T-minus 1 week and counting

It's hard to believe that next week this time, I will be in South Africa! Yes, it's true.... the vacation that w have been planning for years is now only days away. Please remember Liesel in your prayers, as she travels alone with the two boys on Tuesday! This will be Josh's first long distance plane ride and we have no idea how he's going to cope with it =/ SO your prayers are appreciated!!

This is really one of our last summer weekends in the USA, so we tried to make the ost of it. We woke up to the sounds of raindrops on Saturday, which was very welcome. Later, the boys and I paid a vist to a dear friend, and afterwards spent some time at a playground. While they were playing, the heavens opened again and cooled us down a bit, so we sought the shelter of a tree until the rain cloud moved away.
That afternoon, I headed to our church, as my band was hosting a praise and worship evening in heir hall. This required a lot of set up, sound checks, rehearsal etc, before our evening performance. When the evening arrived, we had a good turnout and enjoyed praising God together!

Sunday morning came earlier than expected as Nathan came and woke me before 6:30am. He was excited as we were going to see the Cleveland Browns Football team at their training camp with is bout 25 minutes from our house. Their training kicked off at 8:45, but the gates opened at 7:45, and it is recommended that you to early to get a good spot! We arrived shortly after 8am and were able to get a good parking and had time to look around the training camp! Nath scored himself a Cleveland Browns dog tag, and had a chance to throw a few footballs, before the team came out and went through their paces! It was a great experience, and we both thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Meanwhile Liesel and Joshua went to church and also had a wonderful time!

I spent the rest of the day watching the Olympics and especially enjoyed the Volleyball, both indoor and beach, and cheered my home teams (USA) on to victory!

At 5:30, our babysitter arrived, allowing Liesel and I to go on one final date before South Africa. We headed to our favorite restaurant and had those heavenly milkshakes! Afterward, we pulled up a couple of chairs in the shade of some trees in the center of Crocker Park and spent some quality time just talking :) In fact, it was so relaxing, another man in a chair a few meters away had fallen into a deep sleep and was snoring loudly!