Daughters of South Africa: Thuli and Annika

This piece was written for a site that got hacked and wrecked before it could be posted. So, I decided to run with it here.

While on a trip last March, I was blessed to meet two lovely daughters of South Africa. Both agreed to take time from their busy schedules to sit down with me to answer a few questions. Both spoke to my heart. And both have the most lovely accents. Wish you could hear them.

First up is Thuli Sannie, wife of Stembiso, a local pastor, and mother of Blessing, a delightful toddler that entertained me one afternoon with his laughter and silliness.

What was it like growing up as a woman in South Africa?
I think it was good. I'm happy to be a woman in Africa. I'm proud of it. I think it is very good.

Was there a hard time for you growing up?
I never had a hard time growing up. I had the support of my parents. I'm number five in my family so I had the support of my brothers. We had twelve at home. Six girls and six boys. Thuli is the third girl.

Do you think it is hard to be a man or a woman here?
It depends. It's how you grow up. Men have to work hard to get food and clothes to support the family.

What is one dream you have for your community?
To see the women be independent, having their own business that they can teach others and not have to depend on men. Not having that makes us poor.

What is one dream you have for your family?
To see my family safe. I'm praying for that. For us to love one another, to know each other deeply.

What is one dream you have for yourself?
To help people, to see people have hope, especially the women. Sometimes they don't have hope. My prayer is that God can help me about that. Thuli also desires to help the teenagers not turn to sex so easily. She wants to be courageous in teaching them a different way to live.

What are some of the lessons you think need to be passed down to younger women?
They need to be independent, go to school, not drink and not do drugs. Girls fall pregnant so easily and children grow up without fathers. We need to teach that it is okay to say no to sex.

Annika is an artist, wife of Zach and mother of Ariel, Zoe, and Charlotte. She is on staff with Ten Thousand Homes, an organization dedicated to the orphans of South Africa.

Annika feels she lived a very safe, sheltered life growing up which made for an easy childhood. Her parents were not racist, so she knew very little about apartheid and the horrors that were happening in parts of South Africa. It wasn't a subject covered in school. Because of her family's beliefs they had no qualms when the schools were desegregated.

One of her dreams for the community is to see her sewing project, SOSEW, expand for women struggling to feed their kids. It would give women a skill they enjoy. They would be able to use God's creativity while making a difference in their lives.

She dreams of her family continuing to minister together, that they will always have a heart for what God is doing and engage in that together.

One of the ways Annika connects to God is through her painting. She would love to be able to paint on a regular bases and someday have a gallery of her own. Her artwork can be found hanging in various locations on the Ten Thousand Homes base. The Ten Thousand Homes logo is based on one of her pieces.

When asked about what one lesson she thought needs to be passed down to younger women she answered: The greatest thing you can find is peace with yourself and how God has made you.

Embrace Me

I just finished Embrace Me by Lisa Samson. I'm a BIG Lisa Samson fan. I'm such a big fan that if I ever had the chance to meet her I would be in such awe that I would be speechless. Some of you know that speechless is hard for me.

I think I started crying pretty much nonstop at Chapter Nineteen and it stayed that way until the end of the book. It's not a sad book. I don't do sad. To me sad books are a waste of time.

This sentence from Chapter Three jumped out at me.

"These days, if he approved of me, I know I'd be doing something desperately wrong."

Just as the character's priorities have changed, so have mine. I can so relate to that sentence. There are many people in my life that have a different view of Christianity and The Church than I do. If I did something they approved of I would be scared.

But, as the character, Drew Parrish, grew and changed, I felt God showing me things in my life that he was dealing with in his life. Not on the same levels and exact demons, but still demons none the less. Things that could take over and do a lot of damage to Christ's name. The Christ I am suppose to be representing.

In a lot of ways through this book Lisa was "preaching to the choir" and I thought of the people who just don't get serving Christ in this way, the people that I butt heads with way too often, those who choose to ignore the Red Letters in the Bible. It helped me not think I'm as crazy as some people think I am.

It also deals deeply with pride and forgiveness, things I sometimes feel I will never get a grip on. I could relate to Drew when he talked of things that were too tempting.

So, thanks Lisa for putting it out there. Thanks for writing about what is real.

And, please forgive me for calling you Lisa. I feel as if I know you in a small way, even though, I would be horribly tongue-tied in your presence.

