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

Sunday, July 15, 2018

Making Memories!

I feel like these last couple of weeks have been really blessed. Make no mistake - it's been chaos and packing and tears and stress too, but it's also been blessed! I feel like God has carved out little moments of laughter and opportunities for making memories that we will take with us with joy in our hearts! Here's a look!

I adore my 6th grade Math class - they are the sweetest kids!

They don't adore when I get my camera out... ;)

Phillip and Cason :)

More bridge drama - the bridge continues to fall apart as a cotton truck collapsed on it overnight last week!

Caedmon just hanging around!

Cambree ready for her "Fab Five" time with Daddy before bed!

Kids Club - Cambree taught 192 kids!

Moving out! We are little by little hauling stuff off to people who bought our things!

Mulenga working on electrical for the new orphan house!

Settlers - the last thing that will be packed! We play at least 3 nights a week!

We had a fun little birthday party for Staci last week and had a Nacho Libre movie night since none of them had seen it!

A quick trip to Choma for last groceries...and cappuccinos!

Last Friday, we took the older kids on a walk down to the river! We had such fun! This is my favorite tree...in January 2010, as we turned off into the bush towards New Day, I remember seeing this tree for the first time. The grass was higher than the vehicle and there was no road at all, but I remember thinking, "Well at least there's a pretty tree!" ;)

So we needed a selfie with my tree!

When we got to the river, the kids all took off exploring! Cynthia and Blu began digging to see if they could reach each other!

It's a mile walk down to the river.

The boys disappeared, chasing a herd of pigs!

Caedmon taking a leap!

Cynthia

Francis

The girls!

The girls plus Darbi! All I could think was, "Please let me clear that big pile of manure!"

The big kids! (minus Ben, who had gone home sick with a headache :(

Misheck

Muchoni

Kelitah having fun!

Laurie & Cynthia laughing

On Sunday, we headed about an hour away to the village of Nsanti for church to say goodbye to our friends there. We got to the bridge...and you just never know what you're going to find!

They were unloading VERY slowly...one by one..so Blu jumped out with the boys and started unloading! In their church clothes. :)

The people at this church have a special place in our hearts! Robinson built our mud hut 14 years ago when he was 65 years old!

It's always a little awkward for our kids, even 8 years later, when we go to village churches and everyone fawns all over them! This church knew Caedmon when he was a baby, so they love seeing him!

Cason buried in his Action Bible!

Darius, Robinson, and Blu

Laurie & Cambree. Laurie kept saying, "Cambree! Everyone is staring at you!" Cambree responded with, "Yes, I know. I'm used to it."

Pastor Robinson - preaching the word at 79 years old!

We got home at 2pm, dropped everyone off, and Blu and I headed to Choma to buy pizzas and drinks for our World Cup party at Hildah's house! (one of the few with satellite tv!)

This is the first time we actually kept up with almost every single game in the World Cup! I was cheering for England, but since they were out, Blu & I both chose France for the final!

There were LOTS of people crammed into Hildah's house...and even more next door in Mulenga's!

We have 2 full weeks of school left, and this week will be busy with us moving out of our house on Friday, moving into The Ark (our guesthouse), and having our last big sale on Saturday morning!

Thursday, July 5, 2018

Another week bites the dust!

Whew! This one was a doozy! We are TIRED! Blu asked me yesterday, "Can we PLEASE do nothing on Friday afternoon?" Done!

Cambree made homemade buttermilk biscuits, fried ham steaks, and scrambled eggs. I'm sorry she's my daughter and not yours. ;)

No matter how much of the house is packed, Settlers of Catan won't be packed until the night before!

A little fun in Choma at the Indian restaurant where a random boxing ring was set up!

EVERY time we go anywhere in Zambia, people call Blu "John Cena."

Dad got VERY sick after our weekend in Lusaka (food poisoning of some kind) and ended up hooked up to an IV for 3 hours in Choma to get rehydrated and stomach meds! We made fun of Mom for taking this picture where he looks...not very alive!

Mom & Dad sent all 19 of their trunks with the GracePoint team since they got 2 bags each, so they didn't have to pay ANYTHING to get their stuff back to the USA! 45 years of marriage and 19 trunks with everything they own. Impressive.

My Erin Condren life planner arrived, and I'm in heaven.

And my oldest son obviously inherited my organizational skills. I came home from school one day and he had worked almost 2 hours organizing everything for our last sale!

We had a 4 day holiday weekend, so we scheduled a soccer tournament! The winner got chocolate cupcakes! But it wasn't us... #4teams #4thplace #butwelookgood

Our last game was tied, so we went to penalty kicks! Caedmon's ready!

Swing and a...miss!

Misheck missed too! But they all had fun.

The team leaves early Friday morning, we have Staci's birthday party/movie night on Friday night, and then we host a 6 person team for Saturday/Sunday. Time is flying by!

GracePoint Team 2018

As we sat around the campfire with the GracePoint team the other night, I began to feel so overwhelmed. You see, back in May of 2010, GracePoint Church was our very first volunteer team at New Day. There was one small building here, and literally nothing else. They camped in 2 man pup tents on the ground, took showers out of bags that we sat in the sun all day to heat up, and cooked around a fire at night. Since that time, GracePoint has sent many more teams, and as we sat around the fire looking into the flames, names began to enter my mind from through the years.

Mike Manning on his hands and knees drawing the chalk lines for our house. Sara Lou teaching a sewing class in the shelter. Jill Marley hauling bricks one by one from a wheelbarrow to our first orphan house. A guy named Brian who brought us SO MANY bags of chocolate chips. Rob, who hated leaving his family behind, but came back with them later. Ashley and LeAudra who spent a week painting ceiling boards. Lorraine Hunt, with stage 4 cancer, double-dutching at Kids Club. She's now with Jesus. Caleb McDaniel teaching Sunday School. Jeremy "The Body", and waiting to see if he was going to propose to Andrea at Victoria Falls. Carly and her mural. Elle playing the guitar around the campfire. David and Patty and their late night trip to Macha with Blu to sew up Dave's hand that ended with a run-in with a cow. And so many more faces..servants..stories.

And now, 8 years later, GracePoint Church is the last team our family will host at New Day. The fact that God made that complete circle for us is no coincidence. The fact that Mike & Lori McDaniel, who lead GracePoint Church but are former missionaries in Zambia and jumped at the chance to send that first team to help build an orphanage is no coincidence. God is a big God.

So when we sat around the fire last night and Sierra led us in "Reckless Love," I was reminded that God has been in control from the beginning, and He will remain in control. He knew in May 2010 when we greeted that first GracePoint team that in July 2018, our family would say goodbye to a different GracePoint team. We didn't know, but He did. He is a God of order, and that brings me such peace. And thankfulness.

You are loved, our GracePoint friends through the years!

The team getting ready for VBS in the Ark!

Cason, Blessing, and Shepherd taking a walk!

Aunt Chipo had more fun than the kids at VBS!

Chloe cooking..something...at a village!

Sofia and Katie (who don't sew!) helping Jo Anne make new curtains for the school!

Jo Anne made beautiful curtains!

David led Red Light, Green Light at VBS Rec!

Music/Snacks is always a popular rotation at VBS!

Russ & David worked hard on school bookshelves!

We had a 2 day holiday this week from school - what to do but scrape paint off of floors?!

Blu & David had fun (and were loud!) leading VBS Rec!

I can't even describe to you how exhausted Blu is right now, but he still was his crazy, energetic self at VBS, coming up with crazy Tonga chants for each group to go with their color flag!