Tiny Love

Oh happy day!! We got a brand new baby boy at the home yesterday! He  is 15 days old and weighs 3 kilos!! I think he is just darling :) We now have 7 babies at the home!! You can only say so much about an infant since they don't really have any favorite games yet or say anything super cute! :) A picture is worth a thousands words though so I think I can make up for my lack of creativity real fast!

With Heather

Fuzzy hair!

With Auntie Jeanne!

Sooo cute!!

Sleeping :)

A Confession and An Appeal

I've been wanting to write this specific blog post for a while, but I haven't known what to say. I kept thinking that I needed inspiration; I needed to say the perfect thing; I needed to convince someone of what I'm about to ask! But, our Faithful God has used the time that I have put this off to work in my sinful and prideful heart. You see, the baby home is in desperate need of new interns! Starting August 2nd there will be no more female interns here. The baby home cannot run without them! That means that they will have to hire on more full time caregivers which they simply don't have the money to do. Interns save the baby home $800 a month! Everyone here is trusting God to provide for the need however he sees fit.

I wanted to write a post to be the one who convinced someone to come. Sure I had good motives mixed in there - I know that this has changed my life and will change the life of anyone else who comes here. I want that for my friends so badly I don't know how to put it into words!! I want them to learn from the church here and the missionaries.  I want them to see this beautiful country and get to hug on my precious, family-less babies. I want them to taste Milo (my favorite drink here), to see the tin huts my friends live in, and to feel Africa's sun on their faces. I want the baby home's needs filled. I want help for the people here who selflessly and tirelessly (even though they ARE tired!) give up their own wants, desires, and needs every minute of every day!

But even in all these good desires, I was seeking the glory of being used. I don't need that anymore. Now I know that God doesn't need me to work. He chooses to use me and bless me.  It isn't about me and I know now that God won't call the whole world to come to this ministry. You aren't a bad person for not coming here. He has a plan for your life and that might NOT include coming here. But I also know it might. So I'm writing this with a humbled heart that is trusting God with the care of His orphans and children. I'm not trusting my own writing; I'm not going to tweak this word and that word until it sounds appealing and makes you want to come change nappies every day. But, I am going to cover this blog post and each eye that reads it in prayer. I am going to ask you to talk to the God who I am putting my trust in and see if He would have you come and serve here.

There is a need! A great need! I know He will provide in the way that brings Himself the most glory. Please consider coming here! Once someone decides to come, they will have a great need financially - consider giving towards that need. And as much as anything, please join us in prayer for God's provision!
`
From Heather Drew:
"Interns must be committed followers of Christ, servant-hearted and flexible, 18 years old or older (healthy older saints are welcome as well!(: ), fluent in English, and must raise their own support.
The purpose of these internships is 1) keep down the costs of running the baby home, 2) keep our caretaker to baby ratio low and our standards of care high, 3) the internship has the potential to be genuinely life-changing and fondly memorable for those who intern with us. If you are interested in learning more about our internships, please contact Donovan Drew at donovan@1hope4africa.com."

Also, feel free to email me with any questions about my experience: claimag05@gmail.com

Pilanesburg

I have to be honest with you... I don't think that words or pictures can justify the experience of Pilanesburg National Park! This past Monday all the interns had a day off of work to go to the game reserve.. it was fantastic!!

If you are one of my American friends reading this: Go back to elementary when you are learning about elephants and lions, learning their sounds, habitats, and food. You look at pictures in books when you are three and point, "Mommy lion! Rawr!!" When you are older you might write a small report or two about these animals in Africa. You look at pictures and dream you'll see them but who really thinks they will ever be 10 feet away from a real Rhinoceros? Not me! But, I was!! It was an absolute dream to drive around and see these animals out in the wild!! I kept a record of everything we saw: Hippopotamus, baboon, grey duiker, steenbok, impala, grey heron, kudu, wildebeest, giraffe, waterbuck, wild tortoise, warthog (Sarah called these Razorbacks! Pig Sooie!!), Elephant, Mongoose, Lion, Tsessebe.. a lot of awesome birds, and a dust tornado! :)

I'm sure anyone who knows me will find this hard to believe, but everyone with me was constantly having to hush me because I was so excited that I kept yelling when I saw animals. I thought maybe we would drive around and see something every now and then, but it was so crazy!! We saw animals literally ALL DAY LONG! CONSTANTLY! They were just there eating, drinking, hanging out.. seriously!! God was so kind to let us see lions which is not a given at all! Oh man ya'll... it was an awesome experience!! I'm so thankful for the diversity and beauty of God's creation! For the African sunrise and plains, the wild animals, the vibrantly colored birds (Seriously.. I've never seen such colors on birds before!) and beautiful water. When you are out there seeing what I saw, your heart can't help but overflow with love and awe for the God who loves us!  Here's some pics; Praise the Creative Creator with me as you look at them!

