Travel to Texas and Wedding Pics!

A few pics from the trip from Zambia to Texas....homework, homework, and more homework!!

And wedding pictures.....in random order because I am in jet-lag AND it is daylight savings time which means I lose another hour tonight!!!

The guys just before the wedding

Cambree & her handsome daddy!

Me all ready to go!

Cambree & Andie admiring Keysi's flowers!

The girls love having a new cousin!

They clean up pretty good!

The cake was amazing - chocolate mousse cheesecake!

Unity candle

Cason made it until 8pm.. :)

Just after the ceremony..Cloud & Rita

The guests

Kissin' his bride!

My sister-in-law Caity, me, & B-Maw

Me & Cloud

Ceremony

Yuck! (the kids said yuck, not me!)

:)

Paw & B-Maw doing the Macarena!

The grandkids with Paw & B-Maw (minus Brenden! :(

Sweet!

Cloud, Rita, Brenden, & Keysi

The decor was all crystal with white roses - it was beautiful in the rustic setting!

Ceremony again

Uncle Cloud & Aunt Rita

The 4 Tidwell men

As soon as pics were done the kids ran back to the trampoline!

Gettin' our groove on! We danced the night away! Ok, we danced until 9pm and we were too tired to keep going!

Mugshot - March 7th

Today Cloud & Rita started their new life together. It was a beautiful ceremony, and we pray God's blessings upon their marriage!

Mugshot - March 6th

We arrived in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, on Friday morning at 7:05am after an 8 hour flight from Johannesburg. From there, we had a 3 hour layover, where we opted to go through the USA pre-clearance check so that upon arrival in Dallas we could go straight to baggage check, and it worked perfectly! The Etihad Airlines was wonderful - excellent food, entertainment system, gifts for our kids, etc. The flight attendants were a wide variety of British, French, Romanian, Italian, Asian, etc.! We had a great experience, with the only surprising thing being the "Join us for a travel prayer from the Holy Koran" that came across the screen and the loudspeaker before we took off!

The flight was 16 hours long.....it was LOOOOONNNGG!!! The kids kept saying, "Only 10 more hours!!" "Only 8 more hours!!" :) Uncle Shade met us at the airport and we drove the 3 1/2 hours back to Brownwood, Texas, arriving at 10:00pm! It was a GREAT reunion! :)

Mugshot - March 5th

I think I'll fly to Texas today... :)

Well....today we'll fly to Johannesburg and Abu Dhabi...tomorrow we'll fly to Texas!! :)

Mugshot - March 4th

That moment when your kids find out that Uncle Cloud is going to fly all 3 of them plus their mama to Texas with their daddy to attend his wedding.....

Amazingly, we have found tickets ROUND TRIP from Livingstone to DFW for $600 each!!! The last 12 hours have been a flurry of lesson plans, copies, finding winter clothes, packing, and pretty much crazy excitement! We will leave on Thursday morning - our entire trip to Texas and back will be eight days long, but EVERY SECOND will be worth it. :)

Mugshot - March 3rd

It's Family Dinner Night tonight at New Day, and my job this afternoon is to slice these hot dog buns! (I'm thankful I didn't have to make them from scratch!)

On the first Tuesday night of every month, the entire New Day staff and kids eat together in the dining hall. We cook an American meal and dessert and have a fun game. Tonight is chili dogs, potato casserole, chips, brownies, and a game of Battle of the Sexes!

Mugshot - March 2nd

Every morning at 4:55am, I get out of bed, throw on my running clothes, grab this Bible, and head to the couch for some reading...

This daily reading Bible is so special to me because it was my Dad's that he read through from 1988 to 2008. Yep, he has read through the Bible for 26 years...that's the heritage I'm blessed to have. I love reading my Dad's little notes - sometimes marking when someone got married, who died, who had a birthday, etc. It makes me feel close to him, even though we're miles and miles apart!

After that, I do my prayer journal, go for a 30 minute walk/run, and head back inside for my Kelly Minter devotional book (just finished 1, 2, 3 John!). That's a glimpse into my morning routine from 4:55 to 6:15am!

Mugshot March!

