You know about the penguins that got lost at sea one day and ended up settling in South Africa right? Well, I don’t think that’s the real story, but you might know the African penguin by its former, and slightly unfortunate name, the Jackass Penguin. These adorable little fellas inherited the aforementioned moniker because of their slightly donkey-like braying call, but since the South American penguins make similar sounds, the distinguishment of African penguin became a necessity. Phew.

If you’re planning to be in the Cape Town area, you can take a gander at these sweet little creatures at Boulder’s Beach in Simonstown. We were really excited about my Mom seeing the penguins, but we decided to stop off and visit them at the lesser-known a’ganderin’ point in Betty’s Bay. (Which is on the lovely coastal route from Gordon’s Bay heading toward Hermanus, which is where we were planning to stop for lunch on the way to Knysna.)

You can pay to get up close and personal with the little fellas after traipsing along the boardwalk for a wee way, but since there were plenty hanging out before the entrance to the park, we decided to say a quick hello and then head on down the road. Pregnant lady must have lunch on time.

Would you like a quick gander too? Well, I thought you’d never ask.

Mr. penguin seemed to be saying go left, but the arrow said turn right…

A couple of dassies were around to say hello when we arrived. They seem so friendly! Remember me telling you about seeing them in Hermanus?

G.C. taught second grade for many-a-year, and taught many-a-second-grader about the jackass penguin. And many-a-second-grader did giggle. She commented that she never thought she’d see them in person!

They’re so pretty!

But they did occasionally seem a little shy…

Apparently their camouflage is a good protection for them — predators looking up at them from under the water will see white, but predators looking down at them from above the water will see black, and in both cases that will make it more difficult to see them. When they try to hide in the bushes though…

Honestly, they are just awkwardly delightful. Watching them waddle is great. It is hard to watch them without a smile.

The Bear was very keen to help Dad get some penguin footage, in case you were wondering. He was most intrigued and we had to keep a hand on his sleeve to make sure he didn’t get beaked!

And, if you’d like a little orientation, Betty’s Bay is a lovely little town not far past Pringle Bay, if you’re headed up the coast away from Cape Town.

Not a bad spot to be a penguin, hey? They don’t seem like jackasses to me.

Happy Tuesday!

xCC

Hero Hubs was away from Mama Africa for close to twelve years before we settled down here in the Cape exactly a year ago today. While I’ve worked through occasional bouts of culture shock, it has been interesting to simultaneously observe many instances of re-entry shock for him. He has returned to the country he left, but a lot of things are not the same.

While my Mom was here visiting, we went up the coast and were near a place called Kei Mouth (that K-word rhymes with “eye”). HH’s family used to have a holiday home in Kei, and he has fond memories of family vacations there. Since we were close by, we decided to drive to Kei one afternoon to see what things were like after so many years.

The Collie family sold the holiday home close to twenty years ago and it has since fallen into disrepair. The Bear was asleep in the car, and while my Mom waited with him, I slipped out to be a witness to the experience I expected to unfold. Broken windows, cobwebs and weeds greeted us as we drew near.

It was almost as if I could see HH’s heart sink as he looked at the home.

We peered through the windows and he began to speak.

This was the living room…we used to play spades on the floor right there. And there’s a rock on the fireplace. We used to pick up rocks on the beach and carry them up here and sit them on the mantle above the fireplace. I bet that’s one of them.

My sister’s room was just down there… and look, the tiling is still the same in my parent’s bedroom. That tiling is from twenty years ago.

Dad used to sit his toolbox right there by the fireplace.

Mom had a beautiful garden here…and there was a fence just here separating the front and back yards.

My brother and I walked down that path right there to get to the beach. See?

There’s the old outdoor shower…

All this overgrowth wasn’t here…there was a beautiful view of the ocean from here before.

I looked and listened through tears.

With a few tears of his own, memories of a gentle and sweet season of life were pouring out of HH. I seldom have the opportunity to witness these things, having never visited his birthplace and only occasionally spending time in what he considers his hometown. It was special and meaningful and very painful at the same time.

