Keep Praying for Missionaries

Some of you may have heard that there was a serious accident that happened in Zambia on Thursday. A bus traveling from Ndola to Lusaka collided with a semi-truck and more than 50 people died outright with several more dying later from their injuries. We still don't know the full extent of the tragedy.

This is a bus line that we have used in the past--though not since moving up here--and we would have considered it to be one of the safe ones.

It is a very sobering reminder of the dangers of road travel--especially in a country where the amount of vehicles has grown and the roads have not kept up with that growth.

I leave today to catch the bus down to Lusaka. I would cherish your prayers for my safety.

********

On Thursday I also got some sobering news about a good friend of mine in Uganda. She is a missionary that I greatly admire. Still going strong in her 60s she puts me to shame at times with her sense of adventure--riding a motorcycle all over, trusting God despite setbacks, keeping a positive outlook at all times. I love her! This week she was bitten by a snake. Thankfully it was just a night viper which, though it causes tissue damage, is not deadly. She is expected to have to have a skin graft on her toe. Please pray with me for her full recovery.

********

Things are going really well with our new missionaries here at the orphanage. Please keep them in your prayers--for their adjustment time, for their safety from illness and accidents, and for God's guidance in showing them His Will.

While you are at it, please say a prayer for missionaries the world over. Thanks!

Exactly Three Years Ago: My Week in Review --another reminder why we need your prayers always.

Africa Wins This Round

BUT, it was not a Total Knock Out.

This past weekend has been....I'd like to say interesting.....but way more difficult than that.

Saturday, Tom and I were working on a painting project and everyone else was hanging out on the porch watching lightning far across the savannah. The power had been going on and off all day, and at that moment it was off. 

As Tom and I painted away in our bedroom, all of a sudden there was a terrible bang that was so loud we could feel the concussion in our chests. There was also a huge flash of light. We figured out pretty quickly that the transformer on our corner had been blown by lightning. Several of the breakers in the house had also blown. Because the power was out we had no idea if any damage had been done to equipment.

When power was restored we did a quick equipment check and it seemed everything had survived....or so we thought. 

Later that night Tom tried to start the electric pump that pulls water up to our tanks from the borehole (well). It didn't work. When he took the cover off the control box, this is what he saw:

That black stuff is all from the lightning

Thanks to a friend in Lusaka a new control box is on its way up to us on the bus. Unfortunately, we won't know until it gets here whether the pump itself was also damaged. Three years ago when we were hit by lightning and the control box exploded (literally!) the pump was also hit. The pump is nearly 150 feet underground. Aside from the expense of having to replace it, it is a huge deal to pull it up and install a new one.

In the meantime, we are hiring teenagers to go to the neighborhood hand pump and draw water out for us. They fill three 55 gallon drums each day for washing dishes and laundry as well as drinking and cooking. Showers are having to wait for now.

And the drama continued:

The next day, I woke up with a terrible headache and dizziness which I attributed to the fresh paint fumes. Later in the day though our room was filled with a sulfur smell. We thought at first it was rotten grass from a rat's nest we had found in our wall when painting. We cleared it out and closed up the hole, but still the smell persisted.

 Then, Tom had a brainstorm and went into the small room which borders our bedroom. This is where we keep the 12 volt batteries that power our house during blackouts. Two of them were really hot and bubbling. Apparently the lightning strike affected them as well. Thankfully the other 4 batteries are fine, but we will now have less of a back up during power cuts.

That evening, Tom tried to get online on his computer to do some research, but could not connect to the internet. Strangely, his computer kept shutting down on him as well. It looks like Tom's desktop computer was also hit. We don't know that it was even plugged in at the time, but lightning is a weird and terrible adversary that does awful things. We'll need to take the computer down to Lusaka on our next trip to get whatever is wrong repaired.

So, to sum it up, we have three known casualties of the lightning strike, and the pump is an unknown at the moment. 

Please pray for the pump to be perfectly fine. We need water! Pray that the control box that was sent up contains all the necessary electronics and that Tom will be able to replace it easily.

 Also, please pray for supply of the extra funds that are needed to replace and/or repair the damaged equipment. 

Whew, never a dull moment here in Africa!

Exactly One Year Ago: Kickball!

Exactly Two Years Ago: Random Ramblings--including my adventure with a rumbly tumbly.

