Loads of visitors!!

Two weeks before Easter we had Mike and Lee surprise us with a visit. It was awesome to see them and we spent as much time as we could together over the four days that they were here. It was so encouraging to be reminded of the special people that we have in our lives and how GOD has blessed us with such amazing friends and family. We truly are blessed!





At the end of the week Stu and Tracey arrived from England, as Mike and Lee were leaving, so we had this continual presence of visitors, which, although tiring, was really really awesome! We spent lots of time with the St Albans Slatters and they got loads of contact time with their niece and nephew, which was rocking! Then on the Thursday evening before Easter my folks arrived from Oz, laden to the hilt with gifts for Eli & Grace, of which they really liked their little dolls. Unfortunately our time with them was short as they left early the next morning for their Easter trip to the berg with my Grandparents. However short the time was, it was rocking none-the-less.










Easter weekend seems like such a blur now, with all our visitors, we barely had breathing space with all our services and then our trip to Cape Town on the Wednesday. Although... Eli and Grace always seem to find time to snooze!







We managed to have an awesome lunch with the Smits, Frederiechs and two other families on Easter Sunday. The twins had plenty of hands to hold them and all the other kids had fun outside in the (very wet) sand pit. Bethany went through about 3 sets of clothing...

The Goltmans joined us for a quick visit on Monday just to wish us well for our trip. We combined it with our housesitter's, Heinrich, visit, and both came armed with hotcross buns, which are always a winner.

Eli & Grace both picked up sore coughs over the Easter weekend, so on Tuesday we went to the Pead to get them checked out. He was happy to tell us that they were not serious coughs and prescribed some anti-biotic nose drops. He was also happy to tell us that Eli was 4.95kgs and Gracie was 4.5kgs! They were so good in his office, which is a first, and were so full of smiles... definite preparation for their CT trip.


For the rest of the day we just chilled at home and once the twins were asleep, El and I packed for our trip home to CT. What an effort to pack for two babies!!! We eventually crashed into bed at about 12mn, then woke at 1 for a feed, then again at 3, because Eli couldn't sleep and then had to be up to get to the airport by 6am, so not much resting for us parents!! The twins flew so well, we went straight from the airport to El's mom's work to surprise her, as she didn't know we were coming so early. We then went to my Uncle in the evening, where Stu, Tracey and my folks were have supper and surprised them too. Eventually we arrived at my Aunt's house where we were staying and sleep found us at about 23h30, so another looooong day. The rest of our CT trip was jammed packed with family and friends and everyone went out of their way to see us, which was rocking!

I will post news and pics of the Christening soon, just waiting to download them all! We are missing you all very much and hope that GOD is blessing you richly!

GOOD NEWS!

We have been concerned about the weight gain of Grace and Eli, but last week, the new diet of milk and porridge helped them both gain considerably more than previous weeks.

Today, we weighed them again and Eli has hit 4.3kg and Gracie is sitting at 4kg! GOD is good!

Two weeks back we had Ella's dad staying with us - it was awesome to have pops and he loved spending time with his grandchildren! Thanks for all the spoiling, dad!

Bigger, cuter and more talking....

We had such an awesome and busy time last week! We started a new small group at church on Wednesday evening and it went so well. Eli and Gracie joined us and were so well behaved, they slept most of the time, which allowed us to stay for over two hours.




On Thursday evening we had our big worship team meeting and it was an awesome time of growth and encouragement for us all. Again, the twins were so good and stole the attention for most of the evening. We have been working on some new stuff in worship and our church is responding extremely well to it all!




On Friday evening we went through to Renee and Andrew's for her birthday and had a rocking time. I was so tired that I kept falling asleep in mid conversation... but it was good to be out and about. On Saturday morning we headed off to a second-hand baby stuff dealer and traded in our current car seats for two that will clip directly into the pram frame. This way, when we go out, we don't have to transfer Grace and Eli into different seats for the car and pram... it makes our lives WAY easier and their's far more comfortable! It was such a lucky find and we paid a fraction of the price we would've if they were brand new.


In the evening we had dinner with another young couple from church who had a son two days after we had the twins, we are the first people that they've entertained since they had Jude, and they did a rocking job. There son is almost 8kg... double the twins!

Gracie is really enjoying her bathing now, as is Eli, but he's not quite as strong when it comes to sitting.... They both are getting so smiley and talkative, and are feeling far more substantial when we hold them.











