Prayer Card Pics by Leighanne!!

Cute Pics I Couldn't Resist!

Summer Fun!

New Haircut!

Shade (Blu's brother) and Caity

Paw and Caedmon in the pool playing "washing machine"

Blu and Cambree hanging out in the pool

The look on Cason's face is hilarious!


Our nephew Brenden (Cloud and Samantha's son)

The kids are finding lots of new "toys" as we pack up the house!

Our niece Andie Lyn (Shade and Caity's daughter)

The kids (not sure why they're naked??) doing pilates with me!

All These Things...

Well, Blu resigned from his job as youth pastor this past Sunday. I guess that it was Step One in our move to Zambia. My stomach was in knots all week long as the day approached. Of course, part of it was the fact that we have been here 3 1/2 years and LOVE our church family and will miss them greatly. This is home to us. But there was something else, and I brought it up to Blu Saturday night as we lay in bed. I said, "There's no turning back after tomorrow...this is it." It hit me that we could talk about moving to Zambia all we want, but the process was going to start the next day, and it felt like there was no turning back. No changing our minds--the uprooting would begin the next day. Blu asked how I was feeling and I told him I was sad. Not for us, but for our kids....what they'll be missing. He assured me as always that our kids will have more opportunities than children that live in America and have a "normal" life. I sighed, thinking that he didn't really get my point, and went to sleep.

The next morning was a normal day of worship. You know how between songs when the music minister starts talking and you sometimes tune out? Well, the man leading music suddenly quoted Matthew 6:33. Since I have been in high school, I have quoted that as my favorite verse. Not sure why, just always one that I have liked. When Jimmy read "Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you." It's like I heard God say in my heart, "You are seeking my kingdom, and I will add "these things" to your life more than you can ever imagine." Now, I don't know what "these things" are, but I know that they far exceed Little League baseball, dance class, and even time with extended family. Jimmy then sang an old song, "I'd Rather Have Jesus." It was surreal to sit there and hear a scripture I had heard for years and hear a song I knew by heart but to hear them speak to ME about our move. Peace just completely fell onto me at that moment.

Blu then came home and we both shared together how that verse and song spoke to us both. God is so good. Little League baseball? Pshh...I'd rather have Jesus.

From the mouth of babes...

Conversations I've had with my kids the past few days:

Caedmon: I'm gonna marry Brookie!
Cambree: I'm gonna marry Daddy!
Caedmon: You can't marry Daddy, Cambree.
Cambree: Why not?
Caedmon: Because he doesn't have a crown.


(playing with Barbies)
Caedmon: Mama, can you put these clothes and shoes on Ken?
Me: Sure sweetie.
(Mama absentmindedly throws clothes and shoes on Ken and gives back to Caedmon)
(Caedmon sighs with pleasure)
Caedmon: There. Now all he needs is his head.
(Sure enough...I hadn't even noticed but Ken's head is nowhere to be found!)


(after a devotional on Jonathan and David, best friends in the Bible)
Me: Caedmon, do you have a best friend?
Caedmon: Yes, it's Megan. Megan and Tatum and Wyatt.
Me: Cambree, do you have a best friend?
(Cambree throws her arm over Caedmon's neck)
Cambree: My best friend is Taedmon.
Caedmon: Best friends aren't mean to each other. They love each other.
Cambree (in a soft voice, looking adoringly up at her big brother): I love Taedmon always....

Dance Recital!

Yesterday was Cambree's first dance recital! She was pretty precious! The two dances her class did was the hokey pokey, and how much is that doggie in the window. As they danced, I was watching from the wings so I couldn't see Cambree's face, but I noticed that the audience kept laughing. I asked Blu later what they were laughing at and he said that Cambree was making very intense faces as she danced!! :) Enjoy the pics from her big day!

Feed the Forgotten

Too often we hear heartbreaking stories about hungry children in Africa and we do nothing. We feel helpless. . . and so we move on. Not this time. There are people DYING in Uganda right now. There are children whose bellies are hungry and aching. There are mamas who are too weak to stand and babies begging to be held. There are people trapping termites hoping for food and eating dung in helplessness. DO NOT CAVE TO DESPAIR. YOU CAN DO SOMETHING.

