How my children have changed

Today I stumbled upon this photo of Megan and Phillip taken days before we left South Africa and I can't believe how much they have changed in the last 7 months....not only have they slimmed down and toned up but they seem much more mature confident children.

I think having the responsibility of being allowed to walk into the village on their own (or Megan at least) and being able to play outside in the streets has toughened them up somehow and they are now a bit more streetwise then they were before.....I know that this doesn't necessarily seem like a good thing, but I think it has done them good to get out from under the over protective "wrapped in cotton wool" environment that was their past and into this new huge world with loads to discover.

In some respects however we are paying the price, they are more "mouthy" then they would ever have dared be in South Africa and they are more willing to stop and chat with strangers which I have to watch constantly, just because people are generally nice and friendly and we are greeted by every person we pass when we walk doesn't mean that the world is not full of sick people and it is difficult to teach them how to distinguish between the two.

I am ever so grateful that I am able to be a stay-at-home mom (in the true sense of the word) as at least I am here when they return from school and have been able to meet and get to know their friends. I think in a country where public transport is so accessible to them, and the independence that that brings, as parents we have to be even more vigilant of what they are doing and who they are spending time with then in South Africa where we can rely on fences and gates to protect them.

All said, I love the people they are becoming and I am so thrilled to have been able to give them this life changing experience and to have opened up their lives as we have....they have coped amazingly well with all the changes and literally seem to be blossoming before my eyes.