Friday, December 24, 2010
Mm-hmmm…Did you know?
There is one Christmas Carol that has always baffled me. What in the world do leaping lords, French hens, swimming swans, and especially the partridge who won't come out of the pear tree have to do with Christmas?
This week, I found out.
From 1558 until 1829, Roman Catholics in England were not permitted to practice their faith openly. Someone during that era wrote this carol as a catechism song for young Catholics. It has two levels of meaning: the surface meaning plus a hidden meaning known only to members of their church. Each element in the carol has a code word for a religious reality which the children could remember.
-The partridge in a pear tree was Jesus Christ.
-Two turtle doves were the Old and New Testaments.
-Three French hens stood for faith, hope and love.-
-The four calling birds were the four gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke & John.
-The five golden rings recalled the Torah or Law, the first five books of the Old Testament.
-The six geese a-laying stood for the six days of creation.
-Seven swans a-swimming represented the sevenfold gifts of the Holy Spirit--Prophesy, Serving, Teaching, Exhortation, Contribution, Leadership, and Mercy.
-The eight maids a-milking were the eight beatitudes.
-Nine ladies dancing were the nine fruits of the Holy Spirit--Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self Control.
-The ten lords a-leaping were the ten commandments.
-The eleven pipers piping stood for the eleven faithful disciples.
-The twelve drummers drumming symbolized the twelve points of belief in the Apostles' Creed.
So there is your history for today. This knowledge was shared with me and I found it interesting and enlightening and now I know how that strange song became a Christmas Carol...so pass it on if you wish.
Merry Christmas Everyone
Monday, December 13, 2010
Continued from part 5 of 5
In my blog series I didn’t have any pictures to share with you of the work the Eye Team’s being doing in South Africa. This is an excerpt of what I wrote, “And we have the Eye Team (no pictures available) working in another province – the Eastern Cape. They will be going to 3 locations training both surgeons, surgical nurses and the eye care workers.” I now have some amazing pictures to share…
Our doctors are nothing less than miracle workers! They are amazing!!!!
“Trust in the Lord, lean not on your own understanding…” Prov. 3:6
Praise be to the Lord!
Love, hugs and prayers!
Carol XOX 
Printed in a South African Newspaper
The picture is when we arrived to the port in Durban and were being escorted by the tug beside us.
XOX
Monday, December 6, 2010
Thanksgiving - American or Canadian?
BOTH!
First we celebrated Canadian Thanksgiving outside in the
Amphitheatre and carved up some delicious steak with all the trimmings (steak trimming that is). :) There was no poultry to be found anywhere which quite honestly was fine as it was the best steak ever!!! Our Canadian group had a great time of fellowship and all agreed we have a lot to be thankful for in our lives…
Jesse & John Barbecuing (Braii) Carving…
… 2 choices of dessert (bars) :)
Patriotic Moment…
16 Canadians (Debra not in picture)
Secondly, we celebrated American Thanksgiving in our dining room at Appelsbosch. For the most part Thanksgiving is celebrated by Canadians and Americans, so the Americans very graciously invited the whole crew and called it ‘International Day of Thanksgiving.’ It was a much more traditional meal and there was turkey that was carved by the chef (Jesse at the end of the Canadian Thanksgiving table). There was all the trimmings including pumpkin pie and apple crisp….yum, yum it was delicous….
Catherine on the left (chaplaincy)decorated the dining room for dinner. Roses (dining room manager (right) along with others helped. The table runners were made by the Academy Art students.
Yummy, just look at that Table above filled with final plate of scrumptious food Angel to Mortal gifts
As you can see we are all taking advantage of being able to use candles – ahhhhhhh!
American Thanksgiving fell on a couple of other celebrations that we were having…they all were relative to Thanksgiving and added a Thankful dimension to the day.
