Safari Time

Blessed.  Thankful.  Amazed.  Just a few words that come to mind when I think about our past week on safari here in Zambia.  My extremely generous in-laws came over for a visit and knowing this will probably be their only visit to Africa, they wanted to go on a safari.  Something we wouldn’t be able to afford to do on our own, we are so grateful to them for giving us this opportunity of a lifetime.  I don’t know if we can adequately express our thanks to them, but we hope they know…

Now there are too many pictures to post here, so check out my Facebook page for more photos, but wanted to give you an idea and glimpse into what it is like to go on a safari.  One thing I learned was there is quite a schedule to it all!  We had a choice of a 5:30 or 5:45 am wake up call.  Guess which one we took. :)  You quickly go eat breakfast in the lodge and head out in your truck.  Now, because it is rainy season in Zambia, it is considered off season for safaris.  Lucky for us because we had our own truck and driver, Charles, to ourselves.  He didn't care if we were just a tad bit later than everyone else in the morning.  haha...  Anyways, you drive for a while, then around 9 am, you park and get out, and our driver would serve us tea/coffee and some kind of snack. It always felt great to stretch your legs at this point!  This was another thing I learned, you sit for basically 8 hours each day during the various drives.  I know you mommas understand that it was a strange thing to have that much sitting time!  Anyways, I digress.  You head back to the lodge for lunch at 11, then it is siesta or pool time.  We did a little bit of both each day.  At 3:30 pm, it is tea time, then back out for an afternoon/evening ride.  At sundown, you stop again and have appetizers and drinks.  Got to admit, I liked the stops to get out and stretch.  There were a few times, after just passing leopards and what not, that it was kind of a weird feeling to be out on the ground.  But we survived.  The night rides were pretty cool.  The driver has an assistant at this point who stands up with a spotlight to find the different animals.  After this, you head back for dinner at 8:00, then you are just about wiped out and ready for bed.  So there you have it, our safari schedule.  

Now, please enjoy this picture narration of our time.  It was truly amazing and I am in awe of all the animals God has created and how everything works perfectly out in the wild just as He designed.  

My kids called this an elephant kiss, not sure if that is right, but it was cute!

Lunch was waiting for us upon arrival and it was so cool to eat with an elephant grazing right behind us!

The coolest swimming pool I have ever been too, overlooking a pasture where over the week, we saw zebras, elephants, giraffes, warthogs, baboons, etc.!

Our first sundown experience, they just flip down a tray at the front of the truck and bust out the drinks and appetizers!

Seriously, God is amazing.

So thankful to these two for letting us have this experience with them!

Evan loved sundown because the guys always brought him Fanta-not typically something mom would allow

On our first night drive, we spotted this leopard eying a poor little puku...

We loved catching a glimpse of these little guys on the night rides, they are called a jennet.  You don't see them at all during the day!

The view from our 4 row safari truck, notice the ponchos, we had a couple rainy days!

One morning, they surprised with a bush brunch, we thought we were headed back for lunch and they had set all these tables up with all the food right out in the bush!  It was pretty cool.

Alea walking back to our chalet with Opa, ours was  a two story with the master bedroom in the loft area above.  It overlooked the hippo lake and we frequently had baboons on our back porch!

We saw about 3 different leopards.  They are actually smaller than I thought, but just beautiful and quiet.

Lots of warthogs sightings, which we would shout, "there's Pumba!"

Tea time in the lodge-Evan even got into it, ordering chamomile tea every day.  Oh and the kitchen manager was so sweet, she always made sure Evan had a treat he could enjoy.  

My favorite.We learned the darker their spots are, the older they are.  Never knew that!

Love how each zebra has a different stripe pattern, God makes each one unique.

A Kudu-love the cool horns!

Wildebeest, our driver said these are a rare sighting. We saw just this one.

Crowned hornbill-Alea loved this bird because of its princess crown! :)

Hello again Mr. Leopard.  Whenever we saw one, they always had their eye on something to eat.  Those poor puku and impalas could never rest with these guys around.

One of our fancy dinners-I think I gained about 5 pounds this week, all we did was eat a lot and sit a lot!

Our last dinner-our driver Charles ate each meal with us, which was really fun to get to know him.  

A hippo sliding into a pond for a swim

Some of the birds were just exquisite

Our last drive, we got to witness this baby elephant learning how to walk, the mom was very protective when we drove up and it was stumbling around so our driver thought he or she was only a few hours old!  

And on that not so cute side, we witnessed some hyenas ripping this baby hippo to shreds.  My mother in law didn't really enjoy this sighting.  

Our last lunch before we left-make your own pizzas and they cooked them in a brick oven outside.  Delicous!  

