Sep 5, 2011 | Stories
Hi friends! Along with preparing suitcases, laundry, toys, and the expectations of one little Bear, I’ve been preparing a few goodies for you while we’re travelling. I know right? You can thank me later.
You can look forward to some photos of my favourite six-month-old {and possibly yours, if we’re related or you don’t have any friends with six-month-olds}, the recap of when three became the new two, some guest posts extraordinaire, and maybe a little more of this and that, let’s just see how it goes.
In the meantime, question.
How have six months passed since this happened?
Wasn’t that last Tuesday?
Feel free to say a prayer for us… the little sicknesses here and there… our stuffed suitcases… Goo-Goo and Gammy…
MANY thanks (again) to you sweet friends who’ve emailed to let me know you’re thinking of us. It means SO much! Although this transition isn’t easy, we are well.
More on the way!
xCC
Sep 3, 2011 | Stories
Thanks to an observant reader (who also happens to be meeting us at the airport to buy Mr. Potato Head) I’ve realised I accidentally said we were leaving on the 1st of September. Incorrect, mis amigos! Our departure for the UK is actually on the 7th of September — we’ll be departing on a late evening flight.
And ever since we got back from Knysna, (travelling through howling wind and serious bush fire long story to get back) time suddenly feels like it’s moving like this:
{Can you guess what the Bear’s favourite toy was from his birthday? Clever badge if you can be specific!}
So, after an early brunch in Bloemfontein, we’ll be driving off to Johannesburg for our flight to London. And I get teary-eyed just thinking about it. Or typing about it. So please say a prayer for us (and Goo-Goo and Gammy especially) on the 7th!
{And if you said a prayer for us on the 1st already, well thanks. We needed that, too.}
In the meantime, I can report the wonderful news that we picked up the Tank’s passport this morning. Hallelujah! We are so thankful to have that important little document in our hands. And I’m hoping I can take a picture of the baby’s adorable mug shot on the photo page to share with you. Because it is hands-down the sweetest little baby photo you’ve ever seen in a passport. And I’ve seen ’em all. (The Bear has three right by himself!)
Now, one last dispatch from Bloemfontein for your information and prayerful consideration: it seems like the Bear is picking up a little cold, the Hubs is sick with something, and the baby is either teething or picking up a cold or both. And we have a looooong flight on Wednesday. So there ya go.
Whatever you’re up to today, whoever you need to remember to hug or thank or call or smile at, don’t forget to seize the present opportunities. For time, my friends, she flies.
xCC
P.S. Have you been checking out the Five-Star Shots of the lovely animals and scenery at Kruger National Park, which the Hubs has been posting every day over at Quiver Tree Photo? Quality!!
Sep 1, 2011 | Stories, The Good Word
I feel a little like I’ve turned a corner with regard to sharing thoughts around these parts recently. For a long time, I felt like I needed to write because there was an empty space — a few days, maybe more, where nothing new was on the docket, and it seemed to me that empty space was a bad thing. Better to just say something than to keep quiet for a while, right?
{No Bears were harmed in the taking of this photo, circa Jan. 2010}
But I began to ponder the difference between speaking {or writing} because you have to say something and speaking because you have something to say. Then verses like these began popping out at me:
The tongue of the wise uses knowledge rightly, But the mouth of fools pours forth foolishness. {Prov. 15:2}
Wise people store up knowledge, But the mouth of the foolish is near destruction. {Prov. 10:14}
As a ring of gold in a swine’s snout, So is a lovely woman who lacks discretion. {Prov. 11:22}
A man will be satisfied with good by the fruit of his mouth, And the recompense of a man’s hands will be rendered to him. {Prov. 12:14}
He who guards his mouth preserves his life, But he who opens wide his lips shall have destruction. {Prov. 13: 3}
A man has joy by the answer of his mouth, And a word spoken in due season, how good it is! {Prov. 15:23}
Pleasant words are like a honeycomb, Sweetness to the soul and health to the bones. {Prov. 16:24}
Whoever guards his mouth and tongue Keeps his soul from troubles. {Prov. 21:23}
A fool vents all his feelings, But a wise man holds them back. {Prov. 29:11)
Do you see a man hasty in his words? There is more hope for a fool than for him. {Prov. 29:20}
and my personal favourite…
Even a fool is counted wise when he holds his peace; When he shuts his lips, he is considered perceptive. {Prov. 17:28}
When it comes to a discussion of the importance of rightly wielding one’s tongue (or pen), in Proverbs alone, this is just the tip of the iceberg.
