Being a "Good Christian"

What makes a good Christian?  Kelsey asked me this in Africa and I told her I thought it was someone who reached out to others, loved on other people, and loved God. Since then, I have been thinking about what does it mean to be a good Christian, wondering, was my statement correct?  I was reading Galatians today and came across chapter 5, Paul is ticked because a bunch of believers  reverted back to Jewish ways and got circumcised and started obeying Old Testament Laws (which besides the arguments about which laws apply, Jesus's death on the cross covers so that humans don't have to work towards salvation, just accept Jesus).  Paul lectures them, (like only Paul can do) and says:
"For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcised has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love."-Gal. 5: 6

He might need an ice pack...

If you have faith that is expressed through love, then everything works itself out.

I was talking to some people the other day, and thought about what the church would look like if it was just about what Jesus did and said.  How awesome would that be.  Jesus was the core of love, he was holy yes, and fixed what was wrong, but he corrected people out of love, he built up relationships. How much love would just exude out of people? How many people would come to church JUST to feel loved. I get chills just thinking about it.

I've talked to some of the strongest Christians in my life lately, and I love them to death, but it seems that I have a different view on how to react to non-Christians.  I was a  theatre major (I'm done with college, strange), and probably about 60% of the people who I worked with day in and day out used to be Christians, but because they were hurt by Christians, or the Church, they stopped believing.  They are amazing people, who felt rejected. They went to find love elsewhere.  I feel like the main key in Christianity is NOT hating, blaming, or chastising, as Rick Perry is currently very apt at.

 Rick....Oh Rick...
what are we going to do with you?

I know people who have been kicked out of churches for being gay, or who were rejected for slipping up over something, or who was lost for a bit.  We all slip up.  Sometimes some slip-ups are bigger than others.  Shouldn't we have a 1 sheep to the 99 philosophy?  What would happen if we welcomed people first and loved on them instead of instantly judging them? How often do we judge, or chastise someone without realizing that they just need some Jesus love?  Lord forgive me, because I've done this many times, and feel horrible just thinking about it.
Jesus's love is amazing and so fulfilling and wondrous, and splendid.  If we shared a 1/10 of that love, how many people would realize that Christians are only people, who just want to share the light and love of God. We sin.  I sin all the time, gosh I ask God to forgive me for one thing, and then realize I'm doing something else.

We've been a society of finger pointers:
Christian and Non-Christian alike.

Our country is in crisis. Yes I realize this.  But all anyone seems to do, politicians and otherwise is to point fingers.  Instead, let's be Christlike, there was a prayer at church the other day, and they just went to pray for the nation, no judgement, just coming to God for help and for the ability to reach out and love.  So I ask you, as Christians, as non-Christians, as friends, family, and ones I hold dear, and ones I don't know.  Show a little extra love today, smile at people in the streets, see if people don't smile back, and your heart grins a bit more.  God works through people, so let his love shine through you, and look at the magic that will happen.


Our God is holy, but it's not our place to judge, it's his. It is our place to:
1. Love the Lord with all our heart
2. Love others with a passion that we usually reserve for ourselves.

This is my view on Christianity.  I am not saying I am an authority on any of this, I'm always learning and growing.  I mess up, but I try to love on everyone I can.  If you disagree with my thoughts, that's fine, but I just felt I needed to share it, and to perhaps inspire someone to love a little more.
Share the Love,
Amber Jane

Welcome home

Wow, I'm home.
Surprisingly I feel like it's been go go go.  I haven't even written in my journal for three days.
To make a long story short on our multiple flight trip to America Jeremy and I missed our flight to America from Jo-Burg.  If you know me, I cry pretty easily, and so the tears were streaming down my face.  Not to mention that I was crazy tired.  Thanks to God because South African Airlines ended up covering our hotel and our airfare to get home to America the next day.  Many people were praying for us, and what could have been a nightmare ended up being a really great time at a sweet hotel, and a good nights sleep (which is sometimes just needed).
The first thing I ate when I landed in America?  A Cinnamon Roll from Cinnabon. O my word.  Waited for months for a real cinnamon roll. Amazing. Loved it.

Kelsey and I

We got into Sioux Falls and I was able to see the in-laws, and that was fantastic.  So nice being back up at the farm, and my jet lag wasn't that bad.  It's so nice to be home.  I loved Africa, but Iowa is fantastic.  Went to Cedar Falls yesterday and took my brother out to lunch, and it was nice.
 My brother is a freshman at UNI, and is doing really great, he has a really busy week, so I'm happy he could take a break for Jeremy and I, but he's grown ALOT in the last 5 months, and it's actually kind of crazy, but it's exciting to see the type of man he's becoming.  After that, I went to hang out with my American Kelsey, and Laura, and was able to hang out with the cast from the show.  Sometimes in Africa I wondered if people actually remembered that I was gone, and I know life goes on as usual, but it was the best feeling in the world when I came back home to see two of my best friends (I have a lot, I figure why discriminate), squealing with excitement.

