I think I'm tired.

Here are a couple more pics for you. They are deceptively cute and cuddly! These two are the reason I get so little sleep! Neo likes to bounce till 1.30 am, eat at 3 and 6. Myles enjoys running in the room at 5/5.30, pulling my leg and saying "wake-y wake-y time dad." I guess mom also has sleep issues :)

Week 1

Well, we made it through week 1!

Neo continues to change and grow.

I am starting to think through and plan for the fast approaching school year.

Grandpa Knutson continues to be the biggest of helps with Myles (what will happen on the 22nd?)

The greater Navigator community continues to grow and I have been doing a lot of thinking on how to connect with and get graduates more connected without adding "things" to scheduals. South Africans continue to work hard after graduation and that makes for hard transitions and community building. So we keep thinking, planning, praying and planning.

photo: a calm after the storm. symbolic of day 8?

Photo blog of Neo

We are excited about Neo and loving him to bits. My first words after he was born "well, he's not quite as ugly as Myles was when he was born!" You decide!

What not to do the day before you have a baby

Wed morning we went to the hospital to have our baby. The morning
before we had some guys came to fix some roof issues we had. When they
were all finished I came out to take a look at the job and BANG! A guy
fell through the roof into our kitchen!

The guy was shaken but fine.
Roof got repaired.
Baby was born!

Just another day in Durban

The Meat

Having students in your life often means that you get invited to family functions, 21sts, mumulos (groom paying the bride price) etc. Here is my favorite part of any Zulu function, the guys sitting around the board of goat talking.

This is a great time to meet family and friends of the people who we are investing into. It lines up with our Navigator Core value of "family and relational networks in expanding the Gospel."

Getting Practice

Seeing as it's been 3 years and 3 months since our own Myles was this little (ok, he was never 2.5 kg. started at 3.95 kg!) I thought it a good idea to see if I can still handle a baby.

Introducing Nkazimulo Mdluli. 2.86kg boy of Spho and Sthoko.

If you know Ben...

If you know me (Ben) then you know that I love good coffee... ok you can call it a pretentious desire to find and make only the best I can source:) So now if you know anything about speciality coffee you know that authentic Blue Mountain coffee from Jamaica is some of the most sought after and rare in the world. All that to share my excitement with you about a friend of mine who is a coffee farmer and roaster here in South Africa who just bought a 15 kg Barrel of it to roast. Barrel cost $1,500. If I can have just one cup I think that I'll be happy for life... until I find someone who has that St. Helana coffee...

Moral of this blog comes from what Kristy and I have been reading together. Ecclesiastes 9:5-6 Go, Eat your food with gladness, and drink your wine [or coffee?] with a joyful heart, for it is now that God favors what you do.... Enjoy life with your wife, whom you love....

Solomon talks a lot about the meaningless days of our life, yet reminds us that what we do, who we are, the job we do, and what we even drink are a gift from God and should be enjoyed! I will be enjoying what I drink for at least a cup or two!

At Lou Lou's Jewelry Exhibition

If you follow the life of these Carlsons in the Evergreen City (Durban) then you know that on eof our good friends and past student Lou Lou Mgugudo is one of Kristy's best friends and competing for best Aunty of the year award with a couple other candidates.

You may remember that last year she was in Colorado Springs on a 3 month Navigator global student project. She came back to us a changed woman! We are excited about what God is doing in Lou Lou's life.

In the creative side of life she is finishing her honors degree in jewelry design in the next month and just put on an amazing exhibition to showcase her work. Watch all the fashion sites in the next year for Gudenuf, Lou Lou's design label!

Functions With Goat

One of the past students, Thabisa, along with her husband Sizwe, have become great friends. So it was great to go to the dedication of their lil one year old girl Zen.

There is always an after-party. The after-party starts with lunch, then has a goat laid out on a board (pictured) which is everyones favorite. The guys get to sit in a circle, share a knife and hack off pieces of goat to dip into the salt pile and chase it with boil bread. Women stay in another area (usually inside chopping stuff for the lunch.... oh ya, this is only the starter).

