Driving Stick

It takes a great friend to teach you how to drive stick. Every time I stalled this weekend Marietjie cracked up laughing, and I found myself laughing instead of being baffled at my brains inability to tell my feet to move at the right speed. My only experience with stick was pulling out of a parking spot on a beach in Northern Ireland, and I think I stalled it like 8 times. In S.Africa EVERYONE drives stick AND its on the wrong side of the road, AND you do the stick with your left hand, so I thought, well, its better to learn it here where I’m not having to drive on the wrong side and go around those scary round about thingys. Here are some things I figured out:

1. The place we are moving to is called Hillcrest, and it’s not called that for nothing. I think I’ll need an extra padded back bumper.
2. Clutches are like relationships, timing is everything. If you pull off to quick, you’ll stall, and you have to start all over again.
3. I’m going to need to work out my left leg, or get a car with an easy clutch!

Job 23

Every week I go to a bible study for seminary wives. Lisa Hughes was speaking last night on having our confidences in the Lord. She read these verses and they really stuck out to me:

"Behold, I go forward but He is not there, and backward, but I cannot perceive Him; When He acts on the left, I cannot behold Him; He turns on the right, I cannot see Him. But He knows the way I take; When He has tried me, I shall come forth as gold. My foot has held fast to His path; I have kept His way and not turned aside. I have not departed from the command of His lips; I have treasured the words of His mouth more than my necessary food. But He is unique and who can turn Him? And what His soul desires, that He does. For He performs what is appointed for me, and many such decrees are with Him." Job 23

Even when the Lord seems far (Job looks to the left and to the right, and does not see the Lord) He is still there, and sees the way we take. Also He performs what is APPOINTED for ME! This verse shows us so much of the character of God working in our life (what His soul desires HE does, His decrees, He does what is appointed, He knows the way I take, His uniqueness!) But also shows our responsiblity (not departing from His commands, treasuring His word, holding fast to the path of life etc.) It is comforting to know that the Lord is in ultimate control, and that what He has appointed for me is SOOO good! But at the same time I am held responsible for following his decrees, treasuring His word etc. Job is one of my favorite books, but I usually just read the end and the beginning over and over agian. This little treasure is in the middle! I don't know how I missed it. :)

MOVING! :)

So we are packing up all of our stuff this week in our apartment to move to South Africa! Its amazing seeing how much stuff we've collected. Here are some before and after pictures.

This is me trying out the depth of field on my camera. :)

Our fish Gill, our only pet :) He needs a loving home. We may take him with us in a coke bottle!
Before packing....are you ready for the mess??
After: Shing shing shing AAHHHH!

Most of these boxes are books. 27 to be exact. We are shipping Clint's whole library!
Hurricane Clint and Kim has hit! It will devour everything in its path!

Our Bible Study Retreat

SCV Bible Study Retreat 2005-Palm Springs

It's amazing how your heart can grow so close to so many people! Thank you to all of you who challenge me in the Lord daily, and sharpen me to become more like Christ.

Hawaii, Oahu October 4th (our anniversary!)

So we got these free tickets to Hawaii for our anniversary. One from Clint's massive frequent flyer miles (a 24 hour journey to South Africa almost every year will stack 'em up quick) and the other came from our World Points credit card (so the rumors are true, its not a scam, go out and get one!) We booked the flights seperate, but got to sit together.

This is from the day we drove around the island. You drive this windy road with lush green trees, and then suddenly there is this shockingly blue view.

This is the beach we swam at almost everyday, a 5 minute walk from our hotel, Waikiki.

This is the night we went out to Cheesecake Factory for dinner. It was totally raining on us!

Awesome garden

This is from the beach where we were watching the sunset, behind us these hula dancers were singing. This is one of those "hold your arm out and shoot" photos. :)

Smiling sting ray in this HUGE aquarium that is inside a store! You climb in this tube and can see the sting rays from above.

Sunset on Waikiki

This is one of my favorite pictures cause it totally captures what we did everyday...just mif! (That's afrikaans for "mold" a term used whenever you just do NOTHING!)

This is the bay where we snorkled and saw TONS of fish. Hanauma Bay. We bought our own snorkles cause they were like 5 bucks, but to rent them is 6, go figure.

Chinaman's Hat island near the north shore.

Beach where we had lunch and snorkeled just off the side of the road. We saw sandcrabs too!

Awesome view from our car.

This was my "favorite tree" called a Monkey Pod. We sat under it and stared up at it talking for hours. One of my most memorable moments. Hmm, maybe I will plant one in my backyard!

This rainbow was actually brighter in person, but it followed us all the way home to Waikiki from the North Shore. You totally felt like you could find the pot of gold at the end. :)