A Quiet Announcement

I have something to tell you. 

But I have to do it quietly.....you know....in case someone is listening and decides to be contrary....

Gather round.....

She Who Shall Not Be Named has been sleeping much better in the night.

Did you get that?? Isn't that wonderful news??

She's still a rascal, but she is stretching the time between her feedings more and more. Often she'll sleep four-five hours at night. With my teenagers staying up late, I can often go to bed at 9:30 and they will handle her next feeding and wheel her stroller (which currently serves as a bed) into my room before they head to bed so I get some solid sleep. It is wonderful!!

Isn't she lovely?? 

Well, to be perfectly honest, I think she still looks kinda like a lawn gnome. Don't you? Someone asked if I named her Naomi because it sounded like gnome. That's a funny thought....But actually, the day Naomi arrived I was doing my Bible study and ended up in the book of Ruth. I thought that Naomi would make a lovely name for a new baby. That afternoon she arrived. And, get this! Her mother's name was Ruth. Crazy!

I'm just so happy to have a healthy baby! Never take that for granted!

Exactly One Year Ago: I Have No Words --have tissue handy

Exactly Two Years Ago: Queenie --no need for tissue here. It's a happy one!

Happy Birthday Times Five

After baking cupcakes in the morning, the kids were really excited about celebrating the birthdays of five of the children.

In order to give each child their 'moment in the sun' we called them up one at a time to the front of the room and let them hold their own cupcake with a candle. After we sang Happy Birthday and they blew out their candle, they got a special present. 

First up, Chola! He was one of our very first children that came to live here, and in October he turned six!

Beauty turned four years old in October. 

She just couldn't wait to taste the delicious cupcake.

Sandra also turned four in November. I love her lopsided grin.

Nathan turned 3 in November. This is probably one of my favorite photos of him.

Your eyes do not  deceive you.....I didn't get a photo of Moriah yet from our photographer. I'll post her birthday photo when I can. 

Everyone knows icing tastes so much better when licked off your hands.

After eating, the kids had playtime with balloons. You haven't really seen crazy until you've seen sixteen children all running around batting balloons at once. 

One really wonderful thing was when inevitably a balloon would pop, the child would cry and immediately 3-4 children would run to their rescue, offering either their own balloon or getting a grown up to blow up a new one. It was so sweet.

Once the balloon game had wound down a bit, Esther and Christina set up face painting. The kids went outside to run off the sugar and two by two they came in to get their faces painted. 

The girls did a great job doing everything from giraffes, lions & dogs, to super heroes, to flowers and butterflies. It was a wonderful afternoon! 

Once again, many thanks to Gray for taking such beautiful photos.

Exactly One Year Ago: My Heart Just Broke a Little More

Sunday in My City--Baking Lessons

We had three volunteers visiting this week. They are the team that brought the dairy goats. While we were working on building a shelter for the goats, which was a challenge since we had trouble finding wood, Esther spent time doing special activities with the kids.

We decided to throw a party for five of the children who had birthdays in October and November. This meant we would need lots of cupcakes!

Gray (one of our favorite photographers) captured some great photos of all the fun.

Johnny

Baking takes real concentration.

Theresa

Baking teaches great math skills too. 

Theresa carefully measured out the baking soda.

Taking turns is a good way to learn patience

Queenie & Theresa-- I adore this photo

Esther was wonderful with the kids!

Nathan peeking at the cupcakes

 Tomorrow you'll get to see pictures from the party. It was fun!

Exactly One Year Ago: You Know You're in Africa When....

Exactly Two Years Ago: Fab Friday Foto--funny signage

All photos were taken by Gray Stronge

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?

 

A little OCD, Perhaps?

I am not what could be considered a very organized person. I do love lists. But, I frequently forget to look back at those lists which results in overlooked deadlines and projects. I could blame it on lack of sleep or the chaos that surrounds my life or any myriad of other excuses.....

but the sad truth is that I'm disorganized.

Every week of the year except Thanksgiving, that is!

Then, I pull out all the stops. 

A couple weeks before, I plan our menu.

Several days before, I begin compiling lists of things to do, things to buy. I go shopping the Friday before and pay extra close attention to my shopping list.

About a week before I draw up to-do lists for each day leading up to Thursday starting with Monday.

Monday: Take out the turkey and place in freezer. Did you know our turkeys this year were imported  from South Carolina?? True story!

Tuesday: Make pumpkin puree (out of butternut squash. huh.)

                Make pie crusts 

               Bake cornbread and cut into one inch cubes for dressing/stuffing 

Wednesday: Prepare brine for turkey. Later place turkey in brine.

                      Bake apple pie, 'pumpkin' pie, and pecan pie

                    Chop lump of chocolate that used to be chocolate chips, but melted on the way over from America, and turn it back into chocolate chips to be used in cake next day.

                     Prepare bucket of bread dough and leave to rise overnight in fridge.

                   

Thursday's Menu:

Turkey --of course!

Dressing/Stuffing --what do you call it?

Mashed potatoes

Gravy

Scalloped potatoes --our current volunteer, Christina is bringing this fun addition to our table.

Mixed veggies

Cranberries --I found this rare treat in the store in Lusaka in August! I immediately scooped up three cans!

Rolls

'Pumpkin' Pie

Apple Pie

Pecan Pie --I'm so excited about this because Christina brought pecans and corn syrup with her!

