40 Acts: Day 5, 6 & 7

Day 5 was a bit of a random one where you could read up about Fairtrade or buy something that is a Fairtrade product. It was the end of the month so buying something was not really an option but I Googled it and learnt quite a lot about Fairtrade and I really like what they are doing. It's important that farm works and people working in production should get decent wages, working areas and living conditions. I also discovered that I already buy quite a few  products that are Fairtrade products - so I never felt to bad about not buying something.
 

Day 6 was harder than I thought. It was to write a gratitude letter. I thought it would be easy to choose someone but I had so many people to choose from that was pretty hard and then to sit down and put words to paper... I think after three attempts I finally got the words out correctly. I've decided to write a few letters during lent to some people who I am super grateful to have in my life and then post it to them. I'm pretty excited by this challenge - even though it's hard, but I love writing letters to people and posting them adds another level of fun because they don't know they're going to get it until it arrives in the post and post is always exciting to receive.

 

 

 

Day 7 is another hard challenge. I have to give something away that I like to someone. I have lots of things that I like but sharing isn't something I like to do or giving away my stuff. I sat and thought about what I can give away and I've decided to give away my rainbow scarf that I had actually bought for a friend. I never gave it to them because I liked it too much and kept it. Today is the day I give it to her. 

 

 

These challenges are really stretching me in giving and sharing Gods love and living how Jesus would live. Sometimes there's no time - well I want to do something else, or I'm tired or I don't like the idea of the challenge. Even though it's challenging it is helping me to live with more gratitude and wanting to bless people more with what I have in my hand no matter how small it is.

 

xKx

 

coffee with a view

If you drive from Hout Bay towards Camps Bay most mornings from about 7am you will see a trailer set up on the side of the road selling coffee. It's called Detour Espresso Bar and they sell pretty amazing coffee.

Ever since I've been taking the bus to work, (June 2014) I would come home and say to David, "I really want to have coffee there one morning". I would also say to him literally every time we drove past when he would drive me to Camps Bay - which has been every day for the last two weeks while the bus strike has been happening, that I want to go have coffee there.

Yesterday morning David said to me that we should totally go and have coffee there. We gathered all our cash money - we those kind of people who always use their debit card for everything - and headed out the door this morning to get our caffeine fix on the side of the road.

The south easter was blowing like crazy - almost got blow out to see but the view was spectacular. We had 360 degrees of awesome views and a cup of pretty amazing coffee in our had.

 I definitely think that this a stop everyone needs to make at least once in the morning... I may however do it more than one...

xKx

40 Acts: Day 2 and Day 3

I never managed to do my act of kindness yesterday as none of our neighbours were at home. We had to say hi to our neighbours and have a conversation with them. I wanted to go and talk to the weird lady opposite us, but she wasn't home. I also knew that she had, had a fall and I bought her some flowers - kind of an in road to talk to her. When I couldn't find her I thought I would go and speak to Elizabeth our landlady but I think she had taken her dog for a walk...

Now I have a bunch of roses in our house to give to someone and a conversation to be had with one of my neighbours.

Besides still having to do yesterday's challenge I also have to do today's challenge... Pick up litter.

David and I are going on a hike later so I'm going to take a plastic bag with us to put any litter I find on the mountain into it.

xKx

Doing lent differently

Today is the start of lent and if someone asked me what it means I probably wouldn't be able to tell you. All I know is that it's 40 days before Easter and some Christians - mostly Catholics fast/give up something for this time.  To me, lent has never meant much until last year when I did the 40 Acts challenge.  Instead of fasting something for 40 days you do 40 random acts of kindness during lent. Each morning I would get an email with what random act was selected for the day and then I would do it. It was a lot of fun. When I saw the video on Facebook that they were doing it again this year I was like - "yes, I MUST do this again"

The really cool thing about this initiative is that it reminds us that we, as Christian's should be doing this everyday. It takes nothing to do or say something kind to someone and it's definitely one way to show Jesus's love to the people around you.

I'm going to attempt to do a short post, with a photo if possible each day of the random act selected for the day.

Today's one is to start a journal and write a list of people you want to bless during lent this year. I'm going to do this when I get home from work. I think it's a brilliant idea - it'll also help you to pick someone different each day to bless.

I'm excited for the next 14 days!

xKx

8 months

 On Saturday we celebrated being married for 8 wonderful months by going to the most wonderful restaurant called La Belle at the Alphen hotel.

