Both times, my waters broke at 38 weeks. It’s like my boys were ready for life and they pushed to come early. And this weekend where I live, at 38 weeks of the year, the waters broke from night skies heavy with thunder and dust and hope and new gifts washed in.

My prayer for you is that as the rush of this year closes in fast and full-term – it’s going to fly – you would keep on finding the small and quiet gifts.

This week’s 39 things:

 

1448 Sweet chili sauce and cream cheese

1449 Baby Ivor Botha, born 6 September –

1450 Meeting him a week later

1451 Scott making breakfast – got the bowls; poured the Milo Flakes

1452 Gourmet lunch for ladies at Kim

1453 Slops

1454 Boys hiding in the ottomans and the wash basket during rough-and-tumble-with-Dad-at-bedtime

1455 Calling the Ross’s Turaco we’ve spotted in our garden, using our iPad bird app –

1456 And its immediate answer – coming closer – meeting us near –

1457 And knowing that God knows why it’s here so far from where it should be – he saw it all

1458 Cam putting toothpaste on Scott’s brush for him

1459 Bubble bath in the blow-up pool –

1460 And the boys convincing me to join them in the froth and foam

1461 Emilio – tree guru – advising us on what to do with our garden

1462 Sweet peas and daisies in a Coke glass

1463 New summer pj’s

1464 Sun on my back

1465 Wet garden – already greener? – after first thunderstorm of the summer

1466 Late afternoon lazy Sunday –

1467 Murray and Cam kicking a ball

1468 An incident with Scott’s fingers and a car door – traumatic but could’ve been worse

1469 Veg spring rolls from Kung-Fu Kitchen

1470 Cam reciting his memory verses for a celebration service

1471 Cam and Scott on holiday for two weeks –

1472 Easier mornings – no rush

1473 Lenhards for tea

1474 Paynes for lunch

1475 Samantha texting to tell me to look out for the magnificent coral tree in Koedoeberg Road

1476 Catching up with Ena after Mamelodi for a month

1477 St Alban’s / DSG production of Copacabana – what fun

1478 Sneaking backstage to see Glynnis

1479 Boys wearing too much ridiculous blue eye-shadow and sequinned waistcoats and high on adrenalin

1480 Elnette’s gentle realism

1481 Party planning for my nearly-three-year-old

1482 Nicky’s invitation to a new ministry

1483 Cam: ‘Scott has wicked puking skills!’

1484 Scott and his little classmates planting grass seeds in polystyrene cups –

1485 Bringing home each their own tufts of green

1486 ‘And his name will be the hope of all the world.’ – Matthew 12:21

 

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