It’s been a while since I’ve shared a few links worth perusing around these world wide internets. But a couple of things I read this week made me think it was high time I shared a little more for your weekend reading pleasure.
A sweet and funny friend of mine I’ve mentioned before has an alter-ego {named Mama A} that occasionally shows up on her blog to set people straight on issues concerning which they need, ahem, straightening. A recent topic was very timely, as I recently had a discussion elsewhere about the Biblical importance of modesty…but this pair of posts takes it in a whole new direction.
You Americans in the crowd might enjoy an outsider’s perspective on N’awleans after Katrina. My favourite Zimbabwean galpal is working on having seen more of my home country than I have! Check out: [New Orleans, Louisiana] Edgelands
A very talented international photographer (from Canada) recently took a heckuva fall (I think near the leaning tower of Pisa) and has been writing about his recovery on his blog. This recent post, just after his homecoming, has some great thoughts about life and choosing happiness.
This adorably heart-felt project, which literally makes hearts out of felt, and a bunch of other cute stuff, is making a difference in the lives of women in one impoverished community in South Africa. Check out the Heartfelt Project — it’s adorable and inspiring!
How do you weigh up the value of time and the value of money? Is it worth a commute into the big city to be able to afford a big house in the ‘burbs? A recent study in Sweden found that Commuting Makes You Unhappy, and when I think about work, and time, and what I want to give my kids most, I find this good food for thought.
And last but not least, a very timely post for me, as I am working through the emotions of leaving this mission field to head home, Emily from Chatting at the Sky talks about how she’s working through the emotional challenges returning home from a visit to the Philippines with Compassion bloggers. Here’s the colorful mess of joy and grief.
Feel free to pray for yours truly as I work through a similar process right now! And enjoy your weekend!
Get out your feather-duster and paint on your happy face…it’s time to photograph the three month old! You didn’t think I’d forgotten did ya? I am trying to squeeze this post in before he’s close to four months…
Around these parts this just past eighty-nine-day-old has garnered a new nickname, bestowed upon him jointly {and unbeknownst to one another} by an uncle in Atlanta and a Hero Hubs of a Dad right here in SA. Ladies and gentleman, he’s strong like one, he’s built like one, he even arrived into the world like one (you know, quickly, and with a lot of force), here he is, in a six-month-old bodysuit with a three-month-old sticker,
the Tank!
Photographing a little one of this strength (and magnitude) may not yet require a wide angle lens, but it does still require that little bit of the forethought we talked about last month. The pillow’s ready, the lens is ready, the natural lighting’s right, the big brother is napping, and an adult or two is on hand (with feather duster and happy faces) to bring out baby’s best.
It’s okay if that “best” is just his best sneeze to begin with. Keep shooting.
You’re bound to get an inquisitive “what’s that fluffy colourful thing?” look. Actually, he was thinking of a poem.
Maybe you’ll get the “Ooh, Gammy is over there!” look. Classic.
Keep shooting for the “I’m three months old and I can holler!!!” face.
Because the I’m so sweet, pick me up, cuddle me, hug me, love me, face comes after that.
If you keep the feather-duster flying, you might even get a “Ooh! Mom’s behind the camera!”
Followed closely by a “Did I mention I can HOLLER??!”
But beware the one where he looks so much like a baby picture you’ve seen of his G-pa you’re almost teary.
Now at this point, you probably have a collective plethora of delights which you would like to include in an email, Facebook album, or mayhaps even a blog post, to share the delights of your three-month-old with all the people of the land.
But with this many happy faces, how do you choose?
Might I suggest…
you slap ’em all together and give yourself a big smile.
Happy Three Months, Tank!
Love,
All the People of the Land, and your Mom & Dad
As our departure from these stunning southern shores approaches, I find myself trying to capture the memories like photographs in my mind. It feels like this place still has so many stories to tell. Although some doors closed quickly, and others opened far and wide, so that the way forward for us seemed so clear, still there’s a part of me that wishes we could linger a bit longer. It’s the way I sometimes feel after enjoying a wonderful meal: the conversation is moving to the living room, to more comfortable seats, perhaps teas and coffees, I am still in the dining room, not ready to blow out the candle on this season in South Africa.
There are stories that haven’t yet left my fingertips, ones I look forward to sharing with you here, about what presently is and once was but soon will no longer be. I was asked recently to write about living as an expat in South Africa for a magazine for expatriates (chiefly international families in Belgium). The magazine has gone to print and, with a nod to the glorious magic of the world wide web, I’m able to also share the electronic version with you right here.
If I’ve done this correctly, you can click to read and mosey on over to pages 50 to 52 for some of my thoughts on life in SA. {But rest assured plenty more thoughts will be coming your way right here!}
For a number of different reasons, I’ve recently been for a few swims in the ancient chronicles also organised as events inside my photo library. It’s often difficult not to stop and stare for a moment and remember. The only thing that is certain is that the stream keeps on flowing.
At the Christmas Market in Edinburgh, years ago.
A photo I took from my phone, when our car died and we sat in the Ikea cafeteria waiting for help.
A memory from one of my most favourite days…
Dear friends holding our firstborn for the first time.
