More of Africa 2

More unshared pictures of our life overseas;

In Rehoboth and Rundu:

 A playground in Rundu- few and far between in Africa.  Almost certainly built by foreigners, but greatly enjoyed by the locals. 

 Two boys hanging out under an acacia tree:

 These kids came to play at 5am!

 Mokoros (dugout canoes) on the Kavango River:

 The seven girls (of 24 students) that I taught at Kwakwas.  They called this sand a "river" because it would fill with water (for a few days) during rainy season.

 Some of the youth center kids:

Taken in Block E.  To me this is an amazing reminder that in spite of poverty, kids just want to be kids.  Their resilience inspires me.



More of Africa

Without really being intentional, we've more or less put Africa aside since we got home.  There has been a lot to organize, and digestion is best one bite at a time.  Since the new year, we have started to examine it again, to mull over what God taught us, how He might use us, and where we should go from here. 

While going through pictures for the blog makeover (thank you Tara!), I came across tons more that I haven't shared with you.  In fact, I realized I haven't had pictures on here in a long time.  I guess that comes with the territory of having a photography blog.  However, I know that God didn't give me the privilege of capturing these images just so I can keep them to myself.  Although there are too many for me to narrate every one, I am hoping He might use the images themselves to speak to someone or many someones...maybe even you.

For today, I'll start with those from the header, plus a few extra:

Some of the kids I taught at Kwakwas:

Rundu, Namibia:

Me holding one of our little ones at the preschool, Josh with one of our youngest from the youth program:

Malawi:

Dune 7, Walvis Bay, Namibia

Kids from Hope's Promise and the Youth Program:

Aren't they precious?

Some of our preschool girls.  This picture always reminds me of little old ladies at a salon : )

Kwakwas

Adventures in Wonderland: This is no fairytale, Part 3

In those moments immediately following, all I could do was pray and praise God that He had prepared me through multiple First Aid certifications. As a former lifeguard and police explorer, I knew I had had good training.

She was soaked to mid-thigh, crying, and approaching shock within the first thirty seconds. I snapped into adrenaline-fueled composure, picked her up, and set her on the stepstool. It should be said that she is around 60 lbs, and I knew that was going to be a significant amount to carry out. I planned in my head while I stripped off her boots, socks, and jeans. Her feet were freezing, so I put my gloves on her feet. I put my scarf around her neck (I was wearing a vest instead of a coat, so I didn’t have that resource), and her legs in the arms of her coat. Even when I zipped up the coat, it only reached mid-thigh, so I shook off the little bit of snow from the fleece blanket and wrapped it around her (which was a feat in itself, as I had to use one arm to pick her up and one to wrap).

By this time I was already exhausted… and I still had to find some way to get her out of the canyon.

I picked her up and carried her in front of my body. There was a sort of trail through the snow, but her squirming and shivering made things more difficult. She was still whimpering, and I knew I had to distract her, so I had her sing me songs. By the time we got to the bottom of the stairs, I was already completely out of energy.

I knew I couldn’t set her on the snow, but I couldn’t hold her anymore. I sat down on the snow-covered step, and held her on my lap. Thankfully, my parents had given me moisture-wicking long underwear for Christmas, because I was soon soaked through to the skin (they dried my skin soon after standing). The last thing we needed was to have us both wet and freezing. My muscles we already burning, but I knew I had to hurry to get her in the car.

I stood her on a step and put her on my back. I used one arm to hold her and one to hold onto the railing. The stairway was treacherous, and it wouldn’t have taken much for us to tumble down the stairs. Then we would be in REAL trouble.

At the top of the longest staircase, I could hardly breathe. I was berating myself for not being a gym rat, but I don’t think that would have helped much. I sat down and held her on my lap again until I caught my breath (thank you, lingering bronchitis). When I put her on my back again, she started saying she was scared and afraid I would drop her- it was a LONG way down. I reassured her and continued on.

We finally made it to the top of all the stairs. I just wanted to collapse. While I was carrying her the rest of the way to the car (in front of me know, because she was too weak to hang on), I thought of the car keys. I had her put them in her jeans pocket.

