A New " Normal"

 Life is so different with 2 children!! We are learning though, learning to enjoy the small bits of sanity that present themselves, how to operate on way less sleep, how to embrace and cherish the sister to sister moments. Its a whirlwind of wonderful and hectically challenging at the same time.
 My life these days has been much more about figuring out how to take care of our family of 4 than it was before and slowly I am beginning to feel like that's okay, like I have permission from Jesus to get my head around this new phase in our lives.  But of course life still continues and thankfully people come to us ; )
I have had the privilege of being a sort of information well/ post partum doula for  a friend and neighbor.  The boys in the neighborhood have returned. . . yesterday Mandla ( who lives down the street) brought  friends over because one of them fell off his bike, he said to his friend " This is my personal nurse, whenever I get hurt I come here!" The other one responded " If I would have known I would have come before." As he presented his freshly scabbed legs.
Its nice to have them back around, I think they stayed away because they were a little weirded out by a large pregnant woman kicking the soccer ball around with them, but now I look more normal : )
 Here are a few pictures for your enjoyment! Thanks

Davies Dinner Fun

Happy

SAD

                                                   ANGRY

 

And Lastly Silly!

A little activity inspired by Keira!

Thank you Madiba - We remember

Long Walk to Freedom

“I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.”
Nelson Mandela (b. 1918), released from 27 years in prison 20 years ago today.
"For to be free is not merely to cast off one's chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others."
"As I have said, the first thing is to be honest with yourself. You can never have an impact on society if you have not changed yourself... Great peacemakers are all people of integrity, of honesty, but humility.”
"There is no passion to be found playing small, in setting for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living."
Thank you Madiba, you give us home. God helps us to walk in your shoes

Jordan & Family...

Hi All,
Sorry for the hiatus but we just had our second daughter.... and yes like they say, "Going from 1 to 2 is tough." We love Jordan, although I would love having a bit more time with her. She is starting to smile and be more alert which is great. I have spent most of my time with Keira. Man she has some serious energy. I have no idea where she got that from. She was up at 5:30am, come in for a quick snuggle and then pulls the covers off and says,"Come Daddy lets get up."
Anyway, we are doing good, getting adjusted. Maternity and Paternity leave have been a blessing and we are looking forward to getting the year started.
We have already had some great conversations at our discussion group, learning about different cultures and expectations. God is doing a good thing. I will share more later.

Here are some pics many of you have been asking for....

Jordan Grace Davies has arrived

With Joy and Grace our family is growing...

 

  

  

 

We'll are excited to welcome Jordan Grace Davies into our lives. She is our "Flowing down Grace". Born Dec 6th 2009, 3.02kg(6.6lbs) and 48cm(18.9inchs).

I thought that some of you would like some details, so here is my version. For the rest enjoy the pics.

After the waiting our adventure eneded up being a race to Genesis Clinic (the birthing center) to welcome Jordan home. I even managed to get a speeding ticket on the way, it adds to the story and which I know, I will take the birth certificate to the traffic department and try to get it off. Things sure came on strong and fast.

How it happened:

After a family braai we headed home and 6:30pm and started timing contractions as they seemed to be more reguar but we were still not sure if this was the real thing. Chrissy had been having Braxten Hicks contractions, or tightening as I decided to call them all day.

Things seemed to be gently progressing so we thought we should let Sue (Midwife) and Rosalia (Doula) that we might see some action.

At 9:23pm we let Sue and Rosalia know that Chrissy had been having regular contractions that were progressing for the last hour but we still felt fine at home.

At 9:33pm Rosalia called and suggested getting into to bath to see if things would settle into a pattern or dissipate.

At 9:55pm Chrissy called Rosalia, had a contraction on the phone and they decided that we needed to head to Genesis.

At 10:08pm we were rushing to the hospital. I had run a bath that didn't get used as we realized how strong the contractions were. Chrissy was shaking at points.

So we jumped in the car. Of course we had been packed for weeks thanks to Chrissy, amazing all the things she thought to bring, and started race to the hospital with hazards on. Kinda fun. At the same time Grandma and Granddad came to our place to look after Keira. We had to leave her sleeping alone in the house as we needed to go. So thankful for grandparents.

