livinglifeloud

Day 1 My favorite song

2012-01-15T23:41:00.001-06:00

Well I am going to start by saying that I wish I took this challenge 2 week ago or maybe only started in two weeks. It's part of the reason I haven't blogged for so long. I just forget, get busy with other things etc. and then I don't blog. Well I have 30 min left on todays clock I think I am going to make it :)
The other reason I am not having time right now is because I am going back home for almost 3 months and well there is just a lot to do to get ready.

So what is my favorite song? I hate to be that person but I really don't have that one favorite song. Sometimes when we drive and there is a song on the radio that Dustin thinks sounds a bit romantic (without even hearing the words) He would say "Baby" it's our song. :D I feel the same way about music in general today it might be my favorite song. if I had to choose one for today it would be Adele Rolling in the deep but don't keep me to it.

There are days that I just feel in the mood for something louder and other days something slower. Somedays I want to dance to a funky beat and other days I want to close my eyes and drift away with sounds that make me think about white beaches and blue waters.

So there it is I don't have a all time favorite song but I do love listening to music.

Yes I still wanna blog.

2012-01-15T01:08:00.001-06:00

So I found this 30 day blog challenge on Pintrest (yes i'm addicted) and I am going to try it. Seeing that we are heading back to SA for a visit I am sure I will fill in many days with much more meaningful things but I am hoping that this will inspire me to start blogging again some of the things on the list might not be worth writing about but I will deal with that when I get there. For the procrastinator in me - I will make tomorrow day one.

Day 1 — Your favorite song (s)

Day 2 — Your favorite movie(s)

Day 3 – Your idea of the perfect date. 

Day 4 – Your favorite photograph.

Day 5 – How important you think education is? 

Day 6 – A photo of an animal you’d love to keep as a pet. 

Day 7 – Your dream wedding. 

Day 8 – A song to match your mood. 

Day 9 – A photo of the item you last purchased. 

Day 10 – A photo of our favorite place to eat. 

Day 11 – What’s in your makeup bag? 

Day 12 – A photograph of the town you live in. 

Day 13 – Your favorite musician and why? 

Day 14 – A TV show you’re currently addicted to. 

Day 15 – Something you don’t leave the house without. 

Day 16 – Your celebrity crush. 

Day 17 – A photo of you and your family. 

Day 18 – Something you crave a lot. 

Day 19 – Most embarrassing moment. 

Day 20 – The meaning behind your blog name. 

Day 21 – A photo of something that makes you happy. 

Day 22 – A letter to someone who has hurt you recently. 

Day 23 – 15 facts about you. 

Day 24 – A photo of something that means a lot to you. 

Day 25 – What’s in your purse? 

Day 26 – A photo of somewhere you’ve been to. 

Day 27 – A picture of you last year and now and how have you changed since then? 

Day 28 – Your favorite movie. 

Day 29 – Something you could never get tired of doing. 

Day 30 – A photograph of youself today + three good things that have happened in the past 30 days

A compliment!

2008-08-26T22:00:00.002-05:00

When was the last time you were given a really good compliment and I don't mean average things like that is a nice dress your wearing, a really good personal compliment.

As you can imagine I got one today and I must admit it felt good - really good. I think part of it was that I just haven't lately been feeling like I have been doing very good.

I am busy applying for this job at our local library and it has been weeks now that I had to wait for the application time to finish (what didn't help is that I knew about the position opening a week before advertisement for it started. Well I had my interview today and at the end of it all I was given a very good compliment. It felt good for more just for what I have been able to achieve on such a young age but it made me think of all the great people that helped me build up what I know today.

I think of my parents - my dad always saying just do it, just make sure you enjoy it! So many times I would phone him crying about how difficult a place or a situation is and then those words would encourage me. My mom, who thought me that about excellence and perfection. Those little encouragements that takes you a long way in a job.

Endless number of friends that has encouraged and believed in me over the years!! How lucky am I!!! I was telling Dustin the other night about the jobs I had over the years and how I got to be hired for it. What I realized is that I haven't done a work interview for more than 8 years now and I have not been unemployed that long.

A really good compliment made me realize how fortunate I have been!!

LIFE had definitely been LIVED LOUD!

Pella Tulip Festival

2008-05-05T09:32:00.002-05:00

It is summer time in Iowa - or so they say. Well we have had a couple days with weather just over 20degrees celcius making that I don't have to look like a stuffed teddy bear anymore. This made me realized that I didn't bring a lot of summer like clothing over - just too prepared for winter.
Well summer time means outdoor time and we have been doing a lot of that over this weekend.

About 45miles from us is a little town called Pella - it is bigger than Polk City :) The weekend marked the annual tulip festival. It was amazing!! I am sure it is nothing like the tulip fields of Holland but it was still pretty amazing. We were only there for an short time as we had another appointment but it was fun. It is some sort of dutch community so there was all these dutch words which is so similar to Afrikaans and it was just fun to see it all.

One of the biggest treats of this trip was Dutch Letter and other than you might think Dutch Letters only comes in the letter "S" it is some almond pastry rather nice. It is apparently the only place to buy dutch letters from as people was standing outside the door waiting to order dutch delicatessens. I hope to post the picture of our two children - I almost want to call them Hansel and Gretel for some reason :p As we drove out of Pella we took a bit of an unexpected detour and we are sure it was destiny that made us pass these two children. My mother in law called it our Dutch children.

It was a good day!

We also had to do some work in the yard this week - seeing that it is spring and it has been raining a lot. The grass has been growing a lot and is in great need of a cut. So the yard is not just an yard - like two patches that you can use a hand held mower this is serious stuff. The yard is big and there is a lot of grass that needs to be cut. We (well Jim) has these little grass tractors and with the two that we had and about 2hrs of cutting we only got about half the yard done. I never thought I would say this but grass cutting is really nice :) Zipping around on a little tractor is really fun! That is what this little city girl thinks!

