2019 Book of the Year!

Oh man, I feel like each year just gets harder and harder to choose!  I have read SEVEN books this month, and they were all phenomenal!!  So just December alone made it hard to choose!  But I finally narrowed it down to a nonfiction and a fiction book of the year!

Fiction Book of the Year

I thought The Power of One by Bryce Courtenay was absolutely outstanding.  It is set in South Africa during apartheid and follows the dream of a young boy to be the welterweight boxing champion of the world.  I feel like it is a MUST read. (And I hear there's a movie too!)

Non-Fiction Book of the Year

I'm going to cheat a little bit and choose two, but I feel like these read together, one after the other, are amazing.  The Tattooist of Auschwitz is a true story from World War II, but in story form.  Many of the same characters are then echoed in Bill O'Reilly's Killing the SS, and they were both incredible.  

That being said, these books are both heavy reads - it feels like I read pretty heavy stuff lately!  But you won't be disappointed with these!

Life around New Day!

We've had a couple of evening rainstorms which have been nice, and the power outage schedule has changed to 4am to 2pm, which has also been pretty nice!  We are wrapping up our time here with prep for the big New Year's Eve party tonight!  Here's a look at life around New Day for us!

Cambree in gangsta mode...on the soccer field.

Cutie!

We also got to see the drilling of a new well at New Day!

Water was hit around 25 meters and they drilled down to 80!

Everyone stood around watching!

Everyone thinks she looks just like her mama!

Caedmon has really bonded with Lushomo!

Blu and Pride!  We went into Choma last Friday to see a few people!

Lwiito, Maxwell & Priscilla's daughter!  She is waiting for her Grade 12 exam results and hopes to go to medical school!

Grendah, our former maid and nanny!

And of course, from food from the Choma Museum!

Cason went along for the ride (and Daddy's silliness!)

Caedmon has had countless sleepovers!

Cason had an nshima and kapenta date with Aunt Chipo!

Love Caedmon's new hat from Uncle Chris!

Lunchtime naps!

Heading to Youth Bible Study!

Machila taught the Youth lesson!

Cason was a huge help at Kids Club!

Baby Luke!

Having fun with Mama Loveness!

Cason with his babies!

Teacher Carolyn parting the Red Sea!

Raining at Kids Club - the kids come running!

Luyando fell down and was sad so I got some cuddles :)

419 kids at Kids Club!  But I had a cute dish washing partner!

Saturday night sunset in our backyard!

New Day's "Boy Band" ;)  They are currently obsessed with the color black!

Sunday morning sermon prep!

Muchoni singing in the youth choir

Machila & Cynthia

Misheck & Phillip

Kelitah

Blu preaching

Avengers End Game on Sunday night!

Clothes sorting in several of the houses with Aunt Sydney!

Blu and the boys cleaned out the garage for the New Year's party!

Joseph and Machila (and some others) got the New Year's mural ready!

On Monday we drove into Monze to pick up Hildah!  Mulenga was there too!

It was a fun trip home with Hildah!

She couldn't believe Caedmon was taller than her!

A girls' sleepover!

The boys have slept on the trampoline a few times!

Mama Loveness enjoying the new swing set!

Christmas Eve & Christmas at New Day!

We had a nice Christmas Eve and Christmas Day celebration at New Day!  This is definitely the hottest Christmas I ever remember here, with not a drop of rain and just sunny skies all day!  This week's power outage schedule is brutal...12pm to midnight is rough!  We've only run out of water 2 days so that's been a relief!  We will leave this struggle behind in 6 days, but I feel for those who will be here longer, because it's not easy!  That being said, we all put on smiles and tried to help everyone at New Day have a very Merry Christmas!  

Emma loved her new sunglasses and water bottle!  (This is Cambree's very special Easter dress from our first Easter at New Day...!)

Blu & Malilwe..who has gotten SO tall!

Hanging out in the shelter having cokes and snacks donated from Dr. Jain (the Indian doctor in Choma who we miss SO much!  He's the best!)

Nothing like a cold glass bottled Coke!

The older girls learned the Nutcracker ballet dance from Sydney and did great!  They looked so elegant!

Nighttime walks back to the house, led by flashlights!

And nighttime trips to the borehole to get more water!

Mulenga found a leak, so Blu and some of the middle girls worked on that.  I told him, "I feel like your life ALWAYS consists of plumbing!"

A little cheer stunt teaching from Cambree!

Christmas Eve or not...the food relief program goes on!

Agness and Gilly

What else to do on Christmas Eve but chase goats!?

Cambree has been in her element with all these babies to love on!

An Indian Leg Wrestling Tournament!

Joseph is an INCREDIBLE artist and is doing an animal mural around the old shelter!

More babies!

Everybody loves Uncle Blu!

Some Limbo practice for the New Year's Eve party!

Kefbert is the reigning champion!

On Christmas Eve, the Americans headed over to Carolyn's for a feast, a White Elephant, and a Christmas game!

This picture was BEFORE the ants invaded and were absolutely everywhere...all over the food, the counter, the dishes...and we had no water.  It was kinda a nightmare, but we survived!

The ladies - Laurie, Carolyn, me, & Sydney

Oops, we forgot Cambree!

The guys - can you tell Wes is a little outnumbered with Blu gone?!

White Elephant - Cason got deodorant and mints!

Blu got a "Simon" game!

Lots of laughter!

Guess what this is....Blu's traditional cinnamon rolls on Christmas morning!

I brought our stockings from home and surprised our kids with stocking stuffers...after telling them they weren't going to have Christmas this year!

They got personalized Visa gift cards!

Chris, Mama Liz, and CJ (Machila was getting ready for the ballet!)

Melvin and his new wife Gertrude

Papa & Mama Tembo

Blu led some Christmas carols at the party!

More ballet!

The little girls also did a ballet!

Papa Wes & Mama Lala sharing the Christmas Story with the little ones

Uncle Blu and sweet Luyando!

Caedmon helped CJ open his presents!

Christmas Cokes!

We also had the December Monthly Birthday Party on Christmas Day (it was a busy day!)  Cambree has been spending a bunch of time with sweet Machila!

Caedmon pouring water on Cynthia!

Run, Francis!

We have played a ton of games of Settlers!  Aunt Chipo plays, and Blu taught the older girls how to play!

Blu is carving out an hour of each day to work on the February Youth Retreat  - it's going to be awesome!

I worked some on prep for the New Year's Eve party!

Cambree has been a champ this trip - constantly playing soccer and basketball even in this heat!

Cason has been SO good with these babies!  They love him!

Everybody loves little Luke!

That smile... :)

Cason playing some Knockout!

More Settlers - this time with Aunt Chipo!

Using some evening time to beat the heat - sitting on the porch working on One Act Play lines!

We are headed to Choma today to meet a few friends and buy a few supplies for the New Year's party!  Tomorrow is Kids Club, church on Sunday, Hildah arrives Monday night, Tuesday is the New Year's party, Wednesday will be NDO pictures and our goodbyes, and we leave Thursday morning!