Some pics for your enjoyment...

Lord willing, this Saturday our youngest son Taylor will wed Miss Réze (pronounced reesa) Schreuder, eldest daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Niek (Therese) Schreuder, and last night the Schreuders invited us over to meet their family members just arrived from South Africa and Namibia.

It was a wonderful and interesting evening with good conversation outside around a fire. (Niek did coffee and Rooibos tea over the fire.) Later in the evening we listened to Afrikaans music while oldest to youngest danced. There were lots of pics, some of the original family farm in the Namakwaland area of northwestern SA where Niek grew up and his mother still lives. Known for the georgous wildflowers that spring up in the desert during winter rains, here's just one pic Niek took when he and his family were home for a visit last year. I'm color blind and I was thunderstruck by the beauty of picture after picture of these flowers:

Other pics were from the siblings' homes. There were pics of...

wildlife drinking at a water hole almost a stone's throw from Therese's sister's home abutting SA's Kruger National Park—monkeys, giraffes, hyenas... There were also pics of Niek's brother Jan's farm up in Namibia where he raises goats, sheep, and cattle. There's a herd of around sixty Oryx (antelope) that roam the farm and one Oryx has been living with his cows for decades, now.

Finally pics from Niek's brother, Hugo's, work at the AngloAmerican Kumba Sishen Mine in SA Cape Province near Kathu. Sishen operates 24/7 and in 2011 produced 38.9 million tonnes of iron ore. The mine has a fleet of around 200 haul trucks, the largest of which are the Komatsu 960Es with a loading capacity of 324 metric tonnes.

Here's a pic of one of their shovels. It's a 4100XPC with a capacity of 116 tonnes per pass. The shovel's weight is about 1200 tonnes. Can you see the man standing on the shovel?

Here's a pic of the shovel loading the truck:

Please pray for Taylor and Reze as they marry. Thank you.