One of my missionary friends, Robyn, did a "photo a day February" on her blog to give people more of an idea about what their life/ministry was like. I loved it and looked forward to it every day! So I decided to steal her idea (what can I say...I'm not very creative!) and do a "Mugshot a Day March!" Every day, I'll post a "mugshot" of someone or something to give you a glimpse into my life in Zambia.

March 1st's Mugshot

I realize I'm a bit biased, but I think my husband is an amazing preacher. He is so passionate, and he preaches the truth with love. Today he brought a mousetrap to church (not many of the people present had ever seen one) to talk about the snare of sin. It was a great sermon, in the midst of babies crying, kids going in and out, etc! I will miss hearing him preach next Sunday when he is enjoying some American worship in the USA!

The Second Annual Great Mouse Exhibit!

I have enjoyed teaching Language Arts to Caedmon & Machila last year and to Cambree this year! We use Sonlight curriculum for Language Arts (for my kids only - the New Day kids use Abeka, except for Machila). It is literature based, and I love it! It was time to read Ralph S. Mouse again this year with Cambree, so of course we had to do the Great Mouse Exhibit!

For the exhibit, she wrote a mouse alliteration poem, a mouse cinquain, a mouse story, and drew and captioned a mouse picture. She also made a mouse maze and had mouse nibbles to share with everyone!

She had been looking forward to this since last year, and she was thrilled when Daddy asked her questions all about her project!

Mama Lala also stopped by!

The Preschool class visited as well and LOVED the "mouse nibbles!" :)

Papa Wes came by to see the exhibit as well!

I have to brag - Cambree is an amazing student. Her head is always in a book, she writes incredible stories, and she very rarely misspells anything! Love that girl!! :)

Sunday Morning Photo Shoot

Cason woke up this morning and said, "Daddy let's all match!!" My boys love to dress up (even Blu!) so of course I had to take a few pics!

Blu's sermon notes :) This cracks me up that this is all he writes to preach!! It was an awesome sermon!

Fun Friday!

On Fridays, I always greet the kids with, "It's Fun Friday!" On Monday-Thursday, we teach the core subjects in the New Day School (Language Arts, Math, Science, and Bible/Social Studies, with Reading and Tonga in the afternoons). On Fridays, we have a little fun, and we have the rest of the classes - Art, Music, Computers, Writing Club, Creative Technology, and Home Economics! Here are a few pictures for your Fun Friday!

The New Day kids all LOVE to knit - boys included!!

Christina, who spent her day at the clinic getting a tetanus shot after stepping on a nail this week! :(

Their own handmade purses!

Mweene was so proud!

Glory :)

Kelitah working hard in class

Mama Loveness

Lulu hanging around in her new house!

Mama Tembo, who still needs a monthly sponsor!! Please contact me if you are interested!!

David Mapalo, Mulenga's son. Poor Mulenga - his new wife was called away to care for a sick aunt and could be gone up to a month! Mulenga is holding down the fort taking care of his little boy!

Cambree's Great Mouse Exhibit - more pics to come on Monday!

Starting the foundation on our new classroom block! It sits directly across from our current school, making a U with the current school, computer lab/library, and new school!

Cute little Terry, who is quite the handful! His favorite sentence (in Tonga) is "I will beat you!" (translates "I will punch you in your face" ;)

Pics from today's Writing Club classes - lots of fun!

With the little ones, I am doing a unit on If You Give a Mouse a Cookie. Today they had to put the story in order using pictures!

Teacher Hildah helps me every Friday by planting herself next to Kefbert for the hour long class!!!

In the older kids' Writing Club class, we are reading The Indian in the Cupboard. They are loving it, and I am loving it!! It is one of my all-time favorite books! Today they wrote "If I were the Chief, I would..." Their responses were hilarious! Muchoni's was my favorite - he said he would spank his returning men if they lost a battle! Kelitah's was also good - she said if she were chief there would be school only on Mondays!

Malilwe

Misheck

Just hanging around..after all, it's Fun Friday!

On Fun Friday afternoons, the big kids go to Discipleship Class with Mama Lala, and then I take the older girls to Bible study at Mapanza Baptist across the river. Hope your Friday is fun!