God With Us

The other day I was working in the office when Tom came in to tell me that a baby had been brought to our door. We were not really considering taking in new babies at this point because of our current financial struggles. (You can read our latest newsletter to learn more) 

My heart has been a bit fragile (more about this at a later date), so Tom offered to go down to the entry way to see what was up.

He came back to tell me that the baby was only 7 days old and his mother had died shortly after his birth after getting an infection following her cesarean section. Once the family had taken care of the funeral they took stock of the situation and realized they didn't have anyone to take care of this newborn baby. His father is crippled and has another seven children. The grandparents are very old. So the whole family agreed they needed to try to find him a home with us.

Tom and I both agreed that this was a genuine need, but wanted to check in with our Boss first to make sure this was the right decision. We sat quietly in our office to pray. 

Tom prayed a simple prayer of acknowledgement of God's grace and provision and our need for his guidance. Immediately I felt a growing peace in my heart that taking in this new baby was the right thing. Tom continued praying: "We know that this baby boy, Emmanuel, needs a family..." and right then I knew for certain that we were meant to take in this baby. 

Let me explain:

Last month I was struggling (I still am--again, more about this later) and an opportunity arose for me to take a break and attend a retreat for Global Women (AKA missionaries) in Cape Town, South Africa. There was so much good that came of this time that I could fill several posts (and may still do that), but in one morning session a part that stood out to me so strongly was that Christianity is the only religion where our God is named Emmanuel which means God With Us. We are never alone. We forever carry God in our hearts wherever we go. This filled my heart with comfort and I wrote that name large and underlined in my notes. 

So the moment I found out this brand new baby's name is Emmanuel I knew that God was leading us in this way. 

After the prayer I shared this with Tom and he said he had had the same reaction to hearing the name for the first time. Despite our financial struggles, despite the uncertainties of the future in this country, despite our human frailties, God is with us! and He will always be with us and with these precious children that he places in our home. 

Peter has loved helping to care for Emmanuel--once we reassured him that he hadn't been replaced that is.

Emmanuel is just the sweetest baby you have ever seen. And, yes, I know I say that every time (well, maybe not every time. LOL) He seems perfectly healthy and is eating and sleeping like a champ.

Emmanuel loves his pacifier--which I'm grateful for.

If you would like to help toward Emmanuel's expenses and those of the overall budget we would love that and you can simply click on this link to make a one-time or even monthly donation so that we can continue to help these little babies. 

A baby makes a fantastic accessory

Recapping a Weekend

The dust has settled (mostly) and the guests have all gone home. We have just 3 volunteers remaining (including Brent and Sarah) so life is much quieter. This is good. I didn't quite make it to the end of the 7 posts blogging challenge, but I posted more last week than I had in many previous weeks so I'm going to call it a win.

The kids watching Mwata Kazembe pass by on his litter

Mutomboko was a success this year. For those of you who aren't familiar with the annual tribal ceremony, here are some recaps from some of my very first blog posts: 

Mutomboko 
Mutomboko part 2
Mutomboko part 3

This year the six oldest kids went to the main arena to see the ceremony. They didn't make it to the very end since it ran late and they needed to come home for dinner, but they enjoyed what they saw and it was a good experience for them. It's so interesting to watch them grow up. The same kids who cried the first year and were frightened by the musket fire are now old enough to enjoy the festival fully.

We had a total of 25 people with us for dinner Friday and Saturday nights. I stuck with our traditional menu of Chili and Cornbread for Friday and then of course Saturday we had the Pit-Roasted Pork served with Spanish Rice and Coleslaw. For dessert was Addictive Youngstown Chips (or as I like to call them: Everything But the Kitchen Sink Cookies) and Texas Brownies. It was all excellent! (or so I've been told. Heh)

Our sun ovens came in handy this year. We cooked the 8 pounds of beans in the sun ovens before finishing the Chili on the stove. The next day we slow-cooked the barbecue sauce all day in the sun ovens which meant I didn't have to worry about stirring it at all, and the flavors developed beautifully. For Saturday lunch we 'boiled' 30 eggs for lunch sandwiches. It only took 2 hours and they were cooked perfectly. No gas or electricity required at all. Wonderful!

