm thankful to say that what is most important hasn't changed - our walk with and love for the Lord; by God's grace it has grown deeper and stronger and more wonderful day by day and we're ever grateful to our lovely Lord Jesus.

It is the Lord who has been our anchor and strength throughout and shown Himself to be true to everything He promises in His Word to be.
God has proved Himself to be the great Comforter....Last year, February 2016, after a sudden and short illness, our Lord saw best to call my precious sister, Rachel Elisabeth, Home to Heaven.

Our family never imagined that something like this would ever happen and not having Rachel here with us on this earthly journey will always be a great sorrow; we miss her so terribly much! Yet there is also great joy in knowing that she is Home safe and completely well and full of joy in that wonderful place just beyond the curtain of time and in knowing that our parting is just temporal and some glorious Day we will be re-united again!!
We have wonderful memories of Rachel, she was always so loving and kind, she left behind an amazing testimony of a life lived for the Lord and in the 20 years she was here, she touched many lives. God has always been so good to our family. He truly carried Rachel, my parents and I through her illness and passing and He is ever-close to us, in His Word and preforming the supernatural in so many ways to confirm His Presence. We know without a doubt that Rachel could have been healed to carry on this life's journey but the Lord has shown us over and over again that it was her time to go Home. We may not always understand the reason why but we, (and as Rachel did) trust God completely knowing as He promises, that all things work together for good to them that love the Lord! Praise His holy Name!!

I could type pages and pages about my wonderful sister but I will end this post off now with a Scripture that reflects Rachel's life:

 I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.

   ~ 2Timothy 4:7-8

Thanking all who read this blog and took an interest in the little bits my sister and I shared here; thank you for all the nice comments and the kindness.
Although I will check back here from time to time, I probably won't post again on this blog but if you'd like to keep in touch you can comment here or email me by clicking on the "Contact Us" button on the right-hand side near the top of the page. Please include a link to your blog if you still keep one, it will be good to catch-up with what's happening in your life. :)

God bless you!

One glad Day we shall walk together again!


And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding,
shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus
~Philippians 4:7

Hello from NZ

Hello from New Zealand! :)

We planned on the "Out of Africa" post being our last on this blog, but seeing as it's now five months down the line and we haven't yet decided about a NZ blog, we'd just like to say "Hi" and let everyone know that we are well and very happy here in NZ! There are things that we will always love and miss about South Africa but if you ask, would you like to go back to live there now, the answer is "No", unless the Lord wills. :) God has done amazing things for our family all through our time here and we know that for now this is the place He wants us to be. We are so thankful to the Lord for guiding, protecting and providing for us in all things!

Thank you all again for your prayers and interest! We have permanent and very fast internet (compared to SA) ;) so hopefully we'll be able to keep in touch more regularly now. :)

 This is the LORD'S doing; it is marvellous in our eyes. ~ Psalm 118:23

Out Of Africa

Dear friends and readers,
This will be our last post on this blog - our family is immigrating to New Zealand in about two-to-four weeks time, so we will no longer be "under African skies".
The past month has been really busy for us with all the preparations and paperwork needed for the immigration, but the Lord has been so good to us and smoothed the whole process - undertaking miraculously  in every way! It's wonderful to see His Hand in everything and know that He is leading us! We are so thankful for His Grace and loving kindness!

New Zealand is a long way from South Africa - we will be flying to Hong Kong or Singapore and then onto New Zealand...a trip of about 27 hours! Once in N.Z. we will be "living like gypsies" for about a month - that is, living in a camper and touring around N.Z. until Dad has to start work. :P :)

If you're all wondering whether we're excited about the move.....Yes, definitely!! :) There is much we will miss about South Africa, especially our family and friends and all the things that make S.A. unique but we are also looking forward to New Zealand and all the new things which are waiting there! :)

Thank you to all our loyal and wonderful friends and readers who have visited our blog and also for the kind comments and feed-back you have given! Perhaps we will start up a blog once we settle in N.Z. but whether or not that happens, we will be still visiting all our friends and followers blogs whenever we get the chance.:)
If you'd like to stay in touch with us by email, just send us a note and your email address by clicking on the "Contact Us" button (right-hand side bar, near the top of the page) - we'd love to hear from you. :)

Goodbye, or perhaps "Totsiens" is a better word...in Afrikaans the greeting also means "till we see/meet each other again"! :)
~Jessica & Rachel

The LORD bless thee, and keep thee:

The LORD make His face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee:

The LORD lift up His countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.

