Back from the Bush

May 9, 2012 | South Africa

Guys and Gals! {Okay mostly gals} Please forgive me for the majorly long pause on the line! We headed off to the game reserve for the wedding and I was completely certain I would be able to update you from the middle of nowhere, but I. was. wrong.

There was ZERO Internet connection and to be honest, I think that was probably a good thing. My phone died no less than five days ago and I still haven’t bothered charging it. And while I would have liked to have been instagraming photos of giraffes and zebras (don’t forget that is pronounced zeh-bruhs) I think getting good and unplugged for a few days is a good thing for anyone.

But would you like to hear a few highlights from the adventure so far?

K good because there are lots.

Before we left Bloemfontein, the Hubs and I capitalised on the presence of other adults and snuck out after the kiddies’ bedtime to see The Avengers.  Although that has very little to do with being in South Africa, we give it four thumbs way up, and I think it was so good it was worth mentioning anyway. Great laughs. But does the fact that I think I prefer watching movies not in 3D mean I’m getting old?

The trip down to Kwandwe, the game reserve where the wedding was held, was relatively uneventful. Remind me to write a post about travelling with small children sometime and I’ll give you the inside scoop on throwing nap time out the window and why any time is a good time for snack time.

Our time at the reserve, and the reserve itself, was amazing. The wedding was actually set in the bush — meaning the guests in attendance rode Land Cruisers out to a remote spot with an amazing view and not much else, where they’d set up a little scene on a hilltop with flowers hanging from the trees in glass bottles, champagne and canapes followed the brief hitching ceremony, and the bride and her father arrived in a Land Cruiser (think “Safari vehicle” if you need help picturing that) after all the guests were ready and waiting.

Penny (my new sister-in-law) looked stunning in a perfect-for-the-setting wedding dress that her mother wore on her wedding day. Vaughan (HH’s brother) looked very happy. And when the local ladies arrived in yet another Landy to serenade the newlyweds, the Bear busted out his own dance moves and demonstrated his impeccable rhythm.

The Hubs captured the day with some shots I am looking forward to showing you, but because of the internet issues we have pictures on a machine that can’t get online and a machine online that doesn’t have the pictures, and no way to remedy that right now. Dark ages, right?

In addition to the wonderful wedding and surrounding festivities we had a blast viewing game big and small on the 22,ooo hectares (a hectare is almost two and a half acres) of reserve there for the exploring. {Think ginormous.}

We had heaps of firsts, like seeing cheetahs in the wild for the first time, seeing an aardwolf and then another and another, and having a brilliant sighting of a lion and lioness. (The day the Hubs asked me to marry him we went for a drive on a game reserve with lions but we only spotted them under a bush resting and we could barely see them).

Hearing a lion roar for the first time may have been THE highlight. Besides the wedding.

We are now down at the coast – know where the movie The Endless Summer was filmed? And Friday we’ll head to Wilderness (near Knysna!) where we’ll enjoy more family time until next Wednesday!

Hopefully we’ll solve our idea emergency and I’ll be able to share photos with you soon!

xCC

 

 

Held

Apr 30, 2012 | Stories, The Good Word, The Parenthood

It occurred to me at around 11 pm, holding a tired and jet lagged baby, just next to his little sleeping tent. He didn’t want to be rocked, he didn’t want milk. He didn’t want a song or a back rub. He definitely did not want an explanation — this is an unfamiliar place, but Mommy and Daddy are right down the hall, brother is in the room, the surroundings will feel more familiar soon, with some good sleep you’ll feel better in the morning. Can you say waste. of. breath. Not a cuddle or a stroll or a late night snack–

He just wanted to be held.

I had plenty of time to think about it, since it was my turn, sitting there doing the holding, and it occurred to me that perhaps we all feel that way sometimes.

When a friend of mine has a problem though, I’m not very good at that holding. I’m more of a come-up-with-solutions or let’s-look-on-the-bright-side kind of friend. What-can-I-do-to-help-fix-it and what-are-the-perfect-words-for-this-situation and how-can-we-solve-this-in-a-thirty-minute-phone-conversation.

