2 NEW BOM LO's

Here is Desire's 3rd LO - gorgeous colouring - love how you brought the blue into the LO and love the tags - you are so good at creating heritage type LO's - well done! ..

And here is her journalling - thank you so much for sharing such a personal story with us ....

"I was in a Children’s Home in Port Elizabeth, South Africa from when I was a baby and was adopted (never formally) in 1967 at the age of three-and-half years by Roelof (50 years of age) and Phoebe Walters (48 years of age). Phoebe was a remedial teacher at the Children’s Home and I remember clearly how I use to stand on the tip of my little toes to be able to peep through her classroom window to see whether the tea tray has arrived. If it was there I couldn’t wait for her to pour me half a cup of Steri-Milk. This was nearly a daily occurrence. Six months later she and my dad adopted me. I can also remember the cot I use to sleep in at the Children’s Home. This cot was to become a mental block later on in my life. Just after I was adopted Roelof and Phoebe, who was a very sociable couple, frequently visited friends for dinner parties. As I was brought up the real strict old fashioned way i.e. kids in bed not later than sunset, it often happened that I was put to bed in a cot at these dinner parties. Of course this psychologically triggered unhappy memories of the Children’s Home where I slept in a cot. Therefore it was always a mission to get me to go to sleep in a cot, because I usually cried myself to sleep. Another vivid memory I have of life in a Children’s Home was how we use to walk up a very steep set of steps late afternoons to be checked into the home for the evening. At the door someone would stand with a huge bag of peanuts and raisins and put a scoop of this into every child’s cupped hands as they entered the home. I never knew my biological parents and having been placed in the Children’s Home since I was a baby, there is no recollection of my biological parents. I always knew that I was adopted since my foster parents reinforced this from the day I arrived into their family. At the same time they also instilled in me that I am loved as their own child, and even more. The fact that Roelof and Phoebe Walters never adopted me legally and only remained my foster parents, have always been a sore point for me. It resulted in the uncomfortable situation where I had to go by two surnames i.e. Van Tonder (my biological surname) and Walters (my foster parents’ surname). I never felt that I really belonged to either of these surnames. At school I use to have the surname ‘Walters’ on all my books, but was registered at the school as ‘Van Tonder’. So sometimes when an announcement was made for me to see the headmaster or at prize giving ceremonies, I was announced as ‘Van Tonder’ and my classmates obviously wanted to know why I have two surnames. I always felt very awkward and never really knew what to say … a big stress during my childhood. I have never had the urge to determine who my biological parents were or to meet them. As I feel that I owe everything to who and what I am today to my very special Dad Roelof and Mom Phoebe."

The next LO is from Michelle - have a look at those tags - I wish I had such personal memento's from my "birth" day ... don't you just love her TAGS hidden behind the "ON THIS DAY" journalling?

Here is an excerpt from her journaling ..

"My mom had a good pregnancy and carried me mostly in the front. She was often complimented on how good she looked whilst pregnant with me. My dad took her to “Mother’s Hospital” in Greyville on the evening of 14 June 1962 and she was in labour for 10 hours before I was born the next morning. My mom had a natural birth, I was born on my due date and did not have any Jaundice. As soon as my dad had been told that I was born, he came to the hospital and once he saw that my mom and I were okay, expressed his joy at my birth. At birth I looked a lot like my dad’s mom “Granny Engler” but as I got older there were strong resemblances of my mom when she was a little girl. My mom told me that when she was a little girl she loved looking after other people’s babies and helping to dress and feed them and when I was born, she was so excited that she now had her own baby to look after. I was a very easy baby and slept through from 6pm – 6am from 7 weeks. I hardly ever cried and could be left in my pram or cot for ages and my “Granny Farquharson’s” friends often used to comment to my mom on what a good baby I was. I was always a very healthy and dainty baby. When I got my teeth they came through very easily with no vomiting, crying or upset stomachs. My mom told me that when I was 3¾ months she came to take me out of my cot and I had a tooth! I was breastfed for 9 months whereafter I decided I didn’t want to be breastfed anymore and my mom taught me to drink from a cup.

On this day …

In the Gergorian calendar, the 15 June is the 166th day of the year (167th in a leap year)

South Africa passed a bill setting the death penalty for many crimes

China had a brief conflict with India over a disputed Himalaya border"

Well, I am off to play catch up - already behind on Challenge No. 3 - too busy doing other things when I should be doing it all ... story of my life ...

Can't wait to see the other LO's soon. And don't forget my "IF" challenge ....

Love,