Guess Who's Coming To Dinner?

First, I'll tell you who is NOT coming to dinner. It's Tom, Timmy, Jasmine, Troy and Elias. They are all stranded in Mansa after today's shopping trip because the car broke down.

As far as we can tell from preliminary inspections, it has something to do with the gear box. The clutch is fine. This has happened once before. One of the many pitfalls of potholes.

Tom and team are holed up in a hotel and we're praying that the mechanic--I hate to call him a bush mechanic, but that's the truth of the matter--will not only quickly locate the exact problem, but also find replacement parts. Remember, we are not near any large cities. There are no auto repair shops. No auto parts stores. Just men with some experience working on the side of the road.

Even if a part is located, it is most likely an all day job because the car basically has to be dismantled to get at the part of the engine where the gear box is. I'm praying it is done by the afternoon tomorrow early enough that Tom won't have to drive home in the dark.

To any would-be thieves reading this.....Tom may be gone--but his shotgun is right here next to me.

I'm not entirely alone anyway. Aside from the 22 babies and children, and the 2 nannies sleeping over at night, I'll have someone else keeping me company tonight.

If you follow Kazembe Orphanage on Facebook, you've probably already guessed where I'm going with this.....

Meet our newest baby girl!

She's so new that we haven't even named her yet.

Baby Girl was born on October 11 and her mom died immediately following the delivery from hemorrhaging--at the exact same clinic where Joseph was born and where his mom suffered the same fate. Baby Girl came to the orphanage October 13 and I was told by the relatives that she hadn't been fed at all yet. Nearly 2 days old and not a sip of anything to drink. Not only that, she was bundled to within and inch of her life and was all sweaty. Already she was showing signs of dehydration. I could not believe it.

Now that she's been fed properly, all dehydration symptoms have vanished. She is now just a normal little newborn baby. She has an infection in her eyes--probably due to being exposed to bacteria at birth--but otherwise she seems healthy. More good news--her mom was tested for HIV just a couple weeks ago and the result was negative. No HIV! Let the happy dance commence!

Please pray that Baby Girl settles in well. Pray  that she stays healthy and grows strong.

Please pray for our car to be repaired at a minimum of expense and time.

Please pray for all our continued protection. 

Thanks!

Exactly Two Years Ago: Pardon Me This Moment

Thursdays This 'n' That

We are in the middle of elections here in Zambia. The election day was Tuesday, but the results have yet to be announced. We're anticipating the announcement to take place tonight. It will be good to have the campaign season done. Most of the campaigning was done via loudspeakers and honking horns since people out here in rural Zambia don't have radios or televisions to be able to hear the speeches and announcements.

I won't say much about the elections aside from the fact that we are praying for peace and safety, and for the right candidate to win.

********

Tom, in his capacity as a police reservist, served as a peace keeper on election day. Things went smoothly during the day but once the polling stations closed and counting started the wheels began to come off. Tom had to stay for the entire process and as the counting carried on into the night, the crowds got more and more restless.

By 2 AM things were getting bad enough that the police had to begin shooting into the air in an attempt to ward off the crowds. I can't begin to describe to you how nervous I was to hear gunfire and not know exactly what was taking place. Thankfully I could contact Tom via text messages and I wrote him to ask what was going on. Tom wrote back: It's getting bad down here. Certainly not words that comforted me. 

Tom was stationed at an elementary school where the counting was being done. The crowd got more and more impatient and eventually began throwing bricks onto the roof of the building. Tom told me later that at this point he got really nervous. 

Finally, about 4 AM, the counting wrapped up and the announcement of winners for local offices was done. (The Presidential announcement had to wait) Upon hearing the winners, the crowd ran off to 'celebrate' in the village center. Since the celebrating involved more brick throwing the police had to bring in tear gas. 

Please pray for peace to continue especially as we wait on the big announcement. Life could change depending on who wins, so we are definitely praying for God to look after things.

******** 

Joseph is doing so well. He eats like a champ now and is settling into a schedule. We have so much fun with him. One thing he does particularly well is burp! I love holding babies just after they've eaten and when I rub their back and pat firmly they bring p those adorable little burps. Not so Joseph, When he burps he does it with his whole heart and belly. His explosions of air go on forever. I'm always amazed at how much wind is contained in such a tiny body.

How does this section about Joseph's hot air relate to the above two sections on elections? Well.....

