Year of Change – 2016

2016!  Its an exciting year for us Waldrons!  Big things are happening and we are buckling our seat belts for the ride!  If you have a few minutes and want to get caught up on our news, please read on.   

I will start with the kids.  They bring so much joy and fulfilment to our lives!  We are grateful every day (well, almost every day) for all 3 of them.

We officially have a teen-ager in the house!  Marae turned 13 on the 10th of January and we celebrated!!!!  Raising teenagers can be daunting, but we feel a real sense of anticipation – that we are beginning to embark on a new journey with her, that will bring a closeness we haven’t experienced before (and LOTS of fun too!)  Our dear Marae fills her days with all sorts of activities.  She started learning piano towards the end of last year, and that is delightful!  She finished Grade 7 in December and in South Africa, that means the end of primary/elementary school.  Soooo… she has officially started high school!!  Her primary school career concluded with the honour of being named Dux (highest marks in her grade) and she walked away with about 11 trophies, 10 academic and 1 swimming.  She continues her swimming career too, and is one of the top swimmers in her age group in our province.  She was baptised last year and is often looking for ways she can serve God and others.  We are incredibly proud of our girl.

Nate is 10 and full of spunk.  He is definitely the character in the house and keeps us all laughing.  From attempting street dance (mimicking a library how-to book) in the living room to telling long, drawn out jokes with questionable punch lines – life in the Waldron house would definitely be a bore without this “little” man.  And he is NOT so little!  10 years old, but wearing size 12-13 clothing!  And those feet!!!  🙂  He finished Grade 4 in December, also first in his class, and is now well into Grade 5.  His big love right now is Minecraft.  I hear more about that game than I care to share, but we try to keep it all in moderation.  Soccer remains his first sporting love and reading books (thankfully) keeps its spot as number 2 in his use of spare time (mainly because mom strictly limits video gaming…)  #meanmoms  He has asked to be baptised soon and LOVES our church.  We have a new evening service that he is super glad about because he often has soccer matches in the mornings.   Nate brings us so much joy and we are super proud of him!!

And the baby…  Elise is 8 1/2 years old and is quite an interesting little soul.  She is super logical and analytical (we think she might be the lawyer in the family), yet loves her girly-girl lifestyle, with ballet, pink and purple clothes, etc.  The other day she wanted me to bring my shampoo for her to use because it said “salon” on it – and the one in her shower didn’t.  Haha.  She needed the salon touch!  Grade 2 was a lovely year for her last year.  She loved her teacher and performed incredibly well, also receiving the “first in class” honour.  Last month marked the start of her Grade 3 year and she was pretty nervous.  She walked up the steps to the school saying, “Mom, my stomach feels like a knot of butterflies.”  Sweetheart.  We are confident she will do well.  Her extra-curricular pursuits remain ballet and swimming.  She looks like she may be a swimmer like her older sister.  She has picked a different stroke to excel in, so they probably won’t race each other! 🙂  She has also started piano lessons this year and got a hamster for Christmas – so her little life is very full.  That hamster, Stitch, reads with her, comes to supper with her, watches TV with her, etc..  They have quite the bond! 😉   She loves our family devotion time in the evenings, and if we are ever tempted to skip because we are tired or busy, she keeps us on track!  We are so very proud of our youngest and know God has wonderful things in store for her.

Thanks for letting us tell you all about our kiddos!

Now onto Carl and I.

Michelle – 2016 is looking like it is going to be one of the most exciting years yet! 😉  I had foot surgery two weeks ago.  I had a bunion (do I sound like a granny?), that was giving me a lot of grief and limiting my activities, so finally decided to get it fixed.  My mom arrived on that same day and will be with us until the middle of April. She spent about 2 months with us last year and will be with us for about 2 1/2 months this year.  We are really excited that she is here  again.  Living alone hasn’t been easy for her (after the death of my dad last year), so we are thrilled she is here and will get to hang out with our craziness!  She also cleans, cooks, reads to kids, helps with homework, drives, etc, etc, etc… so it is a bit of a working trip for her!! 😉  We also have about 4-5 groups/individuals that are coming to visit during the first 6 months of the year.  Always fabulous to have visitors!

I have been really missing acute care nursing, so this year came across an opportunity to attend a 2 week medical conference in Greece!  That will happen in April of this year.  One of my closest friends, Ruth, who is a missionary in PNG, is  going to be coming also!  I can’t tell you how excited I am about this conference!  Ruth is the friend who convinced me to go with her to the Philippines, which is how I met Carl!  She and I have not had more than an afternoon together in about 20 years!  So my excitement cannot be contained!

On the Seed of Hope side, I also have fantastic news.  We went through a process last year to find a suitable replacement for me at Seed of Hope; I am slowly working myself out of a job.   We found a wonderful social worker and she started with us this year.  I am incredibly excited about the future with Patronellah Kadungure on the Seed of Hope health team.  We will be going through a process of handing over leadership of the health team to her this year.  Pat has 8 years of experience in NGOs similar to ours, and we are confident she will take us to new heights.  I will remain working with Seed of Hope, and after the gradual handover, will focus my time on health curriculum writing and HIV trainings.

That leads us to Carl.  I wanted to let him write this part, but honestly, he is racing just to keep up with his own responsibilities, so I’m writing to update you on his behalf.  Seed of Hope is growing to new heights every single year.  Our programs have grown in depth and quality, in addition to quantity.  Carl is a fantastic leader and the SOH team is the healthiest non-profit team I have ever seen (although I am a bit biased.)  He remains an elder in our church and really enjoys the team of elders that he serves with.

His extra-curricular pursuits, unfortunately, have been curbed because of his ankle injury two years ago.  He had surgery on it last year, but is still not on the basketball court (much to his dismay.)  This year though, he and Nate are going on a 5-day men’s hike in the Drakensberg Mountains with guys from church – a great father-son bonding time.  AND a test of that ankle!

The biggest news is our upcoming transition.  We have been praying for years about when is the right time for us to return to Canada.  When we moved to South Africa, we thought it might be for 3-5 years.  And we are about to hit our 9 year mark!  Finally last year, we really felt God’s directing that this was the time.  Over the last year, Carl has been preparing the organisation for its next season under new leadership.  Carl will transition out of his role as CEO towards the end of this year and we will move back to Canada in early 2017.  He will then take on the role as Canadian Director of Hopeshares (which is a partner of Seed of Hope), so we will still be very involved with SOH’s ministry.  We will continue to be serving in missions and community development, just in a different and broader way.

This won’t be an easy transition.  We have been preparing our children for more than a year already, and more than a few tears have been shed.   South Africa is home to us all, but especially for the kids, so moving back to Canada will feel foreign and “cold” (in more ways than one.)  We have found a lot of great resources to help us all with this transition, and are grateful for that.  We are preparing ourselves for a bittersweet season of change.

Our family loves South Africa and always will.

So that is our big news.  Good-byes are never easy, and hello’s are sometimes just as hard.  So thank you in advance for your support and your prayers.