The gift

Anandi comes up to me one day shortly after Ivan’s birth and says “Thank you, Mom.” Now when Anandi says that without being polite it usually means trouble. Like “Thank you for the ladybirds I can keep in my room (on a plant, not a in a box!)” or “Thank you for the pack of biscuits I’ve just finished”. So, I suspiciously ask “For what?” She answers, “You know, for the baby.” It has been an amazing journey for us to receive Ivan into our family. We are thankful to finally hold him in our arms. He is very sweet, sleeps most of the night and is growing by the hour it seems – already above 5 kg after 8 weeks. He is also interacting with us with smiles and little noises (loud and impolite ones too!).

As Christmas is nearing I am thinking of the message it proclaims: God gave His Son. I cannot imagine giving my son for anyone, but God gave His Son for everyone. Why would a loving God and Father do that? It was only for love’s sake. He knows each person he created will make mistakes along the way. To stay true to His character He had to punish us. So to save us from His wrath – that we cannot survive – He punished His own Son in our place. I already got my Christmas gift this year, the gift of a son, Ivan. Long ago I accepted the gift from God, His Son, who gave me a new life. I hope you will accept it too.

Thank you for all the letters we received. I hope to reply to each. I am still struggling to find the time and energy to do all I’ve done before Ivan’s birth. But I don’t try too hard, because I love spending time with him. If this letter does not make sense, it’s because a really tired person wrote it J.

“I love these little people;
and it is not a slight thing when they,
who are so fresh from God, love us.”

- Charles Dickens

3,2,1 ...

The kids started their countdown from 150 and we are now at 3 nights before we welcome baby into our home. I am going for a cesarean on Friday morning. It's very special for us that al three our children will be born in India, at the same hospital with the same doctor with a period of 7 years and 4 moves in between. Please pray that everything will go well in Friday and that we will be able to come home soon.

In the mean time Nadia became 10 and Anandi became 7 years old. The weather finally sizzled down after a very long, hot summer. After experiencing some back pain, the children and I decided to join a swimming club for almost 2 months. It was just what I needed to cool down and feel as light as a feather. The zoo is doing well too. Happy and Lucky are big and naughty. Squirt got a new fish tank as home and discovered ways to ask for food if we are too slow. We almost had baby birds too, but they did not make it - that was almost a relieve. In our garden we've discovered bees, giant bats, monkeys, chipmunks, a snake, rats, etc. Stephan is going to write a book one day called "Hunting domestic animals".

I find life in India more and more harsh. I see more selfishness, hardness and arrogance. It is difficult to be different, when you feel bullied all the time. But God asks of us to bear His fruit like love, patience, friendliness, humbleness and selfcontrol. He also gives us the power through His Holy Spirit to do this. But I still blow my horn sometimes and I want to hit back when someone tries to harm me in some way. It's a daily struggle, but what a difference it would make if someone decides not to hit back any more, but rather turn the other cheek and forgive. I hope to become more and more like Jesus.

"But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with everincreasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit." - 2 Cor. 3:16-18, The Bible.

Adventure in the mountains

It has been too long since I've written anything, but here I am again.

Happy and Lucky are growing and are starting to challenge Nadia and Anandi about who's really the boss. It is great fun to watch the competition. The dogs found an Indian tent water turtle in our yard. It is still a mystery where he came from. So now we have another pet named, Squirt. It was a bit of a problem trying to figure out what to feed it, until Stephan shot a fly into his bucket. Squirt took the bait immediately. So he is a carnivore and loves insects. You can imagine the fun the kids have with Stephan catching insects and the look of horror on my face whenever I accidentally look into the bucket at feeding time. Yes, the whole zoo came back this summer and we are fighting to keep them outside.

On Saturday we went to Kasauli. We know it is a risk traveling in India while pregnant, but we needed to get out of hot Chandigarh (above 40 each day). This time we discovered a trail we've never seen before, the Gilbert Nature Trail. The board did not tell us how long the trail is and if it will bring us back to Kasauli, but being adventurers, we started walking. It went on and on and so did we. It became very hot and we almost finished all the water we had. After about 3 km we realized there's no circle route, we had to go back the same way. But there was a thunderstorm brewing above us. Far below we saw a gravel road that went in the direction of Kasauli. In the mean time an old man, who probably lived his whole life in the mountains, caught up with us and warned us that the weather was very bad and threatened us with very big hailstones. He invited us to stay with him, but his house was also far away. Kasauli was about 6km away. There was a town in sight and we ask him if we could buy water or Coke there. No, they don't need bottled water or Coke there. So we had little choice but to get out under the trees, risk the steep, slippery road over the pine needles and go down to the gravel road heading back to Kasauli. In the mean time thunder was crashing around us and it started to rain. But it only lasted about 10 minutes. It did not solve our water problem though. The rain cooled down the temperature quite a bit, but we were thirsty. At the point I thought I couldn't give one more step, we saw a shop with a fridge and all the water we needed for the rest of the trip. We walked nearly 12km on Saturday.