Hope you enjoyed this little glimpse into our adventure at Mfuwe Lodge in South Luangwa Park. It was an experience of a lifetime and one we not soon forget.  Thanks Oma and Opa!  

Wow...there are just days where I feel like God is hitting me upside the head with His presence.  Some times this comes through quiet time with Him, some times a moment of patience with my kids when I thought I had none left, some times when a friend writes a text at just the right moment, but this time it came on throughout a whole entire crazy, busy day.
This past Friday, we welcomed a team from our hometown.  A few guys from our church, as well as a former member of our church, and a member of a nearby church came to visit our home bright and early.    I can't really explain how nice it was to see familiar faces and be able to show them where we are living right now.  They arrived early and we showed them our awesome home with termites in our cabinets and how our water from our laundry empties out into our shower drain.  Yes, this is true.  They got to see just how close we live to the Smiths-hard to explain without seeing it.  Heidi and I literally can shout and talk to each other while doing dishes. :)
  After a bit of just hanging out and catching up and a little trip out to Chishiko Village to see the Give Life school out there, Mickey and I met up with them at Nyezima Preschool, the school I have been helping at during my time here  The kids prepared a welcome and a poem, and I sang songs with them as well as Doreen, the teacher. My homeschool group, REACH, from back in Ankeny, put together 2 suitcases full of supplies for the preschool. Two of the men here from the church just happen to be married to two ladies from this group so this was a great opportunity for them to drop off the supplies and meet Doreen and all of the students.  Doreen and the kids were over the moon to see all the goods.  Especially scissors!  Kind of puts things in perspective when you see kids screaming about scissors! :)  They also especially loved the tambourines.  Music time will sure be fun now.  There were many other goodies, including books, baby dolls, Twister, construction paper, googly eyes, beads, etc.  Everything will be put to good use and is so appreciated.  Thank you to my dear sisters in Christ who worked hard to buy, gather, and collect all this wonderful stuff.  The other awesome event was Doreen getting her very own computer from Matt Cubit and his family.  They are starting a non-profit to get computers to people who otherwise couldn't afford it.  Matt kind of just put it on her counter in the classroom, so when we were leaving, she said, "whose is this?"  I said, "Doreen, it's yours!"  Imagine a huge grin and excited laugh.  So fun to see her so happy.  She will be able to use that to create things for her classroom and to play cds/dvds for the kids, and for her personal use as a teacher.  Jeff will be helping her get it all set up and organized, and she will join James and Moses for typing lessons with me.  We totally take for granted in the states that we learn to type in school! 

Doreen leading the class in the welcome

Oh these kids have a little piece of my heart!

Jeff Goerndt and Matt Cubit showing all the supplies!

The Give Life Nyezima Preschool playground, isn't it so pretty? (I had nothing to do with this, this is Stephen and Aby and the local artist they hire-he does an awesome job!)

Jim Poyzer helping kids across the monkey bars

After the preschool, we headed back to our house (and the Smith's house)  for lunch.  Heidi made chicken noodle soup and I made vegetable rice soup.  We also had rolls, apple slices, and cake.  

Some of the men, Bill Price, Jim Poyzer, Stephen Nelms, Matt Cubit, and Jeff Goerndt

Mickey's parents are here in town visiting, so this is Opa and Jeff eating!

And this was only the 1st half of the day!  After lunch, we headed out to Kalungula Orphanage/School.  This is the same place many people from our church (present and past attendees) have raised money for us to do work out there and help them.  A few months ago, we used some of the money to plant a maize field.  Next on the agenda was a garden so they could have vegetables for the students, but we were at a point with little money left to buy what was needed to do it right.  But lo and behold, the Lord said, "I got this".  We got an email from Don Ewing, a former member of our church, who discovered this place while on a trip here, that said he was able to raise a good chunk of change for this specific cause.  Woohoo!!!  He sent the money with our Pastor and off we went to get fencing, posts, and seeds!!!  The afternoon was spent putting the posts in for the fence, quite the task when you are mixing concrete by hand.  :)  While the men were working on that, Heidi and I weighed all the kids who were around, took their picture, wrote down their information, and gave them deworming medicine.  Everyone took time to just play with these kids too.  They loved it and so did we.  

Mickey and Heidi talking to the school headmaster, Bishop Prince Musopelo

Some of the students from the school

Our friends and helpers for the afternoon carrying the fence posts

Mickey explaining to Heidi about getting the kids information

Jeff Goerndt and Matt Cubit strategizing

One of the sweet faces we photographed and weighed, she is 3 and weighed 23 pounds, pretty sad

Playing with the kids, balloons and stickers were a big hit

They loved getting their picture taken too and seeing it!

