Top Ten New Year's Resolutions

New Year's Eve has always been a time for looking back to the past, and more importantly, forward to the coming year. It's a time to reflect on the changes we want (or need) to make and resolve to follow through on those changes.
When I was a young girl I would work so hard on making a list of New Year's Resolutions and then trying to make it all happen all on my own only to give up after a few weeks. Probably around the time I went to college I just stopped making these resolutions because I felt like it was a waste of time since I would always fail and give up after such a short time. I found this on the internet and thought it was kind of funny to see what Americans these days are trying to overcome. I'll end it with a few more thoughts so make sure you look all the way at the end.

1. Spend More Time with Family & Friends

Recent polls conducted by General Nutrition Centers, Quicken, and others shows that more than 50% of Americans vow to appreciate loved ones and spend more time with family and friends this year.

2. Fit in Fitness

The evidence is in for fitness. Regular exercise has been associated with more health benefits than anything else known to man. Studies show that it reduces the risk of some cancers, increases longevity, helps achieve and maintain weight loss, enhances mood, lowers blood pressure, and even improves arthritis. In short, exercise keeps you healthy and makes you look and feel better.

3. Tame the Bulge

Over 66 percent of adult Americans are considered overweight or obese by recent studies, so it is not surprising to find that weight loss is one of the most popular New Year's resolutions. Setting reasonable goals and staying focused are the two most important factors in sticking with a weight loss program, and the key to success for those millions of Americans who made a New Year's commitment to shed extra pounds.

4. Quit Smoking

If you have resolved to make this the year that you stamp out your smoking habit, over-the-counter availability of nicotine replacement therapy now provides easier access to proven quit-smoking aids. Even if you've tried to quit before and failed, don't let it get you down. On average, smokers try about four times before they quit for good. Start enjoying the rest of your smoke-free life!

5. Enjoy Life More

Given the hectic, stressful lifestyles of millions of Americans, it is no wonder that "enjoying life more" has become a popular resolution in recent years. It's an important step to a happier and healthier you!

6. Quit Drinking

While many people use the New Year as an incentive to finally stop drinking, most are not equipped to make such a drastic lifestyle change all at once. Many heavy drinkers fail to quit cold turkey but do much better when they taper gradually, or even learn to moderate their drinking.

7. Get Out of Debt

Was money a big source of stress in your life last year? Join the millions of Americans who have resolved to spend this year getting a handle on their finances. It's a promise that will repay itself many times over in the year ahead.

8. Learn Something New

Have you vowed to make this year the year to learn something new? Perhaps you are considering a career change, want to learn a new language, or just how to fix your computer? Whether you take a course or read a book, you'll find education to be one of the easiest, most motivating New Year's resolutions to keep.

9. Help Others

A popular, non-selfish New Year's resolution, volunteerism can take many forms. Whether you choose to spend time helping out at your local library, mentoring a child, or building a house, there are many nonprofit volunteer organizations that could really use your help.

10. Get Organized

On just about every New Year resolution top ten list, organization can be a very reasonable goal. Whether you want your home organized enough that you can invite someone over on a whim, or your office organized enough that you can find the stapler when you need it, these tips and resources should get you started on the way to a more organized life.


The problem I have with making New Year's Resolutions is that most often people try to do this all in their own strength. Let's face it, we do not have the strength or say the will power to do some of these things on our own. As Christians, we need to trust in Jesus and allow Him to work in our lives to change us. We need to walk in the Spirit! To walk in the spirit can be a real challenge especially in America. It seems everyone and everything is competing for our affections today. Commercials try to get us to buy certain products to improve our health, our homes, our cars, and us in general. We are bombarded by improving our lives by worldly solutions. As Christians we are to focus on improving our walk with the Lord so we can be of greater service to Him. How do we improve our walk? We need to make sure that we daily spend time with God in reading His Word and spending time with Him in prayer. We need to make sure that we are obedient to do whatever it is that He asks us to do also. Keeping short accounts of our sin certainly can improve our walk-making sure we confess our sins as soon as possible and not letting them build up. We need to choose each day by faith to rely on the Holy Spirit to guide us in our thoughts, words, and deeds. How can we know if we are walking in the Spirit? We will know if our lives are showing the fruits of the spirit which are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. In conclusion, we just need to walk happily with Jesus! I won't take anything from the past and I won't take anything from the future. The past is under the Blood, the future is in God's hand, and the present is mine with Him. And all I can do is to be present to Him-that is all. And if I don't have anything in the middle except Him then that is ok too. I'm just going to choose to be happy and that's all. So I guess if I were to make a New Year's Resolution it would be to just walk in the Spirit and leave everything else to Jesus! Happy New Year!-Suzie

