Richard and Heidie have a very beautiful garden. There are many lovely plants and trees. It amazes me that the garden is so lovely because their garden boy - Bright who is a very lovely man - doesn't really seem to know much about plants. There is this beautiful deep pink flowering tree just outside the front door and I asked Bright one day what the name of the tree was and he called it a flower tree - helpful! I can see that!!!
Anyway, amongst all that is growing (and living) in the garden are banana trees, orange trees, lemon trees, papaya trees, onions, pumpkins and butternut squash. There is also the Avocado tree. I was most excited about this tree when I first found out until I was sitting under the shelter of the tree yesterday when an avodaco fell from it to the ground just very very narrowly missing my head! I did feel the thud and the vibration on the ground as it hit it. I have to say that I suffered from shock for a considerable time afterwards. I kept wondering what damange it would have done to me had it fallen on my head. Of course the usual jokes about it knocking some sense into me come to everyone's mind but seriously! I could have died or lost my memory which would have been a disaster!! It was weird because in the evening we watched the end of a film called 50 First Dates which is about this girl and guy who have this first date and then the girl is involved in a very bad car crash and can only remember her life before that day and will never remember what happens after that. The guy is so in love with her that everyday he goes through the process of meeting her anew and telling her all that has happened and they have their first date. It's a very lovely story but a bit too close to the bone in so much as her losing her memory after my traumatic experience with the avocado earlier on in the day. Mind you Issac Newton worked out the gravity theory because an apple fell on his head so who knows what ground breaking theory I might have worked out if an avocado had fell on mine - I don't think I'll risk it though.
laters
cx
Sunday 29 April 2007
Saturday 28 April 2007
Kamwamba!
…Or for those of you who don’t understand Tonga – Hello!
Here I am blogging all the way from Zambia!
I’m having a lovely time. We started off in Capetown where we visited all the main sites: Table Mountain (where we lost dad – it had to happen and it was good it was so early on in the holiday and we were able to get it over and done with!) Cape Point, The Cape of Good Hope, Robben Island and The Victoria and Alfred Waterfront (where I ate a very dodgy fishcake which made me ill all night and meant I had a day off sight seeing).
The sites in and around Capetown were amazing. In my relatively short life I have had the great opportunity of seeing many beautiful sights but I don’t think any have been as beautiful as those I have seen around Capetown. No amount of photos or words could actually describe how beautiful the scenery is there. Again you just marvel at God’s creation and just are full of absolute praise and awe of him that he created something so amazing and beautiful.
Last Tuesday we traveled to Zambia and back to Chikankata via Jo’burg. Richard and Heidie were most surprised that our luggage managed to make the connection and get to Zambia – I was very relieved! I did not fancy wearing the same clothes for another 2 weeks!
The first morning we woke up to hearing a lot of commotion up near the hospital so Heidie, mum and I quickly ran out (me still in my jym-jams under instruction from Heidie) and dad following on behind having to get out of bed and dressed. Anyway, it turns out that this man who was on the run from the police for axing his wife a couple of night before had been tracked down to the hospital and the people were all surrounding the man wanting to do “community justice” by stoning him! Richard was telling all his staff to get back to work – unaware that his wife and family were also watching and enjoying the entertainment from afar! Anyway, Richard locked the man in the laundry for his own safety until the police came for him. I asked Richard what would happen to him and he said that once he was in prison he would probably die either of hunger as he would rely on someone to bring food in for him or from some incurable disease. Well the story reached the front page of the Zambian Times so we're famous because it talked about the angry crowd (us) and the hospital administration (Richard).
So some excitement! We spent the next couple of days chilling out. We put the cot up in the nursery which was very exciting! Heidie is getting very big – we think she is going to have a giant! She certainly eats as though she is going to have a giant. I was most distressed one day in Cape Town because I was wearing my beautiful new smock type top which is very fashionable in the UK and we visited a shop called Baby City to buy some baby stuff; we were all wandering around and the shop assistant came up to me and asked if she could help me! I was mortified! I am never wearing that top again and I must lose some weight!