Chocolate Chip Sour Cream Pound Cake

Custard --pourable, to take the place of whipped cream

Can you tell I'm excited?? And now, looking over this list, I'm exhausted! I'd better head to bed!

What are you making this year?

Exactly One Year Ago: Tuesday's This 'n' That --A Funny Story

Exactly Two Years Ago: Did You Miss Me? --One of our scary stories

We Have Water!!

I just have to say it again:

We have water!

Yesterday was another whirlwind day with the pump repair guy arriving at 7:30 ready to get down to business but required to cool his heels for a couple hours as the team of men needed to raise the pump from the borehole (120+ feet down) had not yet arrived.

Just as that team arrived and got to work, the electric company arrived to change out the pole on our transformer. They also decided to ground the transformer!! This is the reason we were hit. Instead of the lightning going to ground after hitting the electric lines, it was free to enter our house. Unfortunately, the electric company insists there were two lightning strikes at the exact same time, so the one that hit our house was not their responsibility. Humph!

Anyway, the transformer is grounded now and the pole has been changed out (it was rotting) so we don't have to worry about the line falling onto our house, and we have a new piece of wood to build playground equipment with. All's well that ends well.

As these two major projects were going on, I concentrated on getting work done in the office and dealing with administration work. 

Tom was dashing in and out trying to supervise the various projects including feeding his baby hawks a few times.

In the afternoon, Tom had just driven out of the gate to try and collect wood for our goat house, when a van load of visitors from a nearby orphanage arrived for a visit. These are very sweet Catholic sisters (not really nuns, but close) who take care of an orphanage an hour's drive from us.

We have visited their place a few times but they haven't been to ours  yet. I was happy they were here but it felt like perhaps they could have chosen a slightly better day. I showed them around the property and then we sat down for a cold drink and cookies. I did my best to not glance at the clock--too much. I was so glad I had set some meat to marinate earlier in the day. Dinner preparations were already started.

When they finally left, I dashed into the kitchen to cook my special rice pilaf and creole chicken. By the time I finished cooking dinner, I was shaking and feeling feverish. I have been battling bronchitis for a few days so I thought perhaps it was kicking into high gear. 

Without even eating the dinner I had worked so hard on, I collapsed in bed. Thank goodness for Christina, our current volunteer who took Naomi for the night. Eight solid hours rarely felt so good.

Today, I've been working at half speed--trying desperately to marshal my strength for Turkey Day. I wouldn't call myself the most organized person--far from it--but I transform for my favorite holiday of the year. More about this tomorrow!

Exactly One Year Ago: Carbohydrate Heaven--still one of my favorite recipes

Exactly Two Years Ago (yesterday): SIMC--It's Raining and Pouring--still very true this year

P.S. I promise that I am really eager to get photos up--I just haven't been taking them with all the confusion--I'm working on a solution.

P.P.S. I've missed reading all of your blogs and popping by to say hello; between power failures, drop-in guests and out of the blue illnesses, it's been hard. Pray for things to calm down and I'll be by just as soon as I can.  

 

Life in the Fast Lane

When it rains, it pours.....

We can go days or even weeks with not much going on at all. Then, all of a sudden everything happens at once.

After our disaster with the lightning last weekend, we finally arranged for the pump installer to come up by bus. Setting off on Saturday afternoon would place him here around 8 AM on Sunday morning.

We have been trying to get dairy goats for our project for months. They've been very hard to locate, bt finally we found them outside Lusaka. Some good friends of ours from Germany had raised funds to set up our goat project and after running around Lusaka for a few days, arranged a vehicle to carry the goats up here, coordinated with the farm to collect the goats and it all worked out on Saturday afternoon. By driving all night they were going to arrive at our place on Sunday morning.

Then, on Saturday,  a missionary family nearby asked if they could come by for a visit as they drove to one of their projects. They would be coming by on Sunday morning.

Whew!

I was up at 5:30 AM to get dressed, put on my face, feed the baby and bake cinnamon rolls.

At 7:30 the goats arrived. Our friends had spent a pretty interesting night riding in a van with four goats in the back. Every time the goats urinated, they shook their tails and sprayed our friends.

They were so glad to get out of the car and the goats were equally happy to have space to run around again. I promise to have a detailed post about this later in the week.

I felt so bad not having a running shower to offer to our friends, but comforted myself with the fact that our pump guy would be arriving within the hour and all would soon be well.

Well, not quite.

It turned out that our pump guy had lied to us and was not actually on the way. He promised that he would be soon getting on the bus though and assured us he will be here Monday morning. We'll see......

The morning was still busy as we fed the drivers of the rental car and sent them back on their way to Lusaka, sat down with our friends to eat cinnamon rolls and catch up, and supervised our handyman with settling the goats in. 

By 10 AM I was very very tired--or that could have been the sugar crash....

Then, our missionary friends had car trouble and arrived a bit later in the afternoon than we expected. This meant that I got a nap! Life is good!

Our visit was wonderful and so refreshing. It feels so good to touch base with fellow workers for the cause of Zambia.

Hopefully by this time tomorrow I'll have good news about our water situation.

I found this picture on the camera the other day. Apparently Troy is developing his artistic side with photography.

Exactly One Year Ago: My Life Flashed! A simple walk nearly turned tragic....

Exactly Two Years Ago: Fab Friday Foto--see where Troy gets his talent.