Exactly One Year Ago: A Tale of Two Shoes

 

I wish....

Last month two of our nannies gave notice. 

One is expecting a baby in November and one is hoping to go to nursing school. Obviously I will wish them well in their ventures....eventually. Right now, I'm just sad. I've invested hours in training these young women who came to us with very little education and no work experience. 

One of them hasn't even finished (or even started) high school but we took her on anyway and she has grown by leaps and bounds. But now she's leaving. And sadly, she's not even leaving to further her education....she is going to have a baby--her second. She's not married, although she claims she will be joining her boyfriend in another city. I wish she had made better choices or had better options in her life.

The other girl is planning to go to nursing school. I wish I had more hope for her future but in her high school classes she failed ALL her subjects. She claims she will study hard between now and October to pass the subjects in a new session of exams. At the moment I don't hold out much hope. I wish her the best and pray that she studies hard. Zambia does need nurses, but not ones who've bribed their way through already sub-standard courses.

I've been interviewing new candidates for nanny positions, but I wish I didn't have to. I wish we could find people who would partner with us and keep the kids' needs first in their hearts. I wish they would be here for the kids and not for the money--'cause Lord knows it's not a job for making money--ask me how I know...

All the kids we have here have already lost their families. We are trying to create a new family for them. But their 'aunties' keep leaving. I wish the kids didn't have to say goodbye so often.

Aside from the fact that I hate that the kids' hearts will be a little more sad and broken, there is the quality of care to take into account. Kids are just not cared for with the same standard that you and I would expect. This means that I have to do a lot of hands on training to get the ladies who come here to the place they need to be. This takes hours and hours of my time--time I really don't have. I wish I could invest my time more wisely--perhaps into holding and loving on the kids we have in our care.

Now I'm faced with training 3 new ladies in the next month or so. Yes, three! That's because in just the last few minutes yet another lady gave her notice. Only, she gave us a three day notice. Three days!! to find and train a replacement. We have one year contracts for formality's sake and they are all coming due this month which is why this particular lady felt she could skip the 30-day-notice clause. I understand that, but I wish she had practiced some common decency?

These are the children of Africa. The children of Zambia. Why is it then that mainly Americans and Europeans are giving of their money, time and effort to provide a new home for these children? Why don't I see the same commitment of spirit from most of these young women? These children are not just children of Zambia, they are actually even distantly related to some of these women. Where is the love?

Is my frustration leaking out onto your keyboard? I do apologize. I'm tired. Tired because I've been up nearly every night for the last few weeks with a tiny newborn. Tired because I'm carrying a heavy burden. Tired because I'm trying to carry it alone rather than give it over to the One who can carry it all.  

Would you pray for me today? Pray that I can trust in Him to be a Father to the fatherless.  To comfort all of our hearts. To make the transition time easy and painless. To bring in workers and caregivers who are committed to lovingly raising these kids God's Way. Thank you.

P.S He is already answering that prayer in one small way. Meg is coming back! Next summer, if God wills, and then (again God willing) permanently the following year. Please keep her in your prayers as well.

There are other volunteers who are already expressing interest in spending their summer with us. I'm grateful. Really, I am.

P.P.S Have a read through these posts of yester years and come back to remind me why I'm here. 

Exactly Two Years Ago (Yesterday): Adventures in Baby Care

Exactly Two Years Ago: Our Kids--Volume One--Jennifer

God is Near To Those With Broken Hearts

Sunday, last week, was a difficult day as we buried Nicholas and came to grips with his death. I wanted nothing more than to curl up and sleep for days….but life goes on. I taught my regular Bible class that afternoon and felt God’s blessing on my spirit.

Monday morning we held our church service since we had missed out on that the previous morning. The pastor on the video we watched was speaking about ‘establishing your heart’. He spoke about meditating on Gods’ Word, and one of the verses he read was Psalm 112:7-8: (She) is not afraid of bad news; (her) heart is firm, trusting in the Lord. (Her) heart is steady, (she) will not be afraid...."

It was exactly what I needed to hear. My heart was refreshed. I had peace. Even though I was still sad, I was comforted. I had no idea this was only a temporary reprieve.

Tuesday morning I woke up with the Bible verse running through my mind: “We do not grieve as those without hope” from 1Thessalonians 4:13. I thought this had to do with Nicholas’ death. Little did I know.....