The beautiful Ellen

ps. Did I mention I get to see Ellen today?  Love it!

It's good to be home.

Roadtrip to Durban

I don't have any way of hooking up my camera but pictures will come soon.  Currently I am on a roadtrip with one of the coolest girls in the world (Kelsey) and we went from Port Elizabeth, to Chintsa, to Port St. Johns, and finally arrived at Durban two days ago. 
Today is Thanksgiving and so we are going to cook up a little Thanksgiving feast for us and the others here at the backpackers and bring a little American love to the table.  The night we got here we made rice krispies treats except they only have pink marshmellows and so it turned out kind of weird, but way yummy.  It's been raining, but we've had a blast, yesterday we went to a place called Taconula and I had the biggest pizza in my life it was as big as the table, between the four of us we couldn't finish it.   The other night we were going to bed and the boys knocked on our door and said, ladies, we're going down to the beach wanna come?  So we grabbed some bottles of wine and went down to the beach at 10 pm (usually my bed time), played near the water, and scared a bunch of white crabs that were all around the beach and just had a great time chatting and hanging out. 

I can't believe how blessed I've been in Africa, and here on this roadtrip.  I'm so thankful for so many things, my awesome husband who gave me total free reign for this roadtrip, my fantastic parents who are counting the days until they can make sure I'm safe back in America, my inlaws who are amazing and who I'll see in less than a week, and my extended family who I'll be able to see for Christmas (except for my Aunt Sara and Court, and that makes me sad). 
Thank you all for supporting me, reading along with me, and just sharing your love with me.  I would not be half the person I am without everyone I've met.


I am excited to see you all,
Amber Jane

Milkshakes, Safairis, and Roadtrips!



And I get to see things like this...awww



So I absolutely adore milkshakes.  I feel as though if I had to pick one dessert for the rest of my life I'm fairly sure a chocolate fudge cookie milkshake would be it.  My friend Sabine and I (from Denmark) had a milkshake girl's date yesterday and sat out and just had girl time. Fabulous, and then we went to the beach and got clobbered by waves. Loved it.



Going on a safari on Friday, Kelsey, Inge, Jeremy and I.  I'm quite excited, haven't gone on one yet (I know I know, slacker me). But it's supposed to be a really great private game reserve so we'll see!

I am almost done with all my exams, I have one left on Saturday, and I feel good, I've done over 10 hours of studying on each of my last exams and I kicked their butts to kingdom come, so I should be good with this exam this weekend because....AFTER THAT I GET TO LEAVE ON A ROADTRIP!!

I have done more roadtripping in South Africa than I have in my entire life. But this one should be pretty great, just Kelsey and I are and we are going up to Durban and God's window.  we're going to camp in our little tent, and drive our little hearts out.  It's going to be fantastic.  Don't worry, I'll take lots of pictures, so ya'll can check it out.

I would like to apologize for being a bad relater to people back home, I know I post in my blog and occasionally send emails, but I was chastised my friend Ellen back at home for not sending post cards and stuff to my family, so I'll be sending out post cards this week. I figure I'll talk to you all when I come home and share all my stories, and then we have a lot to catch up on, I'm just not a good skyper.  In so much, I apologize if I have offended anyone in not staying in contact. I am in full health, and still alive, and with all of my limbs.

It's strange knowing that this is my last full week here in Africa in PE, (next week I'll be roadtripping).  Tomorrow is my last day to be with the little penguins I've been working with all semester...granted, last week some of them bit me hard, but I'll miss it, strange as it sounds even though I pretty much mop the whole time, and handle dead smelly fish, I rather liked volunteering there.

PS. A house burned down today at the international housing lot. Glad it was not my house...sometimes things happen here in South Africa that would never happen if it were in the states...then again, that's pry because some rich person sued someone else so they had to take all the fun out of everything. Not sure.

I know this pry wasn't the most interesting of posts, but I thought I'd just keep you up to date on what's happening and what's going on.  Also, if anyone wants to view my blog and doesn't know how, tell them to type http://www.apassionateadventure.blogspot.com/ into their address window and it will come up.

Love you all,

See you all soon, (craziness! that and that I am tan in November)

Amber Jane

Forts, Exams, and beach days

Hello friends, family, comrades, and strangers,

I have been asked recently how to follow a blog, this is if you want to make sure you don't miss my exciting doings, or don't want to check into the blog but just get it to your email.  To the right of this post is a space that says "follow by email", insert your email address, and press submit, and then it'll send my posts right to your email so you don't have to check my site all the time, and instead can enjoy it from the comfort of your email site. 

