Before and After

Several of our New Day children have either just celebrated or are soon to celebrate their one year anniversary of coming to the orphanage! I wanted to take this opportunity to post some pictures of the kids on their first day at New Day compared to what they look like now. We are so blessed to get to witness the transformation in their eyes, their smiles, and their hearts firsthand :) Enjoy!

Christina

Phillip

Cynthia

Kelitah

Axer

Francis

Ben

Misheck

Muchoni

Sibasiso - "Sisi"

Tidwell Kids Around New Day

Soccer Camp!

Happy Birthday Mama! :)

Today is my mom's birthday! She is my left lung, my Barnabas, and my best friend. I TREASURE her! Happy Birthday (and anniversary!) Mama!

Happy Birthday Ben! :)

Ben turns 7 years old tomorrow and we celebrated with a New Day party today! It was chaotic, but we had so much fun singing and dancing! Ben is a JOY to have at New Day. We call him Gentle Ben - he has a hug for everyone he meets! :) Cambree was ready for a big hug for Ben after he had water poured on him! This was Cambree hugging Ben at his party last year - see how they've grown! Oh wait, Cambree hasn't grown :) Hanging out at Ben's party :) Me and Dayla - our friend from missionary training back in 2003 and the leader of the OBU team! OBU Team with the New Day kids :) Our dog had 5 puppies - I'm not an animal person but they are pretty cute :)

Construction and Soccer!

Can you imagine being 18 or 19 years old and being willing to stand up in front of 20-30 people in their 40s and leading a devotion? This team has been more than willing and have done a great job! Callie, Brittany, Hannah, & Anna were so excited to learn how to use skill saws, planers, and drills! :) The team has had a blast helping teach our elective classes in the mornings during school! The kids have REALLY enjoyed soccer camp every afternoon! (Tim & Joseph play for OBU). Princess Cambree insists on attending soccer camp in a dress! Work is progressing on the cheese cave - an underground cement cave for us to store vegetables and cheese in! The top has been cemented in and this team has worked on backfilling dirt onto it and making shelves to go inside! The team has also been working in our new area, Nabukowa, and will have the privilege to lead the first Bible study there today! We pray that people come to hear the Word of God and that this is the start of a life change for many Zambians!

OBU is here!

We currently have a team of 8 from Oklahoma Baptist University here at New Day! They have been helping teach electives at school, visiting the local cinic, putting on a soccer camp for the New Day kids, and working in our new area doing soccer/evangelism! They have been a blast, and we are all learning a whole new language of slang from these college students :) For now, you can check out their blog at www.untilitisfinished.blogspot.com to see some pics of their time here at New Day! I'll get some posted soon!

Wise King Solomon

So today during Bible Class, the kids were acting out the story of Wise Solomon being approached by the Queen of Sheba. (You may recall that the queen approached Solomon and was amazed that he could answer all of her most difficult questions.) Well, 7 year old Machila was the Queen of Sheba, and Nick was King Solomon. Machila came up to him, and Blu instructed her to ask Solomon all kinds of difficult questions. She thought for a moment and then her eyes lit up and she confidently asked him.... "2+3?" :)

Meet Nick!

We have a summer "intern" at New Day this summer! Nick, from North Carolina, will be spending 7 weeks with us. He is staying in Mulenga & Kalenga's house and helping out wherever he is needed. So far he has helped with the playground construction, played TONS of soccer and sports with kids, and even visited some villages and attended a funeral! Within his first 2 days here he knew everyone's names and he has jumped in with enthusiasm and been willing to do anything. He has even cooked pancakes one night and helped Eness cook in the kitchen! Nick is probably the most well-mannered 19 year old I have ever met! We are so blessed to have him here at New Day this summer! He brought Cambree a charm bracelet :) She asked him if it was his when he was little! Yep, I think he just won her over :) Nick eats a lot of his meals with us and feels like family already! He brought some cool skateboards for the boys!

Emerge Team - Christ Community - Omaha, NE

Wow this blog has taken 3 hours to type/upload pics! :) We have had a blast with the Emerge Group from Christ Community Church in Omaha, Nebraska. This is a group of young professionals (ages 23-35), and WOW are they gifted! What struck me more than their gifts was how willing they have been to use their gifts this week, or even to jump in and do something that they have never done before! I'll let the pictures do the talking! :) We are so grateful for volunteers loving on our kids - Andrea with Cambree :) Batman is always ready to greet teams coming to New Day! :) Look at all that blonde hair!!! :) Callie, Cambree, Andrea, & Jessie Blu working on a 3 legged chair - being held up by Ron :) Caedmon & Cason working on a puzzle out by the campfire My absolute favorite part about this team - sitting around the campfire every night - doing devotions, sharing testimonies, and talking about how good God is! The spiritual depth of this group was amazing :) This is Christin. I hardly have any pictures of her because she stayed SO busy with the New Day kids this week! She is a 1st grade teacher, incredibly gifted, and led all of the morning classes for the kids and then ran a VBS for them every afternoon as well! A group also led Sunday School for our kids and taught them about David & Goliath Dee led an intense 1 on 1 sewing class for Joyce and Michelle. They made skirts, learned how to make school uniform skirts and pants, made beanbags, discipline pocket charts, and aprons! Team Michelle (who fashioned out the patterns by hand!), our Michelle, Dee, and Joyce 5 people on the team came ready to perform The Redeemer Drama. They did amazing and were able to do saturate the Mapanza area and perform in schools and rural areas to over 2000 people!! :) Amy always got cheers for her part in the drama as the seductress :) Kyle was an awesome Jesus! Josh trying to get through the "wall" to return to Jesus Our flag circle is getting bigger - we now have Nebraska, Oklahoma, Texas, Arkansas (and North Carolina ready to go up!) Teams spoil us!!! I was so grateful for all of the goodies! :) This team also brought a medical group consisting of a physical therapist, doctor, burn nurse, pediatric ICU nurse, a counselor, and massage therapist. They conducted a local clinic for our villagers here - here is the headman getting his blood pressure taken! :) Josh was the youngest on the team at age 23, but he was one of the two team leaders and did an amazing time leading devotions and even preaching on Sunday morning! Kalenga - Nate - Steve. Some of the team spend the whole week working on construction. They built a door for a widow's house, finished the underbed drawers for the kids' bunkbeds, finished the playground roof, fixed our tank stand when realizing it was ready to tumble after a log slipped, and are now making see-saws for the playground! When teams have over 8 people on them, they use an organziation out of Zimbabwe called ACTS. They take care of all transportation and cooking for the teams (which enables Laurie and I to be "Mary" and not "Martha!" :) Here are Shumba & Shep - both Zimbabweans and part of the ACTS crew. And here is Lauren, from South Africa, also with ACTS. They serve and serve and serve and do it all week long with a smile! The medical team presented Michelle (who dreams of being a nurse) with her own stethoscope :) Sharon with our Axer :) The medical team also conducted a CPR/First Aid/Crisis Care seminar for the New Day staff. Here some of the staff practice the log roll technique Dr. Terry got to do a minor procedure draining a cyst - yuck! We have thoroughly enjoyed this team and hope to see some of them back at New Day again!