All through my morning workout and my regular routine of starting work for the day, the verse just wouldn’t leave my mind: We do not grieve as those without hope.

Around 10 AM that morning I received a call from the American Embassy. This is not unusual. As area wardens we help with issues regarding Americans in Zambia.

This phone call, however, would change my life forever.

I knew my world was about to be forever different when the voice on the phone said, “Do you know a Brant C.?” As I answered that, yes, he was my brother, my heart fell to the tips of my toes and I held on to these words: She is not afraid of bad news....her heart is firm....we do not grieve as those without hope.

Even so, I was not prepared for the next words spoken by the embassy staff member. He told me that my brother had been hiking near Victoria Falls in Livingstone, Zambia and when some baboons got aggressive, something went wrong and he fell to his death in the gorge!

My brother had been backpacking around the world--traveling through South America, India and Nepal before flying to South Africa and heading north through Zimbabwe and into Zambia. His next stop would have been to come and see me and spend a month with us.

Now, instead of traveling down to Lusaka to meet up with both my brother (who I’ve hardly seen in the last ten years) and my husband coming home from the U.S, I was now traveling to take charge of my brother’s body and sort out all the details that come with a tragic accident like this.

Because the embassy could not get ahold of either of my parents, it fell to me to call them both and break the news that their 34 year old son had died. I don’t know that anything else I do in my life will compare in difficulty.

As I write this, five days after being notified, I still haven’t come to grips with it all. 

I will say that I have seen God’s hand moving so completely. We do not grieve as those without hope. This does not mean we do not grieve, because believe you me, I am grieving!! But, I have hope. I know that God has a plan. I know that He loves me. I know that He is caring for each of my family members and will never ever leave us alone. 

I’ll write more about this in the next few days. I would have shared with you the adventure of my brother spending a month with me. Now I’ll share with you the adventure that was his life. Look for that soon. My brother was an amazing human being and I can’t wait for you all to meet him.

Please keep my entire family in your prayers. We are scattered around the world and it will take us time to gather together for a memorial service. Please pray especially for my mom and dad, my three sisters and youngest brother, and Brant’s girlfriend.

I am linking this post up with both UnknownMami and FreshMommy. I hope they both forgive me. I've made friends on both blogs and want to make sure everyone hears the news. Thank you.

It's Raining and Pouring

 The expression 'when it rains, it pours' doesn't even begin to do my current days justice right now. I have been so grateful for your encouraging comments. At least one of you said you were glad to hear the bad things and not just the good. We'll have weeks where I get to post happy stories like Denny walking, Grace coming to live with us, Peter kissing his daddy's image. 

But, other weeks it just seems like the difficult times just keep on a rolling. 

I'm on my way down to Lusaka and will most likely not be online much over the next few days. The reason for this will be made clear later.

Know though, that God is ever present and is a comfort in time of need.

I'll leave you with a post about Nicholas' death that was written by the precious nursing student who is currently volunteering with us: Hope Rising

I apologize that I haven't written for a couple days. It's been crazy 'round these parts. I've been wrapping up a construction project that we received a grant to be able to do. It's wonderful to make improvements to the orphanage. 

On top of that, I've been doing my regular work--trying to keep up with all the paperwork that a charity generates.

But, most seriously of all, I've been caring for our babies. Nicholas (6 months old) has been sick for nearly a week. It started with some tummy issues. I kept an eye on him and waited to see what would develop--to see if it was a 24 hour bug. The following day he had symptoms that were classic malaria so we treated him with the malaria medicine most recommended for tiny babies and pregnant mothers. I also switched him off milk for a day to give his stomach a rest and only gave him oral re-hydration (ORS) fluid. He didn't really improve. The next day we added some watery, salty baby cereal and while his diarrhea seemed to be curbed, his vomiting continued. 

His eyes have been sunken and he is quite listless. Thankfully, his skin has retained its elasticity so he wasn't badly dehydrated. The fluids were doing their job. 

When the vomiting didn't stop, I took him down to the clinic to see about putting in an IV so he could get fluids intravenously and give his stomach a break. I also wanted to get an injection for him to stop the vomiting.

I could write an entire post about the clinic experience, but let's leave it at the fact that they could not get an IV started, there was no 'doctor' on duty, and the clinic had no IV drugs to stop the vomiting. Eventually the nurse said she had medicine at home. She walked home, came back with the vial and gave Nicholas his shot.