I took this picture because it says "Five Roses" and "Rooibos." Here's one fun fact about South Africa: people always offer you coffee (instant usually), and tea. But for tea they always ask "Five Roses or Rooibos?" It's the two most popular kinds here!

These are cool birds nests found everywhere. They build them in a special way where they hang from the branch and the entrance is in the bottom so predators can't get in!

Africa is perrrty!

The lovely Britt :)

It's me!

And it's zebras!

I've never known it til now.. but this is totally the animal they
modeled the beast from Beauty and the Beast after!

Just hanging out right there in the road :)

Fat hippos laying by the water.

Warthog! It's pumbaa!!

They were sooo close to us!

My favorite!!

Majestic!

Sharks vs. Blue Bulls

From the first week I stepped onto South African soil I knew that Rugby was a big deal.. and I knew I was about to be in the middle of a big rivalry! I'm staying in Pretoria, home of the Blue Bulls (colors: blue), and I'm living with a Durbanite, supporter of the Sharks (colors: black, grey, white). How was this going to end well??

My first week here we went to Andre and Karlene's house (Living Hope and 1Hope team members) for fellowship and I learned some of the rules of Rugby. I also watched Invictus and got a few more lessons. Then Saturday rolled around! All the stops were pulled out to be sure we girls knew what was going on! Britt, Sarah, Vinson (not a girl. haha), and I crowded around the computer for some YouTube educational videos. I think I'm pretty much an expert now!

 It felt so much like a fall football day! I came out in the morning dressed in all blue and asked what time the game was "Get back inside and change right now young lady! You will not go out in public like that!" Donovan told me.. I'm tell you - this is serious stuff! So I knew right away, inters are for the Sharks.. and we embraced it :) We wore black and grey from head to toe! At 14:30 about 25 friends arrived for the braii - just a south African barbecue. We ate Boerewors - A delicious South African sausage that is traditionally eaten before or at Rugby games - and rolls, and tried some South African chips and cokes. Excitement was in the air! There were 2 blue bulls fans at the braii and all the jokes and jibes were hilarious!

Me, Sarah, Britt

Hanging out around the grill

Food and fellowship

Friends :)

Before..

..and after! Just cut off a slice of this and stick it in a roll! Yum!!

Finally it was time to go! The game was one of the coolest experiences ever! I got super into it.. as we were walking to the stadium I thought I would just join in the camaraderie so I shout "Go Sharks!" at some sharks fans. They smiled and looked slightly confused - then I remembered my American accent that follows me everywhere. Oh well!

At the game, we were literally sitting on the edges of our seats because we were so excited! When the sharks ran out you would have thought that I had been a sharks fan for my whole life from the way I screamed! It was so exciting and fun! That atmosphere was contagious. We cheered and at Biltong for the next 80 minutes + half time. Biltong is a delicous snack that is kind of like beef jerky. but way better because I don't like jerky and i LOVE this stuff! Unfortuantely, America isn't a fan of me bringing any home :(

Sarah and I

The guy in the yellow shoes who is about to get the ball had an identical twin on the Sharks team!

I loved the line-out! [See.. i know terminology! (: ]

The scrum

This wasn't taken from our seats and it was taken before everyone was in the stadium so the seats weren't full yet.. but they were by the time the game started!

Hello :)

The game was super intense. In the end, the Sharks barely lost (20-19, I think). Rugby is now one of my favorite sports :)

Mopane Madness: Tastes like Chicken

These next few posts may cause you to ask yourself, "Is Claire really on a mission trip?" because what I'm about to show you is a few of the coolest experiences OF. MY. LIFE! I promise you that I'm on a mission trip, though. If you become a little jealous, just remeber all the times in the past month I've lifted a baby covered in poo into a bathtub and started scrubbing. Ew.