This town had so much windmills

Pretty Tulips

I thought this picture was funny just because of the Afrikaans connection to it. We saw this really pretty Dutch pots that said Koffie en Suiker (Coffee and Suger) it was need to see that in America.

Finally our Dutch children :) proudly with the American flag!

Playing in the snow

2008-04-08T14:56:00.003-05:00

I have been struggling to get photo's to load. Here is another try.

a few thoughts

2008-03-31T10:44:00.002-05:00

...

just as you think that spring is here, it snows again :)

thinking that America is big on Coke Cola is wrong Pepsi might be taking over.

you can know that you live out in the middle of nowhere because there is turkey and deer right on your doorstep.

snow is wet and it melts!

milky way is nothing like bar-one

on request....

2008-02-17T16:49:00.002-06:00

...food. No Ciela, I have not been to a Taco Bell's yet - come to think of it I haven’t seen one either - maybe some one could tell me why, because I am sure there is a good reason. I have however eaten at Taco John's - which I would say is the best taco place in comparison to Tasty Taco's. Does it taste as great as it looks? No I must say I have had much greater Taco's at my house in South Africa. Taco John's does however have these miniature hash browns instead of potato chips and they are amazing. All of this said I have to add that I have only been to both places twice and it wouldn't be fair to judge them yet - Tasty Taco's has a flour tortilla that looks great but the second time i was there i didn't realize that that is what i would rather wanted.

That is a general problem, to order food - everything is just different I suppose some of it is just because of the price. I liked going to Mc Donald’s there the food is at least the same. It was interesting to me that when I ordered Mc Nuggets (which is a favorite. I got 10 nuggets instead of just the normal 6 :) For Dustin's birthday we went to a place called Tacki and there is these Chinese men that cook your entire meal right in front of you. You have a waiter too, that explains everything to you and brings you your starter. What totally didn’t help me that round around was the fact that I couldn't understand a word he said. This week we had a business dinner at a very nice restaurant something on 3de Street. It was delightful! The menu was plain and I could understand the waiter in the end of the evening the food was great too! My only complaint - I couldn't understand half of the souses that was on the menu - that is nothing new.

Wendy's is another place that you might have heard the name of on television - a burger place. They have a junior bacon and cheeseburger for a $1 one of those makes a good snack.

Salads are interesting. It is always more lettuce than anything else it is nothing strange to end up with a plate of lettuce with one cocktail tomato, maybe a carrot and a piece of cucumber or two.

Food has been a bit of a challenge. I am getting use to more of it but in general it taste different. The dinner appointment we had this week was with a lady that is from South Africa and is married to an American and that lived here for a long time, but we spoke Afrikaans and it made me miss home, and during the dinner it came out that we should have a South African traditional dinner and one of the gentle men with us never been in South Africa and wasn’t' to sure what we spoke about and we got to tell him about Bobotie and Yellow Rice, and Wors, and Biltong and Droe Wors, and peperdues filled with feta cheese (which by the way is a truly South African Product) and about Malva poeding. Good old South African Foods. For now I will just miss home a bit…

So wat is anderste...

2008-02-04T14:48:00.000-06:00

...in America? Sneeu en baie daarvan en sneeu storms en sneeu wat smelt en sneeu water wat weer vries omdat dit delsels koud is. Sneeu kom in baie verskilende vorms ook. Daar is die bitsige sneeu wat voel dit sny deur jou vel dis gewoonlik op sonige dae wanneer die los sneeu wat op die dak en op die bome is af waai. Dan is daar pragtige mooi sneeu - amper iets soos kapok klein ronde balletjies dan is daar mooi fluffy snow ek dink nie jy het sneeu gesien tot jy dit gesien het nie dit lyk amper soos klein vere regtig pragtig, maar dit lyk ook vir my as daar eers van daai val dan kan jy maar weet dat daar is nog baie wat gaan kom.

Ons het gister so bietjie van 'n sneeu storm gehad, baie sterk winde met sneeu wat orals waai en dit was bitterlik koud! Dustin wou die hele dag net buite speel en ek moes net keer en hom herrinder dat ek van Sub-shara Afrika af kom waar dit warm is baie warm is en dat drastiese weer soos die my sal dood vries.

Soms is die anderste dinge goeie dinge. Soos as jy 'n koeldrank koop saam met jou maaltyd dan gee hulle vir jou gratis refils - so veel as wat jy wil he - en glase is nie klein nie die kleinste glas is gewoonlik 'n 16oz die average glas size so ongeveer 22oz dalk 'n bietjie meer dis baie juize. Ice tea is algemeen en dit voel soms asof hulle 'n dit op die tafel sal neersit soos water. 'n Added extra is goed
soos die room op jou koffie wat jou nie meer sal kos nie. Ons het vir Dustin 'n koek gekoop vandag en hulle het sy naam vir hom geskryf somer gou daar in die winkel "at no extra cost".

Hier ry hulle aan die ander kant van die pad. Ek het die ander dag vir die eerste keer bestuur en dit is vreemd. Ek het een van hulle pad toetse op die internet gedoen my eerste toets was nie te great nie die tweede keer was 'n breez so ernste dalk volgende week as dit weer 'n bietjie rustig sal wees sal ons kyk of ons dit gedoen sal kry.

Oor die algemeen is mense baie vriendlik, nie klein dorp vriendlik nie maar vriendlik. Ek het nog net eenkeer gehoor hoe iemand gese het dat hy kwaad is, en hy het nie kwaad vir my geklink nie.

