Happy New Year!

A very Happy and Blessed 2011 to All!! 

Another year is dawning,

Dear Lord, let it be,

In working, or in waiting,

Another year with Thee.

Another year of mercies,

Of faithfulness and grace;

Another year of gladness

In the shining of Thy face.

Another year of progress,

Another year of praise,

Another year of proving

Thy presence all the days.

Another year of service,

Of witness of Thy love,

Another year of training

For holier work above.

Another year is dawning,

Dear Lord, let it be

On earth, or else in heaven

Another year for Thee.

--Francis Ridley Havergal (1874)

December In South Africa

December in S.A. is unlike any other month in the year - it’s major holiday time. It’s the end of the school year and the longest holiday for the schools – they are closed from about the first week in the month till about the second week in January. Most of the factories and many businesses also close for about three weeks over this time.

Although it’s holiday time, December is an extra-busy month somehow! Of course, Christmas and New Year also fall during this period so it’s really a festive month and the shops are packed with people buying Christmas and end-of-the-year gifts. Just don’t expect much service over this time because even though some businesses don’t close except over the public holidays, everyone is in this “relaxed mood” and not much work gets done, or else it gets done very slowly! The shops are usually short-staffed as well and long queues are just something you have to put up.

Fairs pop up all over and it’s a season for parties, parties and more parties all together with excessive eating and drinking. It’s also a time for loads of baking, mainly for Christmas but also for all the extra visitors – it’s a major visiting time!
Lots people go away on holiday, especially to the coast and every place is jam-packed! Unfortunately the bad crime in the country gets even worse over this month.

December is also mid-Summer here so it’s usually very hot. Many people still celebrate Christmas the European way and in the heat, all the preperations for the traditional meal, all the hours spent over hot stoves and the heavy food makes it quite a trial for the cooks! :P

Our family, well at least, my parents, Rachel and I and our one uncle and aunt and their children don’t celebrate Christmas. The busy-ness and chaos makes December our least favourite month but there are some things we enjoy over this time. Dad usually gets to take some leave and it’s lovely having him home with us. Our church usually has a convention over the Christmas week as then most people are able to attend the special service. The meetings are always a blessing and we also have wonderful fellowship! Another nice thing is that we get to visit with family and friends a lot more than usual. :)

In Christ We Have....

    Life that can never die.
       Rest that can never be disturbed.
          Joy that can never be diminished.
             Love that can never be fathomed.
                Peace that can never be understood.
                   Beauty that can never be marred.
                      Glory that can never be clouded.
                          Light that can never be darkened.
                             Happiness that can never be defiled.
                                Wisdom that can never be baffled.
                                    Strength that can never be enfeebled.
                                       Hope that can never be disappointed.
                                          Resources that can never be exhausted.
                                             Righteousness that can never be tarnished.
                                                   ...HOW BLESSED WE ARE!

Hippo To The Rescue

Hippos kill more people in Africa than any other large animal.

They are very dangerous and can be extremely aggressive; yet they sometimes display an amazing gentle side to their nature...There have been a number of accounts of them rescuing other animals that are in distress!

The latest incredible drama happened recently in Tanzania. The rescue was witnessed and video taped by Tom Yule, a South African working in Tanzania as manager for Grumeti Expeditions. He and a tour group were watching the Wildebeest and Zebra migration across the Mara River.

At a certain time every year there is a great migration of wildebeest and zebra across certain areas  - it is one of the greatest spectacles in the natural world. One of the big obstacles in the migrating animals' way is the Mara River. In October this year the river was flowing very strongly as there had been recent heavy rains.

While Tom Yule and the other people in the group were watching the animals crossing the river, they saw a wildebeest calf swept downstream by the strong current. A hippopotamus in the river immediately went after the little wildebeest and placing itself on the downstream side of the calf, nudged it with it's snout and kept it above the water until it could get to the other side and join the rest of the herd. :)

That wasn't the end of the incredible "drama" - a few minutes later a zebra foal was swept away by the water and straight away the hippo went after it and helped it to the opposite side like it had done before. The foal managed to get onto a little rock island very close to the bank but the poor little thing was so exhausted by this time that it just stood there panting.