For 2 weeks everyone at Appelsbosch was an Angel and a Mortal. It basically worked like this: you put your name in a hat and pulled out another name. The name you pull out is your Mortal and you are their Angel – get it? Everyday for 2 weeks you give something to your Mortal to let them know they are special and you are thinking of them. Now the thing is, you don’t know who your angel is so all of this is being done on the sly and you get to ask other people to deliver or sneak around yourself to stay anonymous. It was a ton of fun and honestly really, really nice to know someone is thinking about you specifically and what you might like…in addition of course to being prayed for over and over again by an angel - imagine…! :) At dinner on American (International) Thanksgiving we revealed who the Angels were and gave our last gifts to our Mortals. Coincidently, my mortal was also my angel; I love the irony of that and I don’t think anyone else’s Angel was also their Mortal! Some of the things we did for each other was to give scripture verses nicely done on the computer or with special penmanship, had people sing to us, give thoughtful little gifts of wine, or tea, or pop, and yes, of course chocolate, candles (since we can use them at Appelsbosch – it’s been such a treat to have candellight at night), flowers etc. Most sentiments came with a little note…
And just to top of the day, we in the Academy had our monthly ‘Spirit Day’ and the theme this month was ‘Holiday.’ One could dress up as any type of Holiday or as something that represents the holiday. We invited the entire Appelsbosch Crew to join along with us. I was an Angel …:) 
Yes! That is a halo on my head…hee, hee, hee!
So we all had a super nice and memorable ‘International Thanksgiving!” 
Apparently, we all felt very blessed as you can see by the amount of leaves (cross pollinated, ha, ha) on the branches of the Thankful tree!
I never forgot for a moment how thankful I am for each of you in my life and thanked God for you (twice)! LOL
I pray that God gave each of you Blessings through the year that you could count and be thankful for!
Your blessings more,
And may nothing but happiness
Come through your door.
Mag God Saam Met Jou Wees! (May God be with you)
Love as always,
Carol XOX
50 and still celebrating!
June - November it’s the birthday that never ends…
SAWUBONA!
Do you all remember my roommate Gabriella well she remembered how much I like butterflies and what they represent, sooooooo she found “Butterflies for Africa” about an hour and half away from Appelsbosch in a town called Pietermaritzburg. She arranged everything and took me there for my 50th!!!
We went with 3 other friends as well, had a great day and the place was fabulous; here’s some pics….
Butterflies
Wow! Who knew?
Some other creatures that delighted us (that’s a pod on the right)
Birds
Bird Nest
Different views around the place
My favourite pond flower :) (the coffee shop served a scrumptious spinach quiche)
It was a great day and we made some wonderful memories in this country of fun, friendship and BUTTERFLIES!!!!
This was definitely a much nicer memory than the flying ants (termites)…
Mmmmm, I wonder if this is the end of my 50th birthday celebrations??? LOL
Good thing I have a room large enough for this card–lol!
Liefde (Love),
Moi 
XOXOX
P.S. Thank you Gabby…
You’ve asked for it to go on my blog…
so here it is…
Hi everyone,
Greetings from the Republic of South Africa!
How are you? How is life at home? Are you being challenged to grow and stretch in your lives? That is one of my prayers for each of you. I also pray your relationships with the Lord are transforming your lives and if you don’t have a relationship with Him; that he is softening your hearts to know him – you all know into which category you fit into! I pray that each of you will have and has a growing desire and passion for His word and that the Holy Spirit reveals to you personally what the Lord almighty wants to say to YOU through it!
God says in 2 Corinthians 5:17 17, “This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!” When I think of all of you in my life and how each of you got there, or how broken my life once was, or what a miraculous journey I’m on now helping the vulnerable and needy in a far off land, and more often than not experiencing a “peace that surpasses all understanding;” I think to myself, how did I get here? When did I become so blessed? How did I get such a caring and loving family? How did I get the amazing and loving friends that I have in my life, how come I was entrusted with various special roles to care for children in my life? The answer is simple – He says, “ I took you from the ends of the earth, from its farthest corners I called you….’You are my servant’; I have chosen you and have not rejected you. So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” And how did this happen? “ I trusted the Lord with all [my] heart, with all [my] mind, and with all [my] strength and he has kept his promise!
Is life as a Christian always easy? No! In fact, it is often hard because in difficult situations I am called to stretch and be more like Jesus and not respond to hurt, denunciation, gossip, invisibility or rejection with like attitude, but to love others including those that make life difficult! As a very dear psychiatrist sais to me more than once “find peoples innocence, and than you can find a way to forgive, understand and love them!” Or as God puts it, “Hate what is evil; cling to what is good…Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” I’m called not to worry; although I try, it is hard not to - I do worry…I worry about you all forgetting me, I worry about enough donations, I worry about my aging Mother, I worry about how long I’m called to leave everything and everyone I love behind, I worry about becoming a grandmother and not being there, I worry about how I’m perceived by people which so often different from my heart, I worry about the milestones I’m missing in my loved ones lives, I worry about those that I love that don’t know the Lord yet! But yet God says, “Trust in me and lean not on your own understanding.” So I do! With all my heart, with all my soul, with all my strength!