Die bank hier is amazing!! MAN het SA 'n paar dinge om te leer. Polk City met sy 2000 inwoners het 'n baie klein bank so dit is okay, maar ek was saam met Beth in 'n groter bank vandag, sy moes 'n check inbetaal ek maak gereed om uit die kar uit te klim en ek kon sien sy kyk snaaks na my. Soos sy opry na 'n paal druk sy 'n knopie en iemand van die binnekant groet haar, en daar is 'n bottel onder 'n flappie wat se "flip to open", in die bottel ding is daar 'n pen 'n deposito strokie 'n paar ander papiere sy sit toe haar tjek in en jy kan hoor hoe hierdie bottle ingesuig word. Ons wag toe 'n paar min en die volgende ooblik is die bottle terug met 'n deposito strokie - wow bank diens kan amazing wees.

Op troues tik mense ook teen glase maar dit is nie om 'n heildronk in te stel nie dit is om die bruid en bruidegom te kry om te soen. Ek kon duidelik sien wie die eerste glas tiker was en hy was family so ek wag toe vir almal om sagter te begin praat maar die volgende oomblik is daar net meer en meer glas tikers en ek is verward - Beth heel verras se toe "ooee, julle is veronderstel om te soen" ons het nog 'n paar keer daai aand gesoen.

Vars lug is min! Omdat dit so koud is speel ons nie baie buite nie dit is regtig koud. Maar ek kry myself dat ek smag na vars lug. Ons huis en ek weet nie of dit standaard is nie - was nog nie in te veelhuise nie. Ek is seker ons huis se lug word gesekuleer met vars lug maar so elke 30 na 45 min dan blaas daar lug in die huis - dit begin koud en dan raak dit lekker warm - ek het gou geleer dit is die beste tyd om in die badkamer te wees want dan is dit lekker warm :) Die huis en ek dink meeste huise hier het dubble glas vensters - so jy hoor bykans geen klanke van buite nie. Vensters maak ook anderste oop, jy draai 'n handvatsel. Huise is van hout gemaak net planke wat geisoleer is. Ek probeer dit alles nog uitfigure - dalk eendag. Bakstene is bleikbaar baie duur? Die drie varkies sal 'n fees he hier ek wonder of julle die storie hier vertel en hoe ouers dit aan hulle kinders verduidelik.

Geboue lyk dieselfde maar baie anderste as in SA. Een van die eerste resturante waarin ek was het my geskok in hoe dit lyk. Ek dink ons is gewoond om in 'n mall te eet. Ons is nie regtig gewoond aan 'n resturant in die middle van niks nie. Iets soos Papoetsies in Linden. Hier is dit glad nie vreemd om in 'n straat 'n paar resturante te he nie maar elkeen is op sy eie met sy eie parkeer terein sy eie erf. Dakke oor die algemeen is ook plat so dit lyk amper iets soos 'n garage. Dis moeilik om dit te beskryf - dis net baie anderste en jy het nodig om dit te sien om te verstaan. ek sal kyk as ons uitgaan vandag om bietjie fofo't te neem. Hier is 'n paar strip malls waar daar baie groot winkels langs mekaar is - soos woodmead. Ek was nog net in een Mall dit was 'n klein ene maar ek dink dit was seker amper so
groot soos clearwater mall.

Jy gooi jou eie petrol in - tegnologie het ook darm al gevorder so nou kan jy by die pomp betaal jy hoef nie noodwendig uit te klim en binne te betaal nie. Daar is ook winkels by die pompe. In SA is hulle snaks georienteer, ek was geskok om te sien dit is amper net koeldrank en dan algemene goed. Ons petrol stasie winkels is amper soos great winkels.

Aanpassing in America

2008-02-04T12:42:00.000-06:00

So ons het veilig aangeland in Amerika ongeveer 'n maand gelede al :).
Die vlug is lank en baie ongemalklik ek verstaan ook nou hoekom somige
mense niks van vlieg hou nie. Dit was 'n belewenis en ek is seker daar
sal nog baie wees.

Die aanpassing in Amerika is groot. Hollywood laat dit na 'n baie
anderste plek lyk. Hier in Iowa is dit platteland darm nie klein dorp
platteland nie. Ons bly buite die dorp op 'n plaas - sonder diere -
wel hier is wilde kalkoene en "deer" en as jy nog nooit deer gesien
het nie hulle lyk soos oorgroot baie groot duikers. In die geweste is
dit algemeen om hulle te jag wat hartseer is. Die kultuur is verseker
baie anderste. Ek onthou hoe Dustin my vertel het van dinge wat ons
anderte se. Wel hier tel ek baie daarvan op.Daar is nooit niks haas
nie maar dinge gebeur en as jy gevra word om iets te doen is die
verstaan dat jy dit nou sal doen. Dis 'n anderste lewe maar dit is
goed.

Een van die groot events wat ons gehad het was ons tweede troue! Dit
was beautiful en baie groot. Daar was ongeveer 150 mense en in
vergelyking met ons SA 45mense troue is dit baie. Beth my skoonma het
'n great werk gedoen om dit alles georganiseerd te kry en ek moes op
die einde van die dag net opdaag. Julle is welkom om na foto's van
altwee troues te gaan kyk by
www.flickr.com/photos/dustin-rene-wedding/. Die troue het begin met 'n
video van ons SA troue wat Mias (my broer) vir ons gemaak het. Ons het
toe ingestap in dieselfde kleure wat ons aangehad in SA (Dankie Jaco
die rok het net so goed gewerk die tweede keer! Dankie!) Warren 'n
goeie familie vriend het die seremonie gelei en toe het ons ge-eet!
Dit was regtig 'n wonderlike aand.

Verder gaan dinge goed. Dustin het begin met sy studies en kry engels
en wiskunde uit die weg. Sodat hy twee vake minder het om te doen as
sy kursus begin in Augustus. Ek help uit met die bediening soos ek kan
en verder probeer ek maar my voete vind. Dit lyk asof ek dalk 'n
kusrus of twee sal kan doen aangesien dit redelik goedkoop is.

