Just Dance

I didn't find the time to post many pictures of our trip to the States. Somehow the days just flew by and then I was back in Zambia and life carried on at breakneck speed. 

Lest I forget all the fun we had, I will occasionally throw a few pictures up here--for the grandparents too, you understand.

While we attended the Missons Conference in Alabama we were invited to take part in one of the church's regular mission projects. Volunteers from the church help out at Eagle's Wings.--a charity 'dedicated to helping adults with special needs'.

We first helped paint pots that would be fired in a kiln, painted by the Eagle's Wings' clients and then auctioned to raise funds for their project.

After a pizza lunch we were all invited to take part in a dance off. I had never heard of Just Dance for the Wii.

Troy was the first one roped into the competition but as soon as we saw how much fun it was we jumped in with both feet.

For some of us it was with both left feet but everyone had a ton of fun.

I enjoyed it so much that I made sure that before we left the States I bought a copy for our Wii.

I plan on having the kids and nannies take turns playing this game as well. It's really good exercise!

Delicious Doings

Our garden is doing really well. After a lot of trial and error we found out that our garden loves to grow squashes. We have 2 foot long zucchinis--trying to teach the gardener to pick earlier, buckets and buckets of eggplant, gem squash, and butternuts. They grow so well. 

Since the zucchini was picked a bit late it doesn't taste as good. When I got back from the States I found out that the kids were being served zucchini or eggplant every day. The cook was  simply cutting it into cubes and boiling it. Not the most appetizing way to serve it. I suggested that she grate the zucchini and mix it in with their meat sauce. Thursday the kids sat down at the table and exclaimed, "Look! No zucchini!" and then proceeded to eat everything on their plates and ask for seconds. Little did they know the zucchini was hiding in their meat dish. Aren't we devious?

On Saturday afternoon I got bit by the bug. I suddenly had to cook! Not that I don't cook often (we  all take turns) but I wanted to do more than standard dinner fare.

I decided to roast 10 eggplants for babaganoush.* Then while they were in the oven I grated 6 cups of zucchini for bread and muffins. As I was making that batter, Jasmine came in and asked if we could make roasted vegetable muffins. For sure! We began roasting the vegetables for those and then discovered we needed pesto. Darn. No pesto! Wait! We have basil in the garden. Hooray. 

Jasmine dashed off to the computer to find a recipe, and then went the extra mile to find one that used peanuts rather than pine nuts.

While gathering basil leaves from our two little plants, I looked over and saw our lovely bushes of cilantro. A lightbulb went off and I decided to make cilantro pesto as well. 

basil pesto--left, cilantro pesto--right

I'm seriously in love with pesto now. So easy to make, and delicious in everything! I've put it on crackers, spread it on a grilled cheese sandwich, stirred it into lentils one night and chicken soup the next.

Pesto done, we worked on the vegetable muffins. We had to do a lot of tweaking. No mozzarella cheese--so we used cheddar. Decided to use cilantro pesto rather than basil. No feta cheese--more cheddar. 

For vegetables we used carrots, onions, bell peppers, mushrooms and zucchini. Tremendous!

These were seriously some of the best muffins I've ever eaten. They had a pizza-y taste to them. There was a hint of sweet cornbread to them as well.

Roasted Vegetable Muffins
 from Celebrating Cupcakes and Muffins**

Makes 12 muffins

Roasted vegetables:

1 cup assorted vegetables

2 Tbsp. olive oil

Salt, to taste

Black pepper, to taste

Dried rosemary, thyme, or oregano, to taste

Toss vegetables with oil and seasonings and then roast (on a lined cookie sheet) for 20 minutes in a 400 degree oven until cooked and/or golden.

Muffins:

3 oz. butter

1 large egg

1 cup whole milk

1 cup mozzarella (or whichever) cheese

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

2 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. sugar

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese (or grated cheddar if you live in Africa)

1/4 cup pesto sauce

• In a medium bowl, lightly whisk together butter, egg, and milk. Gently fold in cheese until just combined.
• In a separate bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, sugar and salt.
• Fold flour mixture into egg mixture just until blended.
• Spoon two-thirds of the batter into greased muffin cups (or use silicone ones like I did) filling each cup about one-third full.
• Top with half the roasted vegetables and all the (feta) cheese and pesto.
• Add remaining batter and vegetables. 
• Bake for about 20 minutes at 350, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out dry.
• Transfer pan to a wire rack and let the muffins cool for about 15 minutes. 
• Serve warm. I dare you to wait any longer! 

