Two Christmassy stories

One is about Santa….one is about the lamb who got to meet baby Jesus…

Maybe you can guess who was one of the angels in a nativity play recently?

Happy birthday Sesame Street!

So uh, not really a secret that I’m a fan of Sesame Street. Can you believe it’s been going for 40 years today.

Google told me this morning

My fave characters are absolutely Elmo and Cookie Monster. Elmo loves pizza, Cookie Monster loves chocolate chip cookies. I mean we have so much in common!

And how can you not love a show that gets famous celebrities to act like totally OTT crazy people with cute little furry monsters for free?

I mean, have you ever seen anyone so excited about octagons?!

Some more fave celebrity visits of mine: Johnny Cash singing with Oscar the Grouch, various celebrities including Ray Charles, Star Trek guy, Ellen DeGeneres, Susan Sarandon and one of the monks from Sister Act 2 singing the Alphabet Song, Ricky Gervais and Elmo, Natalie Portman pretending to be an elephant…

And remember folks…. C is for Cookie …

Guest Post on From Africa, With Love

My friend Caroline, asked me a while ago if I would do a guest post on her blog.

I finally got around to writing a ‘Top Ten’ post for her…check it out here on her blog: From Africa, With Love

Unless you are a parent who I know ‘in real life’. Then, uh you don’t want to click on that link. No reason to…there’s no guest post.

Don’t know what you’re talking about.

The danger of the single story

I had a rather illuminating conversation with my friends’ 4 year old daughter on Sunday morning. She’s been learning about Africa at school. She had been telling me a few things throughout last week that she had learned, and asked lots of very intelligent questions (as she often does) that made me think back to conversations with my Nigerian roommate, Ruky.

“What do African children wear?“

Well, my Compassion child in Ethiopia and all the children I met in South Africa wear clothes similar to the ones you and I wore as children.

I showed her pictures of South Africa and what we had been doing – visiting the water park, team building exercises on the beach, holiday club and painting in the school.

“The children in Africa have to write on the walls at school” she said to me. “They don’t have paper to write on“.

Now I’m sure in the vast continent of Africa that’s true of some schools. But not all of them. I also remember at my own school in Scotland there was a period where we had no jotters to write on because the school had no money to buy them.

I had been watching this clip from Kamsin’s blog the night before. It was very like the conversations me and Ruky had many times in the safety of our room after long day on project. We were shocked by some of our teammates responses to what we saw in South Africa.

Like the day all the kids were drawing pictures.

“Isn’t it a shame that all they draw is houses” one teammate said to Ruky.

Why is that a shame? You know, I grew up as a white skinned, blonde haired, blue eyed girl in rich educated Britain where apparently the streets are paved with gold. You know what I drew when I was the same age? Houses. Usually with a sun at the top left hand corner and maybe some grass or flowers.

Is there poverty, catastrophe, war, famine, AIDS in Africa?

Yes.

Are there people who are not living in starvation, who go on to further education from their school that is not so different from the ones you or I went to?

Yes.

My friends in South Africa who had grown up in some of the townships were shocked when I told them that there were homeless people in the UK, people addicted to drugs and alcohol in the UK.

The single story goes both ways.

We have a lot to learn from Africa about family, about community, about creativity, about compassion, about parenting, about caring for others, about doing much with little.

I’m ashamed to say that I have been a victim of the single story, growing up hearing about the ‘poor, starving Africans’, I asked my friend a few years ago ‘Do they have supermarkets there?‘

He was suitably appalled by my ignorance.

Let’s not get sucked in to the single story, and remember there are many stories. My favourite one this week is of the football team made up of Gogos (grannies) in South Africa. World cup fever is so alive there just now!

Travelling Tuesday: South Africa

This is one of my favourite pics on our first full day with the kids at Seed of Hope…

I was trying to take pictures of kids and SITC/LOL/Oasis volunteers running under the parachute, and these 3 boys decided to take a running dive to the ground to be in a picture together.

Even now, people are asking me ‘How was South Africa?’ or ‘What was it like?’ and I still can’t explain it. I wish I could take you all there so you could see and experience it for yourselves.

Flower of Scotland Friday: The Lamplighter

So the more observant of you may have noticed a few changes to my header. Includes one of my favourite pics taken with the Simunye kids in Bhekuwandle but also a picture of one of the flagstones outside the Writers’ Museum in Edinburgh with a quote from one of my favourite childhood authors, Robert Louis Stevenson.

