Newest Updates

Well a bunch of months have passed since Kaycee Hannah was born and as every first time mom know , time is no longer your own. As I am updating this Kaycee has fallen asleep and I thought it was time to do a little update and say hi from our family.

Kaycee Hannah Brenkman was born at 4:13 am on the 15th June. She was the most beautiful thing Giyan and I set our eyes on and we were very excited to see her. Rene spent a week in hopsital to recover from a c-section but we were soon home to not much sleep and figuring out how to adjust to this new addition to our lives.

About three weeks after she was born, Rene's mom came to stay and help for 7 weeks. It was such a blessing to have mom here as she helped me so much. I had no idea how I was going to handle everything once mom was gone, but it all worked out really well in the end. It is amazing how you adjust to no sleep and very little time to do anything.

Rene's dad came to visit too for 2 weeks and although it flew past so fast it was wonderful for Kaycee to meet at least one set of Grandparents already. He was able to dedicate Kaycee for us on the 3rd of August which was as super special time.
Kaycee's name means: Bold and Alert and from the moment she was born she was exactly that - VERY alert. It was amazing to see. She still is at 4 months and is growing super fast. She started to roll over in the middle of her second month and has begun to grab things a lot more now. She loves looking at everyone from her tummy and likes to be tickled on her tummy. She even enjoys her evening bath now. She doesn't much like sleep during the day recently which is no fun for mom but she is a good sleeper at night at this stage.

Kaycee has had her first immunizations and about to have her second ones already. We can hardly believe how fast she is growing. We are really thankful to the Lord for such a wonderful daughter who is a real joy to us.

On other news front, Giyan and I celebrated our 5th year anniversary this past weekend and it fell very close to the Canadian Thanksgiving weekend and trust me we have so much to be thankful for.

Giyan got an early birthday present where he was sent on a 6 hour adventure cave tour. He went with a fellow South African friend and had a fantastic time - although quite a scary adventure and not at all for the faint hearted. I was so proud of my husband though cause even though I booked the tour there was no ways I would ever be doing that myself.

On the same weekend we had a bit of drama in our neighbourhood. In the middle of the night we heard fire engines and police cars in our area and upon looking our Kaycee's bedroom window saw to our shock and horror that a house was burning down very close to us. It was not fun to watch at all and very sad as in the end two houses burnt down to the ground and one was really badly damaged. Praise God no one was hurt. We are still not sure what the cause of the fire was.

Rene has finally written her Canadian Citizenship exam and is currently waiting for the date for her Swearing in. We are so excited that she will eventually have a Canadian Passport !

Finally although it is only October it is snowing here like crazy and has gone from plus 30 degrees in temperature to - 15 degrees and big snow.....

Well that is our current update, look forward to hearing from you all soon...... We will try and keep this updated more regularly.

God bless !

Baby Room

As promised here are some pics of the completed and decorated baby room.

The past couple of months

Once again the time has just flown by and just when we wanted to do more regular updates on our blogger it is already May. Well at least we have some stories to tell and more pictures to share.

Over the Easter weekend, for my birthday, Giyan treated me to a road trip down to Montana. We had a lovely 4 days driving down to Kalispell and Missoula. It was still pretty chilly but the scenery as always was spectacular. I was able to still handle sitting for longer periods of time but the pit stops were many and I was amazed at how many washrooms we did find along the way :)

At one of our stops we saw the most spectaular birds and wished we had a bird book to be able to identify the electric blue birds we saw before us. The mountains were still covered in snow and spectacular. One of the cutest towns we stopped in was Big Fork. We could only imagine how exciting and pretty the town would be when it was all opened in the summer and there was more people around. The stores were mostly closed but there was one really cute store that was three stories big and full of wonderful treats, enough to keep you busy looking the whole day.

The whole round trip would be even more special in Summer because there are a lot of sights that were closed becuase they were out of season. So we did a lot of eating and a bit of shopping. Mostly just enjoyed each others company and spent time talking a lot. Packing in some dating time before Baby Brenkman comes along :) On our way back from Kalispell we need to drive through a small town called Browning.Well the wind was so strong here it nearly blew the car off the road. It was almost 100 kms a hour !! It was an awesome weekend - a lovely birthday gift and a fun trip for Giyan who just loves driving and the States.

