Orphan House Ready for Kids!!!

Here it is! We are finally done with the house and ready for some precious Zambian orphans to move in! :)
The sitting room

Clothes and toy basket in the girls' room

Girls bunk beds that Blu built

Girls bathroom

Boys bunk bed and wardrobe

Boys bunk beds (love those Ocker quilts and FBC Alvarado lap quilts!)

Boys bathroom

The foundation of Debbie's round hut (volunteer who is moving to New Day in January!)

Wilcox walls almost finished!

Monday Pics

Easter pics in the marigolds - My Aunt Ginny, an amazing florist, says she has never seen marigolds this tall! My theory is that we planted several different types of flowers in these beds, and the marigolds ate all of the others, because they are the only ones that came up and they are huge!! :)



Wilcox walls going up fast!!!

Easter Sunday--it's not about a dress!

That's what I learned the hard way this year! Two years ago, I bought the most beautiful yellow and white Easter dress for my sweet Cambree, who was 2 years old. The dress was a size 4. So I lovingly packed it for Zambia, hung it in her closet, and said "No! That's for Easter when you're 4!" every time she begged to wear it.

Poor Cambree has a terrible cold and didn't make it to church this morning. I stayed home with all 3 of my kids in their perfectly matched Easter outfits! Good thing Easter isn't about a dress, or my day would be ruined!! ;)

(I did manage to get a few pictures of them this morning when we dropped Daddy off at church!)

American Easter Fun!

We were blessed to get to spend the day before Easter in Sinazongwe, Zambia with our friends the Langston's. We were joined by Ellen, the Baptist guest house manager in Lusaka, and some new friends that work in Lusaka that are actually from College Station, Kahler & Katy! Marci did a great job planning activities for the kids--dyeing eggs, an egg hunt, and decorating cupcakes! Our kids had a blast with their friends and we had fun relaxing with the adults...although Sinazongwe is HOT being right on the lake, and the Langston's told us it can get up to 120 in the summer months!!! We are excited to spend Easter Sunday in Mapanza where Blu will preach the morning service. He is risen!

Cason liked his basket more than the eggs!

Cambree hunted eggs at a very leisurely pace--not too concerned with what everyone else was doing!

Caedmon ran and ran and ran as he hunted eggs! He and Micah made it a team effort!

Cason loves ANYTHING with wheels! He calls a tractor a "gunk-gunk"

The kids also decorated cupcakes to look like Easter baskets!


James was knocking the avocados down off of the trees while Blu tried to catch them!

Who needs an egg hunt when we can hunt avocados?!

Cason liked dyeing eggs...no, not really. Daddy dyed the eggs and then Cason smashed them on the ground!

Caedmon and Cambree loved dyeing eggs!


This is me and Ellen. This picture makes me laugh because I'm making a face that looks exactly like my mom!! ;)

Videos!

Around the house...

For those of you with a green thumb..
Onions, sweet potatoes, and banana trees!

Okra, watermelons, and lettuce!

My beautiful marigolds in front of the house!

The front of our house!

This week's progress

It's hard to get a good picture of the Mother's (Margaret's) room, but here is her bed, window, and a chair. She also has a big dresser in the other corner.

Blu working on one of the four bunkbeds for the orphan house!

Much progress on the walls of the Wilcox house!

Seeing Wes & Laurie Off!

Wes and Laurie head to America tomorrow morning! They will be there until September 20th speaking at churches, fundraising, and just sharing what God is doing at New Day! We will miss them SOOO much. It has been amazing these last 15 months to have someone to laugh with, cry with, and pray with. While they're gone, our two main goals are 1) to get 8 little orphans for them to love on when they get back, and 2) to finish their house! Ok, let me add a 3rd one: 3) to get electricity so that when they come back in the hottest month of Zambia they can have a fan... ;)

Working on one of the corners of the Wilcox house

The first line of the Wilcox house


Lala looks more scared than Cason!

Princess Lala and Princess Cambree

Cason had just bumped his head and did NOT want his picture taken...neither did Caedmon obviously..

Trouble...

Bigger trouble... ;)


We love you Wes & Lala! Hurry back!! :)

Moving and Pouring

That's what our week consisted of--moving the Wilcox house into our 40 foot container and pouring a slab!

Blu & Wes rearranging things in the container

All ready to pour!

Part of the group (there were 25!) who worked on pouring the slab