The Tidwells: From A (merica) to Z (ambia)...and Back

Friday, January 4, 2013

Alvarado Team - Last from New Day!

The team has left New Day and is on their way to Livingstone to experience Victoria Falls and a safari. I stayed behind with the kids, but I was headed to Choma to do my usual orphanage grocery shopping. We got word that the river was flooded, so Blu & I drove to check it out. The bridge was nowhere near passable! It will probably be covered until late tonight or early tomorrow. Blu left with the team to take another route. Though water was covering the long bridge on that route, there wasn't much water so they were able to safely cross. The bus's tires are much higher than my truck tires, so I opted to stay here today. We are officially flooded in! I'm glad the team was able to make it out and I'm praying the river goes down so that I can get groceries tomorrow! On Sunday I will meet back up with the team and go to Lusaka with them (to pick up my parents & Teacher Diana!) Since I'm stuck home today, I have a great opportunity to get my house back in order, do laundry, and post this massive blog for you! :) So here are pictures from the trip...in quite possibly the longest blog post ever...in no particular order.. :) If you've ever been to New Day, you've received a "Welcome" like this! I love this pic because it shows the excitement on ALL of our faces!!

Axer shows off the fish she made in VBS

This looks like the beginning of one of those, "How many Aggies does it take..." jokes :)

Blu shows Tony how to eat nshima at Kids Club

Look at this little one's full tummy after his meal at Kids Club!!

Marshall is enjoying his meal :)

We have a group of older boys who love to come and play soccer!

Our library is looking good! Yes we do have books to fill those shelves - that is next week's project!

Our security guard, Mr. Choma. I love the little bat he made as a weapon! :)

Muchoni & Francis show off their house to the team

Muchoni loved his new watch from Papa Wes & Mama Lala!

This is the mud we have to walk through to get anywhere...

The Nativity play that the kids did was so cute! I know this was the first time for a lot of our village kids to hear the Christmas story, so it was an added blessing for them to get to see it acted out! Cassie & Mrs. Kelly worked SOOO hard with the kids and did a great job!! Angels :)

Shepherds :)

The wisemen

Cason the Cow

Cason the Cow & Kelitah the Sheep

The entire Nativity cast

Elizabeth & Zechariah played by Sisi & Misheck

Muchoni played the Angel Gabriel - I love the wings Laura made!

I'm not biased or anything, but I've got to say that I think King Herod stole the show. He had a perfect "mean" face!

I asked him, "Caedmon, how did you not smile at all those people?!" And he looked at me like I was very dumb and said "Mama, I was King Herod."

Herod is dead!

Mary (Machila) is surprised by Angel Gabriel's news!

Love this picture - Mweene picking his nose :)

Building bookshelves for the library..

Brandi & Cassie enjoying some Zambian wildlife!

Cassie & Kelly at play practice

Christina working on her guitar skills

I thought some of you who have met Margaret may be interested to see her daughter, Chu-Chu, and her granddaughter Christy!

The classrooms are getting ready for school on January 14th!

Pretty Cynthia :)

These pictures show a progression of what we look like from morning to evening. Here is Debbie looking nice at church.

And Debbie that same afternoon...

And Debbie that evening...

Cason gets a lift from Francis

Mr. Jimmy with all the kids

Jimmy & Chu-Chu's son, little Jimmy!

Kailey coming out of the chicken houes - Kailey wins the prize for having the most African experiences as she visited the mortuary with Blu and stayed at the funeral for 5 hours while the rest of us came home after 2 hours!

This is a Zambian dish called kapenta. We call them "minnows" in the USA :)

Almost everyone tried them! Kelly & Ashlee got them down!

Kelly & Axer

Kelly tries to teach the kids how to make her REALLY loud whistle!

Kenny & Blu work on bookshelves together

Sawing..

I'm not sure what's going on, but it looks complicated!

Blu & Ashlee leading a song at Kids Club

Priscilla (6 months pregnant!) and Blu came by to sell some rugs to the team

Can you see the rainbow?! Gorgeous!

A close up pic of our Kids Sponsor Board

The whole team with the New Day kids

Tony got to have a drum session with Kalenga on Wednesday night

He also got to help get the truck out of the mud!

One of my favorite pics - Tyler trying to chase goats out of the church!

I had to post one more a pic of Tyler getting water poured on him!

A fun game of Limbo at VBS!

And then the rain came...

The shelter full of VBS kids after Day One! Love it!

We cannot thank the team from FBC Alvarado enough for giving up your Christmas holiday to come and minister alongside of us in Zambia. Christmas can be a hard time but this year it was fun to look forward to the team coming! You have planted seeds in the lives of children that we will be faithful to water and help grow, trusting that Jesus will produce the fruit in their lives! Thank you to all of the supporters back home (our church family!) who prayed, gave sacrificially, made curtains (which turned into head scarves for our play costumes!!), and sent your children to Zambia. We hope to see you at New Day again!

Wednesday, January 2, 2013

Alvarado Team - Wednesday

Ashlee waves goodbye to the kids at VBS

I didn't get any flash cards today from the team's camera, but tonight I will get the entire team's pics so that I will be able to post either Friday or Saturday! Wednesday was a good day - the team has really helped us to get our new school building ready! The teachers are all moved into their rooms and are getting their materials organized. We have turned the old classroom into a supply room for teachers and an office for our social worker, Elizabeth. We have taken down the makeshift classroom in the dining hall, opening up that space. New Day is looking good! Tons of bookshelves have been built, and most likely we will get them painted and in the library with books on them by the end of next week. Looks like we will be ready for school to start on January 14th! VBS is continuing to go well. We haven't had as many kids as I thought (around 80-100 each day), but there has been so much rain, and we know so many of them walk long distances or have to stay back and work with their families in their fields. The team is doing great, and today is the final day of VBS and the Nativity play. I can't wait to post pictures of the costumes - adorable! The New Day kids are so excited, or at least one certain angel in the Tidwell house is! The day ended with a wonderful prayer/praise service and of course...some rabbit hunting :) Don't worry - no rabbits were killed and everyone on the team still has all of their appendages. We are leaving now for Margaret's father's funeral. Thank you for praying for her family during this time!