 

Pernaz the belly dancer &
 Aj the crayon

Onto the cool stuff...

Well we had halloween not to long ago, and I thought hard about what I wanted to be, my friend Kelsey was going to lend me her toga, and she was going to be a tacky Miss America, the top was a sequinned flag, omw, it was FANTASTIC, anyways, because we are not in America, and couldn't get the right accessories, Kelsey was going to use the toga, which I learned two hours ahead of the party (because as you know I lost my phone).  I decided to be a crayola blue crayon.  It was awesome, I put a blue ribbon in my hair, blue makeup, and even made a sign.  The girl standing next to me is the beautiful Pernaz my roommate, and she was a bellydancer, but the whole night it was raining outside so she had her coat on, she took it off just so we could take a picture. Adore her. 



Sushi and girls night!

 

I told you about my first excursion with sushi, and so the girls (Kelsey, brown hair, Inge blonde hair, me in my favorite sweats) decided to get sushi and watch a movie.  As many of you know, I am a STRONG supporter of girls nights.  My roommates asked me, "Aj, you have girls nights like once or twice a week! What's up with that?" I replied, "I live with a man, I need some girl time to keep my estrogen up, plus, more desserts, with less guilt."  That and Jer will watch the good Disney movie with me, but not Little Mermaid, so I need females to bond with. We went to go get the movie at the rental store but they didn't have it.  We were shocked...so we got Jumanji instead. I forgot how scary that movie is.



Before Fort Building commenced

 

And After :-)

 

Me chilling in the fort :-)



 Now, as most of you know I am around the age of 12 in my heart.  As such we had a free day and it was yucky outside, and I was just feeling quite sludgy.  After studying for my exam for a few hours Jeremy remarks, "Aj, let's build a fort". And so we did.  Mind you, we only had one sheet, and two blankets, so we got creative and used my scarves, towels, weights, and kitchen chairs to make it work.  Turned out fabulous.  We watched some Friends (I'm working my way through Season 2 Aunt Sara) and made Mac and Cheese. Man I love my husband. Coolest best friend EVER.

   

Mac and Cheese+Husband+Fort=
AWESOME TIME



 I was able to go and have a real beach day for the first time...in a long time. It's cold here in South Africa. Anyone who tells you different is lying, or is a hyperborean giant who is used to cold weather.  It's not cold enough for a coat, but it's def not warm enough for the beach..UNTIL TUESDAY! We had a wicked great time down at the beach, and got ice cream cones and played in the water.  It was wonderful.  I loved it.  Although the salt water makes me think of french fries and then makes me hungry.

Had my first exam today, 200 points, and half my grade. It was pretty intense but I studied well, and I'm not worried about, what I am worried about is the Afrikaans test I have on Monday...that's going to be brutal.  Just keep studying, just keep studying, studying studying studying...or maybe I'll go to the beach :-)

Love you all,

Am

Shark Cage Diving,pictures, & spectacular things :-)

Let me just say, I have the best husband in the world.  I was so blessed when God led him into my life and gave him to me as a gift.  I just get a super silly grin when I think about it, we are super dorks, and I love every minute of it.  We just have so much fun together, we go shark cage diving, hiking, and the other day we even had a mini date to go to the Humane Society to play with puppies. How awesome. :-D



If you look in the cage I'm the third person to the left



Well, as you all know Kelsey, Jeremy and I went shark cage diving this weekend. IT WAS SO RADICAL!! I saw a 4 1/2 meter long shark. It was CRAZY, and it hit the cage I was in. O my word.  We got out there and chummed for sharks, (throwing dead bloody yucky fish over board) for an hour and there were no sharks...I was like ooo nooo...because it's at the end of the season for shark cage diving, but then another boat said they found a shark, so we went to go steal their shark, and we got in, and then saw the sharks...it was wicked.

Uh, yes that's a shark shadow...
Told you Jaws was real



When it goes by the boat and your looking down you get so scared. I was starting to get a little sea sick but I brought motion sickness tablets so I was okay. 

We survived the sharks...and got certificates of bravery

God made everything big and small...I think God was in an intense mood the moment he made sharks, because they are scary looking.  But I'm fine.  No bones lost, no blood shed! But I did lose my phone :-/



Modeling monkey...
it was hilarious

We went to Monkeyland, where they have something liike 400 monkeys I think. I don't know, some crazy amount, one even sat on my shoulder and tried to steal my scarf, heres how it went



The bridge of the incident, which is a huge
awesome suspension bridge



Monkey: Give me give me, pretty scarf!

Aj: Oh your cute

Monkey tries to bite my shoulder and take scarf "I will kill you if I have to!"

Jer: Take a picture!

