Aug 24, 2010 | Travel..ling Tuesdays
Happy Tuesday, friends! We’re on the road with my Mama and loving the adventure together! I will have some wonderful photos for you from the places we’ve enjoyed along the way for a few Travelling Tuesdays to come!
In the meantime, this Travelling Tuesday is a birthday edition! You can travel to our new place where you’ll get a few glimpses of what it looks like furnished – but more important, you’ll get to see the Birthday Bear, enjoying the travel into the world of being tewwwwooooooooohhh, as he puts it.
We’ll start things off with the most important part, the labour of love which was the birthday cake. He likes stars, so there ya go. I worked hard. That icing is from scratch!!! And I don’t have a sieve for sifted the powdered sugar, so it was slowly slowly blended with lots of love!
And here’s the cake with the age appropriate signage. Can you tell I was proud?
The boy is overjoyed with guests arriving!
Hannah isn’t sure she wants to smile for the camera.
Mom meets one of my neighbours and her daughter. The Bear ADORES this little girl! He walks over and gives her a gentle pat whenever she arrives.
Liam finds my MacBook, carefully stowed under the couch where it can charge in peace. Uh-oh!
The Bear was impressed with Sarah’s big girl skills: going down the stairs forwards like a grown-up. (He still goes backwards on his belly.)
He occasionally gave overwhelming hollers of thisisthebestdayever delight – wish I could’ve captured one on the camera for you!
Brother and Sister. Sweet hey?
Trystan is always smiling.
Trystan’s Mom is a sweet friend!
The Bear decides I can blow out the candle. He’ll just grab some icing.
Liam likes cake.
So those are the highlights! Besides taking pictures of all the great prezzies, which just seems excessive. It was a wild event, but lots of fun! Glad birthdays come once a year. 🙂
Blessings as your adventure continues, friends! Happy Tuesday!
xCC
Aug 17, 2010 | Travel..ling Tuesdays
Happy Tuesday!! Hope your week is off to a great start! My Mom is HERE and I am LOVING LOVING LOVING IT! Will have some fresh Travelling Tuesdays for you coming from the adventures we’ll have together over the next two weeks! Whoo-hoo! And thanks for your prayers. She and all her luggage arrived safely, and we easily found each other at the airport and I am JUST SO GLAD SHE’S HERE!
I am delighted to share some shots with you from one of the Shoes of Hope distributions we did with the missions team last week. We were at a tiny primary school near Rawsonville, which is about forty-five minutes east of Cape Town. Does telling you minutes instead of miles make me a city girl? These kids live in a wine region, so most of their parents work in vineyards nearby. Situated in a beautiful valley surrounded by stunning mountains, if you visit, you’ll find the juxtaposition of breathtaking landscapes and heart-challenging poverty. It’s like the poverty is surrounded by beauty, but there is beauty in the poverty, too.
See what I mean?
We arrived a while before the rest of the SF missions team. The arrival of their massive charter bus did not go unnoticed…
The morning commenced with some beautiful singing and some impressively coordinated dance moves.
But not everyone was sure they were up for singing and dancing…
Can you guess who wanted to join in the fun?
The Bear was aptly dressed in school colours and occasionally hard to spot! He seemed disappointed that he didn’t already know the dance moves.
But when it was time to sit quietly he thought a game of duck, duck, goose would be good…
After story time, it was time for the footwashing and shoe sizing to begin!
One of the teachers added some hot water to warm up the water basins, but I think she forgot one…
Can you believe these precious feet belong to a little girl who probably isn’t nine yet?
This is the “I’ve Got Loooove” dance move…but I’m afraid I can’t remember all the lyrics for you. Peace and Joy made an appearance, too.
I peeked inside a classroom and afterwards wished I’d taken more photos for you! (That’s Afrikaans.)
Oh, look! One of the banners HH and I designed has been conveniently placed for a photo op! Yay, sweet banner! We’re proud of you!
I thought this fella had a sweet smile.
This little girl’s story will touch your heart. I will share more about the Girl in the Pink Coat soon.
This tough cookie had a blistered spot on her toe so awful looking I am afraid some of you couldn’t handle seeing it. One of the volunteers cleaned it and carefully put ointment on it and dressed it after letting it soak for a while. She didn’t seem phased in the slightest, and I began to think these children must get used to being in pain.
As usual, I’ve saved my favourites for last. I took lots of this gang and will have to share more! They were so great! (And patient as they were the last group to have their feet washed and receive shoes!)
