Living in Harmony
Saturday, March 7, 2009 at 02:01PM 
We arrived in South Africa to what looked like a jungle. January had been an unseasonably wet month: more rain had fallen on this soil in the first month than the average amount of rainfall for the first eight months. So everything was a well-watered-green and at full growth; quack grass on the side of the road measured higher than our car. It was an adventure walking to work each morning through the 400 meter puddle that once was my walking path. There was even a healthy layer of mold growing in the most unfortunate places in our house: I found earbuds in a drawer one day looking a little fuzzy, and a beautiful crucifix carving of Jesus we had hanging on our wall seemed to be growing a healthy head of hair!
Eventually the rain slowed and we were, once again, able to see our neighbor’s home after they cut the neglected “lawn” between us. And yet we still found ourselves learning to live in harmony with God’s creation here:
We usually have quite a number of little geckos living with us, but this week I walked in to find a lizard (bigger and much more ferocious-looking) sitting on our laundry bag. I let him be (mostly because I was a little scared of him). The following couple of nights he woke us up scurrying here or there. So after a little search party today we finally chased him out, back in to the jungle again.
We also had a few furry visitors come by this week while we weren’t home. We arrived home to the evidence: a trail of orange peels, a few knocked over items that had been sitting on our window sill, and an opening in the screen just big enough for a monkey’s arm to reach in and to the box of oranges that was so absent-mindedly left in their plain view.
We’ve had a special couple of weeks with my mom and dad, who stepped foot on African soil for the first time. Their visit made me feel more at peace about being here then I have ever felt before and still more homesick than ever too.
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