Africans are the happiest....

After visiting close to 5-10 churches, we went back to our favorite today. Harvest Christian is the closest church that we can find that resembles what we need. Living in "The Bible Belt" for so many years you become spoiled with the amount of choices you have for churches. We had found a church that we loved in the states and actually looked forward to our Sunday mornings! Going to church is a very important part of my life, and I feel like it is extremely important for my children-It gives you a fresh start every week and what a wonderful family thing to do! Harvest Christian meets a lot of my needs right now and I hope that it will also become one of our favorite churches. Today, the pastor was talking about the global recession(as I am sure most are) and how it effects each and every one of us to some degree. He was talking about support groups for people that have lost their jobs, and how sometimes wealth does not bring happiness! How true, He stated that in Germany the statistics show that they have the most unhappy people, but are among the wealthiest in the world. And then Africa, statistics show that Africa has some of the happiest people, but is one of the poorest countries! I thought about this for awhile today, and I find this part of the world to be the friendliest and one of the best places to live. Port Elizabeth is a very family friendly place to live, and family is a very strong part of everything. Today as I was praying, I remembered to be thankful for the job we have and the family that I have. I am very blessed to have Pat and my children, but I am also very blessed to have my mom and dad,sister and brother. I am also very grateful to have Pat's parents. My children will always know that they are loved by many!
I wonder if the beauty and awe of this country is what makes these people so happy! Today after church we ate lunch at a local restaurant and once again we were welcomed with warm smiles! After we left the owner wished us well with our stay and told us to come back! We left with full stomachs, fresh baked bread and homemade jam and hit the road.
Today we went to Seaview Lion Park. Seaview is about 20 minutes from our house, and the ride is to die for. OMG-the view! We stopped several times to take pictures, and to see the true gifts of God! http://www.seaviewgamepark.co.za/ Once at the park we saw some giraffe and other animals as we were making our way to the lions! They have 5 of the most beautiful white lions, Taylor says there are only 100 in the world. The lions were beautiful and looked like large(HUGE) stuffed animals-they are fenced off from the other animals and are fed from the park rangers and not free roaming, their grounds are huge though! We also got to drive through a lion cage, a little scary, I will say that they had all just been fed so most were sleeping! After this we drove to another area were we could hold the lion cubs and go into their pen. They are the cutest things but can be aggressive-One scratched Hunter twice, he was trying to play with it like it was our dog! Claire loved them, and also wanted to hold them but we tried to keep her with us and not let her go after them.
I still stop and have to pinch myself sometimes that I am actually here, What a gift we have been given. I find my children to be in awe of the animals and have more respect for them. Taylor is very knowledgeable of factual information and will talk your ear off about each one! Of course, after watching Survivor Man tonight he thinks that he could now survive in the wild-he forgets that he is scared shitless of the animals when they are so close he could touch them!
Enjoy our pics from today, we do look a little disheveled after a day of church, food and lions!
This is the view on the way to Seaview! Can you believe the beauty...




Drum roll please, the lions...





The Cubs...




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On our way home, notice the view-Breathtaking!