Nov 19, 2010 | Stories
We have had an unbelievably peaceful day getting ourselves together in preparation for our flights this evening. I think we should always leave at night for these types of trips!
This is the first time ever we’ve been so relaxed in getting things together, and will have clean sheets on the bed and a tidy house to come home to, and I have a few minutes to spare just to say, Hooray! We’re heading to the Carolinas soon! {Hero Hubs is probably not just pumped because we’re heading out, but also because I’ll stop singing “In My Mind, I’m Going to Carolina…” soon.}
Would you believe we even had a baptism this afternoon — the first time Hero Hubs has baptised someone! It was a special event and I hope to have some pictures to share soon. Baptisms at the beach are grrrrreat!
So.
We really are off to the airport in half an hour, and there are just two quick things I want to mention before we go.
#1 Will you say a prayer for our travels and, more specifically, for the Bear to hop on the airplane, lay his little head down and go right to sleep? Please pray that things will be grace-covered and smooth sailing, Cape Town to London, and London to Atlanta. Smooth flying. You know.
#2 I have been reading and readying the {Thanks}giving posts for next week and I am just pumped. I think you’re going to be encouraged, perhaps challenged, but above all, all kinds of thankful by the time the week is through! And I don’t think I’m gonna type a word…I’ll just be reading and soaking it all in!
So don’t miss this special event kicking off with a Zimbabwean flair bright and early Sunday morning…
Alrighty…I’ll holler when I’m Stateside, y’all!
xCC
Nov 18, 2010 | Stories
A few mornings ago, I found myself in the middle of the ordinary, and celebrating every minute of it. I had my second load in the washing machine, the first was finishing in the dryer. The Bear was beside me in the kitchen, standing on a chair with a big wooden spoon, eagerly awaiting the next ingredient’s addition to the Chocolate Chip Apple Bread taking shape in the mixing bowl. We were probably both still in our pajamas, the day was young, the to-do list long.
I sighed and paused for a moment, not at the burden of facing six loads of laundry, six weeks’ worth of packing, and lots of other tasks, but just at the joy of the ordinary. The only thing that’s for sure is change. In a few days we’d be leaving for six weeks. Once we return we’ll have about six weeks before everything changes again, as this little one makes his or her way into the world. It’s as Robert Frost put it,
…Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
We pass this way but once it seems, before life takes us down some new road. So I savoured the moment and soaked it in, as the Bear snuck chocolate chips from the bowl, and the little one inside seemed to kick in response to his giggles. And I thought it a rather meaningful thing, taking a moment to say Thank You for life as it is. Instead of Thank You, but couldn’t it be…
Taking all this in, I’ve hope that as we pass into a season where, some of my fellow Americans might specifically pause to give thanks, we could take a collective moment to share some {Thanks}giving. And in moments and breaths like these, we could share gratefulness for things we might otherwise not think of being thankful for. Learning to be thankful in the in-between moments, when life perhaps isn’t what you’d like it to be, is a work of heart that will bring us joy if we can grasp it.
One of my favourite U2 songs includes the lyrics:
I like the sound of my own voice
I didn’t give anyone else a choice…
It’s a little bit satirical but I do rather enjoy the sentiment. And I suppose if you show up here more than every once in a while, you don’t mind the sound of my voice too much. But in case it’s getting a little old, {thanks for being kind enough not to say anything} I have some really exciting good news for you. This sharing of thanks will include voices besides mine!
So let me hit you with the sassy advertisement and then explain…
Next week, you are going to get to hear some voices besides mine, as we give thanks together. And while I wish I could say Bono was going to be one of them, well, he was busy, but I think I’ve got some great substitutes.
Starting bright and shiny Sunday morning, I’ll have a week of {Thanks}giving posts for you. Mostly, if not all, authored by folks other than yours truly. But perhaps we’ll pause on Thanksgiving Day (Thursday) to give thanks for the little one whose gender we will discover by opening a purple envelope the night before, together with family! {Or would you rather I keep it a surprise?}
So please join me, and some other beautiful voices, for a week of {Thanks}giving starting Sunday! I hope you’ll be thankful that you’re along for the ride!
xCC
P.S. There are still a couple of spaces open in the guest week, so if you’re interested in contributing, get in touch! You don’t need to already have a blog to have something to share!
Nov 17, 2010 | In the Name of Love, Stories
During last week’s distribution, a little one came up to me, with an ear to ear grin, her front two teeth missing. She softly whispered something to me, and gently repeated it when she could see that I couldn’t understand. She was one of the most jovial of the group and I was eager to know what she wanted to say. Unfortunately, even the second time around I still couldn’t understand, because she wasn’t speaking English.
I brought her over to one of the older children and asked for a translation, and the answer was simply:
She wants some water.
As I took her into the kitchen and found a cup and filled it up from the tap, I heard the words of Jesus in my heart:
And whoever in the name of a disciple gives to one of these little ones even a cup of cold water to drink, truly I say to you, he shall not lose his reward. (Matthew 10:42)
I snapped her photo because I wanted to remember the moment. The privilege of the opportunity to be the hands and feet of Jesus through a very simple and practical act of kindness.