Aj: I CAN'T, I have the camera it doesn't work that way!

Kelsey: AJ THE MONKEY IS GOING TO KILL YOU!

Monkey tries to bite again

Aj: Not that bad, okay that one kind of hurt...

Aj running from monkey, while monkey sends evil eye...



I like to move it move it...



Party people at Oktoberfest



I also went to Oktoberfest here in South Africa. They love tradition, it was amazing, we danced the night away in between a club type atmopshere and this amazing German beat mix with old German music and new beats. Pretty sweet. But everyone stands and dances on tables...I also discovered how much I enjoy these Fruit Breezers (like wine coolers) slushies...they were AMAZING. But not the Leechee one. That one was not very good. Overall fantastic Oktoberfest. Check off the list! 



Possessed Monkey...super cute, but then
freaks out and becomes demon monkey. Creepy.



This weekend we are staying at home here in Port Elizabeth and going to this massive street market in Central (this time we KNOW where it's at). 

Also my mom's birthday was yesterday...got to call her via skype. Way exciting, she's going to Isreal, my mom...the world travelor...I gave her the bug ;)

Went dancing last night with my girlfriends, and got home at 2 am, I haven't done that in a long time, and then woke up at 7 to go to my Feminism Test (which I passed with sparkling colors). But I had the jibbers and NEEDED to go dancing, so it was worth it. But I'm pry going to go home after I type this up and take an nice nap after lunch, my father-in-law is rubbing off on me :-)

Finished my feminism class today. Amen. Never have to go again. I am a happy happy camper.

Today Kelsey, Inge and I are going to have a beach day today, eat some sushi, (I ATE SUSHI FOR THE FIRST TIME ON WEDNESDAY, quite good), and watch the Little Mermaid, I have the coolest best friends in South Africa.



Today was the last day of classes!!! Yay! Now just 3 tests and then I'm done with college. How exciting! God bless,

Am 

-This post is full of so many random things, I'm sorry if you have trouble following my train of thought, I'm just so excited and have a massive case of the jibbers.



ps. I'll touch down in Iowa in less than one month...craziness.

Also would like to put out there that CHRISTMAS IS AROUND THE CORNER! I love christmas...I'll have to talk about that in a later post perhaps. Hot Chocolate, wrapping paper, pie, family, gifts, ornaments, music, candy...did I mention all the great food?  And best of all it's Ferry year, so we're having massive christmas at my grandmas. Love love!

Life is magical. It just doesn't get better than this.:-)

Also perhaps, because yesterday I got a bunch of new African Worship music, so I've been dancing and smiling like a fool all day, and especially on my 45 minute walk to school. Love it.

I Got the Job!

I was going to post pictures today, I swear it! But then the pictures Jeremy so kindly put on the flash drive, I left at home...oops.

On another more important note, I GOT THE JOB FOR THE CAMP ADVENTURE INTERNSHIP!!
"What does this mean?" you may ask!  Well, let me tell you.

First off, in case you are new to my little piece of the internet, my husband and and best friend is going to join the Air Force come sometime in January or Feburary, (it's all a waiting game I guess).  And he'll be gone for months, anywhere from 4-9 months.  Long time. Yes I know.

Sooooo....instead of moping around the house, not that we have one, but instead of moping around I wanted to do something, I thought about volunteering in Figi with the Turtles, teaching English in Thailand, Georgia, or working on a ranch in Austraila, or a hotel in Hawaii.  But then I found out about Camp Adventure.

Camp Adventure was started at my university (UNI...woot go panthers!) and what they do is they work at day cares around military bases around the world, Germany, Turkey, Hawaii, Italy, Netherlands, and more. So....I got a job with them!!! They pay for my flight there and back, and I'll get one of my top three choices for the internship program, which are Italy, Germany, Hawaii, Florida, and Alaska, in that order. So yay! It'll be from Janurary to May 12th, which means I may very well be celebrating my birthday in Italy come May. Awesome. 

So, this is what's been keeping me up waiting for news about this, but I got it, and accepted...now I have a mountain of paperwork to fill out, but it'll all work out!
God always provides...sometimes you just need to apply for the right job before he does ;-)
Love you all,
Aj

ps. Going shark cage diving in Mossel Bay this weekend...I'm kind of nervous but I'm sure it's going to be amazing, and I'm going with Kelsey and Jeremy...life is good....very good.

Hogsback

O my word. First off, let me apologize for not posting more pictures, I promise I will soon.  But Hogsback...mmm...delicious. It was awesome. It is where J.R.R Tolkien envisioned and was inspired to write the Hobbit, and we stayed in a fairy backpacker, and I traveled with my group of friends who are just phenomenal.  Man, I love my life here in S.Africa, it just makes you so happy to be able to have these once in a lifetime oppertunities to meet people and experience cool things.  Like a bath tub over looking the mountains, or a fairy meander, or a hike up a waterfall.

