Rylan "Hard-Kour" Is Here!

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Meet Rylan. This is Rylan in his natural habitat. 

He's an incredible photographer.

Ambitious entrepreneur.

Loves life. Loves people. And he loves the Lord.

He also sends me random parkour videos that he gets of himself.

Hence the nickname: "Hard-kour".

Yes... I came up with that, myself.

He's also seeing how long he can grow his hair... Kind of intimidating

having a guy walk in with hair almost longer than your own.

Am I the only one who looks at this and thinks of "Sunshine" from Remember The Titans???

Rylan is my partner-in-crime. 

But he is also my culinary enemy.

I've recently forced him to work in the kitchen for the remaining 1.5months here

because he is ULTRA picky.

He doesn't even like cheese in his scrambled eggs. Gross.

So here we pose pre-cinnamon roll making. 

(Photos to follow...That is if I can get any before they are pulverized.)

I've been loving my life since he arrived because I now have THREE food photographers for Douceur.

And I take full advantage of their competitive nature because they now race

to take the food photos for my Instagram account. 

This. Is. The Life.

We are all very random. It's amazing to look at him and he remind me of when I used to babysit him and his siblings. 

Now, he's a traveling young man advancing the Kingdom.

The Bruce was quite entertained by the young adults who seem to not be able to overcome the child-at-heart spirit within them. 

But together, we fully enjoy the life God has blessed us with and make the most of our time together. 

"Well... That's all I have to say about that."

Biblical Femininity

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    Grace Kelley - Princess Grace - has been my fashion icon and the perfect depiction of true femininity in my mind since I watched "To Catch a Thief" as a little girl. Her diction, her tone, how she walked, how she carried herself, the tilt of her head, her dress, in everything... She lived up to her name: Grace. 

    Ever since the first moment I laid eyes on her and into my mid-teenage years, I practiced how I squared my shoulders, how I talked, how I ate, I even tried to walk around with a book on my head, etc. I wanted to BE her. ... When I was 18 - initially unbeknownst to me - I pursued a job and worked in bridal couture under the man who was tutored by the designer of Kelley's bridesmaid dresses.

    I admire women who take pride in their appearance but who aren't loud about it. Women who are the backbone of their men; but do not go around parading this. Proverbs even condones this woman. She is a mother. A wife. An entrepreneur. She is strong. Wise. Honoured. Her husband is able to speak in the counsel and be considered because she fully supports him... But she seeks nothing for her own personal selfish gain or accolades.

   The feminists have it all wrong, you see. God intended for us to have influence. Have you not heard??

 "The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world."

   But the inspiration for this post is not necessarily to pursue this point. Rather, my mind is absorbed by thoughts concerning the outcome/result of the rejection of true femininity as God designed it. 

   My mom sent an article from CNN to my family and me about how people lack pride in their clothing. Even in the Church, now, we see tackily-dressed adults and youth. They seem to not only lack respect for others... But respect for themselves.

   There are two extremes: legalism and liberalism. Both are incorrect. In order to avoid being labeled as "legalists" or any other names the World tries to stamp on believers, believers have now pursued being "hip" and accepted. Christians, as a whole, have compromised to please the world. Don't "judge" or in real-talk: if you have anything to say that contradicts my comfort zone, then I don't want to hear it... Just be tolerant.

'Tolerance is the virtue of the man who lacks conviction.' {GK Chesterton} 

    But I am not here to pursue that, either. Although my mind races and points to OTHER people... I can't help but hear the Lord speaking to ME. Caelyn Whitlock. 

   What does God want ME to do to begin making that change for the advancement of HIS kingdom and the glory of HIS name?? How now can I live that will be embraced and lived out by my line??

   The article was telling and sparked many thoughts, challenges, and discussion. I encourage you to read it. Ultimately, it led me to consider my own life. How my outward being may represent or misrepresent Christ. These were the thoughts that I shared in reply to the group email:

  I love to relax and dress relaxed. But I realise that how I carry myself and what I wear points to Christ since I already tell people that I am a believer. There is a standard of excellence and chastity that I want to live up to.

   How can I honour The Lord?