The hippo then got out of the water and nudged the foal from behind, even gently giving it a little bite at the back to get it moving. The foal moved off the rock across the channel to the opposite bank and then ran off to join the rest of the herd again. :)

Here is the YouTube video:


Isn't God's creation wonderful!!!

Set Your Affection On Things Above

1  If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.

2  Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.

3  For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.

4  When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.

~ Colossians 3:4

You want to belong in heaven. That's where your affections ought to be, on things above. Jesus said, "Set your affections on things above, not on things of the earth. They're going to fail." Stay with God. Stay with realities. God is a God of reality. He's always been in all ages. Any time that man ever walked with God, God become a reality that performed signs and wonders and miracles with His people. It's God's purpose to do so. Surrender all.

Right here in Louisville, Kentucky, not long ago, there was a very nice family of people. They had a sick baby; called to pray for it. The doctor walked out of the hospital. "And what about the baby?"

He said, "That baby's dying. There's nothing else can be done for it." Said, "It's got leukemia." Said, "The baby has to die."

Thought, "O God, You ain't said that yet. You never witnessed that." I went and talked to the parents, and the parents was crying and sobbing. Their baby was gone, as far as they knowed. But what did they do?

The doctor was right. Everything that he knowed to do, he'd done. Leukemia's a killer, and nothing can stop it. Said, “The baby is going to die.”

The old grandfather of that baby... You all know the case. And the old grandfather of that baby come along. When he heard me speak about the baptism of the Holy Spirit, he said, "I used to remember years ago, when an old preacher said there'd come a time that people would receive the Holy Ghost again, and signs and wonders would be done." He went off in a little room to himself. He wouldn't stay with his son or his daughter-in-law no more. He stayed in there, crying and praying. When the old fellow walked out of there, the sweat hanging across his bald forehead, his eyes glistening, said, "That baby will live."

Said, "What?"

He said, "Doctor, I respect you as a man of science. I respect you and your intelligence that you've learned through medical research." But said, "I prayed and I prayed, and I prayed until I surrendered everything I had to surrender, and the Holy Spirit said, 'The baby will live.'" It did. Why? He surrendered everything he had.

~ Br Branham - UNFAILING.REALITIES.OF.GOD 60-0626

Living In A Cloud

For the past two days we have been living in a cloud! Well, at least that's what it's felt like! :) The cause of this has been some unusual weather - unusual at least for South Africa  - and me.
The Summer rains started late this year, but thankfully we've had quite a bit since then. Our "rain" in this part of the country usually means thundershowers of the kind that build up in the heat and then there is something of a cloud-burst with lots of lightening and thunder and sometimes strong winds and hail. When it's all over, the sun comes out again and everything is back to normal and everyone is thankful for the showers. It's not often that we have days of continuous rain.

Rain water pouring down the carport roof like a mini waterfall.

Last weekend, however, it began raining constantly - not the usual thundershower but a quiet, steady rain....and it's hardly stopped since! Then about two afternoons ago the rain changed to a light drizzle and we were shrouded in mist. Now usually when we have mist in the early mornings, it usually clears quite quickly and then the day is very hot. This time the mist just hung there! We live quite high up on a hill  near the edge of a gorge and usually have views for kilometers, well the last couple of days we haven't been able to see past our front gate. I found it very strange, really like being enclosed in a cloud. Even our pets were puzzled at the weather and would stare out the window at the funny sight! :D I suppose this sort of thing is common in many other countries, especially Europe, but I've never experienced this before!

Our cat, Munchkin.

I'm sure it's somehow got something to do with the Leonid meteor shower that happened on the 18th - EVERY time there's a meteor shower, we have strange weather (and miss the "shooting stars", of course!)

Well, this afternoon the mist has finally lifted and although it's still completely overcast and everything is dripping wet, we can see across the gorge again and all the birds and insects are very busy and noisy. The birds are all preening themselves and the bees are visiting the wet flowers.

My reflection (while taking a photo) in a pool of rain water. :)

Here rain is always welcome and it also helps to keep the heat down but the last week and especially the two misty days have made me realise how much we take sunshine and clear weather for granted here in South Africa!

