Win a bundle of books!

How would you like your name mentioned in a book, one of your photographs on the back cover of a book, and a bundle of free books?

I'm getting ready to start working through the final editing process for my historical for Summerside Press, Love Finds You in Revenge, Ohio that comes out this June. Summerside is adding some neat details to their books to lend increased authenticity to the real towns where they are set. This includes a description of the towns and an actual photo of the town on the back of the book to remind the readers that these are real places. You can learn about this fantastic new line of inspirational fiction here.

Living in Africa has made this part of the process a bit difficult for me, and because Revenge, Ohio (located in Fairfield County) is pretty much a ghost town, there aren't a lot of photos available on line. So I'm spreading the word and looking for someone who lives in this area or has friends or relatives who could help me with a couple photos of this town.

There's a bundle of my books involved as a prize to the first person who turns in an accepted photo as well as a mention in my book, so if you can help, or if you have questions, please contact me privately here.

Here's the details:

1. You must have full rights to the photos, sending me copies of the photos grants Summerside Press permission to use a photo on the cover of my book.
2. Photos (Two or three good shots of the town and surroundings) must be turned in by March 27th, 2009
3. In the event that more than one person submits photos, I will use the best photos, announce the winner and close the contest.
4. If you share this contest to someone else who is able to send me photos, have them tell me you referred them and you will win a bundle of books as well!

Pass on the word!

Also, watch for the video trailer coming soon and a chance to win more copies!

Thanks!

Lisa

New Life

Our main goal while living here is to follow the Great Commission and make disciples who are fully grounded in the Word of God. As we train our disciples, we want to see them make disciples, who make disciples, who make disciples. . .

This morning, two young men were baptized down in the bay. They are our fourth generation disciples which is very exciting. Scott discipled David, who discipled Jose and Cremildo, who today baptized their disciples, Salvador and Aderto. It is such a blessing and encouragement for us to see God's Spirit stirring and moving in the lives of the people here.

There is much rejoicing in heaven today!

Lisa

Bird's of South Africa

Enjoy!

Lisa

What a catch!

Typically Monday is our day off. We head to the beach around lunchtime and enjoy the surf and the sea for the rest of the afternoon. For someone who's never been good at taking time off, it's a wonderful place to escape to. No cell phones, computers, or responsibilities. Just the sound of the waves and a good book, maybe a walk along the shore giving me time to think and pray.

Living near the sea also means an abundance of seafood, but we have to be careful and make sure that what we're buying is fresh. We have a friend who brings us fresh prawns from time to time, but I haven't had time to search out a good source for fish. Today, a guy came out of the water with a couple large fish, which means it was about as fresh as it could be, so we decided to buy one--for a whole four bucks.

Not a bad catch for the day! Of course, my greatest catch is the guy in the photo. :-)

Blessings,

Lisa

PS And by the way, just so there's no confusion, Red is alive and crowing!

My nemesis

I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not a farm girl. I couldn’t milk a cow if my life depended on it, and I have a knack for killing any living plant foolish enough to take residence in my house.

I have, though, learned a thing or two about farm animals in the past few months.

Take the glorified rooster, for example. Until recently, the closest I’d ever been to this bird was at a friend’s house where its multi-colored plums and grand stance where depicted on hand-painted rooster décor throughout the kitchen.

The Chinese use the rooster as a sign of confidence and motivation, and even children are taught that their morning crow is the “Good morning, farm!” wake up call for the barnyard inhabitants and the jolly farmer.

Here’s the truth, though, about this famed animal. For starters, contrary to popular belief, they don’t only crow only at daybreak to welcome another day. They are perfectly able—and willing—to crow throughout the middle of the night, lunchtime, and early afternoon as well. In other words, a rooster can crow any time it feels like it. . .and it does.

Whether it’s a car passing or someone walking by, an interested hen, or a stray cat, it doesn’t seem to matter. It’s quite content to waste the day away demonstrating the grandeur of its stance with unlimited cock-o-doodle–doos and making more ruckus than the neighborhood dogs.

