Waiting on her Passport

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It's been awhile!

We apologize for the delay in posting updates here... Jumping back into blogging more so you can see a little about what we've been up to.

We ended up renting a 5-seater car the first week here. Since we're a party of seven we've been piling our kids on our laps. Our social worker adamantly said with a smile, "It's how we do it here in Jo'burg!".  We are just praying God's protection over our travels! Travel mercies! Speaking of which, I am so thankful for Matt--They drive on the opposite side of the road here in South Africa...I'm fairly certain if I were driving I would have had a head-on collision from turning into the wrong lane!
 
Last Tuesday our social worker drove our adoption decree up to Pretoria to be authenticated. Between travel time and waiting in line it took her nearly six hours. Later that afternoon we met her at Home Affairs in downtown Jo'burg to apply for Nomathemba's passport--another 3.5 hours. When they finally called our number and we proceeded to the front counter the man helping us stood up and walked away. He came back five minutes later with his lunchbox and didn't say a word to us. We were really confused since they were closing soon and we had waited for so long. Clueless as to what was happening, we waited patiently for another 15 minutes before he finally acknowledged us and said "I can't process the passport". He went on to tell our social worker that the process had changed on Friday and not everyone was up to speed about how to do it. Say what?! After about 50 minutes and many people coming over to help, we were FINALLY done applying for her passport. Praise God! It should be ready to pick up this Thursday assuming the machine is functioning correctly! 

In the meantime, we have had a lot of downtime. We've been exploring South Africa, getting to know the people and culture, helping Kara & Allie with their independent school studies &  just hanging out and bonding as a family. It's been fun. 


Fun at the Art Farm




I also warned the Horse that my kids do the same! =)



On Sunday, we went to the Rooftop Rosebank Outdoor Market:


We bought the girls drums at the outdoor market. Nomathemba LOVES music!

Jo'burg sunset from our patio
Today was a perfect day for swimming:


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