Friday, November 25, 2005

The Flora & Fauna of Cape Town

Our trip to South Africa last September was a journey of discovery. Not only did we learn a bit more about the HIV/AIDS crisis, but we also got to see aspects of nature we don't get to see along the roadside here in Los Angeles, as we did in Cape Town. We thought we'd share some of these discoveries with you.

There were beautiful flowers...
...and animals we often see here at home...
...along with other animals we see here at home...usually defeathered, frozen, and packaged for Thanksgiving.
We also saw familiar animals in unfamiliar locations...
And animals we usually see on the other side of high fences instead of by the roadside. Oh, see the ostriches behind the lone baboon on the right?
Some animals are so commonly encountered, they have special road signs.
Would you believe this? In Africa?
It was quite a trip!

Tuesday, November 22, 2005

To Live and Die in South Africa

Clarice and I had the opportunity to travel to Cape Town, South Africa in September. I went to work on a motion picture called "The Silent Fall" for Sunrise Productions, a group of displaced filmmakers from Zimbabwe (see www.sunrise.co.za). The story of the film is kind of a micro budget "The Constant Gardener," a crime thriller set in the world of an AIDS orphanage and pharmaceutical tampering.

Travel to Cape Town was an eye opener in two ways; seeing the abject poverty in the townships, which have grown since Apartheid ended as politicians bus in villagers and buy their votes with empty promises.... ...and realizing that the rest of Cape Town is in many ways a gorgeous resort destination like Hawaii. Very much the first world; no need for any immunizations at all. You can even drink water straight out of the tap.

We visited South Africa with pre-conceived notions about the AIDS crisis based on American news and some documentaries we had seen. I'm sure I only know an oversimplified version of the truth. Our friends from Zimbabwe and South Africa had their own opinions of the crisis. I wondered why the Church in Africa doesn't seem to be speaking out on AIDS prevention or sexual fidelity. We learned some very interesting cultural facts that explain this. In Africa, there is a stigma associated with acquiring HIV/AIDS even in the church. Pastors who die of AIDS are reported to die of pneumonia or another symptom of the disease. There is a reluctance to admit that one has HIV/AIDS. However, there is no stigma associated with the behaviors that transmit the disease; promiscuity being the main behavior. In America there is still somewhat of a stigma associated with having sex outside marriage and education about HIV/AIDS is taken very seriously. But in Africa, unless people, and especially the Church, start admiting that HIV/AIDS is a problem, there will be no open dialogue. In Sunrise Productions' "The Silent Fall," the leading lady, an American educated doctor, admits she is HIV+. This was an intentional story element to create discussion about the disease.

Another problem in Africa is the ancient cultural practice of multiple wives. Many tribes have a practice that if a man dies, his brother takes the widow as his wife. Now, if the man who dies gave AIDS to his wife, she will give it to the brother and he will give it to his other wives. Another way AIDS is transmitted is when working men travel to the cites to find employment and take a mistress, apparently an acceptable practice. Also unfortunate is the breakdown of the family caused by these separations. Eventually, AIDS spreads back to the village.

What is the solution? Who will lead in breaking some of the cultural strongholds? What is the Church's responsibility? What about the countries like Zimbabwe that are run by dictators who are in denial of their country's problems?

I'd love to hear from you guys...
Ian

Thursday, November 17, 2005

I AM vain after all!!

Today was a big day for me. For the first time since we found out I was pregnant, someone looked at me, pointed to my belly, and asked if I was pregnant. I'm 24 weeks pregnant. That's about 6 months. I'm 2/3 of the way there. I know my belly's expanding. I sense it every time I squeeze into a pair of pants or try to roll over in bed or look in a mirror. But most people have been telling me I don't look pregnant. That makes me feel rather conflicted. Takes me back to my pre-pubescent and teen years.

See, I started out as a healthily chubby toddler. I had a cute little bowling ball of a stomach that started to recede about the time my baby brother's started to grow. After that, I was skinny, skinny, skinny. It was a bit disconcerting. School yard taunts were along the lines of "Hey Olive Oyl, where's Popeye!" or "Where's Clarice? Oh, there you are. I didn't see you when you turned sideways" or "Hey, when it gets windy, do you have to carry weights to keep from blowing away?" And descriptors of me were usually words like skinny, emaciated, bony, stick-like...not really positive. So I grew up with this rather distorted body-image.