We also decided to do another round of a different malaria medicine.

The medicine seemed to work. In the morning, Nicholas looked a bit better. We reintroduced milk slowly and kept giving him extra fluids. By the afternoon though, Nicholas had faded again. He was vomiting again, but funnily enough it was only when he had ORS fluids, not milk. I gave him some syrup to stop the vomiting and by the morning he was a bit better.

The thing with malaria is that you can feel so much better in the morning but the symptoms come crashing back at night. Friday afternoon Nicholas was 16 hours away from being done with malaria treatment but looked worse than ever. He was limp and listless.

All this time I had been looking after Grace and supervising Nicholas' treatments along with taking him to the clinic. I needed to be able to sleep (somewhat) at night and feeding a baby 2-3 times at night is easier than sitting up with a sick baby all night. We employ a night nanny so I was relying on her to look after Nicholas per my instructions and I would check on him many times during the day and night.

But now, with Nicholas looking so terrible I switched out babies. Since the clinic could not get an IV started, I decided to insert the IV fluids in via the rectum. I wanted to give Nicholas a break from having to work so hard on sucking his bottle. The fluids were in overnight but didn't really make much of a difference.

As of now, we are still unsure what is wrong. He should be over the malaria. He is eating well (although we're still giving him frequent, small amounts) but tires so easily. He also seems to be in pain. His breathing is elevated when awake as if something hurts terribly. He has received a powerful antibiotic injection and we're waiting to see if it makes a difference. His vomiting and diarrhea have stopped for which we are very grateful but we don't know what the underlying illness or infection is. 

Please pray for Nicholas' full recovery and that the antibiotics will work fast and furiously. I am incredibly grateful that Nicholas is not one of our HIV babies. At least he is fighting with everything in him. Thank you for praying!

Look On the Bright Side of Life

  Let's start off today's post with a song:

 

♫ Some things in life are bad
They can really make you mad
Other things just make you swear and curse. ♪
When you're chewing on life's gristle
Don't grumble, give a whistle
And this'll help things turn out for the best...♫

♫ And...always look on the bright side of life...
Always look on the light side of life... ♪

♫ If life seems jolly rotten
There's something you've forgotten
And that's to laugh and smile and dance and sing. ♪
When you're feeling in the dumps
Don't be silly chumps
Just purse your lips and whistle - that's the thing. ♫

 All together now:

♫ And...always look on the bright side of life... Always look on the light side of life.. ♫

 

That was Monty Python, everyone!

 

So today, the gristle that I'm finding it hard to whistle around is that it's gonna be hard to look on the bright and light side of life when we have no lights.

 

Yes, folks, we were just told, that for the next 20 or so days we going to have no electricity all day long. Praise our Heavenly Father, we will have power at night (or so they've told me) so all is not lost. But it is definitely going to be challenging this month.

 

My plan for this time period is going to be work on non-electric stuff from 10 a.m to 6 p.m. I'll work with the kids, organize the office and filing system, supervise my kids in their homeschooling, cook, etc. 

Then I'll work on electronic stuff from 6 p.m to 2 a.m: office work, correspondence, computer and internet stuff, laundry, pumping water, etc. 

Sleep will be from 2 a.m to 10 a.m. 

Of course meals, exercise and recreation will figure in there somewhere.

Things to be thankful for:

We do have a battery/inverter system and a generator if we really need them.

Our cooking is done on a gas stove so our meals won't be affected.

 

I'm thinking that doing my work at night with no distractions will enable to me to get more done. I might even begin writing that book I'm always threatening I'll do.

 

Working in the night will put me in sync with U.S times. This means I'll be able to communicate with people more and even connect more socially. 

 

On that note: My twitter ID is @amyinafrica, my Skype ID is amy.morrow, and my facebook page link is: Amy's Adventures. I'm gonna take advantage of my nighttime computer hours to invest more time in my facebook page. So, come on by, like me (you know you want to) and let's chat.

Challenges:

When the power goes off during the day, it is easy to slip into hibernation mode. It's kinda like a snow day for us. Everything gets really quiet with no electronic white (or other) noise. When one's schedule is disrupted it can be tempting to just curl up on a sofa and read a book rather than deal with the restructuring.