We picked Suz up from the Airport on Saturday and on Sunday we traveled to South Luanga to the National Park there where we had a few days on Safari. We stayed in the Mfuwe Lodge which was amazing. Each of the rooms were little huts which had a veranda overlooking the river where alsorts of wildlife live. The bathrooms all had a gorgeous sunken bath which also looked over the river (no curtains or anything!) It was so beautiful – well so I thought until we got to our beds after our evening meal on the first night and found a plague of frogs and spiders in the bathroom!!! I did not like it! There was much jumping and screaming and a few naughty words – I have to admit! I had a shower with a frog! It’s just not something you expect to experience. Anyway, we found out the next day that apparently - contrary to what Suz and I thought – it is better to turn the lights off at night because the lights on attract the spiders and frogs whereas we thought they would prefer the dark! So the following evening whilst we were out we kept the lights off and when we came to our beds, the room was very much less crowded. Richard (my saviour!) kicked out the one cheeky frog and also the Scorpion – YES SCORPION!!!! - from the room. It was just a wee one but if I had stood on it I would have been very unhappy! So I slept a lot better that night as I didn’t feel that I needed to be on night watchman duty. The next morning we woke up to still find the room quite empty of undesirable creatures apart from the mother of all frogs in the bath! Now as much as I would be happy to find the man of my dreams – against the advice of many of my friends – I ain’t kissing no frogs to find him! Ming Mong!!!!
The safari was brill. We saw: elephants, puku, impala, zebras (we even saw a zebra crossing – the road!), giraffes, lions, buffalos, hyenas, hippos, storks, cranes, herons, baboons, waterbucks, bushbucks, snakes, and so the list goes on. We traveled home Tuesday on the smallest of planes. It was so small we could see out of the front window! That was fun.
So Heidie picked up Ronaldo their new dog on Wednesday. She is beautiful. Just a 3 month old puppy. Richard decided on the name and then found out he was a she. We have been really battling against calling her a him and Suz has been the gender monitor. We did decide to call her Molly to see if that makes any difference but we felt too many people now knew her as Ronaldo so it would confuse her and everyone else. So she’s back to Ronaldo. Although I am not particularly a dog lover I must say I am loving her. She is very cute. She has left a few “jobs’ around the house and thankfully there is no carpets so it’s easier to clean up. She cuddles up to you and it’s lovely.
Last year I was very sheltered from the hardships of this place but have been exposed to them a bit more this year. We don’t always have hot water so we have to jump in the shower when there is some. Often there is no water during the day so the deal is that when we go to the toilet we don’t flush for number 1’s but we do flush for number 2’s and we use the antibacterial hand gel to wash our hands. I don’t brush my teeth with the tap water; I use the borehole water which has been filtered to do that. This is only a little thing compared to the realities of everyday life here and the people do really well to cope and make the most of life. For most of them, they have known no other. I am so proud of Richard and Heidie with the way they handle all the struggles of this place.
And for me, someone who hardly ever gets unwell – I have had 3 diseases! I have had food poisoning, a cold(which I thought was Malaria) and now a little poo bug which has made it’s way around the family except for dad. I have coped very well I think and hopefully will not be unwell now for a long long time.
For the next few days I’m chilling out and working on getting rid of my stupid strap marks! Mum and dad are doing the meeting at Chikankata Citadel tomorrow. Richard is vetting it to make sure it doesn't go on for 3 hours which is quite usual for meetings here (good grief!) Tuesday we’re going to Livingstone to show Suz the Victoria Falls and I think go on a Sunset cruise which I’m excited about. And then we’ll be home. That’s sad!
Finally, one bit of very very good news – I HAVE SOLD MY FLAT!!!! Yippee!!!!
Laters!
cx
Here I am blogging all the way from Zambia!
I’m having a lovely time. We started off in Capetown where we visited all the main sites: Table Mountain (where we lost dad – it had to happen and it was good it was so early on in the holiday and we were able to get it over and done with!) Cape Point, The Cape of Good Hope, Robben Island and The Victoria and Alfred Waterfront (where I ate a very dodgy fishcake which made me ill all night and meant I had a day off sight seeing).
