Post #500 and my birthday in Khartoum

Our youngest grandchild/son. He's two weeks old today. This photo was taken in hospital more than ten days ago. I'm waiting for new photos and will share them here accordingly

You made all the delicate inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother's womb. (Psalm 139:13)

The littlest girl in the Hedges family our miracle baby and a great blessing to all

Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous - and how well I know it. (Psalm 139:14)

The above little girl and her older sister and brother

You saw me before I was born. Every day my life was recorded in Your book. (Psalm 139:16a)

How precious are your thoughts about me, O God! They are innumerable. I can't even count them; they outnumber the grains of sand. (Psalm 139:17,18a)

Today is post number 500 on my blog. I love blogging and have made many friends through it. What I love is that I even have e-mail contact with many of my online friends and this I find most precious.

I started this blog on 1 October 2008 and realise now that is it actually a journal of my life so far.

It is also my birthday today and this occassion takes me back a year to when I celebrated it at home in South Africa. You can read about this here. It also emphasizes the different direction my life has taken since then. In 2009, I had a small tea party. As it was in a week of torrential rain, many of my friends, who live on farms all accessed by dirt roads, were unable to make it. Being held on a Friday afternoon, several other friends were busy with school lifts.

Above are the ladies who made it to my birthday tea last year: from left, Amanda, my younger daughter-in-law and the mommy of the precious baby in the first photo on this post. (Amanda lives around the corner from me) Then Yvonne, my dear friend who lives in the retirement centre just two streets down. Centre is Pienkie, my dear neighbour who even in my absence is there for Emily to call on if need be. Next to her is Jenny , a dear friend who helped me run the weight-management club five years ago. Extreme right is Carina, my sweet friend of many years. Carina lives on a farm but used her husband's four-wheel-drive vehicle to come in to town.

Yours truly in the picture while Amanda takes the photo

For my birthday last year, my husband bought me an original painting by an artist who grew up in our town. I love paintings, family photos, ormanents and personal objects in my kitchen. We as a family, spend many special hours here so I thought this was a most appropriate accessory for this family-orientated room

The artist's husband makes the frames for her artwork. I just loved the natural look

My birthday treat (yesterday) was a visit to the Souq Arabic

This year I am in Khartoum and far away from all that is normal (to me) and all that I built up and nuture. I love being near my family and friends. I revel in my garden and love nothing more than sitting beside the pond in the evening with my cats and dogs at my feet. I love socialising and regularly attended birthday parties and other celebrations.

In August I left it all to come up and live with my husband in the Sudan. Once we'd gone out on break, I had to wait almost four months while my visa was arranged. At the beginning of January I left home again and have been with my husband ever since. Even though I have immersed myself in life here in Khartoum and enjoy being with him, I do sometimes miss what was my life back home.

It's probably normal to feel nostalgic and even sad at times. Like when I receive photos of my new grandson, whom I've not even seen yet. Or when I see photos of my three other precious grandchildren and remember all the fun times we had together, baking cookies, playing the bird game on computer, or walking on the golf course with them. I miss my dogs and cats but rest assured that dear Emily is taking good care of them while I'm away.

Do I regret leaving it all? No, not one bit. The pros of being with my husband far outweighs the cons of being in a comfortable set-up at home but seperated from him.

So here I am, celebrating my special day in Khartoum with my darling husband. Yesterday, as a very special treat he took me to the Souq Arabic which is a large market in the middle of the city. I will post about this on Tuesday and show the lovely gifts he spoilt me with.