For $0.14, you can feed someone a meal of posho and beans. (posho is cornmeal, which is filling and beans are protein). Take that in for a moment. . .

$0.14 a meal

$2.86 for 20 days

$1 per FAMILY

$20 feeds a family for 20 days.

How much was my Chick Fil A yesterday? How much is your Starbucks? The bigger question is how much am I willing to give up SO THAT OTHERS MIGHT EAT?

Remember Jesus story of the Good Samaritan? Remember how his very neighbors walked right by him? They probably looked at him with pity. . .probably thought "oh poor guy, that breaks my heart" but the fact is THEY DID NOTHING.

I am somewhat addicted to ice cream, and last week I had 4 Dairy Queen Blizzards and 2 Wendy's Frosties. (no comments please) The cost of that totals $15. This week, I am sacrificing all of my blizzards and frosties and giving $15 to Feed the Forgotten. I encourage you to sacrifice something this week as well.

The money raised will feed those precious children. There are 3 - 4 villages that are being targeted. These people are literally starving. . Will you help? Even with paypal fees (2-3%) even $1 will feed 6 people! You CAN make a difference.

Join us and Children's HopeChest to FEED THE FORGOTTEN!!!

JUST GO TO WWW.HOPECHEST.ORG AND WRITE "FEED THE FORGOTTEN" IN THE NOTES SECTION!

Thanks and God bless!

Let's Party!!

Today was Caedmon's 4th birthday party! We had 19 adults and 11 kids at the party! It was INSANE in my small house, but our huge backyard was put to great use, even though it was HOT!
Caedmon is SMITTEN by sweet little Megan!

Too bad I missed the pic of the little boy who LICKED Caedmon's cake about 30 seconds after this picture!!

This was the cake table that had a train running around it, the cake in the middle and the party favors (train hats, train whistles, and train suckers) around it!

Caedmon and Cambree enjoyed getting to spend time with their cousin Andie!

Train decor everywhere!

The bounce house was definitely worth the money!

Cucumber sandwiches, turkey sandwiches, chips, dip, pasta salad, fruit salad, etc!

Opening gifts was chaotic with all those people! Ou shy little Caedmon got really overwhelmed and just wanted to crawl into a hole!

Each year he loves opening his card and $2 bills from Grandma!

Grandpa and Mama Dee

Paw and Big Maw

Happy Birthday to Daddy!

I'm a little behind with this post, but my dad had a birthday last week, and we got to drive down to Temple to spend some time with him!
I made him a Domino cake. It was actually a turtle cake with German chocolate cake mix, pecans, caramel, and chocolate chips! If you're a "42" player, you know that it's the 6-4 domino. If you're not (like my sweet sister) then you just get confused and think Dad was turning 64 (he's not..)!

An African theme of gifts--a "Big Five" tie and the African game Mancala

Is it just me, or does Grandma look mischievous in this picture????

Cake time!

This Saturday is Caedmon's 4th birthday party (birthday is June 2nd). I think I went a little overboard, reasoning in my head that this will be his last party in the USA! So I invited tons of people, rented a bounce house, have tons of food, etc. With cooking, cleaning, family coming, etc., I figured I better get the cake made and put in the freezer so I will have time to do other stuff!! I think I get better each year! :)

Wedding!

This past weekend, we went to Lubbock for my best friend's little sister's wedding. Bethany was 2 years old when we moved out there and met their family, so it was SURREAL having my own 2 year old at Bethany's wedding!!

Sonny & Bethany at the rehearsal dinner

Not sure what he was doing, but I definitely got it on camera!

Papaw holding Cason, Mama Sue, Christen (Andrew's wife), and Matt in the background

Whitney, Bethany, and their mama Robbo :)

Siblings Whitney, Andrew, and Bethany

Cambree was just there for the cake!

Me and my girls :)

Blu did the first part of the wedding so Bethany's dad, Ben, could walk her down the aisle!

School's Out!