This week two new interns arrived: Britt from my home church, and Vinson from Pennsylvania (Donovan and Heather Drew's home church). In the time that they are here and before Sarah leaves this Sunday we are fitting in lots and lots of fun things!

Okay, this one might not cause you to be quite so jealous now that I'm thinking about it.. but the next two will! :)

One of my first nights here I met the newlyweds, Lerato and Akani. Akani told me about one of his favorite African foods: Mopane (mo-pa-ney) worms. These are catipillars which you harvest out of trees and dry. Sometimes you munch on them dried and sometimes you bring them back to life with seasoning and... well I'm not really sure what all goes into preparing them. That night Lerato promise she would make these for me while I was here. I was also promised a taste of chicken's feet.

So! We all gathered around the table for a new experience this week!

Left and Around: Maquena (Sorry if you read this and I've spelled it terribly wrong!), Lerato, Akani, Kerry Drew,  Newton and Vanessa, Britt, Me, Sarah, Vinson, Donovan.

Chicken's Feet

Mopane Worms!

Pap. A staple food here I'll tell you more about later!

Choco lata (A sauce to go on the pap)

The pap and sauce are foods extremely common here in South Africa. A meal is simply not considered complete or filling without pap. It doesn't have a whole lot of flavor to it but is really delicious. This sauce that Vanessa made was really good as well!

The chicken's feet are a little more commonly eaten than the mopane worms. They are a much loved food here. They smelled good; it was mostly the toe nails still attached that I had to get past. All in all I liked the flavor. I wasn't very good at eating them though, there is very little meat on them so it is hard to find. 

The mopane worms are only eaten by certain tribes here. Akani has grown up with them and loves them. First, you get some pap in your hand. Then, you stick on on the Caterpillar and pop both in your mouth! I didn't prefer the mopane worm , but it was a great experience to try it!

My plate!

Sarah tasting the Delicacies :)

Kerry was being silly while she ate her first chicken's foot.

Newton and Vanessa

Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of me eating mine; however, I do have videos so if you are curious just ask me to show you sometime :)

It was very fun night of fellowship and I'm so thankful to our hostess, Heather, and our cooks: Maquena, Lerato, and Vanessa!

Naughty during Naptime

Contrary to the idea you may have based on the pictures... my kiddos aren't completely perfect.. just perfectly cute! Their favorite time to play is naptime! The Bear Cup and the Newbie love to face each other and have a little chat (They are besties.) and Sweetie Pie loves to stand and scream playfully and play in the curtains. I think it is hilarious so I videoed their noises.. the plan was to put that video on here, but it won't upload! I'm so sad! Here's a picture of their naughtiness though!

The Bear Cup flirting with the Newbie during naptime

From the Roots, Up.

A major lesson I am learning here (to go along with THIS post) is to love from my roots up.

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.” Galatians 5:22-23

How do you read these verses? Somehow, I think I am in the habit of skipping the part that says “fruit of the Spirit.” I look at the list and say, “Okay, Christian, this is what you are supposed to look like. GO!”

In discipleship this week, we talked about these verses. Look at a tree. Do the branches push and push and all of a sudden, pop! There is the fruit?! No! The tree and the branches just sit and enjoy the sunshine. The roots though, they dig deep into the soil and soak up the water. The roots are where the fruit comes from. Where are your roots? God is teaching me to plant my roots deep into his love. I want to live from the roots up. I want my roots to be so grounded in the truth of God’s love that fruit abounds. It is time that I stop looking to squeeze out some fruit and start loving God so that the fruit of the Spirit has room to grow.

These nine verses complete sum up what I am learning:

“I am the true vine and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. Abide I me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless you abide in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide I me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered , thrown into the fire, and burned. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish and it will be done for you. By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love.” John 15:1-9

I love the promise that He will prune the branches so that they bear fruit. The pruning may hurt but it is completely worth it! Then right after that we are told that we are already clean! How wonderful! Jesus’ blood wiped away our sins, past, present, and future! “There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus!” (Romans 8:1)

I want so badly to glorify God! This verse tells me how: bear much fruit, prove to be a disciple. And how do I bear much fruit? Abide in his love.

Prayer Request Update: Pray that I would abide in His love! This week I have tried to think about doing each thing I do: holding a baby, mopping a floor, etc because God loves me. Pray that I will continue to do this and continue to realize just how much my Father loves me!