Pictures around New Day

Allison and Lyndsey hanging out

Bobby leading Sunday School at Mapanza Baptist

Bobby is also good with a saw! :)

Mr. Burks did a great job preaching!

Carolyn holding Miyoba during church

Linlee, Puccio, and Christy helping to paint in the Wilcox house

Nathan putting up ceiling in the Wilcox house

Rodney hard at work

Sankwa turns 5! Blu walks Sankwa to his first ever birthday party--he was SOOOO excited!! :)

Birthday hugs from Cambree after water was poured on Sankwa!

He loved his present!

We had to teach him how to blow out candles!

Some Sunday morning American worship before church!

Trish painting the Wilcox's office

Texans and Alabamians

Our internet has been down, and there are 14 adults and 3 kids in my house this week, so please forgive me for the not so frequent updates!

Our Alabama Team arrived and along with the Fab Four we are having a great time. The girls are doing a craft time with the kids every afternoon and some evangelism/visiting with Mapanza Baptist Church. The guys are doing Bible studies along with putting the ceiling up in the Wilcox house. Here are a few pics, and I will blog a BIG blog with pics from Lusaka on July 4th!

I went to Lusaka for a day to greet my parents at the airport....here they are with all 7 of their grandchildren together for the first time!

Christy & Trish prep for the first day of crafts

Rodney, Nathan and Mr. Burks working

Lyndsey and ALlison prepping for their women's Bible study with our staff girls

Dancing at Wed night BIble study


Reading time with Daddy in the midst of chaos!

Steve & Bobby finishing up Wes & Laurie's roof

Murphy's Law...

If something can go wrong..it will...

Sometimes that's how we feel here in Zambia!! The last few days have been chaotic! From having to move out of our Choma house unexpectedly (while a team is here!), to the generator breaking (which means no electricity AND no water - again while a team is here!!), to my parents being delayed in New York and missing their overseas flight, making them arrive 30 hours later than expected in Zambia, to me having a blowout on the way to go get them, causing me and the kids to miss the airport reunion, to our gas stove running out of gas the day AFTER Blu went to Choma......it has been a crazy few days!!!

But hopefully things will calm down before our Alabama team arrives on Thursday! Please pray for us as we juggle 12 volunteers at New Day and do some painting, evangelism, and playing with the kids!

Ok, some New Day happenings:

1) Allison & Lyndsey killed a chicken!! (pictures to come). First of all, they chased one, and after about 10 minutes finally caught it (let me point out, it was a crippled chicken that hopped on one leg, and it still took them 10 minutes!!) So after taking a proud picture with their chicken, Kalenga tells them "No, that's not the one we will kill. It is crippled and we can't eat it. You will kill that one." And he points to a rooster that immediately took off at full speed! After another 15 minutes the rooster was caught. Allison was all ready for the kill (she had the feet pinned down with one foot and the wings pinned down with another, knife in hand...) when...yep..you guessed it...she chickened out ;) (wouldn't you?!) So Abigail grabbed the knife and started chopping and blood starts flowing all over poor Allison's shoes and toes... (which is hilarious considering the amount of times Allison washes her feet each day!!) At this point, Allison is screaming, Lyndsey is gagging making lovely puking sounds, and I am on the ground trying to control my bladder. It was awesome ;) So we plucked the feathers, cooked some pumpkin leaves and cabbage, and had a lovely traditional Zambian meal!

2) Carolyn began doing teacher training for Abigail and Hildah and they are all loving it! The girls are asking tons of questions and say each day that they wish it didn't have to end! Carolyn is doing a great job with them. Meanwhile, Lyndsey & Allison are in the classroom teaching and said it is much harder than they thought it would be (due mainly to the multiple learning levels in the classroom and especially the non-English speakers!)

3) We are having some INTENSE volleyball games here at New Day--girls versus guys. The girls have yet to win, but we are definitely the more skilled team :)

I guess that's all! I'm in Lusaka now, Blu will drive to Lusaka tomorrow as I'm driving home, and he'll bring back the team on Thursday. They will be here one week, and then the 17 of us will go to Livingstone/Lusaka as they fly out--then we will get 3 weeks with my parents (they are currently up in Northern Zambia with my sister).

So that catches you up! Please pray for a good week at New Day!

Field Trip!

Today we took the Fab Four down to the Mapanza river for a hike and some great pics among the gorgeous rocks!
Lyndsey & Allison preferred riding in the ox cart over Blu's driving! ;)

Carolyn and I stayed on level ground!

The Fab Four

And then there's Puccio.....