Then I grew up. Until a few months ago, my height and weight has roughly matched that of Kate Moss (good thing or bad thing, I don't know). I gained a few curves here or there. And the descriptors changed to words like slender, thin, slim...perhaps a bit more positive. But I'd still get teased on occasion. One friend, who shall remain nameless, once told me that I was skinny enough to be my own birth control. In my mind, I'm still a weakling skinny kid. Conflicted body image. Never thought my weight could be a source of vanity. But recently, I've realized that I AM vain after all. I realized this when I outgrew 80% of my wardrobe, but refused to go maternity shopping. I just haven't felt ready to move on to elastic waistbands yet. So I have my own creative solutions to fool myself into thinking that my figure isn't really changing.



But now the exponential growth of my little one has made me confront how I really feel about my ever expanding belly. I don't know if I like it or if I hate it. I mean, some areas of expansion have been kinda fun (nudge, nudge, wink, wink). But this belly thing is weird. Maybe it's because I'm carrying my weight gain so that people can't tell if I'm pregnant or just consuming a lot of empty calories. So I have bipolar moments. I want to gain weight. I miss being thin again. I want my belly to grow more obviously pregnant. I wish this pressure to gain a pound a week would be over soon. Turns out I actually care about how I look. Maybe that's a good thing after all. I've never been one to exercise. So maybe when all of this belly-expanding is over, I'll really commit to exercising to get my heart and bones healthy. And ultimately, the big belly is worth it. If my belly doesn't grow, then my little one doesn't grow. And I want him to be healthy when he enters this world, because between my genes and Ian's he's already destined to be tall. I just hope he's not overly skinny too. Well, better get back to the kitchen. A nice, weight-gaining, pre-bedtime snack of ice cream awaits me.

Clarice

Friday, November 11, 2005

Junior Eyre....Confirmed Male


Here's an updated picture of Junior at 23 weeks. It's the second ultrasound we've had since the family jewels formed. I went in again because the ultrasound technician couldn't get a good picture of his face. He kept putting his hand over his mouth and nose. Can you believe it? He's probably going to be a thumbsucker! But I'll take care of that before any orthodontic problems emerge. Anyway, she double-checked his gender. This time I got a good view of his twig and berries, which I won't display to preserve his privacy.

We want some help with his name and thought we'd poll for your thoughts. We want him to have a name that is a derivative of John. Ian's dad is essentially the third John. And Ian is Scottish for John. So we want to follow this family tradition of naming the firstborn son John. Plus, we like what it means - "God's gracious gift." He really is a gift to us.

So here are some options from around the world:
Ivan Eyre (Russian)
Jackson or Jaxon Eyre (British)
Juan or Juancho Eyre (Spanish)
Handel or Johannes Eyre (German)
Yuek-Hon or Yue-Han Eyre (Chinese)
Hanus or Honza Eyre (Czeck) - probably not Hanus (Hey, Hanus the anus!!)
Keoni Eyre (Hawaiian)
Ewan Eyre (Welsh)
Gino or Giovanni Eyre (Italian)
Jensen Eyre (Scandanavian)
Jukka Eyre (Finnish)
Jantzen Eyre (Danish)
And of course, there's Sean, Shane, Zane, Jean, Jack...but we're trying for at least 2 syllables to go with the monosyllabic Eyre and trying to avoid anything that sounds like Jane Eyre.

Right now, our favorites are Ivan and Jaxon. What do you think?

Clarice

End of the Spear


Ian and I got to see a special preview of this movie two weeks ago. It's set to open to national audiences on January 20, 2006. My mind has drifted back to this movie a number of times. It's based on the true story of the Waodani (formerly known as the Auca Indians), a tribe in Ecuador that was known to be extremely violent, with 60% of all deaths attributed to homicide. In 1956, five missionary men made friendly contact with them, but were speared to death a couple of days later. A few years later, Rachel Saint, the sister of one of the slain men, and Elisabeth Elliot, the wife of another, went to live with the tribe to bring them the message of Jesus. It was an incredibly powerful movie. I thought it was really well-made and told the story in a very compelling way.

The movie also made me recall a conversation I had with my mom close to a decade ago. I think I was telling her about hearing Elisabeth Elliot speak. My mom told me that she remembered hearing the story of the 1956 killings when she was a kid. And when I was young, she read Elisabeth Elliot's "Through Gates of Splendor." She was so inspired by the story of these missionaries, along with the lives of people like Don Richardson, whose books "Lords of the Earth" and "Peace Child" she had also read. For some reason, I remember her telling me that on reading these amazing stories of courage, she started praying that my brother and I would choose to give our lives to serving mankind in the name of Jesus. I've cherished this thought in my heart for many years. And it's grown more poignant now. The whole time we were watching the movie, my unborn little one kept reminding me of his presence, with little kicks and nudges throughout (and a fairly urgent mid-movie bathroom break). And so I repeat my mom's pattern, inspired by the story of people who were willing to give away their lives to bring the message of Jesus to people who hadn't heard, praying that my little one's life will be used to impact people in a powerful, life-transforming way.