But I remembered in the dark there at 11 pm, Job — declared righteous and good by the Lord — sitting in ashes and bemoaning the loss of his health, his livelihood, his family. And I remembered his friends — who just sat with him for seven days because they saw he was in so much pain. They held his problem by being present.

But once they started opening their mouths at least half of what they had to say was useless. He didn’t deserve the lot that befell him — somehow inside God’s sovereignty, it just happened. The long diatribes and arguments were a waste of breath.

And the best thing they did turned out to be the thing they did right at the start — the being present in the midst of the suffering. The holding.

Maybe this holding is a good thing for me: learning that where my pride would rather do - the simple act of being present can be more valuable than a heap of well-put-together words. Whether we’ve been alive sixty days or sixty weeks or sixty years, there are times when we just need to be held — held in the presence of God, and held by one another.

But we who pace in front of the microwave struggle with this concept: the truth that sometimes time is a big part of the answer. There are problems that can’t be solved in a day. There are issues that aren’t resolved with the right words. Questions that aren’t answered by Google. The things we like to call opportunities in disguise — it takes time to unravel those costumes.

The best stuff in life can’t be ordered at a drive-thru.

We can plant, we can water, but time — there has to be time for the blooming.

I pondered all this until tired baby was well-enough asleep for me to gently lay him down again. Can we learn again this long-forgotten way of being? To simply sit in the presence, in the arms of our good Father — not needing words, not begging answers, not hollering for something to change about the situation — could I trust enough to just be held? To be still and know?

And can we be the type of people who are willing to hold one another? In prayer, in presence, knowing how love is sometimes spelled?

It’s peaceful inside the room as I close the door behind me. I’m amazed to think my presence — just being there — was enough.

xCC

Safely in the Deep, Deep South

Apr 24, 2012 | South Africa

It was a solid forty-eight hours of traveling. Yes, forty-eight. I spelled it out so you would be sure. Two nights trying to sleep on an airplane. A long London layover in between. A four (turned three-ish) hour drive from Joburg to Bloem at the end of it all. All I can say is, if you said a prayer for us, thank you. It was occasionally a little challenging, juggling the baby and the big boy and wanting to rest but needing to hold, but by God’s grace I would actually call that little trip across the pond amazing.

Seriously.

When I watched all the other parents on our flights who just had one kid to handle struggle to eat their meals while both the boys were sleeping peaceful-quiet and the Hubs and I were cutting into our smashing British Airways Chicken Curry and watching Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, (loved it the second time!) I felt kind of guilty.

But, I just kept eating.

The Hubs proved his Hero moniker all over again, of course. The Bear proved that he is undoubtedly the best-travelling-three-year-old in the history of the planet. And Tiger Tank proved that sometimes chocolate really can solve all your problems.
 

{I’d like to score another photo like this one of the Bear with Tiger Tank in Goo-Goo and Gammy’s garden here in Bloemfontein, but it’s a little too cool for this clothing option (remember it’s autumn in the southern hemisphere) and he doesn’t have those cherub curls yet. When dat baby gone get some hair?}

Since arrival we’ve basically just managed to get over jet lag and get a SIM card so we can at least have some (limited) internet access. And, we picked up a few essentials at Pick n Pay (my old grocery store/supermarket/happy place). I may or may not have been teary-eyed when the cashier asked me for my Smart Shopper card. I wistfully looked down the aisles with my sorrowful reply I don’t have one anymore…

Now why I still feel more at home in a South African supermarket where things are packed in grams and kilograms and prices are in Rand, I’m afraid I don’t know. Except I think maybe the American grocery stores purposefully try to confuse you so that you’ll spend more money sometimes. (I have substantial proof of this, but it’s a story for another day.)

The reunion with the grandparents has certainly been very special — the Bear is delighted to be back chasing cars around the patty-table {patio table} with Goo-Goo, Tiger Tank decided to take his first steps (in excess of three) walking directly to his Gammy just yesterday. I bought two boxes of chicken spice which I am very excited to stuff in a suitcase and bring with me back to North Carolina.