(We do not recommend cliff jumping in the Mapanza river...) ;)

The team wraps up VBS today and tomorrow we are spending the day in Choma. We just found out we have to be out of our house in Choma this weekend, so thankfully this group will help us move on Saturday! (I bribed them with a trip to the market, a cappuccino, and a REALLY good chicken burger in Choma!!) :)

The Fab Four

We currently have Allison & Lyndsey (College Station, Matthew (Alvarado), and Carolyn (Temple) here at New Day for 3 1/2 weeks! Allison & Lyndsey are teaching in the school and doing a VBS for the New Day kids, Carolyn is doing teacher workshops for our teachers, and Matthew is shadowing Blu! Here are a few pics so far!

We walked to visit an old woman Georgina, and then we walked another 1/2 mile to the river to help her fetch water!

Cason loves Allison!

First VBS at New Day!

Allison & Purity

Lyndsey tells the Bible story

The Hokey-Pokey!

Look at those smiles!


More pics to come! None of Carolyn as she has been in the classroom most of the time but I will get some this weekend!

Johnny Boy

We were so blessed to have John Valentine come and spend 2 weeks with us at New Day! He led a team from Lubbock both last year and this year and was able to stay an extra week this year! His team already has their dates locked in for Summer 2012 as well! Extra thanks to Mrs. Pat for giving up her hubby for 2 weeks!

Blu has the utmost respect for John and John has definitely been one of Blu's mentors in the ministry. The two spent the last week finishing up our monster water tank stand that will hold 3 tank stands. John kept saying "I want to get it up before I leave!" And..it happened! The first tank filled up yesterday, the stand is SOOO strong, and I can now flush without a bucket and have water all day long, with or without a generator!

We'll miss you Johnny Boy and your sayings..."mornin' to ya..." "time for a lunch kit..." "oh ya are not..." "oh ya are too..." and my favorite... "Well son!!!!" :)

Update

Just a quick building update--
Debbie's hut is looking good with her fancy door in!

Guest house is coming along!

Iron sheets are going up on the Wilcox house!

We have also officially started New Day Baptist Church! We had 13 people in attendance from villages right outside of our campus our first Sunday! Praise God!

The Rat Pack

We have a rat in our house. Honestly, rats don’t really bother me. Now, if we had giant tarantulas, I’d be on the next plane to Texas, but rats are fine with me. Rats, however, were NOT ok with our volunteer team! Poor Denise and Beth slept in our room, where our dear rat plays in the closet at night…the first night we heard him in there clawing and I said “Blu you better go check on the ladies…they will be freaking out!” Sure enough, Denise was at the door wielding her superpower flashlight and said “There is a rat in the closet!!!” Blu responded with “Oh I know..he’ll leave eventually. Just make sure your door is open so he can get out! Night!”

The rest of the week most conversations revolved around the rat, where he was, what he was doing, who heard him in the night, etc. On the team’s last night here, it was 3am and Blu and I were asleep on the couch. Blu suddenly FLIES out of bed thrashing and saying that the rat had just landed on his FACE. Apparently, he had jumped from one couch to the next, not knowing the couch was pulled out to make a bed. Blu quickly changed from Mr. Cavalier to Mr. Determined to Kill this Rat!

This morning, John and I (John is staying an extra week after his group left) were talking and he suddenly said “The rat just went under the piano!” Blu got on one side with a broom, I took the front with a trash can, and John took the other corner with a suitcase. He came out the front and I failed miserably, but Blu chased him down and ruthlessly murdered him (after all, if a rat ran over YOUR face in the middle of the night, you’d have a little more adrenaline to kill him right??


So future volunteer teams, rest assured, that Bungee (as we lovingly named him) now rests in peace and our house in Mapanza is rat-free! (unless he has family…)

Beth painted these rocks for my front porch--cool huh! :)

Caedmon's 6th Birthday!

6 years ago Caedmon was born in South Africa! Who would have thought that six years later we would be celebrating his birthday at New Day in Zambia?!

Caedmon with his girls after getting water poured on his head!

Cold and wet Caedmon with his Batman cupcakes!

Cason & Cambree got in on the water pouring action!


Caedmon helped Beth paint rocks as he waited for his party!

A Batman suit from me & Blu!

Mama Dee's special Batman card

A toy shaving kit from Uncle Blake & Aunt Dawni, Isabel, Abigail, Isaac, & Amos!

A "big boy" watch from Paw & B-Maw...that he can wear and use to stay in bed longer in the mornings. :)

We read The Wizard of Oz in Kindergarten and he was so excited to get the movie from Mama Dee & Grandpa!