This is What we do on Sunday Afternoons in Okahandja

Simplicity and Stillness

Today had that perfect kind of walking-weather that makes me smile. It was clear and sunny, no more than 75-80 degrees with a good breeze and a cool morning and evening that reminds me that it is Autumn. I walked from the Location towards town at around midday which was the hottest part of the day and yet was still quite nice. But better than the former was walking to Spar around 4:00. The sun was heading down towards the horizon and the breeze was blowing the cooler, evening air in to town. It was the kind of weather where one can wear a fleece AND flip flops at the same time and still be perfectly comfortable in both. Ahhhh...peace.

Culture

So after the Woodcarver’s Bible Study Sylvia cheerfully says to me, with a big smile “Ah, Amanda…you’ve put on weight!” Even though I am fully aware that I haven’t actually gained anything and in fact have weighed pretty much exactly the same weight since I came here….and even though I have lived here for a year and half and I completely understand that the phrases, “You’re looking fat” and “You’ve put on weight” are completely complementary here and simply mean, you are looking nice…it still is SO difficult just to smile and say thank you to that! Isn’t it amazing how much the culture in which you grow up shapes your ideas, perceptions and understanding?

From Donald Miller’s “Through Painted Deserts”

“You feel like life is always leading up to something, but it isn’t. I mean life is just life. It’s all happening right now, and we aren’t going to be any more complete a month from now than we are now.”

“It’s funny how you think you need soemthing but you really don’t. I mean I remember feeling like if I didn’t have ths girl I was going to die. But I am not dead, and I feel fine, and I think half the time when I like some girl I am really looking for some kind of redemption, some kind of feeling that I matter or am valuable or am needed, and I don’t think there is a problem with that, but it just makes you realize how much we use each other sometimes. I heard once that real love doesn’t ask what is in it for me; it just gives unconditionally. It just tries to take the weight out of somebody’s else’s pack, lessen his load, and it it gets reciprocated, that’s great, but that isn’t what you did it for.”

“It seems to me that life would be better if we could just let go of the thought we need more and more stuff to be happy, more and more of the approval of others.”

“Life is a dance toward God, I begin to think. And the dance is not so graceful as we might want. While we glide and swing our practiced sway, God crowds our feet, bumps our toes and scuffs our shoes. So we learn to dance with the One who made us. And it is a difficult dance to learn, because its steps are foreign. I begin to think about my time at the canyon in these terms, as learning to dance in a new way, the first few lessons had me feeling clunky and awkward, but soon they will give way to a new kind of graceful sway, and I won’t stop at gift shops or hunt for a television, but like [my friend] Paul I will be able to stand over a pot of boiling beans for hours and feel completely content, as though there was nothing in life that I was missing out on. It gives me joy to think about things this way…And I think to myself, There is nothing I am missing. I have everything I was supposed to have to experience the magnitude of this story, to dance with God.”

I am not kidding...

Buddy’s Birthday

Buddy turned 25 last Sunday. Maveja and I wanted to do something for his birthday, so we decided to make dinner. We invited Buddy and Julia over to my place for (of course) a braai. I mean, its Buddy…of course we had a braai. So we made a nice fire and I peeled potatoes and husked millies and helped Maveja follow the recipe for baked pineapple. Buddy got a Birthday Baked Pineapple dessert rather than Birthday Cake, because he doesn’t like cake. And since I never have birthday candles, as now has become tradition - we just stuck one big candle in the center and sang Happy Birthday.



By the way, in case you’re wondering….36 days till Buddy and Julia’s wedding.

after

So glad that taking them out goes a lot faster than putting them in. this is the funky result to my natural hair after being crimped in tiny braids for 2 and a half weeks. i actually think its kind of fun-looking.

Roomies Unaware

well aparently not only do i still have my gecko friend mooching off my hospitality, but the little brown mouse friend is aparently still at home too. i hadnt seen him for about 2 weeks, but tonight he decided to have a little stroll around my living room and kitchen and make his presence known.

this evening is cool and damp - the rain making a nice steady sound against the tin roof. Yes, its actually raining...for tonight anyway. the air is really quite cold and i can tell that Fall is finally setting in. midday can still get quite hot, but mornings and evenings are down to nice chilly temps now. its to the point where its a little too chilly for my bare feet once the sun goes down. so this nice hot cup of Rooibos is keeping me good company at present.

and tonight i made brownies -(Yes Sam, Carol's brownies).

oh, i also made tortellini soup. (i had a tiny bit of tortellini that Elfie had brought from Germany. can't really find tortellini here.) so it was a luxury. mmmmmm!

Maveja and i have started going through the book of Romans together. We are both loving it so much. And pray, because it looks like she has found a sleeping room in the location! She may even be able to move in this week! and this tuesday she'll be going to the US Embassy for her visa interveiw! and we were both blown away by the kindness of the Bowen St. ladies who want to be a part of helping make it possible for Maveja to come meet everyone there and be a part of celebrating with Sam and I on our wedding day. we seriously thank the Lord for you gals and your thoughtfulness!

the wedding planning is moving along. i have a number of the invitations completed but its also reminding me of a number of things i simply can't start doing till i'm back Stateside. Sam is trudging through his final month of classes before the studying for exams begins next month. Pray for him too, because keeping motivated to study and working so hard is becoming seriously taxing lately.

Christaan and i have been meeting for guitar lessons once a week and he is picking it up so fast! soon he'll be playing for our time of worship music on sundays...i can't wait for that day! i'm totally going to love just sitting back and singing praises while someone else plays. and i will definitely have to take pics of him playing so you all can see!

fyi - 117 days!!

a little eerie

last night i found a very small scorpion in my dish cabinet. then he met my flip flop. may he rest in peace. ICK!

hair, hair everywhere...

PLating: Round two...this time the whole head actually got plated.

and 12 hours later it was finished...
Julia did a nice job.



Maveja played photographer while I modeled.



Should be fun going to the Bible study at the school tomorrow. I'm sure the kids will have some comments!