The sites in and around Capetown were amazing. In my relatively short life I have had the great opportunity of seeing many beautiful sights but I don’t think any have been as beautiful as those I have seen around Capetown. No amount of photos or words could actually describe how beautiful the scenery is there. Again you just marvel at God’s creation and just are full of absolute praise and awe of him that he created something so amazing and beautiful.
Last Tuesday we traveled to Zambia and back to Chikankata via Jo’burg. Richard and Heidie were most surprised that our luggage managed to make the connection and get to Zambia – I was very relieved! I did not fancy wearing the same clothes for another 2 weeks!
The first morning we woke up to hearing a lot of commotion up near the hospital so Heidie, mum and I quickly ran out (me still in my jym-jams under instruction from Heidie) and dad following on behind having to get out of bed and dressed. Anyway, it turns out that this man who was on the run from the police for axing his wife a couple of night before had been tracked down to the hospital and the people were all surrounding the man wanting to do “community justice” by stoning him! Richard was telling all his staff to get back to work – unaware that his wife and family were also watching and enjoying the entertainment from afar! Anyway, Richard locked the man in the laundry for his own safety until the police came for him. I asked Richard what would happen to him and he said that once he was in prison he would probably die either of hunger as he would rely on someone to bring food in for him or from some incurable disease. Well the story reached the front page of the Zambian Times so we're famous because it talked about the angry crowd (us) and the hospital administration (Richard).
So some excitement! We spent the next couple of days chilling out. We put the cot up in the nursery which was very exciting! Heidie is getting very big – we think she is going to have a giant! She certainly eats as though she is going to have a giant. I was most distressed one day in Cape Town because I was wearing my beautiful new smock type top which is very fashionable in the UK and we visited a shop called Baby City to buy some baby stuff; we were all wandering around and the shop assistant came up to me and asked if she could help me! I was mortified! I am never wearing that top again and I must lose some weight!
We picked Suz up from the Airport on Saturday and on Sunday we traveled to South Luanga to the National Park there where we had a few days on Safari. We stayed in the Mfuwe Lodge which was amazing. Each of the rooms were little huts which had a veranda overlooking the river where alsorts of wildlife live. The bathrooms all had a gorgeous sunken bath which also looked over the river (no curtains or anything!) It was so beautiful – well so I thought until we got to our beds after our evening meal on the first night and found a plague of frogs and spiders in the bathroom!!! I did not like it! There was much jumping and screaming and a few naughty words – I have to admit! I had a shower with a frog! It’s just not something you expect to experience. Anyway, we found out the next day that apparently - contrary to what Suz and I thought – it is better to turn the lights off at night because the lights on attract the spiders and frogs whereas we thought they would prefer the dark! So the following evening whilst we were out we kept the lights off and when we came to our beds, the room was very much less crowded. Richard (my saviour!) kicked out the one cheeky frog and also the Scorpion – YES SCORPION!!!! - from the room. It was just a wee one but if I had stood on it I would have been very unhappy! So I slept a lot better that night as I didn’t feel that I needed to be on night watchman duty. The next morning we woke up to still find the room quite empty of undesirable creatures apart from the mother of all frogs in the bath! Now as much as I would be happy to find the man of my dreams – against the advice of many of my friends – I ain’t kissing no frogs to find him! Ming Mong!!!!
The safari was brill. We saw: elephants, puku, impala, zebras (we even saw a zebra crossing – the road!), giraffes, lions, buffalos, hyenas, hippos, storks, cranes, herons, baboons, waterbucks, bushbucks, snakes, and so the list goes on. We traveled home Tuesday on the smallest of planes. It was so small we could see out of the front window! That was fun.
So Heidie picked up Ronaldo their new dog on Wednesday. She is beautiful. Just a 3 month old puppy. Richard decided on the name and then found out he was a she. We have been really battling against calling her a him and Suz has been the gender monitor. We did decide to call her Molly to see if that makes any difference but we felt too many people now knew her as Ronaldo so it would confuse her and everyone else. So she’s back to Ronaldo. Although I am not particularly a dog lover I must say I am loving her. She is very cute. She has left a few “jobs’ around the house and thankfully there is no carpets so it’s easier to clean up. She cuddles up to you and it’s lovely.