The Sermon in a Nutshell? Sometimes it’s better to wait until you have something to say than to speak just because you have to say something.
The New Testament provides a very good example of this principle — a before and after, two millenia before extreme makeovers, if you will — in the life of Peter, the disciple of Jesus, who may or may not have had ADHD. Hopefully I’ll be back to discuss that very topic in a day or two, but, ya know, I’m gonna make sure I have something to say first.
Do you struggle with speaking because you have to say something? (Great! You shouldn’t have any trouble commenting below!) Any tips for the rest of us?
xCC
Aug 31, 2011 | South Africa, Stories
We have enjoyed a few peaceful days in the Knysna area with Goo-Goo and Gammy, and we’ve been taking a stroll down memory lane at the same time. It put a smile on our faces to realise that this has become the one and only destination where we’ve spent some holiday time with all of our parents.
First with G-pa back in 2009…
{This is on the Knysna estuary…see how the Bear enjoyed the boat ride?}
And then we were back when G.C. visited South Africa in 2010…
and see how the Bear enjoyed another boat ride…
{he enjoyed it by pooping!}
And now we’re here with Goo-Goo and Gammy and the Tank is about the age the Bear was when we were here in ’09! {Photos to come!}
It’s hard to believe our departure from these beautiful southern shores for the UK and then the USA is just seven days away. If I don’t have lots to say over the next few days, just be assured it’s because we’re preparing for the journey and I’m soaking in these last few moments of calling this wonderful country home. {Although I’ve been figuring out what home means and that it isn’t exactly related to an address… still, you know what I mean.}
This is a season pregnant with emotion: highs and lows, joys and sorrows. Please say a prayer for us… especially next week, on September 1st, when we take off for the UK. I’m looking forward to the return to the place I called home for four years, (and of course to the final destination) but saying goodbye to this place won’t be easy.
Still, it is well, it is well with my soul.
xCC
P.S. I am hoping to have some guest posts for your enjoyment while we are travelling, in case I’m not consistently able to check in. If you are interested in guest posting, please email me at cedcollie {at} gmail {dot} com.
Aug 26, 2011 | Guest Posts, Stories
The Hubs’ folks lost a dear friend on Wednesday. We’ve made a spur-of-the-moment decision to travel down to the coast with them so that they can attend the funeral. They’ve found holiday accommodation near Knysna (pronounced Neyes-nuh — as in that first syllable rhymes with “eyes”) where we’ll enjoy one last holiday together before we depart these shores on the 7th.
(Which is like, twelve days from now? Has anybody seen the Tank’s passport?)
Funny enough, before leaving Gordon’s Bay, HH and I were sorry that we didn’t get to visit Knysna just one more time before leaving. It’s one of our favourite places in SA and holds a lot of special memories for us. Here we are at the last minute, looking forward to one more hurrah!
Life has a way of suddenly throwing a lot onto your to-do list all at once. It can take you from having a few things in mind for the weeks ahead to suddenly rushing to catch up on laundry and shop for a new pacifier (you know, to replace the one the monkey stole) and pack a few suitcases and make a shopping list and plan a few meals all at once.
And it’s when life feels busy like this that I often struggle to find those green pastures and still waters where I hear the voice that speaks peace to my soul.
Care to join me over at Signposts today, where I’m talking about listening for the voice of the Shepherd?
xCC
P.S. Did I share with you that I’m now the behind the scenes website manager over at Signposts Ministries? What a privilege…score! It’s three hours a week that I am enjoying immensely! I’ve been slowly making changes to the site and as a team we have some exciting plans for the future — I’d love your thoughts about how things look so far! (Especially if you’d visited the site before the makeover!)
Aug 23, 2011 | South Africa, Stories
{This post is continuing from Join Me in the Bushveld (part one) right here.}
We enjoyed a scrumptious brunch back in our holiday accommodation, keeping an eye on a mischievous monkey {who may or may not have stolen Blake’s dummy} keen to hop up onto the balcony and join our feast if no one was looking. We piled back into the car to hurry into the park in hopes of seeing more game…and specifically hoping for a good sighting of some lions.
Once we’re inside the reserve, the Bear scurries into the front passenger seat to sneak candy from a very willing Grandpa. He is finally getting the hang of looking for game, and we’ve been keeping him entertained with books and toys and special treats.
Through thick bush along the roadside, we spot a striking waterbuck who seems to be observing us, just as we are observing her.
We’d seen a hippopotamus in similar scenery that morning. It was special to see this delightfully cumbersome creature on the land instead of in the water. We watched him graze for quite some time, making sure our car wasn’t cutting off his path to the water — they don’t seem to like that too much.
Now a Greater Blue-Eared Glossy Starling is hopping alongside the car. I stare down, so impressed with his magnificent colouring.
We ride along quietly for quite some time and then come down a dip in the road that crosses over a dry river bed. We stop for a moment, half expecting to see something coming along this sandy thoroughfare at any moment. I search the sand for tracks, the Bear now on my lap, us leaning our heads out the window.
“That must be gruffalo poop!” we giggle, and I encourage the Bear to keep his eyes peeled for a gruffalo nearby.
We look up the hill in front of us before the Hubs begins encouraging Mr. Potato Head to begin the grumbling ascent, but this scene awaits us at the top of the hill:
HH moves the car slowly forward and then we’re motionless — watching as elephants are coming out of the bush and crossing the road right in front of us. We suddenly make another discovery: nature has called twice, and the baby has made a poopy which has gone straight through his onesie, his swaddle cloth, and onto Gammy’s nice white blouse. Sigh.
While elephants crack branches and munch munch a few feet away, we’re in the backseat trying to clean up the mess. The juxtaposition of the peaceful scenery of the grazing ellies out the window and the wild scene inside the car make me smile, and Mom and I laugh that this will be a special memory.
Once bottoms are cleaned, clothes are changed (except for poor Mom) and babies are back to smiling, I have the joy of gazing at the gentle giants outside my window. With strength and graceful movements, they knock over a tree and feast on the roots before moving on.
We linger watching the elephants for ages…it feels like such a privilege.
It’s time to start heading for home, so we move on, just pausing to smile at the monkeys now dotting the road in front of us.
We grumble along for a bit longer and then notice a lonely wildebeest. He grazes near the road as the sun begins to fade in the sky.
At last it’s time to hurry along to the gate, our last day of viewing game at the Kruger National Park coming to a close. In a great day-end surprise, Mark spots another leopard — we watch, awestruck that we’ve been privileged with three sightings of the least spotted (though very spotted) of the Big Five in one day. As other cars pull up in hopes of enjoying a good look at what we’ve seen, the leopard slips off into the bush again, and it feels like that special moment was planned just for us.
Up one hill, just before the descent toward the gate, you can see for miles — the Mpumulanga horizon breathtaking with fields and trees, the sturdy profiles of mountains outlined in the distance.
The evening sky mirrors the sky from early that morning. Silhouettes of wiry trees pass outside our window and my heart feels a little heavy as I wonder when I’ll have the privilege of being in this special place again. We approach the gate, stars are beginning to appear, and I find myself praying, “Lord, thank You. Please let us return to this wonderful place again soon.”
xCC
P.S. The Hubs grabbed memory-card-loads of five-star photos during our time in the Kruger, which I have not been sharing here, because they will be up in lights on his website. He has already begun posting a beautiful new photo every day over at Quiver Tree Photo, so please drop by and enjoy!
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