Just for interest:

S.A. is famous for it's sunshine. There are an average of 2993 hours of sunlight per year with an average of 8.2 hours of sunlight per day.

South Africa receives some of the world's best sunshine and experiences some of the highest solar radiation levels in the world .

The Day of Small Things

There is a lad here, which hath five barley loaves,

 and two small fishes:

but what are they among so many?

~JOHN 6:9

"Letters joined make words,

And words to books may grow

As flake on flake, descending,

Forms an avalanche of snow.

A single utterance may good

Or evil thoughts inspire;

One little spark, enkindled,

May set a town on fire.

What volumes may be written

With little drops of ink!

How small a leak, unnoticed,

A mighty ship will sink!

A tiny insect's labour

Makes the coral strand,

And mighty seas are girdled

With grains of golden sand,

A daily penny, saved,

A fortune may begin;

A daily penny squandered,

May lead to vice and sin.

Our life is made entirely

Of moments multiplied,

As little streamlets, joining,

Form the ocean's tide.

Our hours and, aye, our months and years,

Are in small moments given;

They constitute our time below,

Eternity in heaven."

~ The Christian's Daily Challenge

For who hath despised the day of small things?
~ZECHARIAH 4:10

The Trees Are Raining!

It's that time of the year again when we have the "Raining Tree" season. For anyone not familiar with this, it can seem quite mysterious and sometimes be annoying! In the evening certain trees start dripping water - though there may not be a sign of a cloud in the sky and it only "rains" puddles under the tree!

Sometimes you can hear the drops falling on the paving or on leaves or flowers that are lying on the ground. If you are standing nearby, you will also have it raining on you! It can be a puzzle!! :-?

Actually it's not the tree but a small insect that causes the "rain"! It's the nymph of Ptyelus grossus, (much easier called a  froghopper).To protect themselves from the sun the nymphs cover themselves with a foamy substance.



The insects get nourishment by piercing the bark of the tree with their mouthparts and sucking up the sap at a fast pace. They then eject almost pure water just as fast, and this drips from the tree to form pools on the ground below.
Although froghoppers are found in many other places in the world, many African people are very superstitious of trees that "rain" and there are lots of stories about them.

The area where we are staying, (including our garden), has a lot of trees that are used by these insects, so we often have to dodge the "raindrops". I had to laugh when I read about a man who was really complaining about the raining trees. He said that not long after he moved house, he discovered that the large tree outside the backdoor (and it towers over the washing line, as well), was a rain tree and that it dripped so much that everytime he and his wife went outside they had to use umbrellas when passing under the tree to get to the car! He was very upset and longed to chop the tree down, but they were only renting the house so the tree had to stay - to the froghoppers delight, I'm sure! :D

The "Rain Tree" in our garden.

Halo Around The Sun

South Africans were treated to quite a rare sight in the sky yesterday - a perfect rainbow halo around the Sun. The sight caused quite a stir and made headlines in the news - with lots of photos on the net as well.

The scientific explanation is that the halo is caused by light reflecting off tiny ice-crystals or water droplets very high in the sky. The thing about theses halos is that they can't be predicted like eclipses, the conditions for them to form have to be absoultely right. The conditions that form halos often cause rain and this is what happened yesterday evening, we had heavy showers of rain. Sometimes halos appear as arcs and other times, like yesterday, they completely surround the Sun. Like all of creation, they are wonderful masterpieces of the Lord's work!

 And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:

- Genesis 1:14

My Time Is In His Hands

5 Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.

6 In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

Proverbs 3:5-6

Do as David did, put your future into His hands. Don't look to anything else, ... David said here, he said, "My time is in His hands." You notice here in the Psalms where we read it in 62, "My time is in His hand. He's my Rock." What is He? "He is revealed to me. He's the revealed Truth. My time is in His hands." Amen. Oh, my. There you are.
My time belongs to Him. I am His. I'm in His hand because He holds the time. I don't know what the future holds, but I know He holds the future. So He Who holds the future holds me...
I just put myself in His hands, walk like David did, "My time is in His hand," knew that God held the future. David didn't know what the future was, but he knowed God had the future. I don't know what the future is, none of us do. But we know He holds the future.

