Thankful Thursday-no bad hair days

Apologies for the lack of clarity. This is a photograph of a printed picture.

(This picture was taken last year in November…My friend and I were both getting re-baptised. And no, don’t take your minds there, we hadn’t committed adultery. We’d just come to a fuller understanding of what being a Christian really is. Before, for me, we’d been taught that God doesn’t really want a ‘change.’ So you just keep committing the same sins and all will be well as long as you remember to ask for forgiveness. But Rev 14:12- the last book in the Bible, reminds us that those who meet God’s standards are those who “keep the commandments of God.”)

A friend was unable to attend lectures recently..because she had BURNT her hair that morning. I don’t know why she didn’t use a head scarf-maybe didn’t have any-or a wig-I guess wearing weaves doesn’t mean has wigs..

But it made me super grateful that of all the things I complain about-hair in my eyes, hair on my neck frightening me and making me think there’s an insect crawling on me-burnt hair, hair so bad that I can’t go out in public, is not one of them.

The last time I put chemicals in my hair was February 2008. After that, I had braid extensions put in. I also stopped using store-bought creams that contained parabens, SLS etc. I’m thankful that I saw the light and decided to take care of my body-from top to toe-I only have one after all. And I’m grateful that I don’t get to burn my hair nor my scalp anymore!

Janome in the house!

He did it!

(Needs ironing and a wash but I hadn’t planned on doing anything to it so it would have to do!)

Last week I told hubby’s PA that I really wanted to learn to sew but didn’t have a clue what sewing machine to get, nor what the best would be.

She called her aunt, who’s a seamstress, and told me about the machine available at Pick ‘n Pay Hypermarket.

Yesterday I asked hubby if we could go look at the machine-I know,morbid curiosity because I know if I saw it I’d hanker after it even more-and wonder of wonders, he agreed! Now this is a wonder because dear hubby is a homebody. The closer the mall, the better. His idea of ‘fun’ is staying home and being cooked for by me-which I blame on his business travels and guesthouse stays. On the other hand, for me, the further the better. Someone else cooking, I’m there! So obviously, going to the same shop becomes tiring and boring. And this is not a shop that is nearby. But he agreed to go!

And I found my Janome. I’d never heard of Janome till I started ‘Googling’ sewing machine reviews. I only knew of well-known old Singer and Empisal and Elna. Not only did we go look at it, but we BOUGHT IT! Yay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Setting it up was almost farcical. The last time I touched a sewing machine was about 20 years ago and it was my mom’s vintage Singer Machine. I only knew of bobbins and spools. Now I had to learn about feed dogs and foot levers. Threading it was something else! I took to trusty old Google-no instructional dvd in this pack-which others have complained about online-and muddled around. The children were watching me and had these gems to say.

When my daughter saw me approaching dear 8077 with misgivings, she asked “Are you nervous?”

My son’s reply to my replying in the affirmative was to tell me “Please use the instruction book!”

After watching and hearing me exclaim “What’s the feed dog!" and what do they mean by “make a loop in the bobbin thread with the main thread!” She says to me “Maybe daddy should have bought you a different machine.” and my dear boy says “I think you should try handsewing!”

But all’s well that ends well. Got it threaded and even made myself an amateur satin pillow cover.Didn’t feel like just making a seam for my first practice round. The loc world says it’s best to use silk or satin to avoid lint on locs. I’d bought material long ago-years ago-but had just been wrapping it around my pillows, where it would come undone and my head would end up on the normal pillow case…Till today! Yay!

Thankful Thursday-the thorns..

are covered with roses. (a line from the book Steps to Christ)

(No, in real life it doesn’t have those white blotches-well, not that I had noticed)

In nature itself are messages of hope and comfort. There are flowers upon the thistles, and the thorns are covered with roses.   