I used to consider myself a person who had to be go go go all the time.  Ask either my mom or my husband for the proof in the breakdowns at 2 am that I was so busy I couldn't do anything and had to get my homework done.  But all this time to just enjoy and breathe and volunteer has given me a new outlook on life.  As long as I have oppertunities to be social, love God, and give back I'm okay.  This is a nice way to live.  Given me a lot to think about.

ps. I found out that our school sells cinnamon rolls for 6.50 R, which is like 75 cents, and they are HUGE cinnamon rolls. Def, not as good as mine, or my moms, or goodness, that bakery in Orange City, but decent and fabulous.
pps. I hear back tomorrow about whether or not I got the job for the spring, which would be working on a military base at a daycare for their kids, either in, wait for it...Italy...Germany, Hawaii, Florida, or Alaska. Keep your fingers crossed!

Love. Love. Love.
And adore. It's all quite magical.
Love you all,
Amber Jane

My Spring Break Trip!!

Spring break was fantastic I had a wonderful time, and it was quite the adventure. I figure I’ll tell you my top five favourite things/stories of the week so I’ll be able to cover most of it.

1.       We went rafting down the Orange River, I was really nervous about this, because as most people know I am really afraid of water that I can’t see the bottom of and here we were going through rapids.  I told Jeremy if I died then he needed to put that I died rafting on my headstone, so people know I went down facing my fear.  It turned out to be an absolute blast, we got soaked, went swimming, the suction at the bottom of the boat to keep the water from filling up sucked up Jeremy’s shirt…quite funny if you ask me.  We stayed at a beach that night and set up camp and I had just a fantastic time sitting around the fire sharing stories.  Lately a theme has been to tell about traditions of the different cultures, and so it’s been really cool to hear all of them.

2.       Camping. I have not been camping in quite some time, and so when they told us that we were going to be sleeping in tents for a whole week I was kind of nervous, but put on my best face, and it was awesome.  The first night we got in at like 8 pm, and so it was totally dark out as Jeremy and I were trying to set up our tents, after accidentally stabbing each other a few times with tent poles we finally succeeded, quite hilarious.   The nice thing about tents is that you can see the sky through the bug screen, the bad thing about tents is that when you want to change you invariably fall down many times from tripping on things inside your tent.

3.       Rock Climbing.  They told us we were going on a hike…liars.  We climbed legit cliff things. It was crazy, if I would have slipped I could have died, but it was sooo cool. I just trusted my body to know how to handle itself and I propelled myself up these steep things, we saw some rock cave drawings, and I even crawled into the tight crawl space that let out 30 feet above the ground into the open sky. Scary as hell, but quite awesome.  I did happen to slip on a rock, and have a FANTASTIC bruise on my knee. I’m extremely proud of my war bruise.  We ended up hiking for about three hours and by the time we got back we were all sweaty and disgusting, but the place we stayed at that night had a mulberry tree (I was able to tell the myth of the mulberry tree) and orange trees, so it was delicious.

4.       Crossing the South Africa Namibian border 6 times. Yes. You heard me. 6. I was only supposed to be twice, in and out. The first time was because we thought our campsite was on one side but then turns out it was on the South African side, so we had to go back through, then a day after that we went to go drive through Mata Mata.  Mata Mata is a trans frontier park that is situated between 3 countries, and they share it, pretty cool in theory but the red tape around it is quite stuffy.  They wouldn’t let us drive through the park because we were not going to stay there, so we had to cross back over the border to go over to South Africa again, by the time we got to the other border at 4:35 it was too late, the border had closed. Mind you we hadn’t eaten lunch because we were trying to get to the border in time so we had all eaten some snacks for lunch, and were all wired.  We ended up camping outside of a township in this desert, it was awesome.

5.       Books.  Anyone who knows me knows I am a book worm. I love books. Fantasy, fiction, adventure, mystery.  Anything…except tax law books, use those for burning when the world ends.  On this trip because we spent a crazy absurd amount of time driving, I figure about 3 days worth of it (a lot I know). So I was able to read, a lot.  I reread books, yes for fun, and I just got my nook back (thanks mom!!) so I reread a couple Sookie Stackhouse novels, another scifi novel, Eat Pray Love, part of The Host, and I’m like 30 pages away from the end of The Fellowship of the Ring.  I know, I’m such a nerd. If I told my cousin Court this she’d roll her eyes, and say “O my gosh Amber, you read that much? Why?” and she’d roll her eyes, and laugh at me for wasting my time.  However, Eat Pray Love was fantastic and I highly suggest it, and now I’m halfway through Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus. Holy cow, awesome awesome book. Highly HIGHLY recommend it, hilarious and enlightening.