Evangelism & nurturing vs buildings & budgets

I've been reading Follow Me To Freedom - Leading and Following As An Ordinary Radical by Shane Claiborne and John M. Perkins. Been working on it for awhile. It's the kind of book that takes me a long time to get through because I have to put it down and think about it. Fluff books I can burn through in a day or so and I save those for the days I need to completely check out from reality and not think about anything. This isn't one of those books.

This is something I came across today in Conversation 3 - The Vision (Carrying A Cause).

The vision of the family of God relies on evangelism and nurturing. We lose that focus and vision when we fuss too much over buildings, budgets and institutions. Why are we building bigger churches when we have trouble nurturing the people already coming through the doors? Too often, our vision has turned into creating institutions rather than developing people. We have to keep our focus on the people of God-reconciling them to God and to each other. John M. Perkins

Evangelism and nurturing instead of building and budgets? Who would have thunk it?!

Giving when it hurts

I've been reading up on Ten Thousand Homes over the last couple of days and let's just say that I've been extremely impressed and extremely moved.

For a few years now I've known about Ten Thousand Homes because I know a family on the ground with them in South Africa. Their faith family in the States strongly supports the ministry with funds and volunteers.

Over the last couple of days there has been a tug in my soul to visit there, so that's when I started doing more intense research about TTH.

I came across this in their blog.

10K Tuesday: A Sacrificial Gift

Last week, a local volunteer at our Kabokweni Care Center was seen counting her money. When asked why, the volunteer replied that she had seen that one of the orphaned children needed new school clothes and she wanted to help. This volunteer is a single mother with several children of her own and she struggles everyday to put food on her table, but despite all of her own trials she gave from her heart even though it must have hurt.

Creative Action:

This is a challenge for all of us this week. Find a way to give even when it hurts. Whether that means sacrificing your money, time, or emotions, find your own way to give sacrificially, which means ESPECIALLY when it hurts.

WOW!

TTH 2 from Ten Thousand Homes on Vimeo.

So this is Christmas

I have so many mixed feelings about this holiday. It's hard for me to just embrace it completely due to how it originated and the evolution it has gone through over the years.

Some people say that we celebrate on December 25th because we don't know the real date and I get that to a point. We have a cousin that's adopted. Her birthdate isn't known, so they celebrate her gotcha day as her birthday. But, December was chosen so the Christians would have an excuse to party like their nonbeliever friends were in their celebration of Saturnalia and Juvenalia. And the Christians did party. Raucously.

We can thank Washington Irving and Charles Dickens for many of the Christmas traditions that Americans consider holy. You can thank the Victorian Era for the idea of giving your children gifts for the holiday. If you read the story of the birth of Jesus from the actual Bible, you realize really quick that the church has woven together their own version of what happened and as usual, our version is not Biblical. What is sad is that many people who claim to be Christians would rather fight about keeping Christ in Christmas than follow what He taught.

I do know that the Son of God came to earth, shed His glory, and became human. That is a miracle, but it is a miracle that should be celebrated everyday. I'm as guilty as the next person for not doing that.

My favorite Christmas book is The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson. It does a great job at pointing out, in a humorous way, how we screw up the story. This is my favorite part of the book.

They looked like the people you see on the six o'clock news - refugees, sent to wait in some strange ugly place, with all their boxes and sacks around them.

It suddenly occurred to me that this was just the way it must have been for the real Holy Family, stuck away in a barn by people who didn't much care what happened to them. They couldn't have been very neat and tidy either, but more like this Mary and Joseph (Imogene's veil was cockeyed as usual, and Ralph's hair stuck out all around his ears). Imogene had the baby doll but she wasn't carrying it the way she was supposed to, cradled in her arms. She had it slung up over her shoulder and before she put it in the manger she thumped it twice on the back.

Death is final

Death is final and when I say that I mean the life here on earth is forever gone. It's permanent. As in forever more.

The only thing that keeps me from going insane is knowing that Grandmother is a beautiful soul in an earthly shell and the second the shell shuts down she will be with her Father. The one that she has loved and faithfully followed always. It will be beyond glorious, nothing our small minds can even begin to imagine. And she will be perfect and perfectly content.

Tonight, or I guess I should say this morning my tears have finally started flowing in a way that doesn't hint of a let up anytime soon. I've cried on and off since Friday morning, but quickly fended them off.