Again, what a day. Tiring, but worth it all. It was awesome to see everyone come together, support each other, and work together all for the same reason: we love Jesus and want to spread His love to all.  I felt Jesus right alongside us all day.  Who could ask for anything better than that???

Thanks to my mother in law too for watching my kiddos all day!

Matthew 18:20

"For where two or three gather together as my followers, I am there among them."

Most Random Post of Updates and Random Facts Ever!

Thought it would be fun to do an update and fact list about the latest happenings in Zambia. These are in no logical order, some are serious, some are not, and well, hope you have fun catching up with us this way.

1.  The container of belongings (household supplies, beds, kitchen stuff, table/chairs, etc.) that we packed in December of 2012, that left America in March and arrived in Mozambique in July has still not made its way to us here.  It will be like Christmas if that thing arrives before we leave for back home.
2.  We got an electric bug zapper for Christmas from Mickey's parents and it has been put to good use!
3.  No matter how many times you sweep, scrub, and mop brown painted concrete floors, they will never look clean. 
4. The preschool opens tomorrow and I spent the day today setting up the classroom, which used to be one of  my most favorite things when I was teaching.  Excited to see those kiddos tomorrow after a month long holiday break!
5.  Alea is obsessed with the color pink, princesses, and dresses.  She has to wear these three things daily.
6.  Mickey and I have been eating all of our meals on a futon sofa for the past 3 months now. (table is on container that we are waiting for)
7.  We have had running water lately, praise The Lord, although sometimes it shuts off once in a while and when it comes back on, it is an interesting shade of brown.  No thank you.
8.  I don't think I will ever get used to having a housekeeper, but I do love Felista dearly, and enjoy having her here and appreciate her work more than she will ever know.
9.  Since we have been in Zambia, our camera was broken, then the zoom function on our video camera busted, Mickey's phone stopped working, our GPS also stopped working, and last, but definitely not least, our MAC computer stopped working. Yes, that's right.  The all-powerful Apple computer that is supposed to never fail you, just wouldn't turn on one morning and we haven't been able to turn it on since.  (side note-this is partly the reason I haven't been blogging lately, not easy to type on IPAD)  
10.  Mickey and I enjoyed watching the first 3 seasons of Downton Abbey, that we loaded on our hard drive before we left, now we are patiently waiting when season 4 releases, and trying to avoid reading any social media about what is happening now in season 5.  In the waiting, we started watching Sherlock Holmes from the BBC channel with Jeff and Heidi.  We also our working our way through the Bible series that was shown on the History Channel with Jeff, Heidi, Doreen, James, and Moses.  It is soooooo good.  If you haven't seen it, watch it!
11. One of my favorite things about living here is the cheap produce.  We eat so incredibly healthy!  I also love my gas stove.  It heats up things so quickly, which is especially nice with no microwave.  :)
12.  Ev is a Ninja Turtle lovin, sword carrying, emerging reader, who has the most incredible, sweet heart, and also just a tad bit stubborn.  He will be 5 soon, I have no clue how that happened.  My baby.
13.  We have had some rain lately, because it is rainy season right now, but it has not been enough. Please pray for more rain, here rain equals water which equals life.
14. My awesome homeschool group from back home worked together to put a container of supplies for the preschool (things like scissors, games, toys, etc.) and it is coming here this week. Can't wait.  Thanks girls! (and hubby Jeff for bringing it)
15.  Typing lessons with Doreen, James, and Moses came to a standstill since I don't have a computer, but we will back later this week when Mickey's parents arrive.  Yeah!  
16.  Mickey visited Kalungula, the place where our church body supported us to help them, and he was very pleased with the progress of the field and how they are maintaining it.  We now feel like we can move forward and do other things to help them.  An irrigated garden is coming up next.  
17.  Christmas and New Years can really only be described as "different".  Different than what we have ever experienced in our whole lives.  We know both holidays mean the same things here and in Iowa, but it is funny how growing up in the Midwest, you just associate these two days with certain things that can't be found here.  
18.  For a fun day, we took our friends, the Smiths, to the animal park south of Lusaka and we also got to see the movie Frozen-and got to admit, I kept wondering what all the Zambians were thinking during that movie with all the snow-and we went out for pizza.  Heidi and I also squeezed in some grocery shopping.  Full day, but super fun.
19.  Speaking of above, it is really funny trying to describe snow, ice, and how cold it is in Iowa right now to our friends here.  Some will say, "Me? I would not survive in that."  And we have to explain that we have heat in our houses, but they still say, "no, I couldn't do it."  Ha!  
20.  I had my first taste of goat on New Years Day.  Mickey and Jeff and our friend Humphrey went and bought the goat, then Jeff and his kids and some other Zambian friends  did the killing and the butchering.  I personally didn't care for it, but I don't know if it is just because I was forced to think about the whole process the way we did it.  :-)
21.  Mickey's motor bike injury really slowed him down this past month.  It is healing fine, but don't think his ankle will ever be the same.  He is finally getting back into the swing of things, even getting to play doctor the other day at the medical clinic at the Bible college.  He really enjoyed this, and will be working out there more often in the coming months.
22.  Back to our computer, we will send ours back to the States with Mickey's parents to get fixed and my parents will bring it back in April when they come to visit.  Thankfully, in the meanwhile, someone Jeff knows works at Meredith Corporation in Des Moines and they were getting rid of their old Mac computers, so they are donating 4 right now to Jeff and Heidi's ministry here, and since they are sooooooo nice, they are going to let us use one for right now.  This computer will arrive this week, when our pastor from our home church arrives for a visit.  Thanking God for this provision.  We use our computer for a lot of things here.  
23.  When visiting the boys the other day, we were trying to teach J how to tackle Mickey.  So Ev did it and Alea-they lower the shoulder and try to knock Mickey over-but J didn't get it at first and literally kicked Mickey in the head.  LOL.  We had to tell him, no kicking, keep that for the soccer field, this is how you tackle.  He got it the second time, and the third, and the fourth.  Little E didn't really know what to think.  It was pretty cute.  He kind of went up to Mickey and barely tapped him.  I am sure that won't last long. 
24.  We are so thankful for our friends the Smith family and the Nelms family here.  God is teaching us so much about community, love, trust, sacrifice, and so much more.  Lessons that I know we wouldn't be learning at home right now, and that reminds me of yet another reason God has us here this year.  
25.  And finally, here is a big one.  We are going to be on:  Wait for it........................................
House Hunters International!  No, not kidding.  Dead Serious.  Mickey applied when we first started talking about coming here over a year and a half ago kind of as a joke, and we got an email 2 months ago, and then a phone call, and we are in.  Have to admit, really nervous.  Please don't laugh at me when you see me on TV!  I will blog more about this soon, we don't have the shoot date yet, as they want to wait till we have the boys.
Hope you enjoyed reading our little list!  Next up, adoption news.  Coming soon.  Promise.