6.       We went to Fish River Canyon which is the second biggest canyon in the world (after the Grand Canyon of course) and it was huge!! Absolutely gorgeous, I’ll have to post pictures.

7.       The food.  Man, there is something about homemade food over a campfire that just makes me happy.  We had some awesome food, and some great noodle stuff that I’m going to try to learn how to make.  My favourite though was this apple crumble, apples, condensed milk, cookies, vanilla, cinnamon, all put in a pot to roast over the fire for half an hour, and then we put custard on it.  I sang.  Also, the chocolate soy milk here…nuh uh.  There is a reason I’ve been eating oatmeal for breakfast instead of soy milk here for the last 4 months…this past week was just reassurance of my choice.

8.       The schedule, the schedule was crazy, we’d drive for anywhere from 4-8 hours everyday depending on what we were doing and where we were going, it was crazy intense, all the places we wanted to see were really spread out so that made matters worse, but I sat in the front of our overland truck so I guess I had a little extra space, but you definitely learn patience when you are with 15 other people in a truck sitting quite close for hours…I guess I need to be careful when I ask God to teach me patience…but he did.

9.       Wine and friends.  Drinking is important to Europeans.  Granted it is important to Americans as well, but in a different way.  We went on a wine tasting, my first, and I had a lot of fun, but wine is not exactly my ticket to happiness (give me apple juice over wine anyday).  Every night they would crack open beers and drinks and talk about life, love, and general adventures.  Also comparing the European system to the US system has been a favoured topic, and can be ridiculous at times how intense the conversation can turn.  I’ve made some closer friendships over the trip, and had a blast just bonding and talking to people, but one thing is for sure, I can not hold alcohol like some of my friends.  After the first two weeks here in South Africa when I did drink quite a lot because we went out every night, I’d only have a few drinks, but it adds up.  So I’ve pretty much quit drinking except for here and there when we go out to somewhere special and even then it is just one.   My body feels a whole lot healthier, and my pocket book is a little bit thicker.  Nothing against drinking, but I know what it does to people, and I’m good with none, or sometimes one, but I’ve gotten to appreciate a full water bottle full of good clean water.

10.   The views…holy buckets were the views amazing.  I can’t believe I saw the things I did.  I saw the sun rise over the Kalahari desert, over the Cedarburg Mountains, and over a lush river valley in the middle of the desert.  I feel so blessed to have been able to be on this trip to see all that God has made, and the beauty of it all.  Wow.

Overall I had a great trip, and there are more smaller stories or things that happened that will be told over dinner in months to come.  I don’t have my camera on me or my flash drive to post pictures yet, but I will in the next few days. Sorry this post was so long, but I wanted to share.  I hope all of you are well, and having a great time. I know it’s getting colder in Iowa, two days ago it was 96 degrees here…going to the beach!!

Love and God bless,

Amber Jane

Spring Break Trip

I had a great trip this past week to Namibia.  I got home this morning at 7:30 after an 11 hour bus drive.  I am safe, I have a great bruise on my knee, and had a wonderful time. Tonight I'm going to write my blog post of all the cool things I did and I'll post it in the next few days.
Can you believe it's already October 10th? I'll be home December 2nd...time flies fast.  Wow.
Love you all,
Aj

Impromtu Camping Trip

When I came to Africa I was expecting to learn about culture, what I’ve realized is that I have learned more about myself than anything. What I learned this past weekend is that me being here in South Africa is not about how many trips I took, or all the different things I did, (although it is a large part) it is about just taking the time to do small things.  Go take a walk on the beach, try a new restaurant, do something new, or go on an impromptu camping trip.  This is what I did this last weekend. 

 Now this trip has been planned for a few weeks now, and was a girl’s trip, so in my big girl voice I told Jeremy “no boys allowed” and that he was just going to have to suck it up and stay at home for the weekend. Turns out instead of the 5 of us GIRLS going, there was going to be 3 co-ed cars…so much for my girl’s weekend.  At the last minute my ride decided he wasn’t going to go because of the weather, weather schmeather, he had a bad hangover…we’re all friends…call a spade a spade.

