When reading a book is not always good for your.....

We found a wonderful book here called "Pig in a Taxi and other African Adventures" written by Suzanne Crocker. Suzanne served as a missionary in West Africa for 10 years along with her husband and children. The book is compiled of many short stories and anecdotes of her experiences here in Africa. Most memorable are her stories about the snakes, spiders and food......Having read her book cover to cover my imagination was now in full gear, providing a slightly clouded lens in which to view our experiences!!!

One of the biggest adjustments I have had to make is in regards to purchasing food items and cooking. Most products in the stores here are very different than at home. In Ballito we did find some products resembling kraft dinner and chef boy but most items are quite unfamiliar. Spaghetti sauce and canned tomatoes appear to be very spars while sardines in tomato sauce and canned corn cram the shelves. Veggies and meat appear to be sporatic and not very consistant. Chicken heads, feets, organs and intestines are abundant. Cow heads ARE purchasable.

On the weekend we decided to make a big pot of baked beans. We had most of the ingredients here, only needing a few extras and some bacon. Heading to the Mandeni Spar, Andrew spotted the last package of "bacon" on the shelf. Bringing it home, unwrapping it and smelling it left much to be desired. Cutting it into cubes was impossible! I decide to just throw in the huge, tough pieces and hoped that cooking it would soften it enough to chew. After cooking all day the bacon was still in its original size and shape and still remained uncuttable! Ok, the bacon taste would be there anyways.

That evening, scooping the beans onto our plates I noticed very small white "worm looking" shapes within the beans. Not moving but definitely worm like! Oh my, the bacon must have been full of worms and has now contaminated the entire, huge pot! Gross! My stomach became very "unhungry"!

Frank, not wanting to waste the entire huge pot of beans decided that there HAD to be another explanation for the white beings in the beans. We dug out all the tomato cans, spaghetti sauce, spice mix and meat packages to inspect. We looked at everything more closely and still had no idea. I kept saying they're worms, they have to be worms!! Frank kept say, they can't be!

Eventually Frank found the explanation and thankfully it was not worms! Inside the beans is a little white sprout that when the beans were overcooked and broken open the little sprout broke off and entered the beans, looking like a little white worm!

So, I learned to relax and not always think the worst! To trust that God will protect us from even the "small" things in our lives. And to realize that even worms are not the end of the world!

Some pictures from our yard including the loud 5am rooster!