I don’t know exactly what brought on this outpouring of emotions to surface in this email. Maybe, it is because today I am feeling extremely humbled by all that God has done for me; the way He has prepared the way before me, how He has forgiven me my sins and wrongdoings, how He gives me the strength to stand up to my persecutors and how He brought each of you into my life: who push me, love me, encourage me, challenge me, support me, stretch me and pray for me! I know that the best thing God ever did for me was to answer my prayer to die and allow me to be reborn in Christ! I hope that each and every one of you know that I love you from the bottom of my heart and miss you terribly! Having said that, I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else in the world right now, in this moment, because I know I am where the Lord of my life wants me to be and when I go to sleep at night I am filled with joy for having been in His will and continue to seek His will each and every day!
I know there will be a time for me to return home, but for now that will only be for visits in June/July. I hope in the process of me fulfilling my calling you will still have room for me in your lives. I await your emails, comments and letters expectantly and receive them with delight!
May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all! 2 Cor. 13:13
Your friend, bestfriend, daughter, sister, mother, godmother, aunt, aunty &, leila! ♥ ♥Love and hugs!!!!
♥ Carol xoxoxox
P.S. A slight testimony to go with this blog since I’ve received a whole gamut of responses from the above email…Hee, hee
Before I wrote the email above I had prayed and asked God to give me an email that I could send to everyone. Hmmm, when I finished writing it, and then read it I through, I thought, “I can’t send this email; for sure everyone (my non-Christian/agnostic friends and family) will think I’ve gone over the deep end into ‘bible thumping world!’ So, I started going through my address book and picking out the preferred few that would receive this God-given email. Well, the Holy Spirit prompted my next thought which was “ oh sure, you ask God for an email you can send everyone, but you don’t like what He gave you so now you’re going to pick a chosen few?????” Soooooo I put my finger over the send button and voila there have it…literally! I sent it to everyone in my address book (I hope I remembered to use BCC when I did it?). And that my friends is not the whole story… a few (3 to be exact), of the emails I got back were to tell me that my email came at a time of deep personal need for reasons I’m not at liberty to share with you all, but wanted you to know. One of these people I had not heard from in a very long time!
Please let me remind you with the love of a Sister in Christ - Sometimes we need to be reminded of "WHO" is REALLY in control. He is omniscient and omnipresent and He knows what we need before we do! He uses us to be there for each other and when we listen to Him the results are God ordained!!!!!! If for no other reason than for my couple of friends whom were blessed by the above letter, I am truly grateful for the inspired email from God.
Doesn’t it make you think that if little nobody Carol could get a word from the Lord for her little group of friends when they’re in need that the disciples and authors of the Bible could get the words from the Lord that would “teach, rebuke, correct and train in righteuosness,” so that His children would be cared for and be able to build relationship with Him! Just a thought…
There you have it!!! God loves you and so do I!!!!
Carol XOX
Friday, November 5, 2010
And ‘they’ say we’re on holiday…
NOT!
Okay, I’ll share my evening with you cause I’m really freaked out right now and there’s no way I can go to sleep. thought I’d share the moment…
Chameleons, Ghekkos,
Suffice to say, I haven’t caught all the creepy crawlers on film, but I think you get the picture…(pun intended - ha, ha). One thing I know for sure is I DON’T LIKE CREEPY CRAWLERS!!!!!!! The night of the flying ants (3 days ago now), it took me until 10:30 a.m. the next morning to settle down. It didn’t help much that the 3 times I got up in the middle of the night to go down the very long dark hall (I was afraid of stepping on the them) to the ladies room I encountered a set of mating ants in my room each time! (I told them to get their own room! ha, ha) And when I woke up in the morning to go for my morning walk there were piles of wings in to be seen throughout my 45 minute walk!@#&??
Okay, I’ll share my evening with you cause I’m really freaked out right now and there’s no way I can go to sleep. thought I’d share the moment…
We just came back to our dorm from watching Cry Freedom a sobering film to say the least especially when you’ve been living in South Africa where Apartheid took place! I’m aghast and ashamed, yet again, for how humans treat other humans and whites… well, anyway, this isn’t what I want to go on about at this moment…, so I walked back to my dorm in a melancholy state only to find every square inch of the entrance way to my dorm covered with ants that have shed their wings all over the floor and are mating everywhere – yuck, yuck, yuck – I am totally grossed out…I took a picture for you, so you can be grossed out with me! :)
This is what my entrance way looked like (small portion of a big space)
Those are the ants wings laying all over the place after they shed them!!!!
