Brad & Andi Hixson

Updates

• Update 15

  10/15

  October 15, 2023

  Today is our 3rd Sunday in country and it has been an adventure. We traveled Friday to a cultural village (think Jamestown, Charlestown, Fort Vancouver) except the emphasis was on the local tribes of the Sotho, Pendi, Zulu, Xhosa, & Ndebele and stayed overnight. It was great. We stayed in a mostly traditional hut, but it was a bit more like glamping in a yurt as we had electricity and a bathroom. We ate breaded crocodile and sundried caterpillars and a ton of other great food. We had planned on going later in our stay, and might go again, but this trip was totally last minute. We had no water for over 24 hours due to "load shedding" while the municipality fixed the watermain here in Joburg. After drinking most of our water bottles dry and flushing the toilet with a bucket of pool water, Andi and I had a meeting of the minds and decided to skedaddle until such a time as our Joburg place had water. We have lost power a number of times, but the house battery allows us to continue on with lights and things, but we did lose power last week long enough to go fully dark. I found some candles and we read The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe for a bit before having an early bedtime.

  This morning we were able to worship with a local church body about 4-5 blocks away from our house (and since we have water restored we were all clean!). It was great. We've been streaming Holy Covenant's service from the week before and it's been great to see our church family, if a week late and a literal world away.

  The adoption day was October 5th and it was great. Like most things that deal with the SA gov, we arrived at the courts and sat around for a few hours before they called us back to chambers, asked all four of us a few questions and sent us on our way after letting both girls give the official stamp of approval with the judges stamp. It was fantastic. We are now solidly mired in paperwork bureaucracy for the time being. Treasure is officially our daughter, and we cannot leave the country with her. We have filed for an official name change and are waiting for a medical appt., but both are taking far longer than really should. We're getting a little frustrated as we cannot leave the city for longer than a day as either process may suddenly move forward and recall us immediately to Joburg. While there are many things to do, most are not free so we are trying to be thrifty.

  Please pray for movement on either the name change or the medical appts, for interpersonal joy, for forgiveness, for thankful hearts and lips, for safety, and that we would worship the Lord and move forward his kingdom where we are.

• Update 14

  First Week in South Africa

  October 4, 2023

  We have been in Johannesburg, South Africa now for one full week. We are mostly adjusted to the time zone, and are enjoying the beautiful birds, trees, flowers, and sunshine. We are also enjoying many "firsts" together as a family of four! Family meals, games, reading stories, movie night, prayers, Sunday worship, grocery shopping, doing laundry, making banana bread, swimming, playing at the playground, home schooling...we've packed a lot of firsts into this week! Treasure has been adjusting so well, and she and Bethany have been playing together a lot. We are doing almost daily homeschool time, with math, piano, and writing, and a smattering of other things depending on how much time we have. Treasure enjoys schoolwork and is very excited to learn piano. Tomorrow is our biggest first of all - we will be going to court to officially adopt! We're all very excited for this big milestone. Thank you all for your continued prayers and support! We have felt very safe so far, but have also been sticking very close to our home base. After court day we will start venturing out more, so continued prayers for health and safety are always appreciated.

• Update 13

  

  9/30

  September 30, 2023

  9/30
  We have safely arrived in South Africa, with all of our luggage, and are settling in to our very lovely rental house. Our first few days here felt very rushed as we were experiencing jet-lag while simultaneously searching for groceries, dealing with a major leak in the kitchen and going to get our sweet Treasure on our second day.
  We are now a family of four! There have been small hiccups, but overall it’s been great. We are in the ‘honeymoon’ phase of the transition and we’re loving it! Treasure has been so brave and is warming up to us quickly. We are now settling into a week of laying low and doing daily tasks together. As I write this morning, Treasure is practicing her writing and I am helping Bethany with math.
  I slept in until 4:30am this morning. The three original Hixsons have been waking up very early and having tea and biscuits (little coconut tea cookies) while we read. We also have been taking some epic naps.
  The country has some big electrical grid issues, so they do regular load shedding, often multiple times per day for a few hours each time. It’s a different pace of life and one I’d forgotten since my time in Uganda. One major difference between Uganda 15 years ago and South Africa today is the improvement of large batteries. Our house has a large battery which allows us, during the short load shedding, to use basic lights and some small electrical items, which means we haven’t needed flashlights or candles yet.
  Our court date to officially adopt is set for October 5. Until then, we are still keeping photos of Treasure private within the family, but we have attached an edited one of our “gotcha” day. As you can see, Andi and I couldn’t stop grinning ear to ear. It was so amazing to see the children’s home and meet the people who have been caring for Treasure the last few years. She was prepared so well to meet us, and we are so thankful! The children’s home is called Hearts of Hope, and we are so thankful for them!

• Update 12

  Travel Completed!

  September 27, 2023

  We made it! I write to you from our house here in Joburg. I must say, a 14 1/2 hour flight is rough when you start it after a 14 hour day of traveling. That being said, one plane was late 45 minutes. That's it, that's the worst thing that happened. All our luggage made it, we made it, we had short tempers for only 1 conversation. We were fed better and more often than we thought would happen, layovers were very nice, especially in the Denver outdoor lounge, good movies, plenty of leg room on the long flight, and really excellent stewardesses and stewards!

  We kind of slept last night, and took long naps midday. We made a foray out into the world twice today, once to the supermarket and once for a late lunch. We are only 5-6 blocks from the market, so we loaded up and carried everything back. Lunch was at a great coffee shop & restaurant where we were able to be out together and relax for a bit and drink coffee.

  It's been thunderstorming on and off all day here, with some magnificent booms! Bethany crushed us at apples to apples earlier and we spent a lot of the late-morning unpacking and organizing. Well, It's about bed time for us here. Yes, it's a bit early but we're all close to being on the right sleep schedule already.

• Update 11

  

  Update 9/22

  September 22, 2023

  Hey all, this is a short one. Andi is done at work, I am done at work, and Bethany is done with school. Whoo boy, this is getting real!

  We are home packing, bonding and doing last-minute chores.

  For those in Spokane, we'll be at both King's and HCC this Sunday.

  We fly out at 5:40am Monday morning!!!!!!!
  -Brad

  pic is B and a zuc we missed picking this week

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