Posts tagged #Somerset West

Links for All Posts for Our Second South Africa Adoption Trip

Just like the first go-round (though not daily this time), here are all of the days, linked up for your convenience. Thanks again for reading this portion of our story!

Post 1: 3/14/22
This is not a drill!

Post 2: 3/31/22
We’re here and tired, but oh so excited!

Post 3: 4/1/22
Another day, another pothole

Post 4: 4/2/22
Tomorrow changes everything. Again.

Post 5: 4/3/22
Meeting our daughter and sister

Post 6: 4/4/22
Krispy Kreme and some snails…YUM!

Post 7: 4/5/22
Tic-Tac-Toe and Hugs All Around

Post 8: 4/6/22
We’ve Gone to the Birds!

Post 9: 4/7/22
Introducing Phindile (Phindi) Ann Malcolm

Post 10: 4/10/22
The Past Few Days

Post 11: 4/16/22
Some Lions and a Giraffe Named Zöe

Post 12: 4/20/22
Load Shedding is My Nemesis.

Post 13: 4/27/22
A Week in the Life of the Malcolms in Somerset West

Post 14: 5/10/22
Mother’s Day

Post 15: 5/23/22
Nana’s Visit

Post 16: 6/12/22
What We’ve Been Up To

Post 17: 6/18/22
When Worlds Collide in South Africa

Post 18: 6/29/22
The Final Step Before Home

Post 19: Coming soon!

You can find a similar post with links to all of our posts from our 2016 trip to South Africa here.

Posted on February 18, 2023 by Heidi and filed under adoption, In-Country Time, South Africa and tagged travel Chicago Sandton Cape Town Simon's Town Johannesburg Pretoria Stellenbosch Somerset West.

When Worlds Collide in South Africa

The whole gang - on a 1.5 hour ocean cruise looking for wild life, especially hoping for dolphins and whales.

My sister and her family were able to come visit us from Turkey. They spent the week with us adventuring all over the Cape area. We loved having them spend time with us.

My brother-in-law, Aaron, has always wanted to visit Cape Town, so we were especially glad he was able to cross this off his bucket list. We are sure, though, that now he’s been here, he may want to come back—maybe even permanently. This city (and this country) tends to have that effect on people.

These two, plus Nora, were peas in a pod. It was great to see friendships forming over the week.

We got to visit Cape Town a few times, including a coffee tour for Brian and Aaron, which was to their liking. It was to Erin and I’s liking that we didn’t have to go on the tour. The kids, Erin, and I went to pet a cheetah while they sipped coffee.

The girls and Heidi with Tobias the cheetah.

We also went on a fun ocean cruise to see some ocean wildlife. We—especially Aaron and I—were really hoping to see dolphins and whales. Unfortunately, we only saw seals and penguins. The really neat thing was that the groups of penguins (a huddle) were so far from land. I’ve only ever seen them in shallow water by the rock colonies they live in.

We also spent a day going down the coast. We were able to have everyone meet Tahiyya, which was such a great time. We then headed down to meet some penguins at Seaforth Beach. Unfortunately, there were only two penguins out that day, but it was a good day for shells. Nora found a really neat shell, only to discover it still had someone living in it.

Erin discovered the “medium” cone should be called the “AS BIG AS YOUR FACE” cone.

Erin and I had a fun tradition of fitting in an ice cream cone by the beach in every day, except the very last day. We had so much fun eating our cones and enjoying people watching by the beach, except for one day when we kept getting whiffs of trash. That day stunk literally.

I call this one: Cousins connecting over the internet while sitting next to each other on the couch.

The week was such a great blessing to us because Turkey is not next door to Illinois. We don’t know when we’ll see them next. It’s always so much fun to connect and spend time together. We are so thankful they took time and all the effort to make it to this corner of the world to hang out with us and meet the newest Malcolm.

Posted on June 18, 2022 by Heidi and filed under adoption, Family, In-Country Time, South Africa and tagged family penguins shells coffee Cape Town Somerset West.

Mother's Day

A typical teenager — doesn’t want a photo with mom.

