A Traditionally Busy Life

Life for the Isaacs house hold has not slowed down. Even though I am a stay at home wife and soon to be mother I feel I am on the go all week long. It is good to not be idle. The first few months here when i was not as busy I started to feel like there was only so many times I could clean our tiny little home. But now I struggle to fine the time to clean it in a week times. Gary is busy with work, more now then ever now that the Church is looking for a Pastor. And in all of this we are anxiously awaiting the arrival of our little girl Lillian "Lilly" Christine.

Monday is Gary's day off and we try to make that our family day. We do our shopping plus we do what ever else we want for example go to the beach, or rent movies, or go for a drive. We hope to continue this tradition as our family grows.

Tuesdays is my day to be at home. It is nice to have one day at home a week to get organized and try hard to get the house clean or at least part of it. These days scrubbing one part of the house makes me so tired. It is usually laundry day unless it is raining then I have to get up early some other time in the week so I can get my clothes on the line to dry before 9. (the line gets sun only from about 10-2) Gary teaches a bible study on Tuesday mornings and then usually comes home to work. It is hard for me not to talk to him on these days because I have been by myself all day and I am eager to chat, but I have to let him get his work done.

On Wednesday's Gary and I go to Aristea Primary School and help with in the special learners class for 3 hours. We have really started to get to know our kids there and they have started to open up to us. I will be sad when the school year ends, because I will not be going next year since I will be in my third Trimester  and I am sure extremely uncomfortable. But Gary will continue and we are praying that some others from the church will step up and help out as well. In the Evenings we go to a Bible study right down the street from us. Gary is leading that one as well.

Thursday I go to the Ladies Bible Study which Gary is teaching. We just finished a study on the book of Job . It has been such a blessing.

Friday's I go back to Aristea and Gary goes to other local Primary school to counsel. He has really enjoyed this and has developed some good relationships  with some of the kids there. He has even invited them to come to youth and Sunday School and by Gods grace some have attended. That is one of our main reasons of wanting to get involved in the schools is to invite these kids to church. Friday evenings we are on the meal plan at Gary's Parents, another tradition we hope to keep as our family grows. I love how my sisters kids are close to my parents and since my parents are so far away I want my children to be close to Gary's.

Lilly will be the 4th girl in Three generations of Isaacs (Gary's Aunt and to Female Cousins. All his cousins and his brother only have boys) so every one is very excited about her coming into the world. When the Doctor told us that he was 99% sure is was a girl Gary did a little dance in the Sonar room. I had been having dreams for weeks about a little girl, but I kept refering to the baby as a he, we both were ecstatic about the news of a little girl. The only thing about a little girl is they turn into Teen age girls and that intimidates me. Soon after we found out it was a girl Gary said  with a big smile on his face "That means I get to go on 'daddy and me date' ". I told him a long time ago about how special "daddy and me dates" where to me. My daddy would take me for Chinese  and then we would go see a movie together. I can still name all the movies we saw together.  I look forward to Gary carrying on that tradition with our little girl.

Life is busy but we are enjoying it. God has blessed us undoubtedly and we are truly thankful for his provisions.

Knitting in the Womb

It is amazing to watch on a little screen your baby move.

The Dr pushed my tummy a lot and my little one did not appreciate it, but he would not do what my dr wanted. Stubborn (is that a Caines trait?) Next appointment we will find out, LORD willing, whether the Isaacs genes of Males will continue or if we will have a girl. We will be happy with either :)

8 weeks pregnant and what a time I have had! My sister said she thought it was funny that only I would tell me people that was pregnant as early as I spilled the beans, but knowing myself I just could not keep it in. I was so super exciting, I had been dreaming of being a mother since I can remember and now the Lord has blessed me with opening my womb and allowing Gary and I to conceive. 

I have not felt all that great. I battled morning sickness the first couple of weeks after finding out I was pregnant. nothing seemed to help the nausea. Heather suggested that I stop wearing pants that cut into my stomach, even if they don't feel tight, so I had to say goodbye to my favorite pair of jeans. And a lady at church suggested Sour Candy. Those are the two things that have worked for me. It is amazing. I am still so freaking exhausted, but I am staying busy and going to bed EARLY every night.

The Dr. said all looks well with the baby and I am so happy that I got to hear that precious sound of the heart beat. It is crazy to think that there is living, growing creature (baby) inside of me! God is good!