Last weekend we went to watch Tarryn in her water polo tournament. They did extremely well, winning all their games up until the semi's where they narrowly lost in a closely matched game. It was great to see her and she got to hold Eli for a bit.

Just a quick update on what's been happening with our little family.

We discovered a swollen gland under Eli's arm about two weeks ago. Under the advisement of Micheline, we took Eli and Grace to see Dr. Neethling last week Monday. We were also concerned that they were not gaining enough weight so off we went to the doctor.

Dr. Neethling didn't seem concerned by the swollen lymph gland, which he said was the result of the BCG he had a few weeks ago. But he was concerned that Eli's head seemed out of proportion to the rest of his body. He said that, clinically, Eli is fine but that he wanted to see Eli again in a week to measure his head. I did a bit of research to find out what "big head in infants" is caused by. Hydrocephalus (water on the brain) is what the doctor was concerned about. The site I visited listed a lot of symptoms, which Eli displayed none of.

At the visit, Dr. Neethling also recommended a new diet of two teaspoons of porrige added to a milk bottle and two and a half mililitres of oil to another milk bottle, twice a day, just to add calories to their diet.

We visited Dr. Neethling again on Monday to find that Grace had gained only 150g but Eli had gained 350g in a week. Dr. Neethling also measured the circumference of Eli's head and said that 1/2cm of growth is considered normal and so there is no need for blood and urine checks or a sonar, which was the best news! Tim and I were quite concerned about Eli, naturally, but once I had done my own research, I felt a whole lot better, knowing that Eli did not display any of the symptoms. In fact, since the twins have been on the new diet, they are far more content between feeds and are very happy little babies. They are sleeping extremely well, which Tim and I also benefit from. We have really been enjoying watching their development of late. They are making cute sounds and squeals. They are both laughing and grinning a lot! Grace is particularly inquisitive. She observes everything happening around her. Eli is really chilled. He often stares at things in the room and smiles at them. They have both started grasping things within their reach and promptly placing them in their mouth. Grace seems very fond of placing her fist in her mouth. I have also noticed a lot of drooling from them both...could they be in the pre stages of cutting teeth? I don't know!?!

I started work three weeks ago and am happy to report that I only have three weeks left here. I miss the twins terribly when I'm at work but it's also nice to see some of my friends again. I am really excited at the prospect of starting something new, even though Tim and I are not sure what that is just yet. We are trusting that God will make a way for me to be an at home mom for this year at least, so we are praying that He will provide opportunities for Tim to earn more cash. Already Tim is privately teaching some old ladies how to use their PC's. How to email etc. We have two other business ventures that we are looking into, so your prayers would be much appreciated.

Our tickets are booked for Cape Town and words cannot express the excitement we feel at the prospect of seeing our friends and family. We will be sending invites out soon for the Christening of the twins...you'll soon know if you cracked the nod or not...just kidding! I don't know if this is forward or not but I'm just going to put it out there...For the Christening, Tim and I would really appreciate it if gifts were not purchased for the twins. It would be very difficult returning to Jhb with loads of gifts. If you feel you

would like to give them something, by all means do. But my request is what you would have spent on a gift, rather give the cash to them so that we can add it to their savings that we are going to buy shares with for them. This would be a much better investment of your money and it would then go to them when they are of a certain age and then they can decide how they would like to spend it.

Anyway, that's my story. I hope that this email finds you well. Thank you to all who prayed for Eli this past week.

Sending all my love,

God bless,

Ella

xoxox

Mazal tov!

We are proud to say that we survived the weekend, or more specifically, Eli survived the weekend. He started it off with a visit to the Urologist, which, apart from experiencing his first injection since ICU, he also had his first taste of brandy. I went into the rooms with him, it's an 'honour' afforded only to dad's who have decided to circumcise their sons, I wouldn't really chalk it up to a bonding moment. He was fine, and knowing that a local anesthetic was on the way, I thought he would stay fine. It was only when I, and Eli, realised that the local anesthetic is administered to the 'site' that he started screaming and I pretended to be fine. After about two minutes, the doctor sent his assistant to fetch the brandy... it worked for about 30 seconds, but once the medicine kicked in, Eli calmed down a bit. The procedure went well and we took him straight home. He was miserable, as could be expected, until Saturday evening, so we kept him on Calpol 'til Sunday, when all seemed to be healed - it's amazing how quickly he recovered!














Amanda came to stay with us on Thursday evening. We fetched her from OR Thambo and really appreciated having some family with us over the weekend. She was so taken by her grandchildren and they were only too happy to have some 'ouma' time.




