The Madness Begins!

Ever since I made the move to South Africa over two years ago, I've seen and heard about the preparations for the Fifa World Cup 2010. Hosting the Word Cup is a huge deal to Africans and the excitement has been steadily building for years.

Well, the time has finally come! Games start June 12th and my roommate Hayley and I already have our tickets to New Zealand vs. Italy!

Bafana Bafana!!

10 Ways You Know You're in Africa . . .

1) The police pull you over, look at your license, and immediately propose marriage . . .

2) Livestock runs wild in the restaurants . . .

3) You find this in your driveway . . .

[Puff Adder]

4) This is on the back of your wine box . . .

5) You smash a bug and don't bother cleaning it up, because you know that by morning the ants will have done the job for you.

6) Every morning you step out your front door and this hits you in the face . . .

7) The electricity goes off in the mall right in the middle of your movie.

8) You ask for juice instead of soda at McDonalds and you're told 'that's impossible'.

9) This has become scary to you . . .

10) The 'hooter' means the horn in your car, so when the police ask to check your 'hooter' they aren't soliciting you.

Staying Busy

While the DTS isn't quite over the students are away on outreach and work for me has changed once again. I still have lots of details to take care of to wrap up the School, but lately a lot of my time is spent working on my computer putting together slide shows and lots of other random stuff.

Here are a few examples . . .

While I do enjoy this type of work and especially learning more about Photoshop, sometimes it can get a little boring and my back starts to ache! I love working around people, so I'll often take my computer to a local coffee shop for a few hours.

Quiet Times

The past few weeks, I've been making an extra effort in my quiet times with God. Unfortunately, it's often the first thing to go out the window when I get busy or stressed and since that's been my life for the past six months or so being deliberate with God is a necessity.

One of my favorite places to go is out on this big rock on our property. It's quiet and peaceful and the view is beautiful.

Jewels standing guard

"Blessed is the man who listens to Me watching daily at my doors,
waiting at my doorway. For whoever finds me finds life
and receives favor from the Lord."
Proverbs 8:34-35

Beautiful Faces

My Mom

In honor of Mother's day and because I'm not home to give her flowers or even a hug, I thought I'd write a blog telling you all about my amazing Mom.

Mary Deniston is a strong woman. You'd have to be really to have given birth to 5 boys and 4 girls. Her strength and iron will is coupled with an incredibly soft heart given to an amazing capacity for compassion. Slow to cry or show any pain, sometimes its hard to see when she's been wounded and hurt. As our relationship has grown and matured over the last few years and deepened past the mother/daughter stage, she lets me see her wounds more easily and I love her all the more for her battle-scarred heart.

My Mom has taught me that you are never too old to change and that while life hurts, the joy is worth the pain. She's taught me what it means to be a good mother and wife. She continually shows me love when I don't deserve it and has humbly walked with God through the years.

My Mother and I are very different to say the least. We argue about everything from politics to fashion to my current hair color [which changes constantly]. She's frustrating and completely unbending when it comes to her opinions. She challenges me in my relationship with God and is never hesitant to point out areas of growth.

But I miss sitting in the kitchen with her in the mornings drinking coffee and the smell of her hand moisturizer she's used every night before bed since before I can remember. I miss trips to Costco where I try to sneak things in the cart and she pretends not to notice. I miss her laugh when she's making fun of herself and her crazy, pedal-to-the-metal driving.

I love you, Mom. Happy Mother's Day!

Knitting Projects

I love to knit! Its extremely therapeutic for me to sit with my needles in front of my computer watching a movie or some TV series. I took a week long vacation last week and knit up a storm! Here are a few of my creations . . .

This hat was for my friend, Monique . . .


And this was for Chris . . .


This is a scarf for myself that I still haven't finished, but it kept my hands busy while traveling through Zambia on buses and planes . . .

Zambia Part Four

On our last evening in Livingstone, Keri treated me to a sunset cruise on the Zambezi River. We had an amazing time relaxing with free drinks and yummy appetizers and searching the banks of the river for crocs and hippos and watching the sun set on the water.