There were a few books, mostly hand-me-downs of my Mum’s and my cousin’s that stayed in my Nana’s house. The three books I remember…Laura’s Summer Ballet (a prize my Mum got for good attendance at Sunday School); The Complete Works of Beatrix Potter and A Child’s Garden of Verses.

In the last, there was a poem called The Lamplighter.

I loved that poem. Perhaps because I could imagine it all, my Nana living round the corner and up the hill from where RLS had been born, lived and gone to school as a child.

I knew it off by heart.

And if I ever read it aloud, I think it’s the only thing (apart from being angered about something) that makes my accent at it’s most Scottish!

My tea is nearly ready, and the sun has left the sky;

It’s time to take the window to see Leerie going by;

For every night at teatime and before you take your seat,

With lantern, and with ladder, he comes posting up the street.

Now Tom would be a driver, and Maria go to sea,

And my Papa’s a banker, and as rich as he can be;

But I, when I am stronger and can choose what I’m to do;

O Leerie, I’ll go round at night and light the lamps with you!

For we are very lucky with a lamp before the door,

And Leerie stops to light it as he lights so many more;

And O! before you hurry by with ladder and with light;

O Leerie, see a little child and nod to him tonight!

The Lamplighter by Robert Louis Stevenson © A Child’s Garden of Verses – 1913

The power of imaginary make up

We had an impromptu smallgroup barbecue on Sunday afternoon (and it didn’t even rain…woot!) mainly so as smallgroupers we could make the sacrifice of serving Bringonthejoy and TheStateThatIAmIn by consuming a lot of leftover puddings they had from BOTJ’s leaving party the evening before as pictured below…

NB: I notice Jesus is there, suspiciously near some bottles of water…I wonder what he’s planning?

But you know, Miss S, she’s started a sort of beauty salon and when Gavin arrived she used her skills to turn him into ‘a handsome prince’. Here is Gavin in the make up chair as Miss S shows off her face painting skills…

What do you mean you can’t tell the difference?! (you guys lack imagination…honestly…)

Later another of our smallgroupers came along and she visited Miss S’s shop and became a pirate…

…just another day in the life of our smallgroup…

We do honestly you know, pray and read the bible and stuff as well as doing the eating of yummy food and the silliness (sometimes we multi-task and do both at the same time).

In fact, we’re about to start working on a set of studies based on a book by Bill Hybels called ‘Just Walk Across The Room‘. As the majority of our group consists on introverts, this could be interesting! I’m sure we’ll be letting you know how it goes via the blogosphere…

Reflections on a Sunday

Today I’ll be worshipping the Lord with our host church in Durban (I think there are 2 action teams being hosted by this particular church). Confused? Check out the South Africa blog.

But last Sunday was an amazing and fun day.

Basically, Bringonthejoy, TheStateThatIAmIn, Miss Sweetroot and I got in touch with our childlike sides. It was lots of fun. Unfortunately most of our smallgroup was on holiday so couldn’t be with us…but I suspect a few of them would have been pretending that they didn’t really know us…hee hee.

Domestic goddess

Yummy lemon and lime chicken

Danny McAskill on a Dora the Explorer scooter…

(this was done with disapproving looks of gardening onlookers)

Seesaw…a certain koala sends a sweetroot flying…hold on Miss S!

Unforunately, there is no footage of BK getting off the seesaw.

I’m really gutted because BOTJ did not sing out ‘you really are getting old!’ while laughing as I executed my ungraceful dismount.

Building the VW camper van (a prototype for missional expressions)

But we still want to proclaim ourselves as stewards of creation

Cette Semaine

Apparently I’m feeling French today. Maybe it’s the sunshine, but I was talking to my chocolate pudding in a fake french accent earlier…

So this week…

…I recounted tales of what happened when I got a navel piercing to my friends’ 4 year old daughter. I believe my description was something along the lines of it’s kind of like having snot and bogeys coming out your belly button. Yep, I’ve been corrupting children again…

…I fell asleep (twice) in the front row during a Child Protection training course. Big oops!! (sorry)

…posted a Facebook status asking on advice about good places to get baby clothes, maternity clothes and baby equipment at bargain prices on behalf of a friend (who isn’t on facebook). Of course, I didn’t mention it was for a friend or work. So people then thought I was pregnant.

…which seems to be a recurring theme…

…I was left with a toddler in my care. After he had done some jigsaws, drawn a picture and got tired of laughing at me pretending to struggle to reach cars and trains we shot across the room to each other, he decided to lift at my top. Why? To find the baby in my tummy. While holding down my top (seriously this kid was DETERMINED to find my non-existent baby) I tried to explain that I didn’t have a baby in my tummy. He just frowned and made it perfectly clear that he so didn’t believe me.

