"Wesley Grace Kern"

Born March 20th at 6:35 pm in Nelspruit, South Africa
2.825 kg and 49 cm (6.2 lbs, 19 in)

We are all pretty much in awe of the incredible blessing of Wesley Grace to our family!

walk

One of our favorite times of day here is the early evening where we have gotten into the routine of going on a walk. We typically walk up the length of the air strip once a day...sometimes the boys make it up the hill and sometimes they plop themselves down on the side in the grass to wait for our return.

a boy's paradise

Since arriving in South Africa a few weeks ago, we have been staying in one of the guest flats of the mission agency Mercy Air--an organization that does flight outreaches into Mozambique. Their property is on what used to be an old farm and the wide open spaces, green grass, and hills are a boy's paradise.

Cohen and Christian have been loving having a "real" yard and taking advantage of more time with their dad.

Even something as simple as a swing has been so much fun for them. They also enjoy watching monkeys steal into the yard to eat fruit off the trees.

By far their favorite thing to do, though, is walk up to the grass air strip and hangars. Every day they watch planes fly in and take off and get so incredibly awed and fascinated each time. Christian particularly gets excited and exlaims each and every time about the "LOUD NOISE!"

One day they even got to watch Stefan go on a ride in the helicopter.

With the boys so easily entertained, it has also been in a sense "mommy's paradise" as well! Here I am enjoying the last Sunday with our family of only boys.

Soaking it all in

This picture about sums it up: cooler temperatures...green grass and beatiful scenery...and rest--all of which we've been taking in and enjoying since arriving in South Africa about a week ago. This area of the country is so beatiful--farms and orchards scattered across green hills. The town nearby where we are staying has just about everything, including grocery stores with delicious food that we've missed in Moz as well as a mall and restaurants...all of which we have already enjoyed. However, by far, what we have enjoyed the most is just watching the boys soak it all in.

2

Christian had his second birthday on our way down from Nampula to South Africa. While we were staying with some friends in Maputo we celebrated (on a somewhat smaller scale than the last birthday we attended!) with pizza and cake. Christian' loved the day's attention!

Right away that night he tried out his 't-ball' gift. The timing was great since now that we are in South Africa he has a large yard to continue playing in. Predictably he has a powerful swing...and not such a good aim.

Running around with his shirt off, his curly blond hair, and the bat, we've taken to calling him 'Bam-Bam.' (Flinstones)