Updates on Ryann and new pictures!

Ryann has been growing and moving and changing! 

AND she has TWO bottom teeth that have broken through.

 They are sharp little things.  So we've been disciplining her not to bite when she's nursing.  I tried to get a picture, but it is hard because she's “shy” about showing off her new painful prizes.  ;)  

It's hard to see them looking straight at her.

But standing above her and looking down, it is easier to see the teeth.

Neil, a guy that we work with @ Jubs, invited us to go to the Cape Town Air Show with him.  Anthony and Ryann shared a popsicle there.

Ryann got herself trapped in the laundry hang/dry stand.  She couldn't figure out how to get back out!

I just love this picture of my smiling little girl.

So I said I would post a picture of D and B all dressed up for the dance.  They looked great.

We Moved!

Last week wednesday, we moved from the “Jubilee Flat” to a town house.  When we started the process of getting ready to come to SA, Jubilee urged us to come as soon as we can and offered us the Jubilee Flat and rent for one month.  The whole past month has been at the Jubilee Flat, a week after we arrived we've been looking for a permanent place to stay for the year.  There were several places that we looked at, but this town house stood out by far.  

This place is great.  Especially for us five folks who are living and working closely together for a whole year.  It has a great kitchen, and a laundry room that has its own cabinets as well.  The kitchen opens up to the dining room and living room.  In the dining room, there is a small fire place which I'm stoked about.  There's a door in the living/dining room that leads out to the veranda and  the “garden” (which is their term for lawn).  The garden is rectangular shape and has beautiful vines and bushes all along the walls.  The bushes also separate our garden from the neighbors garden.  I absolutely love it.  So that's the description of everything in the downstairs part of the town house.  Upstairs, is also amazing.  As you go up the stairs, it splits left and right and you go up more stairs.  To the left are two bedrooms and a bathroom.  To the right is a bedroom and a bathroom.  Perfect for us!  Obviously D and B live in the right wing and my little family live in the left wing.  It is really wonderful for us two families to be able to separate and go to our own spaces.  This is why we really like this town house.

Now, I need to tell you all about how faithfully God has provided for us through this place:  This town house was one of the first places we checked out.  It was on the high end in terms of rent.  We kept an open mind and saw a ton of other different great places with lower rent and such.  But of all the places we checked out, we still really liked the town house.  

On the side note, as we planned our budget, we didn't really plan to need money to furnish a place.  We had a small budget set aside to make the house more home.  In SA most places that are rented out do not come with a stove or refrigerator.  So, we were praying and seeking wisdom about which place is the best place for us.  We all still really liked this town house, so we called the lessor and explained our situation (we are missionaries here for a year and are on a limited budget etc...).  We asked if he would be willing to lower the price.  He said he couldn't, but mentioned that his folks were moving and that maybe we could get some furniture from them.  He called us back shortly after and said that his aunt was also moving and that we could have everything in her place.  This included dining table, couches, dishwasher, dryer, washing machine, beds, tv, refrigerator, cookware, blankets veranda furniture and more.  He didn't raise the price on the rent or anything.  We thanked him and signed the lease.  Isn't God amazing? It is an amazing blessing.  Praise Him!  Thank you Jesus!

We all are settled in for the most part and are enjoying figuring out our routine in this new and furnished place.  Here are a few pictures of our town home.

Here's the dining/living and kitchen area. I'm standing next to the TV. Our fire place is hiding behind Anthony. :)

I'm standing in the kitchen looking into the dinning room and outside to the veranda and garden.

Our lovely garden.

This is me and Anthony's bedroom.  There were three twin beds and one double bed that came from the aunt's place.  So Anthony and I have the “king size” bed.  We've been able to make the crack between the two beds disappear by placing a folded towel on the crack and spreading a blanket over both beds before putting a king size fitted sheet on both beds.  It's a HUGE bed! 

This is Ry's room.  There's a twin bed for anyone that wants to come visit!  (Although we have heard about the huge shortage in gas and the significant raise in airline tickets.  We are praying and thinking of you all back in the USA)

Shall We Dance?

Hello all!

Tonight is the "Night At the Oscars" dance for the university students here at Jubilee. It is a BIG deal. A, B, D and I are all dressed in black to be waiters and waitresses at the dance. It is very formal. This friday is the "Night with the Stars" dance for the folks older then college age. That too is a big deal and a "much looked forward to" night. Anthony and I will not be able to go because of Ryann. We were lucky enough to find a baby sitter for Ryann tonight. The folks that would be willing to baby sit are all heading to the dance on friday. Anthony isn't complaining one bit though! I guess I am not complaining much either since I do not have an appropriate attire for that formal of a dance. But still, it would be just grand being with all of our new friends. However, since we are staying home, I've offered to babysit others. It seems to be a blessing for the parents to have that special night out. Oh, I didn't mention that there is also dinner served at the dance. The decorations are fabulous and look like a wedding reception. It's quite amazing.