"God is love" is written upon every opening bud, upon every spire of springing grass. The lovely birds making the air vocal with their happy songs, the delicately tinted flowers in their perfection perfuming the air, the lofty trees of the forest with their rich foliage of living green -- all testify to the tender, fatherly care of our God and to His desire to make His children happy.  {SC 10.1}

What a lovely way to look at it.

As I worked in our flower portion of the garden yesterday, I felt tired. The chiropractor had told me not to do any gardening a few weeks ago. Now I saw why, gardening is quite tiring and takes a toll on one’s back! Ha ha. But one rose bush cheered me up. At first, when we had bought it (and the other) it had quite a few roses on it. Then we had a heatwave and they all disappeared. But to the children’s excitement, this week, another perfect little rose came out.

I’ve been looking at my life this week, thinking about how I wake up with so much energy and the desire to do breakfast, do the dishes, cook, clean everywhere, conduct school…But my back doesn’t allow it. I stand there and after 5 minutes I’m in terrible pain. But thankfully, I have a husband who never expected ‘perfection’ even when I was well. He tells me to go lie down, he tells me not to cook because we can have sandwiches, he tells me he doesn’t care even if the floor is dirty (The joys of cleaning then the children making a mess 5 minutes later) I’ve seen men who think their wives “do nothing the whole day” and therefore have energy at the end of the day when they come home and expect everything to be in order and put in the right place. A friend told us that one husband brought home a box of goods, left it on the floor and said to the wife “You go put it away, I’m tired and you’ve been home the whole day.” Umm..she had a baby to take care of, besides what went into feeding him and ensuring the house was clean!

And so, while life with chronic pain is not what I expected it to be. Though there is so much suffering and poverty among our relatives and friends, these thorns are covered with roses. And the day has many hours. I don’t need to do it all in the first hours of the day. Pacing myself, resting when in pain, getting up and trying again-that’s all that’s required. My family needs me-happy and in peace-not a perfect museum of a home in the first hour of the day.

The Lesbians

The reason I’m writing about this is because we tend to be tarred with the same brush as these hooligans..

No, not the lesbians.

Those who use so-called ‘corrective rape’ to force them to see the error of their ways and go straight. Or plain murder.

What twisted logic.

This has been happening, specifically among a small group of thugs within the black community. The idea is to beat them and rape them to make them stop being lesbian. As my old friend Dr Phil would ask “How’s that working for you?” Personally, I feel it’s just an excuse to rape. I believe if there weren’t lesbians to rape, there’d be other victims, just as we find cases overseas of fathers imprisoning their own daughters and fathering children with them. The lesbians are just a convenient scapegoat.

BUT

When you read comments underneath these news reports, then guns come blazing against Christians. We are blamed for this vicious phenomenon..Because somehow we’ve forgotten the 6th commandment “Thou shalt not kill," right? These criminals are far from being Christians. And I honestly don’t believe they even know where in the Bible it says that the practices are a sin (Or, an ‘abomination’ as it says)

My appeal is for people to think rationally. Christianity is not the problem. It’s hypocritical, or non-Christians, who use the Bible as a convenient weapon when it suits them. A true Christian will never murder. Never beat. Never rape. Nor will a true Christian condone rape-no matter who the victim is.

Learning From My Son

The other day, as he sometimes does, he asked me “Mommy, why do you love us so much?” And I thought of Someone else who loves us with an everlasting love. We are as secure in His love as my children are in mine. They thank me when I punish them, they love it when we play together. The question I asked was “How often do we say to God, ‘Abba, why do You love us so much?’”

Then this morning, I heard my son saying to his sister “You are my favourite girl. You’re my favourite.” And her reply, ever so cute was “Aww, thank you my darling.”

Christ showed us how special we were by dying on the cross for us. Every day, His word tells us the same thing. Are our words AND actions, thanking Him? Or are we ignoring His acts of love, spurning His attention and rejecting the One who did all for us?

