So I promised another fire story from Zambia. Keep in mind that we had already burnt down almost all of Southern Zambia, and there was a prior incident involving the attempt to set fire under the bathtub in our old house to get rid of some mice, so Blu's track record with fire was not so great....
Our mission agency sent me to South Africa one month before Caedmon was due to be born. Blu followed 2 weeks later, so he remained out in the bush without me for a couple of weeks. Here's the story as Blu tells it:
"So my wife left to go have a baby in South Africa, and I was left out in the bush all by myself. So what is the first thing a boy would do? Go get a flashlight and look down into our bush toilet!! I wanted to see what was down there! So there were tons of maggots crawling and swimming around everywhere and it was pretty sick. So I decided to kill them all by pouring some gasoline down there. So I poured quite a bit down the hole (which was about 12 feet down)and walked out. But all of a sudden I heard some splashing around. I shone the flashlight down the hole and saw a rabbit that was stuck down there trying to get out of the gasoline! I felt sorry for him and decided the best thing I could do was put him out of his misery by starting a fire. I honestly thought that since it was such a big drop, the match would go out before it even dropped a foot. Now, keep in mind there was just a little hole to see down there, and I wanted to see what would happen to the rabbit! So I got a match, my best friend Mulenga, and we got down on our knees and put our faces as close to the hole as possible. I lit the match, and I kid you not, it dropped about 2 inches when there was a huge explosion. All of the gas fumes were rising toward the hole, and when the match was dropped, the explosion was honestly like something you would see in the movies. All we felt was heat and we ran from the outhouse. My face was covered in black (which was hopefully just ash...) and my eyebrows were all singed. I seriously almost died that day..."
Ask any Southern Baptist missionary in Southern Africa about "The Fireman" in Zambia, and they will be able to tell you the tales of the missionary who set a fire in his outhouse...
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Sunday, November 25, 2007
Family Christmas Pics
So yesterday we sat down to try to do that oh so dreaded (according to my husband) family Christmas pic! Enjoy the progression of pictures below... :)
Monday, November 19, 2007
Hola from Acapulco
Sorry for the lack of posting...
Blu's very wealthy brother, Cloud, is a part-owner in some businesses in Acapuclo, Mexico and has lived there for 4 years. So we are enjoying a 5 day vacation with he and his wife and BLu's parents. It has been an unforgettable experience. I bungee jumped from 50 meters over Acapulco Bay. Today the girls went to the best spa (my first spa-visit!) at The Princess Hotel while the boys went deep-sea fishing and my husband caught a 120 pound swordfish!!! Man, this sure is a rough vacation.. :)
More to come, and I'm hoping to post a YouTube of me bungee jumping when we get back!!
Blu's very wealthy brother, Cloud, is a part-owner in some businesses in Acapuclo, Mexico and has lived there for 4 years. So we are enjoying a 5 day vacation with he and his wife and BLu's parents. It has been an unforgettable experience. I bungee jumped from 50 meters over Acapulco Bay. Today the girls went to the best spa (my first spa-visit!) at The Princess Hotel while the boys went deep-sea fishing and my husband caught a 120 pound swordfish!!! Man, this sure is a rough vacation.. :)
More to come, and I'm hoping to post a YouTube of me bungee jumping when we get back!!
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Zambian Policemen
My husband, who has had very few tickets in the USA, got TONS in Zambia, so I feel that I am quite knowledgeable in sharing the facts of how ticketing in Zambia works!
First of all, the policemen (or women) stand on the side of the road (which have NO shoulders--I wouldn't want their job!) with a radar gun sitting on a tripod thing. They clock you, and if you are speeding, they then step out INTO the road waving a flag of sorts. They then hope that you see them and are kind enough to pull over. (They don't have police cars, so if you happen to speed through, they can't do anything about it.) When you pull over they inform you of your speed where you usually ask to see the radar gun (trust no one!). They never asked for our driver's license, they just tell you how much you owe. 67,500 kwacha if I remember correctly, which was about $13. You pay the fee right then and are free to go. Here are a few of our interesting ticket experiences:
1) Once Blu got stopped for speeding and he didn't have any money with him--it was about 2 miles away at our mission. We jokingly told the female cop she could have the pizza sitting on my lap that we were taking to the mission. She left to go talk to the other officer and came back and said that she would take the pizza plus $5. We laughed at the corruption and refused to give her the bribe. So they took Blu's driver's license and held it until we could go get money to pay for the ticket!
2) Another time they pulled Blu over and said they were doing a new system where you go to the headquarters in the capital city to pay. THey gave us a sheet of paper as our ticket. Nowhere did they keep a carbon copy or write down our information. Blu asked, "What if I don't go pay this ticket? How will you know? What will you do?" The officer thought for a minute and said, "Well, then we will just say you did not pay it..." Ok...