Next is the pudding (trifle with ice cream). Then the lamb curry made on a poijki. Finally the fire is started and the nyama (meat) can be Braaied (grilled).

Lots of fun. New friends made. Kristy and I figure this time with a past students family and relational networks is what we have been doing and desired to do since day one in Africa 8 years ago.

Reading Books About a Baby Brother Coming.

Oh the bugs we see.

Protests, Soccer Bosses and Nav Community.

South African President Jacob Zumu had struck fear into the hearts of many South Africans before he became president.  Now, six months later we find ourselves in a very anticlimactic state.  He's doing his best and it's not that bad at all!  I hear all sorts of people complaining and/or praising Obama, but with Zuma there just isn't a lot to talk about.  So that leaves me with the protests.

Poor service delivery is the problem of the day.  The ANC (leading SA gov. party) has not followed through on some promises and people are up in arms, burning tyres and demanding.... Jacob Zuma help them.

Second most important on peoples minds, just 230 days before the 2010 Soccer World Cup comes to SA... We have fired our countries head coach.  So maybe my decision of when to go back for our next USA visit is set.  If Bafana Bafana can't get their act together then why be here?

Last but not least is the growing Nav community in Durban.  We keep seeing God work, relationships grow and our community naturally growing and developing.

What's next?  Zuma quits singing Umshini Wami (Bring me my machine-gun), Bafana Bafana hires back our last Brazilian Coach for R7 million a month, and we light a braai (BBQ) for our growing community.

What's happening in the Cape Town Nav ministry?

I thought you would love to hear what our good friend and fellow Navigator Archie just wrote.

Hello hello,

Thank you to everyone who prayed for our Bible Marathon. It was such a meaningful time! This wasn't a fund-raiser or anything like that; we simply did it because of our desire to get a better grip on the Big Picture of the New Testament.

Below is the response of some of the 'athletes':

Bruce Nygaard (who initially proposed the idea):
___25 books___   
_____23 people_____
_______13 hours_______
___________1 great time__________

If anyone thought it might be boring to read the Bible for 13 hours with only short breaks and no discussion, our Bible Marathon on a Friday-Saturday proved the opposite! The more we read, the more we found ourselves energized as book flowed into book and morning flowed into afternoon. The best part for me was reading IN COMMUNITY. For example, whenever the Pharisees said something daft (which was always), we laughed. And whenever Jesus said something so brilliant that only Jesus could have said it, our exclamations punctuated it. It was nice not to have anyone putting their own spin on the message. And reading together as a group kept us on pace with God’s train of thought, rather than getting snagged by thorny details. We could better see what’s gloriously important (and what isn’t).

Zethu: God's word unedited, no one's opinion, no additions. Just His voice!  I described the marathon to a friend as being like standing under a waterfall and feeling the water gushing over you. You do not feel the [individual] droplets, you feel the goodness of the whole. You are cleansed, not only because you realize your faults, but because you’re reminded of the beautiful bigger picture…

Takadzani: Most of the time I read the New Testament with a very inquisitive mind, asking trivial questions, thus losing the central message-- the message of the cross and it's power! Reading the Bible in this manner helped me see the simplicity that we often complicate.

Thato: Everything came together for me. I get it now!

Felix: Doing this Bible marathon helped me see more clearly the simple fact that Jesus is being preached… It really is all about Him!

Mercy: Reading through the book of Hebrews in one sitting was just simply wow! It hit me again as to what Jesus actually came and did. And it was really great to feel part of a family. I feel encouraged to continue reading the Bible…

Camping with the guys.

The Durban Nav guys are going camping today!  We've got a great group of guys in community here in Durban and we see the need to grow them and with them both spiritually and relationally.  It's part of our ethos, our value of individuals and our heart for each of these guys.  The longer we're in Durban the more I see that it's not about the "ministry," it's about relationships.

Lou Lou and Kristy

BFF? Well, at least partners in creativity.  Lou Lou and Kristy have started hand printing fabric.  Kristy is always pushing the boundaries and traditional ways of how to connect and help friends.  Always relational.  Always making an impact.  I am continually inspired!