We did our pig just as we have for the past several years. This was our seventh year in a row! I have nearly gotten over the anxiety that something might go wrong and that it won't get done properly or on time.
For a step by step post you can read it here. This was the largest pig ever! Forty-seven kilos! That's over 100 pounds of pig. Of course by the time it was roasted, and the fat had cooked off, and it was then deboned, there were only 12 kilos (26 pounds) remaining. That was one fat mama pig.

A funny thing to note is that I cannot stand pork. True story. I also don't care much for BBQ sauce. And yet year after year I prepare massive pots of BBQ pork. I have to wait for others to tell me if it's OK because I honestly think it tastes awful. Yet year after year I'm told it's some of the best barbecue sauce and/or pork people have ever tasted. Strange but true! 

For breakfast on Sunday morning I served Pioneer Woman's Cinnamon Rolls which are a wonderful way to end a weekend with friends. They all leave devoted to you and swearing eternal love--which is just as it should be. 

Moriah--yep, she's got swag!

A Day Through the Eyes of Twitter

Last Thursday we set out for our twice monthly trip to Mansa for shopping.

Since I'd just reset my password on Twitter and could therefore access it again, I decided to bring you all on the journey.

Many of the potholes were filled in, in preparation for Mutomboko, but it was only done with dirt--so a temporary solution at best. And still a fairly bumpy ride.


9:58 AM

10:20 AM

10:32 AM

 I have a funny picture to show you later from this bathroom.....

10:35 AM

12:35 PM

After finally getting all the money we needed from the ATM, we ran around in a taxi doing errands and then getting a room for the night. Our favorite hotel was full so we settled on the next best. This took time because it's not a matter of just asking for a key and room number. I think I'll do a post on this next week.

In the process of getting the room and settling our things in before heading out again for more errands, I left my phone in the room. 

After a late lunch (read: I was nearly fainting from hunger), we headed back to the room for a rest.

3:53 PM

 

5:58 PM

  

7:00 PM

 Between the dust and the smoke, I'm surprised anyone can breathe at all.

After our meeting and the pharmacy visit, we had dinner with a missionary friend who is also building an orphanage. He is a young man from Kentucky and had 2 young, American friends visiting him. There are also two young, Zambian men staying with him as well. It made for a very fun, bachelor pad.

Dinner was uneventful unless we mention the chicken that was not quite done in the middle and had to be whisked back to the kitchen. We all had a good laugh about it and it was a fun evening.

It also made for a very late evening and Tom and I fairly fell into our beds that night.

7:30 AM

8:40 AM

 

9:50 AM

11:15 AM

12:00 PM

12:25 PM

The line did move pretty quickly, but the 'universe' got me in another way:

Funny story here: just now as I was going over my tweets for this blog post, I saw that U.S Bank had replied to my tweet wondering if there was anything they could do to help. LOL! I meant my American bank (name withheld to protect the [not so] innocent). Good to know U.S Bank has such kind service--even if it took them three days to reply.

2:30 PM

 

4:30 PM

5:30 PM

6:30 PM

 And that was it! Of course there was still the monumental task of unloading everything and eventually getting it all put away.....

What did you find most interesting about our shopping adventure?

Maybe It's My Perfume

I could start this post off by apologizing for falling off the grid. Or, I could excuse myself by telling you how incredibly busy I've been over the past few weeks. Or, I could give you yet another recap post of how I traveled from Kazembe to Lusaka to London to Houston--all in the space of a week--and how exhausted I am now. Or, I could just jump back in with the adventures that I've promised you right in the title of this here blog:

 .

Since Timmy was going to be leaving Zambia to head off to college, we decided to take one last trip to Lusaka as a family and while there we visited a small game park (animals, not rides) attached to a lodge outside of Lusaka. We wanted Timmy to get some good pictures for his African bragging rights. 

After a lovely breakfast we piled into the open-air Land Cruiser to go hunt down some animals. Unfortunately the grass was so long that we couldn't see much at all. We did get to have some encounters with giraffes and if I ever get a copy of the video of Timmy running with the giraffes I'll post it for your viewing pleasure.

