Spring is in the air!!

It appears that Mother Nature is back on her meds as this week's weather was surprisingly pleasant! Right now it is 18C as I type this blog.

On Monday, Liesel's parent's left South Africa and made it safely across the Atlantic Ocean, landing in Atlanta, GA. They are having a very productive time in the USA, and it is wonderful having them in the same timezone as you! I know how much they are looking forward to coming to stay with us in Cleveland next week! We are just as excited to have them, as it has been over a year since we have last seen them! And I know that Nathan will be spoilt silly, and will love every minute with them! (And I am hoping to be able to savor the beautifully smooth and silky textures of South African chocolates again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

Monday evening was also the first time I did and filed my US taxes! It was an amazingly simple process. I purchased special tax software, which asks you to fill in certain information. Then you take your official tax statement from your employer and fill the figures into the software. What makes the process so simple is that everything is clearly marked (eg. Take figure from block C and enter it here). As you fill in the figures, you see a rolling total of what refund you can expect (or pay in!) At the end of the process, you get to file your taxes electronically over the internet. The beauty of this is there are no paper forms to complete, and no statements or any other evidence that you need to gather and make copies of to mail! Now for the highlight of doing your taxes electronically, you receive the refund owed to you (which you were told by the software, so no guessing) within 8 - 10 days! That beats South Africa's system hands down, where everything is manual, and the refunds come anywhere between 4 - 8 months later, not to mention that you actually have no idea if you are actually receiving anything back from Trevor Manuel (South African Minister of Finance) until you get that little blue letter from the Receiver that tell you your fate! Gotta love technology!!!!!

On Saturday, Liesel went to a seminar at our Church in the morning. Nathan and I arranged to see some houses that had just come onto the market with our realtor. Both the houses we saw had everything we were looking for!! So later that afternoon, we took Liesel back to the one house we saw. She also approved and we decided to put in an offer on the spot. Today the seller came back to us with a counter-offer, and we made a counter-counter offer. Sometimes I wish that the process was easier and that the haggling on the final price was not necessary, as it can take a significant amount of time, when all you want is a simple answer! But that how the system works here and we need to accommodate it. SO unfortunately I don't have a definite answer just yet..... As they say in the classics, watch this space! That evening we went to an Applebees restaurant for dinner. The food was simply delicious!!!!

The weather on Sunday was lovely. The sun was shining, birds were singing and blossoms and buds are making their long awaited appearance! We attended church in the morning, and found all the locals in shorts and T-shirts! Being South Africans, we still arrived with long pants, sleeves and jackets :-D After Nathan's afternoon nap, went for a walk around the neighborhood! That evening, we went to our Bible Study's game evening at our friends' house, where we ate pizza, desserts and had some great fun!