Publisher’s note: It is a rare experience to welcome a family from South Africa to Red Tail. Liza and Marius Combrinck, along with their four children, have truly embarked on an extraordinary journey.

We are the Combrinck family — Marius and Liza, parents to four children and proud grandparents to three little ones. At our core, we are a close-knit family who loves deeply, values time together, and believes strongly in building a life rooted in faith, family, and legacy.

Our journey began in South Africa, where our children were raised and where we once imagined growing old together, surrounded by family and future generations. Over time, however, life began opening doors in unexpected places, and our family story gradually unfolded across continents.

In 2019, our eldest daughter moved from South Africa to Texas with her husband, Daniel. A few years later, in early 2022, we — Marius, Liza, and our two sons, Ruach and Lael — made the difficult but hopeful decision to leave South Africa with just two suitcases each. We sold and gave away most of what we owned and stepped into a season of change, trusting that this new chapter was part of a bigger plan.

At that time, our daughter Zamri remained in South Africa with her fiancé, Andreas. After their marriage in November 2022, they began their own journey and relocated to New Zealand, where they are now raising their young family. Each transition meant learning to say goodbye in stages — never easy, but always met with love, trust, and the determination to stay connected no matter the distance.

Our path first led us to Germany, where we lived for 18 months. It was a season of growth and stretching. During this time, our son Ruach learned to speak German and completed his apprenticeship, qualifying as an Elektroniker für Automatisierungstechnik (Electronics Technician for Automation Technology). When the time came for us to move on, Ruach remained in Germany to complete his studies. Letting go again was difficult, but it was also a moment of pride as we watched him step into adulthood and build a life of his own, which he now shares with his wife, Patricia.

In 2023, Marius, Liza, and Lael relocated to the United States — once again starting fresh with just two suitcases each. Rebuilding life meant navigating new systems, building from the ground up, and embracing the adventure with resilience and gratitude.

Marius serves as Director of Sales & Service at Herzog Automation. Liza is growing her consulting business, Virtuous Bizniz LLC. Lael is a junior at Malone University in Canton, where he also serves as an Assistant Resident Director (ARD), combining his studies with leadership and mentorship on campus.

Today, our family is joyfully global. Our children live in Texas, Germany, New Zealand, and Ohio, and our three grandchildren are growing up across time zones. While distance has changed the shape of our family life, it has not changed the closeness of our hearts. We celebrate milestones on video calls, hold traditions across continents, and remain deeply connected.

Life hasn’t unfolded the way we once imagined — but it has been richer, fuller, and more meaningful than we could have planned. We are resilient, hopeful, and deeply grateful, trusting that we are exactly where we are meant to be for this season. And while our family is spread across the world today, we hold onto the hope and trust that one day we will be together again. Until then, we continue building, loving, and living fully — and we are thankful to call Red Tail home as we walk this chapter together.

At heart, we are a hardworking family who values faith, family, resilience, and legacy. We believe deeply in showing up for one another, building from the ground up, and staying rooted in what matters most. We are grateful to call Red Tail home and appreciate the warmth and welcome we’ve found here as we continue building this next chapter of our lives.

Small-town folk always find the most creative ways to keep themselves amused, and that always ensured that we had a lot of fun.  Sunny South Africa provided many opportunities for outdoor surfing, diving, fishing, hiking, or biking. As our family aged, the children developed hobbies and likes of their own, but we never neglected spending time with family, traveling, building community, going on long walks, having good coffee, and having meaningful conversations. 

We love the church and grew up being active in our communities. Even now, living in Cleveland, we have found the most special people and made really good friends.

We are busy people, and we both let our hands in to restore either old cars or furniture pieces. In Ohio, we have identified all the local thrift stores and have completed the restoration of a couple of pieces that we use in our house.

We have not yet found the ideal hangout place and are still looking for that great local hiking path and nearby parks — we enjoy being outdoors and exploring the area, but we still need to get used to having long, cold winters. In many ways, we have adapted to home cooking and having friends over. 

We love authentic cuisine and enjoy trying out different local restaurants, although home-cooked meals are still our favorite. Some of our current local favorites include Chatty’s, Thai Spice, and Kintaro.

Our family lives all over the world, so our vacations are generally spent travelling to our loved ones and spending quality time with each other. When visiting our family, we seek out anything with nature, mountains, the ocean, or meaningful family connections. Our family is located in Cape Town, South Africa; Windhoek, Namibia; Austin, Texas; the Algarve, Portugal; Osnabrück, Germany; Auckland, New Zealand; and London, UK.

South African's favorite sport is rugby. Besides having a great national rugby culture, South Africa also plays international rugby when competing in the 14-nations tournament every 4 years. Rugby will always be close to our hearts. 

Since moving to the U.S., we’ve had the privilege of attending ice hockey, baseball, football, and basketball games. Baseball is the one sport we were most familiar with, as our boys played baseball while growing up in South Africa.

Family movies, documentaries, and inspiring true-story films. Family's all-time Favorite = Shrek

Music:
When you raise four children, all with varied tastes in music, the home could often be rather noisy. As empty nesters, we have come to enjoy the 80`s music along with some American country and a hint of Michael Buble`. 

Our family is all musicians, or rather, fireplace musicians, so being part of the music team in our church has always been close to our hearts. 

We both do office jobs, so in the evening and over weekends we prefer to stay active doing something. And that is where the love for the restoration of furniture or cars comes to play. But there is always time for quiet evenings at home, reading, listening to music, going for walks, and spending quality time together. We also enjoy tinkering, creating, and working on small projects.

Family dinner:
Dinner together is important to us — it’s our time to connect, talk about the day, and unwind. As a family, we’ve always loved to braai together around an open-flame grill, sharing food, laughter, and unhurried time.

Family traditions:
Celebrating milestones, sharing meals, and honoring faith-based traditions while staying closely connected with our extended family around the world. For birthdays, we’ve always woken the birthday boy or girl with a candle-lit cupcake, singing Happy Birthday and speaking blessings over the year ahead. Today, we love seeing our children continue these traditions in their own homes — often with us joining in via video calls or sending recorded birthday messages across the miles.

Back in South Africa, December meant summertime — long days of swimming, watermelon on repeat, and Christmas celebrations that looked very different from what many imagine. One of our favorite memories is our watermelon peel fights, a tradition full of laughter and joy that still brings smiles whenever we talk about it.

We have been part of the Red Tail community for just over a year, arriving here on December 20, 2024.

We are actively involved in our local church, where we host and lead a small group and participate in outreach days that serve and support the wider community. We also enjoy connecting with neighbors, supporting local businesses, and building meaningful relationships within the Red Tail community. We are so grateful for the warm welcome we received from all the neighbors around, true Midwest hospitality. The peaceful surroundings, beautiful environment, and the strong sense of community — it truly feels like home.