3) Yet another time Blu was stopped by an actual motorcycle cop. This time we honestly were doing nothing wrong. He claimed that we had passed someone on the railroad tracks and were driving recklessly around a curve. We assured him that we had not passed anyone and he claimed there were witnesses. We felt that we were being targeted for being "rich", so we actually pursued this and went down to the station where Blu gave his side of the story. They let us go after deciding it must have been another vehicle that was reported...
4) Yes, another ticket. This time we were driving to the capital city to have our brake lights fixed. There are police checks throughout Zambia (especially around Christmas due to bonuses) where they hope to catch trucks that have no brake lights, expired registration, etc. Though it's a pain, it's a good thing because the trucks in Zambia are so dangerous and nowhere near meeting vehicle standards of the US). Anyway, at one of these police checks, the policeman noticed our brake lights were out and made us pull over. He came over and told us he was going to have to impound our vehicle. We started to panic and asked him what that meant. He looked real confused and said "I have just impounded it..I made you pull over and you are now impounded. Now pay the fee and you can go." :)
5) The last one....Blu was stopped for speeding but the policeman told him to go back into town to the police station to pay his ticket. So he turned around and got to the station and couldn't find anyone. Finally someone told him they were having a meeting and he could just leave. He tried to leave town amd told the policeman what they said at the station. The policeman was furious and said "No! You go back and tell them that I said you had to pay your ticket!" So Blu goes back, where they proceed to tell him they are in an important meeting and he can just come back by on his way back through in a few days and pay it then... He goes back to tell the officer this, who is furious still, but who has no choice but to let Blu go... :)
First of all, the policemen (or women) stand on the side of the road (which have NO shoulders--I wouldn't want their job!) with a radar gun sitting on a tripod thing. They clock you, and if you are speeding, they then step out INTO the road waving a flag of sorts. They then hope that you see them and are kind enough to pull over. (They don't have police cars, so if you happen to speed through, they can't do anything about it.) When you pull over they inform you of your speed where you usually ask to see the radar gun (trust no one!). They never asked for our driver's license, they just tell you how much you owe. 67,500 kwacha if I remember correctly, which was about $13. You pay the fee right then and are free to go. Here are a few of our interesting ticket experiences:
1) Once Blu got stopped for speeding and he didn't have any money with him--it was about 2 miles away at our mission. We jokingly told the female cop she could have the pizza sitting on my lap that we were taking to the mission. She left to go talk to the other officer and came back and said that she would take the pizza plus $5. We laughed at the corruption and refused to give her the bribe. So they took Blu's driver's license and held it until we could go get money to pay for the ticket!
2) Another time they pulled Blu over and said they were doing a new system where you go to the headquarters in the capital city to pay. THey gave us a sheet of paper as our ticket. Nowhere did they keep a carbon copy or write down our information. Blu asked, "What if I don't go pay this ticket? How will you know? What will you do?" The officer thought for a minute and said, "Well, then we will just say you did not pay it..." Ok...
3) Yet another time Blu was stopped by an actual motorcycle cop. This time we honestly were doing nothing wrong. He claimed that we had passed someone on the railroad tracks and were driving recklessly around a curve. We assured him that we had not passed anyone and he claimed there were witnesses. We felt that we were being targeted for being "rich", so we actually pursued this and went down to the station where Blu gave his side of the story. They let us go after deciding it must have been another vehicle that was reported...
4) Yes, another ticket. This time we were driving to the capital city to have our brake lights fixed. There are police checks throughout Zambia (especially around Christmas due to bonuses) where they hope to catch trucks that have no brake lights, expired registration, etc. Though it's a pain, it's a good thing because the trucks in Zambia are so dangerous and nowhere near meeting vehicle standards of the US). Anyway, at one of these police checks, the policeman noticed our brake lights were out and made us pull over. He came over and told us he was going to have to impound our vehicle. We started to panic and asked him what that meant. He looked real confused and said "I have just impounded it..I made you pull over and you are now impounded. Now pay the fee and you can go." :)
5) The last one....Blu was stopped for speeding but the policeman told him to go back into town to the police station to pay his ticket. So he turned around and got to the station and couldn't find anyone. Finally someone told him they were having a meeting and he could just leave. He tried to leave town amd told the policeman what they said at the station. The policeman was furious and said "No! You go back and tell them that I said you had to pay your ticket!" So Blu goes back, where they proceed to tell him they are in an important meeting and he can just come back by on his way back through in a few days and pay it then... He goes back to tell the officer this, who is furious still, but who has no choice but to let Blu go... :)
Sunday, November 11, 2007
Happy Birthday Cambree!