Her jeans were in the canyon.

Then I remembered that when we had come back to get her coat, we had switched the keys to her coat. Thank you, God.

I sat her on the hood of the car while I unlocked it (no remote here), and put her in the backseat. Thankfully, my coat was still in the car and was warm and dry. I found a towel in the trunk, cranked the heat on high, and climbed into the back of the car with her. I kept talking to her while I stripped off anything wet and re-bundled her. I blew warm air on her feet- praise the Lord they were pinkish red and not white. At that point I knew she was okay. After a hot bath, a good meal, and some warm, dry clothes, she was as good as new.

Now, looking back over the day, I praise God for taking care of us in so many ways.

We just happened to have left the tripod.

I just happened to bring the blanket and stepladder.

It just happened to be well warmer than usual.

I just happened to get long underwear for Christmas.

We just happened to go back for Belle’s coat.

We just happened to move the keys.

We just happened to leave my coat in the car so it was warm and dry, even though I’m usually freezing.

Since I don’t believe in coincidences, this looks like God’s work to me. He is so good.

Adventures in Wonderland: This is no fairytale, Part 2

One of our Princesses (yes, we have connections to royalty : )) has been staying with us this week. We are very close, and after living on the same street this summer, it has been some much-needed quality time. Josh and I don’t have any kids yet, but we have some that we absolutely cherish and love spoiling.

I recently photographed an engagement shoot at a local frozen waterfall, and I have wanted to take Princess there since then, and thought this would be the perfect opportunity. I felt a little unsure, like maybe it was unwise to take her to this place by myself (Josh was at work). What if I fell and broke my ankle? What if we got the car stuck? What if….?

But, not wanting to live in a spirit of fear, I ignored that little voice. After all, we can’t live our life by “what ifs.” It was 36 degrees when we left the house today, and I couldn’t dream of better weather for our little hike. I pack the car with coats (we didn’t even need them from the house to the car!), the camera (of course), a blanket, and stepladder (for the camera because we left the tripod at Josh’s parent’s house over Christmas). We wore two pairs of socks and boots, hats, gloves, and scarves, and I had my cell phone on me. We talked about going slow and holding hands and not touching the icicles and staying away from any running water. We were as prepared as I thought we could be.

We went VERY slowly down the dozens of wooden stairs leading down to the canyon. After we made it halfway down, Princess said she did need her coat after all; I was a little impatient at the time, but it turned out to be important. The stairs were solidly packed with snow, which made every step a little tenuous, but we made it just fine.

What awaited us was a beautiful winter wonderland. The weather was so warm that the giant icicles were starting to drip, and it was so silent that you could hear every drop of water.

We are planning on making a mini-scrapbook of her all the fun activities we’ve been doing since she came, so we snapped a few photos (you can view them here). We were having a great time, playing in the snow, and she was as in awe of this miracle of an ice waterfall as I was.

I went to put the camera on the stepladder so we could take a shot of the two of us for the scrapbook, when I heard

CRACK!

As I whipped my head around, “NIIIIIIIIIIIIIICKYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

Princess was standing waist deep in snow: “It’s cold, it’s cold, it’s cold, it’s cold!!!!!!!!!!!!”

As I stepped to pull her out (I had only been about 10 feet away), I saw that she had been trying to get close to see the shallow river, and had stepped right through the ice!

Even though it was above freezing, getting wet increases your chances of hypothermia and frostbite exponentially. According to the United States Search and Rescue Task Force http://www.ussartf.org/cold_water_survival.htm, cold water robs the body of heat 32 times faster than cold air. They define “cold” water as around 70 degrees and below, so I have no idea the effect of freezing water that has been right under ice. To say the least, I was scared, and there was nobody around to help.

(continued tomorrow)

Adventures in Wonderland: This is no fairytale, Part 1

Have you ever had a feeling you shouldn't do something, a feeling that doesn't make any sense? Don't take that meeting. Don't go on that trip. Don't move to that house. Don't make that investment. Things that, from a logical perspective, make complete sense.