Ggetting ready to shed their wings
Yep, I’m on a roll…let me share some other creepy crawlers that I had the foresight to photograph…
Chameleons, Ghekkos,
Grasshoppers, Preying Mantus to just name a few….
Large colourful spiders and moths the size of your hand…I seriously don’t know why I’m smiling in this picture as I just caught & cupped the large spider on the bottom left from the girl’s bathroom and I wasn’t particularly unaffected, if you know what I mean!!!
Suffice to say, I haven’t caught all the creepy crawlers on film, but I think you get the picture…(pun intended - ha, ha). One thing I know for sure is I DON’T LIKE CREEPY CRAWLERS!!!!!!! The night of the flying ants (3 days ago now), it took me until 10:30 a.m. the next morning to settle down. It didn’t help much that the 3 times I got up in the middle of the night to go down the very long dark hall (I was afraid of stepping on the them) to the ladies room I encountered a set of mating ants in my room each time! (I told them to get their own room! ha, ha) And when I woke up in the morning to go for my morning walk there were piles of wings in to be seen throughout my 45 minute walk!@#&??
Well I’ve vented now and feel much better that you too are probably as grossed out as I…lol!
Ek is lief vir jou! (Afrikaans for I love you!)
Carol xox 
Saturday, October 30, 2010
To get to older posts...
At the bottom of the page, on the right hand side there is an icon the reads "older posts" click on it to see the blogs previous to the last. Unfortunately, I can't figure out how to make that dark enough to read, so just put your cursor over it and it will show a hand that will connect you!
Enjoy!
Love, hugs and prayers!
xx Carol :)
Enjoy!
Love, hugs and prayers!
xx Carol :)
Highs and Lows of Living at the “Bosch”
Brandy this is inspired by you… ![clip_image001[4]](http://lh4.ggpht.com/_5P_kLm1J-C0/TMwmT248OCI/AAAAAAAAAa8/Khbi895UeO4/s1600-h/clip_image00144.gif "clip_image001[4]"){kind=small}
HIGHS ( prayers answered & things I really like a lot!) | LOWS (prayers needed and other than the first and last item I really don’t mind these lifestyle compromises. These are observations more than anything else) |
| Kids being able to run around and play freely | Lack of communication with the outside world – here and at home |
| Hearing kids on their way to school outside my room | Curfew at 6 |
| Hearing drums playing in the distance | Safety concerns |
| Birds singing | Bugs, snakes (5 venomous kinds in this area), insects and bats |
| Beautiful rolling countryside | Shortage of water on a regular basis |
| Flowers and trees | Unreliable Internet and email |
| Thunder & lighting | No rain |
| Fresh cut grass | The freezing cold weather |
| Exotic Animals (actually animals of any kind) | Inconsistent (hot water for showers |
| Fresh hung laundry | Not being able to sleep through the night and waking many times 3-6 - I can go right back to sleep, but still ,it is a broken, unrestful sleep!) |
| MY OWN ROOM :) | Echoes in the building that make hearing difficult and noisy |
| Lots of fresh fruit and vegetables | Transportation |
| No port smells | So far away from everything |
| Fresh air & light | Rust stains on your laundry from the water |
| Nature | Bed and pillows being damp when getting into it |
| No more coughing bouts and not using my inhaler anymore! Thank you sooooo much for your prayers!!!! | Brown drinking water (although it is safe) |
| Friendly, welcoming people | Cost of things |
| A church like home | Beef Jerky ( I had heard from numerous people how great it is – I don’t like it, at all! :() |
| Braii’s (barbecues) | Weight - adding additional strain on my back! |
| Sightseeing opportunities | The Africa Mercy community being divided |
| TIDBITS OF INFORMATION |
| Largest mall in the Southern Hemisphere is in Durban (I’ve only been there once to eat, but many of the crew go regularly – it has 18 cinemas alone. I’ve never seen a mall this large) |
| I am in a bible study going through the entire bible as an overview with a ordained Pastor – super opportunity to go through the bible this way! |
| Spring is Sept. – Oct., Summer Nov. – Mar. (we’re here at my favourite time of year!) Yippee! Yippee! |
| The “Big Five” is sometimes unofficially referred to as the “Big Six” for the Shark, as they are certainly part of life here |
| There are 3 Capitals in the RSA, Cape Town, the largest and the legislative capital, Pretoria, the administrative capital & Bloemfontein, the judicial capital |
| There are 11 official languages in the RSA. English (Government language and only the fifth most-spoken language), Afrikaans (orginated mainly by the Dutch), and Zulu are the main languages spoken in this province |
A note from President Jacob Zuma:
“Africa is where the world meets. It is a true melting pot, where the colour and energy of a number of different cultures have combined throughout history, each adding something special to the African experience. This is a place where every day is different, and life is never just ordinary. It is a continent that sings in the voices of many different traditions, and dances to the beat of our shared pulse.”