 The flavours in the food popped in your mouth, kind of like flavour explosions... And the servise was so good words can not describe it.

Dessert the best course ever...

YAY for the best 8 months of being married to my best friend! I am sooooo blessed to be married to such a wonderful man of God. 

xKx

God closed the door

Yesterday we heard that we were not going to Mavuhsa full time like we were planning on.

You can read more about the beginning of the adventure here: http://alittlebitofcrazi.blogspot.com/2015/01/we-went-on-little-bit-of-adventure.html

The past month has been a whorl wind f\of emotions as David and I have tried to figure out if this was where God wanted us. We prayed about it and we really did feel like God has said yes, but then after meeting with Git and Miggie and discussing this with them I walked away confused about the whole thing. I decided then that the door was closed and that we were not going to go, even though we thought we had a yes and that Git and Miggie and the rest of the Jam board were going to pray about it and were then going to get back to us after 15 February.

Over the past month I've had quite a lot of time to think about going to Mavuhsa full time and to ask God about it and here from Him all over again. During this time of working through all the emotions and expectations God slowly started to close the door until one day randomly I was like, "I don't want to go anymore" It was really random, nothing set it off I just had a clear feeling that I didn't want to go. I also had complete peace about not going. It was super random - but I think this was God working in my heart before we received the email from Git yesterday.

The email confirmed what I had been feeling - God had closed the door firmly for us when it came to Mavuhsa. Git explained that they want to send an ex-JAM staff member up to Mavuhsa because they know the vision of JAM and the key stakeholders, as well as the history there instead of a new couple who has never worked with JAM before. I totally understand their point of view and even though the door has been closed firmly on this opportunity, we certainly learnt a lot.

...And the really exciting thing about this is that David and I get to go on another adventure with God as he shows us the next place we can go to.

xKx

Wine Tasting at Eagles Nest

 

On Saturday afternoon David and I went on a date... we went to Eagles Nest in Constantia to do some wine tasting. I have been wanting to go wine tasting with David for ages now.

 

Eagles nest is about half way down Constantia Nek situated close to Constantia Glen and Beau Constantia, two wine estates that I would also like to try wine tasting at. I was pleasantly surprised by how beautiful the wine estate was. It's small but really beautiful and perfect for a picnic on a sunny afternoon. You can't take your own picnic but they offer picnics and platters that can be ordered. We chose their Deli platter - so worth it and so yummy.

 

 

During the wine tasting we tasted six wines, my favourite two was the viognier and the merlot - also two of their most expensive bottles. I found their rose a bit bland - but that could have been because I had already tasted two white wines and the flavours were starting to blend together.

 

The best part of the experience was sharing it with David. We had so much fun tasting the wine, chitter chattering and just enjoying the afternoon together.

 

After the wine tasting we popped into a new farm stall that had opened just down the road called Chardonnay Deli and discovered that they sold amazing milkshakes,some yummy breads and cakes and some pretty flowers. It's definitely worth a second visit!

 

xKx



A walk with my favourites

On Saturday afternoon I went to my favourite place in the WHOLE world, (Sunrise beach),  with two of my favourite people and my MOST favourite dog - Champie Champ.

 

Before David and I were married I would often come and walk, run or sit and think here. I live near Hout Bay beach but it's not the same as Sunrise beach - there's just something about it that I love. Maybe it's the length or how nice the sand is... but is the best beach in my world.

 

Walking with my Champ dog, David and Amanda on my favourite beach was one of the highlights of my weekend!

xKx

Grace

Yesterday someone said to me that they deserve to be shown grace by other people because they show grace to people. When I heard this I was like, "that's not how grace works" Grace is undeserved - we never, ever deserve grace.

Let's get technical and define grace: Grace according to Christianity is the love and mercy given to us by God because God desires us to have it, not because of anything we have done to earn it. (I used Wikipedia to find my definition).

When I explain grace to someone, I say it's like we're standing in court before a judge and we've been sentenced to go to jail for killing someone/stealing a car etc and then all of a sudden someone jumps up and says I will go to jail for them and you can go free. We don't deserve it, we should go to jail but someone took our place. It's the same with God, he showed a HUGE amount of grace by sending Jesus to die for us so that we can have a relationship with him. He also sent Jesus so that we don't have to die and go to hell because of our sin, but actually have eternal life if we choose him. (John 3:16).

