five minute friday :: notice
Welcome to this week's edition of Five Minute Friday! If you're new here, all of the details are right over here. And in case you missed last week's post, there's still a bit of time to sign up for Round Four of Five Minute Friday Snail Mail, coordinated by the lovely Kaitlyn Bouchillon! Who doesn't want to get fun cards from fellow Five Minute Friday writers in their mailbox each week?! More info can be found here. Click here to register now! Deadline for this round is November 23rd. *** This week's Five Minute Friday prompt is: This one is for you. For when you...
five minute friday :: still
Welcome to another week of Five Minute Friday -- an online community where bloggers who mostly don't even dare to call themselves writers put their brave on week after week and bring the internet alive with their beautiful words. It's a place where we write free and deep and wide, where we let it all spill onto the screen in all its messy, jumbled up glory. It's a place to link arms with others, to lift them up, to shine a light, to give hope. Won't you join us? Click here to learn more. [Tweet ""Join us for Five Minute Friday, where we link arms, shine a light, give hope.""] And...
when the light is hidden behind the clouds
“Ladies and gentlemen, we have begun our descent. Please fasten your seatbelts, and return your seats and tray tables to their upright positions to prepare for landing.” Even as the pilot’s voice came over the intercom, my eyes instinctively went for the tiny oval window. The sky was a brilliant blue all around, but a thick blanket of clouds was spread out below us. I knew we’d have to pass through that down comforter of cloud cover before we would reach our final destination, and I prayed that the turbulence in the midst of it wouldn’t be too severe. It was January, and my...
unwrapping the greatest gift :: a review
It started ten years ago, with the first Christmas after I got married -- the question of traditions. I grew up in Michigan, where Christmas equaled cutting down our own tree the day after Thanksgiving, baking and decorating cut-out cookies, singing carols in the blustery snow, and a candlelit Christmas Eve service ending with Silent Night. My husband grew up in South Africa, where December is the hottest month of the year, and Christmas is spent poolside, with meat on the braai, and Coke and Christmas pudding to follow. Merging our two cultures and backgrounds and forming new traditions...
five minute friday :: turn
It's Five Minute Friday time! Time to get your writing groove on, link up, and encourage others along the way! (And psst ... If you don't know what Five Minute Friday is, you can find out right over here. In a nutshell, it's the greatest online community in the history of the internet, if I do say so myself ... But you'll just have to join in and find out for yourself!) This week's prompt is: [Tweet "Join us for Five Minute Friday on the prompt TURN. Link-up at katemotaung.com"] Ready? GO. *** I glance at my watch and then at the growing queue...
when you forget to look up
This past summer I had the rare treat of going water-skiing. And by rare, I mean that it’s been over 15 years since I last stood up on skis. As I bobbed in the water before the boat took off, I called out to my husband, “If I actually manage to stand up, you better get this on video, because it might be the last time!” By some miracle, as the motor revved and the boat sped up, the tautness of the rope lifted me right up and out of the water until I was skimming across the top, knees slightly bent, elbows fully extended. To say it was exhilarating would be a gross understatement....
five minute friday and a giveaway {day 31 :: leave}
We made it! It’s the final day of October! For those who have been doing Write 31 Days, CONGRATULATIONS!! This is me sending you virtual cupcakes, hot tea and lots of expensive, dark chocolate. Seriously, posting every day for 31 days is a huge accomplishment. Well done! This is also our fifth and final Words Matter giveaway. I hope you’ve all enjoyed the giveaways as much as I have. Thank you to all who have offered the fantastic prizes, all who have entered, and congratulations to those who have won so far! This week I’ve put together a fabulous package to wrap up our month of...
my first hike up table mountain {day 30 :: first}
I had marveled at the majesty of it for weeks, but I’d never been to the top. Then one day my chance arrived. The student ministry where I worked was hosting a social event for students, and we were going to climb Table Mountain. The plan was to meet at the campus ministry office at a certain time, then carpool to the base of the mountain. Of course, since it was college students, we got off to a late start and were seriously delayed by the time we started our hike. Several students lagged behind while others literally raced to the top. The average climb...
the african wedding {day 29 :: unite}
The African wedding is not an afternoon affair. It’s not even an all day affair. It’s an occasion, and sometimes it spans over days, at times up to a week. But even before the big day, there are months and months of preparations that span far wider than just the bride and groom, or even the bridesmaids and groomsmen. It’s a union of two family groups, and negotiations must be made. In South Africa, these negotiations are called lobola, another name for a bride price. It used to involve a payment of cows from the groom to the bride’s family, and was most often negotiated by the bride’s...
a tswana funeral {day 28 :: wake}
We were at a campus ministry retreat when we heard the news. My husband’s uncle had passed away. His mother’s brother. We left the retreat to prepare for a nine-hour drive to for the funeral. I was just under three months pregnant with my first child, and still experiencing a fair share of nausea. We rode with my husband’s mom and arrived at the family compound, where grief and sadness hung thick like a canopy. The town was much more rural than Cape Town, and though I had been there a few times, this would be my first Tswana funeral. The next morning I woke up and walked outside to...
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