I met one of my suppliers sales reps today who, after seeing Grace, said that he and his wife are expecting their first child in six weeks time. They fell pregnant after 7 years of trying, and on the 5th in-vitro attempt. We know quite a few friends and family who have either struggled, or are currently struggling to fall pregnant. Every time I meet someone, or think of a friend who has had to face this challenge I am extremely grateful for the blessing God gave us that we fell pregnant quickly. Our prayers are with the friends who we know are going through this struggle – may your prayers be answered soon.

The aftermath of some puzzle building

Today is the celebration of my Gran’s birthday. She passed away on 10 July 2008. Gran was such an amazing person, filled with God’s love. Her character left a mark on every member of her family. She was wise and gently, humble and kind. Any time I see “Days of our Lives” it always make me think of her. Her prayers have always been over our lives. I have been blessed to have a Gran like her. Love you Gran.

Grace and I have been going to swimming lessons once a week for 4 weeks now. She has been a bit sensitive to new environments and people over the last while, so adjusting to a new group of people in a new place has been slow going. 1st week involved crying for about 80% of the time. 2nd week went a lot better. 3rd week regressed and there was more unhappiness and lots of asking to see the dog which walked past at one point. And today, things went really well. She does not want the instructor to hold her yet (but not many people have that privilege at the moment), but we’re making progress – lots of good kicking and getting into the flow of it. I am really happy she is enjoying it, and I am looking forward to more lessons with her.

Now that the tutu is completed, here are some more pictures from the Tutu Diaries.

So I’ve been wanting to get a tutu for Grace for a long time and when Annie (my sister-in-law) said she was going to make some, I decided to google “pattern for tutu” and see what I could see.  Now just a little background the last time I used my sewing machine was before Grace was born and Duncan was convinced at the time that using the sewing machine was going to lead to premature labour.  Lets just say I am creative in other ways, but sewing is not my strong point, so I was delighted when I discovered that I could make a tutu by just tying knots, no sewing machine necessary YAY!  

Tutu video ed.avi
Watch on Posterous

After a trip to the library Rabbit’s Nap (a story in the book Tales from Acorn Wood) has returned to our home. Will the desperate signing of rabbit (a bouncing pointed index finger) and nap (hand to the ear) subside now that it has returned? Now that the book is back the intensity has definitely increased, hopefully it will soon decrease.

We will wait and see….

Today we went to see the Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2010 at Cape Town's Museum.  This is 3rd year that we have gone and the photographs are always stunning.   This year viewing the photos proved VERY challenging, since Grace thought the museum with all the animals was way more exciting than looking at photos, that together with climbing up and down the stairs, spinning around a metal stand and lying on the floor.  She showed no interest in the photos (which surprised us since she usually loves looking at photos), which meant that Duncan and I had to view them in shifts.

See the full gallery on Posterous

We spent some time cleaning out some of the office cupboards and collecting books to donate to our local library. Cleaning out always assaults our sense of "future nostalgia" (that is the term Seth Godin uses in Linchpin). Future nostalgia is an attachment to a particular outcome which has not yet happened. When I clean out I think, "Hmm, but I haven't read that book yet," (the one which has been in the cupboard for 2 years) and "I've been meaning to do something with that."

Cleaning out gives us three choices,

1) Hold on to that book/item and the future nostalgia attached to it,
2) Do what we originally intended to, or
3) Let it go.

When something has been in the cupboard for too long I tend to let it go. I believe I made the choice about whether I was going to do something about it a while ago, back when it got packed in the cupboard instead of getting done. Some other actions were more important at the time. So the only thing I need to do when cleaning is let go of the future nostalgia.

Today we saw someone with the most unenviable job. A young girl was handing out promotional material….a "My 1st period starter pack." It certainly brought a smile to my face, although Donné wasn't too impressed when she asked if she had a daughter – as if she looks old enough to have a teenage daughter 😉

I have been reminded of last year’s World Cup (soccer) by hearing “Waka Waka” playing during the cricket world cup. It was a time of exhuberance, excitement and unity – to me, a true reflection of who we are as a country. The excitement may have died down, but I still hold onto that vision as the reality of our country.

I am working hard to hold on to a similar kind of vision for my own life – a life where I am an amazing husband and father, create great art through my work, and execute interesting projects. At times life overwhelms the vision, and at other times the vision feels ready to break through. May your dreams break through and overwhelm your reality.

Also, today Grace made it through the whole day without any accidents or wet nappies. 24 hours without a drip, or a drop, or a skid mark.

Grace shopping at the toy store

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Life is not fair. It is not fair that I got to go to university which was paid for by me generous parents. It is not fair that we have all the things that we have, and there are so many others who have so little. It is not fair that our honest, hard working and reliable domestic worker (Ethel) lost her other job due to a criminal duping her to allow them into the house. Life is not fair, but what we have (our things and circumstances) are what we have.

The only way I can make sense of it is in the same way as the bible story of the gold talents – what we do with what we have is more important than exactly what we have. Do I journey well with what we have? Sometimes. I hope (maybe plan is a better word) to be able to look back and see that I did amazing things with the extremely privileged circumstances that we have. I hope to have changed people, to have given my art to the world, and to have journeyed well with what I have been given.

I truly love the game of cricket in all forms, 5 day tests, as well as 50 or 20 over games. Before Grace was born I used to love working with test cricket playing on the TV in the background, I could watch the exciting bits and work during the boring overs. Five day tests are also great for napping, the droning voices of the commentators makes for wonderful white noise and the perfect nap.

I am currently in my element because it is the Cricket World Cup, and there is cricket on everyday. Some of these games have been particularly one sided and boring but others have been very exciting.  Today’s game was one of those bite your nails, sit on the edge of your seat, close your eyes, kind of games. I don’t generally like the English cricket team and took great pleasure in watching Ireland (an Associate Country ie a Minnow Team) beat England with 5 balls to spare.  It was a very exciting game and Kevin O’ Brien scored an amazing 100 off only 50 balls to help his team win this historic match. Well done Ireland.