However, this story is not about Timmy or giraffes.

Out of all the animals we saw--the giraffes, a few antelopes, and some pretty birds, the thing that got my family most excited was a millepede. I'm posting a picture below so if you are squeamish you might want to close your eyes.

Our oldest son has a zoology professor who loves to check out exotic insects from around the world. Tom wanted to show him a millepede. I have to say I was way less than thrilled about this.

Our guide parked the Cruiser and everyone but me piled out to examine up close and personal this invertebrate or arthropod. When they decided to take it home, the driver helpfully provided a piece of newspaper to wrap it in.

When we got back to the lodge we placed the newspaper-wrapped millepede into a small cardboard box and gave it to Troy to hold in the back seat of the car we had rented for the day.

We then drove back into Lusaka and after a drive-through lunch at KFC (yes, in Zambia!), we headed to the mall so we could watch a movie. After parking in the upper level of the parking lots, I gathered my purse and sweater and got out of the front seat of the car. What I saw as I turned around to close my door caused me to scream, shout, and nearly pass out as I slammed my door shut.

Timmy was standing next to me and couldn't figure out what had happened. I couldn't speak at all except to gasp, "open the door!". When he did, he saw what had caused me to completely freak out. 

There on the side of the car seat where I had been sitting, was the millepede. How it had managed to crawl out of the newspaper, and the box and make its way up to MY seat, we'll never know.

As I dissolved into tears sitting on the curb of the parking lot--my entomophobia (fear of arthropods) temporarily overriding my acrophobia (fear of heights)--my family was recapturing the millepede and laughing about how this stuff always seems to happen to me.

The (in)famous story is from when Tom and I were newlyweds and working at a mission in Mexico. Tom found a really interesting (in his opinion) fuzzy caterpillar. It had lightning marks on it which nature put there to say: All rational creatures beware! Of course my wonderful husband has never exhibited rational behavior when it comes to animals, snakes and insects. Long-time readers are familiar with this, of course.

So, Tom found this exciting caterpillar and decided to keep it in a little terrarium on the shelf above our desk. I begged him not to keep it there--insisting it wasn't safe. Tom assured me that the lid was on tight and I had nothing to worry about. 

You know where this story is going, right?

Not many days had passed before we got up one morning and found an empty terrarium. No caterpillar in sight.

I panicked! Tom searched. I searched. It was nowhere to be found. 

For the next couple days I was on edge--fully (and irrationally) expecting that caterpillar to jump out of the shadows to attack me. Then, one day I sat down on our old-fashioned little chair at the desk. It had a little skirt around it. Just as I took a seat, fire shot through my leg. I screamed. Tom came running. And there on the skirt of the chair, having just left hundreds of little hairs in my leg, was Tom's 'pet'. Tom scooped it back into his terrarium fussing over how scared he must be.

My leg meanwhile hurt for months.

I'm not sure what I'm doing to attract these creepie-crawly creatures to me. Any ideas on how to make it stop??

Exactly One Year Ago: March Madness

 

Pests and Pestilences

Poor little Joseph is sick again. About two weeks ago he contracted a cough. He also began getting fevers. We treated him for malaria--the smart thing to do when a small child has a fever--but he didn't improve. I hesitated to give him any antibiotics because after his hospitalization (and the huge amount of medication that was dumped into his system) his body has been all out of whack. He had a terrible fungal diaper rash and thrush as well.

The medical officer that came out to make a house call agreed. He wanted us to be cautious about giving more medicines.

I used natural remedies: garlic milk and Vicks (baby version for the chest and back and the real version on the bottom of his feet), and once even a dribble of whisky. He looked healthy enough but he couldn't kick the fever and his cough sounded ugly. Finally we took him to the clinic where they prescribed 5 days of penicillin injections. This means taking him to the clinic three times a day. 

Every morning at 6 AM, every afternoon at 2 PM, and every evening at 8 PM, Tom and I climb into the car and drive the 1 Km. (half mile) down to the clinic. The clinic person is rarely there on time so I will call them up or go to their house to remind them that it is time for injections. I'm not the only one there. To keep things simple, the clinic schedules all injections to take place at the same time. This is good for them, perhaps somewhat good for us since we know the nurse is supposed to be there at a certain time, but also not so good because it means a bunch of sick people loaded with germs and little regard for personal space have all gathered in one small area.