It is just one of the many creative ways that Jubilee uses to bring the community together.  I think that the people just enjoy a reason to get dressed up and have a grand ole night together.

I must go.  There's a meeting for us servers.

I wrote this on tuesday night (the 23rd) right before we had to go serve.  I didn't have time to post it.  Sorry it isn't much, but I thought you all would enjoy hearing little details of what we happen to do here in SA.  I'll post pictures of Dave and Bethany all dressed up later.

Scary Moment

Sorry it's been a while.  It has just been busy busy!  I look back and can't really remember what just happen, it has gone by so fast.  A month, we've been here a whole month!

So first things first.  A few days ago, my little girl decided to scare me big time.  

Ryann and I were home for the evening by ourselves.  A, B and D (Anthony, Bethany and Dave) all headed back to Jubilee after dinner for “First Steps” ( a series of sessions for new Christians).  Ryann needed to be in bed by 8pm, so I've just been staying home for the most part to make sure she has her routine of 8pm bed time.  Anyway, Ryann and I took a bath together.  I filled the tub up halfway so that she could “swim” around.  We had so much fun together.  She kept accidentally dunking her face into the water and would come up sputtering and coughing and crying.  She would easily forget what just happen as soon as I show her a toy.  So after I bathed her, we went ahead and drained the tub.  I stepped out of the tub to quickly wrap a towel around me.  As I was doing that, Ryann started to pull herself up by the faucet, so I put my hand under her arm.  I didn't hold her tightly enough and her feet slipped out from under her.  Her head nailed the drain thing that flips up or down to plug or unplug the tub.  I pulled her into my arms and Ryann freaked out like I'd never seen her freak out before.  It was like she had a seizure, she was uncontrollably shaking.  I had to struggle to keep a hold of her.  So I quickly scanned her face and saw blood and a really deep cut.  I wrapped her in her towel and put pressure on her wound. 

This whole time I was really calm.  I went to get the cell phone and called Anthony.  As soon as I heard him speak, I cried.  I told him that he needed to come home right away because Ryann had fell and split  open her eye brow.  I told him that we both were okay, but they still needed to get home quickly. Anthony was trying to talk to me to find out more about what happen, but I could not understand him because Ryann was in my arms crying (it wasn't a hysterical cry, more like whimpering).  It didn't help that I was crying too.  So I told him to text me and hung up the phone.

I went into the bedroom to dress myself and Ryann.  As soon as I laid Ryann down, she stopped crying and started giggling at me.  Oh man, what a little blessing that was for me at the moment.  So I quickly dressed.  I knelt back down on the floor next to Ryann to look at her cut before I dressed her.  The bleeding had slowed by a lot.  It was just barely coming out.  So I looked into the cut and saw that it was very deep and thought she might need stitches.  This whole time Ryann was just smiling and talking to me.  It was so comforting.  I dressed her in her PJ's and just held her close.

As I was waiting for A, B and D to come home, I was walking around, praising and thanking God for keeping my little girl safe and for comforting me with her smiles.  The rest of the crew arrived and Ryann was just smiling and giggling at them.  She loved the attention from all of us at the same time.   When I saw Anthony, I broke down again.  He held us both and then asked me if I was okay.  Then he said, “Erin, it is not your fault”.  I cried all over again.  Then he said, “I do not blame you for this” and I cried harder.  Then after I spent all my tears, I was relieved.

The doctor (Carien) that helps run the Health Clinic at Jubilee happen to be at the church as they were leaving to come back to the flat.  Anthony was able to tell her what had happen and she told him to call her when he found out more.  So we all were standing around in the kitchen trying to figure out wether or not she needed stitches.  We gave Carien a call, and she said to just bring her by Jubilee and we can figure out what to do from there.  

We headed over to the church and Carien said that it would be able to heal on its own but would leave a big scar.  So we decided to have Carien go ahead and stitch up my baby girl.  Anthony prayed for Ryann and Carien prayed for me as a mother.  After praying, Dave, Anthony and another friend had to hold Ryann down to keep her completely still as Carien put in a single stitch.  Ryann, being the fighter that she is, fought and cried.  Bethany sat near me and was constantly comforting me.  Finally, the whole ordeal was over.  