Three months and Pregnant

I needed another migraine prescription because mine was out. I thought I should go see on OBGYN kill two birds with one stone since Gary and I hope we would get pregnant soon. I was a few days late when it came time for my appointment. Dr Deale, who delivered my two nephews, was great. When I told him I was late he jokingly said "Congrats!" He offered to do an ultrasound but when he did he said, well there is a dot, but that could be anything. Take a test on Monday and call me. (He was very kind and did not charge us for the ultrasound). That following Monday, Gary and I needed to go grocery shopping. I ran into clicks (like CVS) and bought two pregnancy test. After shopping I asked Gary if he wanted me to take one of the tests now? He went into the Musica  at the mall while I stopped into the restroom. The test came out positive! We were super excited, but Gary said when we get home take the other test. I took it and there was no question about it It said pregnant. I was so excited. It was 11 am and I could not wait until 2 to be able to call my parents. I knew Gretchen would be up so I called her. When it came time for me to call mom and dad, mom answered I asked her  if dad was awake, she said no, so I told her to wake him up and get on Skype. She knew something was up:)

So Gary and I have been married three months and One month before our First Anniversary we will, Lord willing, have our first child. God is so great and I know that he has blessed us and I hope and pray that our baby is healthy. She/He has not made momma to sick yet. I have my moments but nothing like I have seen other pregnant women deal with!

Thank you Lord for this new Life.

Its been a whirlwind

I am no longer a MTW missionary but a wife of a Pastor. Gary and I covet your prayers not only in our marriage but in our ministry as well. We have many opportunities coming up to minister to the children in Kraaifontein (which is a suburb of Cape Town).

In American we have the Mason-Dixon Line. In South Africa you have the Boerewors Curtain. This “curtain” is North of Cape Town and when you cross it you are entering into primarily Afrikaans country, like when you cross the M/D line going south you are in the Confederate States.  Afrikaans people are people who are mostly of Dutch descent and they speak a form of Dutch called Afrikaans. Gary and I are living just north of this “curtain” which means I am trying to learn this language. It is not difficult except that it is a very guttural language and I have a hard time pronouncing words. But I know I will get there at least to understand it when people speak to me in Afrikaans.

Gary is working hard on his school work. He is taking a Biblical Counseling Course from Grace School of Ministry. Dr. Wayne Mack is teaching the course which takes place for one week four months out of the year. Gary has finished his first year and will be starting his second year come this October. He is also teaching two bible studies throughout the week and he preaches twice a month. He is also on the calling committee for the church where he is interning (The Pastor at Kraaifontein Baptist has been called to take a church Esly, South Carolina; outside of Greenville), so Gary has been busy with meetings several times a month.

Gary and I hope to start a ministry with the schools called “The Oak Project” based on Isaiah 61:3.  We hope to start an after school program for the kids to come and get help with homework or anything academically they are struggling with. We also hope to teach them life Skills and start a bible study. Are hopes are by putting love and effort into these kids lives we would be able to touch the parents as well, and hopefully through this be able to witness to the families, and bleed the ministry into the whole community.

We have contacted and met with one of the local Elementary schools (Fannie Theron) and we have a meeting with the other (Aristea) today. Gary has been given the opportunity at Fannie Theron to be their Counselor where he has full reign to use his biblical counseling in this school. He will go once a week for three hours and the chance to sit down with kids who have behavioral issues due to issues in the home. We are very excited about this opportunity and are eager to see what the Lord does with this. He starts in August as the second semester begins.

In July, we are holding a Holiday Club. We are not sure how many kids to expect but we hope that a good number of the kids in the surrounding areas join in. We are studying the Book of Acts and We will teach the kids about different Missionaries like: David Brainerd, Jim Elliot, David Livingstone, Amy Carmichael. We are hopeful that we get enough volunteers to help and that the Club will be successful.

Our home has been a constant rotating door. It has been such a joy to have several different people into our home. We had a friend from the Bible Institute up for dinner with in the first week we were home. I also made breakfast for our family on Election Day, since here Election Day is a public holiday. Then this past weekend we had the young adults from church come over for a meal and a bible study. It is such a pleasure to cook for people as they enter our home. And I look forward to doing it more and more.

We are staying busy and are enjoying married life and working together in God’s Kingdom. We ask that you keep us in your prayers, we know that Satan is very likely to try to destroy our marriage because of the work that we are doing for the advancement of the gospel. Pray that God keeps a hedge around us and that our eyes stay focused on Him. Also pray for all the ministries that we have our hands in and that God will be glorified in it all.