* I didn't really follow a specific recipe for the babaganoush so I've just linked the search page. Plus, we didn't really care for it much. Win some, lose some.

** I'm not an Amazon affiliate.

Everything Changes

This time last week I was writing to you about Joshua and how we would love to take him under our wings and care for him but we are waiting on enough funding to be able to care for him properly. 

We have received some good responses and are just waiting until we have raised enough monthly support so we can commit to hiring another caregiver. In the meantime, we saw Joshua today and he is doing well. We've given his family another tin of milk formula and will continue to do so until we get the go-ahead from God and our finances.

This past Thursday another little boy was brought to our door. We have to take each case as it comes so we agreed to see the family. We were introduced to Denny, a little 18 month old boy.

His mother passed away recently from some sort of illness--this is usually a vague thing since most people don't know much about what sicknesses they have.

I took one look at Denny and could see that while he was obviously loved (his clothes were clean, he was washed, and he was munching on a doughnut), he was also seriously malnourished. His cheeks were puffy but not with healthy toddler chub, he has Kwashiorkor--a form of malnourishment. His hair is orange and sparse. His legs were skinny and his feet swollen.  He is unable to walk--probably because of spending so much time being carried on a relative's back. He has been looked after these last few months by his mother's cousin who has nine children of her own.

We knew right away that we would have to take Denny in. He was in a very vulnerable state and could easily contract more illnesses since his body's immune system was not getting the nutrition it needed.

Thankfully, because of his age, he was able to slide right into the 'Toddler' group. Our  three 1 & 2 year old children are looked after by one nanny so she was able to take on the care of one more. Denny is just two weeks old than Peter.--It's almost like having twins.

 

Our task right now is to get Denny healthy. We've made him some special, extra nutritious milk and are giving him that before solid food. His appetite is not that great so we'll offer him the milk and then as his health improves so should his appetite.

Remember, if you would like to partner with us to help more children in Zambia it's as easy as 1, 2, 3.

#1 Click on this link or the donate button at the top of the blog page. 

#2 Choose to give a one time gift or monthly support--let us know in the memo section or an email what you'd like to do.

#3 Know you've made a difference in a child's life.

 

Sundays in My City--Village Church

Tom's student is really happy--they just get serious around cameras.

 Last Sunday Tom was invited to preach at the church of one of his Bible students. He has gone there three times before but I had never accompanied him so this time the church members insisted that I come as well.

The church was tiny and yet they managed to fit 150 people in there. The ladies that are walking up the aisle are actually dancing in as they sing Praise songs. 

The church was so full that children were gathered around the pulpit as well. They stared at me the entire service. 

There was a whole lotta shakin' goin' on!

After the women sang, the youth group stood up to sing. They filled the tiny floor space to capacity. Song time is accompanied by lively dancing. My seat was right next to the floor area and was quite low sitting which meant that I had an interesting vantage point for all the hip-shaking and grooving. I was never so thankful for my camera which allowed me to 'escape' to higher ground. I stood in the corner to take pictures.

The drummer was really feeling the music

Since it was Sunday morning and church day, most people had bathed so there wasn't the regular pungent smell of unwashed bodies that you might find on a bus or in a crowded shop, but that many people in a small room made for pretty stale air.

Tom has been slowly taking this congregation through the basics of the Bible. This past Sunday he was explaining what sin was. The last time he preached he found out that there is no Bemba word for sin. The only word they have is the same word for mistake. The trouble with this is that if one thinks that sin is the same as a simple mistake it really takes away the seriousness of intentional wrong doing. We have encountered this and so have been working to teach the difference between say, accidentally knocking your friends plate of food of the table or stealing food from their house. Mistakes can be taken care of with an apology but sins carry consequences.

The faces on these children will always make me happy!

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A Harrowing Experience

Yesterday I stayed behind and didn't go with everyone else for the weekly shopping trip because I had some important work to do. Lately, to save on diesel, we've been driving slower and so now the trip to Mansa takes 3 hours instead of 2, increasing the day's shopping excursion by 2 hours. I really had to buckle down and work so I chose to stay home.

Chai was a bit of a distraction as she meowed and whined her way around the living room--wanting up, wanting down, wanting to eat, not really hungry, etc. but I managed to eventually tune her out as I typed away on my laptop.