Photo Problems

2008-01-07T10:42:00.000-06:00

I am not able to add photo's on to my blog at this stage. Something to do with Mac :) So please check out my facebook for some photo's about coming to the USA . If anyone know how to solve my photo problem please let me know.

Welcome to Chicago

2008-01-06T10:11:00.000-06:00

Welcome to Chicago! I finally made it to the USA wow I was looking forward to this day so much! As we had a really quick landing – I remember my Dad telling me that when he went to Europe a couple of years ago it freaked him out how the plane went something like 30000m in air and 10 min to land – well I really felt that in Chicago and once we got on the landing field we didn’t have such a long way to stop like I have felt in previous plane trips the pilot really slammed on the brakes and in a few min we had our first turn to make. I was amazed at how big an airport could be – it was really big. We got dropped terminal B1 or something and it was about another 15/20 min commute to get to our actual terminal that we needed to be at. Amanda, I now even more realize what you mean by herding the sheep through the lines it – zigzag through several turns.

We were prepared that we have some administration that needed to happen once we land in the USA. Dustin and myself got split up seeing that he is local and I am not. Well the woman in the que on the visitors side wasn't really that nice and I was glad when Dustin showed me that I could come over to his line :) Well like they told us in the South African US Embassy they called me to one side with all my paperwork in hand. It was funny to me because the officer realized his inkpad was dry and had to search all over the place for a new one. He kept on apologizing for not having something ready – I said to Dustin the officer shouldn’t be apologizing that is how it is always in SA J The great news is that it turned out that all our hard work in SA paid off because my visa is actually my green card. I already went into some offices and they said my Social Security no should be ready in about 8 weeks. That was a shocker to me seeing that I was hoping that I wouldn’t be able to work for the next 3 months – something like a bit of resting time for me after ministry time. Really it is great news and I am relieved that everything is sorted now.

We got delayed to Des Moines with about an hour but what a pleasant flight. There was a lot of leg space, and it was so short it felt unreal! I would fly that anytime again. We were greatly welcomed by Beth and Jim (my parents in law) at the airport and we got home to a great Christmas dinner! I had my first Christmas stocking experience and got some great goodies in that. We got this one picture from our wedding in SA but it was made up as a kaleidoscope well it made my really dizzy and it took me about 2 days before I could really look at it because of the jetlag.

It snowed on our fist day here and it has been a great experience!

The way to the USA

2008-01-06T10:01:00.000-06:00

It was a sad goodbye at the airport in Johannesburg. We tried to stay as busy as possible during the day to make sure we don’t have too much time thinking about leaving home. Well Dustin’s sadness was really joy, but he was a trooper trying to stay brave for me too.

We got everything packed up, who knows how, but we got it done. Once we booked in we were about 5kg over weight which you would think is nothing considering that I was moving across the world The gentleman booking us in told us that the fee is R300 per kg over the limit and we had to pay, he was waiting for us to give in but we told he we would rather take the weight out but luckily the gentleman already sent our bags through and couldn’t get it back for us :) We were all ready to go and then just had last drinks in a terrible spot but I was thankful to spend some more time with the family.

We did have to pay something for being overweight though. The same gentleman written about above was so kind to give us the wrong boarding gate number so we walked the extremes of the airport terminal – thanks for nothing :)

It was about a 10hr flight to Frankfurt. I have no idea how we did it but we did. I am sure they could make better usage of space in planes. It was neat waking up during the night and looking out the window and seeing fires, lights and at one point I was sure I saw the desert it was a really neat experience.

Landing if Frankfurt was neat. Saw the first snow and it was really cold. We had about 2hr wait for out next flight. I loved just sitting and watching how many cultures of people walk thought that airport at one point i was sure almost every country in the world must be represented.

This next flight was about a 9hr flight to Chicago. It was much more difficult than the first flight. Riaan thanks for telling me about the movies – they were nicely back-to-back :) At one stage we got up to stretch out a bit and I was standing in an open area at a window. A hostess walked by and just flipped the top to see what is outside and as she did she just said wow and showed me what she saw – snow on the ocean, it was amazing I took a picture but no picture can tell how much I enjoyed to see it. The best part would have been if I could see a snow bear swimming in the cold waters :) or for that matter anything – just to know that there is life down their.

- 13 Degrees

2007-12-17T10:01:00.000-06:00

I just added a weather report on my Facebook page. After I did it I had to ask myself why? I added two cities on the page – for always knowing what the weather is going to be like at home and at home. So it nicely displayed Des Moines –with a critical weather warning. I open the warning fog – I don’t know if SA ever gets a fog warning that is cool I think to myself. Then I look at the rest – 13 Degrees and sunny! Above this is the weather for SA – 24 Degrees and cloudy. All that I could think is that surely it can not be sunny as in happy sunny when it is -13 degrees. I am still in denial about the weather that I am going to face in Iowa. I know it snows and I know it’s going to be cold but for the best of me I can not imagine -13 degrees.

Oh, update from my last blog - if you read this and you don't know yet, my American visa was approved. In what seemed like 10min but it was a bit longer if you count the 10min I spent with our advisor earlier that day too. We handed our 3 months worth of paper work in, then we was asked to come back because it was a bit like a mad house at the embassy. We returned, my name was called and 10min later I had my visa. I had to return 2 days later to pick it up. We also then found out that all this work was for a bit more work than we knew, on entering into the USA, all this hard work also starts my Green Card process and it sounds like within the next 3 months I should have my Green Card too :) Thank you for all the prayers! It really helped and meant so much to us! We are leaving on the 26th of December to Iowa!

Visa's

2007-11-23T00:14:00.001-06:00

One of the things that you often hear from people is how bad our SA systems
are, it would take months to get things done on a government level (and
several other levels). This is very true, I am sure that there are countries
that does things like unabridged marriage certificate in no time.