We all have a cup of water to give, in one way or another. And sometimes it’s a blessing to see things that cost us very little mean so very much.
With a smile, an open door, a kind gesture, a cool drink, you can offer a cup of cold water in Jesus’ Name today.
Will you?
xCC
Nov 10, 2010 | South Africa, Stories
Where I left you yesterday, if you’ve forgiven the cliffhanger and returned, HH2B was throwing curve balls into the hopes of my heart, but a tiny little sand-like rock gave me incredible peace, and I just knew — God was in control. I was in His hands.
Our last day in the bushveld at Makhasa Game Reserve began similarly to the days before. We got up a little earlier than usual, (it might’ve been around 5 am I think) grabbed a snack and a cuppa, and were off in the Land Rover in search of whatever game or object of interest might warrant a photo, a story, a moment’s pause to enjoy.
I was sleepy.
We started off on the adventure, and the guide realised he’d forgotten his rifle back at the camp, not so good when rhinos and buffalo are roaming about, so we began a circuitous route to head back. Mind you, I am directionally challenged, and I was sleepy. But suddenly Ferdie (the guide) spotted some tracks and, the same as most other days, was out of the Land Rover in a flash, staring at the bush that lay before him with great interest. I wasn’t really sure what he was staring at and would normally have asked for help to decipher it, but, as I said, I was sleepy.
Then a familiar interaction took place. Ferdie pointed at HH2B and me, and signalled for us to quietly follow him to see whatever he was tracking. It was often the case that just a couple of folks could go and see something on foot at the time, and I was just happy we were getting to go first. Should I have been slightly nervous he didn’t have a rifle? I don’t know. I was sleepy. But since I didn’t lose my life in the rhino incident, I trusted this would be okay, too.
I tiptoed along behind our guide, and scurried in front of HH because I didn’t think I, being the lady amongst the three of us, belonged in the rear of the pack.
We came around a corner, and Ferdie attempted to point my eyes in the direction of the game he had it in mind for us to see, but something else caught my eye.
A picnic breakfast with roses and champagne had been carefully arranged under some Marula trees, and I suddenly realised there was not a wild beast to be seen because this was what the forgotten rifle, the circuitous route and the two of us on foot was all leading toward.
We were left with a radio and, seated on the picnic blanket, my future Hero Hubs, on one knee, began to share with me what I’m sure were some of the most beautiful things he’d ever said to me. I was so overwhelmed by the beauty of the moment I am afraid I scarcely heard a word. And his beautiful words were leading toward one significant question, with which he asked if I would be his wife.
And perhaps for one of the first, and only times I recall in my life, I was absolutely speechless.
I could only joyfully shake my head in response, and so I did, and through tears of joy, made it clear that I indeed would become his wife.
We soaked in the moment together, better captured in our hearts than in an attempt at photographs, and we enjoyed a bit of the champagne and stared at each other and laughed, and I’m quite sure I cried some more, and we marvelled at how tricksy HH had been that I had absolutely no expectation that this certain moment was about to occur.
And I’ve forgotten to mention that he produced a beautiful diamond ring which belonged to his grandmother which he hoped I would love and choose a new setting for. (I did choose a new setting and I do love it!)
The speechlessness quickly passed, and as I sometimes do when I’m nervous, I eventually began to chitter chatter and talked about the story of the dung beetle, which the guide discussed in great detail on an outing that HH2B wasn’t a part of the day before. We laughed and smiled some more, and kind of wished the moment never had to end, but thought about the rest of the folks back at the camp, perhaps waiting for us before actually starting out on the game drive. (Ferdie and his wife, Prudence, had arranged for us to take a special drive on a neighbouring reserve that day where we might see elephants or lions and other game that wasn’t on the Makhasa Reserve.)
The guide returned to pick us up, and we were off for our first game drive as a soon to be Mr. and Mrs. Collie.
And we did spot some lions. Kind of, barely.
But also some buffalo…
And look, that’s the diamond!
And that, dear friends, was the beginning of the plans for a wedding that was privileged to enjoy guests from England, Scotland, Germany and different parts of the good old USA, but some of the most beloved in attendance came all the way from the magical spot where it all began, our beloved South Africa.
Five and a half long months later, I was Mrs. Hero Hubs.
Six and a half months later, we discovered we were expecting a little one, our beloved Bear.
And though our mailing address has in the last three and a half years changed five times and spanned three continents, I am ever so glad that my first proper slice of South Africa led to the pie of an adventure that has befallen this little ol’ gal from Eastern North Carolina.
You’d think the South wasn’t southern enough, wouldn’t ya?
xCC
Nov 2, 2010 | South Africa, Stories, Travel..ling Tuesdays
The year was 2006. I’d been dating a guy I’d known for a year for about four months. And for some crazy reason I took seven flights to visit him in South Africa over the holidays. We planned it mind you…I didn’t just show up! I’d been to South Africa once before, but only to Johannesburg, and briefly, so that didn’t really count … this trip was my first proper introduction to the amazing beauty of South Africa.