Caedmon just finished his first year of preschool! He did great all year and never once complained about going--it's so fun when they love school! His end of year program was fun to watch, although Caedmon is VERY shy in front of people and mostly he just stood with his fingers in his mouth! :)

Time to share

I have been fairly careful (sometimes even secretive!) about what I share on this blog since I know there are some in our church and community who read it. However, I feel at peace about sharing openly about what is going on in our lives regarding our future.

After MUCH prayer, confusion, rebellion, more prayer, and finally peace--we are moving back to Zambia. We are heading back as independent missionaries to begin the New Day Orphanage in Mapanza, Zambia. We will leave our job as youth pastor at the end of July and head to Bangs, Texas, where we will spend the next six months traveling, speaking to churches, gaining prayer and financial support, and of course packing/crating. We plan to return to Zambia in January of 2010.

Everyone we have talked to has been so supportive of this, and most seem not at all surprised that God has called us back to Africa. Africa is in our blood--the friends, the smiles, the children, the poverty--it is in our blood and forever in our hearts.

I want to share with you our new website so you can see all that we're up to. www.newdayorphanage.org

Please lift our family up in your prayers during these next few months as we all adjust to tremendous changes in our lives.

God bless, and we hope you come along for the ride!

Tornado!!

We were in a tornado this weekend! Tornados have always fascinated and terrified me. I grew up about 12 miles from the town of Jarrell, where the F-5 tornado of 1997killed several people, so I always pay close attention when bad weather comes and take tornados very seriously!

This weekend, we were spending time with family in Brownwood/Early, Texas. We were in Early on Friday night at Blu's brother's home, watching tv. 6 adults, 5 children under the age of 4. Out of nowhere, we hear this big boom of thunder. We ran outside thinking it was a space shuttle or something because we had no idea storms were coming. Sure enough, we saw some dark clouds and it started to rain a little bit. Cloud (Blu's brother) rushes outside to pull in his 2009 Maserati. While he's gone, we hear a loud noise that we knew was hail. Cloud then rushes in and says that when he pulled his car in, the radio had sirens going off and said there were tornados in Early and we needed to take cover. We got all of the kids into the hallway and watched out the windows as trees blew so hard. Then, everything got still. At this point, we all moved to the big window to see what was happening!! Then, the wind started again and this time we got really scared and moved to the closet. The kids did ok but were not happy about being in the closet with the lights off. We had no tv, no internet, and couldn't get a radio station so we had no idea what was happening. Finally, around 10pm things calmed down and we ran next door for some matches. The neighbor informed us that a fence blew into his windows. Limbs were down everywhere. As we drove back out to Lake Brownwood from Early, we saw that buildings were missing siding, signs and poles were leaning, and limbs were all over the place! There was no power at the lake either until almost 1am. We then found out that there were 4 confirmed sightings of a tornado touchdown at Early High School, DIRECTLY across the street from where Cloud's house was!!! Kroger lost part of its roof, Higginbotham's lost its roof, and Hastings was damaged pretty bad! Cool, huh!!! I've now been in Hurricane Isabel in Virginia, an earthquake in Acapulco, and now a tornado in Early!

And, now, as a reward for reading this long blog that was a slight exaggeration of actual events but mostly accurate, you can receive access to some privileged information! www.newdayorphanage.org Enjoy! :)

Goin' to Africa...

It's taken me a week to write this blog. Or I guess I should say it's taken me a week to be able to find this story funny so that I could write a blog. :)

Caedmon and Cambree have been doing really well with Baby Cason lately. Last Wednesday, Cason was on the living room floor and the kids were laying beside him as they watched tv. I was in Caedmon's closet hanging up clothes. All of a sudden, I hear this screaming, but it sounded distant so I thought it was from the tv. Suddenly it clicked in my mind that it was Baby Cason, but his screaming was from a long ways off. I sprinted through the house and found him outside, on the back porch, laying face down on the concrete beside the bbq grill, screaming his head off!! I spanked the older 2 kids and put them in their rooms so I could calm down and get Cason calm. Then, when the kids came out of their rooms, I asked Caedmon for an explanation of how Baby Cason got outside. Here was his response:

"Well Mama I said who wants to go to Africa and Baby Cason said I do and Africa is in the backyard so I had to take him to Africa and then Cambree put him up on the bench and then he rolled off."