Not now.

Now I'm in pain thinking of the things that will never be again.
The really bland cookies she makes. Not sure what she does to them, but we eat them all up anyway.
Always being able to count on the ingredients for a Dr. Pepper Float to be on hand.
The best scrambled eggs in the world.
Hugs at the front door.
Her ability to talk for 30 minutes without having to stop to take a breath.
"Sit down here and talk to me" as she pats the couch cushion. And then not being able to get a word in edgewise.
Her way of pronouncing alcohol "alkeyhall" and tacos "tacas".
Her clothes hanging on the line.
Knowing that she starts her days praying for every single one of us.

In those ways death is very final. The day to day things. The things with skin on them. Those will be gone. Forever. And I don't like it one bit. That's where I am right now. Trying to come to grip with this final part. I hate it.

If we could...

"If we could muster a portion of the patriotism we feel toward our earthly nations into a patriotism and bravery in concert with the kingdom of God, the enemy would take fewer casualties to be sure."

Donald Miller, Searching For God Knows What

Loved this when I read it and still do, and with the Olympics and Super Bowl coming on us fast and furiously I think we could probably also say "If we could muster a portion of the devotion we feel toward our team..."

TOMS Holiday Catalog Makes Me Happy

Some of you know that I get plum giddy over TOMS Shoes. Really, I smile just thinking about them. And it isn't just the shoes that make me that way. Yes, they are amazingly comfortable and cute, but it is the mission and concept of the company that make me happy. Wasn't there a real corny cheer once that had H-A-P-P-Y in it somewhere? Sorry, I digress.

Back to the company. If I were young, single, and intelligent I would do everything in my power to work for them. Maybe if I were just young and intelligent I would do everything in my power to work for them. Being none of those things, I will do everything in my power to get the word out about the company.

So, back to being giddy. My TOMS Holiday catalog came yesterday and, as usual, it is just delightful. And my favorite thing, besides the black glitter shoes on page 6 and the Cordones on page 12 and the poem on page 22, is on the back cover.

There you will find TOMS Gift Pack for $50. It is COOL BEANS!
Included is a TOMS $50 gift card, a For Tomorrow DVD (it is wonderful) and a Limited Edition Poster. Plus, of course, you will be giving someone in need a pair of shoes.

If you have someone in your life that prefers their gifts to give a little more this would be perfect for them. And you would be helping get the word out. And that makes me H-A-P-P-Y!

1 Timothy 4:10

The following is from let us bring the Remedy. Her stuff makes me laugh and cry, sometimes at the same time. She is talented that way. She also is a girl after God's own heart. Click here to read the rest of the story.


Speaking bluntly about Jesus wasn't really possible at this conference, so we had to point to Him with our actions. It was so cool talking about integrity and gentleness and perseverance and knowing that the only way to prove it to them was by our actions. And boy, were they watching us. A few of us wore bandannas across our foreheads on Saturday, to keep our hair out of our faces... The store sold out of bandannas that day. Around 30 girls showed up to dinner wearing bandannas the exact same way. It was such a cool reminder that we were being watched. Who were we showing them? When I was reading 1 Timothy today, I found a verse that explained exactly what we did this weekend. And it is so cool:

"We work hard and suffer much in order that people will believe this Truth, for our hope is in the Living God, who is the Savior of all people, and particularly of those who believe."
1 Timothy 4:10

Stripping Dirty Waxed Floors

The place I work in is stripping and re-waxing the floor. Apparently this is done twice a year. Once in the summer and once during Christmas break. You don't really notice the grime until the stripping takes place and the new wax shines.

I've been watching this process for a couple of weeks now. It reminds me of how gunk builds up in my heart. Layer upon layer at a consistent pace. I don't notice because it becomes the norm, just like the brown film on the blue and white tiles. But, it has to be stripped - just like the floors. Sometimes I don't like that. I fight the Sander. I wish I could follow the floor's lead and just let it happen, lie there and let the process take place. Enjoy becoming clean again.

Another thing I've noticed is that the floor isn't mopped everyday so the dirt builds up fast. (Sort of like my kitchen floor, but we aren't going to talk about that now.) Maybe, like my soul, if it was scrubbed everyday it wouldn't take such drastic measures to keep it looking (or feeling) good.

Gunk On/Gunk Off