We took our time to walk around the place. We climbed a ledge and peered into what was once a busy scullery which led into an inviting kitchen. I tried to imagine what things had been like but struggled to create pictures in my mind. We saw evidence that the house had been occasionally occupied by drifters and we read a notice that it was set to be demolished so that a number of apartments could be put up there, and on the adjacent property.

On our way back to the car, I gingerly stepped over low walls and tall weeds and asked HH if he would like to take a picture.

“These types of things are best kept as memories,” he said.

I agreed, but decided to take just one picture from the car window before we drove off. It seemed like this home represented a bit of what South Africa might feel like to a returning expat at the moment: things are not as they once were, but if you look hard enough, you can find hope for what’s ahead.

In those brief moments, my desire to understand, to think through and to write about my “man without a country” began.

It’s funny how sometimes the best way to hold on to something is by letting go. Trying to grasp at a past that isn’t there anymore is likely to taint the memories you’ll hold about it in the future. Finding the bravery to walk boldly into an unknown future instead of clinging to a long-gone past doesn’t seem like an easy task.

But as individuals, as communities, even as nations, I think that our paths to progress are paved by the ability to remember the past without romanticising it — to learn from what has happened without striving to re-live it.

As a famous warthog once said, “You gotta put your behind in the past.”

What does it mean to come back to the place you’re from and not feel like you belong anymore? Are you still South African if you return to your people and you don’t feel like one of them? As I continue to think things through, this story will continue on another day.

xCC

About five years ago I found myself on a Scottish summer’s day, inside a grocery store, and in tears over dryer sheets.

You heard me right. Dryer sheets.

I think I need to back up a bit. I had just moved to Edinburgh a few weeks before and getting started in a new country brought a plethora of challenges to my dinner plate, including: Getting denied bank accounts and walking home in the rain. Getting denied a mobile phone contract and walking home in the rain. Getting on the wrong bus, then seeing the bus change numbers in preparation to change routes, and worrying I might not find my way home…ever. Fortunately after a while I learned to carry an umbrella, and to stand on the correct side of the street so that the bus would be going in the direction I wanted to go. It sometimes felt like Señor challenge found me around every corner with a big ¡Hola! ¡I yam heer to trouble you!

Anywho, this was the first time I was doing laundry in Scotland. My clothes were at the laundromat down the street, happily swirling in an industrial-sized washing machine, and I’d scurried down the way to the grocery store because I’d forgotten dryer sheets.

There I stood, struggling to calculate and recalculate the exchange rate in my mind before finally deciding that dryer sheets were prohibitively expensive, and I was no longer going to be able to afford them. In a culmination of weeks of rainy moments and culture shock, expensive dryer sheets set me over the edge.

Could I make it? Could I actually live here?

I returned to the laundromat empty-handed and discouraged, wondering what clothes dryed without dryer sheets would feel like, how I was going to survive the static electricity onset, and whether I was going to survive the transition to a new country.

Days and weeks and months went by, and I eventually began to adapt. By the time I left four years later, I was hanging my clothes on a drying rack like most of the UK, and my duds hadn’t seen the inside of a tumble dryer since I don’t know when. Except when I was home in North Carolina for visits. If there is a body of evidence that a person can be bi-cultural, this might prove a significant contribution.

Just the other day Hero Hubs mentioned that some friends visiting from the US had brought some friends of ours here in South Africa Bounce dryer sheets. We had a dryer in the first place we rented here in SA, and after last month’s move we just bought our own from some friends who moved back to the UK. (Because we’re not allowed to hang our laundry outside in this complex, and we’ve got a new wee one on the way…meaning lots of laundry is on the way!)

The mention of dryer sheets brought back the clean smells of fresh-cotton-flowery meadows and warm images of cuddly-soft, friendly teddy bears from commercials back in the States. I smiled and realised I had hardly thought twice about dryer sheets even though I’d been back to using a dryer for the last year.