Here are the preschoolers! I’m not sure where they’re headed…
Ya know friends, each of these opportunities seems to be such a learning experience for me. I find things I would never realise I’m taking for granted to be luxuries beyond the means of many. The words “want” and “need” are constantly finding clearer definitions in my vocabulary. And in light of the simple joy and peace I see on these kids’ faces, I am continually recognising my own discontent, and enjoying the challenge to find wholeness apart from the kind of wholeness that we Westerners might tend to think comes from a store. So I’m thankful again this Tuesday. For what I have and what I don’t. For what I’m seeing and how it helps me see myself.
And I hope you can take a moment to be still this Tuesday and find thankfulness in your heart, too.
xCC
Want to join the Travelling Tuesday fun this week? Link up right here! Whether it’s last week’s trip to Walmart of last year’s week at the beach, I’d love for you to share! Please just link back here somewhere in your post, and make sure you give us the link to your post, and not your home page.
Aug 10, 2010 | South Africa, Travel..ling Tuesdays
Well guys, the travels take you to the lovely Gordon’s Bay again this week! I am excited to share photos with you from our new place. Forgive me that the pictures are of our place, still empty. But if I take pictures of its current state, you’ll see that we’re living amidst boxes and using things for purposes other than the purpose for which we they were created. And let’s be honest, most of the time it’s best when things are used for the purpose for which they were created. Like people, and air compressors.
We are paying a fraction of what the landlords were hoping for in December last year, and they’ve done renovations, re-carpeted and re-painted since then. We can only point to the Lord with thanks, because we don’t know why we’re getting such an amazing deal! We’re still in the same neighbourhood as before, which is wonderful for walks (the Bear is still riding his car and a little nervous on his wee bike) and very secure and safe.
From the brick wall on the left to the end of the bricks on the right, that’s our new pad! Complete with a white picket fence and a wee bit of garden! 🙂 The new offices of Samaritan’s Feet South Africa are located in the newly finished loft up there on the third floor!
This is the first time we’ve ever lived in a place big enough to need a baby monitor. Look! A fireplace.
This is the dining room. We got a big khaki-coloured rug and a round table with five chairs at an auction the other night. Just use your imagination… I’m thinking of painting the table but haven’t decided what to do yet.
Would you like to head upstairs? (Or go potty?)
The view from the Master Bedroom. Draw in a lil’ queen size bed we picked up at a MAJORLY discounted price, just there on the right. And a ton of boxes and suitcases on the left.
That’s the view from the Bear’s room! Excuse the pigeon problem on the balcony. 🙂
Look at the unbelievable cupboard space! A shower and sink in the first loo, a full bathroom in the second…and Baby #2’s room at the end of the hall. (Or your room, if you come visit! 🙂 )
Did you notice this crazy flower in the first picture? These plants only flower once every twenty-seven years! My brother thought it was like something out of Alice and Wonderland. The flowers have now almost reached the tip. Amazing, hey?
So that’s our new place! What do you think? We’re really blessed to be here!
Hope your week is off to a great start! Enjoy your journey today…Happy Tuesday!
xCC
Jul 13, 2010 | Stories, Travel..ling Tuesdays
Hey guys and gals! Our flat is full of damp and we’ve decided to up and move on the quick! We need to find a new place to live by the end of the month. And, good news, we may have found THE place, but we haven’t made a decision for sure. But heading out and about to look at places whilst juggling a few other balls has limited my time to meet you here in this little corner of the ‘net. But it seems like things will settle down soon. Hope so!
In the meantime, I thought I’d share a few of my favourite slices of life over the past few weeks (besides this video you hopefully saw which we made for my Dad’s birthday.) These are a few of the things that I want to pause to be thankful for, even in the midst of the busyness of this season.
These are the flowers Hero Hubs gave me for our anniversary. More than two weeks later, they’re just now beginning to look tired.
Our neighbour gave us a painting as an anniversary gift. It was really special and kind of her! She is talented! I can’t wait to hang this in the new place.
The Bear enjoyed a wee bus ride in a mall in Cape Town the other day, and it made me miss the UK. I doubt he can remember Edinburgh’s double deckers!
This was the Samaritan’s Feet missions team visiting from Brazil. They did a lot of great work with some of our local ministry partners during the World Cup and just headed back home Sunday. (They played a little soccer while they were here, too.)
This Cheeky Chap learned to swing. (Did I tell you that already?)
And swinging is now THE. BEST. THING. EVER. I know, he needs another hair cut.
(That’s Table Mountain back there, in case you’re wondering. We’re waiting on Unky Russ & Auntie Erin, who are at the top.)