Last year I was very sheltered from the hardships of this place but have been exposed to them a bit more this year. We don’t always have hot water so we have to jump in the shower when there is some. Often there is no water during the day so the deal is that when we go to the toilet we don’t flush for number 1’s but we do flush for number 2’s and we use the antibacterial hand gel to wash our hands. I don’t brush my teeth with the tap water; I use the borehole water which has been filtered to do that. This is only a little thing compared to the realities of everyday life here and the people do really well to cope and make the most of life. For most of them, they have known no other. I am so proud of Richard and Heidie with the way they handle all the struggles of this place.
And for me, someone who hardly ever gets unwell – I have had 3 diseases! I have had food poisoning, a cold(which I thought was Malaria) and now a little poo bug which has made it’s way around the family except for dad. I have coped very well I think and hopefully will not be unwell now for a long long time.
For the next few days I’m chilling out and working on getting rid of my stupid strap marks! Mum and dad are doing the meeting at Chikankata Citadel tomorrow. Richard is vetting it to make sure it doesn't go on for 3 hours which is quite usual for meetings here (good grief!) Tuesday we’re going to Livingstone to show Suz the Victoria Falls and I think go on a Sunset cruise which I’m excited about. And then we’ll be home. That’s sad!
Finally, one bit of very very good news – I HAVE SOLD MY FLAT!!!! Yippee!!!!
Laters!
cx
Monday 9 April 2007
Wish Me Luck as you wave me goodbye ....
Well I'm off to Africa this week. I thought I'd get one last blog in before I go. Hopefully you will be able to share in my adventures whilst I'm away because Richard has managed to get a wireless connection in his house so providing he lets me borrow his puter I'll be able to keep you updated. I was going to take my own puter but as I'm having great difficulty fitting everything in within the weight allowance, that's looking more and more unlikely which I'm quite sad about.
Two things which amazed me about myself after my visit to Africa last year:
1. I came back home with a lighter case - mainly because we took so much stuff out for richard and heidie.
2. I must be about the only person who has gone to a 3rd world country (actually I think the proper name for it now is developing country) and come back heavier! That is certainly not going to happen this year!
So I've just had another conversation with my mum about cases and stuff we're all having to take and now I'm going to repack this time I'm going to try putting my stuff into a smaller case (if I can!) in the hope that it will be lighter! They supposedly charge £25 per extra kilo - I am currently £50 over!
A question I'd like to ask .... How do you deal with noisy neighbours so they don't get angry with you and start causing your life hell? My neighbours upstairs are getting on my nerves. They don't seem to realise that the walls are not that thick and when the volume of your life is the volume of my neighbours life then you hear everything that's going on. They play their music quite loud which in turn means that they talk loud. It's only a one-bedroomed flat yet the lady has a little girl living with her who seems to use the hallway as play park and runs up and down it regularly - often very late at night. This morning I decided to do some bank holiday chores; I cleaned my car and washed my windows. Whilst I was washing my windows I found a whole load (2 handfuls) of cigarette butts on the ground just underneath my window - obviously thrown out of my neighbour's window rather than putting them in her bin! So how do you go and say - please turn the volume of your life down and please don't be so scanky and put your rubbish in the bin without it sounding like I'm a real Victor Meldrew? I was thinking that my consolation is that for the next few weeks I will have peace and quiet in the wilds of Africa until I remembered that last year we were regularly woken up at approximately 6am by the sound of the cockerel cockadoodledoo-ing and the drivers coming to get the keys to the vans and sometimes by the wailing of relatives whose loved one had just died so all in all I'm swapping one neighbour from hell for another! I have been regularly reminded recently of the greatest commandment that God gave us to "love the lord your god with all your heart, mind and soul and love your neighbour as yourself". At this moment in time, the loving your neighbour bit is very difficult and I am feeling very challenged!
May I be a bright star shining yeah? ....
laters
cx
Two things which amazed me about myself after my visit to Africa last year:
1. I came back home with a lighter case - mainly because we took so much stuff out for richard and heidie.
2. I must be about the only person who has gone to a 3rd world country (actually I think the proper name for it now is developing country) and come back heavier! That is certainly not going to happen this year!