I get these feelings all the time, more than I care to admit. I was raised on realist, empirical academia, and these "senses" as I call them (to delineate them from emotions) are not logically explained.

I tend to have a hard time knowing what to do with them. On the one hand, I know the Holy Spirit has often spoken to me in this way, and obviously I would want to heed those nudges. However, the enemy has a way of imitating that same sense, and filling me with unnecessary fear or worry. He wants to trick me. (If you think this sounds paranoid, you should read some books on spiritual warfare. I recommend "Waking the Dead" by John Elderidge.)

So what do you do? How do you know the origin of anxiety? How do you act on this thought?

Until the last few years, I would err on the side of caution. However, I know I missed opportunities as a result of unnecessary. Meditating on this verse changed my way of thinking.

"The wicked run away when no one is chasing them, but the godly are as bold
as lions." -Proverbs 28:1

In my Bible, I have written next to this verse "I will not live in a spirit of fear." I want to live boldly and dangerously for Christ and His kingdom. We are called to be warriors, and I am not willing to sit on the sidelines and let everyone else do the work. I think this attitude is what Christ demands, but I also think not having a black-and-white standard to err on the side of caution definitely complicates things. You must take each decision on a case-by-case basis, which definitely widens the way for errors. You get confused, and don’t want to live in fear, and instead ignore the Holy Spirit’s leading.

For me, many of these situations have been memorable. Injuries, arguments, and dangerous situations have occurred outside of what logic would predict. I won’t soon forget today.

(continued tomorrow)

What Do You Think?

Found this on a friend's facebook page- what are your thoughts?

Tie-Dye

Recently we tie-dyed at the youth program, and it was so much fun! The kids hadn't ever done anything like it before, and they thought it was pretty magical.

Love love being able to see the world through a child's eyes- they are so impressed with all the little things I take for granted- colors, learning, music, weather, animals. I am often convicted about how little of God's creation I appreciate adequately.

I was supposed to come here to take care of them. What's extra-special is that I find myself learning from them every day.

Our Boys

Here are some of our boys from Block E. These guys come every Friday afternoon, and many times in between, and we LOVE our time with them. They all come from rough backgrounds, but they are fun, affectionate, and curious. They challenge us each time we meet with them. We eat snacks together, play soccer, read stories, and talk about life (which can be difficult, because of the language barrier).

This is on of the toy cars they make (yes, they MAKE these themselves) from wires and tin cans.

They are adorable kids! Please pray for their futures.

What I Did on My Thanksgiving Vacation, Part 3

While we were getting ready to come to Africa, we spent a lot of time in prayer- A LOT. We thought and prayed about our service, the meaning of sacrifice, our team, our families and friends we were temporarily leaving behind, our marriage…it would impact every facet of our lives. It was very intense, and very serious, and very necessary, as it prepared us for what we would need to do here. In addition, we took a bit of time to think of some fun goals we had for our time here, things we wanted to learn or experience in another culture. My three were to see a giraffe, try African drumming, and go sand surfing (called sand boarding here). Check, check, check. Sort of.

On Friday of our Swakop adventure, we went sand boarding on one of the dunes found outside town. It’s so amazing- you are standing on a mountain of tiny grains, and yet you don’t sink in (I just can’t comprehend that!) You can see the Atlantic ocean literally across the road from the dune.

As we got there, we saw some parachutes landing (look closely)

Although Josh, Kitty, and I knew we wanted to sandboard, we thought we would need to go with a tour company (which is a bit expensive). While in a store on Thursday, we saw they were selling kits for sand boarding for really cheap, which meant we could avoid tour fees. We bought one kit, and split it three ways, so that was perfect. The only problem is that you have to use these sitting down, because you have to lift the front of the board up as you go. That’s probably okay though, as sand boarding while standing up is a lot more dangerous than snowboarding (have you ever heard of snow burn?  I didn't think so).