Mother’s Day is a hard day for many. For several years, Mother’s Day was difficult because I knew we were waiting for a child who was more than likely already in the world, but still unknown to us. But to be totally honest, Mother’s Day has always been a difficult day for me since becoming a mother myself.

I am blessed beyond understanding to be the mother to two amazing kids. But I know that the road they travelled to get to our family was a difficult one. I feel like I’m walking a line here, so stick with me. I want to be honest with you—our friends and family—and I want to preserve the trust and story of our children.

When you enter a new family and—for whatever reason—birth parents have not met your needs, you are going to have trauma responses. So imagine with me, our son and daughter having a day centered around their mom (me), but it’s a lot to handle. A whole day when you are celebrating what moms are supposed to be and do for their families. That’s why I try my best to hold Mother’s Day with open hands.

I am not their first mother. I am so thankful that their first mothers chose life, because I have two beautiful children because of their choices. Not a day goes by where I am not thankful for their lives and their presence in my life, even on the hard days.

So yes, Mother’s Day is wonderful and fun, but in our family, it holds a heaviness that sometimes doesn’t have a name attached to it, but we can feel its presence. But every Mother’s Day, I hold in my heart space to be grateful for the choice of life their first mothers gave to them.

Posted on May 10, 2022 by Heidi and filed under adoption, attachment / bonding, In-Country Time, Mother's Day, South Africa and tagged Somerset West Mothers Day.

A Week in the Life of the Malcolms in Somerset West

It’s been a whole week since I posted. I know you all have been clamoring for a post, but not much out of the “ordinary” has been happening. We’ve been staying close to our flat this week as it has just been time getting used to our new location and schedule.

Phindi enjoying her “skip rope” in our garden.

With this flat, we have a small garden (yard) and Phindi has been enjoying it by jumping rope and running around chasing her brother (mostly while they play hide and go seek). We’ve also settled in and started home schooling in earnest. The kids love when we do school (read: sarcasm). Tisetso receives his $3 reward for having a good attitude for the week, and Phindi gets to pick out a sweet at the mall for every four days of good attitude.

We did go into Cape Town proper this past Sunday morning, as the church we attend meets at 4:30 p.m. We went to a world-renowned coffee shop called Truth where the decor and staff’s getups are all steampunk themed. The food and tea were excellent, and Brian says the coffee was great. I cannot testify to that. Gross.

The streets and clear skies of Cape Town.

After coffee, we headed to the Victoria and Albert Waterfront. It was a great place to visit last time we were here and where we spent most of our time in Cape Town. We loved getting to show Phindi around some of the Waterfront. It’s quite big, so we didn’t get to see all of it this trip.

One of many seals we saw. This one just hung out like this for a while…maybe sunning itself? It almost got run over by a boat!

It wasn’t supposed to rain, but it happened to do so briefly while we were eating for lunch (indoors)! We did stop by the big warehouse where all of the artisans have booths and I found a necklace I really like (my first Cape Town purchase). Tisetso found a Mother’s Day present I was told not to ask questions about.

We also had a pizza and movie night last Friday and introduced Phindi to Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone! It was magical! If you know anything about me, one of the things you probably know is that I love Harry Potter, so introducing my daughter to the wizarding world of Harry Potter was such a joy.

Harry Potter and my Harry Potter tattoo.

Phindi and I baking chocolate chip cookies (the best!).

When Tisetso and I made cookies for the first time together in South Africa.

Phindi and I also had a baking time together. I have my favorite cookie recipe memorized, so it was quick and easy to make. She and I had fun making them and apparently she is addicted to cookies, also known as ‘biscuits’ here. She’s been asking for them left and right!

Lest you forget this photo-hating teenager of mine is on this trip, too.

We also went to the beach in Strand (a 5 minute ride from our flat) and got ice cream and walked the beach. I made the apparent mistake of ordering a “medium” cone!

Posted on April 27, 2022 by Heidi and filed under adoption, baking and cooking, In-Country Time, South Africa and tagged baking Cape Town Somerset West Strand.

Load Shedding is My Nemesis.

