Souders Family Update-April 2007

We have arrived back home safe and sound after a 2500km road trip in a big giant circle from Jo’burg through Botswana and back. It was a fun and fascinating trip, once again. Our favorite part was canoeing through the hippo trails in the Okavango Delta. A real treat.

A family decision has finally been made…..da da da daaaa….We have decided that we will all stay in Jo'burg until December of 2007 .Then we will all come home for the Christmas break. In January, Jeffrey and I will stay in San Jose, Bill and Caitlin will return to Jo'burg and stay until she matriculates in Jan of 2009. We will be apart for 1 year (with many visits in between, of course).

This solution works well for all of us. Jeffrey finishes his full year at St. John’s and then returns to the middle of his sophomore year at Lincoln. That is good in a few ways, the details are too mundane to write here but it works. He really, really misses his old life and freedom. He has plans to get a job, study guitar with his favorite teacher and hang out with his friends. Caitlin has realized that she would never be as happy at Lincoln as she is at Kingsmead. She will start university in the fall of 2009, which is a year later than if she went to Lincoln….except we have always talked about a “Gap Year” for travel, fun and service anyway, so now she will only have a ½ “gap year”. BTW, that is a hugely popular thing to do in most of the world and I even think it is catching on in America. We actually met 3 young kids on their Gap Year in Botswana. They are from England and will attend Cambridge upon their return. Caitlin by the way is over the moon about living alone with Bill. She can barely wait until I leave. Hmmmm…..I think she thinks that she is going to get away with more but Bill and I will put the rules in stone before I leave. I sure will miss them but we all realize it is time. I mean she is 17 and a half, an age when many kids have left home either for boarding school or university and we feel extremely lucky to have had our closeness for such a long time. Sniff-sniff.

I will be able to go home and start riding again and remodeling the house a bit.

Bill will continue his exciting job…vowing that he never wants to work in an office situation again. We plan on moving into a flat near Caitlin’s school (may try to buy one to keep it for the World Cup in 2010, but not sure how difficult that would be). That way she can walk when Bill is out of town. We are going to get one with maid’s quarters and ask Leticia to live with us. She would be able to walk to Rosebank and do the grocery shopping and cooking and walk Caitlin to and from school (school rule). Caitlin will also try and get her Learner’s Permit so that she can drive to school and functions when necessary.

All of this is dependant on a few very important things:

--Will Lincoln accept Jeffrey in Dec. (we think “yes” but you never know).

--Can Bill and Caitlin get their Visas extended?

--Is this OK with Cisco?

All in all this has been an incredible opportunity for us. No regrets at all!

Much Love,

Sal