Dec 22, 2009 | Baby Photos, South Africa, Travel..ling Tuesdays
It’s Travelling Tuesday! I know all eleven of my blog readers are excited! I thought this week I’d introduce you to lovely Bloemfontein, South Africa, since I’ve been mentioning it so much lately. Even among South Africans, it’s not a very well known city. (Or better said, people know of it but know nothing about it.) It has a reputation for being a place where you “cry when you get here and cry when you leave.â€Â But I absolutely love it!
Here are a few Bloemin’ Facts:
Name: Bloemfontein is an Afrikaans name, literally translated “Flower Fountainâ€
Location: Just east of dead centre if you look at a map of South Africa, in the Free State, formerly known as the Orange Free State, which is along the Orange River.
Population: 349,000 in the city, and even more in the greater municipal region (Way bigger than my hometown!)
Claims to Fame: It’s one of SA’s three capitals — the judicial capital. J.R.R. Tolkien was born here, as well as several famous South African athletes including Zola Budd (such a sad story!), Ryk Neethling, and Hansie Cronje, a famous Cricket player whose biographical movie was released in 2008.
Home to:
- The Free State Cheetahs, a Currie Cup winning Rugby team. (That’s like the South African Rugby Super Bowl).
- At least three lovely shopping malls, one of which is situated on a man-made lake called Loch Logan. I continually refer to it as Loch Lomond.
- One of the most active soaring (or gliding) communities in the world. (That’s the sport/recreational activity where pilots fly unpowered aircraft using rising air).
- Lots of incredibly beautiful gardens (including my mother-in-law’s), in a surprisingly arid region of the country.
- Some serious dust storms. That can sometimes turn into serious thunderstorms. Which makes it feel a little like home.
These days exotic ‘Bloem’ is also home to…
The neighbours’ pet tortoise. I don’t know if he has a name so I call him Pedro.
Exotic Birds.
Okay so that’s actually just a dove that flew into the house and Mark caught him. (In case you’re confused, please check out this post so that I can confirm for you that my husband is not the Croc Hunter.) There are other, slightly more exciting birds in the garden as well! Masked Weavers and Bulbuls are some of my favourites.
One ferocious Bear. Who is only ferocious when I try to get him off of his little car, even if he’s been on it so long his toes are being rubbed raw. (I’ve since started putting his shoes on when he goes out for a ride).
This is perhaps my favourite picture of late — look at our sweet sixteen month old!
Here is what happens to the car the gardener just washed when a dust storm is immediately followed by a thunderstorm.
Poor Mr. Potato Head!!
I suppose you’ve now realised that Bloemfontein is not particularly exotic. I was kind of hoping you’d figure that out. I thought it might be good for some stereotype-breaking-down. No lions in the roads…No elephants on the outskirts of town. Just pretty birds, shopping centres and stuff that makes it feel a lot like America or Britain. I’m sorry to say I don’t have more pictures that can capture the essence of Bloemfontein — especially the crazy dusty-coloured skies I’ve seen the past couple of days! I hope we can capture a few more good shots of the place to give you a better feel for it in the days ahead.
In the meantime, I hope your days are merry and bright (though if you’re in the northern hemisphere, they’re not likely to be as bright as ours right now!) and that the road rises to meet you wherever your travels might take you next!
Dec 19, 2009 | Baby Photos, South Africa, Stories
If I’m learning anything these days, I’m learning that every moment can be a learning moment if you’re paying attention. If you check out this blog every-so-often, you are probably aware that I am in South Africa. And I’ll be here for a while. And I won’t be heading home for the holidays.
I’ve been honest and said that this wasn’t my first choice among options, since we were here with Mark’s family last Christmas, and this year was (in my mind) supposed to be a North Carolina Christmas. But, as I’ve also mentioned already, it seems clear that we’re actually where we’re supposed to be. And that’s a good thing. And I’m glad to be back in Bloemfontein. The sights and the smells are more and more familiar every time we pull into the drive and the gate closes behind us. It’s becoming a wonderful home away from home.
Just the other day, as I was thinking about being away from home at Christmas, the story of Christmas suddenly clicked in my mind in a whole new way. Sure, I’m 7,000+ miles away from home…but what is the story of Christmas? It is the story of God, leaving all the comforts of His infinitely better and more glorious home in heaven, to submit Himself to the humiliation of becoming human, to live the life He lived and experience the death He died, and then the glorious Resurrection that is a promise of the life we have to come in Him. The Creator stepped down into His own creation, and the story of our amazing rescue began.