   How can I guard my heart and that of fellow believers with my dress (not just guys... but even younger girls who are watching my example)?

   How can I display the beauty of femininity as God intended women to be? Yet, how do I also avoid going to different extremes to accomplish this.

    When Katie and I spoke at PWOC in Alaska, I remember this YOUNG mother that walked in with super-tight jeans, a really tight shirt, loud accessories, etc. I remember thinking: why is she here? She probably is only in Alaska because her soldier boyfriend got her pregnant and they hurriedly got married... At the end of our talk - which, ironically was about older women investing in younger women- she was the ONLY person who came up and she said: 'Thank you so much for taking a step of faith and speaking to an older crowd of women on that topic. I would love to have an older woman investing in my life.'   - I was really convicted by that because this was a woman barely out of girlhood who probably didn't have a father and who was actually sensitive to what scripture had to say to her concerning biblical womanhood.

   (I sure hope I'm making sense.)

     So, I guess what I am saying is that we should set the example by revering God with our entire beings. But I also feel challenged not to be quick to cast judgment based off of someone's appearance. Rather, be intentional with that person. - I don't know if it was that The Lord wanted to discipline me for my hypocrisy or if it is also the case that a lot of those girls (specifically) that dress immodestly would readily welcome the investment of an older woman and the protection of a father.

"If I belittle those whom I am called to serve,

talk of their weak points

in contrast perhaps with what I

think of as my strong points;

if I adopt a superior attitude,

forgetting 'who made thee to 

differ? and what has thou that 

thou hast not received?'

then  I know nothing of Calvary love."  {Amy Carmichael}

Where Have I Been???

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    I would not be surprised if by now you all have given up on me... I have come on quite a few times with the good intention of blogging... Not sure what happened.

    I want to take a moment to extend gratitude to the faithful few in Germany, South Africa, occasionally some other countries, and all of my American friends and family! I'm not sure who all of you are... But I get so excited when I see the numbers of people from each country still coming on here. ;-) ... It's like Christmas every time!

     - Anywho... Just a little "shout-out" to all of you.


    April was our respite month... Not really. But we tried. It was also the only month that we did not have overseas guests. Now, we eagerly anticipate the arrival of friends from overseas each month for the rest of 2014. - I'm so excited!

     The Lord has been gracious to this pathetic anxious little being. Despite my worries, He has remembered my prayers and reminded ME of my prayers. One of which being that wherever I go with Douceur, that I never stray from the path He has blessed and that all would be for His glory. Shortly after I prayed this, I sat back - didn't feel like preparing my fields for rain - and shrugged everything off "in the name of Jesus". My attitude?? Eh. I'll wait and see what happens.

    I was quickly humbled by a call from a friend who asked me to send a last-minute quote for 6 savoury tarts for a friend's wedding.

   I was floored.

   But I didn't take that order as justification for my apathetic attitude. Rather, I realised that the Lord was graciously prodding me on and showing me that every good gift is from Him. I need but prayerfully seek out opportunities.

    In short... That got me going again. With more encouragement from family and friends - and my life-long sister-in-crime, Mo, by my side - I summoned up the guts to talk with our friends who own The Food Fundi... And boy, did God bless above and beyond there!

    Words fail me.

     So... I've been baking my little heart out recently and here are just a few of last month's personal favourites:


 

I taught a friend how to make a cake for her daughter's 3rd birthday. 

I found an *incredible* chocolate cake recipe on FOODESS.com. 

Naturally, I added my own twist and also made an espresso-shot buttercream frosting. Not espresso buttercream... Espresso SHOT buttercream. "Shot" bears much significance in the outcome. :-)

It. Was. Delectable.

This was my first-ever Challah bread. 

Everyone kept looking at this bread and saying "CHALLAH!" like valley girls... I'll never look at this bread the same way again. So annoying. 

Every year, my father leads us in Pesach and we usually invite others to join us. 

I decided to go all-out

and look up traditional Pesach dishes. (I didn't follow all of the

rules and I incorporated traditional

Shabbat foods, as well... We follow the Messiah, anyways. There's freedom in Christ! 