It also brought back the reminder that life is always changing. Things are never going to be the same. There are important things in life that we need to try to hold on to, but there are a lot more things we might do well to hold a little more loosely. We can focus on what we don’t have, or can’t afford, or we can be thankful for what we do have…like an industrial-sized washer-full of clothing just down the street.

As the dryer buzzes, in the end I think the lesson is that learning to relax and let go of things you’d rather “cling” to brings healthy growth and healthy change into your life. As you begin to embrace the changes life brings, you may find that a gentler, fresher, bouncier you is just around the corner.

The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places;
Yes, I have a good inheritance.
{Psalm 16:6}

xCC

When’s the last time you just laid all the cards out on the table and got real with God? Can you remember the last time you were just as honest as you could possibly be with Jesus and with yourself? Maybe you were at rock bottom, literally laying on the floor, and you found yourself suddenly aware of selfishness or pride or the overwhelming goodness of Jesus in the midst of your shortcomings? Perhaps you were disappointed that things didn’t go how you hoped, or you just wished you had more love for the people around you and it brought you to your knees and you poured out your heart about it?

Has it been a while? Has it been ever?

Sometimes I think there’s a layer of pride we hide behind, where we find ourselves in moments in which, in our hearts, we’re on our knees aching for something, or about something, or because of something, but on the outside we keep standing. We don’t let go. We don’t put the cards on the table, get honest, and look for the God who’s able to see us through. We pray the prayers we think we’re supposed to pray and say the things we think we’re supposed to say. But it isn’t real.

There are some lyrics in a U2 song (Love and Peace or Else) which illustrate this concept for me. The verse preceding the one I want to highlight says:

As you enter this life
I pray you depart
with a wrinkled face
and a brand new heart.

And the chorus goes on to say:

I don’t know if I can take it,
I’m not easy on my knees.
Here’s my heart, I’ll let you break it,
I need some release, release, release, release…
we need love and peace.
Love and peace.

And while at first and second and thirty-third listen, I’ve skipped over the thoughts of seeking love and peace because they sound like the desires of a MakeLoveNotWar Hippie with long hair who makes peace signs in pictures and wears neatly folded bandanas as a fashion statement, I have suddenly of late become intensely aware of the lack of love, and often peace, in my own heart.

I need love. And I don’t mean I need someone else to love me more. I don’t mean I feel like I deserve to be showered with gifts and Hero Hubs is falling short. I’m not saying I’m disappointed that I’m not still in touch with all my college roommates.

I’m saying I do not have the love and the peace I need in my heart to navigate the days of my life the way Jesus would.

I’m overwhelmingly sinking in a sea of grace because I do not have what it takes to show love out of my own selfish heart.

And sometimes it takes taking a moment to get real, to be uneasy on my knees, before this truth hits my heart and helps me realise the gift that is Jesus. The love of Jesus. The love from Jesus. The help of the Holy Spirit that turns my un-loving ways into ways that point right back to the God where love comes from. The one whose promise of perfect peace is one I cling to on my knees:

You will keep him in perfect peace
whose mind is stayed on You
because he trusts in You.
Isaiah 26:3

This amazing God has shown up with a brand new heart for me. And He is breaking my heart for the things that break His. And on my knees, ear pressed to His chest, I’m finding out about His love for me. His love for this world. Our only hope.

But sometimes I think it takes getting real, getting uneasy on our knees (not necessarily in the literal but at least in a figurative sense) to find the God who has the love and peace we need to navigate the life ahead of each of us. Heck, just to navigate the day ahead of each of us.

Just this afternoon, I received an encouraging message from a dear friend, and it included this verse:

“The mountains may move, and the hills may shake, but my kindness will never depart from you. My promise of peace will never change,” says the Lord, who has compassion on you. (Isaiah 54:10)

The Good News of Jesus is that we are among the beloved — when we accept the finished work of Jesus on the cross, we receive the promises of God by faith: His goodness in every season in this life, whether we’re in trial or triumph. Salvation and eternal joy and peace in the life to come.

