Wedding

On Sunday we attended our first Basotho wedding.  I was invited to speak at the wedding of one of the pastors in Lesotho - Phello Majola.  Actually many weddings are two day events.  Sunday was the second day at the home of the groom.  The wedding ceremony took place the day before at the bride's village. 

Antonie's Dedication

Philip, Amrie and Antonie Geise after Antonie's dedication.

Thanksgiving

On November 24^th we enjoyed getting together with coworkers and several visiting Americans for a Thanksgiving dinner.  May we all have a spirit of thanksgiving every day of the year!

A delicious pumpkin pie Gwen made

The Garden

We almost didn’t plant a garden this year because of our neighbor’s chickens.  They have at least 25-30 free range chickens and yes, you guessed it – our yard is part of their range.  There isn’t much we can do about the situation so it looked as if a garden wasn’t an option.  Fencing is expensive so we couldn’t afford to do the whole garden.  We finally decided we could borrow some plastic fencing that my brother had, which saved us a lot of money, and the rest we finished off with the cheapest chicken wire we could find.

After putting up the fence we realized the cabbage was still being devoured.  I thought it might be bugs so I sprayed it but with no effect.  Later we saw that birds were eating the cabbage.  We put up a scare-a-crow , of sorts, which helped about one day.  Now they are back with a vengeance.  A lot of our corn didn’t come up either so I replanted.  As I was digging I found a lot of red ants and a number of the old corn seeds-hollowed out.  Apparently ants like corn too.

Between all our feathered friends and crawling creatures I’m not sure how much produce we will get but we’ll keep trying.

We used the yogurt containers on the fence posts to cover the seedlings over night to help protect them from getting eaten. During the day we just hung them on the posts. We just haven't gotten around to taking them off yet.

What is left of the cabbage!

Whose Children are They?

Have you given your children to God like Hannah  did with Samuel? (I Samuel 1:28)  A practical way of finding out is to examine your feelings and thoughts when another individual corrects your children.  Do you feel peeved, irritated, angry or upset? Or maybe you think: “They have no room to talk about my children. Just look at theirs.” These are good indications that your children belong to you not God and you claim full responsibility.

There are at least two reasons why so many become angry when their children are reprimanded by others.  The first is that the parents haven’t truly relinquished their children to God’s control. They see their children as solely belonging to them and resent anyone who would dare to say anything negative about them. Secondly, the faults of the children many times reveal deficiencies in the parents. I can think of different times over the past eight years when I have reacted negatively to comments or concerns of others concerning my children.  That attitude, though, only breeds resentment and anger.

If someone sees something wrong in our children and they address the issue we should be thankful that the wrong has been pointed out and it can be corrected in our children and in our own lives.  It is true that God has place the burden of rearing children on the parent’s shoulders (Deuteronomy 6:7), but if our children belong to God we should be open to admonition, encouragement and council from others.

Time Away

Recently we had the opportunity to go visit some friends and see a little more of South Africa.  Our first stop was to the Kwasizabantu Mission at Claridge. We visited our good friend Bro. Malimabe. (I didn’t get a good picture of him.) We also met Dr. and Mrs. Botha who are the directors of the mission.  After leaving the mission, we visited our good friends Stephanus and Rose Blignaut and family.  We enjoyed some good fellowship and they even took us to see the Indian Ocean.  On our way back home we paid a short visit to the central Kwasizabantu Mission at Kranskop. We enjoyed our time away but it is always good to get back home!

Dr. and Mrs. Botha

We enjoyed visiting Howick Falls.

We visited an elephant part.  The giants were quite gentle.  This one walked right up to the car and even put her trunk in the window.  I was really scrabbling trying to get the window back up!

Our children made some new friends on this trip.

Kosi Bay, Kwazulunatal, South Africa

The Indian Ocean at Kosi Bay

The Blignaut and Geise Families

Politics and the Christian

As I was studying Paul’s message on Mars' Hill, in Acts chapter 17, I found Adam Clarke's comments on verse 21 quite interesting. 

“For all the Athenians and strangers which were there spent their time in nothing else, but either to tell, or to hear some new thing.”