So I've just had another conversation with my mum about cases and stuff we're all having to take and now I'm going to repack this time I'm going to try putting my stuff into a smaller case (if I can!) in the hope that it will be lighter! They supposedly charge £25 per extra kilo - I am currently £50 over!
A question I'd like to ask .... How do you deal with noisy neighbours so they don't get angry with you and start causing your life hell? My neighbours upstairs are getting on my nerves. They don't seem to realise that the walls are not that thick and when the volume of your life is the volume of my neighbours life then you hear everything that's going on. They play their music quite loud which in turn means that they talk loud. It's only a one-bedroomed flat yet the lady has a little girl living with her who seems to use the hallway as play park and runs up and down it regularly - often very late at night. This morning I decided to do some bank holiday chores; I cleaned my car and washed my windows. Whilst I was washing my windows I found a whole load (2 handfuls) of cigarette butts on the ground just underneath my window - obviously thrown out of my neighbour's window rather than putting them in her bin! So how do you go and say - please turn the volume of your life down and please don't be so scanky and put your rubbish in the bin without it sounding like I'm a real Victor Meldrew? I was thinking that my consolation is that for the next few weeks I will have peace and quiet in the wilds of Africa until I remembered that last year we were regularly woken up at approximately 6am by the sound of the cockerel cockadoodledoo-ing and the drivers coming to get the keys to the vans and sometimes by the wailing of relatives whose loved one had just died so all in all I'm swapping one neighbour from hell for another! I have been regularly reminded recently of the greatest commandment that God gave us to "love the lord your god with all your heart, mind and soul and love your neighbour as yourself". At this moment in time, the loving your neighbour bit is very difficult and I am feeling very challenged!
May I be a bright star shining yeah? ....
laters
cx
Friday 6 April 2007
Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone)
So this song is like the title song from the film Amazing Grace. It's absolutely beautiful and just blesses me everytime I hear it. Chris Tomlin who has arranged it and sings it includes a new chorus (well it's new to me) which says:
My chains are gone
I've been set free
My God, my Saviour has ransomed me
And like a flood His mercy reigns
Unending love, Amazing grace
Wow - to understand and experience that freedom that God gives from the heaviness and oppression of sin is awesome and just makes me smile the biggest smile - a smile that's bigger than my muscles can extend to and bigger than my face. A real lightness within me - a real joy.
Thank you for saving me - what can I say ...
laters
cx
Wednesday 4 April 2007
I'm a great sinner and christ is a great saviour!
Well, last night I finally went to see Amazing Grace - and I thought it was amazing! It really stirred me. There are some brilliant moments in it two of which are featured in this trailer:
The first one is when Wilberforce was trying to decide if he should become a man of God or an activist and make the world a better place the lady next to him said in a gentle way "well perhaps you can do both?" Both Suz and I were discussing this afterwards and saying how when he said this to the lady we were both saying in our heads "you can do both, you can do both!" we were so relieved when she did say it to him.
The second one - and is the one which particularly stirred me was when Wilberforce went to see John Newton (who was his bible teacher/preacher when he was a child) to ask him to tell him all about the slave ships because he was going to start campaigning again and John Newton had worked on the slave ships and been responsible for selling many slaves. Anyway, in a really emotional and poinant moment John Newton said to Wilberforce:
"though my memory is failing, I remember two things very clearly: I am a great sinner and Christ is a great saviour!" It really stirred me. I don't know why - I think I was really overwhelmed by the phrase "christ is a great saviour!"
I've been thinking a lot about grace recently what with Freedom day and this film and easter. Last sunday night I led the meeting at the gap and really felt compelled to make grace the theme for the meeting. I think it's because for me, grace is an ever evolving thing. I'm trying to understand it more and more for myself and trying to receive it from God. I often find it so hard to believe that someone loves me that
much - so much. Everytime I mess up God just loves me and keeps on loving me unconditionally. It's so difficult to get the right balance between accepting God's grace and being released from the guilt and oppression of sin and not using God's grace as an excuse to go and sin.
God's grace really is amazing!
laters
cx
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