The memorial service and funeral were held yesterday.
I dont think a single person walked out of there without acknowledging what a wonderful woman Mrs Lotter was - the Tributes made to her spelled that out clearly.
This was what I read on behalf of the "old-girls" of 2004.

As we look back over time
We find ourselves wondering .....
Did we remember to thank you enough
For all you have done for us?
For all the times you were by our sides
To help and support us .....
To celebrate our successes
To understand our problems
And accept our defeats?
Or for teaching us by your example,
The value of hard work, good judgement,
Courage and integrity?
We wonder if we ever thanked you
For the sacrifices you made.
To let us have the very best?
And for the simple things
ike laughter, smiles and times we shared?
If we have forgotten to show our
Gratitude enough for all the things you did,
We're thanking you now.
And we are hoping you knew all along,
How much you meant to us.

Losing someone so dear to our hearts has been devastating to try and deal with. We hope to wake up and be told it was all a bad dream. We hope to walk into her classroom and still see her there. We hope to see her smile and hear her laugh. We hurt, we mourn and we want to turn back time so that we could say a kind word and let her know how much important she was to us.
Unfortunately, we cant.

But, there is something that we can do.

We can remember her for the wonderful woman she was. We can honour her memory by thinking fondly on the lessons and the laughter. Mrs Lotter was truly an amazing person as well as teacher. She had never- ending patience and her words of comfort and encouragement reached far beyond the last school bell. No matter how difficult the class was, she took it in her stride. She was a woman of sophistication and class. She made such an impression on the lives of the girls who passed through her door and she will not be forgotten.

The last time I saw her was a few months back. We chatted for a long time and she shared with me that they were building a little place in Cape Town as a holiday home. She was so proud that she would be able to sit and watch the whales from her lounge. Her eyes glowed as she spoke of a new chapter in her life that she would be starting. I’m not sure if she ever got to see the whales from her new home, but I believe she’s now watching them from Heaven.

My Disney Princess

You Are Snow White!

Nancy Face did this and I thought it was too sweet!

Pure and trusting. You are a gentle soul who can get along with just about anyone. Everyone you meet instantly falls in love with you. How can they resist? You have a pure, lovable nature that's irresistable. Just don't trust everyone who comes across your path.

Which Disney Princess Are You?

Tragic

Even writing this makes me feel like I want to be sick.

My teacher at High School, Mrs Lotter and her husband were murdered at their home on Saturday night.

He was strangled and she was stabbed to death in her chest.

You are probably asking, can this get any worse?

Yes.

It can.

And it does.



They got a confession of the murder from her 20 year old son, 26 year old daughter and her boyfriend.



They had first created a story about how it was an armed robbery that went wrong, but the police discovered too many holes in their stories and uncovered the truth. They are going to appear in court today.

This woman was amazing. She was so calm, so caring and so giving.

Whats worse, is that she used to bring pictures to school of her kids - she was so proud.

She has 3 children. The middle child (a daughter) is studying in another province (Cape Town)

How must she be dealing with this?

If and when a child loses his/her parents, they would turn to the siblings.

Who does she turn to now?

Its disgusting.

Since I was Head Girl and in her Matric class in 2004, I am going to give a Tribute to her at the memorial service being held at the school on Monday 28th July.

I am going to try and look past everything and focus on the woman she was.

I want to read a poem aswell.
Something about beauty and grace...
If anyone has any poems that they think would be appropriate, please can you send them to me.

Please keep the rest of the family and the daughter left behind in your prayers.

Welcome Colleen!

After seeing my super awesome, darling blog, and reading the Tribute I wrote for her, my sister has decided to start a blog! :)

I have nooooo clue how to do that cool "link" thing, so I am just going to say, go here : http://www.thelifeofcoll.blogspot.com/ and give her some comment love! :)



ps: Could someone pleeeease leave ME some comment love, explaining how on earth you do that cool linky thingy?

:)

Chell

pss: Stay tuned for news and pics from my Ryan's birthday yesterday!

Something to think about.

At the moment, I am going through a really hard time. Things are going wrong in every aspect of my life and this weekend, I felt like looking to God and asking,

"Why me? What have I ever done to deserve what Im going through?"

Then, I got to work this morning and things got even worse. I needed to talk to my mom. She called me, but got cut off and couldnt call back again. I just wanted to climb under my desk and cry.