Usually I try to wait outside so there is some fresh air helping to blow away icky bacteria. Standing outside is better for Joseph in another way too. He recognizes the treatment room now. As soon as we enter the room, his little face scrunches up and he begins to fuss. He knows what's coming next.

So, the other evening, I arrived at the clinic and there was already some delay because the clinic had run out of syringes and the medical officer was hustling from room to room trying to locate some. It was dark and drizzly. I stood under the eaves of the clinic so as to avoid the worst of the rain, with a blanket thrown over Joseph's head to keep him dry. The treatment room was filled with people and even more were crowded around the doorway along with me.

I had been standing there about five or ten minutes when something landed on my neck. Something soft and rubbery. I pushed it off immediately and willed my heart to keep beating. My first thought was that it might have been a gecko. Every once in a while a gecko will fall from the ceiling when either through love or war, they get too frisky and lose their footing. 

Gecko picture taken by Tom.
You can see more of his African Creature photos by clicking here and looking at the photo gallery

I fumbled with my BlackBerry to find the flashlight app to see what it was that had hit me, and more importantly where it had gone next.

Then I spotted it. Crawling up the wall in its unique hoppity, creepy way. A bat!

This is not the same bat. This is one that was photographed about a year ago on our front porch. I was so shaken this past evening after my close call that I couldn't get my camera working in time.

All the ladies standing in and around the clinic found my adventure quite entertaining. At least I did some good that night.

It has now been 24 hours so I'm reasonably certain I'm not going to grow fangs. My good friend in Belgium asked that if I do begin to sparkle to please eat the goats and not the children. With the adorable specimens we have around that may be a challenge.

Almost Exactly One Year Ago: Life, or Something Like It

Adventures in Shopping

So, earlier this month Tom took off for the bush with some friends of ours. He was invited to be part of a preaching/teaching team that went so far in the Zambian bush they were nearly in Angola. Take a look at the map below, keeping in mind that Zambia is about the size of Texas. (International readers, I apologize that that doesn't really work as a frame of reference for you.--Texas is our second largest state.) The story of his trip will be coming soon.

source

Because he was gone for ten days this meant we skipped two shopping days. By the time we were able to make it to Mansa it had been over two weeks since we had shopped. Old Mother Hubbard's cupboards were BARE.

Tom only got home on Saturday morning so our first opportunity to shop was on Monday. Not wanting to have to get back on the road on Friday again just to get back on schedule, we decided to buy two weeks worth of food.

I filled four carts with food and supplies. Even though I'd left my carefully crafted list at home, I managed to finish the whole thing in around 1 hour with the help of a couple phone calls to Jasmine. Before going through the check out lane, I went to the manager's office to pay our grocery bill for last month. 

Rather than paying cash each week we use a business card and pay our bill at the end of each month. Just as we finished counting out the pile of cash*, the power went off. Thankful I had remembered to slip my headlamp into my purse that morning, I turned it on and we waited in the dim light for power to be restored. 

About 15 minutes later the store decided to turn on their generator. We could now see, but there was still no progress on our bill being paid. We soon found out why. None of the computers in the store had come back up. Managers were rushing around trying to figure out the problem but they couldn't fix it. A whole hour went by before regular power came back on and the computers began to reboot.

* our largest Kwacha bill is only worth $10 so even $200 is a decent size stack--you can imagine the stack needed to pay for a month's worth of food for 30 people

Once the computers were on, the cashier slowly began scanning our purchases and we loaded them carefully into our reusable shopping bags.When packing our groceries into the bags, we have to be careful so they survive the bumpy ride home.

Finally, everything was scanned and packed. I handed the manager our business card so he could process our payment and then place the new purchase on the car. Trouble was--the card wouldn't work. He scanned it again and again before it finally went through. Breathing a sigh of relief, I turned to go. But no! That was for the bill. Now we had to pay for this purchase. Again he struggled to scan the card. Again and again he ran it through the machine until the computer responded and then spat out our receipt. and what a receipt it was!