…Sarah and I got lazy. We couldn’t be bothered to go out and get food. So we ordered pizza to be delivered to the centre. From round the corner. 

…found out that Ian Rankin was at my uncle’s funeral. And that another of my uncles knows Alexander McCall Smith (one of my fave authors!!)

…I knew I wasn’t good at the whole grace and peace thing, but discovered that when it comes to football, I really am terrible with the grace and peace thing. This became apparent when my friends informed me that a certain football manager had been in a local Starbucks last weekend. And I responded ‘Oh, glad I wasn’t there, I would have had to shoot darts at him’. I also took great enjoyment on gloating at Man Utd losing on Wednesday night anyone who wanted them to win.

…I got a vaccination. And later got sent home from smallgroup as side-effects kicked in. And basically had a mini-meltdown on Twitter as I tried not to cry because I thought I was going to be sick when I drove home. 

(Yes, I know….I’m such a baby!!)

…I got mistaken for a school pupil twice in one day.

…I missed American TV Drama night because I was at a fundraiser. Not just any American TV Drama night….the final ever episode of ER. That’s a serious sacrifice.

…I have discovered that I have a new addiction to blueberries.

…and discovered that you can get cakes in shape of The Stig. Very excited about that, as is my friend Cat (another Top Gear fan). Ended up watching a re-run of Top Gear over lunch afterward, and they had the Aston Martin DB9 on it…

Oh, and by the way…No. I’m not pregnant.

I’d just like to confirm that!

The art of corrupting children

Having been over visiting my gorgeous godson/honourary nephew who by the way has 2 teeth, 2 more coming through and is now walking (and trying to run) at the tender age of 10 months old (he ROCKS!!), as well as spending an afternoon with ‘Timothy’ – a girl that I’ve been “mentoring” for over a year now, I got to thinking about my ‘malteser moments’ and the various ways in which I have been a bad influence on the younger generation.

Some reflections and examples…

1. My sister’s 8th birthday party. I taught all 20 girls in attendance how to eat Milky Ways ‘the proper way’ (it started out with the girls sitting at either side of me, and the next thing you know, word spreads down the table and they’re all doing it). By proper, I mean picking off the top layer of chocolate, the bottom layer, then the sides and then eating the sticky fluffy bit in the middle. Very messy. Very bad table manners.

2. Telling one girl in my last church about how there’s always room for pudding because everyone has 2 stomachs – one for main course, one for sweet stuff. Her Mum (who I didn’t realise was trying to cut down her daughter’s junk food intake) was not best pleased when her daughter used this as an argument to why she should be allowed ice cream. “But Mum, we have 2 stomachs! Laura Anne told me so!”

3. Teaching Elastababy (honourary nephew) how to mosh and headbang. He was about 7 months old at the time? Oh, and trying to encourage him to have ‘Jambo‘ as one of his first words… Gotta start them young…

4. Blowing up ready brek in the microwave and basically turning it into plasticine, and then attempting to make a fruit smoothie with frozen fruit and jamming the blender. “Mum! Dad! You’ll never guess what Laura Anne did at suppertime last night?!?!” To be fair, I didn’t do either of those things on purpose. It’s just that I seem to lack common sense when it comes to kitchen appliances and utensils.

5. Teaching many of my sister’s friends how to do the Macarena. And various Spice Girls dance routines (and dressed them up like Spice girls – we had fake tattoos drawn on with eyeliner and everything!), Time Warp, Saturday Night…

6. Telling teenagers how I got away with doing no work throughout the whole of Standard Grade Maths making it look to my teacher like I had been doing work. What a great role model for them to have!

7. Encouraging 3 boys to bring their toy lightsabres to a church weekend away so we could have lightsabre fights and basically pretend like we were jedi/sith. Their Mum found out and said that “was not a good idea“.

8. I do believe it was me who encouraged my sister to fill up empty Johnsons baby bath bottles with bathwater and squirt them at my Dad when he came into the bathroom. End result: bathroom looked more like a swimming pool.

9. Teaching children how to make funny faces involving sticking out your tongue. Parents turn round and wonder why their child is making a rude face only to follow their eyeline and see they’re responding some silly rude face I’m making to make them laugh or smile. (I never do this in church….*cough cough*)  I think this is my act of rebellion from all the times I’ve heard parents say “If you stick your tongue out one more time, I’ll cut it off with the kitchen scissors”. Or “You know if the wind changes, your face could stay like that”.

10. Teaching my brother and sister (and many other children) how to make a slide on your staircase using duvets.