kristiapplesauce

puppies

I am not so much a fan of slobbery, stinky, hairy dogs. Nope, I prefer kids. But next door to my friend Nozakhes house a dog had puppies and they were the cutest puppies I have ever seen. I think there were 6 of them. All mangy and rat-like. I wanted to scoop them up and take them home. I wanted to do that because I "knew" in my heart that the owner (which I have never seen) probably isn't feeding the mamma dog much of anything, if anything at all (the township dogs usually roam around and dig though the trash to find their food).Then I thought about the puppies not living for very long because they will most likely get stomped on by the kids or beaten by the owner or by the mean boys in the neighborhood. Of course I can't prove any of that. So then I thought about why we are here and about the food we bring and the life we have. I thought about loving these kids, the owner of the dog and the mean teenage boys. I thought about how my responsibility is to love the people, not the dogs...and even though I am not thesavior of Motherwell, I am a vessel. Yes, I have to be obedient and open to whatever it is I am called to but that also means listening to when distraction comes in and out of our lives and really...we are not called to South Africa to start and maintain a "save the puppies" ministry. That is not my plight. It made me sad, but really...I am here to feed kids.

Something I won't take for granted

Giggling, lots of giggling. When you were in 5th, 6th or 7th grade and exposed to sex-ed for the first time were you embarrassed? Did you ever wonder if they were going to teach you about sex and not just your bodies and the change? Those things totally went through my mind... But it never occurred to me to wonder what the teacher was thinking or feeling about teaching us. Nope...me never. Not until today. Today I (with the help of a wall chart at the hospital) taught a grown woman how her reproductive organs worked. We talked about her periods, her fallopian tubes, the egg and where it goes, where the sperm meets the egg and where it attaches...all of it. I talked her though all of it. I wasn't embarrassed. I actually felt responsible to get it right because I wanted her to have accurate and truthful information about her body...then I was extremely concerned about all my other peeps and if she didn't know this stuff...I wondered if they did. Dang.

Hey, thanks

In my life I have met many a people. My dad was in the Air-force, so we traveled and moved all over the world. Yay for the sense of adventure my parents placed in me. I have always loved the difference and culture of being in a new place; meeting new people, seeing Gods creation from a different point of view. All of it. I love all of it. Now that God has placed and planted us here in South Africa, it is no different. I love the culture, I love the people, I love the air and art. I love everything about this place. But I also love what got us here. It wasn't because of my Dad's job, it was because of the Lord and because of an army of believers that backed us up in prayer and sacrifice. It was obedience. I don't know if I will ever understand or know what people have gave or surrendered to get us here...but I would like to try to thank them. I, in my life experience have barely tapped into what I know God has in store. But already I have understood depths of Love beyond what I thought imaginable. My family and I have always been close...but for them to support us with prayer and financial giving. Seriously. They send packages jammed packed full of things like underwear and thanksgiving stuffing because there isn't stuff to make thanksgiving here. But my mom knew I needed to feel "home". Daniel's family is the same. They do whatever it takes. They have adopted a kid in our CSP and send love from home all the time. My Grandma even sent her home-made brownies to make me know how much she loves us. Dang. Then there are the friends who are like family. They are the ones who are lingering in your in-box just to say that they are praying and wishing you a good day. They welcomed us home like we were never gone when we were there over Christmas. It was such a blessing to be with them. I don't know what my life would be like without our small group. Then there are dear friends who do things like help us with our support letter or commit to pray with us weekly or do On-line Bible studies because we haven't found a home church. Hands and Feet. You guys are the Hands and Feet. We also have 3 class rooms who adopted us this year who send care packages and notes...they helped buy us a new camera. Who does that? We also have supporting churches and people who are interceding for us. I am amazed daily of the amount of support we have gained along the way. We are loved beyond measure and yet, many of those people don't even let themselves be known. Then there are the people who are praying for us and supporting us financially. I am in awe of those people. In obedience, these people are standing with us, standing with and for the people of South Africa and we are totally overwhelmed. Those who love and give without return...other then from the Lord. So I thank you as well. Who knows if we will ever fully know who is backing and keeping us here....I know that I have randomly prayed and gave to people without them knowing...and I know that people are probably doing that for us...but knowing that this will certainly come up short, Daniel and I thank you because without you - on that side giving and praying and supporting and loving we wouldn't be able to love and give.

love,love,love

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20aWZzz-i2E

She was his girl; he was her boyfriend
She be his wife; take him as her husband
A surprise on the way, any day, any day
One healthy little giggling dribbling baby boy
The wise men came three made their way
To shower him with love
While he lay in the hay
Shower him with love love love
Love love love
Love love is all around