We worked out that it has taken us now over 3 months to get the information
for my visa. Considering that the SA government takes about 6 to 8 weeks to
get documents ready, I just had to wonder why I couldn't have had my visa
already? Well the truth is because even a great country like America also
takes time in dispersing information. It took us several visits to the
embassy to find out what all the documentation was that we needed. Dustin
and I are convinced that we are going to write a little manual - and I am
willing to give these for free at the embassy, on how to take your spouse to
the USA.

Before I go any further, we finally have all our documentation and our
appointment date with the embassy is on the 5 of December. So if you
remember this date please pray as hard as you can on this day! :) and no you
can not pray that I should stay in SA that is not the purpose :)

Well the last three months I have been travelling almost daily to embassies,
home affair offices, police stations (which by the way I just found out is
useless b/c all the documentation that are certified by them is not valid
:O) This whole process started off with a form, we in return got another
form, telling us we need a bunch of things like unabridged marriage and
birth certificates, we got all that information just to find out that we
need more things, things from America, that was not really a problem because
we had a friend that come over just at the right time to send us all that
info. We got another form confirming all that we need and what I learned
about all these documentation is that it would be best to just read all of
it! There in the middle of a paragraph that I didn't read it says - you need
a police clearance from all the countries that you have lifted in for more
than 6 months - crisis!! We had a few more questions and went in to the
embassy to make sure, the question from our counsellor was where did you
life more - my answer Mozambique and he answers well then you are going to
need a police clearance form. So between a busy schedule, we find a time
that would work to go to Mozambique - Maputo is the only place that you can
get such a police clearance from. In the early morning hours of Monday the
12Nov we traveled to Mozambique. Once again I wished that I could speak
Portuguese, but once again I it helped me to not speak Portuguese. Well we
walked into this very hidden building in Maputo, that had a lot of people in
it - this is an office that deals only with police clearances. We got the
forms and I tried to fill it in, only to find that I know like 4 words on
the form and has no reference. Then an angel with the name of Babel appeared
he spoke English and ended up filling in my form, that was after I had to
buy a new form for making a mistake (so much for knowing some Portuguese
word but not knowing it in contexts). We had 2 days that we could take on
this from, we expected it to take months but finally we worked up the
courage to ask Babel how long it would take and he told us that we could
have the forms ready by 9 the following morning. we had the rest of the day
to rest and play in Mozambique! :) that was very special to me to have
Dustin experience a bit of a country that has been so much part of my life.

It has been en interesting and exciting journey getting all this work done!

Taxi vs Bus

2007-10-25T03:14:00.000-05:00

So anyone that has ever drove in SA are very aware of the taxi's. It is part of our everyday. For some people it is the only way of getting to work, or shops or even school. They are known to be dangerous and the only reason is because they have a mind of their own. So this morning was no surprise when i was nearly bumped and smashed by a taxi only min after i left the home, i know how to handle them - with no mercy! So i drive on this small little road to join in a big road - a main road into Johannesburg (Louis Botha) It a tricky intersection but there are several unspoken rules at this intersection and the one is that, one car goes from the left lane and one goes from the right line making turn. So as i was following this rule the next moment not a taxi but a BUS a BIG 60 passenger Transpower (or something) bus cuts me off and all of a sudden the rule is broken :o i was shocked a bus - i could easily expect such behaviour from a taxi but a bus? survival skills kicks in and i take my space on the road getting to the right lane as soon as i could to avoid smashing into the bus - the next thing he does a lane change with no indication and once again i get cut off. the only thing that is going through my mind is that that bus driver must be a taxi driver before and that no one told him he is a BIG bus now, what can not pull the same moves as a taxi. As i drove up the hill i desperately tries to get ahead of the bus, with no luck. He is a masjiene. We get to a traffic light (my love are you not proud of me not calling it a robot!) and i see a gap to over take him, he had a taxi in his lane and "should" be stuck - but no with no indication he just starts to change lanes again - i just made it and gave my usual hoot to just let him know he is being naughty, the next thing i realize that the person behind me also passed him the gave a great big hoot. The bus passed the taxi only to put on his indicators to down load some people. i shook my head, thinking, that i would also want to get off that bus.

The test! i had this all explained in my blog, but then i lost my blog (don't know how) But the test was to see if it worked to past a blog using my email instead of connecting to the Internet - glad i got some people curious - would like to know what test you thought it would be?

A test!

2007-10-18T04:01:00.001-05:00

I just want to see if this is the right way to do this. it might help me in my quest to post more blogs :)

a fun day in the sun!

2007-10-15T05:19:00.001-05:00

Learning new things while you are married seems to come with the territory, I know this and yet I never thought that I would do what I did. So Dustin LOVES me but also LOVES motorbikes so much that it was even mentioned in our wedding ceremony. Well we have always spoke about him getting a bike and know that I would take a lot of saving and persuasion of my and some other people to get the bike. Well this week on our way to go and price some material for a preschool to help with their light situation at their preschool we passed the Ducati motorbikes shop. We made a quick shop and there was this man called Clinton. Well he then invited us to a motorbike show on Saturday. We admired the Ducati’s and went on our pricing trip. Well I sort of forgot all about Saturday and each day Dustin would be only 2 more days or tomorrow is the day. Friday night he hasn’t heard back from some of his friends that he invited and very carefully he asked me if I would go with him. Not wanting to be away from him (yes it is still hard for me to be away from him for too long) and not wanting him to go by himself I said yes.

The day started of by trying to figure out what the best way is to get there – a normal story in our lives Mias my brothers answer to our problem is GPS. Well it was for easier than I thought and with no trouble we got there. We greeted some of the guys at the Ducati stand and he told us we are free to get some drinks at the drink station (well what would you know finally something that is free in SA) We could go right up to the starting point and it was magical. Never have a heard such a noise and it was beautiful – I am not telling Dustin this, but I really enjoyed some of the day. There are obvious parts I wouldn’t like, like the motorbike smashing part and I saw more than one of those. It was actually a bit funny. At the one corner where we sat at these two boys made a small crash if you can call it that – the one boy was so upset he just wanted to beat the other kid but the one – that caused the accident just got back on this bike and finally won the race. It was a fun day in the sun. I look forward to the next race :)

a blog a month....