His new heart in us, our minds stayed on Him, the love and peace we need are available to us. And I’m thankful that we have the opportunity to get real, and receive it. Day by day, by day.

xCC

Our church has an awesome band. And I know everybody thinks that if their church has a guitar, an amp, and somebody with messy hair or deep v syndrome hitting the stage on Sunday mornings with something other than 4 choruses written in the late 80s, they’ve got a killer band. But seriously, our church has an awesome band. And I have some awesome proof.

In conjunction with the album they just released, Wholehearted, they’ve also recorded a stunning music video which totally had me in tears the first time I saw it. And that’s not just because I’m pregnant.

I thought I might share it with you here for a little inspiration… Lord, help us to be Wholehearted in our worship, and help us to live with the passion with which we sing.

I will never give what cost me nothing Jesus.

That lyric rings in my ears over and over again.

Hope you enjoyed the video!?! The album is now on sale, but I am not sure I can tell you too many details about it, other than I’m sure it’s awesome.

{Side note in case you’re curious, no one asked me to plug the album in this lil’ space…I don’t think many folks at church know I’m a blogger. Can you believe it?}

If you are Stateside and desperately interested in getting a copy of Wholehearted, let me know. I can find out some more details and see if I can bring a few copies over when we head home for the holidays. You got 100 Rand* on ya?

xCC

*I don’t actually know if the album how much the album costs. (100 Rand is like $14) Can’t make any promises.

Happy Tuesday, guys and gals! We are back on the part of the map that says Gordon’s Bay, and I’m hoping  a momentary gush of bandwidth will carry this Travelling Tuesday to its intended URL destination — our internet’s not doing so well today. The travels with my Mama in tow did not disappoint when it came to photo opps! She left Sunday and I cried like a baby. And the next morning the Imagination Movers were singing an “I Love My Mom” song which the Bear seemed to enjoy. I however, since we were in someone else’s holiday home, resisted the urge to throw something at the TV.

Anywho, Knysna. The first syllable rhymes with “eye” and the second rhymes with “duh”. Knysna was the first stop on GC’s African Road Trip adventure (not including Gordon’s Bay and the other adventures around Cape Town). We had a beautiful and sunny couple of days there. But illustrations are better than explanations!

Knysna sits on a lovely estuary, often incorrectly referred to as a lagoon. But lagoon sounds more romantic and exotic doesn’t it? The lagoon estuary has a narrow exit way which flows into the Indian Ocean between two lovely cliff rock faces called the Knysna Heads. There’s an eastern head, a western head, and plenty of nice places to stop if you need to hit the head.

Look, here’s one now! The Eastern Head to be more specific…

And another one! The western one, methinks. Those black spots are birds…I think cormorants.

We took a boat trip along the lagoon estuary and enjoyed venturing out towards the heads. After around 49 vessels sank trying to enter through these narrow straits, they decided to close the port. Probably a wise decision. Care for some more illustrations? (Not of sinking vessels, mind you…)

For some reason the Bear thought we were aboard the poop deck…

Or else the bumpy ride we experienced in the rough waters near the heads scared him poopless.

See, there’s not much space there…

I’d been on this lag estuary twice before this and it had never been calm enough to get this close. I didn’t know there were caves and paths past the big rocks!

I thought about dunking our camera in the water to see if I could catch a shot of the unique Knysna Seahorse, but I was afraid HH might not appreciate that effort. BTW, did you know that male seahorses carry the babies and give birth?

Our comfy accommodation was on the Knysna waterfront where we enjoyed nice restaurants and touristy shops, along with a pretty view from our place…

And we went for a wee walk along the eastern head and enjoyed sundowners at a little restaurant with a gorgeous view. Hero Hubs and GC enjoyed Long Island Iced Tea. This Mama enjoyed a non-alcoholic strawberry daiquiri instead. The Bear enjoyed it too.

