I got mauled by a lion

and I loved it! This 7 week old just about licked me to death with his rough little tongue.

Josh liked the cubs better on the ground than in arms. He got some rather bad scratches on his neck when he was holding one.

Lizelle, on the right, our newly-wed, helper-in-scheduling, guided us to this neat lion ranch on a windy day (clearly illustrated by Evangel's wild hair!) so we could meet these cubs.

Sweet and cuddly! The cubs too.

My idea was to try for a wonderful African Christmas card.

Between the wind and the wigglers, these were more action shots than your average posed pictures.

The noises they made were so funny and adorable. They said, "Ow, ow, ow!" Maybe we'll have that sound on the little video Evangel took.

This one's uplifting, if you focus on our hair.

This one might make a good card! We look pretty happy, though Paul looks concerned about Timmy's cub.

That one looks posed.

I think Timmy's getting needles in his stomach.

Any opinions on which one is the best?

I just feel so blessed that we get these neat experiences while in the line of duty.
"Delight thyself also in the Lord and He shall give thee the desires of thine heart." This was one of them for me!

More Mokopane Memories

A glimpse of a jacaranda tree against a blue sky gives a little thrill. Mokopane is a dry dusty town, but spring has these gorgeous trees all over the place! They line some of the streets which makes me admire those who came before who planted them thinking of the years ahead when all of us unborn people would get to walk in their shade and admire their purpleness.

A major highlight of coming to this part of the country is when we get to be with the Frews. The Lord has blessed them recently with a move to a house in the country, complete with horses for their teen girls to ride! It costs less for them to rent this house, and the owners are very kind as they are ones who share the horses with them.

Paul and I took a walk with David and Tessa. We passed many termite or white ant hills, and I finally had to get a picture of this one, just for my blog. It's about 6'10'' because it's about the same height as Paul.

Wanna know the most shocking moment of our trip? I put both hands on an electric fence at their farm. Ouch.

We did have one good spring storm while we were here. It hailed! Josh got a bunch of the marble-sized hailballs and put them in the freezer to use for ice cubes later.

This last glimpse of a jacaranda tree, right with Piet Potgieter's grave, is impressive. Potgeiter, an Afrikaaner, founded this town, and it's name was only recently changed to Mokopane.

More wedding pictures

The getaway car? No, just a borrowed moment in a cool Cobra.

The wedding party in action.

The Wedding of the Year

I present: Mr. and Mrs. Pieter Schoeman!

Lizelle's brother Lewellyn enjoys "sprinkling" a little rice on his new brother in law. :-)

Lizelle was a dreamy bride! Her Dad carried some kind of a gun (paintball?)down the aisle to make sure Pieter didn't get away.

God bless the newlyweds!