We arrived at Genesis at 10:27pm, got check into the room and after getting the vitals checked Chrissy wanted to get into the tub. Contractions were coming hard and heavy. Chrissy was doing great staying on top of things, focusing, breathing and trying to relax.

At 11:30pm things slowed down a little and Sue said "I think this baby is waiting for tomorrow." I had thought she was going to arrive on the 7th.

At 11:45pm we knew the baby wasn't waiting. 4 minutes later Jordan was born in the water. Fitting I think that that is where she was born although we didn't think about it before.

Chrissy literally pushed 4 times really hard and she was out.

I still can't believe how fast she came out, last time we spent 10 hours at the hospital.

So another Amazing, amazing adventure. Once again Chrissy did so well, totally natural. She hasn't even had pain meds after it all. What a woman I have been blessed with, strong and courageous.

Praise God that the birth and pregnancy is over and now we can enjoy Jordan as a family.

Keira Joy Davies:

When Keira woke up the next morning Grandma told her that baby Jordan had arrive. When Granddad went up she was sitting in her bed giggling. He asked, "Keira why are you giggling?" Keira said, "I am excited, I get to go and meet Jordan today."

I am proud of Keira, she did great. She loved holding and kissing Jordan and was so gently and loving. I can't wait to watch them get to know each other.

God has given us an incredible family...now to look after and nurture the gift..

Thanks for all those near and far for being part of this journey...our lives. We wish that those who are far could be closer and are grateful for those who are near.

With love,

Trevor, Chrissy, Keira and Jordan

Keira in Daddy's shoes...

Keira and Chrissy came out to watch me in a cycling race this past Sunday. It was a lot of fun. 25000 people on bikes racing through the city of JHB. I am grateful to be able to keep exercising and competing some.
Anyway, on Monday Keira decided to put on all my stuff and wanted to ride on Daddy's bike. So I put her on the bike and went down the road. The whole way she was saying, "I want to go and ride with those guys." When we got home she was crying and very upset. I asked her what was wrong. Didn't you have fun. She said, "No, I wanted to race with those guys."

Hope you enjoy the pics. It is amazing how what we do influences our kids and how much they want to be a part of our lives.

Sharing lives…reclaiming our humanity

Sharing lives…reclaiming our humanity

Last night at our discussion group where we are crossing racial, economic, gender and age boundaries we stopped to reflect on what God has done and what we have learnt so far. We stopped to remember that 6 months ago most of us didn’t know each other and many of us were living the usual South Africa story of division and separateness. We are starting to slowly tell a different, new story…

From the voices of the people:
I have learned to face conflict and not shy away from difficult conversations.
I am finding my voice, this is a safe space to speak up.
People are speaking their minds and not holding back, learning to be real.
I am learning that the wounds of the past go very deep.
I am grateful that I am accepted for who I am.
This is my support group.
This is my second family.
I have learned to not treat all people of a particular race the same. Not just "those people" but individuals.
I am learning to trust those of different races and backgrounds, to share my life.
I have a place to share frustrations and struggles that I have bottled up my whole life.
I can be proud of my African name and don’t need a white name.
Hearing others stories has allowed me to have more compassion, to understand better.
Honored to be together. Privileged to share this journey.
Dissatisfaction with Church and segregation, wish there were places like this in the Church where we could talk about real issues.
Realize there are issues we need to work on amongst our own people.
Have been challenged to work on our friendship outside this group.
Helped us talk about real things in our friendships.
We are meeting each others families.
Wished we could bring colleagues and other Church members to this group.
Grateful for peoples generosity as I take small steps.
Blessed by opportunity to relate cross culturally.
Learned to respect other opinions even if I don’t agree.

We are on a journey and a different story is unfolding…we have taken small steps…and we have many more to take together. We are recovering our humanity. 


God is at work and restoring his people.

A month of pictures. . .

Just thought you might enjoy a few pictures of what we have been up to the last month or so.

Keira walking on the constitution.

Wildlife

29 weeks prego on left and 31weeks on right.

Fun

Chrissy