Christmas in Namibia!

Christmas in Namibia has:

Summer.

Today it is over 100’F here. IT. IS. SO. HOT.
My parents have been enjoying the warm mornings, but after lunch time it is too hot to move. We are enjoying a relaxing break with them. On Saturday we will have Christmas dinner with the Wrights and the Hunters. We are bringing all the South African dishes, and they will prepare the American ones. We just made made some home made ice cream (without any kind of machine or device), check out the recipe here.
To all our family and friends in America we wish warmth and dry weather, to our family in friends rain and cool weather.
Hug a loved one!

Wise men.

This is the last and most elaborate dance of the night. This is the fourth grade class playing the three wise men and their entourage. Keep an eye out for the camels and the wise men! Enjoy!
If you are watching this is facebook click here to see the video.

Tomorrow…

…my parents will be here for a 3 week visit!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Angels we have heard on high!!!

This is the second dance in the Christmas play. It is my favorite one. The kids in this dance are in grades 5 and 6. They played the shepherd hearing form the angels. (The video begins with the second graders singing, you can see Adam in the background.)
Enjoy!
If you are viewing this on facebook click here to see the video.

In the name of love…

I finally have some of the Christmas play video to show of. There were three dances in the play. This one is the first of the three, it was preformed by the third grade class. They did great, there was some stage fright and a few of the kids seemed to be shy, but it was great fun! The kids came up with most of the dance, I coordinated them and helped them to put their ideas together.
Keep you eye on this space for the rest of the dances. If you are reading this on facebook click here to see the video.

Hope everyone is have a great weekend!

A hat for your toothbrush.

We have been married for over seven years. When we met I was 18, David was 20. I was fresh out of high school, David was with Kyle on a two year mission trip to the North of Namibia. We grew close during our time in Namibia. We were engaged 12 months after meeting each other, and we were married 8 months after that. We have spent most of our time together since we became Mr. and Mrs. When were students at CCCB we had the exact same class schedule (except for one class), for four and a half years. We also worked at Wal*Mart, we had the same shift, and we took all of our breaks together. When we are at home we like to be in the same room. It is as if we have out own secret language, more inside jokes than most, we thinks alike, and if you were to play Taboo against us you would surely lose.

Yet, there is one thing that we completely disagree on. This difference has grown over the years. It is something that we will never be reconciled on.

The thing that we disagree on the most is the treatment of our toothbrushes.

David is strict about his toothbrush, and I am not at all. My toothbrush is usually tossed in the drawer after I brush my teeth. When we travel I just throw it in my bag, on in my toiletry bag. Whatever. David’s toothbrush on the other hand, has a hat. When we travel his toothbrush is put in its own ziplock bag, with the hat on. He is very careful about his toothbrush touching anything else. I once used his toothbrush by accident, he threw it away.
Now I realize that my toothbrush habits are probably disgusting, but the toothbrush hat is hilarious to me!

I am blessed to have such a great man in my life, and as I look back to that day that we first met it is so obvious that God handpicked us for each other, toothbrush hat and all.

Thoughts.

Sometimes the beauty I see in Namibia takes my breath away. There is the natural beauty of the stark landscape here. The animals that have such a wild beauty that people come from all over the world to see them. The beauty in our kids, some of them are as wild as the animals here, but people don’t come from all over to see them.
Sometimes I am takes aback by the raw pain I see here. I met a lady who prostitutes herself so she can buy formula for her baby. She is hard and broken. I cried when we left, her eyes were vacant. I don’t think she has cried in a long time. There are days when the task really seems insurmountable. I was sitting with the 5th grade girls recently, as we sat and talked I looked around the room and thought of each girl’s story. One of them lost both her parents to AIDS, she now lives with her older brother, another lives with her alcoholic mother who has no interest in her, they live at the doorstep of a bar. Still another lives with her very old grandmother, her mom did not want her. One now stays with her aunt, her mom passed away recently, she still cries and talks about how she misses her mother. One of the hardest things here is to realize that not many of these kids has anyone to hold them when they cry.
Yet, tonight as the sun set I experienced one of the most beautiful sights. In all this pain and misery there is still beauty. God is still God. It seems to be a recurring lesson for me here in Namibia. I am constantly being reminded of the sovereignty and goodness of our heavenly Father.
I snapped this shot of the clouds behind the barbed wire, it illustrates how I am feeling right now.