This week I was thinking about ‘friends.’ So many people have been complaining lately about ‘fake friends’ who are only users. The type that either only gets in touch when they want something, or to talk about their own problems but never to sincerely ask how YOU are. The type that is soooooo busy that they can’t spare 5 seconds to shoot you a text message. Instead of feeling bitter, it saddens me. For me, friendship equals love. And love doesn’t die. The only thing I can do is to direct our attention to THE Friend.The one who loved us so much that He gave up His life for us. And is always there to listen to us. Not only there to listen to us, but actually tells us to talk to Him always. 1 Thess 5:17-

dWhat a Friend He is!

Thankful Thursday-Damaged Goods

source

I was thinking the other day that dear hubby needs to get some of his money back form my parents. When he bought me (teehee, it’s my culture, I can refer to the paying of the  bride price aka lobola as a SALE) he didn’t know how unwell I was. He did have an inkling because in 2001 (Two years before we wed) I did end up in hospital with “NOT grumbling appendicitis” (As previously diagnosed) only for the doctor to tell me  AFTER THE OPERATION TO REMOVE MY TOTALLY HEALTHY APPENDIX that all the pain was because I was “full of (insert rude word here) “ Hubby knew I had IBS though at the time, the doctor just told me to go on medication and all would be well. Which it seemed to be.

And we proceeded under the assumption that all was well.

But after many years of pain, we’ve realised that I’m not one of the ‘mild IBS’ members but rather one of the “crippling, excruciating” type members. By the end of the day, I am tired of pretending that all is well, of sucking in the pain that I don’t want the children to notice.

Then you add in the back pain-we won’t mention how many theories there are for THAT-and you come to a wife who’s liable to ask you for a back massage more often than not. I’m not fun. I’m just tired and in pain. Sometimes.

But he’s put up with me and hasn’t asked for a partial refund for the fact that I’m not working as well as I should be. Instead of the body of a brand new Merc, he got a shiny, squeaky clean, new smelling LEMON. A creaky dud.Sometimes. (Let’s not forget the other mechanisms that aren’t in perfect working order)

Or maybe he hasn’t asked for a refund because he enjoys my cooking and he thinks I was a good vessel for his seedlings who are now rambunctious kidlets

But seriously. With all the health issues I have, it’s not been fun all of the time. I’ve had nights when he’s talking to me and I’m just barely hanging on,telling myself “Ok, look interested, the pain will go away soon. Don’t show him how you’re feeling.”  But I’m glad I’m going through it with him. Thankful for support, attention and care. Can’t wait for him to be back in the city.

Oh South Africa!

Why are your sewing machines DOUBLE the price of those in America? Don’t you know that we are poor as it is?

I have wanted to learn to sew for years now and seeing as my Honours degree fell through-I would be done next year but they are only offering my course till the end of this year (THANKS FOR TELLING US IN ADVANCE)-I’m broadening my horizons, as much as is financially possible.

I may do another Honours degree but this one led to the Registered Counsellor qualification..or to Masters later.The others don’t really seem to lead anywhere.

At the moment I’m working on my Nutritional Therapist qualification and am hoping to also study massage-but of course, that depends on when they offer the classes (Once per week) and how much it costs.

More importantly than that, I really really want to get a sewing machine. But new ones are extremely expensive. I wanted one with embroidery options but I’m thinking of lowering my sights and just getting basic. Not that the ones with the best reviews are the cheapest. I’ve spent almost 4 days looking at reviews, seeing if we have distributors here, wondering if someone can bring me a machine from the US, wondering about how heavy it would be (for shipping etc) trying to find prices-why don’t dealers tell us how much their machines are going for?

I need to become a skilled homemaker. I need to be able to sew my own clothes-finding modest clothing especially for children is extremely difficult. In Junior school we did sewing and my hand embroidery was apparently fabulous. I’m thinking of getting a plain sewing machine and maybe doing hand embroidery. It’s not like I’d want much embroidered anyway. But we’ll see the price difference.

So..that’s the goal for 2012. Work on other skills so that if necessary, I can support us financially, and LEARN TO SEW!