After watching the World Cup, the Bear has been practicing his throw-in.
Do you love his new hat from Uncle Russ?
Boy did we have a hard time leaving this store.
There have also, of course, over the past few weeks been some special moments like the ones I told you about last Tuesday.
And although we’re counting down the days till we move out of this leaky, damp place (which by the way I think is the reason we’ve been getting sick over and over — did I tell you that?) there have still been these moments, where I’ve stopped to be thankful. The overwhelming goodness of taking a moment to be thankful as you enjoy a scene like this one — it’s the kind of stuff that almost makes me cry. And sometimes does.
May you travel to a place of thankfulness this Tuesday. And next Tuesday. And the one after that.
xCC
If I get a chance I might link up to share in the lovely thankfulness over at Chatting at the Sky this Tuesday. Have a visit if you’d like a little more thankful inspiration!
I also shared this at Communal Global, just here. A really neat site!
Jul 6, 2010 | South Africa, Travel..ling Tuesdays
Do you remember that scene in Elf where Will Ferrell runs into the conference room and bursts out with the exclamation: “I’m in love, I’m in love and I don’t care who knows it!”? Okay, maybe not, but if you can picture it, that’s how enthusiastic I feel about sharing with you that the World Cup Distributions got off the ground last week. Shoes cleared Customs. Shoes were unpacked (some of ’em though, not all of ’em.) Lots of little faces lit up and lots of feet received some much needed protection. Don’t forget, it is winter here! I can’t believe all the bare feet I’m seeing in winter!
I’ll be creating an album with lots of captions and more pics on Samaritan’s Feet South Africa’s Facebook Fan page, so be on the lookout right here. And go “like” us if you haven’t already! Uh, you like us, right?
In the meantime, here are some highlights from the beginning of an exciting time for us … on one special, chilly, lovely day outside Cape Town.
I have to mention here that this little girl was THRILLED when she discovered that her brand new shoes LIGHT UP!
I had some great conversations with some of the regular staff who see these children a few times a week. I was reminded that even though some of these kids had some semblance of a pair of shoes before, for many of them this might be the first new thing they’ve ever been given. For the staff workers these distributions present an opportunity to get to know the kids better one on one. One staff member shared with me that she overheard two little boys taking another aside and saying “Do not let your mother take your shoes!” She was glad to have overheard this, to be able to keep an eye on the boy and remember this during future home visits.
It’s hard to not know what the future holds for these kids (that thought continually struck me during this distribution), but we keep praying that the seeds that are planted — of hope, of faith, of belief that better things are still to come — will grow in these little hearts and multiply a hundredfold.
Hope your week is off to a great start. From my tugged and stretched heart to yours, Happy Tuesday.
xCC
Jun 29, 2010 | South Africa, Travel..ling Tuesdays
While waiting for Uncle Russ and Erin to arrive, we enjoyed the excitement of World Cup Fever at Cape Town airport. And we sure did document it for you to enjoy it, too! Happy Tuesday!
These vuvuzela-laden, aptly-dressed kids are obviously ready for some World Cup action. But what are they looking at?
It’s a delightfully “African” band, welcoming international arrivals to Cape Town and the World Cup. (And singing songs that mention Bafana Bafana {South Africa’s team!} and lilt along Welcome to Ah-free-cahhh…).
They were kind enough to let the Bear enjoy the fun! He is apparently a budding musician.
But if you buy him a drum set, I. Will. Hurt. You. Don’t you love that one of the musicians is dressed as a soccer player?
Check out this cool instrument which has an African name I couldn’t pronounce, let alone spell.
The Bear thinks it’s interesting too. I suppose you can get him one of those. They are lyrical and peaceful.
If you make it down here, FIFA is ready to welcome you!
And the minute your plane touches down, you’ll be seeing flags. Everywhere.
I’d never seen so much lovely decor at an airport. Not even in Dubai!
Okay, except that the big black trash bags are kind of pretty darn visible. And they kind of feel like creepy shrines to a nonexistent soccer god.
Before I sign off you must enjoy this last moment that I wish we’d better documented. One of the band members taught the Bear how to dance to the music!
“Ashley” as the band member called him, is a very good dancer and a clever boy indeed! 🙂
My brother and Erin are visiting a game reserve overnight, so I had a brief moment to give you an update and a Travelling Tues! Hope you enjoyed it and that your week’s off to a great start! We are enjoying our visitors and can’t wait for them to get back, but I have a special stroll in the queue for you tomorrow. Even though Ashley isn’t featured, I think you’ll enjoy it!
xCC
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