~ Numbers 6: 24-26 

Houseboat on the Lagoon

We spent two lovely days on a houseboat on the Knysna Lagoon. 

The weather turned windy and overcast just before we boarded the boat.

This is what the houseboat looked like.

Dad, our skipper and Rachel :)

The kitchen/Lounge/Dining  area and Rachel and my bedroom. (The benches on either side fold down at night into two single beds.)

Dad & Mom's bedroom at the back of the boat.

The sun came out for the afternoon but the wind kept increasing in strength.

You have to navigate the lagoon according to a map and also the bouys - and watch out for the submerged oyster fields. The buoys are far apart and difficult to see, so I was the "look-out" at times. :P 

Belvidere Bay

The buoy are a useful perch for seagulls. :)

Due to the weather conditions boats had to either go back to the docks to be tied up for the night or anchor in Belvidere Bay. We opted to spend the night in the Bay, trusting that the anchor would hold. 

We had our family prayer meeting that night by candlelight on the rocking boat - it was a blessed time.

During the night it started raining and the wind became stronger, and the boat rocked and moved around in a circle around the anchor. But the it held, and we slept well, safe in the Lord. 

The next morning we woke to clear skies and calm weather and once we pulled up the anchor we were on our way across the lagoon again. :)

Walking With Elephants

The Elephant Sanctuary near Plettenberg Bay is a fun place to visit and we had a great time there. I hope you'll all get to enjoy something of it too in the following pictures. :)

The Sanctuary is a temporal home for young elephants who sadly lost their mothers to poachers or were themselves injured by poachers or snares. 

Here we met the elephants and got ready to walk with them, with the guide explaining a few things to us. As far as size goes, these elephants are still considered 'small' and they can grow much larger.

Part of the walk through the forest. As it's Winter, the forest isn't as lush and green as it would be in Summer. It's surprising how fast the elephants walk, we had to do a brisk step to keep up with them.

In a forest clearing we were given a demonstration and talk about the elephants and were also allowed to touch them. One can just marvel at how amazing God made each creature!

Having a look at the elephant's teeth and tongue. :P 

The elephants hides are extremely thick and rough - they feel more like thick, hard rubber mats than like skin.

Mom walking back with one of the elephants. It's so sweet the way they "hold" your hand with their trunks, though I must tell you that the trunks are quite a weight!

After the walk we fed 'treats' (chunks of pumpkin) to the elephants. 

An extra-exciting experience for Jessica and I was going for a ride on an elephant.  :)

Very different to riding a horse! :D 

The elephants walk in single-file holding each others tails - they often do this in the wild too as a way of bonding and keeping contact with the herd.

All in all a great day and a wonderful experience to spend time with these amazing creatures. :)

Water & Stone

I'm not going to say much here - just let you scroll through the pictures of some more of our outings. Hope you enjoy them. :)

The first batch of pictures are of a lovely, early morning when our family took a small boat down the Keurboom River:

Next, the winding but beautiful Outeniqua Mountain pass. We had to drive through here on our way to the town of Oudshoorn and the Cango Caves:

We went on a tour of the Cango Caves. There was just one other family on the tour besides ours so we had lots of time to enjoy the caves and ask lots of questions of the tour-guide:

From water and stone, mountain tops to the depth of the earth, how wonderful is God's Creation!

O LORD, how manifold are THY works! 

in wisdom hast thou made them all:

 the EARTH IS FULL OF THY riches. 

~ Psalm 104:24