Some devastating news, boys trip to pack up the house in Malawi, a life saving visit from Claire. Survival mode. Catchup April&May 2025

We received some very hard news from our closest friends in Mzuzu, who had just been on holiday to SA and were supposed to be heading to Mauritius for a few days....Neline let us know that David had fallen and hit his head, he was put in ICU for observation and subsequently taken to theatre. They called her to tell her he had had a stroke on his pons (control centre of the brain) during the operation, and was in a coma.

This photo was taken just before Joel and I left for George.

This friend of ours lost her first husband in an armed robbery at her house and was widowed at the age of 35, along with her twin boys who were 5 at the time. She is an incredible person, with unwavering faith.

David, the gentle, loving, kind and caring husband God gave her, raised her boys as his own and just provided all the love and attention she needed to nurture her through that loss, and in return she just adores and has built him up to be a strong and confident husband.

Their love is so tangible...to imagine them going through this is very sad. My heart is broken for them, but they both have the kind of faith that can move mountains and I know that they will never give up...so watch this space!

After thinking in circles about how we would manage to pack up our house in Mzuzu and get our car back to George, we decided that the best option would be for Tim and Lou to fly back, pack up and drive back to George. It was a hard time for all of us, I'm not going to lie!

The boys had the daunting task of packing up our entire life in Malawi, finding a home for Sasha and then a week long road trip to follow at the end of a hard week of packing. They worked incredibly hard and got so much done every day. Tim's work had sent a container for us to store our things inside in Lilongwe but I was reluctant to believe it would only be for 3 months so we tried to sell as much as we could.

After packing for a week, the boys started their adventure home. The route they planned meant that they could stay with some special family and friends on their way. They drove from Mzuzu- Lilongwe (stayed with the Fergies)

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Day 2 they drove from Lilongwe to Lusaka, then day 3 from Lusaka to Vic Falls where they stayed with Brad, got to drive E-bikes and had a yummy supper next to the Zambezi.

From Vic Falls they went to Francistown and stayed over with our family friends - Jane and Gav Viljoen. They were spoilt rotten and Lou even said he had 2 mini magnums for pudding. I had serious FOMO!

Next stop Bloemfontein...

And finally...A long last push to get home!

Meanwhile...

I'm not going to lie- it was a very difficult time for me and Lils. She was an absolute super star, learning how to help me mother the 2 babies. I wouldn't have coped without her but its a lot of pressure on a 7 year old! At some stage Lils and I also caught a stomach bug- fortunately Joel and Ollie avoided it.

This little crocheted monkey was given to Lily by granny Norma, Megs daughter Gabby helped Lils make an outfit for it. Isn't it just the cutest thing!?

Joel...keeping himself busy! He loves books.

Spot the baby...

We spent many rainy days at spur so that Lily and Joel were occupied.

And panarotti's!

Lils dressed him up in the dolls clothes haha!

3 of my sweet angels, just surviving!

Just when I started to feel the weight of it all my absolute angel friend Claire jumped in her car and drove to me from PE to come and stay with me for 4 nights. It was such a relief to have her visit.

After mama Claire had gone back we managed to survive the week with kind offers of help from Yuri, Daniela and Meg.

Having our boys back was a huge relief, but there was still pressure for Tim to be in Swaziland during the week and quite honestly it felt like too much for me to cope with alone. Being apart is not fun and especially with a new baby and the big kids out of school. We had to try and get things together as soon as possible for us to join Tim in Swaziland...

With Tim having to go to Swaziland, we decided to take a trip to Cape Town to see friends and family and to stop in and see David and Neline. Our ever hospitable friends Mel and Nick are always so kind and generous about letting us stay in their self contained flat. Its great for the kids to see their friends and they treat us like family.

First stop was Hermanus. We went to visit David in ICU and to give our lovely friend a big hug. It was so lovely to see her, and David even gave my hand a squeeze!

Next, we stopped in to our old home turf in Elgin and I spent my birthday with some wonderful friends who we hadn't seen for a while- Michelle and Graham Roberts, Daz and Lisa Muir, Mel and Nick Beck and Ryan Larkman pulled in too. We had the most beautiful sunny day at the dam, the kids waterskied and tubed and the adults chilled and braaid. It was the perfect birthday! And Lou and Lil both skied for the first time. Lily was too scared to let go and she hung on for about 5 minutes!

We ended the day with a BEAUTIFUL birthday cake made by Jodi Roberts. It was such a wonderful day and really filled my cup in so many ways. It was such fun to see how all the kids had grown, we used to all go on camping weekends together when the (now) 14 year olds were 5!

Next stop was Somerset West where we spent the days exploring familiar places I used to take Lou and Lil when they were toddlers. We had some lovely weather and it was so lovely to have Mel to hang out with too.

We took the kids 'art jamming' at Lourensford and they had such fun creating their masterpieces. It amazed me that they spent so much time on them too! We even had to go back the next day to finish them.

We took the kids to the aquarium and that was an absolute hit, Joel loves fish as much as his dad and his granny and he was enthralled by the huge tanks of beautiful fish.

Finally we got to catch up with our cousins, we miss them so much and because we are at the same stage of life as them it makes it that much sadder that we cant do life week in and out with them. The kids have the sweetest bond and since Lils and Ruthie have both got 3 brothers, they have decided to be like sisters.

We had a nice reunion with the Villiersdorp cousins too, luckily granny and grampa are very hospitable!

The sunsets from the Becks house are just phenomenal. They blow me away every time we stay there!

We headed back to George and stopped in to see David again, and to take our lovely friend Neline out for lunch. She is such a champion.

Back in George, we set to work getting ready for our next adventure, Ollie's passport arrived which meant that we could leave. The kids were absolute champions during all the change and stressful times. Its easy to forget how little they are but what's most important to them is being together as a family.