All in all, Knysna is a wonderful stop along the garden route. G.C. enjoyed her oysters, the Bear enjoyed a boat ride, HH and I enjoyed not working for a few days…who could ask for anything more?

Hope your Tuesday has been a good one! And that you enjoy the moment wherever your journey takes you next!

xCC

Hello again from the road!  We’re enjoying our travelling ways these days, Mama D is enjoying her first taste of Africa, and the Bear is just being an all-around superstar, no matter where his head hits the pillow at night! Here’s the proof:

Can you believe he put that Wonder Pet Tuck the Turtle on his own head, and then went to sleep like that? Well he did!

I thought this Free-For-All Friday, you might enjoy a few posts I’d like to feature by my awesome sister (Dodi) and hilarious brother in law (Andy Konigsmark). Please don’t ask me to pronounce their last name for you. I’m still working on it. Well, I think I have it, but Hero Hubs says I’m not saying it right.

But first I want to remind you, in case I managed to let you forget, that a certain charity is being featured as the We Are That Family Back to School Do It For Others Project. Yay!!!! Ahem.

Now it’s time to find out how to make a Joy List. (I think we all should.)

Then learn how to act right at a restaurant. Having also worked in the food service industry, I think this is an important skill.

Last, join Andy and Dodi (and me and my Mom) in having a good laugh at the best of the best of the things the Campers said at the Young Life camp they brought their youth group to a few weeks ago.  I am just dying for some context on some of these, and to know how many of them were actually said by Andy! (By the way Andy — you should submit something to stuff Christians like!)

Well friends, we should be back in Gordon’s Bay and life as usual early next week. I may or may not have the internet access to post anything else between now and then…but perhaps the excitement at all the photos you’re going to enjoy when we get back will be enough to hold you over until then!

With love from the road,

xCC

Are you on Twitter? It’s okay if you’re not, I’m just asking. In case you need an explanation, on Twitter you basically share news in 140 characters (not words) or less with anyone who is “following” you. You use hashtags “#” if you’re speaking about a particular subject that you think other people are likely to search for. It’s an interesting experiment in social networking. Anyway.

When I was waiting for my Mom to arrive at the airport last week, I wished I had internet access because there were so many things I wanted to tweet during my adventure up to Joburg and back. This is Africa and there wasn’t much wifi for the taking, unfortunately. So I wrote down a few tweets I thought you might enjoy in hindsight. Some might be more than 140 characters but since this isn’t twitter, who’s counting?

Oh great. I’m sitting in front of a loud talker/chair pusher. At least he’s not speaking English. It’s a lot easier to drown out.

Wow. Two gentleman were just about to fight in the aisle before exit. #Gentlemanisaloseterm

The convo ended w/ the very buff guy telling the overweight guy (who was definitely talking a ridiculous amount of smack) Shut up, Fat Man.

Why do potential fights give me that excited-butterfly-oh-no feeling? I’m not in high school anymore.

I just ordered a salad at Mugg & Bean. I’m pregnant and I ordered a salad. This is unbelievable.

I think that was 1 of the best salads I’ve ever had. Enjoy the healthy goodness, wee one on the way. Can’t promise it’ll happen again soon.

I just found an amazing bakery with a million things I want to try. #PregnantLadyinaCandyStore

I’m gonna have to be honest. That chocolate chip muffin needed more chocolate chips. #Dern.

My Mom’s going to land in a few minutes! Whoo-hoo! Time to find a potty and get my waitin face on!

My Mom is heeeeeeeeeeeereeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

My Mom is here and she has snacks! Chocolate covered pretzels, howzit? I’ve missed you!

Did I mention my Mom is here?

Thank you, South African airways for that tasty second supper. I didn’t even need that half a PBJ twenty minutes ago.