Then, I got this in my inbox.

And as soon as I had read it, I felt something tell me that it was going to be ok and that my Heavenly Father would look after me.

I also felt that there might be someone else who needs to read this.

Hence, the reason for this post.

God Smiles When We Trust

By faith, Noah built a ship in the middle of dry land. He was warned about something he couldnt see, and acted on what he was told. . . . As a result, Noah became intimate with God. Hebrews 11:7 (MSG)
*** *** *** ***
Imagine this scene: One day God comes to Noah and says, Im disappointed in human beings. In the entire world, no one but you thinks about me. But Noah, when I look at you, I start smiling. Im pleased with your life, so Im going to flood the world and start over with you and your family. I want you to build a giant ship that will save you and the animals.
There were three problems that could have caused Noah to doubt:

First, Noah had never seen rain because prior to the flood God irrigated the earth from the ground up (Genesis 2:5-6).

Second, Noah lived hundreds of miles from the nearest ocean. Even if he could learn to build a ship, how would he get it to water?

Third, there was the problem of rounding up all the animals and then caring for them.
But Noah didnt complain or make excuses. He trusted God completely, and that made God smile.
Trusting God completely means having faith that God knows what is best for your life. You expect him to keep his promises, help you with problems, and do the impossible when necessary.

The Bible says, He takes pleasure in those who honor him, in those who trust in his constant love (Psalm 147:11 TEV).
It took Noah 120 years to build the ark. I imagine he faced many discouraging days. With no sign of rain year after year, he was probably criticized as a crazy man who thinks God speaks to him. I imagine Noahs children were often embarrassed by the giant ship being built in their front yard.
Yet Noah kept on trusting God.
In what areas of your life do you need to trust God completely?
Trusting is an act of worship. Just as parents are pleased when children trust them, your faith makes God happy. The Bible says, Without faith it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6 NIV).

How awesome was that?

Noah trusted God for 120 years!
That amazes me.
I battle to trust unfailingly for 5mins.
Wow.

Not sure who needed this as much as I did, but may you be blessed. x

This is too weird!!

As you can see, my lift home from work on a Friday afternoon was very late, and I had TOO much time on my hands!! :)

MyHeritage: Family trees - Genealogy - Celebrities

Who looks like me in Celebville?

I found this on Aurora's blog and really liked the idea!! I tag anyone else who wants to try this!

MyHeritage: Family tree - Genealogy - Celebrity - Collage - Morph

Wordless...just hilarious, uncontrolable laughter!

I have seen this pic soooo many times, but absolutely cannot stop having fall-off-my-chair-and-roll-on-the-floor-laughter EVERYTIME I see it again...I just had to share... :) Make it bigger to get the full effect of that naughty little face!

A tribute to my little sister

My dearest Colleen, or Ninin as you are known to us :)

Today is your 20th birthday. 20 years ago, a very skinny little baby with big "googly" eyes entered our world and the family of 3 became 4.

Throughout our childhood years, you were my best friend. You were always so quiet and calm, and I was always loud and unruly. You always let me pick the game and play it the way I wanted to. I realise that now, and want to say thank you.

We spent many hours on the bedroom floor playing "Puppy in my pocket" and many other games like that. We would spend the whole day in our own little world. Remember when other kids came to the gate and wanted to play, we told Mommy to tell them we weren't home so that we could carry on just playing our game :)

We would do everything together.

Remember days on the beach? When dad would dive and we would play all sorts of games until he came out?
Remember pretending the rocks in the surf were our boats?
Remember playing Baywatch at the Tidal Pool?

Our childhood years were such happy ones. Even though our family hardly had any money, we were happy and content. We didnt have the coolest clothes or the latest toys, but we played anyway and loved every minute of it. We made toys and games out of anything we could find.
Remember playing "vet" and carting ALL our animals out to the garage and pretending to make them better?
Remember making our "dog-food pie" and baking it in the sun? And how the dogs enjoyed eating it off Mommy's kitchen spoons?

Some of my favourite memories come from when we would bring new pets home and hide them in the outside room so Daddy didnt see...
Remember when the big fluffy hamster crawled in behind the cupboard and we eventually had to tell Dad about him so that he could come and get him out?