It was also good for El to spend some time with her mom, we spent most of the time at home, trying to keep Eli comfy, but still managed a couple of trips to the shops. On Monday, El and Amanda went shopping for some things for the twins and El found these cute little sun hats.
























El has a few days left before she returns to work next Monday, we can't believe that four months ago she was starting her maternity leave - it's amazing how much things have changed for us! We have been so blessed that I've been able to be home most afternoons and work my schedule around the twins. We'll have another adjustment next week, but again, we know that GOD will bless us and make a way.

We are starting a new teaching campaign at church and are hoping to start up several new small groups. El and I want to get a group off the ground for other young married couples and people in our age group, I guess we don't count as youth anymore, and actually, thank goodness for that. That should be starting in the next week or so, we're pretty excited about that.

El has been quite busy at gym with Yoga classes and is really enjoying it. She's been looking into this for some time and I am glad that she now has the opportunity. She goes three times a week at the moment, we'll have to see how she can fit it in when she starts work again. I am also trying to get busy with music lessons and my class music again.

Other exciting news is that the builders have started on our new church! Finally, we're seeing movement! The new platform has been built, the engineers are working on the final drawings this week and hopefully the foundations will be dug next week. It means more work and noise for us, but hopefully it'll all pay off in the long run!










Back to the twins... they are developing so well.

We checked out a growth chart today and they're responding and developing the way that they should be! They are chuckling and blowing 'raspberries', they smile so much now and each smile makes hours of crying fade completely away! We thank GOD everyday for such beautiful children, He has been so good to us!

Growing, growing, growing!

We recently received all of Poppie's photos from their December visit, so we've posted some of them below! It was so special to have the four generations of Slatters together.




































Both Eli and Grace are smiling so much now, we have tried to catch Eli in the act but the camera distracts him, although this shot has him smiling\chuckling... either way, it's pretty cute...



The twins are doing really well at creche, they sleep well and eat well. Last week was pretty difficult for us as they slept well at creche but then were awake the entire afternoon and evening, only sleeping at about 11pm, so that was pretty demanding, but we seem to have passed that... for now.

It's actually unbelievable how much work twins are at this age, it's almost as if we're single parents, because each of us always has a child to hold when they're going nuts. Eli is on 4-hourly feeds now but Grace is still on 3-hourly, which keeps us really busy! Their doctor has pushed for this so that Eli can start drinking more at each feed and start growing a little quicker. He was 3.3kg on Monday and she was 2.9kg. We took them for their inoculations at the clinic and managed to fit the Paediatrician in on the same afternoon so it saved us a trip.

It's been an amazingly spiritual time for us as we have two beautiful people in whom to admire GOD's work. Eli and Grace are so different, yet so similar, one cannot spend a few hours with them and not believe that there exists a deeply magnificent Creator. Just take a look at their pre-creche nap last week...



Paul and Catherine recommended that we take my day off to watch the new movie 'Avatar', whilst the kids were in creche. We managed to book at a 3D cinema and duly went through on Friday morning. WOW - what an experience. A fantastic movie and even better in 3D!! if you haven't seen the movie yet - we HIGHLY recommend it! El and I also had time for breakfast before the movie as there was virtually NO traffic - it was really awesome, but we missed our kids.

Worship and church has been going so well this year. Last year I really felt led to lead the team on a journey of fellowship, it took a full year of obedience and resisting the musical urges to push forward, we stuck to simple musicality but really focused on relationships within the team. This year, so far, has been amazing - every Sunday! Our church is starting to experience worship on a deeper level and the musical side is just developing on it own. We have a long list of new songs that I want to introduce, including 6 Afrikaans worship songs!

On Monday we heard that our building plans have finally been passed, so we are now ready to start building the new church!

On the side of El's job, we've been blessed that she can work until the end of the term AND they've employed a teacher in her place already, which will relieve much of her stress as she will only have to do admin work when she returns!

We now need to pray really hard for a new job for her to move to or for GOD to pave the way for us to new things. There are a couple of options, but nothing cast in stone. This really is going to be another stretch in our faith journey, and we know that GOD will provide for us, but faith tested always requires much prayer - so please - pray for us and send scripture and encouragement whenever you like!

Micheline (principal at the creche) recommended that we put some of El's tops in the cots with the twins to help them sleep... Eli was so cute, he really snuggled up to El's top!


When we arrived home from creche this afternoon, Grace was moaning lots, so El picked her up and popped her on her knee... Grace loved the new view! She sat quite happily, nestled in her mom's arm. She has quite a stare!