Challah-lujah!) ...Ok. Enough of the corn-ation.

 As believers, we commemorate how the Lord brought His people out of Egypt, and remember the anticipation of the Messiah throughout what we call the "Old Testament". 

The exciting part as

believers is that we not only celebrate Pesach... but we rejoice because the Messiah has come, he conquered death, and He is seated victorious on His throne!

Morgan made this spectacular Israeli flat bread that we also found in our research.

It's a regular part of our lives now... That and dipping oil. Yum! ... And if you're American, it's even better warm from the oven dabbed in butter. Oh yes, people!

"Well... That's all I have to say about that."

The Bruce

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 This one is for our little buddy, Bruce or The Bruce...

Meet "The Bruce". Our handsome little nephew. Here he is with

his favourite person besides Oupa Craig: Uncle "G". Bruce LOVES

Graham and every time I see him he asks: G??

Bruce is quite the curious adventurer.

 I often look at him in awe as I consider the fact this 2yr old is 

entirely oblivious to the fact

that he is an American traveling the world and exploring Africa.

My goal is to be Bruce's favourite aunt and I think I'm getting pretty close!

He definitely looks up to men, which is awesome, but he is kind enough

to share some love with the ladies. ;-) Sunday afternoon, we went to have lunch at 

his new house where he has even more to explore. It's hard keeping him from climbing up the rocks

like a "proper Boer" child... Barefoot. 

He was disappointed with me for telling him he couldn't

climb past a certain point. He furrowed his eyebrows and pointed up the rock face saying, "MAHN-keys!" (Monkeys.)

I am not one for tricking children, but this little guy was so persistent that I finally said:

"Bruce, the monkeys are at church."

Bruce looked up at me quizzically and said: Bible? JESUS???

Me: Yes, Bruce. They went to read the Bible and learn about Jesus.

To my surprise, he was satisfied and soon began to distract himself

with other curious things to be explored in the garden.

Kait sent me an SMS this morning saying: No monkeys today. They must still be at church! 

"Well... That's all I have to say about that."

TRUTH

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    I was reading one of my favorite little books this romantically-overcast noon: Amy Carmichael's "If". - I was struck by a specific point she made that challenges me as I grow and advance God's kingdom by speaking the Truth > God's Word > The Double-edged Sword.

    Here 'tis:

" If I am afraid to speak the truth, lest I 

lose affection, 

or lest the one concerned should 

say, 'You do not understand,' 

or because I fear to lose my 

reputation for kindness; 

if I put my own good name before

the other's highest good, 

then I know nothing of Calvary love." 

"Well... That's all I have to say about that." 

My Cup OverFlows

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     My dear friend, Ash, has made it safely back to the states. God is so good and, as usual, I am overwhelmed by His goodness to me! 

    I stole this photo from her instagram. I was sad and stalking her and found LOADS of photos of us that I was completely unaware of. I forgive her. ;-) 

    This time was bittersweet to me because it marks new beginnings and could potentially be our last time together when we are both still in our fathers' households and all of our siblings are around us. - Growing up is overrated. If anyone forgets anything else I said, remember this: cherish the moments you have with your family. Time is fleeting.

     Ash has such a beautiful heart for the Lord and I am honoured to watch as He blesses her faithfulness to Him!

    A mutual beloved friend of ours, Susannah, also came into town. (I'm still waiting for the photo we took as a family with her.) In fact, she and Ash were in Joburg airport at the same time unbeknownst to either. Both were sad to learn that they JUST missed each other! 

   Sue has been a friend of mine for almost as many years as Ash and I have known each other. She has been on a Christian world tour since last summer and she didn't realise until yesterday morning that the "Nelspruit place" she was staying in was the very same "Nelspruit" that I live in. Once it dawned on her, she sent me a few emails informing me of where she was. I was elated to discover that she was staying 5 minutes from my house! 

    The Lord has surrounded me with incredible young women/sisters-in-Christ who challenge and encourage me to delight in Him! As my title says: my cup overflows.

"Well... That's all I have to say about that." 

