Back in the Bush

It was over a year ago when we last had one magical day in Kruger National Park where we saw four of the big five. You’ve may have seen some of the photos:

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I’d share more but the internet’s a-strugglin’.

I am very very happy that we are back again, for several reasons.

First, we’re enjoying a holiday with HH’s folks and that’s a special treat all on its own. (And they have provided the wonderful accommodation!)

Second, we’re back in the bush staying near Kruger National Park…whoo-hoo! {Thanks to telling myself to enjoy the holiday, and the poor internet connection, I haven’t updated on you that fact before now.}

Third, I love going on game drives and looking for animals. I feel special when I point something out and HH says, “Good spot sweetheart.”

Fourth, I was spending some time reading my Bible and praying out on the balcony our first day here and a troop of vervet monkeys went by. SWEET!

Fifth, and extra special, the last time we were here looking for game, things went kind of like this:

Something like this would be outside the Bear’s window.

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Bear! Look, it’s a baboon! Bear! Look out your window!

Bear!

BEAR!!!

Look that way!

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He. has. no. clue.

But we had our first day out yesterday, and this time around, he is spotting the elephants, giraffes and zebras very successfully. He’s still not particularly good at listening and looking where you point, and he’s still not particularly impressed with how cool it is to see these beautiful and massive ellies in the wild…but hey, it’s improvement.

So, if you don’t hear from me for a couple of days, please blame it on the poor internet connection. We’ll be back in Bloem before too long, just in time for another adventure I’m looking forward to telling you about soon!

In the meantime, with love from the bushveld,

xCC

Se7en + 1 for my Beloved SA

My sweet friend over at Se7en is hosting a blogaversary, and she asked me to share a post on her site in celebration of the special event. Privileged, I am!

{In case you haven’t been around here when I’ve mentioned Se7en before, she is the spectacular crafting, blogging, homeschooling Mom of Se7en + 1 (yes, eight) wonderful kids and lives in Cape Town. I shared about her and even did a home tour on a Travelling Tuesday right here! If she wanted to, she could rename her website thebomb dot com, she’s just that super.}

A wee little post featuring the Se7en + 1 Things I’ll Miss the Most from SA was featured on her brilliant site just yesterday. I thought I’d let ya know so you can hop on over there if you’d like to see the list!

But here’s one more thing I forgot that I’m really going to miss!

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First one to remember what these delightful creatures are called, and name their closest relative gets a clever badge! Whoo-hooo!

xCC

When Mountains Say Goodbye

In the days leading up to our departure, we sometimes felt like the town was bidding us goodbye. The friendly neighbourhood seal, whom I hadn’t spotted for ages, swam past the night before we left, putting a bright smile on my face. The day before he’d waved flipper to the Hubs to bid him farewell, too.

Those last few days were full of smiles and tears and prayers and well wishes — like life, often challenging, but sweet, and good.

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Our last morning in Gordon’s Bay was a busy one. The folks moving in arrived promptly at 9 am, and we weren’t quite ready for them. We scrambled to get things together and complete some last minute errands, and finally departed the last address we’ll have in South Africa for the foreseeable future after noon.

A friend treated us to lunch and pancakes, and relaxing briefly on her couch our brains swirled in circles with all the things we’d completed, and the things we hadn’t. After lunch we needed to pass through the village again on one last errand before heading to Hermanus.

Throughout our time in Gordon’s Bay, if we were ever out after dark, we’d see this big cross, lit up and shining bright, about halfway up the mountain. During the daytime, we’d look for it, but we were never able to spot exactly where it was.

As Mr. Potato Head grumbled into the village for one last stop, for the first time ever, there we spotted the cross on the mountainside. It was as if the Lord was telling us — I was here before you, I who am and was and ever shall be, and I have always been here with you, even when you didn’t see. I will be here when you’ve gone.

Lord, bless Gordon’s Bay and watch over her.

We’ve always embarked on our day trips to Hermanus quite early in the day, and the sun shines bright on the mountains along the way. As a passenger in a right-hand drive car, I’m on the far left side of the road, and I stare out my window with them stretching skyward above me.

Mountains to the left, rocky cliffs and ocean to the right — I can’t think of a drive more beautiful than the coastal route we take to get to Hermanus.

With Gordon’s Bay in the rear view mirror, this time we were leaving in the late afternoon. The mountains were still beautiful, but different in the late afternoon sun. Their shadows stretched on ahead of us, as if they were leaning up the road, lingering as long as they could before saying goodbye.

