Bedtime discussions

Tonight as I was putting Wyatt to bed we started talking about the kingdom. I asked him what's the first thing you'll do when you go into the kingdom? He said - worship God! Then after that, he said, I'll probably eat - anything I want, and there will be enough to have seconds, and when those run out then God will make more, and no one will go hungry. What will you do next I ask? Hmmmm he says...... breathe - lots of breathing. Because you know I'll be living and I'll need air, food, water, sunlight and... what's the last one mommy? A place to live, I say thinking he really was listening to that lesson on what living things need! Oh yea he says, a place to live. And if I die, then I'll be risen again or maybe dead forever. No, not that, I want to be risen again. That's all mommy. Goodnight.

Love those late night conversations!

Memories and some payback from childhood travels

After spending almost 3 weeks in the car with my family on a roadtrip, it has occurred to me how annoying I must have been to my parents and brother and so I send them a very belated apology for all the irritating things I did as a kid on roadtrips. Since we have no radio in our van, there is no way to play community music to pass the time while we drive. Ani has decided to start composing her own songs in some foreign language unbeknownst to any of us. It has lots of clicks and sounds similar to zulu and xhosa, interspersed with other crazy sounding words. I actually have a memory of doing this very thing as a kid and remember how irritated my brother would get until he would thump me! I can't remember if this was on a road trip or one of the many trips down to my parent's studio, but in any case - David - please accept my sincere apologies!

We have spent a lot of hours doing lessons on the road and I read aloud our historical fiction books from our South African curriculum. A miracle must have occurred because in the past, I would get horribly nauseous at any reading in the car. It really is amazing since we are driving through curvy mountain roads. Maybe Cameron is right that car sickness is all about control, and now I'm desperate since there is nothing else to do for miles and miles (or kilometers and kilometers)!

The kids built their first forts in the van on this trip. I can remember as a kid lifting my parents headrest and putting a towel under it and creating a little tent area in the floorboard when we drove on trips. The kids did this with their blankets and had a great time hiding from each other in their little holes.

Today when we went to Table Mountain, after the cable ride was over and 20 minutes had passed the kids were "bored." Here we are standing on one of the 7 natural wonders of the world and they are bored! I had a flashback to feeling that way when my parents took me to some "amazing" places which now I think I would love to go to again! At least I was able to connect to remembering how it felt when I was kid, so I took it pretty easy on them, and made them suffer just as my parents did!

Do you remember how it felt when you arrived in someone's house for the first time? It was like a huge place to explore, weird and different than your home and full of interesting things. Since we've stopped off along so many new places on this trip, it's been fun to watch them feel the same way and see the excitement as they meet the new people and see the new places. I remember the smell of hotel rooms as a kid and as I turned on Wyatt's bath tonight, it took me back to the smell of baths (which is probably just full of extra chlorine!) at hotels. We've stayed in all kinds of places on this trip - cabins, cottages, self -catering chalets, apartments, homes of wonderful friends, and if we could have fit the tent, we would have camped,too.

It's been amazing to see the wonderful way our family has interacted - both in good and bad - and to be so thankful for this opportunity to explore this beautiful country together!

The Edge at Hogsback

As we drove through the Amatola mountains, we were in awe of the splendor before us. We were headed up to Hogsback, a beautiful mountain retreat that boasts to be the inspiration for JRR Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings novels and in particular the Mirkwood Forest. The land is full of waterfalls, forests and breathtaking sheer bluffs. We rode into town without a place to stay (as seems to be our new style these days) and were blessed to find a lovely cottage at The Edge, literally on the edge of the mountains. The cottage was surrounded by jasmine and beautiful flowering plants. As we walked to the back, we saw this view.