So that's what happen two nights ago.  Here's a picture of Ryann with a patch over her stitch. Great expression huh? 

 Here's another photo after we removed her patch.  We were feeding her breakfast, hence the creamy mouth. 

Praise God that He has protected my baby from further harm.  Praise Him for giving me such a tough and amazing baby.  Thank you Jesus!

I wrote this on saturday.  The day after the incident happen.  I haven't been able to post it until today.  Thank you all for being patient with me!

I just came from the Health Clinic where Ryann got her stitch out.  It looks SO good.  It simply looks like she scratched herself.  Right now, she's on the floor next to me playing with a bottle and singing me a song.  :) I'm so thankful to God for putting us at the right place at the right time and providing us with Jubilee and its health center and amazing doctors.  I'm also so very thankful for God giving me such a wonderful and godly husband.  Thank you Lord.

Pictures

Don't have much time right now. But I've added a link to the right side of the blog that has pictures. I've put up some recent pictures of us here in Cape Town. More will be coming soon!!

http://gallery.me.com/therodriguez3

random

Many folks have asked about the weather. The first week was pretty crappy. Coming from a pretty mild summer in America to wet and COLD "winter" here in CT (Cape Town). We do not have heat in the house. In fact most of the houses don't. It is simply not needed. It gives the OE (outdoor education) term "layering" a whole new meaning! Thankfully, we all brought enough warm clothing. Alot we have to re-wear every day, but no one is complaining since it is keeping us warm and comfty. The past few days however have been wonderful and beautiful. The sun is shiny so brightly and its warming up the days. It feels like a nice spring day in North Carolina. We are all comfortable wearing jeans and a t-shirt.

Food-wise, it hasn't been such a big change. Alot of the food we've had is something that we've had over there. However, vegetarians would have a hard time adjusting here because meat is a big thing. There is SO much meat! Darn tasty too! The folks here at Jubliee have been suggesting that we try the otritch. We will eventually. The grocery stores aren't much different from ours, except that the pace of the customers is more intense and quicker. We have been able to find everything that we want and need. It has been really nice not haveing to jump into some strange new foods right off the bat.

Here's a quick thing about Ryann.
Lately, whenever she spits up (which is quite often) she will look down at it and start playing with it. Sometimes I don't let her do that, but other times I'll let her because I want her to be curious... but only long enough until it grosses me out. :)

I love you all family and friends. I'm missing you all terribly right now. xoxo

SunShade

SunShade is one of the ministries that all four of us will be plugging into.  It is a ministry for mothers and their children.  Every tuesday morning they come to Jubilee and have coffee and tea and socialize with one another in a safe setting.  Many that come are not Christians, but they continue to show up.  The room is huge and has plenty of toys for the kids to play with.  It seems to be a place where mothers seem to feel free of the burden of watching out for their children.  The streets are rough and dangerous.  Quite of few of them are sick and weak, especially the littlest ones.  I play with them and hold them close, but most of the time they aren't happy.  The older ones seem to be thrilled to be able to run and goof off.  At the beginning there is coffee and tea provided as they socialize.  After an hour or so, some sort of evangelizing happens.  They've done it through crafts, testimonies, songs with karaoke, etc.  They are always trying to think of creative ways to do so.  The church is always thinking of how to love their people better.  It's been amazing.  At the end, lunch is served.  

The woman who shared her testimony last tuesday was the wife of famous gangster and huge drug lord here in Cape Town.  Her husband is muslim and she was forced to deny Jesus as her lord as she married her husband. Her story is amazing and humbling.  She's been abused as a child, molested as a young woman, men she crossed are perverted and consumed with desire and she becomes victim.  (I was not able to understand her as she shared her life, but it was summarized to me.)  She finally had the courage to seek Jesus and stand up to her husband.  Her husband beat her and he told her she had some sort of glow around her.  She's constantly shot at as rival gangs drive by.  She had never shared her story in front of so many others, and was terrified to do so.  Throughout her story, she kept pointing everything back to Christ.  As little of her story I heard, I was amazed at her courage to defeat all odds and trust God.  I know seeds were planted that day because of one woman's courage.

