GUESS WHAT.....

Today was an exciting day as we got ready to welcome our new house mother for the Joy House, Joyce, to New Day! Zesco was also working on the land, with the promise that they would switch on electricity today.

Around 6pm, Joyce arrived with the Wilcoxes. As they pulled onto the land, we all noticed a random light go on in one of the staff houses...and the generator was not on. We knew at that moment that WE HAD ELECTRICITY!!! I think people could hear us yelling for miles around!!!

Joyce & Margaret, our two house mothers

Carolyn, Debbie, & Hildah were excited!

Michelle, Hildah, & Abby celebrate electricity!

Blu & Darbi head home with their tv, ready to use some electricity!!

Wes & Laurie share a celebratory hug!

Thank you to those of you who have been so faithful to pray for us to get electricity for the past TWO YEARS!! Your prayers were answered today! Thank you to all of you who came and had a hand in getting us electricity!!

Today we had an early birthday celebration for Purity! She will turn 6 on April 12th, but she will be away from New Day for the school term break. And here at New Day, if you keep up with my blog, you know that we love to celebrate any chance we get! :)

Trust me, she loved getting water poured on her! :)

Carolyn and Abby - teaching partners

EXCITING NEWS!!!!

No, we don't have Zesco yet.. :) BUT we do have some other exciting news!! Elizabeth (our social worker) is going to the USA!!!! Her sponsors, Lance & Staci, contacted us this week about wanting to sponsor her to come to America and visit and do some speaking/fundraising! So, Lord willing, she will be in the USA from June 6 to July 5!

Elizabeth is a godly young woman with a powerful testimony that we hope she will have many opportunities to share on her trip! She will be an amazing ambassador for New Day, and we are so grateful that God has provided this opportunity for her through Lance & Staci!

Please pray that everything will go SMOOTHLY and QUICKLY for her Zambian passport and US visa so that she can leave on June 5th!!!

And she was just a LITTLE bit excited when we told her the news... :)

Lance & Staci met Elizabeth 2 years ago when they came on a mission trip, and they asked if they could sponsor her when she came to work at New Day. Here is Lance, holding Purity, Elizabeth's niece who lives with her at New Day.

So we acted as if she were in trouble and told her we needed to talk to her about an issue, because we found a sheet of paper with her name on it and needed her to tell us what it meant! (The paper actually had her to do list for getting her passport and visa!) This was her face when the realization set in...

She jumped up and looked at Wes to see if it was true!

Tears after the smiles :)

Liz & Laurie

American Game Night :)

Things get a little crazy on Sunday nights at New Day :)

People always ask "What do you eat in Zambia?" Here is a sample of what we ate on American night! (Keep in mind everything is made from SCRATCH :)
Dessert! Blu & Darbi made these peanut butter cups!

Ms. Carolyn shared some delicious banana bread!

Homemade onion rings from Blu & Darbi!

Laurie's yummy pizza bread!

The winner of the game had to do a dance on top of the coffee table...as I said..things get a little crazy on Sunday nights! :)

For Grandpa & Mama Dee - All Seven of Your Grandkids :)

My Sister is Here!!

My sister and her family, (missionaries in Zambia with the International Mission Board) are on their way to a conference and took a longcut to New Day to come and see us! :) We were so excited to see them after 8 months and show them our home!

Me and Dawni - we never could have imagined growing up that we would both be living and serving in Zambia, Africa!!!

Amos & Cason make silly faces for Grandpa :)

Isaac & Caedmon were hiding under the bed in the girls' room, waiting to scare them!

What they didn't know was that the girls were in the living room fixing their hair and had no intention of returning to their room :)

Blake, Blu, & Wes transport a bunkbed to the new Joy House!

Today was my day to teach tutorials to the kids in their outside "electives" time, so we read a few good books!

The kids learned about accordions and xylophones at music time with Kalenga today! :)

Most days, the kids gather around 4pm to play a tough game of soccer - girls versus boys!

Abigail and Cason having fun on the Whirlybird!


The kids had fun going to school and playing together. They were so excited to spend a couple of days together and get some cousin time!

Around New Day

Debbie & Darbi checking out the New Day garden!

Ms. Carolyn teaching Caedmon & Machila with one arm :) She has a bad shoulder sprain from water balloon volleyball!

Ms. Diana and Hildah working with the Moonlight Class. (I promise Cambree's hair was fixed when I sent her to school!!)

Goodbye to the "Texas Team!"

John, Mrs. Dianna, & Caleb are headed back to Texas tomorrow morning! It is incredible what having 3 extra people at New Day can accomplish:

1) painted the entire Joy House
2) finished Debbie's hut so that she could move in
3) built 3 bunkbeds for the Joy House
4) did the plumbing in the entire Joy House

That makes the Joy House about 1 week away from being move-in ready!! And of course, our teams always help by building relationships, planting seeds of Christ's love, and helping corral these 14 kids :)

Thank you John, Dianna, & Caleb and your families for sacrificing you for these 3 weeks! You will always have a special place in the hearts of the New Day Family! :)

Youth Day!

Wes got a little crazy... ;)

Wes & Elizabeth took first place in the water balloon toss!

All lined up for the adult water balloon toss! :)

Look at these faces and tell me who you think had the most fun...the kids or Debbie & Wes?? :)

Staffers with Caleb

All ready for the relay race!

Mulenga making an AMAZING catch! (but still came in 2nd place.. :(

Muchoni and Purity in the relay race - love those smiles!

Even poor Margaret had to participate in Youth Day :)

Kalenga concentrating on a water balloon catch :)

Francis loved the balloon toss!

Debbie was a little bit dizzy after spinning around a baseball bat! :)

Hildah let me borrow her hair :)

Go Ms. Carolyn Go!!

Everyone thought the best thing to do with the rest of the water was...dump it on Caleb! :)

Sadly, Caleb & Mulenga came in 2nd in the water balloon toss after this burst!

Caedmon had a blast :)

Don't mess with me Joshua Blu Tidwell! :)

A rare picture of all 14 kids at New Day together! :)