Neighborly love

A couple of weeks ago I went to visit my neighbor, Dorcas. While I was visiting with her she shared some of her anniversary cake with me while we talked. As I was leaving she gave me a big bag of dates. It is very common here that when you have guests they are not to leave empty handed or without some kind of refreshment. I thought "what in the world am I going to do with all these dates?" So yesterday I made some date bread and took some to our local bible school students and then today I took a loaf to Dorcas. She was so excited to receive it especially knowing that she had given me the dates.

This is Dorcas with her two children Carol and Elijah.

Graduation Day

Three years ago we started a rural bible school in Luangwa and Manenekela. Last week the first class of Luangwa graduated 7 students. Today, 9 students graduated at Manenekela. These men have met for one week, 3 different times throughout the year for 3 years. They have worked hard to get to this point and we are very proud of them. Pray for all 16 graduates as they minister in the areas that God has called them to.

The Graduates walking in.

This is Jack Phiri. He is currently a student at the Baptist Theological Seminary of Zambia but wanted to finish out his bible school experience. So the last few sessions he has traveled back out to the bush during bible school so he could attend. Today he was honored to give the graduate address.

Martin Zulu receiving his certificate.

Kevin preached the message to the graduates about how discouragement and depression can sometimes be the biggest problem that ministers have and how they need to be watchful for that. Pray for these graduates that they will not fall into discouragement.

Van gave a gift of study books to each of the graduates.

The 9 graduates with Kevin, Van, Mike, and Ezron Musonda.

Me and Lindy

Isn't she cute? She had her back turned on the service and I just couldn't help myself.

After the service we all filed out of the church to the hymn, "I Surrender All." Then we all shook hands. Here is Mike Howard at the front of the line.

After the service, we enjoyed a great lunch of Nshima, cabbage, brown beans, chicken, and a coke. They even had a man come and play music with his CD player. After leaving home at 8:30am it was good to get back this afternoon at 3:30pm. It was a great day!

See a baby Giraffe being born

This week someone sent a forward to me that shows a baby giraffe being born in Kenya. It is pretty awesome. Check it out.

http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid1513658418?bctid=1772783521

Uninvited Guests

Have you ever had a party and had some uninvited guests show up? Well, when Hannah had her birthday party at Adventure City this week we had several guests come that were not on the invitation list. We had buzzing bees which tried to get in all of our drinks. Then there were the swarm of flies that descended on us after the food was brought out, which were quite annoying. Coby found a chameleon which was given the name Camille. We decided to find out if Camille liked flies which of course she did. This provided entertainment for us for at least one hour. The other visitor was a beautiful butterfly that fluttered around me while I was watching the kids swim. It made me think of how sometimes in our lives we have uninvited guests that just show up. We have to make the most of it and look for ways we can help encourge them. We also have to learn to look for the beauty in everyone even sometimes when they can be a bit annoying. God loves everyone and so should we.

The beautiful butterfly.

Camille fell in one of Hannah's gift bags. Thankfully, Coby was there to get it out.

Coby with Camille.

Camille did like flies which helped a bit with our fly problem.
Even though Camille wasn't the prettiest creature she was good for the flies.

Camile even went for a swim with Coby. She also went home with Coby and his family and is now living in a tree outside their home.

Hannah's birthday

Dec. 8th, 2008 Hannah celebrated her 8th birthday. She had planned on going to Adventure City for her party but that morning we found out that it was closed on Mondays. So, we had to change her party until today. It was a great day to go to the water park because it was cloudy and there was hardly anyone there. In fact, for the first couple of hours we were the only ones there. Hannah had a great time with her friends! Thanks to all of you who made her day special!

I can hardly believe my baby is now 8 years old. She is growing up so fast!

Deborah, Dorcas, and Hannah

Justin

Justin helping Deborah go down a slide.

Zach helping Dorcas.

Trent and Justin

Zach took Hannah down the red slide for the first time today. She will go down the other big one with her brothers but today she was brave and tried the red one. She said it was way too fast.