Um, where to even start? With the fact that Africa is not in the backyard??? I calmly explained that Baby Cason is too little to play in Africa and he needed to stay inside (in the USA??). In the end, Cason ended up with a small bump on his head, but otherwise, he survived his trip to Africa.

Never too young??

You know, I've always heard that a child is never too young to learn about Jesus. Hmm.....

You have to picture my daughter, Cambree. She has HUGE blue eyes and a complete poker face. She gets her "wide-eyed, serious as a heart attack" face on when she is thinking about something serious. Then, she will get right in your face to tell you what she wants to say.

When I tucked her in last night, I told her, "Cambree, you go to sleep. Do you remember what's going to happen to you if you get out of bed?" (answer: spanking)

Her eyes got so big as she looked up at me seriously and whispered, "I'm gonna die on a cross."

We love Grandma!!

This is my very special Grandma with my 3 kiddos. My favorite memory of Grandma is playing putt-putt with her. She ALWAYS won and I would get so frustrated that she wouldn't let me win! She also took us bowling, always had a chocolate jar at her house, played card games with us, colored with us, had Disney movies at her house and special blankets for us to use on the floor, and had the best climbing trees EVER. This past weekend was strange, because we went to see her, and we (me, Blu, and Grandma) sat in the rocking chairs on the porch while the kids ran around the backyard. It was so surreal, because I can remember running around the backyard with my cousins while all the "old" people sat in the rocking chairs on the porch!! Yes, I have become one of the "old" people now!! It's incredible to me that my kids will have memories of Grandma just like I do. Did I mention that Grandma had seven kids? What about 18 grandchildren? How about 29 great-grandchildren? (#30 is due this summer). But I'm definitely her favorite. :)

Zambia Conclusion

Ok, sorry it took me so long to conclude, but Easter weekend kept us busy and on the road.

It was weird being in Zambia. Being there, it was like we had never left. Being back in the USA, it's like we were never there. They are two different worlds.

We could never have just randomly taken a trip to Zambia. Cloud paid for our airfare and my parents paid for travel expenses along the way. Both sets of grandparents kept our kids for 2 weeks, giving up their entire Spring Break to chase them around. Wes and Laurie and my sister and her family cooked for us, drove us around, and gave of their time on short notice to accommodate us and our needs. We could never have gone without all of this help.

So, in conclusion, I'll share the song lyrics of one of my new favorite songs by Matthew West, called "The Motions."
____________________________________________________________________

This might hurt
It’s not safe
But I know that I’ve gotta make a change
I don’t care
If I break
At least I’ll be feeling something
‘Cause just ok
Is not enough
Help me fight through the nothingness of life

I don’t wanna go through the motions
I don’t wanna go one more day
Without Your all consuming passion inside of me
I DON'T WANT TO SPEND MY WHOLE LIFE ASKING
WHAT IF I HAD GIVEN EVERYTHING?
Instead of going through the motions

No regrets
Not this time
I’m gonna let my heart defeat my mind
Let Your love
Make me whole
I think I’m finally feeling something

Take me all the way
Take me all the way
Take me all the way
___________________________________________________________

We belong in Zambia.

Easter 2009

Zambia Days 6-9, REUNION!

So at 5am Blake picked us up from the bus "station" and drove us to their home. It was dark, so we couldn't see the village or anything, but we pull into the gate and I see my sweet sister on the porch! Then, one by one, her kids come out. When we last saw them they were ages 4, 2 1/2, and 6 months. Now they were 6, almost 5, and almost 3 (and Baby Amos was 8 months!) The kids each ran up to us and gave us a hug like they had known us forever. Even sweet little Isaac ran up to Uncle Blu and gave him a huge hug. It just goes to show you that if the parents work at it, kids will remember who they leave behind in the States and their extended families will remain a huge part of their lives. As my parents describe it, "It's a different kind of grandparenting, but it's still grandparenting."

We spent Monday-Wednedsay with Blake and Dawni in Isoka. I followed Dawni around with a notepad and pen asking her, "Where did you get this? Should I bring this? What do you think about this?" It was amazing to watch her--make homemade tortillas, homeschool her children, wash cloth diapers, cook supper, and making it all look SO EASY!! We had a great time together - playing the guitar with Uncle Blu, meeting some of their friends, and playing card games at night. It's hard to describe so I'll just overwhelm you with pictures. :)
Here is Dawni rolling out her homemade tortillas! I told her when she gets back to the States she won't be able to eat the store-bought ones because hers are SO good!