2007-09-27T04:32:00.000-05:00

a blog a month isn't that bad is it? Well it has been a full two months.i don't really know if i have news?

We applied for an american visa! well we tried, they required a unbridged printed birth certificate, a underbridged printed marriage certificate and a police report - those all take between 6 to 8 weeks - AFRICA i think is what we call it. To make things seems worse when Dustin phoned them this week to find out if we could make the process go faster well then they told him that it could take us much as 12 weeks! Lets just keep on praying that it would take much less time or that they would be able to keep to their 6 to 8 weeks. The good thing with all this documentation taking so long is that my Passport which i applied for about 4 weeks ago will be ready by the time so my visa (or what ever i am going to get) will be in my real passport and not my temporary passport ;)

wow

2007-08-19T09:01:00.000-05:00

i got married how wonderful! it has been a very busy couple of weeks with arranging the wedding going on honeymoon (which was just great and then the past week we where on a outreach with my parents in law. you can check out what they do on blessmanmedicalministries.org.

i had a hard time getting some wedding photo's posted but there is some on my facebook account. i will try to post some here but not sure that i will have success. If it appears it worked if not... well then it didn't.

have to run...

rings and pictures

2007-06-28T02:05:00.000-05:00

Getting Married!!

2007-06-21T06:33:00.000-05:00

To all the people that havent heard yet, it is finally happening!!! I am getting married. In a fast change of events, we decided to move our wedding date to the 28th of July! I better get running - seeing that i am just planning weddings 24/7 :) and trying to work inbetween :D hope to past pictures soon!!

i do not worry...

2007-04-12T04:17:00.000-05:00

well today at my weekly meeting at the one church that i am involved with, the general feeling has just been i can not worry no more. stress does bad things to our bodies, and we don't even realize it... it doesn't really help anyone to stress - it doesn't take the problem away... it just gives you a way to cope with the problem... i don't want to worry no more.

what has happened? well i moved, that is always fun!! or not!! my move also made that i don't have Internet access no more... so now i just have to deal with hooking up once a week at the office.

My younger brother was in accident with his motorbike, he's okay, but that was nice and stressful

I was able to see Dustin (may i speak about this??) well i also so him on web cam :p I still love him to bits!! I really look forward to 15August to come... surely life is going to be so much easier by then!!

Work has been good and not, if any one told me to do community work would involve so much politics i would tell them they lied... now, i feel different about it. There are a lot of development happening in the area where Princess is and let's just say nobody knows what is really happening. The guy that read the map did something wrong seeing that the road is now not where it should be and going through our property - wheee!! Please just keep on praying for the work that we have been doing there.

I've been sick - yes again, the flu - man it just seems like the city is not accommodating with me :) maybe i should move back to Moz there i didn't eat as healthy but it least i didn't get the flu ever 2/3 months - No sorry don't really think i am ready for that again.

Just read an blog about the woman in Mozambique... it is going well, and it brings a great joy to my heart and a tear to my eye, to know that God is continuing with great work in the lives of the woman in Mozambique. It seems like Eunice is still heading the ministry - oh what great gifts God is not going to have for her in His Kingdom!! Go Eunice!!

the love of my life

2007-03-30T15:37:00.000-05:00

I wonder who makes me the

happiest woman in the world! :)

I really like this picture. It was taken by Dustin.

Dustin, on tour.

...

2007-03-20T13:09:00.000-05:00

to who ever reads this blog... that last entry has been an extreme challenge that's why it's been changing constantly... i will stop trying to fix it now ;)

i know that looking at books for the answers to some questions could sometimes be a bit less wise. well i have been reading like mad to try and catch up on what i have missed on the whole "love" topic. Is it wise... maybe, maybe not.

i'm i happy? more than ever. i have had days that was doubting, and it is amazing how we just get through it stronger than ever. Dustin, is the man that i have beg, and asked and, cried before God for so many nights and i look forward to getting to know him so much better.

i wonder what i did before i met Dustin?

the outreach in the informal settlement

2007-03-14T14:54:00.000-05:00

The weekend outreach was a great success. Thanks for all the prayers and everyone that came to help.

Before and After

doubt

2007-03-08T03:45:00.000-06:00

the problem is not to doubt, but what we do with doubt.

outreach in Princess Community

2007-03-06T23:15:00.000-06:00

We are having our outreach in Princess Crossing Community this coming Saturday. During Sunday there was about 45 people that signed up for service. I am really amazed to see the church taking on a challenge like this. Just in general the response that we have had the past couple of days it gives me goosebumps and it really gives me hope for the church. People are excited about the prospect of getting involved and that makes it exciting for me, it shows that this could be another success story!

Out of the mouth of one of the Pastors in the community, "It is not about church as this is my building or this is your project, we are a community of believers and we need to share. If "that church" (a predominately white church) had that attitude we would not have gotten the help when we really needed it, now it would be our time to share."

Please pray for hearts to be challenged and changed. That Saturday would be day filled with fun, laughter and success.

the news (2)

2007-02-28T14:52:00.000-06:00

Okay what is happening in the real world? i am still just as in love in that part of my life, but there is also some work happening. Yes, it has been hard to focus, but i have been really trying.

The second weekend of March we are having a BIG clean up day in Princess Crossing Informal Settlement. This wouldn't be first big outreach that Ruimsig is going to do in Princess but it would be the first on our new property!