Br. William Branham - SHALOM 64-0112

South Africa's National Anthem

The Anthem includes five of South Africa's 11 official languages. The first stanza is in isiXhosa and isiZulu; the second stanza, Sesotho; the third stanza is in Afrikaans and then the last in English.

The Journey Home

Our journey back home after our wonderful stay in the Bushveld was lovely in itself. We drove up the Abel Erasmas Pass and through parts of the Blyde River Canyon which is really scenic. There is SO much to see and do in this area but we only had time for a couple of stops....

Roadside stalls are scattered along the main road in places. They normally sell different kinds of fruit and nuts that are in season. Oranges, naartjies, litchis, avocado pears and bananas are the most popular at the moment. We bought a box of avos to take home to Gran. :)

Other stalls sell handmade crafts and curios.

By now we were high up on the escarpment and we stopped at WonderView (this is the highest viewpoint in the area at an altitude of 1730 m) and God's Window (below).

Both viewpoints have incredible views, you can see for kilometers kilometers. As the area is in the mist belt you actually need a clear day to really appreciate the view. Unfortunately we were there quite early and there was still a lot of mist around but the views were still very lovely.

We then worked our way back to the small town of Sabie and went for a lovely walk through the forest to the Lone Creek Falls.

It's such a beautiful place! Pictures and words can't begin to describe what it was like being there! It was so refreshing as well, especially with the spray from the waterfall blowing on us! There were so many birds calling and lots of huge different kinds of butterflies fluttering around.

The riverbed is very rocky...

 Rachel walked through it to get to the other side. You can't see it on the photo, but there were butterflies dancing all around her. The soft afternoon sunlight coming through the forest really made this a beautiful scene!

Well, this is the last post on our weekend away; we really had a wonderful time and we thank the Lord for making it possible and for travelling mercies, safe-keeping; and all the special moments!

Spoor and Footprints

On Sunday we were up at sunrise and after a quick breakfast snack we set out for a walk.

There is a walking trail that can be followed that makes a circle through the reserve. As we were pressed for time we didn't follow this but instead stuck to the road and then went off into the bush along some game trails and then worked our way back to the rondawel.

 Although it was already quite hot, it's lovely being out early. We had a great time and came across all kinds of interesting things as well as a lot of spoor of animals that had walk in the road and we added our footprints to theirs. :)

In the picture above you can see the hoof-print of a giraffe. We followed the spoor for quite a while until it went off into the bush near a small dam.

Giraffe

We also came across this little paw-print that was probably made by one of rhe smaller wild cats or a civet.

We met up with a lot of warthog families. They look and act so funny, but are so cute! :D Warthogs often use termite mounds to sleep in.

The highlight of the morning came just after we passed this small waterhole and came across a family of Aardvarks ouside their burrow in a large termite mound.

Aardvarks are nocturnal animals and also very shy so it's not often that you get to see them. They all disappeared round the other side of the mound the minute they saw us (didn't know they could move that fast!). Sadly no chance for a photo but the picture underneath will give you an idea of what they look like. It was really special to see them!

Although there are Leopard, Cheetah, Wild Dog and Spotted Hyena in the reserve we didn't come across any of them, but did see some evidence of 'meals' some of them had, like this half-a-ribcage.

Here's a picture of Mom bring up the rear - it also explains why so many of the photos of Rachel and I are taken from the back! :P For Mom walking in the bush is like reading a book of the area. She notices everything - from the different patterns on the tree trunks, to tiny insect trails and nests and she enjoys it all so much. But this means she's always lagging behind and Dad is always stopping to wait for her to catch up. :) Rachel and I are then usually in the middle. The three of us usually do a lot of back-tracking because  Mom is often calling us back to look at something she's found. We don't mind at all though as whatever it is, it is always interesting. :)

You often come across little antlion burrows in the sand. At one place there was a group of really large ones.From the largest creature to the smallest, God's creation is so incredible!

We were all sad when it was time to end our walk and our stay. After we had packed up everything we we went to hand in the rondawel keys and had a long fascinating talk with the reserve manager.