This morning the movie drifted into my mind again as I was in one of my thinking spaces (the shower). But this time a specific scene emerged. Nate Saint, the pilot who flew the 5 men into the Waodani camp, is talking to his son, Steve, before he takes off to make contact with the tribe. Steve is concerned that his dad might be harmed, as the Waodani have been growing increasingly more violent. Nate replies (grossly paraphrased), "We have to go to the Waodani and take our chances. The government knows how violent they have become. If we don't go and tell them about how to live in peace, the government will go in and stop them their way." I've been thinking a lot about world events lately. Beheadings and point-blank shootings of Christian girls in Indonesia. Riots and arson in Paris. Bombings in Jordan. The common theme in these events is a tribe of people who have been growing increasingly more violent. So this morning I started thinking about what Nate Saint said. Is there a greater urgency to go tell the Muslim world about Jesus and how He calls us to live in peace? What am I doing to advance this mission? I just hate to see what will happen if we rely on governments to do it their way.

End of the Spear. January 20, 2006. It's been making me think a lot. I'd love to hear what you think.

Clarice

Monday, November 07, 2005

facial hair

When I was in eighth grade, I had a friend who could grow a full beard. To me, it was a sign of advanced manhood that I wasn't ready for and I was grateful to not be so blessed. However, when my brother started sporting a slight pencil mustache, I was jealous. After all, I am a year and a half older and therefore by my logic should be able to grow facial hair before him. We're both equally ectomorphic and thus fellow late bloomers. I remember the day I proudly showed him my first chest hair and he wasn't impressed. I suppose he beat me to that milestone as well.

My mom once told me, hoping to prepare me for the worst, that there could come a day when my brother might grow taller than me. Somehow, in my young and dumb impressionable mind, I heard her warn me that one day it could be possible for my brother to grow older than me. This confused me for many years.

In any case, I was able to grow a fine Abe Lincoln chinstrap, which I put to the test on the Civil War movie "Andersonville." Twelve weeks of growth was impressive enough to support a pencil in my cheek hair but I still could only sport fuzz on my upper lip. At this point, my upper lip fuzz was invisible to blond in color, my chin was red, and my chops matched my brown hair. It was always embarrassing when the make-up lady had to darken my upper lip.

Over the years I longed to surpass my brother's facial follicle prowess until I noticed that he was losing his forehead hair. I guess the competitive nature he inherited from Dad also meant increased testosterone production compared to me. This explains the cause of my high school anxiety. You'd think I would have the greater testosterone production since I chose to perform movie stunts for my career. Sucks to be him, but then I still couldn't grow a decent mustache on my thirtieth birthday.

Today I am thirty-five and I can finally sport a true man-stache. I'm also thinning heavily on the top and front but my cul-de-sacs have not yet joined completely to form a five-head (bigger than a four-head). Thankfully, I'm married to a woman who doesn't mind the challenges of male-pattern manliness. It's still embarrassing when the make-up lady must darken my scalp so the lights wont reflect off my shiny dome through my thin spots.

There is hope for me. Just a few miles from my house, in Culver City, a storefront proudly advertises three times in large neon letters, "Hair Transplants, $2 per graft." Perhaps each week I can spend a few of my marriage discretionary dollars on the future of my ego.

The war front has suddenly changed. I've recently noticed a small grouping of gray hairs on the left side of my chin. How's a man supposed to win?

Ian

YummyYummyYummyYummy

Before I got married, I knew there would be some things that would be different. I mean...living with a man surely wouldn't be the same experience as my three and a half years in a lovely 1920's era, Spanish-style duplex, living a sorority-like existence with 4 supremely considerate, service-oriented women. So I braced myself for burping, farting, and b.o.....smelly socks and bvd's lying around...the typical things a woman expects from living with a man.

I didn't expect middle of the night awakenings.

It turns out that my husband is rather animated in his sleep. Sometimes I awaken to the bray of a mouth-trumpet or a big sigh of "Aiya!" (the Chinese phrase I stupidly taught him). One time, he shouted out "That's cool!!" and let out a big belly laugh. Another time, he started shivering and kicking and saying "Brrrrr!"

