Moses and the Red Sea

This is just another story.  It isn't inspirational or deep.  My apologies.

Two days ago, which would be the 12th, Bethany and I had a VERY full day of shopping.  We headed to Salt River (which is nearby Jubilee and is where all the ladies from SunShade live) and did our first portion of our shopping list as well as eat a yummy lunch there.  From there we decided to head over 15 minutes to Paarl where a HUGE shopping mall is.

At the Salt River Market, I carried Ryann in the sling.  It is way too crowded for a pram to be pushed through.  She did great except the last 5 minutes before we left, she really wanted to be put down.  So we left very quickly after small hints fussed at us by Ryann.

We headed to the Canal Walk Mall and we were shopping for christmas gifts.  By the time we got to the mall, Ryann was doing ok.  Not great, but okay and manageable.  So we put her in the pram (stroller) and headed inside.  Bethany and I spent about 30 minutes getting my dress for Laura's wedding and Dave and Anthony's gift.  Around that time, Ryann was becoming very unhappy about being in the pram so we decided to take a small break and feed Ryann lunch and get ourselves a smoothie.  

After our little break, Bethany and i decided to split up so we can shop for each other's gift.  I thought Ryann would be fine with a full tummy.  WRONG!

So I carried her with one arm and navigated the pram which suddenly became stubborn and unnavigable through throngs of million people with the other hand.  Okay, this mall is HUGE, reminds me of Mall of America, which I've never even been to, but no other mall that I've been to has been this big.  

Alright, I'm on one end needing to get to the center of the mall to get to the certain shop for Bethany's gift.  At this center of this particularly HUGE mall, Barney and Bob the Builder were making appearances and also there was this train ride going around with this annoying conductor that walked in front blowing this loud and shrilly whistle while his lucky buddy gets to drive the train full of kids around the mall.  

So, yeah, me... I'm stuck with my baby girl who is not happy with being in the pram nor in her mom's arm ("not happy"=pushing, squirming, arching back, throwing her head and fake crying) and this piece of contraption that supposedly is called a pram/stroller.  

Oh yeah, I'm outta juice for the little one's bottle... UGH

Finally, I made it through all the moms with their happy, smiling, giggling babies and got to the store. For some reason, I decided that I could still manage to shop with Ryann in this berserk behavior.  I got the items I needed and shoved them under the arm that was pushing/dragging the "pram/stroller" because i had all the other shopping bags loaded on there.  I didn't want anyone thinking that I was stealing if I set it down on top of the bags. So I got finally got to the cashier and waited seemly forever for them to ring up everything.  Mind you, Ryann is still dramatic acting.

After I got the purchased items, I set everything down on the ground, jammed shopping bags together and hooked them on the arms of the pram.  Then I buckled Ryann in and took off again for the same end of the mall needing to push through all the happy, fun, sweet loving families with Barney and Bob.  Now, Ryann is RRRRRRRRRREEEALLLLY MAD.  She's screaming and her face is bright red and she's getting white spots on her forehead from freaking out so badly.  

Lemmie tell you, if you need to get through a crowd of people quickly, just let that little one holler.

I felt like Moses parting the Red Sea.  The crowd who is loving and singing "I love you, you love me..." opens up and I have the freedom to rush down with the shopping bags poking out every which way and a daughter who is losing her voice.  Everyone was giving me sympathetic looks and trying to give me reassuring smiles... oooooooh, I was on the verge of tears.

Mom, my dearest mom, (Kris Carlson), I'm so sorry for ever putting you through moments like these.

I zoomed down the center of the walkway with the hollering baby clearing the way.  I kept my eyes peeled for a small shop or anything with some sort of juice for sale.  I found one PACKED with customers.  There wasn't any way I could get that pram through all that tightly formed pack of people who surround that saving potion called apple juice.  I made the quickest decision of my life and left the screamer at the entrance and bulldozed my way to the apple juice.  By the time I got to the apple juice, everyone connected the dots and gave me a little more room to rush back to the raw throated crier.  I filled the bottle with apple juice/water and gave it to her.  She took it and quieted down immediately.   I paid for the juice and headed out toward the end of the mall to meet Bethany.

I took 5 steps literally and my daughters eye's were rolling back and her eye lids drooped heavily. 10 more steps, she was fasted asleep with the bottle at her feet of the pram.

Whew!  You can obviously tell who Ryann got her dramatic genes from, I'll give you a hint, it isn't Anthony. I gotta tell ya, I still love being a mom.  :)  I'm just way more appreciative towards mothers and feel honored and humbled that God has given me this beautiful gift of motherhood.  It is only by His grace and mercy that I do not completely fail at being Ryann's mom.  