After greeting the neighboring cat, we headed off to explore the property before the sun set. We walked through the lavender gardens, and strolled along the edge of the bluff until we reached the labyrinth. This labyrinth was an eleven circuit labyrinth similar in design to the one in Chartres Cathedral in France. The total walk was 1.4 kilometers making it one of the largest labyrinths in the world. As I prepared to walk the labyrinth, I cleared my mind and tried to focus on a specific meditation - letting go of the desire to control. This was immediately tested as I slowly walked the labyrinth with my children running and yelling all around me! For those of you that have never been to a labyrinth, the purpose is to release something from yourself as you are walking in and leave it behind as you walk back out. Here are the preparation instructions as posted in the labyrinth guide, which seemed humorous in the circumstances I found myself:

"Keep your breath slow, full and even throughout the walk. Check. Walk slowly and at a pace with which you feel comfortable. Check. If at any point you start feeling uneasy or distracted, or anxiety arises (which is natural) stop, try to discern its source, then adjust your body, mind and spirit and gently move forward. Check - source is easily discernable - my kids- difficult to gently move forward when Wyatt is tugging on me to run with him. Try to stay focused and maintain a meditative state of mind while remaining aware of the experience. Check- isn't this my life story of living with 3 kids? Be receptive to inspiration in all its forms and respond. Check - I am realizing that these kids are going to be an integral part of this experience and am now interacting with them with giggles. Sing or dance if you feel so inspired! - Check - now I'm quickly walking down the path being beckoned by the kids. In the center of the labyrinth you meet both sounds and silences, trust and doubt, your past and future, temporal and eternal. WOW! Stay in the center until your burdens fall aside and give way to joy, presence and being. Check - the kids are now dancing and leaping all around me and I am in the moment, and realize all of the sudden that I have let go of trying to control how this meditative experience is supposed to turn out! Integrate this knowledge and these feelings on your outward path to the real world. Check - Cam and I have now connected up and are walking out together and the kids are now in a train behind us as we head out the labyrinth path."

We watched the sun set in the mountains behind the labyrinth and we headed over to the restaurant for a delicious dinner. We came back to the cabin and made a roaring fire in the fireplace and the kids roasted marshmallows. It was a wonderful day and the best part of it came when we all had our first shower in 4 days!! Hogsback also made us think of our friends back in Northwest Arkansas and the Hogs! Woo-pig-sooie!

A few more pics from Candu and the Transkei

This dog was so funny! He was very thin and hungry and thirsty, so we fed him and watered him. He would sleep like this all day!

Sunday Services in Candu

We had been told that time is of little value in this village and to be prepared that we might start later than expected and go longer. When Cameron asked Templeton’s son how long the talk normally lasted, he told us it depended on what Templeton wanted to say that day! Cameron left in the van to go pick up several of the church members in towns nearby. The children arrived first and were playing on the playground. Sister Vivian enthusiastically rounded up the children and began singing hymns with them. It was so neat to hear them sing our familiar hymns in Xhosa while we sang them in English. It truly made me think of the diversity of the body of Christ and how amazing it will be to have the whole earth together from all nations praising God when Jesus rules the earth.

Revelation 7: 9-12 After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice: “Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.” All the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. They fell down on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying: “Amen! Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to our God for ever and ever. Amen!”

We learned about Zaccheus in our children’s Sunday school and talked about how Jesus had come to him to spend time with him and he changed his heart to become a better man. The children really enjoyed making the craft and learning a song. Then they taught us their songs in Xhosa.

While we were having Sunday school, the ladies were busy preparing the lunchtime meal. They brought chicken, mealie flour, cabbage and potatoes. We knew this was done in our honor and we felt very humbled as this was a very special meal for them. They cooked the mealie pap in a huge black kettle out over an open fire. Their kitchen did not have running water, so they would fetch water from the rain tank and use that.

Cameron arrived back and we had a full house for Sunday services. He gave a talk on the need to follow the instructions God has designed for our life. He talked about how God is the engineer and He has designed us to run a certain way. If we fill our lives with the things that were intended to give us strength and power, then we will run like a well oiled engine and be able to handle the bumps in the road when they come. Other brethren did readings out of the Bible then we had a memorial service with the bread and wine remembering our risen Lord. It was a wonderful, encouraging time shared. I was amazed that my children were able to sit for almost 3 hours. When I looked around at the other children, they too were sitting without a sound and they were listening, not asleep! Just goes to show how culture does affect what we expect! We had smelled the delicious meal for a long time now, and it was time to eat! I have to say it was MOST DELICIOUS!

