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

Friday, August 5, 2016

Lusaka Family Time!

I can't believe it's August already! On Tuesday, we loaded up into Bus Number New Day to head to Lusaka - the Tidwell family, Teachers Carolyn & Diana, Mom & Dad, Abby, Hildah/Laurie, and Mama Zelly! Our plan was to stay for a few days in the capitol city hanging out with my sister and her family before Mom & Dad head up to Northern Zambia to spend a few weeks with them! It was 4 days of absolute chaos of trying to figure out everyone's schedules, complete tons of lists of things that needed to be accomplished or bought, all while navigating the extremely insane Lusaka traffic in a bus...!! Here is a glimpse of our trip, in no particular order!

First stop - the Mint Lounge at Sandy's! Love this place!

My favorite meal of roasted quinoa with butternut and cranberries - Blu said my food looked like it was going to crawl off of my plate!!!!

We joke that in Lusaka we do 2 things: eat, and talk about where we're going to eat next!! Here we are eating at Spur - kids eat free on Wednesdays! :)

Amos recently turned 8 and opened his bday presents from Mama Dee & Grandpa!

Mama Dee's awesome handmade birthday cards - this one was a Swiss Army knife complete with workable parts!

Blu, Dawni, Blake, & Dad visiting at the Baptist Guesthouse playground

Blu & Blake discussing welding

Sweet Daddy always combs Cambree's long hair..because Mean Mama refuses... ;)

Boy cousins!

Mom & Dad became one with Bus Number New Day this trip..

Our last night together was spent at Dong Fang Restaurant - so yummy! We took some great grandkid pictures too!

All seven!

Dawni & Amos

Dad & Dawni deep in conversation!

Love my scizzer!

Getting our hair "just right" for the picture... :)

Mama & us girls!

Grandpa with his grandsons!

We had to stay at a different lodge from the kimbroughs due to space, so we stayed at Roma Lodge - the kids begged to swim each day, and when they FINALLY had a chance on Friday, they made it 17 minutes...not quite summer weather yet here!

Mama Dee with her oldest grandchild, Isabel!

We might have eaten at Mugg N' Bean three times in four days... ;) Cambree & Uncle Blake being silly!

Mama Dee, Amos, & Abigail! Poor Abigail felt badly all week. (You can tell that Isaac, Caedmon, & Cason don't really have time for pictures!)

On Thursday afternoon, we spent 3 hours at Avocado getting pedicures (9 of us!), a massage (Dad), and manicures (me & Dawni)! Cambree's pedicure took the longest because her feet were...um...disgusting!!

Fun!

Mama Dee with her granddaughters

We were piled into Dawni & Blake's LandCruiser!

Caedmon getting some cousin love from Amos!

Mama Dee giving Amos a push!

We might have had a few cappuccinos this week...

Early Saturday morning we will head back to New Day to a lot of action - we will arrive just in time for Kids Club, we have a housemother interview Sunday afternoon, and we will spend a lot of the upcoming week sorting through the container that just arrived and was unloaded while we were in Lusaka! We're glad to have a break from school and ready to use the time to get as much accomplished as we can!

"Summer" Days are Coming to an End!

As the American summer is coming to an end, our summer (school's out!) is just now starting! However, in a way, it does feel like our summer months are coming to an end - the end of our busy volunteer season! We still have one team per month in August - December, but the business of May - July are now done!

A fun family game night - teaching Mom & Dad iPhone Charades!

We always enjoy our teams, and we loved that Macey helped out by covering Teacher Hildah's classes at the school for a few days!

The New Day kids love teenagers!

When our team from Missouri left, Blu & I both went to Livingstone so we could take Wes & Laurie to the airport. Love (hate) those long bus trips!

We had goodbye cappuccinos with Wes & Laurie overlooking the Zambezi River! They will be gone until January 4th.

While the team went on a safari, we bought appliances for Mom & Dad!

And we randomly saw some elephants RIGHT outside the tiny little fence outside our hotel!

We got back from Livingstone, did laundry and packed, and turned around to head to Lusaka for 5 days to spend time with my sister's family and exchange Mom & Da with them for a few weeks!

Saturday, July 23, 2016

Line's Trip to New Day

I have been waiting to post about Line, our volunteer from Denmark! Line grew up in Mapanza back in the early late 70s/early 80s when her mom led a women's craft center, teaching local women to weave and sew. Line lived here and attended local Chibwe Basic School when she was in Grades 1-4. She was so excited to get to come back to Mapanza and see her roots, but little did any of us know she would follow in her mother's footsteps and teach Zambians to sew! Line spent HOURS with our New Day kids, teaching them to hand sew Bible covers, backpacks, and purses! The kids will always remember their "Aunt Lina" from Denmark! Here are a few of the pictures Line took while she was here!

She taught the girls a Danish hymn!