Sandra was our shopping buddy that day

 When we finally exited the store and into the fresh air, we had been in the store for 4 hours!

Back in December when Tom and I went to Lusaka, we popped into the grocery store there for a few items that can't be found in Mansa. I had jotted them down in my planner.

This is my cart when I reached the check out stand. 

There seems to be more than five items in my cart. Does this ever happen to you?

Cooking the Old Fashioned Way

So, rembember last year when the electric company threatened that we would have no power for 20 days during the day? and then we had it anyway? Well, they've done it again! Only this time it was a promise, and they followed through. 

The crazy thing is that they are doing this work during rainy season when we lose power frequently anyway due to storms and rainy conditions. So, we are not only losing power when a storm hits, or when there isn't enough power to go around. Now, we lose it three days a week. I did a guest post yesterday about one of the blessings we can draw from this experience. Go ahead and read it if you didn't get a chance yet. 

A brazier

Things got a bit worse though last week when we ran out of gas for our stove. Add to this that the bakery that supplies our bread is dependent on the same power source as we are. We were faced with rationing the bread in case we couldn't get some for a while.

Our solar ovens also haven't worked well during the rains. We'll be glad to get back to using them in a few months, but for now they're packed away.

The evening we ran out of gas I decided on a nice, one-pot lentil dish for dinner. When your 'stove' is a pile of coals in a flimsy metal dish, you want to limit your pots.

I prepped all the ingredients in the kitchen before carrying them out to the porch on a tray. I felt all fancy as I laid out my mise en place. (And, yes I had to Google how to spell that.)

Waiting for the coals to be just right is probably the hardest part because putting a large pot on top too soon could put out the fire and stop the heat. The holes in the side of the brazier do help to keep oxygen flowing somewhat. Once I put the pot on top I just had to keep stirring from time to time to prevent burning. If the coals seemed to be cooling, I would remove the pot and taking the brazier by its handle I would swing it from side to side like an altar boy with incense--only harder and faster--to shake off the ashes and add oxygen to the fire.

Then we spent the evening waiting and relaxing. I didn't get any pictures of the finished product because it was quite late and dark before we ate. And, as delicious as the lentils (with rice) were, they weren't exactly photogenic. 

God has been good to us during this time of energy (all types) shortages. He's been giving me a clear mind during working hours so I'm actually getting a fair amount of work done. Thanks for all the prayers and kind words you've been sending my way. You make me smile!

Exactly Two Years Ago: You Just Never Know --if you ever struggle with your bank read this.

Santa Visits Kazembe

And now for the back story:

Ever since our second Christmas here in Kazembe back in 2008, Tom has been excited about sharing a bit of Christmas fun with the children in the village.

The first year, he put on a Santa hat and walked through the village carrying a pillowcase filled with hard candy. He passed it out to every child he saw. They loved it and he had a really good time.

The second year, the kids were ready for him. They knew he was going to come around on Christmas Eve and they were all determined not to miss out on a chance to get a sweet. Crowds formed around Tom and our two sons almost as soon as they drove down to the village center, parked and began walking down the road. 

Trouble was, it wasn't just a few sweet, innocent children. It was teenagers and even grown people as well. Before long, a near riot had begun. Tom and the boys had to make a run for it, tossing candy far off into the distance to create a diversion. Tom left Timmy behind to toss candy and keep the crowd occupied while he made a break for the car and started the engine. As soon as the car was running, Timmy threw the remaining candy into the crowd and ran for the already moving vehicle and jumped into the back. Tom promised himself he would never do that again!

In 2010, Tom came up with an excellent plan. He would creep through the village in the dead of night on Christmas Eve, scattering candy on the ground near the houses for the children to discover upon awakening on Christmas morning. He would be just like the real Santa Claus.

To avoid problems, Tom let the police know what he was planning and at 2 AM Tom and Timothy headed out into the darkness with 3,000 hard candies ready to cover the ground like modern day manna.

He came home tired but so happy as he thought about how pleased the children would be. He slept in that morning as visions of colored candies danced in his head.

