Update from Whale Hunting

After looking on the horizon for a few minutes, we saw an amazing show from a whale.  He was far away, but he was jumping out of the water and making huge splashes!  It was AMAZING!  We went to this awesome Deli called the Olympia Cafe and went window shopping.  I saw these really cute dresses for like R500, and I kept reminding Matt that I would like a new dress for Karis' wedding.  Haha, we'll see...I'm not sure how keen I am about spending R500.  The dresses had this sweet, vintage look; maybe I can make one for a whole lot less ;)

Anyway, today has been a day of cleaning.  Sometimes I feel like I'm Susy Homemaker meets Nancy Drew.  Like, I really have a desire to have a nice, cute, home, but I totally was cut out for something more mind-boggling, like solving mysteries.  But actually, I really like my style of my house.  It's very simple...no frills...just the basics.  It's easier to clean that way.  The less things you have, the less you have to dust.  Plus, I imagine there was a day where Nancy decided it was time to hang up the magnifying glass and go ahead and tie the knot with Ned.  It's just, as I so poignantly read in Ecclesiastes, that there's a time for everything...and it's my time to CLEAN and not solve mysteries.  

So...I'll keep you posted.  We're going on a retreat tomorrow, so I'll let everyone know how that goes!  

Have a delightful day!

I thought I'd share with you all a quite humorous story that happened yesterday.  

Sunday morning is the day that we have to wake up at 5:15am to set up for church.  Since our entire church is portable (meaning we don't own the venue; we rent it), we have to set it up every Sunday.  It's not like America where there's acres of unused land where you can just purchase, chop down some trees, and up goes a church building.  When one outgrows their previous venue, there's really few options available as far as expansion goes.  So...we rent, meaning we take about 2 hours to set up everything, run sound check, do a run through of the service, have breakfast, and then do the service.  Then, after service is done, we take it all down again and pack it away until the next week.  

That being said, it is quite important that we start on time, specifically in Matt's case, reason being that Matt has the only key to the store room where all of our decor and equipment is.  Well, as usual, Saturday night, we set our alarm, go to bed at the late hour of 9:45, and snooze away.  The next thing I remember was Matt's cellphone alarm going off, only it wasn't the alarm, it was someone calling him.  As I opened my eyes, I saw that the sun was up.  You know that horrible feeling you have when you put 2 and 2 together and realize, "Wait a second!  The sun isn't supposed to be up when I wake up!"  It's like the pleasantries of waking up to the sun only to realize two seconds later that you were supposed to be up a LONG time ago.  That all went through my head in about a half of a second, followed by Matt saying, "Rachel!  It's 6:15, we overslept!"  The guys from church were calling us wondering where we were, waiting for the key to the store room!  Oops!  Needless to say, we got ready at hyper speed, probably quicker than ever before on a Sunday morning.  

All was fine, but it was just one of those mornings where you have no idea how you overslept, but you did.  

Anyway, Matt and I are going to go on an adventure today to search for whales!  We saw some yesterday but they were very far away; hopefully today we get a better view.  

Also this week we're going on a retreat to learn about how to be better Small Group Leaders!  We're very excited about that!  And then next week, we start training our InsideOut Small Group Leaders!  Lots of exciting plans on the books for Matt and myself.  We will continue to update!

More pots later...I have some good ideas for posts brooding in my brain, and I'm sure I'll have some exciting stories after today's adventures!  

Rainy day in Cape Town

Well, today is yet another rainy day in Cape Town.  Winter is like that house guest that overstays its welcome, and just when you think it's about to get up and leave, it's actually only going to get another cup of coffee and sit back down for a while.  :Sigh:  

I've been blog hunting lately, looking for exciting blogs that exist out there.  The concept of blogs is so fascinating, I think.  There's so many sorts out there with so many different purposes, and for some reason, I find it just as fascinating to spend my time getting in the mind of these people that I hardly even know!  Lately, I've been looking at these new mother blogs (NO, I'm not pregnant, just to clear the air) just to kind of get a fresh perspective of what it is like for different people to take on the decision of starting a family.  It's quite interesting because my perspective has broadened concerning parenthood.  I found a quite interesting blog that chronicled the story of a woman named Angie (she's married to a guy in the band Selah), and her battle as a mother to decide whether to take her child to full term or not.  The child had an oversized heart among other problems, meaning that it would die at birth.  Anyway, she's a very colorful blogger.  I found her story quite interesting and thought maybe some of you all would, too.  Here's the link: http://www.audreycaroline.blogspot.com/

There's a link near the top that you can click on to start at the beginning of her story.  The first entry is just mind-blowing.  

Anyway, I've found that it is so important to use time in a way that would honor God.  When school, jobs, and other responsibilities aren't breathing down your neck and pushing me to go further, work harder, and give more, what am I doing with my time?  How can I use my gifts when I don't feel like anybody out there is really cheering for me, helping me, etc.?  Well, I've always liked music a lot, so I've been working really hard in that area.  Matt has helped me in the area of piano, first and foremost, and I'm playing a lot at church.  I'm not very good yet at this non-classical thing that I'm doing, but I'm certainly getting better.  Southpoint is a really awesome venue for that, because I'm better than just a novice, but I'm not a keyboard extraordinaire.  I have a place that stretches me, but I actually can make some valuable contribution.  

Secondly, I've been spending most of my free time taking up a new musical instrument.  It would kind of be stupid if one was married to an amazing guitarist with amazing, expensive guitars and didn't take their husband up on free lessons.  So, Matt has been teaching me guitar for the last week.  I'm having so much fun.  So far, I've learned 2 bar cords and I can play 3 songs well and I'm onto my fourth (It's kind of hard though because there are 2 bar cords in it, which are hard for my little fingers).  

Anyway, besides music, I've been reading quite a bit, and I'm trying to expand  my conversational Afrikaans phrases.  So, this is my attempt to use my time in a way that expands my knowledge and honors the Lord.  It certainly makes for quite an adventure!

I am so blessed to be living such an adventure of my life.  It is safe to say, even on the dreariest of Cape Town days, that life with Matt is more than I ever could have dreamed...