I’m hoping to post some photos of the excitement around here soon. With a little encouragement here and there for good measure. But in the meantime, I think I forgot to tell you about the Hubs’ first North Kakalaki family photo session, which I think went terrifically well. And I take ten percent of the credit, because I passed out the jelly beans. Here’s a link to the magical shoot. {The tractor shots are my favourite!}

Thanks again for your prayers, friends! More from the deep, deep south soon! (And we still have a wedding in the bush ahead of us!)

xCC

Don’t Be Afraid to Ask

Apr 18, 2012 | The Good Word

Another story the Bear has taken a liking to in his children’s Bible  is the story of Elijah, when his little brook dries up and he goes to stay with a widow in Zarephath. {It’s in 1 Kings 17 if you’d like to enjoy it later.} In the story, Elijah finds this widow and asks her for a glass of water. After she obliges him, he asks her for some bread.

She doesn’t like that idea so much.

You see, the widow and her young son (remember in Elijah’s day women didn’t work much outside the home so a woman without a husband usually had to count on children or other family members to provide for her) only had a little flour and a little oil left, and with drought going on that was kind of a big pwobwum. (As Ming Ming, the Wonder Pet might put it. Can you tell I’ve been spending heaps of time with my children?)

But Elijah told the woman not to worry, and that if she went and made him some bread, her flour and oil would not run out until the Lord sent rain onto the Earth again. She trusted him, made him some bread (I bet it was kind of like this recipe) and just as Elijah had said, her flour and oil did not run out, and she was able to feed herself, her son, and Elijah throughout the drought.

Good story, hey?

One evening last month while I was washing the dishes after dinner that story came to mind as I glanced over at the bottle of olive oil that sits besides our stovetop on the counter. I love olive oil and use it kind of a lot, and the bottle was about to run out. It was perhaps a week or so before the end of the month. Our finances were tight and getting another big old bottle of olive oil was going to have to wait.

As I pondered that for a moment, the story came to mind, and I prayed:

“Lord, you could make that bottle of olive oil just like the widow’s in the story. Lord, will you make it so that that bottle of oil won’t run out?”

It was a simple sort of “Why not ask?” prayer — I was genuine in asking, but it wasn’t going to crush my faith if nothing happened.

But something happened.

And here’s what happened.

Every once in a while, my Mom makes a Sam’s Club run. It’s in the next town over so it’s not convenient to go all the time, but when she goes she gets diapers and baby wipes for me and I pay her back. They’re such a good deal compared to the prices everywhere else!

She picked up diapers and wipes for me at Sam’s, and she also decided just to buy some extra things to bless us with — like a ginormous box of brownie mix (whoo-hoo!), oats for granola making, and {want to take a guess…?}

a gargantuan bottle of olive oil!

She didn’t know I’d prayed that little prayer. {She does know I really like olive oil.}

But what a blessing that, in a way slightly different than what I’d expected, God provided olive oil, which is likely to not run out until our personal financial drought is over. And then some.

Beth Moore once wrote that she sensed the Lord speaking to her one day when she was praying:

“My child, you believe Me for so little. Don’t be so safe in the things you pray. Who are you trying to keep from looking foolish? Me or you?” — {Beth Moore, Praying God’s Word}

This simple interaction between our amazing Creator and tiny (but getting bigger!) me just reminded me that if we have childlike faith, we won’t to be afraid to ask big and believe big. The Bear asked just this week if it could be his birthday and he could be four. “I’ve been three a long time…” he said wistfully.

Don’t worry about looking foolish. Ask for the impossible. Believe for the incredible. What do you have to lose? Maybe the Lord will answer in the way you hope, maybe He’ll help you understand if He does something different. Don’t be afraid to ask!

xCC

Trust the Process

Apr 16, 2012 | A Repat, The Good Word

If I had to take a moment to give my best description of life as it feels at the moment, I’d probably say “There’s a lot I’m processing.” If you’ve been reading around here you may have noticed that sometimes when there’s “a lot I’m processing” there’s a little less that I tend to say. Because sometimes I have to get to the other side of something I’m figuring out — or maybe I have to get to the other side of a beam I feel like I’m balancing and tiptoeing across, before I can look up and say, “Well this is what was going through my mind while I was wondering whether or not I was going to fall.”