I meant to write an update a couple of nights ago, but load shedding has been happening quite often, up to twice a day. Tomorrow (04/21) we are supposed to have three, 2.5-hour times of electricity free time (bleh). Currently, South Africa is in stage 4 (out of 8) of electrical lock down. Cape Town—more specifically Somerset West where we are—is in stage 3, which means two to three load shedding times a day. It really stinks. Tomorrow (04/21) will be at 2 am-4:30 am, 10 am-12:30 pm, and 6 pm-8:30 pm. The worst one is the 6pm-8:30 pm spot because it covers dinner to bedtime.

Yes that’s a sharp knife. It’s a tradition to cut your cake while the other kids at your party scream as loud as they can. No clue why, but that’s how it goes. It’s pretty hilarious.

Phindi celebrated her 10th birthday on Monday! She opened presents from us when she woke up and had a good time doing so. She got a stuffed rainbow filled with unicorned animals (unicorned is now a word) and a bracelet-making kit from Tisetso. Brian and I got her a Polly Pocket, an Anna doll, a Frozen watch, and a beautiful necklace with her birthstone. She was intrigued by the Polly Pocket Brian and I got her as she hadn’t seen one before.

Nana and Pop-Pop singing *Happy Birthday* to Phindi.

After breakfast and explaining how to read a watch tell the time of 10:30 am, we left to go to Phindi’s former care home to pick up the five oldest girls for a birthday party back at our flat. Because only five (including driver) could fit into our rental car, we ended up also using an Uber van to get everyone there and back.

The birthday went as follows:

Girls arrive and cause some mild chaos. Brian orders many pizzas for delivery.
Chaos is contained with a craft of Lego Dots bracelets.
Onward (Pixar) was put on for entertainment. No one seemed overly interested. Pizzas arrive.
Pizzas were consumed while the songs from Encanto were sung. “We don’t talk about Bruno, no-no!”
Onward was ditched and Encanto was put on (not surprising).
Cake was cut with only mild screaming and a round of “Happy Birthday” (multiple verses—”how old are you nowww?” and two HURRAHS!
Presents were opened.
Cake eaten, some seconds requested.
Back to Encanto, milkshakes ordered, delivered, consumed.
MAXIMUM SUGAR HIGH.
Took everyone back to the home via rental car and Uber van. (Do you see our timing there? Ha!)

The day after her birthday (Tuesday), we headed to Cape Town. Phindi had never flown before so it was a whole new experience for her. She did such a great job!

Because we have so many bags (hello three-month stay), we decided to upgrade our tickets. This gave us a “bonus seat” in each row of three. It was a dream. We also got priority boarding, row 2 seating, “free” (included) snacks and drinks, and priority luggage handling (meaning it was the first off the plane).

Phindi loved seeing everything from so high up. She was enamored with the clouds and the mountains, the closer we got to Cape Town.

We even got a glimpse of Table Mountain on our descent into Cape Town. It was clear and beautiful out!

The water was SO cold, but we got used to it quickly. There were actual crazy people swimming in the water!

Another wonderful first for Phindi was getting to see the sea and the beach. Today we visited Tisetso’s former foster mother who now lives in Cape Town. She took us to a restaurant on the because and Phindi was champing at the bit to get on the beach. After lunch, we all took off our shoes and walked two miles along the Cape.

We loved getting to spend the time with Tahiyya (foster mother) and her boyfriend. They are wonderful people with big hearts for others. We are so glad they’re in Cape Town and we can see them more in the coming weeks. For now, we will just appreciate that I can do a load of laundry and that the lights are on.

Posted on April 20, 2022 by Heidi and filed under adoption, In-Country Time, South Africa and tagged travel Cape Town Somerset West Fish Hoek flight load shedding.

Links for All of the Days We Were in South Africa

If for some crazy reason you find yourself wanting to read all of the days in order (bless you), here are all of the days, linked up for your convenience. Thanks for reading our story!

Day 1: Pretoria

Day 2: Pretoria

Day 3: Pretoria

Day 4: Pretoria

Day 5: Pretoria

Day 6: Pretoria

Day 7: Pretoria

Day 8: Pretoria

Day 9: Centurion

Day 10: Centurion

Day 11: Centurion

Day 12: Centurion