You've seen this one, but I"ll post it again. Something funny is that when I saw this pic, I said "wow I look tired!" Then I realized I had forgotten to put makeup on! When we lived in Zambia before, I never wore makeup because nobody cares if you do or not!

One morning we walked into their little town and shopped some at the market. I got some name-brand pants for $3! We also stopped by the post office!

We were there for the weekly Kimbrough Pizza and Movie night so we got to experience Dawni's homemade pizza!

The kids with Uncle Blu

Isabel is SUCH a good big sister and she was great with her cousin Cason too!

This is their homeschool room where the girls were doing homeschool one morning that I was there.

This is the most awesome game in the world, called FingerFighting! I won :)

The kids loved to dance around the living room while Blu played Laurie Berkner songs!

Aren't they precious??

Aww....they will celebrate their 10 year anniversary this year!

The two baby cousins!

Amos is so cute and loves to flirt!

Kimbrough Kids


We left at 4am on Thursday morning to drive the 12 hours back to the capitol city. This time, we could see the road, and it was AWFUL. There were some potholes so big that a person could literally lay down in them! It was a bumpy ride, but we had music and we read books, and the kids were AMAZINGLY good on such a long trip. There was so much planning involved. There is no place to stop and eat, so both a snack and lunches had to be packed. Blake and Dawni have their normal "potty stops" out in the bush where they stop and disappear to use the bathroom! It's funny that this is the norm for their kids! We enjoyed some Indian food that night in Lusaka and some more card games and then called it a night since we had to leave at 6:30am for the airport. We had promised each other we wouldn't cry, and I was doing fine the next morning until sweet little Abigail's eye filled with tears and she said, "But if Uncle Blu and Aunt Darbi leave....we won't have any friends to play with!!"

Tomorrow I'll write a "conclusion post" on our Zambian trip.

Zambia, Day Five - THE BUS TRIP

We slept late on Day 5 in Zambia and went to the "tourist" market later in the morning. Every Sunday in the capitol city, all the vendors get together at a big strip mall and set all of their things in the parking lot. I had a great time looking around and getting some souvenirs for my friends! We enjoyed some Zambian pizza for lunch. I'm not a big pizza fan in the States, but I LOVE the pizza in Zambia! It's less greasy and yummy in my opinion! (My sister, a huge Papa John's fan, thinks I'm crazy!) Anyway, we got peri-peri chicken flavor and it was delicious!!

At 3, it was time to head to the bus station. We were riding a bus about 12 hours north to visit my sister in Northern Zambia. Gas is really expensive in Zambia so we figured we could save them some money by just hopping on a bus. We didn't realize, however, that the bus traveled ALL NIGHT long. We were supposed to leave at 4pm and arrive at 4am. This REALLY worried us, because we never traveled at night in Zambia. There are people on the roads, potholes, trucks broken down, and it's just not safe. So we were gonna get on a bus and travel all night!! (The reason they do this is so that they can arrive at the Tanzania border at 6am when it opens.)

We got to the bus station, got all of our luggage together along with Baby Cason in his car seat, and headed to find our bus. We were quickly surrounded by Zambians trying to help us for a tip. People were swarming me and Blu was yelling "get back from the lady! Give the lady and baby some room!" It was a VERY stressful situation (and it was raining!) We finally found our bus and they gave us a seat in the next to last row. People kept coming onto the bus to sell their products, but we finally decided that more were coming than normal becasue they wanted to see the white people (and maybe the white woman nursing!) on the bus!! We finally pulled out around 5:30 with a FULL bus. It was pretty cramped, and we had decided to take Cason's car seat on the bus thinking there would be room to store it or something...nope. So we either put it under our feet with our knees up to our chins or we finally just put Cason in it and held it on our laps. It was so uncomfortable!