A Valid Excuse for No Posts

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    It has been about a month, I believe. My apologies. Below is a sneak-peek into our month. The Lord has blessed us tremendously! Zach and Kait moved here with their two handsome boys!!!! Anddddd... My long-time friend and partner-in-crime ~Ash~ has also flown halfway across the world to spend March with us.

      Again... My cup overfloweth. :D

I think this blog will begin to get a facelift. Gabbi and Morgan

have been having fun with the camera. I know they will have a heart-attack because

I see their photography through rose-coloured glasses and tend to upload their least

favourite photos. However, here is the lovely Gabbi. 

I think I've seen Big Foot more times than I've seen a photo

of Graham smiling and even making a funny face for the camera. He usually ducks as soon as a 

camera is brought out, so this is definitely my favourite. (We'll just ignore the fact

that this is his mischievous smile because he probably stole that cheese from someone and ate a huge chunk.)

This is my lovely friend, Kait. She exudes joy and radiance! She is passionate

about the Lord, LOVES her husband, and absolutely adores her boys!

Morgan and Gab liked this photo... I don't even remember this being taken.

So, I just love this photo. I didn't find the one where Gabbi played around 

with the exposure and Morgan got 85 likes on the first day. But this is Morgan. Mo. Slo-Mo.

Speedy. Ashleigh... Depending on who you're talking to and where they met. 

She is my best friend.

We ~ Douceur ~ did a photo shoot per request on DIY Pom Poms... The entire tutorial is on Facebook.

When Ash is in town... We take FULL advantage and had to make 

the Woodser-famous cheese blitzen. *moment of silence*

Meet "The Bruce". Highly intelligent. Charming. Handsome.

Hilarious. Curious. Athletic. Loving. Never meets a stranger. TALL for 2yrs of age. 

A miracle and a blessing. I look at him and see God's grace. 

I never would've thought when I was 16 and met his mom that we would reconnect,

she'd be married, and THEN we'd have Bruce and Wyatt joining their parents to live in Africa with us!! God is good.

Wyatt. "Wy-man". 5 months old. He is also tall. Precious. 

Quick to smile. Absolutely ADORES the sight of his brother. Loves coo-ing at us.

I could kiss his scrumptious cheeks all day!!! MMM!!

Ash's dear precious Grandma Long sent a present to me through

Ash from my favourite store: Anthropologie. Made my day! I love her so much!

So... This morning I made her a Thank-You card. 

We also went for a Sunday walk in the Botanical Gardens. 

Tangled is one of our favourites... And for some reason, we girls think

that we have a pretty convincing smolder. So... We tried it again.

It looks more like all the typical teenage girl photos we make fun of. Yeesh!

It has perplexed Mo and me how celebrities can talk and always look 

ready for the camera... I think the airbrush edit must also make their faces

look normal or something.

Graham photo-bombing like a boss.

You know those 50's horror movie poses??

That's what we also tried.  (^^^ Morgan was taking this pretty seriously.)

This one is a little more convincing but I couldn't help but think of this... 

Hold on a moment...

It's probably dumb how much this makes me crack up

every time I look at it.

 

Bruce is such a ham!! And this family is so lovely!

These are way out of order but Ash and I have been to the Food Fundi

so many times now that I can't remember when this was!

Even though we are 21 and 22... We will always be kids deep down inside

and our husbands and children will just have to give us grace. This was our water olympics day in the pool. Ash's splash was just a little too large.

Mom had the excellent idea of a beading class at our new favourite shop!

We had a girls' day making jewelry and it was quite fun!

I like to tease Ash that she copies me a lot...

But in reality, I love love love this girl! She has a beautiful heart and I am so blessed

to have her as my friend. That she would spend money to fly all the way over here just blows me away. I am so excited to see and rejoice with her as she enters new seasons of life. She has been faithful and kept the Lord as her central focus. God be praised!

And finally... For now... The 3hr zip line day as a family with Ash. 

While we waited for Ash to zip her way to our station, we decided to be brave and see if the equipment could really hold 5 adults up as we leaned back over a steep ledge.

I must admit... I felt pretty cool!

"Well... That's all I have to say about that."