Not very much of his childhood was known
Kept his mother Mary worried
Always out on his own
He met another Mary for a reasonable fee, less than
Reputable as known to be

His heart was full of love love love
Love love love
Love love is all around
When Jesus Christ was nailed to the his tree
Said "oh, Daddy-o I can see how it all soon will be
I came to shed a little light on this darkening scene
Instead I fear I spill the blood of my children all around"

The blood of our children all around
The blood of our children all around
The blood of our children all around
So the story goes, so I'm told
The people he knew were
Less than golden hearted
Gamblers and robbers
Drinkers and jokers, all soul searchers
Like you and me

Rumors insisited he soon would be
For his deviations
Taken into custody by the authorities
Less informed than he.
Drinkers and jokers. all soul searchers
Searching for love love love
Love love love
Love love is all around

Preparations were made
For his celebration day
He said "eat this bread and think of it as me
Drink this wine and dream it will be
The blood of our children all around
The blood of our children all around"
The blood of our children all around

Father up above, why in all this anger have you fill
Me up with love
Fill me love love love
Love love love
Love love
And the blood of our children all around

Mom.

No. This lady looks absolutely nothing like my Mom. But she makes me thankful for my mom. I see these ladies everywhere in Africa, carrying their burden here or there, wherever they are going. Sometimes we pick them up and give them a ride to here or there, sometimes we just admire how they balance the load...but there isn't too much difference from our mom's back home...work, and kids, and household, and all the other "hat's" our mom's wear. Today I am thankful for my mom. I can't wait to see her in 12 days. I will kiss her and tell her all the everythings that I have forgotten to tell her or simply that I have taken her for granted for too long. I just hope that the "hats" I have to wear while I am there will balance out. I don't measure up when compared to my mom. I don't measure up in any sense of the word.

truth telling

When a man lies, he murders some part of the world.  ~Rospo Pallenberg and John Boorman, Excalibur, based on Le Morte d'Arthur by Thomas Malory
 

If you tell the truth you don't have to remember anything.  ~Mark Twain

Who lies for you will lie against you.  ~Bosnian Proverb

No man has a good enough memory to make a successful liar.  ~Abraham Lincoln

A half truth is a whole lie.  ~Yiddish Proverb
 
Those who think it is permissible to tell white lies soon grow color-blind.  ~Austin O'Malley

 The least initial deviation from the truth is multiplied later a thousandfold.  ~Aristotle

The most dangerous untruths are truths moderately distorted.  ~Georg Christoph Lichtenberg

Dare to be true:  nothing can need a lie:  A fault, which needs it most, grows two thereby.  ~George Herbert

With lies you may get ahead in the world - but you can never go back. ~Russian proverb
 
The hardest tumble a man can make is to fall over his own bluff.  ~Ambrose Bierce

A lie has speed, but truth has endurance.  ~Edgar J. Mohn

When you stretch the truth, watch out for the snapback.  ~Bill Copeland

Truth is the most valuable thing we have, so I try to conserve it.  ~Mark Twain

Honesty is never seen sitting astride the fence.  ~Lemuel K. Washburn, Is The Bible Worth

Reading

And Other Essays, 1911

A lie may take care of the present, but it has no future.  ~Author Unknown

We tell lies when we are afraid... afraid of what we don't know, afraid of what others will think, afraid of what will be found out about us.  But every time we tell a lie, the thing that we fear grows stronger.  ~Tad Williams

Truth fears no questions.  ~Unknown

Honesty is the first chapter of the book of wisdom.  ~Thomas Jefferson

The truth brings with it a great measure of absolution, always.  ~R.D. Laing
 
If you want to ruin the truth, stretch it.  ~Author Unknown

Respect for the truth is an acquired taste.  ~Mark Van Doren, Liberal Education, 1943

Like all valuable commodities, truth is often counterfeited.  ~James Cardinal Gibbons
   
The truth is the only thing worth having, and, in a civilized life, like ours, where so many risks are removed, facing it is almost the only courageous thing left to do.  ~E.V. Lucas

The highest compact we can make with our fellow is - "Let there be truth between us two forevermore."  ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Often, the surest way to convey information is to tell the strict truth. ~Mark Twain
  
A lie can travel half way around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes.  ~Mark Twain

One of the most striking differences between a cat and a lie is that a cat has only nine lives.  ~Mark Twain

 Always tell the truth.  If you can't always tell the truth, don't lie.  ~Author Unknown

thoughts I stole

" Leave nothing for tomorrow which can be done today." - Abraham Lincoln

What are you waiting for?