Invites & Delights

“The father of the righteous shall greatly rejoice: 

and he that begetteth a wise child 

shall have joy of him.” 

-Proverbs 23:24

 Such a blessing to see my little siblings reaching out to those around them. On Saturday, Brianna and Josh invited their friends to church. You can imagine the squeals of delight when 3 neighbor kids showed up at church the following morning :)  When was the last time you brought someone to the Lord's House?

Baby Days

On Saturday, I made my first cake for a Baby Shower. According to a 10 yr old, "You're better than Cake Boss!" Thank you, girlie, but if you'll excuse me for a moment, I need to book you in for a brain scan! Far from perfect, but a fun experience.

Note to self...buy a smoothing tool!

In African culture, party-goers throw handfuls of baby powder at the mother-to-be, effectively surprising her. She is then expected to feel each gift, guessing who it's from and what it is. If she's wrong on either account, she's subjected to the choice of punishment the gift giver so deems. Lipstick smeared on the face? Foul tasting food spooned into her mouth? Or perhaps some curdled milk to drink. This is performed with much laughter and a bit of chagrin. She quickly learned to feel each gift verryyy carefully and choose wisely!

Guests then ask her a myriad of questions on her "how to properly take care of a baby", adding helpful tidbits when she's unsure. 

Garages have more than one use...they make the perfect outside, but inside venue for parties/get togethers/etc. 

It was quite a day. And one in which I was quite thankful to be a spectator and not a participant :)

:: Coffee Plantation ::

Thursday morning, we hit the road for Tzaneen, a town about 90 km from our place. Fellow missionaries, the G. Hammetts provided lunch and a play area for the kids to expend some pent-up energy. Both families then headed higher up into the mountains to tour a coffee plantation.  

The guest house on the property had a myriad of hand crafted items, such as the hand-painted curtains.

Coffee Beans are hand picked and processed right on the plantation. Suffice it to say, the whole process of picking, sorting, purifying, drying, roasting and selling is more than I want to tangle with. But, hand picked quality coffee has a superior taste than your mass production coffee. 

Ready for roasting

a.m.a.z.i.n.g

I am so thankful that Africa's home.