Around noon, I looked up from my work and realized that I hadn't heard the kitten for a while. I looked around a bit but figured she was probably napping. I wasn't worried because I had been careful about keeping the door closed since I didn't want the dogs in the house.

An hour later I still hadn't heard anything from Chai. She usually demands food every couple hours and it had been about that since we'd fed her. I walked around the living room hunting for her and calling, but nothing happened.

For the next two hours I searched more and more carefully. Discussing things with Summer, our volunteer, I realized that there might have been one time when the door was left open when I had gone down to the nursery and she later joined me. Now I got really worried. Chai is tiny--perfect bite-size for large dogs or hawks. The latter have done damage on our farm before, swooping down and carrying off tiny, chirping ducklings in their beaks.

I was sick to my stomach. I have successfully raised (or nearly raised) six children. I'm responsible for 18 more. I have 14 staff members. And yet I can't keep a little bitty kitten alive for even one day on my own!?!

At three-thirty I gathered the kindergarteners and told them we would be searching the large, grassy field on our property for the cat. The grass is 2-3 feet tall in places and I was a little worried about snakes but I figured we'd be making plenty of noise and it was the middle of the day. Plus, we keep goats in that field so the snakes had probably all moved on. 

  I instructed the kids on how to do a search. We linked hands, stretched out the width of the field and began walking down the hill. I quickly learned that four and five year olds don't make the best searchers. They couldn't walk in a straight line and kept ending up in little bunches. The grass was so long they were nearly swallowed up in it. 

  We walked all the way to the end and back again but the only thing we gained from it was itchy calves and shins. Still no kitten.

I walked back into the living room feeling discouraged and disheartened. How was I going to tell my thirteen year old son? He had taken such a liking to Chai--even calling her his baby. I was a terrible mama. I lost my adolescent son's baby! I picked up the phone and called Tom to find out when he'd be home. As I hung up the phone I saw a bit of movement on the couch and out of a pile of pillows, up popped Chai's head! Praise Be!!!

I was not a bad mama. I was not a kitten killer. All was right in the world!

Can we say "Drama Queen"?

**********

I'm taking part in Elizabeth Esther's Saturday Evening Post. Each month she encourages bloggers to post their best work from the previous month.

I chose this post about Giving the Gift of Life which I wrote while visiting the U.S in February.

Exactly One Year Ago: A Fab Friday Foto (interestingly, since I did one yesterday, also a funny sign)

Fab Friday Foto XXVIII

Yet another in our collection of weird, funny or unfortunate shop names here in Africa.

Chai and More

We adopted a new little baby into our household. No, not Joshua. Although it looks like God might be working it out for him to join us soon. More about this later.

Our newest baby is from the feline family. She is so sweet and loves to crawl all over the teenagers while they do their schoolwork.

Poor little kitten has an eye infection and seems to be too young to have left her mom. We're putting drops in her eyes and also feeding her with a syringe. She has the tiniest, yet amazingly loud, meow.

Meet Chai. Her name reminds me of my time in India, and one of my favorite drinks. It also sounds Asian and I think Asian names are good for cats.

There are many, many versions of chai but I will share mine with you today. It is courtesy of Expanding the Table.--My all-time favorite cookbook.

Chai: Steep 3 tea bags in 5 cups of boiling water in a saucepan. Add 1 and a half cups of milk and spices (1 whole cinnamon stick, 5 cloves, 3 cardomoms--crushed a bit). Stir in 1/3-2/3 cups of sugar depending on the intensity of your sweet tooth. Bring to a boil and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove the tea bags. Serve through a tea strainer into your prettiest tea cups. 

We introduced Chai to Moriah (2), Nathan (2) and Peter (18 mos.) today. 

Nathan especially enjoyed her. He wanted to keep pulling her tiny tail.

I love having animals around for the kids. I think it teaches them compassion--occasional tail pulling notwithstanding.

Many of you have asked, after Monday's post, how you can help the orphanage. We have several ways that you can donate if you would like to do that. All donations made to our charity,  Global Contributions, are tax-deductible. The Sponsorship page at our Kazembe Orphanage website will give you all the details. 

Also, if you look up at the right-hand corner of this blog, you can see see a Donate button. That gives you the opportunity to send a tax-deductible donation using Paypal.

We've already had a few responses to Monday's post and for that we are incredibly grateful. We still have a ways to go to reach our goals. I will share more this week or next about how things are going on this front.

In the meantime, we'll keep loving the babies we have--every single one.