Mysteries

We flew down to Cape Town this past weekend. My cousin Kathleen married Vaughn, in Paarl. It was an indescribably special weekend.

The entire Grobler clan (my Mom’s family) was there, barring two second cousins. We took zillions of photos – of cousins, and baby cousins, and aunts and uncles and grannies and grandpas... I was overwhelmed at how blessed we are – and Cameron is – to have been born into such warmth, and such spiritual wealth.

I was also struck by the mystery of God’s ways. My aunt and uncle, Greg and Lyn Grobler, for whom I have mountains of love and respect, lost their two children, Greg and Shirl, in a car accident in 1985. Kathleen was born in 1987, followed a couple of years later by her sister Debbie. Kath and Deb are godly, and breathtaking, and deeply loved. I can’t imagine what our family would be without them – and yet their coming into the world was preceded by such unutterable suffering. It’s a bit like how we feel about Cam and his eyes. We wish that Greg and Shirl had lived, and we wish that Cam had perfect vision. And yet we treasure the path of pain because of the astounding beauty that it has wrought on so many levels. Eish... the mysteries.

Before the wedding we went to the Butterfly Farm outside Paarl. It’s a gentle, close-up place and Cam actually got to see the butterflies that came near, and the birds, monkeys, etc.

Cam slept on the plane all the way to Cape Town, and he snoozed on the floor right through the wedding reception! On the way back to Joburg, he didn’t sleep at all, but at least he didn’t try to run up and down the plane. When we hit some turbulence he grinned excitedly, ‘Bumpy! Bumpy!’

This weekend my Uncle Peter shared another mystery. He said to me, about Cameron: ‘You can see the blessing of God on him; people respond to that without even realising what it is they are seeing.’ That was really encouraging for us. Yesterday a St Alban’s old boy of mine came to visit. He said he wanted to read Ranulph Fiennes’s autobiography Mad, Bad and Dangerous to Know because when he saw the book, he just thought of Cameron. He said they seemed to have the same fearlessness and sense of adventure. The mystery...!?

We got Cam’s class photo from Heavenly Babies yesterday, too. It’s easy to spot the kid who can’t see the camera... He’s gazing upwards with a smile on his face, happy as a clam. :)