Cameron then spent the late afternoon taking home the members that had come from afar. At sunset, he and Templeton headed out to visit some other members that could not make it over. They got back about midnight. It was truly a day full of service, worship and fellowship! We headed out Monday morning to go to Hogsback, a beautiful retreat in the mountains.

Morning farm chores at Templeton's house in Candu

Templeton Mdulu is the pillar of the small church here in Candu. He and his wife, Zeltha, offer pastoral care for many of the women who are members of the church. There are very few men in the church as they tend to have less commitment and desire to follow the ways of God. Early Sunday morning, we went to visit Templeton’s house which was just down the road from the church building and crèche (preschool). Templeton is one of the villagers that seems to be doing better than most in terms of existence. He has a herd of 10 cattle, about a dozen goats, sheep, chickens and geese. We found out that there is often one black sheep with each batch of sheep born. They were really cute! Right now when they milk, they get about 2 cups of milk a day from their cows. They do not milk their goats, but raise them to sell. They also grind their own meal for the animals. We went up with their youngest son to take the cattle to drink from the watering hole and graze in the forest.

We led them up to the top of the mountain and then they find their way into the forest with the other cattle from the other villagers. At the end of the day, the son has to go down into the forest and find his cattle to bring home. I asked him how he did this and he said it was mainly from recognizing one of the speckled cows and that the others stay with her. They keep all of the offspring together with the mother so they will have the herd stay together. This is the view from the top of the mountain.

Across the Transkei to Candu

We headed out for a long drive leaving the coast for the inland area called the Transkei. This area is heavily populated with Africans living in shacks made of tin and concrete blocks. We wanted to make it there before it was dark, but didn't set out until about 2:30 pm. Our drive was into the mountain regions and very beautiful! This area is very big into sheep, goat and cattle farms and that is the main existence of the people. A lot of the area reminded us of the Texas hill country -it was experiencing a severe water shortage, so it was very dry. They would take the gutters from their houses and drain them into the rain tanks. I imagine had they not needed the water, there would be no gutters, but it was of necessity for them.

There were goats, sheep and cattle on the road, along with people walking after dark, so it made it very difficult to drive. We arrived and were greeted by Templeton and his son. He stood on the side of the road and held a sign so we could find the village which was a ways off the road. We were exhausted and settled straight into bed. The next morning we awoke to see a small village in a dry and parched land. This was the view from the building where we were staying.

We heard a great commotion and saw these boys rounding the bend on their donkeys going to get water at the watering hole. The one facing backwards was getting tremendous pleasure from popping the donkey on its rear. Notice the water buckets on their sides. He was so entertaining! The community is in a severe draught, and the drinking water from the rain tanks are running severely low. They do all of their washing down at the local river and watering hole which was extremely low. We felt blessed to have electricity for most of the weekend.

Cameron spent the day with the help of Templeton’s son and his friend putting in new piping for the water tanks and doing other various repairs. I held a Bible study with the ladies on having faith in difficult times. Templeton translated for us and we had some great discussion. These ladies live in difficult circumstances as some of them are widowed, some are wed to husbands that wander, and some want to be married, but cannot find suitable, honorable men. It’s very difficult to relate to a situation like this from a western perspective. In my reality, I can simply travel to make my circumstances better and interact with new people. For these women, they rarely leave the village except to purchase food, so it’s a very closed situation with limited circumstances. If it doesn’t rain, they don’t have water to drink and their animals suffer as well. I realized after the time spent together, that I was not sent here to teach them, but they to teach me. Their endurance in desperate struggles, their ability to support one another when they have no one else, and especially their thirst for the comforting word of God was humbling and awe inspiring.

FIRST STOP - MARGATE

Our first stop was to Margate, a retirement town on the coast about an hour and half south of Durban. We stayed in their church hall which is also a creche (preschool) during the week. Nelson and Cecilia live in a building adjacent to the hall and she teaches the creche children (8-10 of them ages 3 to 5) and he runs the Bible Education Centre in the front of the hall. It is like a tiny bookstore. He also goes out on Tuesdays and Fridays into the community to share the gospel message. We got up on Friday and taught a class for the creche children about God creating the earth. Then we taught them in Zulu a song about God creating the heavens and earth. They colored a picture of the earth and we pointed out where Africa and their home was on the map. They were amazed as I don't think any of them had ever seen a map of the earth. They were so meticulous in coloring, something that children in the US might even think was boring, to them it was an enthralling event. Then we gave them glue to glue their round earth onto a paper plate. They loved spreading the glue stick and it was hard to get it back from them for the next person’s turn! Then it was time for lunch which consisted of mealie pap - corn, which they call mealie, ground into flour and cooked into a mixture a lot like grits, served with beans.