Along with the gathering on tuesday mornings, there is a small group of women from SunShade who gather for a bible study on thursdays.  This morning, Bethany and I went.  I am so amazed at the strength of some of these women.  Julianna is a elderly black lady.  Just prior to us picking her up she had blacked out.  She seems to just brush it off as she told us what happen.  Many people just come to her door and ask her to pray for them.  I really think God has gifted her with wisdom in her words as she prays for those people.  She prayed for us all as we closed our bible-study.  I was moved by the faith she had in her God.  There seemed to be such peace in her prayer.  She prayed as if things have already been done, she believed God will do it.  When I pray I always just ask that His will be done and just kind of leave it up in the air.  She pray with such faith that humbled me.  I've so much to learn.  Open my heart oh God.

I also ask you all to pray for Elsie.  She just had a baby boy two weeks ago.  He was born at 31 weeks.  He is still in the hospital, but she needs to get him out because of the bills.  But before she can get him out, she needs to find a new place to live.  The current place that she is living is not suitable.  There is no water or electricity.  The landlord is also kicking her out.  I'm not sure of the reasoning.  He has already removed the security bar gate that is in front of the door.  He is going to come soon and remove her actual front door.  I so badly wish I can just jump in and save the day.  It's hard to just pray and trust that God will provide.  On top of all of that, Elsie has the most adorable two year old daughter, Faith.  

I'll keep you updated on her and her two small children.

Ryann isn't too pleased with me on the computer and not holding her. 

Gots to go. Cheers.

Ryann Grace

So my little girl is growing up.  Suddenly 6 1/2 months have decided to fly by.  At lunch today, Dave said, one day you're gonna have a grown up daughter, where she will make her own choices.  I'm not sure if I'm ready for that.  Thankfully though, I've got a good 16 years before that happens.  Nobody is allowed to comment and say they will fly. :)  I am looking forward to being her mom and learning what it takes to love unconditionally.  I can't wait for her brothers and sisters to come along.  No, I'm not pregnant.

I'm just saying!

So now my little girl is VERY active crawler.  She sits up very well and can go to all fours without slamming her face to the floor.  Well most of the time.  Right now, she's playing with an un-peeled orange on the floor.  She is still pretty clingy, but now is willing to offer her smiles to some of the people here at Jubilee.  Here in the office, there isn't much for her to play with, or so I think.  One time I set her down on the floor *Oh my gosh, I just looked over at her and she just peeled a good portion of the orange off!*  Anyway, I set her down on the floor and was looking through my emails (I don't get very much by the way) and then I remembered to look for her, she had crawled across the entire office, about 7 ft and got under someone else's desk and was about to tip over their garbage can.  Such an adventurer!   

She is now just starting to be able to pull herself up from a sitting position.  If she is near something she can cling to while sitting on her little bum, she will grasp it and grunt and groan and squeal and do her little fake and dramatic cry while pulling herself up.  

Alright, she is not entertained anymore.  So I need to end this and pay attention to her.

Townships

So today (september 3rd), we didn't need to go in till 2 in the afternoon.

We decided to go to the mall.  It's an actual mall.  Just like what we call a mall in America.

Connected to the mall was a bunch of other businesses.  It looked like an outlet mall from the outside. but it wasn't just clothing, it included a marine dealership, a car dealership, babies r us, McDonalds, a butcher place, two grocery stores (one called pick N pay, the other, Woolworth) and a bunch of other random businesses.  

Anyway, on the way to the mall, there are townships on both sides of the highway.  Townships are filled with thousands upon thousands upon thousands of colored and black people (that is how they are identified here, it isn't regarded as racism) living in shacks jammed right next to each other.  By “shacks” I mean, whatever piece they can find to create 4 walls, and a roof.  Some are random pieces of boards thrown together, some have steel scraps, some use tires, others use plastic.  These townships are less than a ¼ of a mile off the highway, so it is very easy to see it all.  These townships go for miles.  I am not joking here.  MILES.  some are over 5 miles for sure.  It is a lot longer than it is wide.  But it is pretty wide too, less then a mile.   These townships are the result of the apartheid. 

As we were driving and seeing the continuity of these homes, I told Anthony that it is SO easy to look at these huge townships and lose hope.  But I remember as we flew in, the plane circled around Cape Town and I was just praising God that we were finally here and being so thankful that we are following  Him.  I looked out the window and teared up.  I started whispering to Him, “greater things have yet to come, greater things are still to be done in this city”.  I was filled with so much hope and joy that God is here and Cape Town is loved.

So begins our adventure.

Well we are all here safely in Cape Town.  