But the best episode was a few days ago. I first woke up because the whole bed was shaking. He was kicking and hugging himself in mirth. I don't know what he was dreaming about, but he kept saying "YummyYummyYummyYummy!!" Then I woke him up because I started laughing.

These middle of the night awakenings have been a surprising delight for me. Going back to sleep isn't a problem at all. And remembering the silly incidences the next day is just as funny. Sometimes I'll be driving home and suddenly remember a particular event and just crack myself up. The laughter I derive from his mid-night escapades is just an extension of the laughter we share in the waking hours. Having someone to laugh with (or at) this much wasn't on my list of non-negotiables when I was considering what kind of man I would want to marry. No, I had some high-falutin spriritual criteria on that list. But, boy, has it made marriage rich. Better than that, it's given me a window into who my husband is. He laughs and makes me laugh because he enjoys life. That's good for someone who's as goal-directed as I can be. And he is secure enough that my laughing at him doesn't bother him at all. No, when he hears my laughter in the middle of the night, he wakes up and asks me to tell him what funny thing he's done.

Well, time to head off to bed. Who knows what his dreams will inspire tonight.

claw

Sunday, November 06, 2005

excellence

Pastor Erwin spoke on extraordinary excellence from Phillipians 4:1-9 today. God holds us accountable for what we do with our lives, but doesn't tell us what to do. That in itself is amazing and confusing. How can we know what we should do? Verse 8 holds a key: "whatever" is used six times. Whatever we do is up to us. See also Colossians 3:23. How we do "whatever" must be excellent - that is God's non-negotiable. Calling my current work situation "just a job to pay the bills" is wrong. God has no tolerance for second best and I must work at my job to the highest level of quality that God enable me to give. It's not always easy, that's for sure. So, how can I use my top strengths (self-assurance, activator, maximizer, learner, responsibility) to excel at my job without acting like a know-it-all, to take initiative to contribute to the team, to motivate others to excellence, to make the most of the opportunity to learn on-the-job, to proactively use my time wisely for career advancement as well as reflecting Christ's love to my coworkers? How can I be more aware of my words and actions before I act or react out of my sinful nature and selfish desires? God's daily grace, that's for sure, and daily reliance on Him to love others more than myself.

Ian

blogging?

My wife has disovered blogs and has now decided to create her own. I think it's a great idea, expecially for keeping family and friends informed of our doings. It all seems supremely vulnerable to me, sharing my thoughts with cyberspace. If I talk about work, my coworkers could find out. If I talk about friends, I could misspeak. Seems kinda risky for this risk taker. For now I'll stick to the facts and what I'm learning along the way. I'll gradually figure this thing out and the sorts of topics I want to blog about.

Ian

Saturday, November 05, 2005

Junior Eyre



This little critter inspired us to finally start blogging. We got married in February of this year, both of us well-positioned in our 30's, yet only now starting to gain some clarity about how we think God wants us to represent Him vocationally. We talked about having kids. We wanted to have kids. We just thought that we should spend some time building a strong marriage before growing our family. But we told God we would trust Him with the timing, assuming it would be really difficult to get pregnant and that He would heed our strategy to wait at least a year or two before trying. Apparently, the two of us have reproductive magic. Junior (a potentially gender-neutral nickname) is due just after our first anniversary. Or maybe God thought we were ready and knows something more about the right timing than we do. I do know that this changes things A LOT. I thought maybe it would take much longer to adjust to the idea of having a kid so soon, having been the career girl for so long. But, you know, it's a very exciting change. I'm looking forward to this new arrival and the changes he/she will bring. I'm looking forward to tossing my career development plan out the window.

claw

Big Debut!

UPDATE: This is our first post, but we've backdated some content occurring before this date.

With much trepidation, I initiate this blog. It's a strange concept - broadcasting your private thoughts for the public to read. But I guess it's time. It's been almost a year since I started reading blogs. I've learned so much about politics and racial issues and had so many deep thoughts to ponder, prompted by blogging strangers who are becoming my mentors and muses. I don't know that either Ian or I will have any earth-shattering thoughts to offer anyone who should stumble on this blog, but as we celebrate nearly nine months of marriage and await the birth of our first child, we thought we should make a record of the changes in our lives. Plus, we thought it would be a great way to keep in touch with our families and friends across the country. Hi all!! So here we go....

claw