After lunch, the kids and I put on a play for them about Adam and Eve in the garden while Nelson translated for us in Zulu. Shiloh was Adam, Ani was Eve and I was the narrator. Wyatt had a sock puppet on his hand and he was the serpent. We talked about how Adam and Eve listened to the serpent's lie and believed him instead of God, which caused sin and death to come into the world. We then shared how Jesus who came to conquer sin and death will come again soon to set up his kingdom on the earth. We shared the excitement that we would all feel when the dead would be raised and brought together with the living believers into a restored Garden of Eden in Jesus’ Kingdom on earth. When the play was over, we shared apples with all the children and they sang a song for us in zulu. It was beautiful - the words were talking about when we see Jesus, every eye will see and every knee will bow.

We left there and went to a mall to purchase groceries for the rest of the trip. We were headed to Candu about 5 hours away, near the town of Mthata where there would be no running water and possibly no electricity. Wyatt's sandal strap had broken, so we stopped in a store to buy him some new sandals. While we were in the store, Cameron spotted a man about 5 meters from the van walking towards him with an uzzie pointed in his general direction. At first it really startled him as he thought that he was coming towards him, but then he saw the armored car collecting funds from the grocery store and realized this was their armoured guard. He was going amongst all the cars crouching down between the vehicles with his uzzie aimed and ready to fire at anyone. We guess there must have been some trouble before. It’s definitely a different world we live in, but we had never seen this before. Excited about our time in Margate, we headed on for our 5 hour trip to Candu.

South African Tour

We were thrilled when our church's preaching and missionary group asked us to take a tour and meet our sister churches in the southern part of South Africa. This would involve about 3500 km round trip and 3 weeks of wonderful sightseeing along the way. 2010 will be a banner year for our church as we have many projects planned and lots of volunteers already committed to coming to South Africa. Here is a link to our 2010 project website so you can see some of the past projects our group has been involved with. www.knotkog.org As we tour the country and meet our fellow believers, we'll be getting an idea of where they might could use the most help and what projects could benefit their communities. Here is a link to a map that you can follow as we blog about our journeys. http://geology.com/world/south-africa-map.gif Here we are with our trailer all packed up and ready to go!

Sharks Board in KwaZulu Natal

We headed out on a field trip to the KwaZulu Natal Sharks Board earlier this month with another homeschooling family. It was interesting to learn about the shark nets that they use to prevent "most" of the sharks from coming into the bathing (South African for swimming) areas. As we watched them dissect the copper shark, it was apparent that the kids were handling it much better than I was. I had a flashback to the frog dissection in 7th grade, not a great memory! We left with a greater appreciation and respect for the sharks that roam the Indian Ocean.

First visit to the Drakensberg Mountains

At the end of July, we headed inland to visit the Drakensberg, the highest mountain range in Southern Africa, rising to 3,482 metres (11,420 ft) in height. The Dutch Voortrekkers named it 'The Dragon Mountain' and in Zulu, it is referred to as uKhahlamba ("barrier of spears"). As we drove in, the sun was setting and we saw the most incredible display of orange and purple hues as a backdrop against the mountains. We spent the weekend with the Lucas and Leona's family (minus their girls who were in the USA) and Grant and Jonathan, volunteer short term missionaries from Australia.

We stayed in a friend's cottage and this was the view from our back door. We spent the weekend hiking the local trails. The men took to the bigger hike enjoying magnificent views and more strenuous mountains. The women and kids enjoyed a beautiful walk along a deep ravine ending in a stunning waterfall. It was a wonderful weekend of fellowship shared by all!

You gotta love South Africa's Municipal Services- NOT!