A few days after Christmas ’06 I was on a flight from Raleigh, NC to New York (La Guardia) to Shannon to Dublin to Edinburgh … a brief pause to visit my flat in Edinburgh, shower, change clothes, change my suitcases from winter gear to summer gear, nap and head back to the airport … to Paris to Johannesburg to Cape Town.
What’s love got to do with it?
Probably everything.
Eventually Kulula encouraged me to slide that seat belt around those gorgeous hips and get ready for take off — me and all the other passengers listening to the pre-flight announcements — and I was on that last leg of the journey…six flights behind me, Table Mountain ahead of me…and so, so much more.
I thought this Travelling Tuesday I’d take you for a little travelling stroll down memory lane from just a few years ago. And it all started here. And I’m not sure why Julie’s not smiling, cos she’s a happy gal.
Upon arrival in Cape Town, Hero Hubs (who wasn’t Hubs at the time) planned for us to take a wee sunset cruise. He thought it would be a lovely transition from seven cooped and confined flights to spacious open seas, and incredible views of one of the potential New Seven Wonders of the World, Table Mountain, and the city she presides over.
Normally, late December in SA is summa summa summatime. Sadly my friends, the southeaster, she was a blowing. There was a blustery nip in the air, which I was prepared for with trousers and a jacket.
But then what had happened was…
The catamaran’s captain took a sharp turn just past the harbour wall. Did I mention the southeaster was a-blowing? The sea was angry that day my friend. And in that one sharp turn, we were down a deep and watery trough, and up the other side, but heavily, heavily splashed in the interim. Soaked.
So for the next hour or two of the sunset cruise, we were too shivery to enjoy our drinks, and too seasick to enjoy the scenery. Did I mention the southeaster was a-blowin’? But I was so happy to be in SA with my (unbeknownst to me future-) HH, I was not terribly despairing and we laughed at the thought that it could only get better from there.
And it did.
We spent the next few days, staying with HH’s aunt and uncle, and adventuring all over the Cape Peninsula.
Our wee rental scooter took us to Camps Bay Beach.
And to HH’s favourite beach in the world, Llandudno. (Not to be confused with the original Llandudno in Wales. My guess is this one is slightly more picturesque.)
We scooted along Chapman’s Peak Drive
and two weeks of soaking in of some of the most amazing vistas my two and a half decades had ever afforded me commenced.
On New Year’s Eve, we joined some friends to celebrate at the Twelve Apostles Hotel and HH (to-be) kept saying he thought he was hearing bagpipes. I politely reminded him that we were very far away from Scotland and that it was highly unlikely, and it must’ve been the Muzak playing. But as I stood up a few minutes later to find the loo, I glanced out the window and saw…
A piper in full regalia reminding us that in a few weeks we’d be back in chilly, wintry Scotland. Enjoy every moment! the pipes seemed to say.
On the beach, under the stars we rang in the New Year.
Our little scooter allowed us to pass the incredibly long queue of cars waiting to head up Table Mountain on New Year’s Day.
And we enjoyed some incredible views from the top.
After a wonderful couple of days in Cape Town, our road trip up the country commenced! We stopped off in Hermanus to visit some friends. {Remember Hermanus and the mischievous dassies?}
As the story goes, a South African and an American met in Britain…
And then we overnighted in Knysna, a place I introduced some of you to just a few weeks ago!
And though the reminders of Scotland continued…
We were on our way, for my first-ever visit to Bloemfontein, where I (unknowingly) met my future father- and mother-in-love for the first time!
The adventures of that first week in SA hold too many wonderful memories to fit into a single blog post. And though our arrival in Bloem meant about a week of my time in SA had passed, the greatest adventure of my first proper slice of South Africa was still ahead.
Can you tune in next week to hear the tale? {It’s right here.}
xCC
Oct 30, 2010 | Stories
It’s an absolutely stunning, calm, sunny day here in Gordon’s Bay. Even though I’m feeling a little bit more tired lately (you know someone’s eating off my ticket, right?) the Bear and I have still been for a walk, done some laundry, washed the dishes, written on the patio with chalk, sprayed the chalk with a spray bottle of water for extra good fun, watched some Veggie Tales and Wonder Pets, and had a snack. And it’s only lunch time!
We have some wonderful friends arriving into the country tonight….
They are also Collies…but spelled Colley! Heather and Will from Augusta and ‘Bama, respectively, pictured above in my happening hometown, are a delightful couple, visiting for two weeks from the States, and as long as they remembered the very costly toll charge, chocolate chips, they’ll be driven home from the airport this evening! 😉
Heather and I were bosom buds and travelling pals in Scotland. (Here we’re on our way to do a big cycle around the Isle of Arran. It was a loooong bike ride, and we almost missed the ferry home…)
Here we are in London…
And Germany…
She’s a delightfully sweet pal!
Will also really likes these…
So I think he’s great, too. 🙂
I am so thankful for friends being able to travel by plane to come visit, {I sometimes think about how much harder life as a missionary would be if it weren’t for air travel. Holy Cow!} for friendship, and for a great opportunity to let my Southern drawl hang out. Y’all know it. Looking forward to showing some more southerners around the really deep South for the next couple of weeks!! Yee-haw!
xCC
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