One Month

It has been one month since Gary and I pledge to love one another no matter what for the rest of our lives. It has been an emotional one month. I left my family for I don't know how long. I came back to a house I had only seen once. Unpacked all our things. Dealt with a husband who had bronchitis. and so much more. But This month has also been absolutely wonderful. I now get to sleep next to my best friend every night. I get to wake up  every morning to the same handsome face. It is so wonderful to know that we both have each others best interest at heart and we want to make sure we are serving one another to the fullest ability. I had a tummy bug a couple of weeks ago along with a migrain and I just felt yucky, so Gary pampered me the whole day. made me food that I could keep down and just made sure I was comfortable. He kept ice on my head and messaged my head. He treated me like a queen. It was wonderful. I feel so blessed to have such a loving husband. To him I give praise!

5 days

I can't believe that in 5 days I will be Mrs. Isaacs. How crazy is that. I often wondered what it would be like to be so in love with someone that you can't bear to say goodnight. And I now know. I told Gary tonight as I was leaving my sisters house to come home to go to bed...I can't wait for Saturday Night, that way I don't have to say goodnight ever again. Well at least I just can roll over in our bed after saying goodnight and not have to leave him. He truly is my best friend. Yes we argue, but we laugh a whole lot more. Mostly because I have done something stupid, but we are still laughing hard. God truly has been faithful to me and I give him the praise. I cannot wait to celebrate on Saturday and display a resemblance of what the true Marriage is, When we are united with our Ultimate Bridegroom for all eternity. I hope that Saturday will be a worshipful experience for all who attend. To God be the Glory!

A year of Photo's

Kids Club at MCC

Sunday School 3-5 year olds

Literacy Program at JCM

Sunrise (yes I was up early enough to see a sunrise...But that was only once) :)

June Kids Club at JCM

Arts and Crafts day at JCM

Kalk Bay!!! Where I lived

June Kids Club at JCM

V&A Water Front with Table Mtn in the background 

We took 70 kids from JCM to Kirstenbosch garndens ( the National Gardens)

Amazin Grace Camp in Franschoek With the MCC Kids

Planting Flowers at JCM

Free play at JCM

My bible study girls

yes there are penguins in Cape Town

Susan and I at Cape Point

Gary and ME

Kitchen Tea is no Laughing Matter

I remember last June; I was sitting outside with a friend, Lorna, reading when a former student showed up on campus thinking she was going to lunch with some friends. What she didn’t know was that she was being given a Kitchen Tea. They dressed her up in a HOT PINK Polka dot dress and put a BIG BLACK Curly Wig on her head. They put bright red lipstick on and made her go down to the harbor and by a fish head. This is what happens to Brides to be in South Africa (Not all as bad as this I came to find out, but also sometimes worse). As this was going on I leaned over to Lorna and said I am so glad that I am not going to marrying a South African. Hahahaha. Needless to say a month and half later Gary asked me out and I will be marrying a South African in April.

Saturday was my turn. I made it perfectly clear to my future sister in law  after Gary and I got engaged that I really didn’t like the idea of being completely embarrassed and doing things out of my comfort zone. Thankfully she was kind to me. I showed up at the church; the bean got spilled that I was having a kitchen tea, so I was not surprised, but I didn’t expect that many people to be there. Ibolya, my future sister in Law, was kinder to me then the girls were to the former student. I was given an apron to wear and a bandana to wear with Curlers in my hair and hot pink lipstick.  Every present had a rhyme and I had to guess who the present was from or what was in the bag. If I got it wrong there were consequences. A few of things I had to do was: get M&M like things out of flour, show how I would dust my house, sing my favorite song (which the only song that came to my head was Hakuna Matata) but the Most embarrassing thing I had to do was sing the star Spangle Banner. I was so embarrassed that I forgot the words. What American for gets the words to the National Anthem! I mean seriously!

All in all it was lots of fun and not to embarrassing! The Ladies gave me Pantry items, so Gary and I have groceries for the first three months at least. And they all gave me recipes; that will be so fun to have all these recipes. I look forward to being in MY Kitchen in May and cooking for my Husband! 

Jan Update

In these ten months God has shown me more and more of his will and purpose for my life. He amazes me with His faithfulness and I am so grateful to see His grace upon my life on a daily basis.

November came and went without me even realizing what had happened. I stayed busy with all my different ministries around the city. I stayed the busiest at Joshua Children’s Mission where I worked five days a week.