The goal is to clean out a big part of the property, remove the rubble and the weed (and it would be no surprise to me if it would be some of "those" type of weed too - peace.) Here are some of the pictures of what needs to be removed. Oh could someone please explain to me how it is that, the pretty garden where i stay is looking more and more depleted with the great heat that we have been having, but that it seems like the weed has just been growing stronger and more since i took these photos?

the news

2007-02-28T14:40:00.000-06:00

okay, well yes, it is true, i am so in love and i love every moment of it!! my friends and family say i scare them a bit because they have surely never thought that i could really go on this road of love!! It has been a few weeks of ups and downs just dealing with Dustin coming and going (he left on a tour a week and a half ago and i would not be able to see him for a while - which is good and not. I love him and i know that it is a chance of a life time for him so i want him to enjoy it!) We have already been faced with a few very difficult situations but God is so good, we have just really been given wisdom in how to deal with each one of the situations. I really hope that you all will get to meet him soon.

the apology

2007-02-28T14:36:00.000-06:00

Okay, i am going to try and make up for being such a bad writer the last few weeks. it is the guilt that is kicking in now.

I am so lucky because i can blame love!!! Yes, the love in my life has just been taking a lot of my extra time and i am not going to complain :)

love

2007-02-19T09:10:00.001-06:00

of all the things i love,
i love the most,
sleeping in the shade of love,
sleeping in the shade of love,
i love the most,
my love!!!

I spent yesterday, in the shade of love, with my love. Yes, i love it!! What a perfect day!! Awww!

will you be my valentine?

2007-02-14T10:43:00.000-06:00

If i remember correctly, this is how love feels like!

Dustin, thank you for making me so happy!

a lesson learned

2007-02-07T06:38:00.000-06:00

i had this great meeting to attend this afternoon with some pre-school teachers with regards to the training that we are doing. that went great! im sure it had to do with all the prayers that was going out as i was as usual very nervous about it and called in all the forces. That is not the lesson i learned. Last night while i was awake in the wee hours of the morning, i was considering to just do some of the admin that i needed to have with me today, a copy of the curriculum a registration form etc. but i decide that i will have enough time in the morning to do all of that. Got up this morning, planned out every second of the morning up to when i needed to leave, including printing all these documents and fixing my hair (to those of you who know who Fiela is, of character in one of Dalene Matthee books) well i looked like Fiela this morning. Just as i sat down and started with the bulk of the material that needed to be printed, i saw my screen going darker, that normally happens when i don't have power. I just shouted; NO! looked at the power plug to make sure that it is not it, wiggled the plug nothing and then i remembered the recent increase in power cuts that Joburg has been experiencing. i leaned over to the light switch, on off , on off... maybe it is just my light, go to the bath room on off, on off nothing. run down to the kitchen the only person i see is Lena, the domestic worker - i could see on her face that this was a house thing... almost just as unimpressed as i was. CRISIS!! Luckily my sister in Law works a few blocks from my home and they didn't have a power problem, she gratefully offered her power supply and printing facilities to me! THANK YOU!! my hair, well thank you to the person that invented hair clips and with enough gel, i got the hair all in the right place. The lesson learned is that i need to stop being such a procrastinator!

at from the heart centre

2007-02-06T12:36:00.000-06:00

I met Sipho today. At first he was introduced to me by the principle, Rina, at From the Heart Centre after we had a discussion about how several children at the play centre is struggling with squint-eyes. As Sipho stood next to Rina he just did everything possible to try not to look at me. I tried to reassure him by just asking more and more question, but you could see that Sipho is very aware of his eyes. I met 2 other children but Sipho stood out to me. Rina told me that the other children tease him very much, and I am sure Sipho is feeling every word. I really wanted to take a photo of him but he really just didn’t want a fuss to be made over him. I went outside to just see if I can’t steal a photo of him, fortunate for me that there was a whole bunch of children around and under the pretence of a "group photo", I took one of him. It struck me that as I told everyone to go and pose for the photo he just moved out of the picture as if… he didn’t wanted to be in the photo. We are looking at finding some help for these children.

The group photo.

the power

2007-02-02T11:27:00.000-06:00

had the privilege this week to distribute some toys. I love how children are so universal when it comes to things that are bright and move or make a sound. Thank you for the donation!

the flu

2007-01-29T13:54:00.000-06:00

i hate it... running nose, a body that feels like it must have been abused (not that i know how that feel like, but i' sure it feels like this). what i hate more is that i am so stubborn, i don't want to drink pills. i am i fond believer that flu is a sign to the body to do something different. well lets see how tonight goes. did take a tablet this afternoon and felt pretty perky afterwards.

so you might ask why no pills... this is one reason why...side effects for Advil CS - among other reads,giddiness, headache ( like i don't already have one) nausea - yea have that too - vomiting, sweating reduced appetite - that would be a total first for me, thirst, muscular weakness, tremor, fear, anxiety, confusion, irritability, skin rash, depression, blurred vision... wow maybe i should just stick to ginger tea, lemon and honey - i will get better too without having to worry about all of this!

if anyone is interested i posting some photo's on the web - big step for me. you can have a look, if i add you as friend you would be able to see more of the pictures. go to http://www.flickr.com/photos/16541609@N00/ think that will take you where you need to go. if not go to flicker.com search livinglifeloud it will tell you they couldn't find me then just click people and it will go to my pictures.

real or not?

2007-01-27T14:51:00.000-06:00

Real or not?? A friend show it to me and i am now a changed person. I have to confess for more than one of the photo's I was convinced that it was edited. But after i did a Google search i found this http://www.julianbeever.com/ and now i am a believer! Check it out there are much more.

This is a personal favorite because of the great message that it also portrays.

I love how it looks like people are actually walking around the block and the hole.

comments on a game drive

2007-01-27T04:58:00.000-06:00

So during our game drive this week I had such a laugh at some of the comments made.

Game driver: "That plastic bag in the tree are for the jackals" comments between a friend and myself: "well if that is the case we should get some of these jackals to the city to help with our growing plastic bag problems."

