Sep 15, 2009 | South Africa, Stories, Travel..ling Tuesdays
This Travelling Tuesday shot is from my second trip to South Africa, the first trip Mark and I made here together. We spent some time in Cape Town, travelled along the garden route to Knysna, up toward Bloemfontein where I met Mark’s parents. The second week of the adventure, we stayed at a Game Reserve called Makhasa, run by some old friends of Mark’s (discount!) and on our last day there, Mark asked me to marry him! Â Lovely story for another day as well! Â This shot is from the top of Table Mountain in Cape Town, looking down towards Victoria Drive. On our way up Victoria Drive towards Table Mountain we saw whales breaching from our wee moped. We pulled off and watched them go by and just felt blessed by the experience. Â This is looking south from Table Mountain, the hills along the way are called the Twelve Apostles. No wonder this is one of the top honeymoon and vacation destinations in the world! It’s gorgeous!
xCC
Sep 14, 2009 | Baby Photos, South Africa
This one is mostly for the grandparents, but perhaps you can all enjoy. The Bear had his first African bath the day before yesterday. Yeah, we’d been here a couple of days, (okay…maybe four…) but I got so used to my Mom bathing him every day when we were back in North Carolina, it kind of slipped off the radar that that was my responsibility again! Whoops! At least he didn’t smell. =)
So we had to make a plan since his big rubber duck tub is hopefully floating somewhere over the ocean, along with the rest of our stuff on its way here, and our accommodation only has a shower. The options were the complex’s outdoor swimming pool, the mop bucket and kitchen sink. After much deliberation, kitchen sink was victorious. Mark made one side soapy and the other one not, so that he had a wash and a rinse. Very efficient.
 Any if you look very very closely at the shot below, you might be able to see his Praise-the-Lord-it’s-finally-here-first-tooth just breaking through his bottom gums! (Just right of centre)
Yay!
xCCÂ
Sep 12, 2009 | Scotland, South Africa, Stories
Well folks, we are safely in South Africa and it is really really good to be here. Our most recent travel experiences really deserve a mention. By the end of this you might think I’m writing a paid advertisement for Emirates airline, but honestly, this is just me telling you what a great experience we had. (Although if they wanted to pay me, I would take it!)
This adventure began with our last few days in Scotland, staying with our dear friends Rob and Alice (travelling Rob), and catching up with more friends, (who had birthday prezzies for Asher, no less! thanks Worwy and Sawah [above]!) connecting with friends at church, and catching colds because it was so cold and rainy and wintry. A million thanks to the Andersons for hosting us so graciously (Rob could run a fantastic restaurant of culinary delights), to Adam for driving us to the airport in Glasgow, and to Hope for letting him when she’s so pregnant she’s about to burst and has two wee ones.
We were…shall we say… a bit concerned about our baggage because we thought the Emirates allowances were the same as Continental’s, but we discovered we were mistaken the day before our flight. We were looking at 25 to 35 pounds — that’s British Pound Stirling — per kilogram overweight. And we had none too few extra kilograms. But the travel agents were as friendly as Nessie is hard to find, and did not even mention the extra weight. When we walked away from the counter we felt like kids on Christmas morning. That upgrade we prayed for just happened. They only made me taste two baby food jars at customs (yeah… seriously) and when we arrived at the gate, they came and checked our pram (stroller) for us, and told us although it was checked to Johannesburg, there would be a pram waiting for us while we were at our layover in Dubai. That was great. The layover was more than four hours in the middle of the night, but at least we had a pram! And I am now convinced Dubai is quite possibly the coolest place I’ve never been. (Since the airport doesn’t count).
Our two eight hours flights were easypeasy. On each leg, the flight attendants gave us toys and other stuff for Asher…he got a hand puppet camel on the first flight (along with a colouring book and coloured pencils) and he got a hand puppet tiger for the second leg of the journey! They also gave us baby food, and a little pouch with a rattle, a spoon, baby wipes, a bib, baby lotion… they just really took care of us. And they took Asher’s picture and put it in a little paper frame with an airplane on it. “Best wishes from Emirates to Asher†with the flight number and crew member names. So sweet! He wasn’t looking at the camera so they tried twice. Sweet anyway! We also had a row of four bulkhead seats to ourselves on the first flight, and three bulkhead seats to ourselves for the second. Upgrade!
So here’s my thirty second Emirates promo: “At a time when most airlines are debating charging customers for extra baggage or even for going to the bathroom, Emirates is handing out hot towels and amazing meals. They’re serving cake and ice cream with tea and coffee at snack times. They’re giving kids toys and making sure their families are comfortable. Their prices are competitive, but their customer service blows the competition out of the water. (Or sand dunes, if you will). From perhaps one of the best-traveled babies in the world, Emirates gets a one-tooth smile with lots of drool, and two happy hands up!”
