Bethany and I were chatting and both agree that some of these photos will be the photos to embarrass Ryann during her teen years... 
It was a little chilly. So the jean jacket and socks were needed. I think shes adorable no matter what she wears.
Anthony couldn't stop taking pictures of me...
Beautiful Cape Town. However, Cape Town has it's share of pollution. It was so hazing we could barely see the mountains on the other side of the bay.
we gave Ryann a biscuit (cookie) for a snack. This is the end result.
Fun Facts about RyRy as family and friends have started to call her...
My lovely, wonderful, amazing and beautiful little girl is:
✗ the happiest baby in the morning
✗ very independent
✗ a bit of a squealer when she's frustrated, (something Anthony and I are trying to let her know it isn't necessary or allowed, though understandable)
✗ a grape lover
✗ a very fast crawler
✗ a maniac in the walker and will clip our ankles whenever she gets the chance
✗ obsessed with toilet paper and will rip it into shreds (Bethany calls her a little puppy, which is very accurate!)
✗ not too sure of the sippy cup
✗ a “napper” around 9 am and 1pm for about an hour each time
✗ proud when she finishes her meal, I'll say “all done!” then clap and say “yay!” and she is so thrilled
✗ a hater of grass against her knees, she'll crawl on her hands and feet with her butt sticking straight up in the air
✗ much more of a shower girl rather than a bath girl, which I guess is better for the environment :)
✗ does not enjoy getting dressed or undressed
✗ a climber. I've lost track of her only to find her on the top of the stairs!! BABY GATE ASAP!
✗ a “Brown Bear Brown Bear What do You See?” book lover, she will actually bend her head down to look at the next page if I don't turn it soon enough
✗ 8 months old and growing longer and heavier
✗ still petite
✗ a talker, “ba ba ba ba”
✗ gurgler with her apple juice and will have a big smile on her face
✗ a daddy's girl, she lights up whenever Dad's around
✗ starting to stand without touching anything
✗ able to hold the bottle with one hand and play with her feet with the other
✗ the best smiler with four teeth...
This picture says thousands of words about Ryann
We enjoyed seeing another church in action. It was a much smaller church then Jubilee and they had a different way of doing church. It was neat to see others worshiping God and coming together in fellowship.
We met up with an elder and his wife from that church along the coast. They brought us fish and chips (Fries) for lunch and showed us the spots for whales. We were able to see 4 or 5 whales. They were Right Whales. It was absolutely stunning. Unfortunately, our photography skills aren't spectacular and were not able to capture the absolute beauty of it all. The photos that we have just show proof that we did see them, but we saw so much more. The wind was blowing steadily, carrying a crisp cool breeze from the ocean. The sun was shiny bright and warm, it was comfortable for us to wear jeans and sweatshirts without jackets. The horizon across the ocean seemed so clear and close that I could reach out to touch it. The whales poking out for a breather and a meal were so close to shore. It truly was captivating.
Having Lunch
The only good shot of the whales that Anthony and I got on our camera. This whale is jumping out of the water and landing on it's side. So it is it's pectoral fin sticking straight out. Sorry it's so little in this photo!
I think this is a beautiful photo of the cool looking rocks
In July 2007, I felt like God was urging me to go overseas. Now, I've never felt called overseas before. My mom, sisters and brother all have gone to Africa and Laura has been twice. I never felt like I was suppose to go with them. I always felt that my calling was in America. I was totally fine with that. So when I felt the Spirit moving in me making my heart restless, I began to seek why I was so restless. One random morning, I prayed and just felt God asking me to go. I was truly hesitant about it. But after that morning, my heart kept feeling pushed in that direction. About two weeks after that morning happen, I told Anthony that I really felt like we are to go and serve overseas for a year. He looked at me and couldn't believe it. He said that he was feeling the exact same way. He had been feeling the same desires and told God that He needed to open my heart up to that idea because Anthony knew that I was totally content with staying in America. I was okay with being called overseas, but Anthony was excited; he has always wanted to do missions.
At the end of July, we found out we were expecting. It was unplanned and totally God's timing. Anthony felt like that it was the door closing on the idea of going overseas, but I felt the opposite. I told him that God knew what was going to happen when He was whispering the calling to our hearts. He knew that we would be pregnant and it is up to us to obey Him.
We spent next few months figuring out exactly where we needed to go. I felt like we needed to go somewhere in Africa and Anthony had been reading a book about the apartheid. He became passionate about this country that is rising out of the apartheid and felt like SA is where we are to be.
We had been really good friends with the Bagwells prior to this trip. They lived around the corner from us in Black Mountain, NC. Dave, Anthony and I all went to the same college, while Dave and I studied the same degree. We were in the same small group at iSight and really felt connected with them. Anthony and I told them that we are going to be serving in SA for a year and asked them to pray for us.
The Bagwells had been praying about going overseas as well and after hearing that we were going to SA, they started to pray and seek wether or not they should join us in this mission trip.