            After an hour of calling different people, and going back and forth between whether to go on this almost cancelled trip I got a spot in the boys’ car and was headed out to Sardinia Bay…3 hours after I thought we were originally leaving. After travelling 30 minutes in the wrong direction we turned around as it started to rain…normally I’m a good sport about rain…I love a good storm, although there are no thunderstorms here, (to  my great dismay) but we had tents…so rain was not a good thing, especially without any rain tarps for our tents.  After an hour of backtracking, eating a few cookies to raise our morale, and driving through fog, we all agreed this was the start of a wicked trip and good story (which you’re now reading).  We finally reached our destination in quite a drizzle and the man at the front gate told us we had 40 minutes to decide whether we were going to camp or not, because at 7 he was leaving and we’d be stuck in the camp grounds.  The 9 of us (6 girls 3 boys) all voted and said we’d stick it out, renting a house spot and a tent spot, we were all going to sleep in the house, but the guy wouldn’t cut us a break so we had to rent a tent spot to pretend that we were following the rules. Psh…



Our cute little cabin



The girls continued cooking on the campfire which was hilarious because we were under a tree, and the wind was picking up with the rain, so they were all huddled under blankets with the tree shaking large amounts of water on both the food and them.  James, Dominic and I decided to find our house so we could put our stuff away, when we asked for directions the man at the gate gestured to an upside down map telling us to veer left and it was right there, pointing to approximately half the page in his hands.  After more grunting and obvious disapproval of us we left to go attempt to find the house on our own. 

After 15 houses of going up to the front porch to check with no luck, we found another grove of houses…once inside the grove I noticed James and Dominic were running towards me faster than the roadrunner…in a split second I heard why…the angry growl of a hungry dog, I’m fairly sure for the next twenty seconds I would have outrun an Olympic runner, I’ve never been more scared for my life, I dodged around a wall and prayed that the dog was a leash, I heard no blood curdling screams, and so we left that grove and found our house shortly thereafter. I have since crossed off being a house burglar for my career; I rather like my legs too much to run the risk of being a dog’s chew toy.

By that time it was close to pouring rain and we transferred everything into our little cabin house, and started cooking in this rinky-dink oven.  We had a great dinner, and had a fantastic time just talking and bonding; I love the friends I’ve made down here.  Now there were only four beds in the house, 3 twin beds in one room, and a queen in another, the 6 of us girls took to the twins, and the 3 boys had the queen, two of them shared it and one slept on the floor, I shared a bed with my gorgeous friend Sabine and us girls all cracked up and told stories till late.



Pretty aint it?



That morning we woke up and had a breakfast of buns, cheese, bananas, apples, and the vegetables from the night before...which weren’t very good. Afterwards we wanted to go paddle boating, or as the Danish girls call it, boat cycling. Except there was one problem…Dominic’s car wouldn’t start, we ended up pushing the car down the hill, narrowly missing another vehicle and discovered that due to his locking system his car was throwing a fit, we got it to start after repeatedly locking and unlocking his car.  His car’s name is fabulous…more like bipolar hag-ulous.  However the boating was great, only 15 rand for an hour (that’s like 2 dollars), and two of the girls went for a swim in this alcove.  The ocean was nearby and there were 15 foot waves, it was crazy.

All in all I had a fantastic and crazy night, but I was quite happy and content to come home to Jeremy and have a hot shower, not to mention use a towel that wasn’t used to wipe the dirt off everyone else’s feet, and who knows what else. 

Who knew I’d have that crazy of a weekend? …then again…this IS Africa… J

Aj

 PS. Tomorrow I leave for Namibia for a week!! Gahh, can't wait!

Oh, and I have an interview the week after with the Camp Adventure people for a job placement after Africa!! Keep your fingers crossed, and pray that nobody dies by a lion attack on our game tours!

Glitter List Cont.

16. learn to play guitar (well)
17. take a glass blowing class
18. go to universal studios
19. read the entire Bible
20. go shark cage diving

Our frontier farm trip

 

Me and my DOUBLE STUF oreos...heaven.



First off, a shout out to my parents, who were awesome and sent Jeremy and I a care package...within was some life savers, such as makeup as it is wicked expensive here, and oreos, along with great things like permanent markers, normal markers, and 64 box of CRAYONS. I have the best parents in the world. THANK YOU MOM AND DAD!!

So this past weekend we had a Frontier Farm Trip. At first glance, I was like, are you serious?  But then I looked at everything we were going to do…milk a cow, see sheep being sheared, climb a waterfall, feed an elin, climb a small hill mountain, and go on a night game drive. Jeremy and I were in.  That, and our program paid for it.

Feeding a baby goat



Jer and the Elin



It’s a three hour drive there, but because of the need to stop and pee and feed our 27 faces it took us five hours, luckily I had just rented a new book, Artemis Fowl (the series is quite good for just fun quick fiction) so the drive went rather quickly. That and if I’m in a car I’m out like baby. When we arrived Marnus and Winnie greeted us and welcomed us in for lunch (which was at 3 pm).  After lunch we took a tour of the farm and helped to castrate sheep, luckily it was a just a rubber band that you put around them and then another on their tail so it doesn’t get long, and it doesn’t hurt them.  Otherwise the animal person inside of me would have died a little. Everyone was running around to pick up these little cute lambs…unfortunately the sheep were crazy and running everywhere…and then one pregnant one had a heart attack and died.  I felt so bad.  Afterwards we got to feed an Elin which is like a wild deer/gazelle/elk African Animal, it was cool.