The following weekend was my actual birthday

and I decided to have a birthday party. Specifically an English Tea Party for about 13 of my friends. It was awesome. A friend from Vancouver, Cheryl came out to spend the weekend. I was so thankful to have her as we had planned to do some major baking together for the tea party and due to unforseen circumstances I wasn't able to do the baking with her. So she totally blessed me out of my boots and socks and ended up doing everything !!

And it was so yummy. Everyone had lots of fun and we even had a few ladies dress up for the part :) I just love birthdays ......

The first weekend of May we had yet more visitors from BC, Wilma and Kellie Kellerman. With me being just a month and a half away from my due date, we decided to relax as much as possible, but of course that doesn't really happen right?? We ate out a lot and then took a drive out to Drumheller to see the Dinasour Museum. It was quite amazing. I didn't think I would like it but it really was something to see. Check is out at http://www.tyrrellmuseum.com/

It was a lovely weekend with dear friends.

In between all this travel and visitors we have both been working hard. Giyan at his new position as CPAC Technical Coordinator at the City and at the time of writing this email I am already on maternity leave on my first week of vacation while waiting for baby to arrive. I am so proud of Giyan, he has had this wonderful opportunity to move into a new temporary position at the City for the next year and although he is challenged he is loving his new role.

Before I left work, the staff at Fairborne spoilt me with a baby shower. It was so awesome and such a blessing as all we had really bought for baby so far was the big furniture items. So after the party we had just about everything we needed to get our baby started :)

We will update again shortly with some baby room pics etc.... Only 2 more weeks to go before Baby Brenkman arrives : Yee Ha !!

30 weeks and counting ! Yes, time is getting closer. Our little one is growing well and moving lots. We have been so thankful and blessed how wonderful the pregnancy has been going. We pray for baby Brenkman every day and are excited for his/her’s arrival around the 7th June 2009. Daddy Brenkman is as excited as pie to watch mom’s belly growing each week and to feel the little one kicking.

We have had another two scans since we last wrote and still baby is not letting on to their sex L

Giyan did a trip with a good friend of ours down to Idaho to pick up a crib and a few other things that we had ordered. So now we have the big odds and ends that we needed to get our baby room all ready.

Our den has officially now been converted into a bedroom, and Giyan has done a fantastic job of painting the room a creamy color. We ave just begun to move a few items into the room so that we can start decorating. We will update the blogger and send some pictures of the renos and when it is all all set up.

We had the opportunity to attend the Breakforth Conference (http//www.new-creation.net/breakforth.htm) in Edmonton with Doug and Susie Yuen. This was our very first time attending, but wow what a fantastic experience. Very well organized and fantastic speakers and worship leaders. Every day started with at least 30 minutes of dynamic worship and then we would break up into workshops that we had pre-chosen topics to listen to for that particular day. Every single one that each of us attended was a blessing and very spot of for where we at in our walk with God at the time. It was a refreshing time spiritually as well as spending quality time with good friends.

Then Rene had a visit from Christina Caleb for a weekend at the end of February. What a pleasure that was because the two girls chatted non stop about baby things and all sorts. Giyan spoilt drove us to a few baby shops so that I could gather as many tips as possible in preparation for babies arrival. I have to say, Christina was full of great ideas. We then took a drive out to Johnston Canyon/Banff for a day and had a lovely time walking in the snow and fellowshipping more.

Keep checking over the next while for more adventures and news - Love Giyan and Rene

Lake Louise December 2008

I had a wonderful suprise this past weekend. A good friend of mine, Bridget Stone came to visit all the way from Maryland, USA. This was a treat for both of us especially for Bridget who has three boys that she home schools at home. Her wonderful Husband, Nigel agreed to look after them over a long weekend so that she could come and visit me. Bridget and I have been friends since High School in South Africa. So we had TONS to talk about.

Bridget arrived on a interesting weekend. First of all it was totally freezing the whole weekend. Like - 32 degrees freezing and not at all fun to drive around in - let alone go for walks. However, we were blessed to have my company Christmas Party on this exact weekend. Many of you know this is a huge treat as we all get to go up to Lake Louise to the Fairmont for a
night at the hotel and dinner and breakfast. Bridget got to go with us to the hotel and stay and enjoy the breakfast with us on Sunday morning. She enjoyed reading and walking around the hotel the Saturday night.