Far, far, far away from home, lying in that manger, I wonder if Jesus yet had cognitive abilities — was He aware of where He was or was He like other babies? Like, did He have the mental capacity to realise He was going to have to trust someone else to feed Him when He was hungry, and change Him when he needed changing? Did He lie in the manger and think for a moment, even if a brief one– What the heck did I sign myself up for?
While it’s occasionally uncomfortable to be somewhere other than where you’d like to be sometimes, in comparison, I don’t have a holly jolly lot to complain about! How glorious and amazing and challenging it is that the Lord stepped down into this world for you and for me. And He stepped into it for real. Full on. Messy, dirty delivery amongst animals in a stable full on. Travelling preacher without a place to lay His head full on. Healing blind touching lepers people wanting to kill Him full on. To bring us back into right relationship with Him. I’m so thankful that Jesus wasn’t home for Christmas a couple thousand years ago. That’s where the story of us finding our way back home began.
The Sermon in a Nutshell: Whether you’re where you’d like to be this holiday or not, take a moment to be thankful for the God who left it all and surrendered to those humble beginnings in Bethlehem. Remember that in appearance it wasn’t as ‘pretty’ as your church nativity scene might make it out to be. But remember the beauty of this love story — the greatest love story ever told — God came near, and it all started at Christmas.
Dec 15, 2009 | Baby Photos, South Africa, Stories, Travel..ling Tuesdays
My humblest apologies that all has been quiet on the blogging front for a few days now. I was SICK SICK SICK! One of those crazy 24 hour things that makes you despair of life and wonder if it’s really worth going on. (Don’t worry, my one reader with emetophobia, I won’t go into detail!) Fortunately, I am on the other side and incredibly thankful that (yes I did the math) I’ve lived well over 10,000 days so far, and I’ve only had one like that. One in 10,000 — no cause for complaint!
Anywho, after that lengthy introduction, it is Travelling Tuesday! As promised, I have some stories and shots from our travels up to Bloemfontein, where we are spending the holidays with Mark’s parents (and his sister when she arrives!) The roads are very busy and therefore a bit dangerous this time of year, so we decided to come early to avoid the traffic, since we can still do a lot of our work getting Samaritan’s Feet started from here. Modern communications are a wonderful thing! We thought breaking the trip up over three days (staying overnight in a couple different places) would make it an easier journey with the Bear. We were wrong. Yes, it was still cheaper than flying, but dern, it was a lot of travelling! I don’t think the Bear enjoyed his tent being pitched in a new spot each night or finding himself in the car seat again each morning. So next time we’ll probably do the 10+ hour journey in one day. As they say in the South, we oughta just git ‘er done. Lesson learned!
As mentioned, these travelling adventures brought us face to face with many dangerous wild animals. This is Africa people! We stopped off in a place outside Oudtshoorn called Calitzdorp the first night. And just outside our little self-catering hut we spotted a big, scary…
praying mantis!!!!
Okay not so scary. Still, a little creepy. You’ve heard how vociferous the females are, right? Well then, we went for a walk, and we came face to face with a huge, and very dangerous…
Farm-raised ostrich!!!!!!!!
Behind a fence.
But if he got near the fence…and we were too close…seriously people, they can kick like ninjas, beware!! Â Then it got really dangerous. I’m not even joking this time. We came face to face with a grumbly…grizzly…
Wild Bear!!
You’ve given up on me, haven’t you? Africa’s not as wild as you were hoping, mayhaps? Let’s give it one last try. Â The final creature to give us a fright appeared as we were journeying to Nieu Bethesda for our second night’s stay along the way to Bloemfontein. And you do not want to come face to face with one of these. It’s a big, scaly…
Om… likkewaan!!
This creature kind of looks like a gila monster…and was probably like 4 ft. long! The Afrikaans word for it is likkewaan, pronounced LOOK-a-vahn, but the English word is leguan. I wasn’t familiar with either, but the Afrikaans is more fun to say. Sure, I took this picture from the window of the car, but still, he could’ve gone T-Rex on us at any moment! Grrrr. We actually think maybe it was a her…do you think she looks preggers? I didn’t ask because I didn’t want to hurt her feelings.