In case you’re keen to know, being a mother of three is something I’m processing. And not just while cutting through the girls’ clothing section at Walmart to try and find some tights to wear to the wedding before we leave Thursday. (I’m also processing what needs to happen before that departure.) How different is three going to be from two? Will I maintain my sanity? Can the fact that I haven’t had the horrific nausea I had in the first two pregnancies be a strong enough indication that I can start buying clothing with pink ruffles and sparkle?

And in processing of a different nature, I’ll expand on that little opportunity I mentioned briefly on April Fool’s Day, before the big news. A few weeks ago, the Hubs discovered a gallery space available inside the Inner Banks Artisans’ Center, a large building that houses multiple smaller galleries and a coffee shop at the back, here in wee Washington. {You know I mean Washington, NC, right?} For lots of reasons which you might find interesting, but you might find boring, this space really seems like a God-send of an opportunity for us.

{I’m not sure this little shell relates to anything in this post. I just saw him again when we were working on this fine art portfolio for Quiver Tree Photography and I remembered how much I do like him.}

Inside the 21 x 15 foot space, we’re planning to sell prints and canvases of the Hubs’ work, do custom canvas and photo printing, sell other photo-related goods, maybe some things of a more crafty nature, and perhaps even a few partridges which would come with their own pear trees. I guess we’ll make the pear trees optional. HH will be able to host photography workshops from the coffee shop, and we might set up a little studio space upstairs for some photo shoots, and the location makes it seem like a really good place for advertising that there’s a new portrait/wedding/family photographer in town, since the only other studio in downtown Washington is turning into Spa La La this summer.

Sorry, I don’t know.

So we’re taking a leap – but it honestly doesn’t feel like a very big one, with small overheads and the fact that we don’t actually have to be present for the things we have for sale to sell. I haven’t wanted to whine or complain about the fact that our finances have been tight since we returned to the States (pretty much just like they were before we returned to the States, except tighter) but this opportunity has me very hopeful that a little change could be coming our way, soon.

But on that note I want to make sure that I tell you that God is a faithful God. Do you believe me? I hope you do.

Over the last two months, (and many times before these last two) we have started out the month looking at our bills and looking at our expected income and saying, “Something is going to have to happen in order for us to be able to make it.” But by the end of it, a special gift has arrived — $400, $500 — and that is how the ends meet. {And I hope you guys aren’t thinking we’re living high on the hog and that’s why we’re strapped. We are tight-portioned, peanut-butter-and-jelly-eating, if-the-money-is-not-in-the-bank-for-the-gas-then-we’re-not-going kind of folk.}

But we are so rich, and throughout the months we’ve lived this way I’ve experienced that truth more and more fully.

And on more than just those two occasions, God has answered our prayers. Besides when a special gift arrives “out of the blue” and we break even. A work opportunity comes up or I sell an advertising space or my Mama just decides that she needs to capitalize on every single buy one get one free deal at the grocery store and bring me “the free one.” God provides.

We are so rich.

It reminds me of Paul, speaking about his hardships to the Corinthians:

We put no stumbling block in anyone’s path, so that our ministry will not be discredited. Rather as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: in great endurance, in troubles, hardships and distresses…in the Holy Spirit and in sincere love, in truthful speech and in the power of God… through glory and dishonor, bad report and good report; genuine, yet regarded as impostors…sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich; having nothing and yet possessing everything. We have spoken freely to you, Corinthians, and opened wide our hearts to you. {2 Corinthians 6:3-11, abbreviated}

And praise the patient Lord who keeps helping me see the incredible glorious truth of this:

His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. {2 Peter 1:3}

How sweet it is. And how true.

There will be more to say about Quiver Tree Photography’s store opening, and perhaps you’ll be along for the ride as I process the new adventure in motherhood {bless your heart} but more than all that, please take this with you today:

The Lord! Our God! He is faithful and true! Even the hardships are gifts — and you can trust the process — He is able to work it all out for your good, His glory. And that is glorious!

xCC