Tuesday, June 12, 2012

What's been rolling around in my head

I ignore little children and sometimes give them an evil glare. Terrible isn't it? But honestly, they annoy me. I walk through Kongowea and get a ton of kids asking me 'how are you?' or 'how waw wou?'. Some make fun of my accent, some yell at me non stop from across the field, some are just plain rude. I get so tired of it that I ignore them and sometimes even give them a look to tell them that it is not ok to harass the white person. Why are white people such a novelty? I started telling one of my girls how I hate kids who just pester me. Her reply was, "Yes, but don't they do the same to us in your place? Don't they call us black monkeys?" NO! I have never heard that before. If a black person was to walk around in my hometown, they might get a few stares since our town is so white but no one will say anything racist to them. They won't get harassed by every kid yelling at them, "Black person! Black person!"I told my girls that if their kids say that to me, I will ignore them. Yep, I will ignore sweet children.

One minute your a great politician, the next your charred body is shown on tv for all to see.
Kenya suffered a tragedy on Sunday. A helicopter carrying the minister and assistant minister of internal security crashed into a forest just outside Nairobi. It was sad. We sat and watched TV as they showed live footage of the crash. Since it was live, they showed us the charred bodies of the people on board spread out all over the forest. They were burnt beyond recognition. On board was the minister of internal security who was also the vice-president for about 10 years in the 90's. A big man in the country and a big influence in politics. He was still very active and was actually running for president in the next elections.

What struck me most was that a man who Kenyans worship (yes, Kenyans seem to worship their politicians like God) literally fell to his death. A man of such honour, valour, respect had his lowly body burnt beyond recognition and aired on national television. Humbling? Seriously, we have a big God. We may think  people are big but in an instant you can be brought down. Literally.

Charred Bodies. Combined with the lynched man I saw a few weeks ago, these charred bodies I saw on tv remain etched in my mind. Oh Lord erase it now!!

Canada doesn't want new people in their country. We have been really looking into immigration lately knowing that, one day, I would like to bring my husband to my home country. Wow, it isn't an easy task. I have been so overwhelmed with all the requirements and rules and paperwork and fees. It just makes me want to stay in Kenya forever. Maybe that's the point. Maybe Canada doesn't really want more people in the country so they just make the immigration process so daunting that it turns people away and they decide its not worth it. Well, it's working.

Forgiveness. I seem to run into that word everywhere I go. Two weeks ago, we studied forgiveness as a topic in our bible study with the girls. They couldn't wrap their heads around what it truly means to forgive.

A few months ago, I had a man tell me that marriage is really a test to see how well you can forgive. I believe that now. I really think Kelvin and I have had to forgive more in the past five months than in our entire lives.

We went to a play on Sunday afternoon and it was all about forgiveness and what can happen to families who don't forgive. Sobering to see it played out in front of you.

Then on saturday I chatted with my girls about the consequences of careless sex. I made them do skits about a young girl who has sex in their community and what can happen. Well, in all the skits, the girl got pregnant and their parents disowned them. Yes, unfortunately parents, family, friends, the community have a  hard time forgiving young girls who get pregnant out of wedlock. Especially the family. They feel the girl has disgraced them so they can't forgive them. They literally disown them. Where is the forgiveness? Where is the grace? I assured them that if any would get pregnant, I would be here with open arms to help them through. I will love their babies. I will forgive them and not condemn them. Jesus forgave them, why shouldn't I?

Dates with my hubs. We are trying to come up with new, fun, adventurous, exciting and cheap things to do as a couple. We don't have a ton of money to spend but we are trying to be creative. We want to start early in our marriage to create a culture of 'dating' each other regularly. Right now, it's easy. We don't have a ton of distractions like work, kids, family, etc. But it will all come. And we need to learn how to retreat and spend time together. I've learned that Kelvin isn't the most creative when it comes to romance or dates. I have come up with most ideas. But we are open to anything. What about you? What are some of your favourite dates or things to do with your loved one??

Chocolate. I want to devour it all. the. time.

There you go. Just some random things I have been thinking about in the past week or so.

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