This last week the municipal workers have been on strike to encourage a pay increase. The result of this has been that our trash service has not run for a week and trash sits all along our city streets. This can make for quite a mess as generally each trash day there are many of the impoverished going through the trash to find cans to sell, food to eat and anything that will get them through to the next day. The workers marched on downtown Durban in the area where the Bible Education Centre/ retail shop is where Cameron works. They were mostly going through the streets and spreading trash everywhere. The police did come through and advise the shop to close up as there would probably be looting, so most people skedaddled out of town to miss the excitement. Funny that the police were not really interested in preventing the looting, just warning those it was about to happen. In the end, the shop was safe, the workers received a 13% raise and trash service is now back to normal. Because unemployment is around 25% for the country, many jobs pay extremely low wages, so this was probably a very needed raise.

This same strike also affected the Johannesburg Zoo, where volunteeers had to step in to feed the animals. Also around that area, the striking turned more violent as the workers are lashing out at the foreigners that have come in from other war-torn African countries and taken "their" jobs. There is a Congolese lady in our church that works with Cameron who has been here around ten years. Just before we came, she had to take refuge in our church because of the violence in her neighborhood by South Africans who are angry for others taking their jobs.

On a more humorous note, we received notice from the municipality that they are going to be working on the watermain pipelines from now until November. The note read like this:

We will replace old watermain pipelines to reduce leaks in the system. The work entails excavating TRIAL holes (i.e. we have no stinking idea where any of our pipes are) to locate the existing pipes and other services. Thereafter, the old ASBESTOS cement water pipes will be replaced and properties connected to the new system. Water supply may be interrupted for a short period whilst we are working. However, you will be advised in advance of the date and time of the ANTICIPATED interruptions.

So basically, these people have no idea where the water pipes are and they are now randomly jackhammering holes until they find the pipes! I imagine it will be a long spring as we enjoy creative ways to store water!!

In a Twitter

This is an article from a newsletter I receive by Maren Schmidt. I really appreciated her perspective.

The most important help to life we can offer to our children is to provide opportunities to develop concentration and independence. With the development of concentration and independence, our children can take these strengths and apply them to any activity they wish to pursue. With concentration and independence a subset of other skills comes along: accomplishments that include critical thinking, problem solving, emotion regulation, use of the imagination, reflection, abstract vocabulary, as well as the ability to act with intention and responsibility.

Our children's days (and our own) are filled with constant interruptions from electronic media--television, video games, computers, Internet, cell phones, music devices, etc. The way our time is structured for school, jobs and home acts as punctuated roadblocks to the development of concentration and independence. Observing a high school Spanish class of 40 students helped me see the influence that electronic devices are having on our children. This high school class met in the school library for a test. Here's what the 50-minute session looked like:

Each student checked out a laptop computer while being told in Spanish how to log onto the test. This took 15 minutes. Cell phone texting occurred with 38 of the 40 students during the first 15 minutes of class, and chatting with neighbors occurred in English until the 30-minute mark. Most students worked with their computers for 10 minutes, and then text messaging on cell phones began again. At the 45-minute mark, laptops were returned to the shelves in less than 5 minutes. The bell rang, and in less than one minute all students were out of the library. As they stood up from their chairs, students began talking on their cell phones as they walked to their next 50-minute class time.

During this class I observed less than 10 minutes of concentrated activity for this group of students. As I considered the state-of-the-art library, the 40 laptops, the teacher and all the resources that went into that 10-minute ''learning experience,'' if one dared call it that, I felt a tremendous sadness. Sadness for the students who never have learned to love learning because they lack the skills that come with concentration and independence. Sadness for the teacher who made no personal connection to her students. Sadness for the taxpayers who spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to create a learning environment where students worked for 10 minutes and got their electronic media fix the other 50 minutes of the hour. Sadness for the people addicted to being constantly interrupted by their cell phones and, in the process, not being able to appreciate and engage with the people, environment and experience right before them.

When I read that my elected Congressman had ''Twittered'' 22 times during the State of the Union address, this sadness turned to anger. Anger that as a taxpayer I am paying for students and elected officials to ''Twitter'' their lives away. As a learning development specialist, I am outraged that we are allowing people to build the concentration and independence of a gnat.
I'm in a twitter. ''A mind is a terrible thing to waste,'' goes the well-known ad. What are we doing to our children and to ourselves with our incessant instant messages, our constant phone calls and 140-character advertisements?