Once we got on the road, we noticed that our seats were broken! They both leaned into the aisle and the cushions slid off of them. One seat was a little better than the other so we made a deal that whoever was holding Cason got to sit in the semi-good seat! So we were sitting there trying to hold ourselves up straight in our seats!! We stopped a couple of times to get more passengers and we ate the sandwiches we had packed. Oh!! They were showing Nigerian movies while we drove, and the plots and acting were SOOOO hilarious!! So everyone on the bus was all into this movie (a murder drama) and Blu and I were just laughing! People were looking at us like "that wasn't a funny part!"

Basically, we felt safe on the bus even though we were uncomfortable. We felt the bus swerve a couple of times and when Blu looked forward he could see us passing on curves, so I made him stop looking. :) We dozed a little and around 2, we woke up and got ready, because we were told the bus would arrive between 3 and 4am and we were afraid we would miss where we were supposed to get off. 3 comes, 4 comes, 4:30 comes....we finally arrive in Isoka at 5am. The bus driver yelled "Isoka!" and we grab all of our stuff and rush to the front. People mumbled "muzungu" (white person) as we walked up the rows of the bus. I was SOOOO relieved to look out the window and see a tall, bald, white guy - my brother-in-law Blake!! He had been chasing buses since 3am trying to figure out which one we were on...yeah...we got on the wrong bus. Apparently, there is a nicer bus line that arrives sooner and would have been much more comfortable. Oh well...we might have missed the adventure then. :)

Stay tuned tomorrow for pics of my time in Isoka with my sister and her family, and more pics than you'll probably want to see :)

Zambia, Day Four

Wow--just got finished watching Slumdog Millionaire..awesome movie!

Day Four in Zambia concluded our time out in the bush. I remember thinking that we, as Americans, are so comfortable. When in Zambia, especially out in the bush, you aren't comfortable. I had forgotten how it feels to feel dirty and sweaty all the time, with flies swarming you, power outages, no water, etc. I thought about the fact that when in America, I know nothing of discomfort. If I am hot, I turn the a/c down. If I'm cold, I turn it up. If I want water, I turn the faucet and it will be there. If there is one fly in my house, I search for a fly-swatter and kill it immediately.

We spent day four driving about 4 or 5 hours back into the capitol city of Lusaka. Laurie and I enjoyed reading Trivial Pursuit questions (girls versus guys) and creaming the guys with our vast knowledge! We had planned to stop in Mazabuka for lunch, and it was about 11:45 when we stopped. We went to one fast food place, but the "food was not ready yet--check back in one hour." I had forgotten about things like that! Luckily, we were able to find lunch meat at a grocery store so we made our own sandwiches.

Our first stop in Lusaka was at the bus station so that we could buy tickets for our bus trip the next day to go see my sister (more to come on that in tomorrow's blog!) When we got there, Blu got out of the vehicle and was swarmed with guys who wanted to help him get a ticket. This one grabbed Blu's hand (a sign of friendship in Zambia) and helped him out. Blu had no idea we were taking these pictures. :) When he saw them, he was grateful that at least I didn't get a picture of them when their fingers were interlocked!

When we got to Lusaka, we had one more visit to make with my close friend, Abigail. She has had a different life compared with most Zambians. Her father is the President of the Baptist Theological Seminary in Lusaka, so she was raised in a Christian home. Abigail is 31 now and is eagerly awaiting a husband! She likes to remind me that because she is so "pure" her future husband will have to pay her father a large sum of money for her bridal price!

We spent our last evening with Wes and Laurie playing cards after eating at our favorite restaurant in Lusaka - the Chinese restaurant!

Ok I have a story here...Laurie is going to kill me.. As we left the restaurant, a Zambian stopped her and asked her if she was Joyce Meier!!!! That was funny in itself, but then Laurie confessed that this wasn't the first time that someone had asked her that!!!! :) We teased her mercilessly after that!

A Quick Break from Zambia

Yesterday was a WEIRD day...

I NEVER go to the bank. Blu usually runs our daily errands while I'm home with the kids, so everyone at the bank knows him, but not me. We live in a fairly small town, about 25 miles south of Fort Worth. Not a metropolis by any means. So, yesterday, I went to the bank. I stood in line waiting to get some cash and looked around. I suddenly got paranoid and started looking at the people around me. I thought to myself, "Man, if the bank were gonna get robbed, it would be my luck that it would be right now while I'm in it, because I NEVER come to the bank." That was at 11am. The bank was robbed at 1:07.

