I think I'm going to enjoy being 35...(cont.)

Oh yeah, and I weighed myself yesterday and found out I lost a ton of weight since we moved...
...oh, happy day!

I think I'm going to enjoy being 35...

Yesterday may have been my best birthday ever - though maybe others have been pretty fantastic. I really enjoyed all that Karrie and the kids did to make it special for me. There were also two other things that REALLY made it stand out for me.

1 - I got to be a "messenger" of life-changing news yesterday to Sululu (this hero of a lady who has taken in children to her home with reckless abandon, and has given up almost everything that she had so these children could be cared for.). She was completely at the end of her rope, and was faced with having to sell what she had here in Arandis and move the children to a cheaper but less secure location just so she could hold onto them. This house - worth about $3,000 to $4,000 US - is the only real possession that she had left to sell. But God provided a different way, and I was able to participate in delivering some good news to her. Our ministry will help her and her children both financially and in other ways. And the highlight for me was personally handing to her, in cash, the amount she needed to pay off the remaining bank note and get the house in HER name once and for all! Her children will ALWAYS have a place to live now, and no one can lawfully take that away from her.

We love this lady, and have chosen to lock arms with her. She is truly living the call of God and has given up EVERYTHING to take care of these children. We were able to tell her now that she "is not alone" - and back that up with action.

Truly, my role was only one of obedience to God's will and nothing more. Honestly. But, to even play a role at all was a huge boost to my heart. She told me later, "when I was at the end of my rope, you tied the knot for me. I would have had nothing to hold on to were it not for you." I took the opportunity to point to God as the one who was the real provider. I sure didn't want to take the glory away from God in this.

This had a HUGE impact on my heart. If asked by someone "why did you move your family half-way across the world to a dry and dirty place like Arandis?" I would say nothing. I would just take them to visit Sululu's children. They ask for nothing. Nothing! But they have real, genuine need. Food, clothing, housing - yes. But more than that, they need people who demonstrate to them by their actions just how special they are. I have grown VERY close to her children. Some have even begun to call me "dad" sometimes. One of them wrote to me recently that I am the only "father" that they've ever had. Not many things make me cry. That one did.

Yesterday was an extremely emotional day for them - and for me as well.

2 - That story was awesome, but also meaningful to me personally were all the birthday cards Sululu's kids made for me. Take a look at the one below from Franciska (11 yrs old)...



Yep - that bald man in the big hat is supposed to be me. :-)


I am still in the reverie of the moment...

Dr/Mrs/Auntie/Teacher/Chef/Mommy Karrie

Oh she's wearing lots of hats these days...

I just wanted to give props to my wife, particularly as she has been pulled and stretched in so many different directions recently.

"Teacher" Karrie, working at the school with the 4/5th grade class.

And now, she's playing single mom as I've had to make another trip into Windhoek overnight.

Thank you honey, just for being you...

-Steve

Movie Nights at the Graham's

We watched "Lilo and Stitch" a couple weeks ago, and then "Spiderman 3" a couple nights ago. Many of the children in the picture are staying on their own right now at a house nearby. We've been doing our best to keep an eye on them and make sure they have everything they need. You may think that "movie night" is a highlight for them... but I have to say it's more of a highlight for me!


The word "ohana" comes up in "Lilo and Stitch" pretty frequently, which apparently means "family" in the language of the Hawaiin people. The story is about orphaned siblings - with just an older sister raising a younger sister - who find a delinquent alien creature they think is just a rude, ugly dog who decides he wants to be part of their family whether it's a normal family or not. I promise, the movie selection wasn't done intentionally. They picked it out to watch, and they'd never seen it before.

But, man, the parallels are striking. They are from families torn apart by disease and poverty, and the older ones are basically raising all of the little ones themselves, and it's not easy. And I KNOW they would all give anything to be in a permanent family. They never turn down an invitation to come to our house. Never. We're doing all we can to watch out for them, but I wish we could do more.

I'll tell you what, if I could just adopt them all we would - they're absolutely great kids! I hear that they might be moved to Windhoek to stay there at the end of the year. I know that's best for them, but I love these kids... and I'll miss them terribly when they go.

-Steve

P.S. And also, Karrie made cookies with them the other night. It was their first time ever...

Living here in Namibia is like living in a huge zoo...

... or maybe a combination Zoo-Daycare center. :-)

I'm not sure what this zebra was doing here at a fence along the road [almost the entire country has fences along the roads to keep the kudu (moose-sized deer-like animals) from running out into the road], because it's not a game park and they tend to live up in more northern areas of the country.

I'm guessing he was tame, because when we came to a screeching halt, pulled over, walked right up to the fence, he just came right over to us. He was so excited that he almost pulled the fence down as he was leaning on it.

Special Delivery

Karrie got to play the role of midwife (kinda) recently. She accompanied our Afrikaans' language tutor to the hospital for the birth of her baby, and was sort of a labor coach for her. Well, the nurses at the state run hospital there didn't seem to care too much, and there was no doctor to be found. After a while, well, they had a baby. Karrie was glowing following that experience, to say the least.

Chriszelda with her new son "Imanuel" at one day old. He's pretty cozy!

Another funny antecdote

It came out recently that Kailey was born in Kentucky. Mind you, the only frame of reference that the people here have for the word "Kentucky" involves the one and only American restaurant chain in this country (only in the big towns/tourists locales).