2 Flowers

Our boys father died this week.  He has been sick with AIDS for quite some time and on Thursday morning, he lost the fight.  38 years old.  Their mother already died from AIDS.  These boys have no earthly, biological parents left.  This is where our amazing, Heavenly Father comes in.

John 14:18
"I will not leave you as orphans, I will come to you."

When Jesus came to this earth and completed His work on the cross, and returned to His Father, He did not truly leave us.  He gave us the gift of the Holy Spirit, He who lives inside of us, our Helper.  He knew we couldn't live this life without Him.  In this verse, He is promising His continued care of  his disciples.
When we choose to trust in God, we are adopted into His family, He becomes our Heavenly Father and He will NEVER leave us.  Just as God's heart is directed towards "orphans", those who do not believe in Him, we believe God want us to have a heart for "orphans", the fatherless.

"The deepest and strongest foundation for adoption is located not in the act of humans adopting humans, but in God adopting humans.  And this act is not part of his ordinary providence in the world; it is at the heart of the Gospel."  John Piper

I know I am glad God adopted me into His family, that I get to feel His amazing grace in my life everyday.  He is a Father who is constant, forgiving, patient, and loving.  Even the best earthly fathers can't be this all the time.

It is because of this acknowledgment of what He has done for us and how He continues to live inside of us, we felt the call to adopt.  We hope and pray that our new sons will come to know His love for them, that our adoption of them is not of us, but simply a reflection of God in us.

Yesterday, we attended the burial of their earthly father.  My husband was asked by the family to lay two flowers on his grave in honor of his two sons he has left behind, who will now have a new earthly father in my husband.  wow.

We want you all to know this isn't easy on us. Our family is going to change dramatically pretty soon.    There will be a lot of adjustments and trying times as we go from a family of 4 to a family of 6.  But we also know that God will be with us as we obediently answer the call to "bring justice to the fatherless". (Isaiah 1:17) We feel blessed to be apart of His work here on earth.

One funny story before I go, yesterday, as we were trying to find the burial site, my husband went through a yellow light and promptly got pulled over by the traffic cops.  ;) We were about to get a ticket and here in Zambia, you have to immediately drive to the police station and pay your ticket.  Well, we knew we would miss the burial if we had to do this, so we explained the situation.  We told her we are going to the burial of the father of the two boys we are trying to adopt and we really need to get there.  She looks in the back and says, "you have two children, why do you want more?"  I immediately replied, "these boys have lost their mom and now their dad, they have no one, and we believe God calls us to take care of the orphans".  She went and talked to her supervisor and let us go.

A more specific update coming soon!  We are so close!