We need to take a long hard look at what our electronic-all-the-time lifestyles are creating. Otherwise, we might end up a nation of twits. Perhaps we already are.

The Lion Park

We headed out to visit a Lion Park while we were at Bible School. As we drove in to the holding area between the two gates, you could see the big cats, about 40 of them, slinking around and playing. It was the lion gnawing on the car bumper that first put the fear into me. We had just seen the car that lost the bumper in the car park. The car after it had received nice puncture marks in its bumper.

These animals were nothing to play around with - they were powerful and we were in their playground. As we drove around, it felt like we were a tonka truck in their sand box and we would continually try to outrun them so they wouldn't puncture our tire or destroy our vehicle. One car drove in, saw what was going on and drove right out!

The children were quite amused and never seemed to realize the seriousness of what was inches away from them on the other side of the glass. When this lion put his paw up on our door handle, it really spooked me. He seemed so smart, I wondered if given the chance if he'd figure out how to open it!

I have a new respect for these creatures having experienced them up close and personal! I so look forward to the time when our Lord returns and we can enjoy the blessings of Isaiah 65:25 The wolf and the lamb will feed together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox, but dust will be the serpent's food. They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain," says the LORD.

Hebron Haven Bible School in South Africa

In July, we attended our first South African Bible school at Hebron Haven, a family hotel & country conference centre in the heart of the Midlands Meander. This beautiful area of foothills is about an hour and a half inland and was a picturesque setting for our week. It seems a bit strange to be packing your suitcase for a July Bible school and putting in things like hats, gloves, long johns, etc. but when you live in the Southern Hemisphere in South Africa, that's what you do!

The Lord had blessed us to have our new Bible school the same week as our dear sweet beloved Great Lakes Bible School so that we wouldn't have to suffer at home thinking of all of our friends that we were missing! One thing we didn't miss was the 12 hour road trip - it was strange to get to the school so quickly! We passed by the Nelson Mandela Capture Sight monument and turned down a country road toward our hotel and grounds. We passed over a railway for electric locamotives and then passed a few farms and arrived. The hotel grounds were lovely, with pathways all around for the kids to ride their bikes. There was a cool tree house area next to the pond and tennis courts nearby. The kids could run around freely with the geese, chickens, and pot belly pigs that roamed the grounds.

It was a small, intimate crowd of about 80 people and we were so encouraged and strengthened by the fellowship of the week. It was however, VERY COLD, as there is no central heat. The days warmed up nicely, but the evenings were frigid! We had classes in the morning and then the afternoons were spent riding bikes, playing tennis, bowls, volleyball, visiting, and doing various outings in the area. Cam's team rocked and won the volleyball tournament.

The kids had a blast having absolute freedom to run around wherever they pleased with their friends. This is an especially huge privilege as you can't have this kind of freedom where we live. They all brought their bikes and rode around the grounds. The boys enjoyed their secret hideout made of straw. The kids put on a play about the Good News of the Kingdom. They also enjoyed having their own special eating area just for kids.

There were many creatures to enjoy as well. The geese had new goslings to follow them around. There were a few resident pigs that seemed to think they owned the place. They would lay down wherever you went to walk and one even came in the actual hotel lobby! We also discovered new owl chicks up in the treehouse tree.

Ani says -- look at all that pee! I kid you not the pig peed for over a minute straight!

The adults had an awesome time as well. We were fed gourmet meals by a fabulous chef named Rudi. He even gave us a cooking lesson one afternoon! Breakfasts were fresh fruit, muesli, and hot porridge, followed by a second course of eggs and what they call streaky bacon. Then lunch was served out on the verandah - always beautifully arranged and yummy! Dinner was the nicest meal of all with 3 courses. These South Africans really know how to eat well!

We had a wonderful week and enjoyed getting to know our new friends. Memories to keep:

Shiloh, Blake, and Reuben telling scary stories to each other in our room

Snuggling with the electric blanket and all the kids in the bed

The amazing desserts!

Kyle's class on Romans and our night time teas!

I will sing your praises!