We started meeting weekly and spending time in prayer. The Bagwells still were not completely on board with going but still pursued the thought. So we started to apply for different mission agencies and started looking and praying about exactly where in SA we needed to go. We contacted many different people from all over SA and very few got back in touch. It was a very disappointing and trying time. We felt the calling on our hearts so urgently and yet nothing was happening. We continue to meet just about every week to discuss what was happing with one another and to spend time in prayer. This went on from July till about February.
February was a great month. My little girl, Ryann Grace Rodriguez, was born on the 14th. I was SO happy to finally have her in my arms. It was such a overwhelming month of emotions! Nancy and Alex and Kara (my amazing in-laws) all were able to be in Asheville, NC to see Ryann. They had to make it a short trip because Alex and Nancy needed to head to FL for a Chick-Fil-A conference. At these annual CFA conference, they have speakers that come and speak for the week. This past year, Louie Giglio was one of the speakers (Louie is a well-known christian speaker in the US, although more in the South, and internationally). Louie had made a big impact on Anthony's life as well as Marissa's. Louie had once spoken about serving in missions and that compelled Marissa to head over to Thailand and spend six months in a orphanage. Nancy and Alex went up to Louie after he spoke to thank him for impacting their children's lives. They mentioned us trying to find a place to serve in SA. Louie commented that he knew of people in Cape Town and would get us the contact number.
A couple days after that, Anthony received an email that gave us the contact info for the Cons, a couple who work for Jubilee. We got in touch and they said the church was very interested. The Cons were making a trip to USA and wanted to meet with us. They were going to be in Atlanta in the beginning of April and so we met with them. We asked each other questions and they ended the meeting with prayer and a very confident “yes, Jubilee would love you to come”!
So we began to email with Jubilee back and forth about cost and exactly what we need to prepare to come to SA. We kept asking about what exactly we will be doing in SA. Jubilee asked us to wait until we got to Cape Town so they could get to know us and figure out exactly where we would best serve the church. It was a hard thing to do, to not know exactly what we will be doing. Nonetheless, we were called and we were to go.
Jubilee was asking us to be there as soon as we could raise the money. They said that they would like us to be there at the beginning of August and they would be able to give us a place to stay for free for the first month. We needed to raise $75,000 for the five of us to live and to buy a car. Jubilee later said that they were going to buy a car for us to use. That was a huge blessing because it was like we had a “donation” of $15,000 for the car. We finally got the support letters out at the end of May. We raised all the money including pledges for the entire year by the first week of July! It was an amazing picture of God's providence.
We were not able to make it to SA in the beginning of August because of the process of acquiring a temporary resident visa. We had thought we could acquire one while in SA. However, that was not true, so we had to postpone our departure date till the 26th of August.
So now we are here and approaching the end of our 2nd month here. We have gotten to know so many amazing people and found a rhythm and routine to settle into.
The five of us are starting to find out what each needs to do here in SA.
*I will have to write another blog about how my expectation of doing missions long-term was completely wrong.*
For me, I have a set routine for the week and can take on random projects here and there.
First and most important is Ryann. Duh. :)
So every week all five of us get Saturdays and Mondays off. We are to do whatever is needed on Sunday, but most of the time it is pretty laid-back.
On Tuesdays, Bethany and I have SunShade in the am at 10. We all get to Jubs at around 9 am. Ryann normally goes down immediately for a nap. She'll sleep for about an hour. SunShade is over around noon or half-past noon. I'll spend about two hours in the afternoon organizing the “Mercy Store”. We are done around 4pm and head home.
Wednesdays, Ryann and I spend at home by ourselves. The head staff have told me to take an extra day to just Ryann and I so I could focus more on her. They really really value parenting here, especially moms and babies. So I'll spend the day playing with her and doing chores around the house. Weds is laundry day for Anthony and I (Saturday is another laundry day) and I do deep cleaning, like dusting, vacuuming and mopping downstairs. Dave and Bethany have pretty bad allergies and I offered to do that. It is needed anyway because my daughter crawls all over that floor and gets SO dirty!
Thursdays Bethany and I have cell group or life group with some of the ladies from SunShade. We meet at their homes. Some live in pretty rough situations. We have been told that it is sometimes worse in the city then in the townships. Ryann spends the morning with her dad at Jubs. I also spend a couple of hours in the Mercy Store on Thursdays as well.
Friday AM, I meet with a group of moms at their homes to just hang out with them. Ryann really enjoys being with the other kids, but she normally gets left behind since she can't keep up. Simon Taylor is the son of Chris and Karin Taylor. Simon loves and adores Ryann, he is 2 years old and is always delighted to see “baby Ryann”. He'll say “hi baby Ryann!” and smooch her. It's adorable! Then I'll get dropped off at Jubs and spend about an hour in the store as well as do whatever is needed. Most of the time it is just playing with Ryann and tagging along with Anthony.
The others do so much more than I do. They all have more freedom to commit to different things and are able to take on whatever is thrown at them. I'll write about what they do later. This post is getting plenty long enough!
That's is pretty much what happens for me and Ryann here in SA.