We went to a Mercy Me/Jeremy Camp/Addison Road/10th Avenue North concert last night at the American Airlines Center. We took 22 kids from our youth group and 4 sponsors. I got to drive one of the 15 passenger vans in Dallas traffic. One of the vans had just gotten out of the shop that day, so I told Blu he had to drive that van because it would probably break down. Yep, you guessed it. The van I drove broke down on our way home. Overheated, engine failure, battery died, smoke from the engine--it was bad. A tow truck came for the van and we took the kids home in shifts. It was a strange day!

Anyway, look what Blu did this week!!!!!!!! He can do anything and he is my HERO! :)

Zambia, Day Three

By now, it had been about 3 days since I'd had a shower...so I woke up and showered with the spiders. Zambia has tons of "wall spiders." Big gross, VERY fast spiders on the walls that eat the mosquitoes. You aren't supposed to kill them, but I do whenever possible even though Wes gets mad at me! I HATE spiders!!

We had a long, busy day with many stops to make! Our first stop was Chitongo--this is where Blu and I used to live! We got to see our hut that we lived in. Did it make me nostalgic and want to go back to live in the hut? Um, no. :) Inside, however, Blu found remnants of the baby crib that he made for Caedmon out of sticks from the bush, so that was cool! We got to see a lot of our friends and it was so weird how no one had seemed to change at all. The village "madwoman" who walked around knitting socks who used to come visit me was still walking around the village!

We then went to Kabulamwanda to visit Joyce and her family. Joyce's husband and the pastor of the church there died suddenly a few months ago, so we really wanted to see her. It was another one of those treks through the tall grass and it was SOOO hot. I had forgotten how bright and hot the African sun is! We got to her village and found her mom there, two of her children, and one of the orphans she cares for. Everyone looked exactly the same!


We gave out some gifts and they told us that Joyce was in town, so we were off. (I was excited to enjoy some more a/c in the truck!) We found Joyce in town, and she DID look different! We have never seen her in pants, with her hair done, or in a shirt like that, and I think she was kinda embarrassed!

Sankwa is the boy in the picture - he is an orphan she has taken care of as well and he is SO sweet! He was on his way to a soccer game.

Now it was time to head to Nsanti. Nsanti has never been one of our favorite places to visit, because the women there never fail to point out how fat we are. Remember, in Africa it is a HUGE compliment to be fat! However, I could live there for 25 years and never get used to people telling me I'm fat. Do you know what you're expected to say when someone tells you you are getting fat? "Thank you!" The day I thank someone for telling me I'm fat will be the day I die!!

Anyway, we arrive at Nsanti and people start showing up and heading into the church, so we figure we are going to have a little service.

About 20 people arrived and we sang songs and shared a little with them.

It was amazing how fast our Tonga came back to us. Words we hadn't thought of in years we are suddenly speaking-it was neat. Anyway, after the service we head back to Pastor Robinson's hut (another long trek-I'm realizing at this point how out of shape I am!) where they had prepared us a "snack."

They bring these huge fruits out--they call them pumpkin but they taste like sweet potatoes, and they also bring homemade rolls (brick-like consistency). I'm sure I sound ungrateful and American but I'm just trying to give you a picture of what it's like. They first bring around a bowl of water for you to wash your hands in. Laurie laughed at me because I was last so by the time they get to me the water is dirty! Then, Pastor Robinson plops the HUGEST pumpkin thing on my plate! Wes is laughing too, but remember-I am the fat one so I should get the most! I take about 4 very small, very slow bites. Wes and Blu manage to eat it all, and Laurie even takes her roll with her so she can eat it later! Ahhh...what good missionaries they are.... :) While we were eating, we were swarmed with flies. It was an uncomfortable situation, but they were so happy to have us as visitors. When we finished, they called the children over and they got to eat our leftovers. It was sad.

