Wow, I have a lot to live up to after that awesome post from Steph!
Anyway, thought it would be good to write a little bit about "my" mission field... the homefront... and loop you in on how things are going here. The majority of my time is spent at home, and although Fridays will be "CarePoint Days" for us (we have two that we will oversee), much of my time is still occupied with pouring into the kiddies. They also pour into me quite a bit -- they are great pourers. :)
We started back with school on Monday. It's going great. To ease into our day, we did a little art. I asked the kiddies to think about their experience in Africa so far, and to draw about their thoughts.
Ellie thought about flowers...
Iliea thought about fruit...
...and Avery thought about animals, some seen and unseen as of yet -- and included a "what i see next" area that he can fill in as he sees more animals.
The three just started music classes on Tuesdays. Their teacher, Mrs. Takis, believes that children should learn theory before getting to the keys (which is wonderful!), so they each have a recorder they're learning on. The only rule that I have for their new instruments is that they are played in their rooms with the doors closed, although we do share recorder time during school in the mornings -- just a bit. Mrs. Takis manages her own carepoint and doesn't charge us for lessons -- she just asked that we donate to charity. We are so blessed to have found her!
On Wednesdays, the kiddies have art from 2:30-5:00pm. Yesterday they smashed plates and learned about mosaics, and next week they will grout their masterpieces. They are Mother's Day gifts, so I'll be sure to post pictures of them when they're finished and I have them. Mrs. Annandale, their art teacher, is wonderful -- so loving and positive, and completely huggable.
And, on Thursday afternoons, Avery has guitar lessons (he starts today!). His teacher is Lu (Lungile Ncube), and we work with him and his wife (Zinty) on the Healing Place Church side of things. We love the Ncubes, and are so thankful that Lu is willing to start Avery on guitar.
I was thinking this morning about little random things that I could share -- to let you in on a little more info. I'm sure you've been wondering what we can find, what grocery shopping looks like, what we miss, etc. But, I think you would be surprised at the things that ARE available here. And, what we can't find is okay. We're quickly learning to adjust, and I don't know if we came with any expectations, which has made our adjustment that much easier. Little by little we're running out of our "stateside things" and we're having to find substitutes -- shampoo, conditioner, body wash, toothpaste, etc. It's a trial-and-error kind of thing.
We have a washer and dryer that we've purchased (what a blessing!), but we do try and line dry as much as we can to save electricity. Speaking of, our electricity is prepaid. We purchase it at the gas station, and just like a car wash, we take a code home and enter it into a box in our living room, and then there's a little meter that Stephen can gaze at (24-7!) and drive himself crazy, trying to gauge how much we've gone through. And, yes -- he watches it constantly. It's the numbers geek in him.
Things we miss (but we can live without!):
-Sour Cream: There is a shortage now, but hopefully we'll start seeing it on the shelves soon. We are a sour cream family -- or were!
-Mexican Food: can't find it anywhere, including tortilla chips. However, the stores are starting to carry flour tortillas, and I have a stock of chili powder and taco seasoning, so we can make do when we need our fix -- which is quite often.
-Crystal Light (even the WalMart/Target brands): It's nowhere to be found, and add kool-aid to that, too. We didn't drink a lot of it in the States, but it's nice to have for the kiddies as an option. But, of course, we just drink more water (which is awesome).
-Brown Sugar: There is 'treacle sugar' in Swaziland, which is a pretty good substitute.
-Coke Zero: It's here, hit and miss, but it's considering the price, almost R16 (16 rand, almost $2.50 for a 2-liter), we can do without. There is a Pick and Pay (off-brand) kind of diet soda, but again, we just drink more water. :)
-COFFEE!!: There are supposed to be amazing beans here in Africa, but we haven't found them yet. We have a water kettle and a french press, and we have two bags of Caribou beans that we're rationing (thank you, sweet Kelly Carter!), but we miss our Starbucks Komodo Dragon.
-Ketchup: Here it is 'tomato sauce' -- we can find Heinz, and it's close, but not the real thing. However, we have become addicted to Wellington's Sweet Chili Sauce, so don't feel too sorry for us. We could eat sweet chili on top of sweet chili.
Twizzlers: Steph misses them, dreams about them, but they've always been his 'thing.' I can live without them, and he will learn to, too!
Radio and TV: We don't have cable, but we do have movies, and our iPods really help in the music department. I don't know how much we really listened to actual radio stations when we were in the States anyway. We love our iTunes. :)
It's a pretty short list -- I'm sure I've left some things off or forgotten about them, but when we think about why we're here and the joy we're experiencing -- wow, these things just fade and pale in comparison. I'm sure some of you have been thinking... "Sure they seem happy, but aren't there some dark spots or difficult times?" Yes, we miss home, our family and friends, but God is so faithful and created an amazing support system here. Our missionary family, both within and outside of Children's Cup, has helped so much to get us settled.
I never imagined that our family would live in AFRICA as missionaries, but I'm overcome with emotion that God would use us to carry out His work -- and let us experience all that we're experiencing. This Andy Stanley quote states it pretty well:
"It is when our hearts are stirred that we become most aware of what they contain."
So thankful for all of this. So thankful for this stirring. God is completely good.