“This is a striking feature of the city of London in the present day. The itch for news, which generally argues a worldly, shallow, or unsettled mind, is wonderfully prevalent: even ministers of the Gospel, negligent of their sacred function, are become in this sense Athenians; so that the book of God is neither read nor studied with half the avidity and spirit as a newspaper. These persons, forgetful not only of their calling, but of the very spirit of the Gospel, read the account of a battle with the most violent emotions; and, provided the victory falls to their favorite side, they exult and triumph in proportion to the number of thousands that have been slain! It is no wonder if such become political preachers, and their sermons be no better than husks for swine. To such the hungry sheep look up, and are not fed. God pity such miserable Athenians, and direct them to a more suitable employment!”

Children see! Children do!

Have you ever heard your children fighting in a different room of the house and you shout down the hall: "Stop your yelling"!  Maybe a little later it then occurred to you that they learned to yell by watching and listening to how you deal with frustrations and difficult things in your life. We've all heard the saying "you are what you eat"!  But on a much deeper level our children are what we are. They are what they see and hear. Lately God has been transforming they way we think about our children. As parents, teaching our children is only a part of the command to "bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord".  Every word said, every attitude they see and every action and reaction of the parent is being cemented into their very being as the "proper" way to live life and handle situations that arise.  Parenting is so much more than going to a good church and teaching our children well.  Parenting is first being exactly what we want our children to be!  Luke 6:40 "A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone who is perfectly trained will be like his teacher."  Don't complain about your childern. They are like you!

Influence

Parents consider what impact your life is having on that of your children! Ponder this quote from William Law.

"If parents viewed themselves as priests, they would be daily calling upon God in a solemn, deliberate manner.  It would make them very careful of everything they said or did, lest their example should hinder the very thing that they were constantly praying for on behalf of their children.  - William Law

Sssssssssssss!!!

Since we're on the snake story we might as well continue.  In the past week and a half we've seen 3 snakes.  That's too many in a life time let alone in a little over a week! The last two were puff adders.  Yesterday we made sure this one wouldn't do any damage to our children! It was 82cm long (about 32 inches). 

Venemous Intruder

The only thing I don't like about the warmer weather is all the snakes that come out of hiding!  A couple of weeks ago we had a snake in our front lawn right where the children play.  Yesterday we were in the house when one of our sons came running in and said they saw a snake.  Well, we found it and I managed to dispose of it properly.  It was a Rinkals (Spitting Cobra) measuring thirty-nine inches (1 meter) long. We do our best to keep the grass cut and get rid of rats and mice but for some reason this snake was right outside our back door.  We certainly thank the Lord for protecting the children!

SPRING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Can you tell I'm thankful for this season? Spring is, without question, my favorite time of the year. Spring officially begins here in South Africa on September first.  We have certainly been enjoying the warmer weather, greener grass in places, and the blossoms on the trees.  Of course I'll share a few of my recent snapshots with you! One of the first signs of Spring here is the appearance of the willow leaves.

Of course pansies are always beautiful!

And in an otherwise mostly brown landscape the peach trees are a most welcome sight!

 Or how about these crab apple blossoms?

 

Tire Toys

Enjoyment does not need to come from a toy box or the store.  Our boys love to play with cardboard boxes and empty dog food bags!  These boys are resting a bit after a long run pushing tires past our home.

Gibbous Moon

Another amateur photographic attempt of the moon with a dead tree branch in the foreground.

Wood For The Winter

The past two days we have spent a couple of hours cutting wood for duration of the winter.  We all went as a family and enjoyed our time together. It was great watching the dead tree come crashing to the ground.  The boys enjoyed loading the wood and rolling the heavier logs to the trailer.

These pictures are from earlier in the winter - about a month ago.

The Moon From Our Place

Because of all the smoke and dust in the air this is what the moon looked like a couple of evenings ago when it was low in the sky.  I've been trying out some of the different settings on my camera so thought I would try a night shot. 