Sometimes photography seems less about making sure the lighting and composition and focus and shutter speed are all perfect. Sometimes the most important thing is just grabbing the camera to savour the moment that is surely about to pass. You may not get something perfect for hanging on the walls of your home, but you often get something perfect for hanging on the walls of your heart.
Re-seeing these precious moments captured ushers me to thankful, and reminds me of the wisdom of this simple verse:
So teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom. {Psalm 90:12}
May the reminder that today never will be again, touch your heart in such a way that you’ll grab hold of thankfulness with both arms, and savour the good in every moment you’re given.
One of the biggest challenges of this transcontinental move, and moving in general for me, which hasn’t gotten much easier even though I’ve lived in at least a dozen places in the past ten years, is learning to let go of stuff. I am a bit of a closet hoarder, even though I’ve been a bit of a gypsy for the past decade. I hold on to things…mostly things that won’t take up a lot of space, even though I will probably never use them, just because I might need them.
We’re now firmly in the process of sifting through our things and making decisions about what we need to keep, sell or toss, and I’m finding things that we brought across from Scotland with us which I’ve never used. Silly, piddly things that were a waste of space, a waste of time packing and unpacking, a waste of money shipping and moving. There are clothes I brought over and haven’t worn. Shoes that traipsed across the continents in a box just to sit in the back of my closet.
It’s sad.
A few days ago the Hubs asked what I thought about not shipping anything across to the States and just taking whatever we can fit into the suitcases we’ll be travelling with. My eyes very quickly welled up with tears, and as I realised what was happening I said to myself:
Hoarder, we have a problem.
Like, why the heck am I so teary-eyed about stuff? We don’t have especially nice stuff. Most of the stuff I own has been given to me. Why am I so afraid of letting go? It’s just stuff.
As I brought that moment and my heart to the Lord, He seemed to shed light on the issue behind the hoarding:
Trust.
I hoard because I think “if I let this go, I won’t have it if I need it.” Or, “I might not be able to get one of these again.” Or, “This has sentimental value because it meant a lot to the person who gave it to me. (Even though I don’t like it and haven’t used it and won’t use it and it isn’t sentimental to me.”) Am I even hoarding other people’s baggage?
I realised that while mourning the letting go of my birthday gift crock pot, the blender and rice cooker we got as a wedding gifts, a set of knives here, a set of towels there, and all this stuff that, very honestly, isn’t worth the cost of the shipping across the ocean, I am really mourning out of fear that I won’t be able to get replacement stuff when we are settled in the States. My sadness actually has very little to do with sentimentality.
It’s really just fear because I likehaving stuff, and I am afraid of what it will be like tonot have stuff.
Once my eyes were opened to what was really going on in my heart, my perspective began to change completely. God has been a faithful provider of every need, and ever-so-many wants, even in these years where I’ve been far away from home and often on a tight budget. Is there really any reason to fear that He’s going to stop providing when I’m back in the Carolinas?
This fresh perspective knocked the fear right out of my heart, and as the packing process has continued, I’ve been able to say, repeatedly, “We don’t need to bring that. We can do without it, and if we need one, we’ll be able to find one when we’re there.” It has been incredibly life-giving to say “I’m not really that attached to this stuff anyway. Let’s let go! Maybe we’ll even be able to find better stuff!” — I’m looking at this as an opportunity for God to bless us, and teach us contentment and I’m choosing hope instead of fear.
It seemed as if God was pleased with this turn-about: I felt fresh joy in my heart and a new spring in my step, just by mentally letting go of stuff. A weight had lifted.
And then guess what happened?
Besides being a former closet-hoarder, I am also a bit of a giveaway addict. When a blog is hosting a giveaway and I hear about it, honestly, I can’t resist. Knowing that just by leaving a little comment at the bottom of a blog post offering a giveaway means I could win something…I can’t pass it up. In the back of my mind I always hear the phrase:
“By entering, you increase your chances of winning by 100%.”
And though I have never, ever won anything on a blog giveaway up until this point, that doesn’t stop me from trying. So a couple weeks ago, the Nester and DaySpring were hosting a little giveaway. They were giving away some cute little blocks DaySpring has created, which you can use to spell different sweet things in your home, perhaps on a mantlepiece or a shelf. I (of course) took a moment to leave a comment, and then proceeded to completely forget about it and move on to whatever I was supposed to be doing with that free moment.
This morning, I received a happy little email from the Nester, notifying me that I was one of the giveaway winners. I was ever-so very delighted. This simple little provision of something that will decorate the home we hope to have someday felt like a token, and a message straight from heaven:
“I’m pleased with you. And I can provide for you. Well done on letting go.”
Whatever your fear — whether it keeps you from letting go of stuff or keeps you from stepping out and doing something brave, I’d like to encourage you to bring it to God. I’m so encouraged that He is meeting me and helping me through even something as simple as this, with His grace and goodness.
xCC
P.S. Thank you so much, Nester and DaySpring! This gift is a blessing to my soul!
I create resources to help people find deeper, more meaningful relationships with God through pursuing, pondering, and prayer. The "Shop" link above will take you to the home of many of the lovely resources I’ve created to help you keep walking one day deeper with Jesus.
I create resources to help people find deeper, more meaningful relationships with God through pursuing, pondering, and prayer. The "Shop" link above will take you to the home of many of the lovely resources I’ve created to help you keep walking one day deeper with Jesus.