Final Ramblings of 2009

I can hardly believe that 2009 will be over in just a few more min. I think the older I get that the time goes by so much faster. It has been a great year for us with many new and exciting things going on in our family. We, of course, have had to deal with some hardships along the way too. God is always faithful though! I am so thankful for Him and His work in our lives. I can't even imagine what my life would be like without Him in it. We are looking forward to 2010! We still have one more 4040 coming up in April-May. We will go and visit some of our missionaries in Zambia. We are beginning our new job as ACSL in Zambia so that is exciting too. Then in July we will be going on our stateside assignment after Zach graduates from high school! Then he will start college!! Many exciting things are coming up this year and we are looking forward to seeing how God will work in our lives.
This week I will have gone to the airport 4 times. I hate going to the airport because it is usually to say good-bye to someone. I put the boys on a plane to Joburg. on Monday so that they could go to mk camp. Then Kevin left today to go work on his PHD and will be gone until Jan. 23rd. This, by the way is the longest that we have been seperated! The boys will come back from camp on Sat. only to leave again on Monday to go back to school. So it will just be me and Hannah for several weeks. Pray for us if you think about it.
Well, I can hear fireworks outside!! Happy New Year!!!

Chongwe Happenings

We have been without power for the last 26 hours because lightening struck the transformer outside our gate yesterday during a big storm. It did not effect all of Chongwe just our end of town. We called this morning and Zesco(power company) told us that they were waiting on the new transformer to come from Lusaka(45 min. away). Finally, around 2:00pm we saw them driving down the road loaded with our new transformer. By 3:00 our power was restored, Yipee! Then the truck tried to back out of the yard they had parked in only to get stuck. Kevin pulled them out part of the way and then they tried their other methods such as pushing and using a cum-a-long. It started to rain again so I left. I can still hear them out there now, three hours later still trying to get out. Kevin just got back and said that now they have a tractor trying to help which is now also stuck. In this whole process the big truck has busted one of the main water lines for this end of town so there is even more standing water. It looks like it could be a long night for these men.

When all else fails, push!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!
Fire crackers are popping outside, it is about 95 degrees in the house, presents have been opened, good food has been eaten so our bellies are full, and Jesus' birthday has been celebrated! We have had a fun filled day! We pray you will all enjoy your CHRISTmas too!

Yes, we are all under the tree! We took this pic. after all the presents had been opened. You should see some of the pics. Zach took in the process of getting in this position. Memories!
This will be Zach's last Christmas in Zambia for a long time since he will be graduating from high school in July. It has been so special to have our whole family together during this school break.

We have our big meal on Christmas Eve and then enjoy leftovers Christmas day so that I don't have to spend my whole Christmas day in the kitchen. We had a wonderful Turkey which Kevin cooked for us. Then our side dishes were: rolls, potato casserole, vegetable casserole, corn casserole, green beans, cranberry and apple casserole, and gravy. Yum Yum! We also eat on our fine china so that makes it special too.

Hannah with her Tigger Christmas Stocking.

The boys really enjoy Dr. Pepper to drink and sometimes you can find them here in Zambia. Some other goodies from the states the kids got were pop tarts, slim jims, pop rocks, junior mints, nerds, tootsie pops, and double bubble gum.

Hannah got a small little computer with learning games on it.

Zach with some fireworks that he got. We'll probably shoot them off tonight.

Justin got an ipod docking system with speakers.

After we open our presents we open our stockings. This is always everyone's favorite part!

Hannah and I both got some new ear rings for Christmas. You may not be able to tell what mine are but they are coke light bottle tops flattened out. Hannah bought them for me in an outdoor market in Lusaka. Coke lights are my favorite soft drink!

Here is a second family pic. of us.
Merry Christmas!

Don't forget those who feel forgotten

Many families across the world will gather together over the next several days to celebrate Christmas. They will be celebrating the birthday of Jesus. Others will gather together to celebrate Santa Claus and all that entails. However, there are others that will be alone, who have nothing and will get nothing. Some will go hungry, will be dealing with a death in the family, or are in a desperate situation and have no hope. These are the people I want us to remember this Christmas, as we gather around our loved ones and celebrate in whatever way that we do. There are so many in this world who are hurting and feel forgotten. Yesterday we got news that one of our pastor's little 1 year old baby had died. So today we traveled an hour past our house to go and visit this dear family. This is the story we heard. This family had 3 children sick with malaria at the same time. The parents took them all to the hospital which is about 20 miles from their home. While there, they all needed a transfusion but the doctor could not find a vein on the baby. This little baby died. The oldest son has been released, but the mother is still at the hospital with the other child, and they had to bury the baby there at the hospital. Hopefully, they will be able to come home in the next couple of days. We were only able to visit with the father and some of the other family members. We took a bag of mealie meal to the family to help out and while we were there we tried to encourage the family, and of course pray for them. The mother and her baby were faithful to come to every women's meeting when I was teaching at Kamilulu Baptist Church. The father is the pastor of that church and one of the leaders in that association. Please pray for the Daka family as they deal with this loss at this time.