Here is a picture of Josh’s first attempt…



…and the resulting battle wound:

In spite of the hazards, there was a line of people ready to give it a try. What can I say? We live in Africa; we have adventurous spirits : ) Love these people!

Since the hardest part of the whole undertaking was walking back up the dunes, Jessa and I decided to take rides together, 2 for the effort of 1. Oh yeah, and it was REALLY windy.


Making memories with my best friend.

Love this

What I Did on My Thanksgiving Vacation, Part 1

You know how teachers always want you to write “What I Did on My Summer Vacation” on the first day of school? I thought, being that it’s actually summer here, I would tell you about what we did on our Thanksgiving vacation (although they say “holiday” here). To say the least, it was unorthodox.

On Tuesday that week, we arrived to stay with some friends in Arandis. Our travel plans were a bit complicated, because the national presidential elections were taking place on Friday and Saturday. It had the potential to be a challenging situation, so our unit director did not want us traveling for a few days before or after. In the end, praise God, everything was fine.

Our first “main event” was traveling to Swakopmund (about half an hour away) to stay in the Finnish Guesthouse, a really cheap, nice place that gives discounts to missionaries (YAY!!!). Together, under Karrie’s leadership, everyone was able to prepare a dinner very closely resembling those from home. Our one downfall? Cranberries- there didn’t seem to be even one in Namibia. Shame. Here are a few pics from our day:

The beautiful turkey. I have know idea where they found it, as it is not common here.

Josh carving the turkey. He did a terrific job.

A candid, timed shot of our dinner. Other friends came over from Arandis for the meal itself, and it was a full house.

Traditional? No. But, we were still able to celebrate God’s graciousness, even from a continent away. He is good, all the time.

Little Voices Raised in Song

This is from way back when we did our clown ministry tour. After our performance, these kids wanted to sing to us as a thank you. SO precious.

Week 31

It's been forever awhile since I last did a weekly update, and somehow it's already week 31! Time flies (or crawls, depending on the day and attitude).

Monday was fine, without much to report, until that night. I. Couldn't. Sleep. A. Wink. Not at all. This had never happened to me before, and I laid in the dark, and read, and wrote, and stared. Eight hours is a really long time to be by oneself. Anyway, we figured out the next day that I was severely dehydrated, and that was the cause. It made Tuesday interesting.

We went to the preschool on Tuesday morning, and I can't really remember that much about it (I wonder why?) I know that they practiced Christmas songs for the Christmas program they are having in November (before summer break), and it is easy to figure out who learns phonetically :)

Wednesday's highlight was the youth program, where we read the stories of the lost sheep and the prodigal son. The kids decorated hearts that said "God always loves me." Forgiveness and grace may not always be emphasized, and we want to make sure that the kids know they cannot earn their way to eternal life, but that they must receive it as a gift of grace.

Thursday we had the mommies meeting, and it was a great time. They are learning so much, and are grateful for the chance to learn, which makes leading a pleasure.

Friday brought about the highlight of the week: a sleepover with 2 of our youth group girls. These girls are so precious and full of potential, not to mention fun! We watched movies after youth group, and then spent the next morning making and distributing PB&J sandwiches to kids in Block E. It was simultaneously beautiful and heartbreaking; heartbreaking to see them exposed to so much poverty, but beautiful to see them showing Christ's love.



On Sunday we had another special event: a missionary family came down from Windhoek to accompany some students from the Namibian Evangelical Theological Seminary (NETS). One of their students, who is from Rehoboth, preached at a local church we had never been to, and we went to support him. Unfortunately his message was in Afrikaans, but we got the gist of it, and he did very well (it was about racism versus unity in the body of believers). Afterwards we had the chance to have lunch with his family and spend time with the Windhoek group.

J.G. Day

Last Tuesday I had the last-minute opportunity to do Hope's Promise- Namibia's first-ever Jonathan Green Day photo shoot. Jonathan Green is an African-American painter who's work is admired by many individuals involved in Hope's Promise, and they wanted to do a photo shoot to interpret his work and have a lot of fun. Here are some of my favorite shots: