Ok, I saw a funny sign at the stores the other day. It said: Christmas Sale on Beach Towels.... There's just something about a warm Christmas that still feels weird to me.
Speaking of the beach, I am off to Durban to meet up with Josh and family for a few days. I am looking forward to coming back a few shades darker (I know... its dangerous.) and a little more rested.
Monday, November 26, 2007
Thursday, November 22, 2007
Happy Thanksgiving!
Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays. I have wonderful memories of times spent with family and friends. And once again I am reminded of all that I have to be thankful for. We serve an amazing God who treats me much better then I ever deserve and with much grace and mercy! I am grateful for all of you who so faithfully support my ministry and make it possible for me to be here and I am thankful for my faithful friends and family who love me and care for me! What a blessing to be part of the family of God.
Todays Thanksgiving was a little different then most. I celebrated with Josh and Marda and the girls. Marda had ordered a turkey that was suppose to be delivered to the store yesterday. When she went, it hadn't come in and she was told it might come in Thursday or Friday late morning.... A little bit a problem. There wasn't another turkey in the store. So, we had chicken. Welcome to Thanksgiving in Africa :) The girls were afraid Thanksgiving would be ruined but it wasn't because when it gets down to it- its really not about the food.
Oh, and due to the fact that there is no such thing as pumpkin in a can, I made my first pumpkin pie completely from scratch and it was pretty good and pretty easy. I still need to figure out how to make my crusts look pretty though. Any suggestions???
Todays Thanksgiving was a little different then most. I celebrated with Josh and Marda and the girls. Marda had ordered a turkey that was suppose to be delivered to the store yesterday. When she went, it hadn't come in and she was told it might come in Thursday or Friday late morning.... A little bit a problem. There wasn't another turkey in the store. So, we had chicken. Welcome to Thanksgiving in Africa :) The girls were afraid Thanksgiving would be ruined but it wasn't because when it gets down to it- its really not about the food.
Oh, and due to the fact that there is no such thing as pumpkin in a can, I made my first pumpkin pie completely from scratch and it was pretty good and pretty easy. I still need to figure out how to make my crusts look pretty though. Any suggestions???
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Thursday, November 08, 2007
Random thoughts from yesterday
I'm not sure how best to describe yesterday. I started out the day by taking our doctor to work at the government clinic in Katlehong. She works there every other week with the ECHO team which is a team that is suppose to be helping to make changes to how the hospital is run. Problem is she has shown up and they don't. As we got to the hospital you have to drive through security. I've done that before but yesterday they asked if I had a camera with me. I did and they wanted to keep it until I left the hospital. Hmmm... don't think so. Since, I knew I wanted to have my camera at the end of the day I said I would drop the doctor off and leave without coming in. But it does make you wonder. What are they afraid I will take pictures of? The high level of care going on in the hospital????? Another, hmm... don't think so.
From there I went with our two community workers to do some home visits. When someone asks to be fed by us, we visit them and make sure that they are needy and fit our criteria. As I walked into these homes and sat with the flys swirling around my head, I thought of God's sense of humor that He would have such a germaphobic person ( I mean I don't even like to shop in Walmart because I think its too dirty and I certainly won't use the restrooms there.) doing these kinds of things and being in these kinds of places.
One home (and by home I mean a 10ft x 12ft tin shack) we were going to we planned on telling the woman that if she had enough money to buy alchohol, she had enough money to buy food. When we arrived, she was gone but her 12 year old daughter was there and the grandmother. The shack was filthy and there were clothes lying in a pile outside it in the dirt. (This is very unusual. Most keep their shacks cleaner then we keep our houses.) The daughter hadn't been to school because the mother is using the daughter's grant to buy alchohol instead of things like school shoes. Because she didn't have shoes, she couldn't go to school.
We asked where the mother was. It seems that she has gone to stay with her new boyfriend and left her daughter to stay with the old one. It still shocks me that a mother could do that. It is like she is asking for her daughter to be raped. I asked the grandmother if she could have her granddaughter stay with her but the mother is so abusive she is scared to. My heart was very sore as we stood there. I thought about bringing her back to Lambano to stay and figured I'd ask Lyn for forgiveness when we got there :). I knew though that we need to get Social Services involved. So, I gave our community worker money to buy her shoes and took them to the Social Servicies office. They should remove her from the home. I'll find out this afternoon what happened and if they didn't I might be bringing her back here. We then picked up a 14 year old at the hospital who ius very sick and possibly about to die. We brought her back to Lambano and will care for her here. We are praying that we got her soon enough and can nurse her back to health.
Well, that was the heavy part of the day. That night I went to the Christmas program at the school our kids attend. I know it seems early but schools here close in November for the 'summer' break which seems very strange to me but it is summer here. I was absolutely amazed at the program. You'll see a picture below of something I don't think you'll see happen at any public school in the states or that has happened in maybe 30 years. Yes, that boy is reading the Christmas story from the Bible...... Wow! A Christmas concert were they sang about Jesus. I think they only sang one song about Santa.
They had kids acting out the story as they sang. Kamo below was a angel.
Timmy was Jospeh. I don't have a picture of her but one of his twelve girlfriends was Mary. We are working on the girlfriend thing :) but school has been great for Timmy. He really has excelled and is quite the man on campus it seems.
From there I went with our two community workers to do some home visits. When someone asks to be fed by us, we visit them and make sure that they are needy and fit our criteria. As I walked into these homes and sat with the flys swirling around my head, I thought of God's sense of humor that He would have such a germaphobic person ( I mean I don't even like to shop in Walmart because I think its too dirty and I certainly won't use the restrooms there.) doing these kinds of things and being in these kinds of places.
One home (and by home I mean a 10ft x 12ft tin shack) we were going to we planned on telling the woman that if she had enough money to buy alchohol, she had enough money to buy food. When we arrived, she was gone but her 12 year old daughter was there and the grandmother. The shack was filthy and there were clothes lying in a pile outside it in the dirt. (This is very unusual. Most keep their shacks cleaner then we keep our houses.) The daughter hadn't been to school because the mother is using the daughter's grant to buy alchohol instead of things like school shoes. Because she didn't have shoes, she couldn't go to school.
We asked where the mother was. It seems that she has gone to stay with her new boyfriend and left her daughter to stay with the old one. It still shocks me that a mother could do that. It is like she is asking for her daughter to be raped. I asked the grandmother if she could have her granddaughter stay with her but the mother is so abusive she is scared to. My heart was very sore as we stood there. I thought about bringing her back to Lambano to stay and figured I'd ask Lyn for forgiveness when we got there :). I knew though that we need to get Social Services involved. So, I gave our community worker money to buy her shoes and took them to the Social Servicies office. They should remove her from the home. I'll find out this afternoon what happened and if they didn't I might be bringing her back here. We then picked up a 14 year old at the hospital who ius very sick and possibly about to die. We brought her back to Lambano and will care for her here. We are praying that we got her soon enough and can nurse her back to health.
Well, that was the heavy part of the day. That night I went to the Christmas program at the school our kids attend. I know it seems early but schools here close in November for the 'summer' break which seems very strange to me but it is summer here. I was absolutely amazed at the program. You'll see a picture below of something I don't think you'll see happen at any public school in the states or that has happened in maybe 30 years. Yes, that boy is reading the Christmas story from the Bible...... Wow! A Christmas concert were they sang about Jesus. I think they only sang one song about Santa.
They had kids acting out the story as they sang. Kamo below was a angel.
Timmy was Jospeh. I don't have a picture of her but one of his twelve girlfriends was Mary. We are working on the girlfriend thing :) but school has been great for Timmy. He really has excelled and is quite the man on campus it seems.
Seiya was in the chorus that sat in the back.
All in all, it was a very enjoyable concert and all the kids did a great job! It was a good way to end the day. I love Christmas!
Sunday, November 04, 2007
Charity Mile
I spent yesterday at a charity event for Lambano. Each charity was represented in a competition and we came in second- winning R60,000 (about $10,000). God was good!
It was a little funny because each charity was represented by a celebrity and being American I had no idea who most of them were. And I have to tell you besides the money given to Lambano the best part of the day was that some of the Springboks were there. For those of you in America, the Springboks are the South African rugby team and we just won the World Cup. Its kind of fun to have a team that represents the whole country instead of a state or a city. It really brings people together. Anyway, I did what I never do and in an effort to make some of my South African friends jealous had my picture taken with some of them there. To fully understand these pictures, you have to understand what a big, huge things Springbok rugby is here. I have to say they were very nice guys and were very gracious with the people at the event.
With Jake White the coach
With Juan De Viliers
With Schalk Burger
It was a little funny because each charity was represented by a celebrity and being American I had no idea who most of them were. And I have to tell you besides the money given to Lambano the best part of the day was that some of the Springboks were there. For those of you in America, the Springboks are the South African rugby team and we just won the World Cup. Its kind of fun to have a team that represents the whole country instead of a state or a city. It really brings people together. Anyway, I did what I never do and in an effort to make some of my South African friends jealous had my picture taken with some of them there. To fully understand these pictures, you have to understand what a big, huge things Springbok rugby is here. I have to say they were very nice guys and were very gracious with the people at the event.
With Schalk Burger
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