SAND! No Kidding?!

This has got to be my most favorite road sign ever... I mean EVER.

(in case it's not obvious...)

This can be found on the drive from Swakopmund to Walvis Bay (just a bit west of us on the coastline of Namibia).

For those of you who saw the spider post and got scared off...

I know that some of you who were considering a visit got a little creeped out by the picture of the camel spider. So, to help you with your decision, I decided to put up another picture of the nearby coastline...

(click the picture to enlarge)

Now. Who wants to visit?

Arandis Current Events

Well, Arandis made the news. One of the ladies who works at the local bakery in Arandis gave birth to conjoined twins (at the hospital in Swakop). It's the talk of the town at this point. The good news is that the twins don't share any organs, and so an operation is possible. I hear that the next step will be setting up a fund - because it will have to happen in South Africa, where the medical system is considerably better. Not sure what the plans are after that.

Here's the article:
http://www.namibian.com.na/2008/October/national/08321C3AFA.html

Why did it take me so long?

We finally have an updated family photo, and you'll now see it on the right side of the blog. The old one was quite nice, but it was 2 years old.

Here's a slightly larger version for your viewing pleasure (meant tongue-in-cheek of course)...

Yeah, Josiah looks a little bothered, but he really wasn't... really.

I tried to photoshop it, but it just wasn't working for me...

Does anyone know what this thing is??

I have not seen one of these things before. It's not a scorpion, and it's not a spider. It's kinda like a cross between them.


Anyhow, I was just curious if one of my arachnid-enthused buddies (ok, Wes, mostly you...) could fill me in?? The body is about 3 inches long, I think it has/had 8 legs (though, 2 appendages could also be legs or something else - it's not obvious on this squished specimen), and two pincers at the head. It does NOT have a stinger-tail like a scorpion.

And for those of you considering coming to visit- don't get scared off. I found this dead outside the shops in town, not at a house, and it's the first time I've seen one. No one around was able to tell me what it was, so I don't figure it's too common.

Oh yeah, and God didn't give you a spirit of fear anyhow, so quit the quiverin'...

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.