::Shudder::

Now I understand that if there are any of you out there who suffer from arachnophobia, like me, then you will probably not enjoy this post. However, in the last few months I have realized that if I am to be a person living in this country in the summer months, I will have to get used to sharing my house with these creatures, and I feel that I should share this new experience with you, my readers.  In the few days alone we have killed over 6 huge spiders. One of them was a black widow. ::shudder:: We are now at a point where David does not kill then anymore. I think we have realized that this would just make more appear. I think that is what is happening. Maybe their hairy-multiple-eyed carcasses are dividing and regenerating. I have been quite jumpy the last few days.

This spider in the picture is called a “Wall spider.” They are very common in Namibia. They live behind things on the wall, they move like shadows. They are completely flat, and completely icky. I think they never stop growing, the ones in our house are about 2.5 inches in diameter.
I do have a funny story about one of these.

When David and Kyle were living in Opuwo, David was in the bathroom one day when he noticed one against the wall next to his head. He was about to squash it, then he thought about how the spider was harmless (or some such nonsense), and he decided to let it be. Then a fly flew past his face, and the spider LEAPED OFF OF THE WALL AND CAUGHT THE FLY AND STUCK TO THE OPPOSITE WALL, RIGHT IN FRONT OF HIS FACE. Good thing he was already “sitting.” I used to like that story, now that I am sharing my home with these hairy beasts it makes my spine shiver. 
Now for the picture. 

Are you sure you want to see it?

Still sure?

Here it is:

 

Another picture journey.

I love to take pictures (in case you haven’t noticed :). Here are some recent pictures from my camera. Enjoy the look into our week!

The first one is of the sunset view at “The Tug.” The Tug is a restaurant near the pier in Swakopmund. Swakop, is the coastal getaway for many of the more affluent people in Namibia. John and Suzanne know a couple who own a beach house down there, and they let us missionaries use it free of charge! We spent three nights there with the rest of the leadership team. I love hos the sunset is caught in the water of the ocean, and in the water in our glasses. It was a good night. We were able to just relax with John and Suzanne, and share some hilarious stories. It was a great time of refreshing!

Marye and I keep showing up in the same outfits. We keep joking that we pre-plan to dress the same, but we don’t. Marye is a great friend, and an absolute encouragement to us out here. She also has a fantastic dress sense:) The first picture is of us standing in the Namib desert, right after we climbed to the top of Dune 7. The second is on the deck on the outside of the beach house that we were staying at.

This picture shows the results of a day running around on the sand dunes on a windy day. (The line is from David’s Bronco hat). We had sand pouring out of our ears, eyes, pockets, and noses. It was worth it! David and Marye sandy boarded down the dune, and John and Suzanne got to experience dune 7 for the first time ever. Next time we know to go in the morning before the wind picks up.

This is a snapshot of our Thanksgiving table. I made the Turkey, it was pretty good! I used lemons and oranges this year, along with the olive oil and some other super secret ingredients. In this picture you can see John giving us a history lesson about the pilgrims. We had some guest there who experienced their very first Thanksgiving. We have a lot to be thankful for this year!

This last picture is of a rain storm in the desert area of Namibia. Namibia is known as the driest country in Sub-Saharan Africa. It is amazing when it rains, I am always reminded of that “grace like rain” song. Grace is an undeserved gift freely given. Just like the rain here will bring life and wash the earth clean, the Grace of God does the same in our lives. I pray this week you will experience the grace and presence of God like rain in the desert.