Sober-Minded

Allow me to revisit this subject again.  For anyone who is serious about following the Lord and developing a Scriptural outlook on life I would recommend reading the following article.  It was written by Matthew Henry many years ago but is still quite relevant today.  Just click on the following link:
http://www.charityministries.org/theremnant/2010/11/theremnant-2010-11-sober-mindedness.a5w

And here is a good one for sober minded woman or those who desire to be: "In Pursuit of Virtue":
http://www.charityministries.org/theremnant/2010/11/theremnant-2010-11-poems.a5w

Refinishing Project

When we came here five years ago we bought a little used table and chairs for the boys.  It was in rough shape and the boys didn't make it any better over the years.  So after returning this time I decided to see what I could do to refinish it.  So you can see below what we did. 

Here is the "before" picture of a chair.

The boys helped me do a lot of the sanding.

The table after some sanding.

And the finished product.  The boys really like the John Deere look!

Sammy Morris

While our family was in the States we drove through Fort Wayne, IN and stopped to see the grave site of Sammy Morris.  If you have never read his story I would encourage you to do so.  You can get his biography for just cents on Amazon.  Sammy was a simple African boy, but he led more people to the Lord than most of us. His was a simple but real confidence in his God and a living, vibrant relationship with the Creator. Our oldest son sat spell-bound as we read through the book. 

Shoshanah

Just thought I would share a picture of our little girl!

Mud

A couple of weeks ago we decided to try a road we had not previously been on.  Well, near the end of the road we came to a large muddy place.  Our choices were to turn around and go all the way back or try to go through.  We decided to try to go through.....  Unfortunately we didn't get very far.  Thankfully some friends came and pulled us out.

We're Back

We arrived back in South Africa on May 25th.  We have occupied ourselves with unpacking, doing maintenance around the house and trying to rest.  The day after we arrived Gwen had a miscarriage on our way home from Johannesburg.  She ended up spending a night in the hospital.  Two of the boys also started vomiting that same week.  Our return has been quite eventful but we submit to the will of God knowing what He allows is always for the good. 

We will try to update when possible though at this point I'm not going to promise that it will be consistently or frequent. 

God bless!

On hold

I apologize, but with our current schedule I am going to put our blog on hold.  It just isn't possible to keep everything together at the moment.  We hope you will understand.  Keep praying for us as we continue to travel across the States.  God bless.  Steve for the family

Our little blessing

Patricia I. Hall

What do you say when you've just buried your grandmother?  Anyway I thought I would share a couple of snapshots.

Funeral

We are in Florida - again.  The funeral for my grandmother will be this Saturday.  We are thankful we weren't too far north when we received the call about her death.  Lord willing next week we will be heading north again.  Thanks for your prayers.

Patricia I. Hall

Steve's grandmother passed away today, Feb 11, 2011. 

Quote

"One of the great uses of Twitter and Facebook will be to prove at the Last Day that prayerlessness was not from lack of time.”    John Piper

Ark Encounter: Help Build the Ark!

Ark Encounter: Help Build the Ark!

Hobe Sound, FL

What a contrast! We drove three days from South Dakota to southern Florida.  We went from subzero temperatures to balmy sunshine. One morning I took the boys to see the ocean.  They really enjoyed the sand and waves. 

The Spirit of Truth

The following prayer was taken from an old Hymnal.  It says it is a "Prayer from Kenya".

"From the cowardice that dares not face new truth,
from the laziness that is contented with half-truth,
from the arrogance that thinks it knows all truth,
Good Lord, deliver me. Amen."

John 8:32 "And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."

Congratulation...

to Philip and Amrie Geise on the arrival of their first baby, Antonie Jonathan Geise - meaning "Priceless Gift from God.  He was born in South Africa at 2:25am, January 24th. He weighed 6lbs 3onces.

The Week-end

Over the week-end we spent two nights with Steve's cousin Mark Mckenzie and his wife Naomi and their daughter Alaina.   

We drove through part of the Bad Lands in South Dakota on the way to our Sunday morning service.

South Dakota

I thought I would share a couple of pictures of our winter weather here in SD. It has been very cold over Christmas and New Year. We've had temperatures below zero, but we have enjoyed the snow.