M U D

Once upon a time, in a gorgeous country where the skies are blue and sparsely dotted with white silky clouds and the old rugged mountains meet the magnificent seas, there was a little wee one named Ryann.  She is a very curious girl and loves to touch, taste and see new things that her Creator is spiffed up just for her.  

At one point in the day, when all the animals barely make a sound because they are napping off the heated and scorched afternoon, little wee one named Ryann decided to venture out to her garden.  Little wee one named Ryann found a very long green snake.  She toddled and waddled and crawled to the end of this very long green snake.  Feeling tired and thirsty from this long toddled and waddle and crawled hike, little wee one sat down and wondered what to do.  Suddenly, the very long green snake started spitting water out of its end.  

When the water fell to the dark and brown thing called dirt it became very mushy and gritty.  Out of curiosity, little wee one reached down to touch it.  To her delight, it was cool and soothing to her tiny, hot and sticky little fingers.   

After her tiny, hot and sticky fingers had enough pampering,  little wee one named Ryann thought and wondered how this will taste. Little wee one named Ryann had seen and touched this delightfully cool, dark and brown dirt, now she must taste it!

Icky, blechy, puffttthhh!!  She was not amused by this taste.  Her fine little eyebrows furrowed deeply into a disgusted frown.

Little wee one name Ryann looked up and found her mom smiling at her.  The mom squatted and told her little wee one that she was playing and eating mud.  The mom also told little wee one that the mushy and gritty dirt called mud would not taste good but there was so many fun things to do with mud, like, mud pies, squishing your toes in it, sliding around and building mud men and castles.  Little wee one looked at her mom and felt the mud on her little wee face form a smile... 

The End.

Here's another story about my child with food.  

One of her snacks that she receives during the day is Otees.  It is SA version of USA's Cheerio.  It is sweeter though.  Often, I'll put in on the ground for her to pick at her own pace. One time I had put some down and went to do some dishes.  Then I heard her complaining, so I turned to look at her and saw that she finished all the Otees... until she stood up.  

They were all stuck to her pant!  I've often found Otees or biscuits or crackers inside her onesies or even her diaper at the end of the day.  But I found this really funny.  Ryann looks like she's posing specifically for these shots.  I just love this girl.

Gimmie a Break... Gimmie a Break

Break me off a piece of that... KIT KAT BAR!  

One afternoon I was distracted with a book while Ryann very conveniently entertained herself.  I made sure there was nothing on the ground she wasn't suppose to have and closed the doors to the veranda and the laundry room as well as the baby gate to the stairs.  

When Ryann plays and entertains herself, she is always making some form of noise, wether it is her chattering, clanging things together, crawling and dragging things around, etc.  So while I was reading, I realized at a certain point that I haven't heard anything from Ryann.  Uh oh.  Better go see what she's up to.  So I quietly walked into the kitchen certain that she was in there.  But she wasn't!  She was behind the green chair in the living room munching on my favorite candy bar.  The KIT KAT.  

Bethany had made a run to the grocery store and saw the candy bar while waiting in line for the cashier.  So she brought me home a little treat.  I had opened it for a quick bite and left it on a table. Ryann had to have stood on her very tippy toes and reached with all the stretch she could with her short arms and tiny fingers to have grab my candy bar!  I was impressed.  Determined little girl!

When I saw her, I couldn't resist taking a few photos...

   

Thanksgiving and TONS of Photos

So yesterday, we had our thanksgiving feast. It was delicious and wonderful. Of course, nothing beats being home surrounded by your own family during the holiday dinners. However, this was as special as it gets. We were able to show others what we love to eat and how fun it is to gather and tell how thankful they are for each other. I've posted a ton of pictures on this blog. It may seem a bit much, but I wanted to introduce some folks.

Bethany and I made pilgrim hats and indian bands for everyone to wear. Everyone was such a good sport and wore them the whole time! We all had a very nice time having a thanksgiving feast so far from home.

"Chief Dances With Flower Rainwater": Dave
"Flower Rainwater": Bethany
"Pilgrim Rodriguez": Anthony
"Pilgrim Wife": Erin
Yummy and Cute Turkey: Ryann

Such a fun photo!

Gobble Gobble Turkey Ryann

Chief Rainwater hunts the turkey but to his dismay, he couldn't shoot it! My little Indian baby

look at that expression on her face

Amanda (left) is American and she has been helping with the children's program here at Jubs and also helping out with Sunshade. She is from Maryland.
Bronwyn is employed full time at Jubs. She is mainly in charge of the children's program. She is South African.