So many times we tend to focus on ourselves and our immediate family during the holidays. This was a good wake up call for us. We need to keep our eyes off of ourselves and keep them focused on Jesus and pray that He will open our eyes to those around us who are hurting.

1st Corinthians 13- A Christmas Version

1st Corinthians 13 – A Christmas Version

If I decorate my house perfectly with plaid bows, strands of twinkling lights and shiny balls, but do not show love to my family, I'm just another decorator .

If I slave away in the kitchen, baking dozens of Christmas cookies, preparing gourmet meals and arranging a beautifully adorned table at mealtime, but do not show love to my family, I'm just another cook.

If I work at the soup kitchen, carol in the nursing home and give all that I have to charity, but do not show love to my family, it profits me nothing .

If I trim the spruce with shimmering angels and crocheted snowflakes, attend a myriad of holiday parties and sing in the choir's cantata but do not focus on Christ, I have missed the point .

Love stops the cooking to hug the child. Love sets aside the decorating to kiss the husband. Love is kind, though harried and tired. Love doesn't envy another's home that has coordinated Christmas china and table linens.

Love d oesn't yell at the kids to get out of the way, but is thankful they are there to be in the way. Love doesn't give only to those who are able to give in return but rejoices in giving to those who can't.

Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails. Video games will break, pearl necklaces will be lost, golf clubs will rust, but giving the gift of love will endure . Merry Christmas and lots of love to you and yours!

Hannah's Baptism

Sunday, Dec. 13th, Hannah was baptized at Twin Palms Baptist Church here in Zambia. She prayed and repented of her sins and asked Jesus to come into her heart Sept. 16th. On this day she was being obedient to God to follow Him in baptism. She even shared a short testimony with those who were watching. Then Kevin shared a bit about how we have seen her life change in just a few short months. It was so good to have some of our mission family there to help us celebrate along with our Zambian friends. Please pray for Hannah as she continues to grow in her relationship with Jesus.

We sang a song to begin with.

Hannah sharing her testimony.

Kevin was thrilled to be the one to baptize her.
All 3 of our children have been baptized here!
"I baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

you are buried with Christ in baptism ..

..raised to walk in a brand new life."

Her Aunt Betty prayed for her.
This pic. is of some people who were in attendance.

After her baptism we went to Wimpy's for lunch with the Vines family. We gave her this cross necklace as a baptismal gift.

Wedding in Zambia

Saturday, we had the privilege of going to a wedding where we knew the bride and the groom very well. Kabinga Buleya and Christabel Mbewe were joined together as husband and wife. Weddings are a little different here compared to how they are in America. For example the wedding was supposed to start at 11:00 but it didn't actually start until 12:15. The reception was supposed to start at 2:00 but didn't start until about 3:00. This was our first city wedding to attend so it was a little different than the ones out in the bush. I wish I could add video so you could see just how lively the reception was. There was a lot of dancing going on. The bridal party danced in. Then the groom danced in and went back to get his wife so they then both danced up to the front together. They danced to deliver the cakes to each side of the family. The couple had what they called their first ballroom dance and then the wedding party joined in with that. There were lots of food, soft drinks, and loud music. It was really a fun day!

Mbewe walking his daughter down the aisle.

Kabinga unveiling Christabell.
(sidenote: that is someone taking pics. right up there where the couple was. In fact, there were two taking pics. and one making a video)

"I now pronounce you Mr. and Mrs. Kabinga Buleya." They really are happy. I have yet to go to a Zambian wedding where they smiled. Since it is a serious event they think they have to look serious the whole time. There were a lot more smiles at the reception.

The couple cutting the cake at the reception.
Before the couple cuts the cake there is a knife boy or girl who dances in with the knife. As he/she dances, people go up and put money in their shirt or pockets. This is quite lively!

The couple danced to get a portion of the cake and then danced to take one to the grooms side of the family and then another to the brides side of the family. After they fed each other some cake Kabinga finally leaned over and gave her a kiss. At the wedding he just hugged her which is quite common here.

Me and Kevin before we left for the wedding