Christian, Joey, and Inge on the mountain :-)



 Dinner that night was served at 930…PM. at one part they brought over this bowl of things for us to try, and said they were tripe and trotters.  Nice nickname for sheep stomach, and intestines…I didn’t try it at first, but then Momma Winnie scolded me so I tried some…shame runs deep in my veins.  It was horrible and disgusting, but as she said, now I can say “been there, done that, bought the t-shirt”.  8 of us girls stayed at Winnie’s house and the other 18 went over to the other farm.  We had a great chat that night with Winnie, who was simply fantastic.

 

On the mountain top!



The next day we climbed up a small mountain and had simply fantastic views, we also took turns shooting a gun, Jeremy hit dead center, I think I came in like 5^th place, which is still pretty good.  I was pretty proud of my marksman, and I think he was proud of himself, he never shows off, so I think it was a nice moment for him. That night we went on a game drive, and the sky was beautiful. It was if someone took diamonds and placed them on black silk, The stars were luminous and I saw scorpio and a few others, I was pretty proud of myself for remembering star constellations from 6^th grade.

 

Me and a baby lamb!!



The next day we left, but that morning I had a good chat with Winnie who was a no-nonsense type of woman, I realized how lucky I am to have so many women of God in my life.  Each woman that I respect has an aspect to them that I aspire to, and want to reflect in my life.  My friend James said something this weekend that hits home “no matter who you are, or where you are, you can always learn something from someone, and if you always look for the something you can learn, you will always get somewhere”. I think that’s a good way to live.  So if you are a woman in my life, thank you for your influence, (I think a blog post for the women I love is in need some day)



Good coffee and rusks...yum!



I also realized how much I love good coffee with rusks. Rusks are like dried bread that you dip into your coffee and eat, and coffee with enough milk and sugar tastes good…I’m excited about this newfound interest, I’ll have to try to make coffee again, more on my coffee mishaps in another blog post I suppose.



THEY CALL IT THE JAIL...
I CALL IT THE WATER STRAIT FROM HELL



Let me preface this next bit that I have big fears.  Yes they are irrational, probably dumb, and my teacher made fun of people who are afraid of it, but it’s there none the less.  The dark, and water.  Yes I was a lifeguard, but nothing scares me more than the water, or darkness, let alone water I can’t touch the bottom, or see the bottom of. They took us on a hike to a waterfall, and the water fall was across a ravine that we had to swim through.  Now this water…what’s a good word for it…was FLIPPING FREEZING COLD.  As in, you can’t feel your body; you start to shut down for hypothermia. C. O. L. D. I’ve had a bad experience with going into hypothermia when I was getting my lifeguard certification, so I remember the pain…and let’s just say that when we stepped in that water, and consequently slipped on the mossy rocks submerging our bodies much faster than we were willing, we were not shouting kid-appropriate phrases.  Jeremy was a rockstar and dove into the water first and swam across, about a block in length to the first rock cropping.  Eventually after a few other people swam across, I felt the need to prove that I was sexy and in charge and that Jeremy could be proud of me…that and a few other girls had already gone, and I didn’t want to be a lame dork, so James I decided to go together and jumped in to start swimming.  That swim is in the top 10 worst experiences of my life…my lungs were fighting to even expand because they wanted to contract, and my arms were shaking and tensing up, but I kept swimming and made it to the other side.



The waterfall...pretty cool



 The waterfall was pretty cool, and I was able to go into a cave behind it, just so I can now say…I swam through freezing cold water that I couldn’t touch or see the bottom, and went into a cave behind a waterfall, and I did it. (Can’t tell I’m proud of myself can you?)  We dried off and got into our little safari vehicles and made it back home safely, but it was by far one of the best weekends I’ve had here in Africa yet. 



Kelsey and I on the 5 hour drive



I loved our house family and I also bonded with a girl named Kelsey.  We’ve been having girl’s nights lately, PB&J sandwiches, dessert, and a movie, and we’ve really clicked. It’s nice to have a girl that I can just talk to who gets me, she’s as much of a nerd as I am with books and movies and so we just have a blast together.  She lives in Tulsa, Ok, and Denver, Co.  Which is awesome, because Ellen my beautiful best friend from home that I miss lives in Tulsa, and my sister in law Robyn lives in Denver, so I’ll be able to see Kelsey after our Africa adventure is over.  Sometimes God provides you with friends for a season, but I have a feeling that Kelsey is a life friend. 

God is good,

Aj

Glitter List Cont.

11. adopt a dog

12. adopt a kid

13. climb a mountain

14. learn to surf

15. do a missions trip