The school year runs January through December here, and was coming to an end, and I didn’t want to start a new topic with my bible study girls so when we ended Biblical Beauty the end of November Carol and I took the girls to Fish Hoek Beach for fun and Ice Cream. The girls loved it and it was fun to watch them get out of their environment and let loose a little bit. It was a WINDY day but the girls didn’t mind that the water was freezing; I on the other hand didn’t put one toe in the water!

That same week was Thanksgiving, and since it is an American holiday I got to introduce Gary to the festivities. We went to Brad and Patty Wos’ (MTW missionaries) house for the meal. It was great fun and Gary really enjoyed it. He got to taste his first pumpkin pie and he loved it! The following day I came up from kids club and we went out for a picnic. During that evening Gary purposed and we are now engaged to be married in April.

I spent that weekend up at his brother and sister- in- law’s house. When I arrived back home I got an email from sister with the subject line saying “CALL ME ASAP”. I didn’t know what was going on. I then got another email saying that my father was having triple bypass surgery at 8 am (ET), my time 3pm. I quickly called my sister not even considering that it was 6 in morning in Chattanooga. By God’s grace my father didn’t have a heart attack but he was just having chest pains. His doctor sent him in for test. He ended up having quadruple bypass surgery. I was so thankful that God gave me such a wonderful community of friends here in Cape Town who prayed with me. It was so hard to have all of this happen while I am 10,000 miles away. I would have much rather been able to sit in the hospital with my mom during the surgery instead of waiting for a phone call from my sister. But God is so good. My dad is doing well and seems to be back to his old self again, which is wonderful.

School ends the beginning of December so Carol (from JCM) organized a Christmas Program for the kids to do for the parents. It was great fun. The Children sang some of the songs that we have been learning in the Literacy Program, they sang three Christmas Carols and they said their memory verses.

The Lord once again provided and the kids were given gift boxes from Samaritan’s Purse and we had a local store here in Cape Town donate a whole bunch of clothes, so all the Kids got one brand new piece of clothing. God is so good. We were also able to give all the mommies pamper packs of smelly soap, lotion and chocolate!  It was so fun watching the kids open their presents and see the excitement on their faces.

The following week I took two of the kids to a Scripture Union camp here in Cape Town. They had so much fun, when I picked them up they didn’t stop talking about all things they did. It was such a joy to hear all their stories.

I spent Christmas at Gary’s parent’s house. It was a bitter sweet time. I enjoyed spending the holidays with my future in-laws, but I missed all the hustle and bustle that goes on at the Caines’ house during Christmas.  It was also very interesting to spend Christmas Day by the pool instead of enjoying the first White Christmas in years in Chattanooga. It was fun being able to see how other families celebrate Christmas. The Isaacs do things differently than my family but it was fun to be able to celebrate in a different way than how I grew up.

It is now January and I am getting back into the swing of ministry. I spent the past weekend in Franschhoek, which is about 2 hours outside of Cape Town.  Muizenberg Community Church where I teach Sunday school and help with Kids Club had a camp for the kids. It was lots of fun. We had 19 kids come to the camp, and we were blessed with 7 adults to come and spend their weekend as chaperones.  The theme of the week was “Amazing Grace”; it was based on the TV show “Amazing Race”. We studied the book of Judges and how God kept showing grace over and over again to the Israelites. They Kids got to do fun activities as they “FLEW” from one country to another in attempt to be the first team to get all the clues. The kids loved it. I was so grateful to God for how smoothly the camp went. We had a few hiccups at the beginning of the camp but by the end things were running so smoothly and kids were so well behaved.

School starts back this week as well as my ministry with JCM. I look forward to seeing my kids there as I will only have a month left with them. My time here with MTW has flown by. I cannot believe I have a little over a month left before I head home. This year God has shown me where he wants me and I have learned a lot about doing ministry full time. It is amazing.

I just want to say thank you to all of you who have prayerfully supported me these past ten months. As well as financially supported me. MTW likes to provide two months of salary and benefits to their interns once they arrive home, so if those of you who support me on a monthly basis could prayerfully consider continuing through April, I would appreciate it. When I return home the end of February I will be planning a wedding for April.

Thank you for being such a wonderful team these past few years on my several missions’ trips with MTW. God truly has blessed me with such a loving Covenantal Community and has shown me where he wants me and what he wants me to be doing with my life, and he used all of you to help in that.