Thursday, August 28, 2014

Sleepover Madness!

It has been a little crazy this month!! The New Day kids have definitely been bed-swapping during this school break! We have had the 4 groups (Big Boys, Big Girls, Little Girls, Little Boys) over here, plus they have been at Teacher Diana/Carolyn's, Teacher Debbie's, the Cooks, and Nurse Mandy! It has been loads of fun.....but no more sleepovers at my house until December!! ;)

Cason must have gotten hold of the camera and is practicing the art of the selfie

Lots of tv time - He-Man for the boys!!

All Christina wants for Christmas is her 2 front teeth! ;)

And LOTS of ipad time!! The kids LOVE ipads but only get to play them the 4 times a year they sleepover at our house

Pretty Gertrude has no front teeth either!

More ipad time...and Malilwe's face is kinda scary!!

Joseph :)

Kelitah enjoying a Barbie movie

Mweene, Phillip, and Kefi (who is finally old enough for sleepovers!!)

It's a bird, it's a plane...it's SuperKef!

And LOTS of time on the "bounce house" (as the kids call a trampoline!)

Sunday, August 24, 2014

Church

If someone were to ask me, "What is the hardest part of living in Zambia? What is your greatest challenge?" I would definitely say that it is church. Ask anyone who has lived overseas for longer than, say, 6 months, and they just might agree.

New Day Church is in the process of building, so we are meeting on the corner of the property in a large shelter. The shelter has a dirt floor, and the wind blows and blows in August, so after about 5 minutes at church we are COVERED in dirt. I wish I had taken a picture of my kids today - dirt all over their faces - everywhere! I wanted to take a shower right when I got home! On top of that, we have new "seats" at church. These are logs cut from trees that are about 8 inches off the ground. Everyone looks around when they get to church to try to find the flattest log to sit on! When we get there, we sing a few songs (in Tonga), and then we open the Tonga hymnbook and sing. Then it's time for Sunday School, where we stay seated on the logs. After that, us Americans beg for a song we can sing standing up to give our bodies a break! We then have "testimonies", "special songs," and the offering. It's then back to the logs for another hour of preaching (it takes longer because of the use of interpreters).

I walked home (1/2 mile) today alone, because I stayed for a women's meeting after church. I admit I was struggling. The filth covering my body, my very sore bottom, and just walking away wondering, "Did I really worship?" Some days are hard. Suddenly, I heard a sound, and I knew EXACTLY what it was...it was the sound of a huge dust storm (dirt devil as we call them in Texas). My eyes widened, and I just KNEW God was sending this storm after me to punish me for my thoughts about church! I walked faster, trying to beat it home, frequently looking behind me to see where it was. It finally caught up to me and blew past, with me just catching the outskirts. I held my long skirt and squeezed my eyes shut, grateful it had "missed" me.

Just then, a scripture came to mind. I knew God was speaking to me. "Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper."
God was at church this morning at New Day. Dust was blowing, the logs were uncomfortable, the singing wasn't in my heart language, but He was there. He was waiting to meet with me, but I was too worried about my comfort. He was at your church this morning too, no matter where you worship or what it looks like. His whisper after the windstorm reminded me and convicted me that it is an absolute privilege to worship God every Sunday here at New Day in Zambia.

Saturday, August 23, 2014

Recent Happenings!

Here are a few things we've been up to at New Day in the last week!

A stomach virus hit the Tidwell house.. :(

Cambree and her favorite food!

Lots of sleepovers! Cambree & Cason went to Choma to spend the night with our American missionary friends, the Smiths from Ohio!

Nurse Mandy came over for dinner & a movie!

Darbi took 4 of our full-time volunteers to Lusaka for a girls only trip before school starts! We ate...a LOT!

And got pedicures!

And drank lots of coffee!

And Malawi shandys!

And had lots of dessert!

I enjoyed 2 hours of reading magazines while the rest got pedicures!

Me & Nurse Mandy

Rhapsody's - yum!

Sandy's!

Shaka's Grill!

Vegetarian fajitas!

Now we are back at New Day, gearing up for a week of school prep (and 3 more sleepovers!) before school starts Sept 1st!

Thursday, August 14, 2014

Last Lusaka Day!

Today is officially our LAST day of vacation!! We are sad to see it go, but ready to get back to our New Day family and life!

Silly sisters :)

I love my big sis!

We are tired of restaurants, so I bought food to cook here in Lusaka, something I NEVER do! (in Lusaka I mean!)

Fun cousin pictures - how cool is it that our kids are ages 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11!

We had a picnic at the playground today!

Wednesday, August 13, 2014

Cousin Time in Lusaka!

We are in Lusaka for a couple of days with my sister's family! It has been 6 months since we've seen them, so it's fun to catch up and watch the kids play together!

Blu is still in vacation mode!

Caedmon & Isaac, who apparently won the "World Cup" were very excited to pose for a picture!

Cambree & Isabel played Barbies ALL morning long!

Cason & Amos - here comes trouble! ;)

My sweet Abigail Ruth!

Durban Vacation, Day #7!

We left Durban yesterday and are back in the capitol city of Zambia, Lusaka! Here we are checking out of our hotel and waiting on our taxi!

This was the BEST meal I had on vacation - a Mediterranean roasted veggie wrap from Kauai!

One last stop at Mugg n' Bean - red velvet hot cocoa and a pretzel salted caramel mocha!

And ring pops from the candy store!

Thanks for experiencing our vacation with us! This will go in my blog book and will be something we remember for years to come! This was our first long trip to take with 3 kids in tow, and they did amazingly well! And yes, we already have 2015 and 2016's trips planned. ;)