We trust we’ll be back this way again, but only the Lord knows when. I turned to look back, through the dusty rear window of the car, and warmly stood our sweet village on the harbour, the sun’s red glow a backlight to the buildings in shadow.

I longed to turn back for just one more moment, one more sunset, one more walk with the boys. But like the water beside us that keeps on flowing — life, she keeps moving on.

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xCC

He’s an Alien…but at least he’s legal!

Hi guys and gals! Thanks so much for your prayers and encouragement! I heard from the Hubs this afternoon and his interview went swimmingly. He said they only asked about five questions and he was in and out in no time!

After copying a gabillion documents and stressing to get everything together, we are very pleased with this outcome! He can now legally live and work in the US, and I rather think that’s a good thing. And I’m so excited the Bear and I have already baked oatmeal white chocolate chip cookies to celebrate!

As you do.

I will now insert some delightfully happy photos of our now three month old to say thank you to you for your prayers and encouragement. We took some special three month ones to follow the series but they aren’t ready yet. So here are some others.

I don’t mean to brag but, did you know the Bumbo is a South African invention?

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And did you know that this little South African-American boy is mine? tehe.

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So Hero Hubs will be picking up visa at the consulate tomorrow, and then flying back to the Cape late tomorrow night. Good thing Goo-Goo and Gammy are here to help hold down the fort, hey? Now we just have to get ready for this big ol’ transcontinental move.

As you do.

Thanks for your prayers!

xCC

Travelling Tuesday: The Flowers of South Africa

Happy Tuesday and howzit? I want to share one of my favourite parts of South Africa with you this Travelling Tuesday (hence me inserting a bit of South African brogue right there). While there are a lot of favourite parts for me, today you can travel with me to enjoy some of this impressive country’s magnificent flowers! You won’t believe the incredible wild flowers you’ll see on a walk ’round these parts. (And… I’m back to Southern English.)

I explained once before ages ago, that the world is divided into six floral kingdoms, (geographic regions with relative uniformity of plant species) most of them stretching thousands of miles, covering countries and continents. But there’s just one very special tiny (in comparison) floral kingdom here, just on the southern tip of South Africa, called the Cape Floristic Kingdom. This tiny corner of our beautiful planet is packed full of over 8,700 plant species, and 68% of them are found here and nowhere else!

Nanny-nanny-boo-boo!

Want to see?

This lovely wild flower is stretching skyward atop Table Mountain!

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What’s the story, Morning Glory? (On a Game Reserve in KwaZulu Natal)

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Another pretty wild one in KZN…

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This birdie {a sunbird} is enjoying the Tecoma outside our place in Gordon’s Bay! Gorgeous hey? {You can buy his sweet mugshot here.}

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I don’t know these names, but don’t they look like butter? Yummy.

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I’m gonna call this one Mrs. Pineapple.

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South Africa’s national flowers (and her national cricket team) are the proteas (of which there are several varieties.) Here are some on a nature reserve in Somerset West. (They’re three on the left–look familiar?)

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Caution! There are wild orchids running rampant in KZN!

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Other wild flowers on the roadside… I think you can find them near Cape Town.

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May I introduce you to Mesembryanthemum? {Now say that three times fast.} Near East London.

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This one reminds me of the fox gloves in Scotland. (But it’s in the Helderberg region.)

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Remember this one from Elgin?

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The (little) Bear is examining an Abelia. {It’s a shrub.}

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And my favourites…

Mrs. Strelitzia in Gordon’s Bay (Bird of Paradise in the US)

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Isn’t she just an amazing flower? Like, who could come up with this but an incredible Creator?

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And this is another type of protea…want to guess the name?

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Wait for it to open…Now guess!

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It’s a pincushion! {See the ant inside?}

I hope you enjoyed this bouquet of a Travelling Tuesday! Blessings as you enjoy your adventure, wherever the road may take you!

xCC

{Many thanks to Gammy, visiting with Goo-Goo, who helped with the names of some of the flowers. Mwah! I don’t know all the names, so if you do and want to fill in some gaps, feel free to comment!}

Change, She is A-Coming

Let me start this wee (or probably not so wee…) post by saying there are no less than thirty-seven of you folks that I wanted to share this news with individually, one on one, preferably over a cup of coffee or at least on a phone call where we each had a cup of coffee and maybe even a cookie. But then I started doing the math on how long it would take to make all thirty-seven of those phone calls to share the news, even if they only lasted for ten minutes, based on how many minutes I have free over the course of the day, considering there’s in some cases a six hour time difference, taking into account the fact that I can seldom speak for only ten minutes to anyone — and that sometimes includes telemarketers and UPS delivery persons. Let’s save that story for another day.