We were so blessed last week to be given some cash to employ a domestic helper on a second day every week to help us with all the house work that we just can't get to. Our current maid, Ellen, hooked up her sister Maria for us. She did and excellent job and will be coming through every Saturday for us! What a massive blessing!

El starts work in just under two weeks, so things are soon going to be returning to relative normality, and then, whatever GOD has planned for El in her next chapter will, we are sure, bring even more blessings and opportunities to grow ourselves, our kids and others! I certainly hope to get back to my other projects as well, as soon as I can break through the backlog of church admin from when our offices where under reconstruction... but that'll be soon, i'm sure!

El's mom, Amanda, will be staying with us over next weekend, so we're really looking forward to that visit! She arrives on the Thursday evening and flies back on the Monday evening.

Thank you again to all of you who send us messages of encouragement and updates of your lives! May you be blessed as we gain ground in 2010 and start to unravel what GOD has planned for us.

Chilling in the big bed!

I took this little video just this morning. Eli and Grace love lying in our bed whilst we get ready in the morning, they lie calmly and watch what's going on. They are becoming really observant and our pead is stoked with their progress. Grace seems to be more visually alert whilst Eli is more responsive to sounds. I reckon that means Grace will be good at sight reading and Eli will play by ear...

Grace in her calm alert stage :)

There is no audio, but this shows how active our daughter is!

Gracie's first smile for the camera!

We've had loads of smiles, but none ever caught on camera... everytime we grab the camera they stop smiling! Ella managed to capture this one on her cellphone - it's just too gorgeous!

And life continues...

Finally, I get a spot of time to update the blog!! The last four weeks have been amazing, really blessed and really busy! Grace and Eli have grown lots, we are so proud of them.











We were so blessed to have both Ella's brother and my parents AND my grandparents with us over Christmas. We made good use of the extra hands and made sure that the twins had lots of time with their uncle, grandparents and great Grandparents!



















Christmas day was awesome! I had the privilege to preach in the morning and then we all headed to our cottage to open pressies. Most of the gifts were for the twins - thank you to everyone who sent such lovely gifts!!!

We had 12 people around for lunch. Anthony and Nadia brought their parents and Nadia prepared all the meat (delicious) whilst Ella and Renee prepared the salads and pudding (equally delicious!). On boxing day we went to the Hopkins' new place and had another large lunch with them and their family. Then, on the 27th we had my dad's aunt, cousin and his family, and my grandparents for lunch, another roasted fare - so we did well!

My folks headed back to Oz on the 31st. That evening we hired some movies, ate KFC and saw in 2010 with Goltmans (Andrew & Renee). It was chilled but awesome, having the twins over this time was really special for us. A Christmas of firsts for all of us.

As you will know, Grace hates her bath time, still, but I managed to catch her in a chilled moment in between having her head and body washed. It lasted about 9 seconds.









Whilst 'on holiday' I had three funerals in addition to the normal Sunday services and Christmas day service. Over and above this we have renovated our church offices and this all happened over this period so I was running up and down to deal with tilers, painters, roof people, glass fitters, carpenters, alarm techs and electricians... so not much of a holiday! In and amongst this we were able to spend so much time with our children. They have spent almost every morning snuggling in bed with us and often lie quite contently next to one another, but still, their favourite place is in our arms.












Eli and Grace still continue to amaze us with the cutest faces and smiles. Sometimes we find ourselves just staring at them, quite intent to let life stop and freeze in that moment... but life continues. With that in mind, we have reluctantly introduced them to creche this week.

Ella will be returning to work in under a month and we wanted to slowly ease into and be ready once she starts. It has been hard for us, but having them at the creche at church makes it a little easier. They were very good and seem to have settled well. At the school they have been introduced to the play mat, so we pulled ours out and they seemed really interested in all the colours!



On Thursday we took them to El's school to show them off and also to meet with El's principal to discuss her options for the future. All we can say is that GOD has definitely been paving a way forward for us on that front and the school will be getting back to us next week with a final proposal, so please keep us in your prayers!!

I was back at work 'officially' on Monday and it's been a DRAINING week of note! The new offices are rocking, but it's been a mission to unpack and sort through things. We have our year planning meeting tomorrow morning and then we'll be going out for afternoon tea to celebrate my birthday.

Thank again - everyone - for your amazing support and love. El and I often feel alone here and, as blessed as we have been, it's still really hard work. But it is GOD alone who is strengthening us!