Yes, we also had our childhood arguments, but the good memories completely outweigh the bad.

As we got older, things changed a little bit. We werent as close as when we were little and we realised the world was alot bigger and badder than we had thought. We went through tough patches, but somehow always found our way back to each other.

Then, in 2005, our world was turned upside down when our parents made the decision to immigrate.

You all went and I stayed behind. It was the hardest thing I have ever done. But, at the time I thought it was for the best. You guys set up home in New Zealand and started a new life. I struggled to cope with my old one. I came there, I went back...countless times. But, you were strong, you made new friends and adapted to the Kiwi way of life. I battled to understand how you could have forgotten about our home so quickly. But, as the years went by, I began to understand that you hadnt forgotten, you had just taken the memories, stored them in your heart and embraced a new chapter in your life. Im sorry for holding that against you sis.

Then, something terrible happened. You got involved in things you shouldnt have and I was far far away. Our family was almost torn apart and I was helpless to stop it.

But, months later, you turned everything around, rededicated your life to the Lord and started over. Now, you are one of the most committed and strong Christians I know and I truely look up to you. Because of you, Daddy is a new person and we are a happy family, focused on God again. We are more blessed now than we have ever been in our entire lives. We are just going from strength to strength.

Thank you for being such a wonderful sister.
Thank you that even though we only see each other once a year, we still know that we are there for each other.
Thank you for the words of guidance
Thank you for being an example to our family and others.
Thank you for sending me a message, telling me that you wish I would come home.

I am so proud of you and tell everyone about your achievements.

You are awesome.

I love you.


My sister is an airhostess for Air New Zealand. She is the 2nd one from the right (the pretty one!) Below are some pics of her and of us, just having fun in New Zealand :)

Colleen on her graduation:

Colleen posing on the farm :)

Us posing in our new Christmas jammies :)

Us at Rainbows End amusement park

Things I love Thursday

I got this off someone elses blog - and loved the idea! :)

* I love that I have "met" so many other wonderful people through the Blog-World - many of who I hope to meet for real one day!

* I love that, even though my family is 3 million miles away, I know that the same God whose looking after me, is there with them aswell.

* I love that I have someone who loves me with all his heart. xxx

* I love looking out my window at night and seeing the gazillions of twinkling lights

* I love that I can make others laugh

* I love that I have been blessed with a once in a lifetime oppurtunity (more of which to follow in the next few weeks!)

* I love the sound of little childrens laughter - the kind that just makes you want to laugh too!

* I love the way it smells outside just after its rained

* I love it when wonderful things happen to other people - so that I can love being happy for them!

* I love looking forward to and getting excited about the little things that other people wouldnt think twice about

* I love the awesome relationship that I have with my mom.

There are tons more things...but those are the ones that I can think of right now :)

I tag anyone else who would like to do this!!

Happy Thursday!

Chell x

Devotion for the day...

Hi all...

I got this today in my inbox for my daily devotion. I thought it was beautiful and thought-provoking, expecially the part where it asks, "Is anyone in heaven because of you?"

Hope it touches you as much as it did me...

Each of us has a life message that God wants us to share with the world. Sharing the message is part of our lifes mission. When we share that message with other people, its called witnessing.
There is great power in group witness. Just like a soldier is never sent out by himself, God never meant for us to do our mission alone. He says we should go out together to witness.
In fact, God says that we witness best to people who dont know God when we love others who are already in Gods family. In John 13, Jesus tells us that our love for each other proves to the world that we are his disciples. People are impressed when Christians genuinely love each other. It proves to the world that they are in the family of God.
In 2 Timothy 1:7, were told how we are supposed to witness to people: For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and self-discipline (NIV).
Have you been timid and fearful in your witness? Gods answer to fear is community, having other Christians stand alongside you in witness.
Seriously consider this question: Is anybody going to be in heaven because of you? If you work together to witness alongside other Christians, youll be able to say, Yes! Somebodys in heaven because of me.
Philippians 1:27 says, I will know that you stand firm in one spirit, contending as one man for the faith of the gospel (NIV).
Do you witness with other Christians in one spirit when youre so unified that its almost like youre one person? This is the kind of relationship God wants us to have with our fellow Christians. We all need each other. God wants to use us to witness for him, but he wants us to do it together!



Have a blessed day!!
Love Chell x