The rise of Jimmy Choos is being told and retold on TV on this flight. #SoRandom

A safe landing in Cape Town, my Mama in tow. #BestdayI’vehadinalongtime

Perhaps worth a few smiles and laughs? Maybe a retweet?

xCC

P.S. Here’s a token of promise that great photos are on the way! (In case you’re wondering, that’s two handfuls of sand on the way.)

Happy Tuesday, friends! We’re on the road with my Mama and loving the adventure together! I will have some wonderful photos for you from the places we’ve enjoyed along the way for a few Travelling Tuesdays to come!

In the meantime, this Travelling Tuesday is a birthday edition! You can travel to our new place where you’ll get a few glimpses of what it looks like furnished – but more important, you’ll get to see the Birthday Bear, enjoying the travel into the world of being tewwwwooooooooohhh, as he puts it.

We’ll start things off with the most important part, the labour of love which was the birthday cake. He likes stars, so there ya go. I worked hard. That icing is from scratch!!! And I don’t have a sieve for sifted the powdered sugar, so it was slowly slowly blended with lots of love!

And here’s the cake with the age appropriate signage. Can you tell I was proud?

The boy is overjoyed with guests arriving!

Hannah isn’t sure she wants to smile for the camera.

Mom meets one of my neighbours and her daughter. The Bear ADORES this little girl! He walks over and gives her a gentle pat whenever she arrives.

Liam finds my MacBook, carefully stowed under the couch where it can charge in peace. Uh-oh!

The Bear was impressed with Sarah’s big girl skills: going down the stairs forwards like a grown-up. (He still goes backwards on his belly.)

He occasionally gave overwhelming hollers of thisisthebestdayever delight – wish I could’ve captured one on the camera for you!

Brother and Sister. Sweet hey?

Trystan is always smiling.

Trystan’s Mom is a sweet friend!

The Bear decides I can blow out the candle. He’ll just grab some icing.

Liam likes cake.

So those are the highlights! Besides taking pictures of all the great prezzies, which just seems excessive. It was a wild event, but lots of fun! Glad birthdays come once a year.

Blessings as your adventure continues, friends! Happy Tuesday!

xCC

This is an excerpt of an email reply I felt prompted to write a few weeks ago. I thought I might just drop it into a post, because for some reason I thought it might also be a word for a few of you, friends. It is amazing how a word that is in season for one of us is also in season, and encouraging, for others among us at the same time. If it’s a word for you, I hope you’re encouraged and you’ll take it to heart!

The excerpt:

Before I answer your questions, if I may, I just want to encourage you to press into the Lord to ask Him to continue to confirm His will to you. It’s easy to read into our circumstances (and what other people think), and that might try to dictate to us whether or not we’re walking in His will. But sometimes we are like Peter, getting out of the boat, walking on the water over to Jesus. He was in Jesus’ will, because Jesus said “Come” but he saw the wind and was afraid. The wind is likely to blow in an attempt to hinder you from walking in the plans God has for you. But don’t let the wind convince you that you’re not walking toward Jesus. Let Him confirm it to you. I say this now because when you arrive and things get tough, the enemy will creep in and whisper “Did God really say…?” and you’ll struggle to stand on faith through those tough moments if there is uncertainty in your heart. Transcontinental moves {insert your calling here} are not for the faint of heart — especially moves called by the will of God.

It sounds like the Lord might have a boat for you to get out of. My simple prayer when I was uncertain about my move to Scotland was just like Peter’s: “Lord, if it’s You, bid me come.” He did, unmistakably, and it was good to be able to point to that at moment when the enemy crept in to say “Did God really say…?”

{end excerpt}

Is there a boat the Lord wants you to get out of today? I hope you’ll run after the Lord, listen for His will and with simple and childlike faith respond like Peter: “Lord if it’s You, bid me come.” In His good timing, I trust you’ll hear His “Come,” His “This is the way, walk in it” — His voice with unmistakable power and peace, bidding you to follow, to walk in His glory.

Was that a word for you? If so, I’d love to know!

xCC