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

Wednesday, January 22, 2014

January Birthday Celebration!

We partied hard at New Day today, celebrating 3 birthdays! Joseph will be 7 years old this Friday! He is SUCH a sweet kid...love him!

Teacher Carolyn loved the balloons as much as the kids :)

My sweet boy :)

We had a balloon popping game - loves the winces of the kids in the back as Joseph sits on his balloon!

Lots of gifts, but hard to take pics with 19 other kids jostling me!! He got a spiky light up ball, Avengers Frisbee, coke, chips, sweets, and a harmonica & recorder (your welcome housemothers!) :)

He was ready to run from the water pouring!

He finally sat in Mama Joyce's lap and got soaked!

Mama Joyce had a birthday on Christmas Day, but she was out of town, and Liz was also out of town on her birthday - January 2nd.

Love this!

I have never seen anyone as excited as Elizabeth was about her gifts from Mama Lala!!

Joyce also loved her gifts and loved modeling her purse for us!

Liz is FAST - this is the only pic I got of her getting water poured on her!

Joyce on the other hand....there were too many good pics to choose from, so I'm sharing them all :)

Kalenga shows his love...

And Mama Martha...

And Mulenga...

Be jealous ladies...I married a construction man...

...and a man who can make cinnamon rolls from scratch!

Caedmon wanted a picture to show Grandpa all of his U.T. gear...blah... (Blu's college's biggest rival)

Saturday morning fort-building time!

School days - Cambree writing her Texas 2nd grade class a letter

Caed & Machila working on addition properties with beans

It is a well-known fact amongst my family & friends that I dream...a lot. Very crazy, bizarre dreams, which sometimes lead to interesting things happening in our house in the middle of the night...

So the other night I was laying on my back, with my mouth wide open, and I was dreaming that I was running and then doing a GIANT leap over a big pile of laundry. In my dream I made the most awesome, guttural, superhero sounding noise ever as I made the jump. It sounded kinda like "WAHHHHHHHHHHH" in a deep voice. It was a good jump.

Little did I know that in bed, the sound that woke Blu up from a dead sleep sounded more like a dying giraffe..."Har-HEEEEEEEEEEE!!!" He jumped, took note of my peculiar position, and kicked me to wake me up and then headed to the bathroom.

Meanwhile I woke up and thought, "Weird..why is my mouth wide open?" I slowly sat up in bed and decided I needed to go the bathroom. But I realized Blu was in there, and I didn't want to scare him so I would sit there and wait until he came out.

Meanwhile, again, Blu was in the bathroom thinking. He was thinking about how Shade had recently told him that when people die, it is not pretty. Blu thought about the awful sound I had made and my weird posture and mouth wide open and decided I had just died. So he slowly opens the bathroom door and peeks out. I am in bed, watching the door, and say "WHAT are you doing??!!!" He's like, "What are YOU doing?!!" We laughed for like 30 minutes - tears streaming down our faces. :)

Then last night I dreamt about a traditional African ceremony and the brutal murder of Curious George the Monkey to serve as food for the ceremony... It's fun being me! :)

Thursday, January 16, 2014

PJ Night :)

There's not a lot of things cuter than kids in their brand new pajamas!

Ben

Christina

Cynthia

Francis

Glory & Gertrude

Joseph

Kefi

Kelitah

Muchoni

Mweene didn't have his on, but he wanted his picture taken. After being at New Day for 15 months, he is FINALLY coming out of his shell! He definitely has had the hardest time adjusting, but it is great to see him smiling, answering questions, laughing, and even learning to ride his bike!

The moon over the Matthew House

I came home to a rose blooming! Teacher Diana must have been doctoring it!

Our new housemother, Mama Martha. I took some pics of her for our website!

Wednesday, January 15, 2014

Outdoor Lights for New Day!

Check out this new outdoor lighting for New Day designed by Chad from FBC Bartlett!

For $100, you can cover the manufacturing and shipping of one light to Zambia. There will also be a nameplate on the light that says "Donated by ______" The main purpose of these lights is for security, both from theft and snakes! You can give online via our website: www.newdayorphanage.org, or you can mail a check to:

New Day Orphanage, 3112 West Avenue R, Temple, TX 76504. Make sure your gift is labeled for outside lighting and tells what you want the donation plate to say! Thanks & God bless!

New Day Staff says Thanks!!

The New Day Staff was so grateful to receive their Christmas bonuses! They each received 1,000 kwacha BONUS - that's almost $180! They were shocked and so happy! Thank you to all who gave!

Meet Jenna, our Spring Intern! She is blogging about her adventures in Zambia here!

Monday, January 13, 2014

Bikes, Rain, and Back to School!

We had to get in all the fun we could these last few days before school started! Many of you always ask about the weather in Zambia. It has been HOT, but most days the clouds roll in around 4pm and cool things off! We've had some big downpours as well!

We raised money for bikes for the kids back in 2012 and they finally arrived! Sisi was FLYING on hers!

Niki had fun riding too!

Giving Kefbert a boost, trying desperately to make him understand to hold his legs out!

Kelitah zoomed past me!

Glory needed some help from Uncle Blu!

Cynthia is a little more cautious!

Christina with her crazy hair. This girl can ALWAYS put a smile on my face! :)

Cason being...Cason

Cason was SO proud that he learned to ride without training wheels - can you see how far that chest is sticking out??

Axer gets some help from Kelsey

Where are the boys, you may ask?? Inside watching Spiderman, of course!

Ms. Carolyn's church had a pajama party and donated pj's for each of the kids - awesome!

We had our weekly "American fellowship" last night, and it started pouring about 10 minutes before. We cannot be deterred from good food and games, though! I snapped a pic of Diana and Carolyn carefully wading over!