We then left to slowly make our way back home. We just can't wait to go back to the reserve again. Hopefully by then the rains would have come and the bush will be lush and green.

Showers of Blessings!

It's raining!!! :)
As I'm typing this I'm listening to the wonderful sound of steady rain and the almost constant roll of distant thunder. We've flung open all the doors an windows, there's a wonderful coolness coming through the house and the smell of damp earth and a mixture of flower scents. We aren't the only ones rejoicing - you can almost "see" the plants drinking up the rain and the birds are bathing on the damp leaves or in the puddles on the ground. Winter's drought is broken - even the weather sticker on the side of my blog is showing a background of rainy weather at this time so it must be quite widespread! :)

How we thank the Lord for His wonderful showers of blessings - outside and inside, and most of all in our souls!!

There will be showers of blessing: 

This is the promise of love;

There shall be seasons refreshing,

Sent from the Saviour above.

Refrain: Showers of blessing,

Showers of blessing we need:

Mercy-drops round us are falling,

But for the showers we plead.

There shall be showers of blessing,

Precious reviving again;

Over the hills and the valleys,

Sound of abundance of rain.

There shall be showers of blessing;
Send them upon us, O Lord;

Grant to us now a refreshing,

Come, and now honor Thy Word.

Refrain

There shall be showers of blessing:

Oh, that today they might fall,

Now as to God we’re confessing,

Now as on Jesus we call!

Refrain

There shall be showers of blessing,

If we but trust and obey;

There shall be seasons refreshing,

If we let God have His way.

~ Daniel W. Whittle

Fun Drives and a "Burglary"

Late on Saturday afternoon we went for a drive through the reserve where we were staying.

 Jess and I had a good view from the back of the bakkie though at times we had to do quite a bit of ducking to avoid branches overhead and on the sides and so that we wouldn't be 'punctured' by thorn trees. :P

We saw quite a lot of different animals like Impala, Nyala, Warthogs, Grey Duiker, Giraffe, three majestic male Kudu with incredibly long horns, also lots of different kinds of birds. Unfortunately we couldn't get very good photos of them and many darted off before we could even point the camera in their direction.

Small herd of Impala

Termite mounds are a favourite home for many animals. They make burrows in the mound. The Dwalf Mongooses we came across had used one for their home. We couldn't get a picture of them as they went scurrying off into the burrow so quickly! Here's a picture though of what they look like - they are so very cute! :)

There are a number of hides in the game reserve, this one overlooks a small dam, there was a family of warthogs having a mudbath at the edge of the water and they weren't too happy about being disturbed! :)

Driving back to our rondawels we didn't know just what was waiting for us!... We opened the front door and got a shock! In fact, at first we couldn't believe what we were seeing....We'd seen a similar scene when our house was burgled - things were lying all around, one of the window screens had been ripped off the windows, our suitcase was lying open on the floor!! For a minute there we were really depressed to think that such a thing had happened here - that's until we saw the naartjie peels lying all over the place! :D The "burglars" were the monkeys!! They are so clever- they had actually lifted up the insect screen on the window and got in that way. They obviously had quite a time going through everything, even opening our bag, the little terrors! There were paw prints all over our parents bed so they must have been jumping on there. The dressingtable cloth also had paw marks on it and the mirror had 'smudgy' marks, ( I wonder what they thought of their reflections?)  :)

They inspected the bathroom and opened the soap wrapper - there were dirty little finger marks on the white soap. The funniest thing of all is that they had actually used one of Dad's hankichiefs to put the naartjie pips in - yes, they really did that!! =))

Well, they gave us a nice lot of clean-up work to do but we were all laughing through it, imagining just how they must have been carrying on. Naughty, clever creatures!

One of the culprits with his "spoils" ! :P :D

The end of our two packets of naartjies. :P

 Late that night, after our braai we went for a night drive. We didn't really see much but it's quite an experience being out there in the dark. And it's really dark! At one stage Dad stopped the car and switched off the lights for a few seconds, it was just blackness all around, we couldn't even see our hands in front of our faces. We couldn't see anything! How much we appreciate the light then and how thankful we are for the Light of God's Word!