Game Driver: "We always see the gemsbok here" The holy silence fell over the 9 of us on the vehicle everyone on high alert searching for this great gemsbok. Well many other animals come but no gemsbok. Later that night while speaking about the animals on the farm it was said that the gemsbok is so shy and one of the regular visitors to the farm told us in all the time he has been there he only saw it once, when it ran across the road. So much for always seeing it.

Night of our arrival we where told about a 2.5m spitting cobra that was killed on the farm. This obviously made the mainly female group act "different". So on our game drive their was some of the ladies that wondered if we would be able to see a snake. we had a lot of fun with this one...
René: "no i don't think so, it is to early" Abigail "and really snakes are mostly on the ground" Coleen: "your both wrong" with the realization i recalled the jungle book snake. rené "oh you mean we could have a jungle book snake in the wild here " Coleen "yes" rené: "but still not to worry, with those eye's they will still not be able to see" everyone laughed. Abigail : "that is the problem they will just jump on to the car and bite where they want to because the snake would not be able to see"

Game driver while looking at some giraffe: "How many membranes does a giraffe have?" answer "14" game driver "no, like all other mammals just 7, they are just a little bigger" yes just a little bigger.

"We have our first wedding here in April." Abigail: "well thank you for the invitation I will be here"

A wildebeest that i saw in the road later that day during a walk.

how do i make my love meet

2007-01-24T15:38:00.000-06:00

so i got this call about 3 weeks ago to go on some training. the organization that called me, is not really known to me, but i met some of their field workers and was sort of interested in what they are doing. they sent me an email telling me a bit – and i mean a bit of what we would be dealing with on the training, but up to the last minute i was still not really clear what it is all about. on Sunday i got into my car and drove to the northern province, or is that Limpopo province and arrived, feeling very strange about what is happening around me, greeting people here and there really unsure about what the program for the following 5 days would be. well it sort of got clearer as the day’s goes by. it is a group of people involved in home base care to orphan and vulnerable (OVC) houses. our days are filled with dealing with both the theory and practical parts of dealing with all the aspects of OVC care, from the child to the project co-coordinator. the fun part is that we are based on a game lodge – we have constant Internet but no cell phone reception :s. there is wild buck around us all the time, and what i just realized this week again is this is what i love it… i love the bush and i love the city and i wish i knew how to combine the two worlds that i love.

i was just really challenged to focus more on things like my blog. getting my thoughts down on "paper":) and sharing about what i deal with in my life in my work and sharing things that are fun for me too.

This was what one of the ladies wanted the "child" to be like once he/s left her OVC program - perfect!

we went on a game drive this morning. Abigail is one of our trainers. it was her first time ever to see a real life giraffe - and she is South African i thought it was rather amazing and just made me thought again about how many people never have the change to experience something like a game drive.

One of the best spots in the world

2007-01-12T07:08:00.000-06:00

Living Life Now

2007-01-12T06:55:00.000-06:00

"As we travel along in life, watching it pass, somewhere in our minds we are saying "I am just waiting until we pull into the station" This "station" can be many things in your life:
When I am 18,
I will... when I graduate from University...
When I get my dream job I will...
When I retire I will...

THERE IS NO STATION. You have to learn to take time to get off at the stops along the journey and enjoy what is happening in your life NOW, because NOW is really all that you live, the future is never NOW."

I love this. May we get off at the stations of your lives and live life.

When did i realize it? Was driving with a friend to go and do some horse riding in the Vumba Mountains in Zimbabwe. Just before we headed up the mountain, we did a bit shopping in Mutare and as you drive out of Mutare you drive past this Catholic Church and i have passed so many times before that day and i just love it, it is a fairly modern building and i could always see bits of stained glass windows and i just always imagine how it must look in the inside. While driving a told my friend that i really want to go into that building someday. He hit the brakes turned the vehicle around and said; "you can't say someday then you will never do it, we are going to do it now." The church was locked but like little children we peeked through the window. i stoped another time and the Church was open. Just living-life-now

how much development does Africa need?

2007-01-06T03:14:00.000-06:00

Got this from "aaroninafrica.blogspot.com". In my time in Mozambique this was a constant question for me too. When does development take over culture? But with technology being so real shouldn't we bring it to rural Africa, and enrich lives or should we just force underdeveloped countries to stay underdeveloped?

"Some comments about the project...Forgive me for writing as a stranger, but it seems you are soliciting comments and donations from strangers, so here goes. I have spent some time in both East and West Africa, and never have I encountered happier people. I can never convince anyone in the States that this is true. "I thought they were all poor and starving," people say. But as you know from living in Togo, this is not true. Obviously, Africa is ridden with tons of problems, and it seems your heart is in the right place wanting to help them. But when I think about all of the joy and aliveness I saw every day in Africa, not one iota of it came from seeing how much better life was in Europe. In fact, the only depressed people I met were the ones who had lived in Europe. The comparison is what depresses people; that's why it's so devastating to be poor in a place like New York--you have to watch rich people walk past you every day.So while I think your heart is in the right place, and I am all in favor of a more equitable distribution of the world's wealth, I also think you need to think more critically about why you want to bring the internet to these people. Your manifesto rings of missionary zeal, but instead of religion its modernity you want, so they can see how much better people live, and to give them hope of living like that one day. Let's be realistic--what percentage of people who see these images of abundance have a shot at obtaining that? One in a hundred? A thousand? Let's focus instead on improving the lives of the people within the context of their own culture. Study anthropology, learn more about people, respect their culture and ways of living instead of trying to make them more like us. Always the danger with the Peace Corps. "

do you have the answer?

2007-01-05T16:00:00.000-06:00

my blog, I'm going to try this again. yes did it once before and it turned out to be a place of nasty thoughts. i just want to have a place where i can share my mind. Sometime it might only be a sentence... but at least i would know that i put it out there, for the world to know, and who knows maybe someone would have the right answer...