We were blessed to use friends of ours 4 x 4 to get to Lake Louise which was very much needed. Our Jetta was just not happy in this cold weather. We have not had this type of weather for a very long time. So cold that everything just freezes including car doors and windows. Something else.

Anyway, all in all, lots of cups of tea and a fantastic weekend. Thanks Nigel and boys for sending Bridget over !!

Baby Brenkman

We were teased just before we went to Hawaii by folks that we would have a Hawaii baby, well suprise suprise, we actually found out that we were expecting Baby Brenkman 5 days before we actually went on holiday !!

So here were are to share that we are expecting our first little one and ever so excited about his/her arrival. This scan was the first one taken on 9 weeks and 1 day. Baby is healthy and growing fast. At the time of writing this email I am 16 weeks along.

I have been doing really well. Was very nauseas from week 8 till about week 15 but that is heaps better and of course very tired. But I am now in my second trimester and doing well.


Thank you to everyone who has been praying for us ! God does answer prayers. This has been a journey for us but God promised He was faithful to his promises and He has so kept that promise. Giyan is very excited to become a daddy and gets more excited every day when he sees my tummy is growing !!


Baby Brenkman is due on the 7th June. We will continue to keep you posted !!

Hawaii October 2008

Our adventure began around 2:30 p.m. on the 10th October, on our trip to Oahu, Hawaii. We flew out with great excitement and had a few hours stop over in Vancouver and then straight on to Hawaii. Both of us were quite shocked how long 5 hours felt (seasoned travellers and all :) Anyway, we arrived in Honolulu around 9:p.m in the darkness. We were both quite impacted as to how open the airport was. We got through customs without a problem and immediately found the car hire company that we had rented our car from. All I can say is thank you Lord for GPS and am I ever glad that Giyan bought one, cause to tell you the truth without one you are totally lost in this place. We found our condo really easily and were pleasantly surprised at the location and as to how nice the place was. We had asked for a top unit and we got it. We were 4 blocks away from the main Waikiki's Beach and lots of great shops. So perfect location. Our condo was a one bedroom with full kitchen, but perfect for us and really cosy. Check out the website, we stayed in the Royal Moana. http://www.aliibeachrentals.com.

Within a day we saw that the flora, fauna and bird life on the island was spectacular. Oh my gosh, the colors of the birds and the sounds you could hear each morning were spectacular. And there are hundreds of real palm trees. It really does look like the TV Programme, Magnum :)

As we had hired a car we decided to try a different thing everyday. So we explored our local area first and discovered that there was lots of nice places to eat, even though we had decided to buy food at the local, Walmart, Costco and Safeway. One of the very first drives we took was to Nuuanu Pali State Park. This is an now a lookout area. Hawaiians would walk from one end of the island to the other side of the island and they would use this then very dangerous pathway to get there. At that time they did not have a proper roadway to get to the other end of the island. This is the view of the Pali Lookout from the top. Totally stunning - a whole lot cooler and windier.Waimea Bay - now listen here, we are from South Africa right and used to rough waves. Well, all I can say is this was something else. Note the picture above. Hardly anyone is in the water. When we arrived we heard the life guard warning parents and inexperienced swimmers that these waves were killers. Breaker of backs and legs and arms. Please be careful and rather not swim. At first we thought they were a bit dramatic but upon sitting a little longer and watching we noticed the waves were very hard and strong. Giyan did venture in, but came out with very big eyes and said, "Maybe not:)" One of our favorite beaches was near Kailua - a long stretch of beach and hardly anyone around.

One of the places of interest that we visited was Diamond Head State Monument. This is now a old volcano crater created 300,000 years ago. It was like walking in the desert. Very brown and super arred. This is a tourist attraction that has been turned into a hike. And what a hike it was. It was the most unbelievably hot day, so thankfully we took lots of water. Although not a long walk it was super steep and ended in a windy stairwell with about 272 stairs and a HUGE view at the top. When we were done at the top we decided to get down as soon as possible and have a Hawaiian Shaved Ice - see pic below :)

Although I have so much to tell you about Hawaii and what we did, I don't want to bore you with all the details, but before we end off we have to tell you about Hanama Bay. This was one of favourite days!! We left really early with our snorkels and flippers and TONS of sun tan lotion and our $ 5. We started off by just sitting at this gorgeous beach watching how everyone else did the snorkeling and eventually ventured in. Although I have done this once before, it was still something to get used to. Giyan got it immediately. At first we didn't see a single thing, however, soon enough the most spectatular fish swam past us. We could hardly count all the beautiful fish and the magnificent colors. Yet again we were awed at God's creation and his creativity !!!