God sent Jesus to do this but Jesus chose to die for us so we can live. He chose to show us grace. People hated him when he was on earth, they wanted him dead but he chose to do what God wanted him to do - show us grace and die for us, Luke 22:42 says "Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will but yours". Jesus struggled with this - he was about to be crucified but he still chose to do what God wanted him to. God was calling him to die, save his people and that the relationship could be restored. This for me is the ultimate act of grace.

To sum up my point... God showed us grace by sending Jesus, Jesus chose to do what God wanted him to do by committing the greatest act of grace. Did he have to do it - no, but he still chose to do it because it's what God wanted. Did we deserve it no. I feel like we should be showing people grace in the same way. We should give them a second chance - forget what they did and give them a second chance for the sake of improving a relationship in what ever form with them. We're not perfect and just like Jesus showed us grace we need to do it. God never expected anything in return for the grace we showed - it's a no strings attached commitment that was made. - we need to do the same.

And... Just because we show people grace it doesn't mean we deserve to be shown grace back. We show grace because God showed us grace first.

xKx

My mind was blown by feet washing...

The other day I was reading John 13:1 - 16 and I had a new thought about the whole feet washing thing.

The most obvious reason behind feet washing is that the peoples feet were dirty. They walked around in sandals on sand all day long... your feet were bound to get dirty. The other, most explained reason is humbling yourself to serve someone, no matter who they are.

In John 13:16 Jesus is explaining to his disciples why he washed their feet and he says; " I tell you the truth, slaves are not greater than their master. Nor is the messenger more important than the one who sends the message."

After I read that my mind was blown! We know Jesus came to serve, (Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God, as to something to cling to. Instead, he gave up the his divine privileges, he took the humble position of a slave and was born as human being - Philippians 2:5-7). Jesus did not come to earth to parade around like a king, he came to serve the people in love.

When people visited people back in the day the lowest servant, probably a gentile, would have to wash the guests feet.... So lets think about this. Jesus who was hosting his disciples for supper, got down on his hands and knees and washed the disciples feet. The job of a servant. Jesus who is mighty, great and lord kneels down and washes their feet. This makes me go "WOW!"

After I had spent time processing this I was totally blow away at how Jesus humbled himself to do this BUT by washing their feet it was like he was saying to the disciples I am your equal and I don't think that you are less or greater than me. Jesus certainly is greater than them but he was like, I love you and I'm going to wash your feet because actually you're not less than me.

This challenges me to see the world more like Jesus - no one is less than me, they are all equal. I need to humble myself and serve people where I can treat them with love so that they feel like they are my equal.

xKx

YAY we bought a table!

A few weeks ago we had a braai at our house and realised that we had a need for a table on our stoep. We didn't have enough seats outside for everyone to sit outside so we were kind of segregated and half of us sat inside and half outside. I never liked this because I felt like we should all sit together. This then started the planning of the purchase of a table....

We had ideas of building one, putting a door on trestle table legs and getting a few more chairs or buying one second hand. Saturday morning was the day we decided to start investigating this. We went to second hand shops starting in Tokai and ending up in Kalk Bay. We almost found something but were unsure. We then visited a builders scrap yard type of place - it's a little piece of heaven for DIY type people. We looked at doors but never found quite what we were looking for.

On the way home we passed a tile place where we bought some tiles to make our shelf/counter thing with our pallets.  I saw the idea on Pinterest a while ago and thought it would work quite well on our stoep, especially when we have braais. I'm still undecided if I want to paint it or leave the wood natural.

After the tile place we quickly popped into Mr Price home just because it's awesome and we were kind of looking for a bird cage type of thing so we thought we would also "look" at the tables they have. When we walked in we looked and few and then David was like, "this is the one!" and it was on sale - score!

We quickly found a sale assistant who told us it was the last one, so we made a calculated, yet impulsive decision to buy it on the spot. (I was the impulsive one - David calculated the risks and then told me we can't do anymore shopping this month).

We chose to buy it unassembled - they charge you R250 for delivery and assembly and we would have to wait a week or so, so we decided to squeeze it into the car. It just fitted - like it was meant to be.

 

On Sunday we had lunch with Kathy, David's mom and Barry, David's grandpa on our new table. It was super exciting!!

 

It's so much fun making our house more and more of a home as time goes on.

 

xKx