hi there, please can you all keep Celtic Mist & Angie in your thoughts and prayers they are both going through a really rough time & need all the help they can get.

Angie & Celtic know that Orian & I are here for you both stay strong feel free to PM us should you need to. Blessings Orian & Tina

Happy fathers day to all the dads out there, if you did not get to spend time with your kids this year maybe it will happen next year.

Dh & I spend a quiet day at home while Kiddo visited his boss & friends. His GF came to visit which was rather nice but I must admit I can not keep up with the youngsters. They are way to active for me. Kiddos GF is a true sweety.

Kiddo did not get to see GB today but should see him tomorrow.

Since kiddos accident he has not been able to get around much firstly cus he not longer has transport & secondly cus his knee is still giving him trouble. I have told him he can use my bike tomorrow to go see gb.
I bought him a fathers day card from myself & gb, I wanted to put a hand print of gb in the card but because of circumstances out of my control gb could not come around today.

Kiddo was so looking forwrd to seeing gb today. He is gonna try go see him tomorrow hope you all have a wonderful weekend.

Kiddo did not see Gb yesterday, I was as sick as a dog & DH took the girls to his mother for the day to give me peace & quiet. One of Kiddos frineds is using my bike till she can get her own one so he had no transport.

Oh well these things happen & we have to learn to live with it.

There are a few times in a mothers life when she has to learn that "kiddo" is all grown up & can handle things on his own. Yes he is a big boy & has become mature & hard working.

I so badly wanted to get involved with a situation that "kiddo" is dealing with but cus he has asked me to step aside I have done so reluctantly (yeah my spelling sucks).

I sometimes sit & wonder when did he grow up, where was I during this transformation .

Oh well I guess this is when I have to learn to give up my control & watch "kiddo" deal with his own issues

Totally off the topic I have been getting some SLEEP yippee

'I thought I'd never see my son'

By Mpume Madala

"He called me dad and I felt the hole in my heart close."

This was the reaction of Sketekete Madondo when he came face to face with a boy who he believes is his long-lost son.

For Madondo, the search for his son has taken on a special urgency because of a terminal illness.

Madondo and Lungile Ndlovu's son was allegedly kidnapped as a three-month-old baby in Pietermaritzburg in 1993.

The heart-wrenching reunion took place at the Pietermaritzburg Child Protection Unit when the parents, the boy, now 16 years old, and the woman accused of abducting him, came forward to give blood for DNA testing.

The boy was allegedly abducted from his biological mother Ndlovu in 1993 by a customer who Ndlovu knew when she was a street vendor in Pietermaritzburg.

The search for her son has taken Ndlovu years of "knocking on doors" and praying through the night for his safe return.

Madondo, who could not contain his tears when he saw the boy walk into the room, said he felt very bitter that this was how he had to meet his son after so many years.

"For many years, his mother and I searched, but at times gave up. I honestly never thought that I would see him alive again. This is my son, I know it. He looks like me and one of his sisters," he said.

Madondo, who is suffering from a terminal illness, said he had almost accepted that he would die without having seen his son again.

"My son came and spoke to me after we gave our blood samples and for the first time since his disappearance, I felt the hole in my heart close. He called me dad and that on its own has given me a reason to live," he said.

Ndlovu said she was really grateful that Molecular Diagnostic Services (Pty) Ltd kindly offered to do their paternity test free of charge.

"These people have given me hope because I know that in two weeks' time we should have our son back."

According to Ndlovu, she has already bought her son clothes and blankets to celebrate his return home.

Social worker Londiwe Nxusa, who was at the CPU when the blood samples were taken, said in such cases she would suggest that the boy is taken to special care until the results come out.

"The father seems very concerned about the well-being of the child if he continues to stay with the accused during this time and I think it would only be right if he is removed for the time being," she said.

This article was originally published on page 3 of The Daily News on June 11, 2008

SMS helps save mom and baby
10/06/2008 07:45 - (SA)

Alicestine October, Die Burger

Cape Town - A "please-call-me" to a total stranger probably saved the lives of a woman and her baby.

Amelia van der Byl, 38, of Belhar gave birth to a boy alone in her living room last Thursday.

Matthew was supposed to have made his arrival in the world on July 13, but was born more than a month premature on a pillow on the living room carpet.

Amelia said on Monday she started having sharp pains at about 08:25.

"I phoned my husband first, but couldn't get hold of him. Then I tried to phone my mother. No one responded. The pain was so bad by then.

"It's not at all how people write about it in books. There were no labour pains that occurred every 10 minutes," she said.

"I started sending out please-call-me's when my money (airtime on the cellphone) ran out. No one responded at first.

Cut the umbilical cord

"I didn't know what to do because my previous baby was born by Caesarean section.

"But, my instincts made me sit on my haunches with a pillow under me and, whoops, there was Matthew," she said.

This was at about 11:25.

Amelia wrapped her baby in a hand towel and staggered to the kitchen to cut the umbilical cord.

"I sterilised the scissors with matches, cut the umbilical cord and put the baby in bed to keep him warm."

She then fainted up to three times because she lost so much blood.

Matthew's screaming woke her up.

"I heard him screaming and tried to crawl to him."

Called 'Braveheart'

She then received a call from an unknown woman who had responded to her "please call me" and she asked the woman to get hold of her husband or her brother-in-law.

Amelia said she did not know the woman, named Junaid, but is very grateful she responded. She had sent the "please call me" to the phone number of a woman who worked with her husband, but later found out that she had a new number.

When her brother-in-law found her at about 17:10, she was very weak.

Hospital personnel refer to Amelia as "Braveheart".

Matthew weighed 1.87kg at birth. He is still in the neonatal intensive care unit at Christiaan Barnard Memorial Hospital.

Gynaecologist Dr Omar Pandie said a blood clot had formed that caused the placenta to separate from the uterus, resulting in the premature birth.

He said: "She and the child could have died."