I feel like this experience here in Africa, South and West, is really something I can’t even comprehend to what extent God’s been working something in me...
and I undertake to love you forever too!
Moi (aka Mom, Godmother, Aunt, Aunty, Layla, Ms. Carol and Sis 
Sailing Into Durban! (Part 1 of 5)
Greetings from the Republic of South Africa!
Durban…, South Africa…, Wow!!! Exciting, Surreal… Imagine – It’s for real, I’m in South Africa, can you believe it??? I can hardly believe it myself!…Thank you Koonu Kulu (God) for all the challenges, surprises and adventures I am having because of following your call to be a missionary to those on the continent of Africa! Thank you for bringing me here and for all of those who send me to serve you, Mercy Ships and the peoples of Africa in this capacity!
Okay, it is 17 days since we set sail from Togo to Durban and the date is now 1 Sept., 1st day of Spring in the Republic of South Africa (RSA) and we are docked at the port of Durban aka eThekwini (original Zulu name) in the province of KwaZulu-Natal (KZN). We travelled 3,400 nautical miles (6,290 km) to get here. Our reason for being here is to have major repairs done to our ship, or as a friend of mine said, “our home (the ship) will be going into ‘dry-dock’ as it is taken out of the water for some serious surgery (how the roles have turned!)”
But I jump ahead, more about the shipyard in part 4. :)
As we came into Durban, we first saw the Moses Mabhida Stadium that was used in the 2010 FIFA World Cup! 
The panoramic view of Durban was beautiful and reminded me of home in so many ways (I’m not sure why).
Then a group of Mercy Shippers: the Academy’s very own Director, Brian Blackburn & Academy Principal, Nikki Aldum: the advance team (who prepared the way for us to be here (with God’s infinite help of course)), Brenda and Cathy: the director of the National office, John Paul: and the project manager and his wife, Ken and Ann, in addition, there was a past South African crew member and a bunch of security and custom officials to welcome us to the port, Durban and South Africa. It was a welcome sight – most of us were ready for land!
We were all waving back and forth, like, shall I say it?, a bunch of lunatics! :) 
To prepare for this momentous entry into the port of Durban, our Captain prayed on the overhead for our safe arrival and to be able to clear customs etc. with a minimum of fuss (thank you God for the answer to those prayers), the deck crew also could be seen in a 
In addition, our preparation into the RSA included special emergency drills, painting a big yellow dot on our top deck (deck 8) for the arrival of a helicopter,
and packing up all necessary belongings to move a
shore. 
For the first time ever in the history of Mercy Ships, the Harbour Pilot arrived by helicopter. Security and fire and emergen![jpeg[2]](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZTLZjUAmMZO1KmyLzbf-LOJ3CwJr0qd1ymp-uWo7KAcGprB34PkZSFF8IMs0Kc2R6xkrYjT4SCz1xI-Wonx9jlRUJqrRNa4RJLBEVq6RBQG_YvnLvUVSjGSSnkBylLimLWD4qcUlO7-M/s1600-h/jpeg24.jpg "jpeg[2]")
cy teams stood by while the crew were prevented from going to close to the aft of the ship where the helicopter would let the Harbour Pilot down. The Harbour Pilot landed safely. (In all countries a “Harbour Pilot” brings the ship into port and docks it). 
Once the pilot landed safely we raised the red & white flag on the left which indicates the pilot is on board, the yellow flag in the middle to invite custom officials on board for inspection and clearance for the ship and crew and lastly, the flag on the far right is the country flag (RSA). We always fly the flag of the nation we are visiting.
I hope you enjoyed part 1 of 5… I will talk to you again soon!
I love you guys! I wish you all a beautiful Autumn/Spring depending on which side of the equator you live on! It’s very weird coming into warm/hot (freezing cold – lol) weather knowing Christmas will be the well into Summer!!! Can you imagine???
Thanks for your interest and support of this blog!
Mag Got saam met jou wees! (Afrikaans for May God be with you!)
Love and hugs,
Carol xox 
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