Red, as I call him, is my own personal nemesis. The cock who sits outside my window at four in the morning crowing and then continuing throughout the day, whenever it’s in the mood to strut its stuff and show off to all the local hens. . .or whatever it is that sets it to crowing.

I could also continue with descriptions of the smells continuously wafting into my kitchen because of this rooster and his many friends, but I won’t submit you to such a foul subject.

What I do know is that it’s time for this rooster to head to the stew pot. So don’t tell my neighbor, but we’re having chicken and rice for supper tonight.

Lisa—who every once in a while, has to submit to the therapy of blogger.

My cover for Chef's Deadly Dish was just finalized and sent to the printer. Watch for how you can win one of several free copies I'll be giving away in the next few weeks!

Blessings,

Lisa

Availability of goods

In the past few months, I've had to figure out what is available where we live and what items we need to bring in from the capital or South Africa, when we have the chance. We've also found another small store across the bay we can sometimes find things we can't buy here in town.

A typical trip to the market, which we have to do every three or four days, usually yields much of the same things. I shop from rows and rows of women who sit all day in their small stalls, with their wares spread out in front of them. I buy lettuce, garlic, tomatoes and onions from one woman; apples, bell peppers, and carrots from another. Pineapples, passion fruit, and mangos are plentiful. Another woman sells me raw peanuts and beans.

The Indian shops, more than half a dozen of them, sell yogurt, juice, popcorn, oil, spices, and vinegar (handy for jelly fish stings in the ocean). Another small shop sells clean rice, sugar, eggs, butter, and sometimes cheese and decent meat. There's also a bakery in town that sells wonderful bread, but with no preservatives, we normally buy a bagful of rolls everyday.

Scott is at the capital now, which means I've sent him my list of things I can't get here. Things like cottage cheese, yeast, and sour cream and thick TP.

Speaking of food, it's time to go fix breakfast!

Blessings,

Lisa

We're finishing up another busy week. Have had visitors here from the States and South Africa who will be leaving tomorrow. Everything went well until the lights went out about ten o'clock last night. We quickly realized that this wasn't one of our usual power outages. The bar across the street had power--their stereo was still booming--but everyone to our north was in darkness.
It seemed we were in it for the long haul.

The air was stifling hot and humid, but no electricity means no fans. And add to that, the water was off as well which meant no cold showers. Two of our guests were sick and the bar across the street stayed open blasting their stereo. . .ALL night.

We called early this morning, praying someone would come quickly to fix the problem, but this is Africa and things don't run quickly. Thankfully, though, they arrived within the hour and fixed a cable that had broken.

We are now sitting in front of the fans and enjoying the cool air and praying again that it will last all night.

Blessings!

Lisa

PS The boys are loving living near the bay where they can go fishing. This is a photo of one of Jayden's recent catches.

For everything there is a season. . .

Unlike the US, where you are able to buy most things year round, even if it is for a price, things are very seasonal here. Avocados just came into season for the first time since we've been here, so I was thrilled for the chance to pull out my stash of taco shells and have a fiesta.

I noticed this interesting fruit for sale at the market for the first time the other day. If my limited information is correct, it's called a malfura or mafureira nut. It comes from a tall, deciduous, flowering tree that is common here. It yields about 60-80 pounds of these nuts that are used in the manufacturing of oils, soaps, and candles. The fruit on around the nut is edible and people like to suck off the sweet fruit.

Blessings,

Lisa

For those of you enjoying--or struggling through winter with all the snow and ice--I thought you might like a peek at my aunt's garden in South Africa.

Blessings,

Lisa

A New Life

We had a great weekend, baptizing Armando on Sunday down at the bay. Besides the crabs Mariah hates :-) it was such an encouragement for all of us.

Today, we took David and Emily to the beach for our day off and to celebrate his birthday. It was such a refreshing change from the sweltering heat further inland. The Indian Ocean is stunning with its deep blue tint and warm waters, definitely an added blessing of living here!

Lisa


Photo of the bay behind our house