So, all of Kailey's friends here now say she was born in a KFC.

I think I find it funnier than Kailey does.

August 2008 Newsletter

I almost forgot to post the link to the newsletter... but I didn't. So, here you go:

Download Newsletter

The Advocate

For some reason I've been spending a lot of time thinking lately on the meaning of the word "advocate". There are four definitions given for the word at Dictionary.com. The one I identify with the most is "a person who pleads for or in behalf of another; intercessor". Generally speaking, the word has a legal meaning, which is why 3 of the 4 definitions given are related to official use of the word. My thoughts and day dreams have been more along the lines of a non-legal use. The image that I dwell on the most is of a superhero interceding to save the life of a young child. It's The Powerful stepping in on the behalf of The Powerless.

You know, that's the person I want to be. The one who steps in to help the weakling. Now, I'm under no illusions - I don't consider myself very powerful...but instead the life that now lives inside of me bears a level of power we usually describe as omnipotent. The Jesus who lives in me (and every other true believer on the entire planet) is the same one who came to earth to step in the way of the freight train we know of as "eternal death" to protect us.

I think the perspective of the "advocate" is what is behind the wording we find in James 1:27, which reads "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world"(NIV). Have you ever just sat and thought about that passage? Who is more vulnerable and seemingly hopeless than children with no parents, and women with no way to earn a living? Even the hungry dog outside my yard right now knows how to search for food. The ability to sniff out food is innate in a dog, but not in a child. Even the dog is born with teeth sharp enough to fight most everything off by himself. Even the strongest of children would die quickly without food, water, and shelter. Few have even the inborn strength to forage for themselves at younger ages. And, of course, since there's no natural source of food, water, or shelter where we live, what hope do hungry children have except for the help of an adult. Of course, that scenario in itself requires having adults around who care about the children more than their next sip of brew. So, I cannot help but ask the question to myself... who will be the advocate here?

For that matter, what about the meekness of most women (the use of the word "meek" is not meant as a derogatory description - I promise)? In some cultures, women are less valued than the physical possessions of a man. In fact, in many cultures, the woman IS a physical possession of the man. Those ideas are certainly not foreign here. So how little worth does society place on a woman who no longer brings a dowry to the table? The widow usually inherits NOTHING, and is no longer the "daughter" of their family of origin. What is a woman with no wealth and no future supposed to do when the "tigers come at night". Usually she ends up being swallowed up by the tigers. Who is her advocate?

A couple weeks ago I pulled up to a small lodge in town to meet with a guy who does some carpentry work for me. Behind the lodge is a dumpster. That day I found a boy (maybe 5 years old) and a girl (maybe 7) searching through the dumpster. The children here can be found sometimes looking for either edible food, or for glass bottles that they can turn in for the small change of a bottle deposit so they can buy bread to eat. I took some individually wrapped biscuits/cookies out of my car and offered them something to eat (thank you Caroline Webb for the idea). Of course, I didn't even finish the question of "would you like some..." before they interrupted with a resounding "yes". I realized in that moment that the children were likely fending for themselves. I would like to have spent more time with them, but they quickly scurried off - most likely to avoid competition from other, healthier/stronger children who would have been happy to take away their snack. I ask myself now - who is the advocate for these children? Where are the adults who are supposed to look after them?

Every day here in town I meet someone who is asking for something. For some, it's money, food, or clothes. For others, it's a job. Honestly, some are just asking for a drink of booze - a way out of their pain and misery. In a country so beautifully situated for the immense tourism market and the wealth of mining it seems a travesty that so many are still treading water in the financial world's sea of forgetfulness. Who will be their advocate?

You know, there could be a million "advocates" that show up in this country, and there still wouldn't be enough. The poverty that exists here goes beyond the surface of physical and social need. In fact, the physical poverty here may be the least of the concerns I see. There's some sort of spirit that I can feel here that is the opposite of "advocacy". I tend to think it's called "oppression" -> which is the spirit that motivates the powerful to seek out the weak for purposes of exploitation. The oppression I think we're witnessing here is too great to be overcome simply by the effectiveness of welfare ministries. The battle against flesh and blood is useless in the face of this type of oppression. This country won it's independence less than one generation ago using that sort of tactic. Now, they are fighting here for a different type of independence, and the tactics must change.

You know, I haven't really finished my thinking about the true meaning of advocacy. Even the last few paragraphs are just a matter of thinking out-loud. It's a good thing that the answer doesn't depend on me. It's a good thing that Jesus already stepped into the chasm between man and God to stand on our behalf as OUR ADVOCATE. And through the power of Jesus Himself I am confident that we will be able to truly make a difference here. Through Him we can be advocates. And so can you.

From the files of useless but funny antecdotes...

So, upon hearing about how when Kailey was younger, and before we adopted Josiah, Kailey prayed and asked God for a brother - Josiah now feels like he was an "answer to prayer" (of course, with a twist of pride in it). So there's the background, now here's the conversation that just happened:

Kailey: "Josiah, stop being annoying"
Josiah: "Did you pray for a brother who wasn't annoying?"
Kailey: "No"
Josiah: "Well, there you go then!"

Dad/Steve: "wow... I mean WOW" (and then, laughs his head off)

Have a nice day everyone!!!