My baby girl, Cambree Rain, turned one year old today! We had an Eeyore party and enjoyed watching her celebrate! She is a laid-back, calm sweetheart who adores her big brother. She is such a huge blessing to us!
Monday, November 5, 2007
Hut Sweet Hut
First, there's no news on the adoption front. However, 2 families got referrals today (congrats to the Avella's and Solt's!!!!!), which leads us to believe that things are once again moving with our adoption agency! Maybe we'll be hearing something soon...
I wanted to give you an idea of what our hut was like in Zambia. After getting some land from the headman, we hired the pastor of one of our churches (a 65 year old man named Robinson, who liked to be called "Master Builder" through the entire process!) to build our hut. Things move slow in Zambia, and it took 3 months for him to get it built. During this time, we camped out in a tent on our land and became very accustomed to bush life! Our hut was a 9 foot by 27 foot building that had 3 rooms. You walked into the sitting room, the left room was our room, and the right was the guest room/eventually baby room.
This was the "sitting room"
This was our bedroom
Our next step was to build a kitchen hut for cooking. We decided to make this a large circular area with short walls to allow the smoke to escape. We did our dishes here, did all of our cooking here, and sat out around the fire at night.
This is me sweeping the kitchen with a grass broom. You can tell I was in a rebellious "I hate Africa" mood this day because I am wearing pants, which was a big no-no!!
Something we miss so much is taking showers outside under the stars. We had a large barrel that we had a faucet welded to. Then, we had a welder build us a metal box that had an opening it where we could start a fire. We would start a fire around 4pm each day to heat the water in the barrel. If the barrel was full, it would last us about 3 days. Sometimes we would heat the water too early in the day and it would be boiling and we would have to skip showers for the night! Other times we would forget and have cold showers--I can remember being the coldest I've ever been during one of those showers!
Something I don't miss so much is our bush toilet. For most of the time we were there, it was just a hole in the ground in a little grass enclosure. This, however, is a nice cement "toilet" that we made since a volunteer team was coming. Oh man do I have some funny stories about trying to show my mom and mother-in-law how to use this.... :) When I was pregnant and had to use the bathroom 2-3 times a night, I was too scared to go outside by myself, so I would wake up Blu and make him take a flashlight outside and guard the door for me!
There were so many days when I just hated the bush so much. I was tired of the heat, the flies, and the lack of privacy. Some days now, though, when it's really crazy and I rarely see my husband and I struggle to keep up with the American pace of life, I would do anything to go back and sit outside in the kitchen hut with our best friend Mulenga, telling stories and looking at the stars.
I wanted to give you an idea of what our hut was like in Zambia. After getting some land from the headman, we hired the pastor of one of our churches (a 65 year old man named Robinson, who liked to be called "Master Builder" through the entire process!) to build our hut. Things move slow in Zambia, and it took 3 months for him to get it built. During this time, we camped out in a tent on our land and became very accustomed to bush life! Our hut was a 9 foot by 27 foot building that had 3 rooms. You walked into the sitting room, the left room was our room, and the right was the guest room/eventually baby room.
This was the "sitting room"
This was our bedroom
Our next step was to build a kitchen hut for cooking. We decided to make this a large circular area with short walls to allow the smoke to escape. We did our dishes here, did all of our cooking here, and sat out around the fire at night.
This is me sweeping the kitchen with a grass broom. You can tell I was in a rebellious "I hate Africa" mood this day because I am wearing pants, which was a big no-no!!
Something we miss so much is taking showers outside under the stars. We had a large barrel that we had a faucet welded to. Then, we had a welder build us a metal box that had an opening it where we could start a fire. We would start a fire around 4pm each day to heat the water in the barrel. If the barrel was full, it would last us about 3 days. Sometimes we would heat the water too early in the day and it would be boiling and we would have to skip showers for the night! Other times we would forget and have cold showers--I can remember being the coldest I've ever been during one of those showers!
Something I don't miss so much is our bush toilet. For most of the time we were there, it was just a hole in the ground in a little grass enclosure. This, however, is a nice cement "toilet" that we made since a volunteer team was coming. Oh man do I have some funny stories about trying to show my mom and mother-in-law how to use this.... :) When I was pregnant and had to use the bathroom 2-3 times a night, I was too scared to go outside by myself, so I would wake up Blu and make him take a flashlight outside and guard the door for me!
There were so many days when I just hated the bush so much. I was tired of the heat, the flies, and the lack of privacy. Some days now, though, when it's really crazy and I rarely see my husband and I struggle to keep up with the American pace of life, I would do anything to go back and sit outside in the kitchen hut with our best friend Mulenga, telling stories and looking at the stars.
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