The goodbyes were tough.  It was worse the first night here in Cape Town though.  After putting Ryann down around 8ish (cape town time), She woke back up two hours later, everyone else was asleep.  So it was just Ryann and I in a very new and unfamiliar place.  I just lost it then.  It seemed like time just slows down and one year is going to be a long time.  I started getting all nervous that Anthony and I couldn't raise Ryann without our parents nearby. *Take note that we've been by ourselves with Ryann for a total of  about 2 ½ months, the rest of her life was spent living at both of her grandparents house.*  So i woke up Anthony and he just held me as I sobbed for a good hour.  If you don't know me, I'm quite the emotional person.  The next morning I felt SO much better and was able to be excited about being in Cape Town.  

The first flight was 9 hours long.  PLENTY LONG ENOUGH!  Our dear friends Bethany and Dave got first class seats while Anthony, Ryann and I all got economy seats.  We were pretty jealous, but there was nothing we could do because they apparently do not allow infants up in first class.  Oh well.  So our plane took forever leaving Atlanta, and that made us all a little nervous because we had such a small window in Dakar. We left a hour after the original departure time.  We thought we were gonna be stuck in Dakar, Sudan for two days!  But as we got closer to Dakar, they were able to call ahead and have them hold the plane to Cape Town. There was a good bit of us that needed to get on that flight.  So we were very thankful.

As we got to Dakar, the captains told everyone that isn't going to Cape Town to stay put and let those who are going to get off first.  Of course that was pretty stressful.  Ryann was sound asleep in my arms and we had tons of stuff spewed all over our three seats... pretty much a violation of the plane rules.  So I was trying to keep Ryann asleep while using my free hand to shove everything towards Anthony.  As soon as we were able to unbuckle and get our carry-ons,  Anthony had to jump up and get our three luggage, plus our three personal items.  It was all over the place.  We shoved the spewed items into a single bag, I grabbed Ryann's backpack and bumbo and Ryann herself.  Anthony was left with everything else!  Poor guy, he was such a trooper though.  He tried to make it as easy and non-stressful as possible for Ryann and I. 

So we got off the plane, they whisked us to a bus, checked our passports, drove us 50 meters to the terminal, we grabbed everything we had and went into the terminal. They gave us our tickets and we turned right around and boarded the same bus!  They drove us the remaining  50 meters to an airplane parked next to the one we just arrived on.  We hustled up the plane and grab our seats.  Dave and Bethany got the very first row in first class as we had to walk/shuffle/jog to the second last row in the entire plane.  The flight attendants on this flight were amazing.  As soon as we climbed the stairs to the plane they asked us to let them take some stuff to help us to the back.  Then when we sat down another flight attendant asked if we needed warm water or juice for the baby.  wow.  It was a blessing.

On the second flight, only half the plane was full.  So all of us passengers were able to spread out and make ourselves comfortable.  The flight attendants were all so laid-back.  Ryann and I were able to lay out on the three seats designated for us while Anthony grabbed different seats.  Ryann did really well.   She slept most of the time and woke up the last hour and half.  When she woke up, she was in a cheerful mood.  Offering smiles to all the nearby passengers and flight attendants.  When we got off, they all commented on how well she did.  I was quite proud of her.     

We finally arrived to Cape Town.  A couple that we met in USA were waiting for us.  They had two cars waiting for us and one of them had a trailer.  By the way, they were two TINY cars.  All of the cars here are TINY.  It was quite the experience driving on the wrong side of the road!  They drove us to the apartment that we would be staying at and got all of our suitcases inside, gave us a quick tour, and some advice about the place.  Then they gave us a meal.  A wonderful and thoughtful lady at Jubilee was willing to make us dinner for the night.  We were so relieved and thankful that they thought of so much for us including providing the first meal!  

I already told you about the first night earlier in this post...

I'm going to comment briefly on the church but leave most of it for another day.

We went to Jubilee the next day, and again, the driving experience was something else!  Jubilee has made itself home at a old tile factory.  They have only renovated and use 1/3 of the building and it's HUGE.  The people there were quite friendly and excited to meet us.  We were shown around and then we talked about we roles we might have here.  We have  a lot of freedom in where we want to serve.  So we will start on Tuesday the 2nd.  We get today (saturday) and mondays off.  We are all very excited about what is happening at Jubilee.  We get internet at the Church.  So I am assuming, when we have some free time, we will be able to use it.  We are looking into getting internet for our apartment.  If we do get it, it will not be until the beginning of October.  

Ryann is very clingy right now.  She is very aware of the new things surrounding her.  So we are keeping her close to us and letting her slowly get familiar with things around her.  She hasn't been sleeping very well at night right now.  We are anticipating that it will be better sometime next week. 

I will try to get some photos up  soon.

 so that's it for this long post. Praise God we are finally here. 

love you all.