New City life

We have been in Pretoria for about three weeks now and back in South Africa just over a month and life has been busy to say the least. We set up our new house, got Casey into a new high school(which is an adventure all on it's own in South Africa) and have try to get set up for a new year of ministry on a new campus. One of my tasks has been to set up our internet in the new place and as of today we are still without it. We have been waiting on the phone company to change our line from Joburg to Pretoria and as of yesterday it still hadn't happened. I spent an hour on the phone with various people from Telkom until finally a lady who seemed to know how to help us escalated our request to urgent and said a technician would phone us to tell us when they would come out to set up the new line. When I asked if she knew if that phone call would happen in the next week, she of course could give no firm answer. So I am posting this from my phone as we continue to wait. Here are a few fun pictures of our time in PTA so far. 

I am also applying for permanent residency and will share on that experience in the coming weeks(home affairs is a beast all it's own, this should be interesting).

O Christmas Tree

Christmas season is upon us all. Merrily we go along now friends. When parents and I happened to be in the same country recently (crazy reality that we seldom are in the same time zone), my mom was showing Asher one of the ornaments I made as a tiny tot. She loves this piece of my childhood, probably because as we all get older there are very few of those tangible pieces remaining. This got me to thinking on a way to preserve such trinkets. I am not going to throw myself headlong into 500 pinterest projects for myself and the kids this holiday season, mainly thanks to a reminder I read here.

Rather, I decided we can do the Jesse Tree Advent devotionals, including the little ornaments for each day; and we can occasionally make new ornaments are artsy things in light of the season. With two boys, almost 10 months and 2 1/2 years old, I have a very small window of time to do such things and have it be enjoyable and productive, sadly I often focus on the productive instead of the enjoyable. 

With my mom's love for childhood ornaments and this desire to do something fun and seasonal with Asher mainly, I decided to recreate one of my first ornaments made as a little person, the Christmas tree.  The best part is that most of us have the construction paper already laying around somewhere with glue and string of some sort. I had to run to Michael's for the glitter and admit that we walked around for 30 minutes looking at other things before I remembered why we had gone there to begin with. Thankfully, we left with ONLY the glitter and not many other items in tow as well. 

I started with tracing the original tree onto fresh green construction paper. 

Next I cut both trees out and followed that by cutting out the ornaments for the trees.

I applied the glue to spots Asher wanted to hang his ornaments and away he went(you could place the dots where you like if the littles are too little to tell you where they would like them). 

Then I applied the glue for the glittery lights or garland, whichever you imagine and Asher helped me sprinkle the glitter (no picture due to mommy needing to hold the glitter so the whole kitchen didn't wind up sparkly).

Finally he went to town on the stars and I punched a hole in the top for the string(anything you have laying around is usable here).

Here's the finished products. 1983 vs. 2013, thirty years requires updating. Asher did both trees as Mason was napping and would've eaten the ornaments rather than placing them anywhere near his tree. I hope you feel inspired with this easy activilty. Have a great day!  

The sound of Christmas

I absolutely love this time of year. Christmas is by far my favorite season, in South Africa and in the U.S. My mom did a great job of making it such a special season and I hope to do the same with my family. One of my traditions is to buy a new CD or several Christmas-themed songs each year to add to our home playlist. I like to start playing it daily mid-November personally, just to get in the mood early. Where ever we may be living at the time, the music of this season does something extra special in my heart. Maybe it is the hope that was placed deep in me years ago that longs for days when there is no more war, pain or suffering. Some songs take me back to my childhood and others point my heart toward what I am truly longing for, my true reason for Hope in this season. The One who made the promise in the first place and gave us reason to hope after everything seemed hopeless, kept His word and made Him flesh.

However you may come to this season, I thought I would share some of my favorite CDs or compilations that I have purchased through the years. While I love chestnuts roasting on an open fire and Jack Frost nipping at the nose of those in cold places, I find I need songs that take my heart back to my true reason for Hope. So here is my list of holiday favorites. I hope you enjoy ;)

Bebo Norman: Christmas

Come, Let Us Adore Him: Compilation

Shane & Shane: Glory in the Highest

Phil Wickham: Songs for Christmas

Jars of Clay: Drummer Boy



Sara Groves : O Holy Night

Upon searching for links to these CDs I discovered a myriad of Christmas albums that I think would also help our hearts in this season. Here some new ones I am adding to my wish list for future Christmas albums :)

Christmas Album Wish List: 

Glory in the Highest(Chris Tomlin)

Hope for all the world(Phillips, Craig & Dean)

Christmas in Diverse City(Toby Mac)

Christmas All Around Us (Various Artists)

Bethlehem (Kari Jobe)

Taking My South African Husband to my Texan roots

Thanks to technology, satellites and google, last Saturday night I was able to show my husband the house and neighborhood I grew up in. I couldn't believe it when I saw it. I have told him stories of growing up in Houston, Texas and how much I loved those early years of my life there. I told tales of bike riding adventures to and from the neighborhood pool and the local 7-11. This was in the '80s when things were simpler and we were all vastly unaware of the innumerable dangers waiting outside your front door. Thankfully summer days and weekends were spent riding your red schwinn as fast as possible down to the pool and spending most of the day getting major sunburns and chlorine soaked bodies. I loved every minute of it. I showed him the park we used to play in and even the house where the bubble boy lived. Without leaving my parents condo in Atlanta, Georgia, we were able to travel nearly 830 miles to see my childhood home. What a great and inexpensive adventure we took. Somehow being able to show him those things brought happiness to my heart that night. 

Have you ever wished you could show the people you love the place you used to call home? Try it out on a date night; what a great way to have a deeper conversation with those you love.