Around noon on Christmas Day Tom got a call from the police department. He was told that all the candies had been gathered up by the villagers and turned in to the police. The villagers were convinced that the candy had been left on the ground by Satanists. When the police explained that it was Tom, they said, "No, he always comes in the daytime!". Nothing would change their minds so the police made out like bandits in the candy department that year.

This year, with a new Santa suit to play with, Tom had a new plan. He would sit outside one of the shops high up on some steps and have the kids come up one by one to get their sweets. Knowing that crowd control can be an issue he hired some young men (along with our teenagers) to help keep the kids in line--literally. To avoid anyone getting candy and then rejoining the line, permanent markers were purchased to draw a line on each child's hand.

The day approached and Tom was so excited! As you can see from the video, he rode a trailer into the village, hoisted his huge sack filled with 10,000 candies onto his back and prepared to make the children of Kazembe very, very happy. 

I wasn't around to witness what came next. So, here is Timmy with the account:

Well, first, I jumped down from the trailer and began pushing my way through the crowd forming a path for Santa Claus. Once I thought there was a bit of order, my dad pulled the bag of candy off the trailer which excited the children and they began to swarm toward him. I pulled kids and pushed them away, allowing Santa Claus to walk up the stairs to the porch where his chair was.

The children's excitement was almost too much too handle as they pushed and shoved trying to climb up the steps. I continued to push them back leaving a clean line for Santa.

This was the first year where we would have an orderly system of passing out the candy so the urchins did not know what to expect.

Santa Claus teased the crowd by lifting up handfuls of candy and allowing them to fall back into the bag. By this time, the crowd had grown to around 7,000 children.

Santa gave the order and I looked into the crowd for the first child that caught my eye. I found a small girl around 7 years old, with torn brown clothes and a shaved head. I held her hand over her head to identify my actions to the crowd. They all observed in noisy amusement as I drew an X onto her palm. I then pulled her up onto the porch and Santa gave her a handful of candy. 

Not a second after that, every child in the crowd realized the key to getting candy and charged toward Christina and I holding out their hands for the 'mark'. That was the trigger that caused the chaos. It became a blur of screaming children. I tossed children right and left trying to protect Santa Claus. The kids began climbing onto each other and it looked like a scene from a mosh pit.

Just when I thought the area was secure and clear of children, I looked behind me and saw 5 children who had climbed up and were scrambling for candy right out of the bag. I ran over and started pulling kids off. For every child I pulled off, two more took his place. I grabbed one very large child and using great force managed to pull him off the candy only to find it was a grown man with a scruffy beard. He said, "Don't worry about me. No, no, don't worry about me!" I let go of him in my surprise and he dove right back into the bag of candy. 

Next thing I knew, my father and his 'bodyguards' started throwing the candy into the crowd where the children scrambled around on the ground picking it up. With the kids distracted, we ran for the car, clutching the empty sack, and drove away grateful that no one had been hurt.

I wonder what plan we'll come up with for next year......

Related post: Christmas Candy Toss (2009)

Looking for an Ordinary Post?

You'll have to look elsewhere.....

We had a very traditional Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday--just like most Americans 'round the world.

It was a wonderful day. I loved every step of the cooking and baking process. We had six visitors (four volunteers & another couple who live nearby) which, in my opinion, makes Thanksgiving what it is--sharing what we have with others. This year we had 2 Germans, 1 Englishman, 1 Indian-Zambian, & 1 Dutch lady. Our sixth visitor is American. 

Then, I got out of traveling to Mansa because I was worn out (& sick again! truth be told) and so Jasmine took my place. She took Ernest with her who was impressed by "so many trucks!".

All of this is fairly ordinary, right? Thanksgiving dinner. Big shopping day on Friday.

OK, so in order to keep my credibility, I'll now blow the lid off ordinary.

As I type this, Tom is not home. 

The reason he's not home is because he is out working in his capacity as an honorary Wildlife Officer. A couple weeks ago, a hippo attacked a boat on the river near Kazembe and six people were killed. So, Tom and five other wildlife officers set out this morning to hunt a hippo. He left at seven this morning practically brimming over with testosterone. I waved him off with a smile and a final warning that me must NOT let himself be killed.