Jo(Left) is a volunteer at Jubs. She is in charge of SunShade. Her husband Lex is an elder at Jubs. They are English. They have been missionaries in America for two years.
Darlene(center) and Jeremy(right) are both employed at Jubs and are in charged of all the ministries Jubilee does. They are going to be in America to help Louie Giglio's church plant.
This is Tessa.  She's so amazing.  She mainly organized this spectacular feast. She's the "secretary" that does whatever is thrown at her.  She's originally from Zimbabwe but is an South African citizen.
Bethany, whom you all should know.  Matt (center) is the son of Caryn.  Victor (right) is American, but I can't remember where he's from.

The most amazing Caryn.  She is the doctor who runs the Health Clinic at Jubs
Amanda is American and her hubby Jauque (sp?) is South African


These are the pies bethany and I made.  I made apple and the pumpkin pie with no leaves.  Bethany made the one with leaves.

The feast!

This is everyone who made it to the thanksgiving feast.

All the Americans who came to celebrate the USA holiday.

Pictures!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone back in the USA! We are all missing home and family. We love you and are very thankful for each of you.

Tonight we are going to pastors house. There will be over 20 folks gathered, most are not American. We are very much looking forward to it. I've been baking all morning yesterday making pumpkin pie, apple pie and cheesy potatoes. I'll bring corn as well. Bethany is making stuffing, broccoli casserole, pumpkin pie and pumpkin cheese cake! Yay! We will take lots of pictures and I'll post a few tomorrow.

But for now, here are a few new photos:

Caught "cleaning" the cupboards

On the beach one sunday afternoon

We were invited to a birthday party and Ry dressed up as a fairy

She can say "Hi dad" and "bye dad" and wave while she's doing it.
But, we aren't sure if she knows what it means just yet.

Family photo

"talking" to each other... looks we are puckering up the lips.

Breakfast 4 Dinner

Breakfast for dinner is pretty foreign to most people here in SA.  However, Tessa, our wonderful friend and coworker enjoys it so we invited her to sup with us one night.  It was a great meal!

Braai in SA

Jubilee has their own "thanksgiving" celebration.  At the service in the AM, it was all about thanks giving and showed a video of all the ministries that Jubilee has been involved with.  Since I'm in charge of the Mercy Store, i was in the video!  I wasn't too impressed with seeing myself up there in front of everyone.  After the service, everyone was invited to go celebrate and have a braai.  Jubilee rented a local high school's grounds and had huge slides blown up for kids, soccer games going, fun little activities for the little ones and they also rented the school's pool.  It was such a fun day!  

However, that is not the point of this particular blog.  The four of us (B, D, A and I) all have commented on how much a vegetarian would struggle here in SA.  People here LOVE meat!  There is meat everywhere!  EVERYWHERE!  So, because of the endless supply of meat, there is always an invitation to a braai.  A braai to them is what grilling/barbeque is to us.  The general rule is that if you are invited to a braai, you need to bring your own meat and drinks.  The side dishes would be provided by the "host".

At this particular Jubilee braai celebration, everyone had to bring their own food.  Anthony was in charge of getting it all fired up and ready for the meat to be piled on.  Then when the meat came, Anthony and Dave had been asked to take care of a few people's meat.  

Starting up the braai...

Few other men came to help out

This entire "grill" was completely covered with meat!  You can see many tongs poking through the smoke as the men guarded their meat.

Another picture of the meat filled braai.

Here the meat for the most part is cheaper compared to the USA meat prices.  Anthony had said that we could get four t-bone steaks here in SA for the price of one t-bone steak in the USA.  The t-bone steaks are no joke either, they are BEEFY.  One thing that is particularly interesting to me is that they do not grill hamburgers.  I'm still not sure of the reasoning.  They make burgers on the stove.  But that hasn't stopped us, we still make our juicy burgers!

It really has been so much fun to grill out every single week and have people over.  We all really enjoy it.  Well except Ryann, she hasn't gotten to the point where she can fully appreciate a dinner from a braai.

bday part 2

More pictures from my birthday. This was after Anthony took me out to dinner. Such a fun night!

Gifts I got from Wes and Leigh

Sneaking in some icing...

Yummy homemade yellow cake with chocolate frosting.

The awesome baker of this cake (Bethany). The top half is frosting from a can (dark color) the bottom half is icing that she made. She wasn't impressed with the icing that she made so she put it only on one half.

There wasn't enough candles to make a captital "E", so this is a lower case "e".

Cheesying It Up

Bethany and I were chatting and both agree that some of these photos will be the photos to embarrass Ryann during her teen years...  

"Geesh, mom! Why didn't you just wipe my mouth off?"  :)