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Now where was I?

After coming to the conclusion that I couldn’t break the news to everybody this year if I tried to individually contact all the folks I would’ve like to have shared said news with personally, I decided that you are an awfully gracious bunch of folks and you’d understand.

So don’t prove me wrong! I love you.

Now on to the news.

The name of this blog is probably going to be changing pretty soon. And that’s because my address is going to be changing pretty soon. And that’s because the continent we call home is going to be changing pretty soon. And that’s because HH’s job is going to be changing pretty soon (and mine, too).

And for those who feel brevity is the soul of wit, in a nutshell, that’s the news. But if you’d like more details, do read on, dear.

After lots of a-thinking and lots of a-praying, it is clear that the Lord is a-closing one door, and opening another. Our time with Samaritan’s Feet is coming to its conclusion, which we really have mixed emotions about. Although the evidence surrounding the conclusion we’ve come to could fill another blog post or eight, for now I think it’s sufficient to say we’ve begun to recognise the ways that we’ve been wired and gifted and the type of ministry that we’re best suited for is different from our present work. Plus, we need to pay our bills.

So what’s next?

Not long after we made the decision to give notice with Samaritan’s Feet and begin to hand off the work we’ve begun to new leadership, HH got a couple of job offers in the US of A…and none anywhere else. The first was in Seattle and we would’ve been working under an amazing pastoral couple, and we would’ve learned so much, and it would’ve been a wonderful setting to enjoy for a while…but Seattle feels about like Edinburgh in terms of its distance from North Carolina, and we’d like to at least be close to some family, if possible. (And travelling from there to SA would be a heckuva journey.)

While we were umming and ahhing {did you like that? I’m not sure transliterating onomatopoeia is my strong suit. But isn’t that a fun word to say? Try using it in a sentence today.} about the Seattle decision, another job offer was extended to us. Exactly thirty minutes away from my super-duper little hometown in Greenville, North Carolina.

Boo-yow.

The church I attended while at university there, Greenville Christian Fellowship, has a missions-sending agency they’re hoping to grow. It’s called Global Impact Resources, and it’s actually the agency that first sent me out when I moved to Scotland.

As the director of Global Impact, the Hubs (and I, to some extent) will be providing a pastoral covering for missionaries on the field, as well as overseeing the administration of their ministry support. Opening the honesty box, there have been some times, when being on the mission field has made me feel like I was on an island of my own. Care packages have made me cry because it didn’t even matter what was inside — it just mattered that someone cared enough to make the effort. With a small heap of experience in our back pockets, we feel equipped — and passionate about — being a blessing to other missionaries on the field. We’ll continue to raise support for part of our salary, and we’ll also be ministering in the local church part time.

Now on to the specifics:

We’re either leaving our place here in Gordon’s Bay at the end of June or the end of July. We were originally thinking July, but since the honesty box is open, I’ll explain that we’ve pretty much been going into debt to try to finish off what we started here. We’re planning to spend several weeks in wonderful Bloemfontein with HH’s folks before adventuring across the pond. If possible, we’d like to spend a week or so in the UK, visiting our previous mission field and all the wonderful people there we’ve been missing these past two years — we might even get to attend one very special wedding!

We’ll then be heading to North Carolina, staying with my folks in the Original Washington, while we look for a place to live in the wonderful Greenville. Dates and departures to be confirmed.

So, I’ve tried to cover all the bases, but my guess is you might have some questions! Would you like to ask them in the comments and I can come back and edit this post to add in the answers?

Oh, one last thing! How do we feel about all this?:

Bittersweet doesn’t begin to describe this transition for us. Although we were confident this wasn’t our last stop, this move has come much sooner than we expected. On the one hand, I’m stoked about little things like maybe having the same address for more than a year, and putting paint on walls. And I’m stoked about big things like being close to my family and a lot of the friends back home that I really miss. On the other hand, leaving South Africa, and more specifically HH’s folks, is really, really hard. We haven’t left yet and I’ve already cried about it. A lot. Yes, we are definitely planning to come back regularly — our boys are American and South African, and we want them to know both cultures and to know their grandparents (and their aunt up in Joburg, and their Uncky in London!) — but visiting regularly isn’t the same as being a day’s drive away.

It’s true that Mama Africa’s red dirt gets in your blood. I’m not the person I was when we stepped off the plane almost two years ago. And those sentiments deserve a handful of posts, too.

For now, the long and short of it is: Change, She is A-Coming. In every circumstance, To God Be the Glory.

xCC