A Haunting Piece of Scripture

"O afflicted city, lashed by storms and not comforted, I will build you with stones of turquoise, your foundations with sapphires. I will make your battlements of rubies, your gates of sparkling jewels, and all your walls of precious stones. All your sons will be taught by the Lord, and great will be your children's peace." - Isaiah 54:11-13

I don't know what it is about this passage, but it has haunted me for weeks. Maybe it's because I feel like the afflicted city, lashed by storms and not comforted. Maybe it's the hope of being made beautiful once again. Maybe it's the longing for peace. Maybe it's the promise of healing and restoration.

I don't know what it is about this passage, but I am clinging to it like a toddler that clings to his parents in a large crowd. He can't see where he's going, but as long as he's holding on to the legs of his parents' trousers, it's okay.

How Things Escalate in our Family

It all started when the girls and I were waiting for Dan and Ben to come up for the nightly bedtime story. We were tired of waiting, so we started playing catch with a toilet paper roll. Lucy accidentally (so she says) ripped the first square off, thereby turning the roll into a contrail-spewing rocket. When there was nothing left but a pile of paper and an empty roll, Dan and Ben walked in and were greeted with a 2-ply weapon of mass destruction.

I don't know how it is that in our family a game of catch can turn into a game of "Intercontinental Ballistic Missile" to a game of "Lazarus, Come Forth!", but it made me laugh, and I haven't laughed in a long time.

I'd Like to Buy a Vowel

I love learning languages. I really do. There's something beautiful about each language. Sometimes when you learn a word in another language, the translation adds insight that enhances your understanding of that word. Case in point: the word for "hope" in Spanish is "esperanza." It comes from the same root as "esperar", to wait. So then, hope is a sort of expectant waiting, a waiting with happy anticipation. I love that.

There's also something frustrating about each language. In German it's the verbs. In English it's that there are no rules for pronunciation (not really). In Spanish it's the possessives (it just takes so long), and in Afrikaans, it's the vowels.

I don't know of any other language that uses twice as many vowels as consonants, which is a rather impressive feat if you think about it. Or a language that can use so many dipthongs - eeu, ooi, oei, oeie, aie, uu, etc. So... without further ado, here are my favourite words in Afrikaans (thus far):

grondboontjiebotter - peanut butter
voëlverskrikker - scarecrow
grillerig - creepy (this is one of those onomatopoeic words that sounds like what it is; seeing it written just doesn't do it justice)
geëet - ate (three e's in a row!)
naar - unpleasant or nausiating (and "naartjie" is NOT the diminutive of "naar")
uie - onions (no consonants!)
seerower - pirate (a good word to know if you have a seven-year-old son!)
seekoeie - plural of hippopotamus (note: two consonants, six vowels. Afrikaans at its best.)

The Only Thing Missing is Some Really Strong Coffee

I'm the sort of person who doesn't like to mix the food on my plate. I eat one thing at a time - meat, vegetables, starch, or something like that. And when it comes to dessert, I also don't mix things, but that's not usually a problem because in the U.S., typically only one dessert is served. But here...

South Africans can take dessert (called "pudding") to dizzy new heights that I never knew existed. Here's how it works:

Start off with about three desserts - malva pudding, some other type of cake, maybe some koeksisters (twisted donut-y-things soaked in sugar syrup), and place a bit of each in a bowl. Then take some custard - any flavour - and pour it over the top, drenching everything in your bowl. Add a scoop of ice cream, and maybe even some golden syrup. Then eat!

The first time I saw this I almost died! How could someone defile my chocolate chip cookies with.... golden syrup? Or custard?? And malva pudding, which is already drenched in a butter/cream/sugar sauce, needs nothing more (except maybe an insulin shot).

Many months later, I must admit, I am still shocked by this culinary phenomenon. But I have a rather awed respect for the sweet tooth of my Afrikaner friends, and I am learning to sneak my bowl away before the custard is dumped on (Starbucks, where are you? PLEASE come to South Africa!).

I Know Her Name

This is just a face to most of you, but I know her name - Joyce. Joyce lives in a two-room house with her mother, two sisters and her baby daughter.

Last week Joyce died. She can't have been more than 20 years old.

I feel sad, and I think what bothers me most is that too many of us debate the world's problems, philosophizing and offering solutions without actually getting to know the people for whom we're busy "changing the world."

Everyone has a story to tell. Maybe we should do more listening and less talking.

I Feel So Official!

My family and I got library cards yesterday. When you move to a new country, there are so many urgent things that need attention: housing, transportation, schooling, jobs, etc. But a library card....

A library card is one of those things at the bottom of the list - a small luxury - that made me realise the "big" things are taken care of now. I know how to shop, drive on the left side of the road, and I even sorted out the property tax fiasco when the City of Tshwane thought we were the Nel family!

A library card is not for visitors. A library card means I'm here to stay, that I haven't given up yet, that South Africa hasn't gotten the better of me, that I've survived the past two years. A library card is a small victory in navigating foreign bureaucracy, a paper badge of courage, a certificate commemorating perseverance.

You can laugh all you want, but I don't care; yesterday was a good day.

Thoughts on Rocks

I once watched a documentary about I.M. Pei, the famous architect who designed the new entrance to the Louvre, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Bank of China building in Hong Kong (among other things).

He was talking about his father, who "farmed" rocks in the ocean to "harvest" for rock gardens. His father would place huge rocks in the ocean and remove them ten to twenty years later. When he did so, the rocks would each have smooth edges and be in unique formations that no man could have chiseled. The rocks would be used as centerpieces in gardens - one-of-a-kind works of art.

I couldn't sleep last night, and as I lay in bed I said to God, "Okay, is there something You want to say to me, because I could really use some direction right now." I received no direct response, but my mind suddenly remembered these rocks.

It is only after years of being buffeted by ocean waves and storms that these rocks gain value and become beautiful. Without the buffeting, they would still be... plain old rocks. I couldn't help but relate this to my own life and the challenges I face - we ALL face. If I stay focused on God, on the bigger picture, on learning whatever it is God wants to teach me, if I remain patient and persevere instead of running away toward something "easier", then maybe I can come through these challenges with smoother edges, more beautiful.

I think there is potential in each one of us to become one-of-a-kind masterpieces. The question is, will I - will you - trust God through the storms and waves?