We can't have 20 'snow days' in a row so we're gonna have to push through and stay on track.

How you can pray:

• pray the power will come on in the evenings as promised, and that when it does that it will stay on the entire time.
• pray that the electricity we are supplied with has enough power to do the job. We frequently only receive 75% of the volts we should get which means things like washing machines and water pumps don't work. With only getting electricity half the day as it is, we're gonna need those hours to count.
• pray for our fridges & freezers to keep their cool so our food doesn't spoil. We'll be making blocks of ice at night to place in the fridge during the day.

So, that's my challenge this week. What's your week shaping up like?

 Exactly One Year Ago: Easter Photos

 

 

 

Jesus Loves the Little Children

On Saturday we were called to the front door because a new baby had been brought to us. My heart sunk because, due to funding restrictions, we had decided not to take any more babies until we got more sponsors. This was going to be a first for us. We were going to have to turn a baby away.

His eyes just crack me up!

 Joshua is four months old and just the sweetest, chubbiest little baby. We went ahead and did the interview with the baby's family because we firmly believe that God puts each baby in our path for a reason. We have to just be obedient and follow his leading and see where He takes us.

It turns out that Joshua's mother was hanging laundry last week when she was struck by lightning. Seriously! I can't even make this stuff up. The grandmother has been looking after the baby during the funeral but she can't afford to continue feeding him with expensive formula. 

We asked where Joshua's father is and were told that he went mad not too long ago. This is such a sad scenario. Young men and women develop some sort of mental illness but due to ignorance and/or lack of medical attention they spiral out of control and end up living on the streets.

Joshua is a very healthy 11 pounds (5 kg) right now

Things got even more interesting when we asked the grandmother why she was unable to meet Joshua's needs herself. Aside from the obvious financial burden of getting milk for him (milk will run about $75 a month) she told us that her husband, the baby's grandfather, is being implicated in the daughter's death. Remember she was hit by lightning! The rumor is that because he was actually the step-father and they didn't get along very well, he somehow he used JuJu (witchcraft) to pull the lightning out of the sky to kill his step-daughter. Afraid of the rumors and possible repercussions, he has gone on the run.

For us, taking in baby Joshua and looking after him and fostering him as he grows up, is more than just finding $75 a month for milk. We have reached a point where our current staff won't be able to look after the children safely, and well,  if we add more. The nanny who takes care of the babies has three in her care already. If we added another, it would mean she was just meeting their physical needs and she would not be able to meet the emotional needs of those babies. We are working hard to not let our home become a place where children are fed and clothed but there are too many to love properly. 

Joshua with his grandmother and a cousin

If we can hire another staff member we would be able to take in another 3 babies over this next year. This will cost $100 per month plus the cost of milk and food. So, we really need to find a way for our monthly income to grow by around $200 in order to accept Joshua into our home.

At the moment our monthly income is only providing about half of what we need to meet our budget. God has been good and provided in many different ways but we also have to be careful and good stewards of what he provides.

From the beginning, this project has been a work of God. We have merely been his hands. There is no way we could ever have done this on our own without God's amazing grace and the help of countless others who have teamed up with us to bring life and hope to the orphaned children of Africa.

 Until things change, we pray that the grandmother will do her best. We gave her 2 cans of baby formula to tide her over and are praying that she uses it properly and doesn't share it with the entire family as has been known to happen.

If you feel like God is calling you to help in this situation, please do contact us.

It's a New Year!!

I can't believe it's already the fourth and I've posted only once. 

On the bright side, I did add a slide show to my blog. It's right over there-------> (hint: you have to actually click over to the blog to see it.)

I've also added Kazembe Orphanage tweets to the top of the blog and moved my personal tweets to the right hand side bar. 

Just a little spring-- winter? summer?  guess it depends on where you are-- cleaning.

A head's up. I won't be around as often as I'd like because I'm preparing for that oh, so exciting, trip to the States at the end of this month and of course all the year end admin work has to be done first, as well as preparing everything to be left with friends who will be looking after things here while we're gone. Pray for me, please!

Summer hanging out with the kids to watch the fireworks.

 

Tomorrow I'll try to share my resolutions or goals for the year. One should definitely be to pace myself and not procrastinate so much. Hmmmm. See you then. 

In the meantime, please tell me what you did for New Year's Eve. Did you party hearty, or sit at home and reflect or something in between?