The best part of the whole day was the two sea turtles that we swam with. Absolutely stunning. (We did not take any photos under water, so you will just have to believe us :) )

As I end this update, I will add just a few other general photos of places we visited and saw. One was Pearl Harbor and the other was the Dole Plantation. So if you were still thinking about going, I have to tell that you really should reconsider. It is a great vacation, for driving, swimming, sleeping, shopping and 101 other things.

July 2008

Yes, we know it is almost the end of July 2008 and this is the first time we have updated our blogger. We have a few friends who have sent emails and even called to ask “When are you going to update the blogger” So here we are, better late then never, right?

2008 really started with a bang! Rene was promoted to Supervisor of Office Services within her company early on in the year and has not stopped learning new things since. However, she is not complaining as this is an answer to prayer for her and a huge blessing. Giyan has been very successful in gaining approval for at number of very big projects with the City of Calgary and has been a great success at all that he has been doing.

On the Ellel front we have both been quite involved with Calgary Ellel this year. Giyan completed the Prayer Ministry Training and is now able to be part of the Ministry team which is very exciting. Rene has taught at a few weekends and will be doing a teaching on Singleness at the upcoming school in July. (Yes, she was once single and does have some things to say about that J)

March was an exciting month for us as we drove down to Idaho and spend some time with Rene’s cousin, Jennifer and her Aunt and Uncle, Bill and Baby. It was wonderful to see where they lived and spend some time with them. We also had great fun shopping in Spokane as, Albertans do not have to pay sale’s tax on clothing items. So with the fact that it was a sales weekend, the Canadian Dollar is stronger than the American and that we do not have to pay sales tax we had a wonderful time shopping. The scenery going down to Spokane is gorgeous.

We attend a exciting and vibrant church called C3 Calgary(http://westhills.ccbchurch.com) and once a month they run a men’s breakfast. So in the month of April, Rene volunteered to cook breakfast for about 30 men (this was a first). It worked out very well – sausage, ham, eggs, yoghurt, muffins and toast. Needless to say that was a lot of fun and the guys loved it. Giyan attended a Leadership Course called Every Leader once a month at church and loved it. C3 is very motivated to invest in and encourage people to grow in the calling that God has in their lives. We live about 45 minutes from church at this point and find it challenging sometimes to get as involved as we would love to in the church community, but we have begun to make friends and be part of a growing church.

The other highlight of the year so far was having family over again from South Africa. We both took three weeks off work and took Ma and Pa Brenkman on a road trip to British Columbia. Having lived in Vancouver for two years we felt that we wanted to show them a little of our life as we began in Canada. It was a fun filled and rain free three weeks. We stopped in Panorama, Nelson, Osooyos, Vancouver, Victoria, Whistler and finally at a beautiful hotel near Revelstoke called Three Gap Valley Lake Chateau. We ate glorious food, saw bears, foxes and many deer and the men even dared to do the Zip Trek in Whistler. Of course us ladies shopped and chatted mostly, but that is exactly what we needed.

Arriving back from our trip we came right into a busy Stampede week. Mom and Dad had the opportunity to attend the Calgary Stampede, Chuck Wagon races and Grand Stand Show, which the totally loved. Giyan and I both had the opportunity to attend the Rodeo this year which is awesome and a must for anyone who wants to experience the Stampede. If you have no idea what I am talking about have a look at this website http://calgarystampede.com. This is a world class event and a must for anyone.

So it is now the middle of July and we are back to work and ready for the next half of the year. God has blessed us immensely with so many good things here in Canada. We are thankful to be alive and well and that we have been able to see family a lot this past year. We are thankful for friendships all over the world and for what God has done and what he continues to do.

Look forward to hearing from you all soon.

Lots of love

Giyan and Rene