Well, that’s a taste of our dangerous travels from Gordon’s Bay to Bloemfontein with Calitzdorp and Nieu Bethesda in between. Thank the Lord for Mr. Potato Head safely navigating our passage and never stranding us in the wild among these dangerous creatures!
Happy Trails to you, wherever the road takes you!
Dec 12, 2009 | Baby Photos, South Africa
We’re here, we’re here! Let the great rumpus begin! After a few days of arduous cross country travel, I am pleased to report that we’ve arrived in Bloemfontein safe and sound. My home away from home!
There are travelling stories to be told, lessons to be shared and pictures to be uploaded, but in the meantime I will simply report that we are glad to be back in the beautiful Free State, where the flowers are in bloom, the sun is shining hot, and one little boy is especially delighted that splashing in his duck tub and living in a diaper are on his schedule every day for the next few weeks. Supporting evidence of these claims is duly attached. More to come.
Dec 8, 2009 | Baby Photos, Hometastic Goodness, South Africa, Travel..ling Tuesdays
This week’s Travelling Tuesday is of a slightly different persuasion. Instead of the usual travel shots, I thought I’d give you a wee slice of life in Gordon’s Bay, South Africa with the Collies at the moment. It’s probably still travelling for most of you. And if not, please come over for dinner!
We’ll be saying good-bye to some of these sweet views tomorrow as we slowly make our way to visit Mark’s family in Bloemfontein. It reminds me a little of the Christmas story and the donkey trip to Bethlehem. Fortunately we’ve got Mr. Potato Head, and room at the inn already booked along the way. (Can you believe taking three days to drive and staying overnight twice is STILL cheaper than flying?) We’re excited for the change of scene, visiting Mark’s parents and seeing his sister at Christmas, and we are (read: Caroline is especially)Â excited for Mark’s Mom’s bacon-covered cherries that will be on their way to my tummy our tummies very soon…YUM!
So back to the present…at the moment in Gordon’s Bay, the Bear is struggling to decide between football and rugby.
(Football usually wins out because it’s easier to get out of the toy basket.) My door is decorated for the holidays, with ornaments and ribbons I already had from this and that.
(Many thanks to the Nester and Southern Living for that idea!) We spent a few hours at Bikini Beach (here in Gordon’s Bay) on Saturday. I wore a tankini in case you were wondering.
The Bear had a good dig, a good swim, and afterwards, a great nap! And don’t worry, that peely-wally skin had SPF 50 on it, no doubt!
So that’s a slice of life Travelling Tuesday from right outside our door! Hope you enjoyed the journey, and that the road rises to meet you, wherever it takes you next!
Dec 7, 2009 | Baby Photos, Stories, The Good Word
The Bear is in a wonderful stage of firsts right now. It is funny how I feel the need to document all these firsts. We brushed his three teeth for the first time yesterday (in the bathtub), and I was practically jumping over Mark to try to get a good angle with the camera for a photo.
He will probably be taking his first steps sometime soon. I suppose he was aspiring to be a clothing designer at about six months, because he once said the word, “gingham.” Â It seems he has set that dream aside…honestly we’re quite sure it was unintentional but we laughed at claiming that was his first word. The “Dadas” and “Mamas” are in full force right now, but a proper first word is probably coming soon. It is exciting to think about the billions and billions of words someone is going to say in their entire life and actually getting to witness the first one.
I was reading in a couple of different places this morning when I was convicted about my own words. I memorized Ephesians 4:29 quite a while ago (and it was part of my reading again today): “Let no corrupt word proceed outof your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers.” I try to let that Scripture ‘filter’ what’s going to come out of my mouth. If you stop before the first word, you don’t have to finish what you’ve started!
This morning, though, I wanted to tell Mark the story of a conversation I overheard at the gym, and although it was completely useless nonsense, and really not a very nice story to retell, I went against that ya-know-in-yer-knower-you-should-hush feeling and proceeded to tell the story anyway.
And then as I was reading in Proverbs later, I came across Prov. 11:13 —
A talebearer reveals secrets,
But he who is of a faithful spirit conceals a matter.
Ouch! That’s clear enough, methinks. I asked the Lord to forgive me for going my own way and letting my mouth run with ungraceful talk, and I am thankful for the clean slate and the fresh opportunity to move forward with grace-filled speech instead.
Every word we speak is an opportunity to build up or to tear down — even if it’s just the tone and attitude we are using to deliver the message. Please, Lord, give me a greater measure of Your Holy Spirit — to direct my steps and my words. And help me to obey!
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