Birth Certificate!

I have before me... a copy of my BIRTH CERTIFICATE! YEEEEHAAAAAA! And not only that, but what else would arrive today than my SOUTH AFRICAN PASSPORT!!! The one that wasn't supposed to be here for a couple of months! SWEEEEEEET! And life is good again..

So, my paperwork arrived Monday, a day after I posted my complaints.. and also after it was brought up at a prayer meeting. Coincidence? Miraculous occurence? hmmmm.... Thinking about this, it strikes me that so-called "acts of God" always seem to happen on the edge of the miraculous... my passport arrives as soon as people start praying for it, my station wagon fishtails out of the way of an oncoming truck in a manner to defy the laws of physics, and so on. This makes it easy for a charismatic to believe "see right there! miracles" as well as easy for a skeptic to scoff. "Passports arrive ALL the time!" Someone like me is stuck in between. I've been trying to figure out how, and how often, God actually interacts in people's lives. I know some of my other friends have been thinking about this as well, so if you have thoughts please send me your comments. In the meantime though I may not know the mind of God, I do know that my mind is much relieved. India-Africa here I come!!!


Finally, just for fun, some pictures of previous fun in Sunny South Africa. Credit goes to my lovely sister Anja for taking them.




I did some climbing with my cousin, who was both taller and skinner than I. Thus, when he slipped nibly down a chute of rock, I followed- and realized that, while my feet did not touch the bottom, my rib cage certainly touched the rocks- on both sides. Unable to pull myself up, I slipped, and ended up with identical gashes on each side of my chest. Cool!


The "experts" told me it wa the wrong season, I'd never catch anything (other than a truly hideous sandal tan). However, they did not fathom the possiblilty of my stumbling upon an entire school of ravenous bass. "Here, I could only carry this much, I had to let the rest go."
And Napoleon Dynamite was right: bass ARE delicious.


I am not content with the catching of mere fish, it seems. Once upon a time, I was priviledged to assist my vetrinarian uncle (in the green shirt) with the capture of an ostrich. That day I learned that not only am I less powerful than an ostrich, I am actually less powerful than an ostrich that was been winded, tied up, pinnned down by four people and injected with five tranquillizer darts.