This weekend past, Grant and I had two memorable events take place in our lives. On Friday, 2 March we were blessed with our sixth grandchild, born in Bloemfontein, South Africa. On Sunday, 4 March we celebrated our 40th wedding anniversary in Mwadui, Tanzania where we now find ourselves!
Logistically our children were unable to celebrate our anniversary with us but I've posted photos of all our grandchildren to share the post.
We haven't been home to SA for many months. We've not seen our older grands for almost a year. We hope to see them when we go out on our break later this month. Clockwise from top: Joshua and Eryn, daughter-in-law, Debbie with children; middle: beautiful Bethany; our older son, John with Eryn; bottom left: baby Elijah, now almost two and handsome little man, Joshua, right
Only hours after his baby sister arrived on Friday morning, grandson Joel got his hand jammed in lift/elevator door. His maternal grandfather, who was babysitting him at the time, rushed him to emergency where they strapped his arm. Poor little man. He's apparently fine though.
Top two photos and bottom right: Beautiful baby: Abby Kate Hedges. Middle and bottom left photos: Joel (not a happy-chappy) after his tussle with the lift door
Amid all this excitement of babies and our approaching "big day", on Saturday I made a huge selection of snacks to take to the club that night. When I arrived with my trays of beautifully arranged meatballs, spicy chicken legs, savoury vetkoek (deepfried dough balls filled with mince), cocktail onions and gherkins, one of the men behind the bar said to Grant : "You can see a woman's hand in that display!" The client (for whom Grant and his team contracts) is 100% South Africans and 99% men. There was a rugby match on the telly so the party was two-fold; to watch two national teams battle it out and to celebrate our special occasion with us.
Top left: the rugby match about to start on telly; Amanda, Sesia and her South African husband, Robert; middle: Amanda took my camera and snapped me and Grant; bottom: Jo (left) and Sesia (right) with array of snacks in front of us
Forty years...
At 7pm Grant's team of men arrived to join the party. Unbeknown to us, they'd been to Shinyanga and bought us a very personal gift to commemorate our special day. They called us to their circle and Narinda (acting workshop manager in Saravannan's absence) made a speech and handed me the gift. Once again, Amanda took the photos.
Grant's team of men hand me the gift
The top of the vase [in the picture] had "Jo and Grant Hedges" written on in gold. And below the arrangement was the mesage:"40 years together". A lot of thought went into this gift and Grant and I were very touched
The Team: Juba, Dipen, Marnitz, Juine, Narinda, Bossman Grant, and Rajaman
I hope you're all having a wonderful start to your new week.
Blessings
Jo
WoW! CONGRATULATIONS to you, Jo and Grant, on 40 years of marriage! That's quite an achievement these days. May the Lord bless you with many many more. Thanks for sharing the lovely snacks with us, your readers. ☺
ReplyDeleteWell done on the 40 years anniversary. Only another 10 years to the 50th LOL. Keep well Diane
ReplyDeleteJo, you are truly blessed to have enjoyed 40 years with Grant, have such a beautiful family (Joel looks a lot like you) and be surrounded by friends wherever you are. The gift is very thoughtful.
ReplyDeleteSo much excitement going on. The grandchildren are so cute. I'm glad that the little guy's mishap was not more severe.
ReplyDeleteYou made some delicious looking/sounding snacks and the men gave you a most touching and thoughtful anniversary gift.
Happy Anniversary to you and Grant and congratulations for making it through the long haul. May you have many more delightful years together.
Hello There, Since I've been away from blogging for a week, I have alot of catching up to do. We had a wonderful trip to Arkansas --but it's great to visit with my blog friends. Hope things are going well with you.
ReplyDeleteCongrats on 40 yrs. Great pictures, Jo.... You and Grant both look GREAT...
Congrats also on the new grandbaby... Sorry her brother got hurt--but he looks like he'll be fine.... Bless his heart!!!!
Hugs,
Betsy
Jo, congrats on both your new grandbaby and your anniversary. The photos of your grandchildren and the new baby are adorable. Such cuties! The snacks and party sounded like fun and I like your gift. Very nice post. Have a lovely week!
ReplyDeleteCongratulations Jo and Grant - you both look wonderful! I do remember the day very well.... love and hugs Rose xoxo
ReplyDeleteI have been so busy lately that I haven't checked in on all my blogger friends for a week...sorry! Poor little Joel...he'll probably heal quickly as kids' bodies do. CONGRATULATIONS on your 6th grandchild (now you have 3 granddaughters and 3 grandsons, right?) and also on your 40th anniversary! We have 4 more years till our 40th. What a nice thing the guys did for you and Grant. That is a really special framed picture. (((hugs)))
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