South Africa: Chapter 3

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Skirt: Anthro Laurenti
Cardi and Tee: J.Crew
Watch: AE
Flats: Steve Madden Heaven
Life at a mission passes with the same regular tasks as anywhere else.  Hang the laundry, plant bulbs in the flower beds, mend the clothes, attend classes, touch up the paint.  The rhythms of the day are not much different than what I experience at home.
I am a list girl.  I have lists for everything. I'm scatter-brained enough that I have to have them to keep the corners of my mind contained.  
Wish lists. 
Grocery lists. 
Hand-made project lists. 
Dream lists.
What-to-wear lists.
Lists of places to go and things to buy...but today, I have only one item on my list--  
Spend time with the children at the mission school.
We teach them to play Duck-duck Goose and Freeze Tag.  The little girls have never learned clapping games.  We admire the half-colored pictures in their classroom where broken crayons criss-cross the scratches on a well-worn table.  We peer over their shoulders as they work their math numbers with meticulous care and clap when they astound us with how they turn a soccer ball with their feet.
There is so much to learn and see.  I am constantly holding myself from rushing forward...it would be too easy to rush to the next thing without fully enjoying the thing in front of me.  There is no advantage to be gained from being in a hurry here...this place is bejeweled by a mature slowness--a rhythm that will not be disturbed by impatient outsiders.  Even the animals refuse to be hurried.
At the end of the day, I gaze over the valley, smelling the land, remembering the sound of children's prayers voiced together in a lyrical British clip. A giraffe charts a knobby-kneed path through tall grass. Husbie stands at my side. It has been a day of a thousand ah-ha moments...
I am changing.
Changing deep.

9 comments:

  1. Wow this is just amazing. I love that last photo :) Such an inspiring and wonderful trip. And of course you look fabulous!

    xoxo, Ally
    http://www.confessionsoftheglitterati.com/

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  2. What a wonderful experience! Your pictures are just breathtaking.

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  3. What amazing pictures. What blessings too!

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  4. So awesome you could go with your husband! Lovely pictures and lovely children.

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  5. Another beautiful post!! (Thank you for reminding us to take time to smell the roses) I love the picture of you walking with the children....so precious. And again cute cute outfit!!

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  6. I just want to know how you look so cute ON A MISSION TRIP?? :) I think I had on old work clothes THE WHOLE TIME when I went on mine!

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  7. Okay, I think you probably win the prize of the cutest dressed person to go on a mission trip! I feautured you over on my blog yesterday! I've really enjoyed reading about your trip.

    -Hannah

    http://blissfullyfeminine.blogspot.com

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