So we leave Nsanti and head on to the big town of Namwala. Namwala is like the end of the world. There are quite a few things there, but the road just ends there. To leave Namwala you either turn around and go the way you came or you can put your car on a small ferry and cross the river. Basically, it just ends there! There were some new Southern Baptist missionaries who had arrived THAT DAY in Namwala. So we headed to their house to visit with them and welcome them. Then, we headed to where we were staying for the night--The Ila Inn. They were the cutest little huts with a bed, tv, small fridge, and then a little bathroom!

They overlooked the Kafue River.


Not long after we arrived, though, we saw that the power was out. No power = no fans = MISERABLE. The huts were SO hot. Wes and Laurie saved the day because they had battery operated fans from the USA that ran all night--we put it in our mosquito net with us and were quite comfortable! For supper, I had to cook on an outdoor gas grill hooked to a propane tank. Wes and Laurie had brought all of this stuff with them for us to stay ONE NIGHT at this place --- can you see how much harder things are over there?!

So I was back to my cooking outside days from living in a hut...Blu thought it was quite comical, but me...not so much :)

We ended our evening with a game of Hand and Foot--can't remember who won but I'm sure it was me and Laurie. We got back into our hut and there were fat spiders on the walls. I seriously just wanted to cry. But instead I took out my contacts and climbed under the mosquito net so I couldn't see them and they couldn't see me, and it worked! I slept like a baby.. :)

Zambia, Day Two

When you head 1 1/2 hours out into the bush on a rainy day, it's not possible for it to be a one day trip. And there aren't motels to stay in along the way. Luckily, there is Macha. Macha is a rural area way out in the middle of nowhere that is extremely developed. The Brethren in Christ Church first put a medical clinic here. Then, John Hopkins University put a malaria research center here. Then, some Americans started a school here. Now the area has an airstrip, and the Netherlands are financing many other projects in this area (even a university is projected!) Since so many Americans/Dutch/etc. come to Macha to work, they have guest houses and dorms, so we had a place to stay.

We arrived around 4pm and it was POURING. There was an American couple there who is running the school who were hoping to recruit us to run the boarding part of the school, so we had planned to eat supper with them just to be kind. When we arrived at 4 and nobody was around, we called this couple to get keys to our house. Instead, they came and picked us up and took us to their house. The roads were probably the worst I have seen in Zambia and this man drove FAST. My arm was bruised on the back door as we flew over potholes! (I was holding Cason!) Then, I noticed something cold on my arm. I look up, and the sunroof is leaking. Laurie and I start giggling in the back and the next thing you know the sunroof is just pouring water down on us! Ok, pouring might be a slight exaggeration, but it was a steady flow of rainwater! The absurdity of the situation--being tired, hot, and sweaty from traveling/visiting all day, riding with some stranger to who knows where, and then getting soaked along the way--it proved too much for us in the backseat. I was laughing so hard I was in tears. :)

When we got to their house, we looked around at the school and were quite impressed. It was about 5:00 now, so we sat in their living room (we don't know these people from Adam!) just twiddling our thumbs. The phone rings and it is the "Dutch people." Apparently, we are eating at their house and dinner will be at 7:30. So we sit some more...kinda wondering what we are doing there!!

Supper was interesting! This Dutch couple (I'm not using their names so that they won't be able to find my blog!!) was very nice and VERY visionary. The meal was delicious..we had soft tacos, Indonesian rice, and the biggest bowl of guacamole I have ever seen. (Avocados are about 20 cents in Zambia and are huge!) We then had tea/coffee and some custard. It was very European. We stayed until about 10pm, while the "Dutch man" (as Blu calls him) explained his plans for the growth of Macha. It was kinda interesting--his belief was that we are more than conquerors through Christ and so the world is here for us to conquer. He had great plans and will probably do amazing things in Macha and the surrounding area as far as humanitarian development, but we kinda differed in ways to go about reaching people in Zambia. We weren't really sure if they were hoping we would join them in Macha or what, so it was kinda awkward at times.

We got back to our rooms and thought, "wow...this was an interesting evening!" It was a good connection to make, however, and we will laugh about the vehicle that rained on us for years to come! In Zambia, you never know what each day will hold and who you will meet! And, finally, Day Two in Zambia came to an end... :)