Hannah and Zach

Zach

Troy

Hannah's friends that came to share her special day with her.
back row: Callie, Anna, Zach, Austin, Troy, Justin
front row: Trent, Coby, Daniel, Kelsey, Hannah, Dorcas, Deborah

Hannah blowing out her candles.

Trent, Coby, Justin, and Austin

Hannah giving Kelsey a hug after receiving her gift.

Afternoons at the River

This week while Kevin has been gone to Bible School in Luangwa we have been at home just hanging out and having fun. Of course, we waited to have fun until school was finished each day. Around 5:00pm we would head down to the Chongwe River for a little afternoon swim. Today the Cook family came to visit and we went to play at the river for a while. The kids had a blast!

Does this look like somewhere you would want to take a little dip? Boys will get in anywhere! Here is Zach, Justin, and Austin swimming across the river. Don't worry to those who have seen pictures of Kevin on a river with crocs. and hippos. These waters don't have any big critters to worry about.

Austin and Coby climbing up on this rock and then jumping in.

After watching other Zambian Kids do this first our kids got brave enough to try too. They climb up this tree at least 20 feet above the water if not higher and then jump.
Justin is the one in this picture.

Coby having a turn.

Zach

Hannah and Kelsey have become such good friends. It has been so nice to have another little girl her age that didn't live to far away. They pretty much watched at this spot in the river. Later we went to a place where they could get all the way in and cool off.

As you can see, when the white people go to the river we cause quite a commotion. We had many eyes on us and lots of followers. In fact, when we went to the place that was shallow these kids watching decided to get in also. However, they didn't have bathing suits. They just wore their birthday suits instead. We didn't stay long at that point because some were a little more developed than others.

The Hats We Wear

After our prayer retreat, all the women in our mission went out for a one night get away to a nearby lodge. We ate good food, enjoyed fellowship, played games, and laughed. Laughter is so good for us! Our theme for our time away was "The Hats We Wear."

Many of us could finish this sentence, I am??? in several ways. We often times find our identities in the many roles we fill or the hats we wear.

How many times have you felt that you were simply spread too thin over too many situations? It is not surprising that we often feel that way. We each wear many hats within one day.

There is the hat of the child-like qualities of innocence and joy. This is the hat we wear when we look at the world around us and enjoy each moment, or listening to the sound of birds singing or flying across the sky.

The hat of worry and sorrow is probably the heaviest hat to wear. This is when we become hopelessly lost in the problems of the moment or deep despair or the sorrow of loss.

The hat of the teacher is one that we all wear. Whether that is our profession or we are teaching our children. We also wear this hat when we demonstrate or teach a skill to adults. Sometimes this hat feels far too large as we begin to realize that what we are teaching can affect many lives in many ways for many years.

The hat of compassion, empathy, sensitivity, love and kindness looks very much like the hat of the teacher and yet, in some ways resembles the hat of child-like qualities. Each time we offer a small act of kindness - what we might consider 'the right thing to do' - we are wearing this hat.

What does your hat look like? Is it well balanced so that a gust from the Winds of Surprise will not knock it off? Do you change your hat often? There is nothing so forlorn as a hat that is battered and rumpled because it has become unbalanced from being worn too long or a hat that simply sat on the shelf, unworn.

Here are some of our hats that we as wives, mothers, and missionaries wear:

Mother, nurturer, teacher, tutor, spiritual leader, maid, cook, chef, baker, cake-decorator, nurse, scout, personal-trainer, example, organizer, party-planner, singer, mentor, guide, cleaner-upper, librarian, banker, accountant, computer expert, question-answerer, driver, appointment-maker, hug giver, hair-cutter and stylist, motivational speaker, nature specialist, clothing guru, nose-wiper, listener, therapist, home-work helper, chore-chart maker and enforcer, shopper, puzzle-putter-together, cheerleader, ball-thrower and catcher, gardener, weeder, referee, neighbor, friend, peacemaker, and ..... bedtime storyteller.

I can't really share what each hat represents below, you can just use your imagination.

Niki

Dawnya

Lindy

Geri

Suzie

Mary

Sonja