Did you know that hippos are the deadliest animals in Africa? It's true! and very scary.....

This afternoon Tom texted me to say that he was disappointed because they hadn't had a single sighting of hippos the entire day. I sympathized with him outwardly and inwardly did a little dance that he was still safe.

Then he told me they were still out on the water and wouldn't come in until something happened. Man! I was so close....

Finally at 6:30 in the evening I got a text that said they had shot a hippo and now just had to wait for the corpse to rise from the murky depths. I'll leave it to your imagination what causes it to rise. Yuck.

Later this evening, Tom called to say he was going to have to spend the night out on one of the floating islands on the river. He sounded miserable and hungry. Poor guy. Apparently the one peanut butter sandwich and the little packet of peanuts and raisins just wasn't enough to keep him going all day. He was going to scrounge around for some food from the fishermen who live seasonally on those islands.

I'm still praying for his safety. In the morning they'll need to collect the hippo and take it to shore. I hope nothing goes wrong and no other hippos show up. I'm sure Tom is taking plenty of photos and will have lots of material for a blog post later on. I'll link up to it when he does.

So that was my Saturday. How is your weekend progressing?

 

The Latest News

I'm finally hitting publish on this blog that should have gone out yesterday evening. The reason it didn't? I'm sure you can all say it with me by now..."We had no power!"  Oh well, better late than never....

Little Naomi is learning how to share at a very early age. She's doing so well at it too. Wanna guess how I know.....OK, I'll tell you.....she shared her lovely head cold with me.

The poor baby has been so stuffed up for the past few days. It's so pitiful to see a tiny baby that can't breathe properly--especially when they're trying to drink from a bottle.

We've all been taking turns holding her as she's been extra fussy.

Timmy is wearing a skull and crossbones head scarf (do-rag?) because we still don't have water and all have yucky hair now.

Update:
We received the control box from Lusaka, and Tom installed it, but it kept tripping the fuse. This probably means that the pump itself was also fried by the lightning.
The pump company in Lusaka will be sending a man with a new pump who can install it, but this will only happen over the weekend. Until then, it's going to be sponge baths all the way. Once the pump (and accompanying bits and pieces) arrives, we'll have to hire a bunch of people to pull the pump out of the ground. It's 150 feet down so it's gonna be a big job!

**********

I realized today that I haven't directed you to Tom's blog recently. He has written a few posts about his work with local wildlife and our farming.

                   Predator--Tom gave one of these a bath today! Crazy!

                   Planting Season

                  Strangers in the Night

                  Save the ducks

You should really read Meg's blog too. She has a countdown on there showing when she'll be returning to Africa. I love it!
She wrote about two of our kids at  My Little Doctor and I Hope You Dance

Exactly Two Years Ago: Miscellaneous Musings I love going back over my old blogs--I had forgotten the incredible story at the end of this post.

If You Give A Mouse A Cookie

Most of us are familiar with the children's story:

If you give a mouse a cookie……

He’ll ask for a glass of milk….

...and on and on it goes.

 Here now is the Africa version:

If you spy a mouse in your office…..

You’ll start to move furniture around trying to catch and dispose of the little sucker…

Once you’ve moved furniture around you’ll find that the mouse has been living in your file cabinets….

So, you’ll empty your file cabinets onto the floor….

When you’ve emptied the file cabinets onto the floor….

They’ll be nice and empty but you’ll see how dirty they are….

So, you’ll haul those massive cabinets out to the front lawn….

And once they’re out in the front lawn you’ll give them a good scrubbing with bleach….

Then, you’ll realize that all those piles of debris on the office floor have to make their way back into cabinets…

And, you’ll decide that first those piles need to be decluttered... 

Once you begin decluttering, you’ll come across a journal you used for years....

Flipping through it will bring back so many memories....

You will hold it in your hand for long minutes deciding whether to pitch it or not…

It will be set aside without a decision made…

Eventually all those piles will be sorted and make their way back into the cabinets....

It may not be today or tomorrow, but it will happen....

In the meantime, If you spy a mouse in your office…..

You might want to close the door and just walk away…..

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