REDEEMED PIONEER

  This is one of my favourite pictures of 7-year-old Jessica performing the song I LOVE YOU, LORD on the dining room table to an audience of friends and family.    She called it the EAR SONG after the words in the lyrics LET IT BE A SWEET, SWEET SOUND IN YOUR EAR. In the early hours of Friday 26 November 1999, 35 days before Y2K, a 27-year-old mother recognises the signs of early labour.    She doesn’t raise alarm about it, because her C-section is scheduled for noon on that same day, at 38 weeks gestation.    This precious little bundle of joy is baby number four, the one destined to complete her family of six.    None of the antenatal ultrasound scans could confirm, without reasonable doubt, the new baby’s gender.    If she gives birth to ALEXANDER AMADEUS, then she will have three boys and a girl, but if she gives birth to JESSICA, then she will have two boys and two girls.    At exactly 13:13 JESSICA made her way into ...

This reflection is a letter addressed to my granddaughter, Emily Hay, who recently took part in POCAHONTAS2024 presented by  Elna van der Walt School of Ballet . To my dearest beloved Boo Thank you so very much for filling my heart to overflow with the delight of unconditional love and humble gratitude.    I am so proud of you for your beautiful ballet performance and I am so profoundly grateful to be your Nana.    In my eyes you were not only the prettiest butterfly, but the prettiest ballerina on stage.    This was also exactly what your  OumagrootjieMakkie  and  OumaDalene,  who travelled all the way from Ladysmith for the show, expressed to me afterwards.    I can only hope and pray that every ballerina in the show had at least one Nana/Granny/ Ouma / Oumagrootjie  in the audience feeling the same way about them as the three of us did about you.    You are only four years old and this performance was you...

  WE REGRET TO INFORM YOU THAT…. …your application was unsuccessful …your results did not meet the requirements …your proposal was not selected …your submission was not accepted …we have decided to decline the opportunity to work with you …we are unable to offer you admission …we are unable to accommodate your request to attend I have no doubt that the longer you have lived on this side of eternity, the better acquainted you are with the above-mentioned statements.    The disappointment of learning that you have been turned down for something which you have set your hope and heart on can, undoubtedly, cause you a great deal of pain.    While it is true and commendable that some organisations make every effort to show kindness and courtesy in the careful wording of their rejection letters to applicants, it is also equally true that others are either unceremoniously blunt or blatantly unresponsive.    While the blow from a respectfully worded rejection l...

The seven-year-old slammed the car door so violently that he attracted the attention of even the unsuspecting pedestrian passers by in the road outside the gate.    They gawked in alarmed, stunned silence.    But the initial shock was soon replaced by expressions of distinct disapproval and even opiniated under-breath mumblings, sufficiently audible to the little ears of a little boy with a giant broken heart.    THAT LITTLE BRAT NEEDS A GOOD THUMPING!    People are programmed to be inconsiderate, insensitive and indifferent individuals.    At school, this boisterous little boy was relentlessly dismissed, mocked, bullied and berated and, deep inside him, it bred a bold belligerence to compensate for and protect his broken heart.    The young mom of four did not thump her son that day.    Instead, she took him to her bedroom where she minimised all the overbearing stimulation, put on his favourite music and allowed him...

  The cutest baby boy was born earlier tonight, weighing in at 2.99kg!    In just a heartbeat the long wait was over and my baby girl became a mommy and my beloved youngest son-in-love became a daddy for the very first time. On 30 July 2024 I posted CELEBRATE 731 DAYS! and today my beloved hunkingly handsome silver-haired husband and I became grandparents 4.0.    He is still  OupaAssie  and I am still Nana.    Munchkin, Boo and Pie now have a brand new little (boy) cousin, Stitchie. The truth is that life didn’t really find a way, but rather that the One Who IS the WAY, TRUTH & LIFE blessed us with new life.    Thank you, Lord!    Welcome our precious little Alex de Beer!    Tomorrow we will celebrate with your uncle Jack and his beloved aunty Megan in East London as they get married exactly five years after their relationship first started.    On Sunday morning we will head back home to Bloemfontei...

  WALKING WITH PURPOSE OR WANDERING AIMLESSLY? Ke Sontaha hape!     It is Sunday again!    Neo and his friends get to go to the large Afrikaans church again tonight.    For several months now they have been faithfully attending the English services on Sunday evenings and Nandi, their guardian at the childrens’ home, drives them there in a minibus.    Initially for the first few months, elements other than the ministry fuelled Neo’s curiosity and eagerness to attend.    The sheer size and luxury of the building and its amenities.    The free popcorn and the amazing drinks station where he could drink as much of whatever his heart desires without any supervision.    But ever since pastor Ben gave them each their very own NIV Bible, Neo has noticed a change starting to happen in his heart.    Suddenly, unlike before, he is not just merely going through the motions of animating  Dominee  Bob’s 77 ...