God got all the honor for our safe arrival at the car. We had an interesting discussing, about how the events of the day convinced the kids that God is real. Most people I know belief God is real, but many of them struggle to believe that He cares about us and the problems we face each day. I belief He does, even the very small details. A day like Saturday, was the perfect reminder of that fact.

God: "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you." - Heb 13:5.

Happy and Lucky

Warning: This email should be read with discretion – check today’s date! No Afrikaans this time (I find it difficult to do wordplay in 2 languages on the same words).

We adopted two Chandigarh street dogs, which happily came waltzing through our gate one morning. We named them Happy and Lucky. Lucky felt at home immediately, but Happy needed at least two bowls of food to be happy with this arrangement. At some point Happy became very unhappy and didn’t feel so lucky anymore, but after more food rations, he was happy again. Lucky has never been lucky and always gets her paw into the food bowl, but she is always a happy dog.

The geckos are happy these days and should consider themselves very lucky. I’ve made my peace with them and decided to welcome them into my home. The children and I keep a keen eye on them while they eat all the mosquitoes and other awful insects that are not welcome yet. We already have 7 little friends staying in our home. It is just a bit risky to put on the fan. Murphy’s Law dictates that if there is a gecko on the fan it will fall on a person in the room.

The children and I are pushing on with the home schooling. It’s hard work, but we enjoy it! We are happy with this way of education and feel very lucky to be able to do it. I’m learning a lot too.

I discovered a way to get rid of unwanted gardeners. I just have to ask them to clean the paths in the garden and pick up the doggie pooh. They simply refuse – it’s too low a job to do – a practical application of the caste system. I liked the last gardener and I told him that I will do it from now on – so now Stephan is the lucky one who gets to do it – but he is not too happy either.

We are happy to announce that we became lucky and are hoping to extend our family by end of October. This happened right after deciding not to extend our family anymore. We are happy-go-lucky about this new event in our lives.

We were singing "Jesus, all for Jesus" in church on Sunday. Anandi tapped me on the shoulder and asked, "Why do you sing ‘Jesus, awful Jesus’?" Maybe it was the expression on our faces that gave her that in impression. Sometime we hide our joy so well. We are happy or unhappy according to our circumstances and if our circumstances change we say we are lucky or unlucky. But JOY found in Jesus lasts forever – through all circumstances - because we know God loves us and will never forsake us – no matter what the circumstances might be.

But the truth is: I'll never live in peace with the geckos - the rest is all true :-).

Jaipur

Before Stephan’s parents went back to SA we took them to Jaipur. It is one of those places about which I have mixed feelings. I love the detail, with which they decorate just about everything – from buildings to animals. I just hate the traffic, poverty and dirt.

A young boy, Aditya, taught us how to fly a kite – they grow in trees there :-). We saw people sleeping on the pavement – lots of them. All kinds of animals work and roam around like camels, elephants, donkeys, cows and pigs. We had to find our way in intertwining spirally roads. We visited old forts and castles. I’ve met a miniature-painting artist that showed me how he paints with a mountain stone and squirrel tail brush – yes, I tried it too and it didn’t work :-). I did some hard bargaining in Bapu Bazaar and got things for half the price offered.

Murderous look:
One day while visiting the fort on the hill in Jaipur I heard some fighting. I saw a small man being dragged by his neck by a huge angry man. It was obvious that the small man did something very wrong. But I could not believe how the offended and his friends treated him – they kicked him in the back, slapped him on his head and barely gave him space to breath while they strangled him. I could not watch this any longer and being the brave/stupid kind I shouted at the huge man in my loudest voice – “Kya hoa?!” (What’s going on?!) It was then that he gave me the murderous look. At that moment my courage failed and I just watched like everyone else as this man was being dragged away – I was certain to his grave. I prayed for his protection and took a snap just in case the police needed it.



Recently I’ve read the book “The White Tiger” by Aravind Adiga. It helped me to understand the complex Indian culture and society a bit more, maybe even explained what happened at the fort. I had to ask myself if I look at people the way society prescribes or like God, who loves each one of us equally and unconditionally. Another scary moment …



“My greatest challenge has been to change the mindset of people. Mindsets play strange tricks on us. We see things the way our minds have instructed our eyes to see.” - Muhammad Yunus