Thanks for allowing that digression. As the story continues, we are now safely in South Africa and it’s great to be here. We arrived in Johannesburg, stayed the night with Mark’s sister, Lyn, (who also had great birthday prezzies for Asher!) The next day was, praise the Lord, our final flight — Johannesburg to Cape Town. Mark felt prompted to wait one more day before buying those tickets with Kulula, a domestic South African airline. A one-day sale started the next day, and (thank you again, Lord!) we saved a huge amount on the tickets. Unfortunately, we did have to pay for our extra baggage on that flight, but since we’d saved so much on the tickets, we pretty much broke even.  And now the real adventure begins! Since I’ve gone a bit long, I will perhaps save the story of our arrival for tomorrow. =)
xCC
Sep 8, 2009 | South Africa, Travel..ling Tuesdays
In honour of our impending arrival, this week’s Travelling Tuesday Shot is one Mark took in South Africa. Â We’ll actually be in the middle of our travels when this hits the web — in Dubai on our way to Johannesburg! Â Enjoy the photo, and the backstory is below!
Mark’s Backstory:
“In 1998, some friends and I hiked the Otter Trail in the Tsitsikamma National Park on the south east coast of South Africa. The hike is along the coast, and the Lord blessed us day after day with beautiful sights and amazing moments. On some parts of the hike we had to ford rivers by sticking all our stuff in a water proof bag and swimming across. We saw dolphins again and again, and snorkeled with rays. I even had a very close encounter with a shark … there were a bunch of us snorkeling and a shark came up and had a look at me, but decided I was too scrawny to be of any nutritional value and swam off. This picture was taken on the fourth night of the five day hike. We experienced so much along the way, this moment was like the crowning glory  — the sunset we had as we were enjoying our last evening meal together.”
Sep 2, 2009 | Baby Photos, Scotland, South Africa
This is a “Traveling Wednesday” because we are actually traveling today, and a wee ways into tomorrow. Mark, Asher and I are on our way to Scotland for a few days before the journey to South Africa begins. Having a round trip ticket looks better to the US government (since Mark is in the middle of the spousal visa process) and it was cheaper to get a one way from Edinburgh than from North Carolina. (AND we get to say hello and goodbye to our dear friends in Edinburgh again!) We take off tomorrow afternoon and arrive in Scotland Thursday morning. If you fancy praying for us, feel free to pray that Asher will be happy and peaceful, we won’t have any delays and things will go smoothly, our stuff will arrive safely, we’ll get upgraded to better seats and have lots of room, and that there will be warm weather in Scotland when we arrive! =) (No reason not to ask, hey?)
We’ll leave Scotland September 7th, arrive in Johannesburg September 8th, and fly to Cape Town September 9th. Perhaps let’s add in one more prayer — that Asher’s teeth, who are long overdue, won’t decide now’s the time to make their grand appearance. Praise the Lord who is with us in every circumstance and holds all things together…airplanes, suitcases…and even teeth!
xCC
Jun 15, 2009 | Scotland, South Africa, Top Ten Lists
There’s great stuff happening these days! Â This is at the top of the list…
10. We have an intern moving into our flat on Thursday! Her name is Hope and she’ll be serving the church in Edinburgh this summer. Should be fun!
9. Scottish summer! Â With 18+ hours of daylight, Edinburgh in the summer is tons of fun (although a little hectic) — especially when the festival crowds show up! Woo woo!
8. I am having a blast selling my old textbooks on amazon. And making money!
7. I really think (and hope) Asher is getting some teeth finally! I can stop pureeing everything and buying baby food in jars!
6. Mark and I have recently gotten connected with a ministry called Samaritan’s Feet. We are excited about working with them in the future.
5. Asher is almost crawling on his hands and knees. I’m not excited about chasing him, but I’m excited that he’s getting some skills!
4. Mark & I have been hooked up with free flights and cheap accommodation in Paris — we are going for our anniversary next week! Oui Oui!
3. I’m going to be back in North Carolina for a wee while in August. Hooray for getting to see my Mom and Dad and hopefully some of my stateside friends!
2. Paris in next week! Oui Oui!
And finally…this is a big one…
1. We are MOVING to Cape Town, South Africa. I am very sad to be leaving my bonnie Scotland, but excited that we may soon be serving with Samaritan’s Feet in one of the most beautiful countries in the world! More details to come…
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