Sunday, June 30, 2013

Lusaka Baptist Church

We joined Lottie, Julian, and their family today at Lusaka Baptist Church.  It's a big church and well established in the community.  It felt a lot like UBC in many ways.  I enjoyed how in the bulletin they had a whole section about Macedonia and how to pray for the people there.  Yep, that's a Baptist church alright!

They asked us to lunch at a pizza place, which was a nice treat.  Isaac adores this family, and I quickly came to also after meeting them.  It was hard to tell them bye, but Lottie comes to the States a lot for medical conferences, so maybe they'll make a family trip of it and come see us!
Jane (niece), Lumba, Mutale (cousin), and Tite



We made one last stop by the craft market for a few things.  Isaac snapped one picture.  It's like this for several parking aisles.

The rest of the day was spent bouncing between the infant and toddler nurseries.  We're going to miss these kids and their huge personalities!!!

Saturday, June 29, 2013

Play Day!

Kevin, Matildah, and baby Tyler took us to the Dutch Reformed Church Market that is held the last Saturday of each month.  Craft, food, and farm vendors all come to sell their goods.  We met up with my friend Chembo and her sisters.  They helped us shop for several hours before taking a break for an amazing lunch!  We ran into several other friends, missionaries and Zambians alike.  The energy in the place was fantastic, and we just had fun.  It was nice to let loose and have a play day after a busy week.  Hopefully we remembered everything everyone was wanting.  We had a list so we would check it and compare prices from different vendors before making purchases.  Leave to me to bargin shop AND haggle prices.  Ha.  It's neat to see all the fair trade work being done too.
We're going to bubble wrap these guys together and take them home as one of our checked bags.  Isaac has been wanting them for two weeks.  The girls named them Mapalo, Chicondi, Mercy, and Choulwe
Front of a queen size quilt
The back
Baobab trees. I have big plans for these guys and my fair trade ornaments at Christmas.

Big 5 Statue and Shade...Isaac's dad is going to make this into a lamp.



 


For Tina and Joelle

For Isaac's dad
 


Shirt for Isaac, Dress for me

Skirts for me

2 for Tina and Joelle and 3 for me!


Throw pillow cases



Here are things we bought earlier in the trip.

Chitenge Fabric
 

Teak wood globe



Back of a queen quilt
Front
 


My friend Amanda has family send her ingredients for cookie dough.  Brown sugar is very hard to find here.  She sells it at the market and to anyone who asks for it.  We bought cookies to eat after lunch and dough to make cookies for the staff.  Isaac and I took the older babies one by one into the kitchen to eat bits of cookies.  Most loved it though some weren't too impressed.  Their loss.  :)  The toddlers had so much fun having some one on one time with Isaac and me. We have some darn cute pictures, so come over after we return home to see them in person!

Friday, June 28, 2013

Work Day

Fridays are always my most tired day during this school year, and this week was no different.  We've had a lot of fun and worked really hard this week, but we're ready for a break.

Isaac went back to Garden Hill School to mix concrete and build a wall for the storage shed for the construction site.  Kevin took me to Ngombe Presbyterian School.  We thought we'd visit with the kids for a while, but all the head teachers from the Faith Works Schools were there for a meeting today.  Grade 7 is one of the big exam years, kind of like STAAR at home but only grades 7, 9, and 12.  The teachers were meeting to discuss lesson standards and write pre-tests for the students.  Wow, did that ever sound familiar.  Blooms Taxonomy was all over the place in their meeting.  I ended up staying with and helping for nearly 2 hours.  What a treat to talk with other educators.  We had a great time, and I think they taught me more than I was able to share with them.  We also set up some professional development time for Tuesday morning.  Pray for me-as much as I love helping other teachers, talking in front of adults makes me sweat like a banshee!

Grade 4 class at Ngombe right before their science test.  :)



Thursday, June 27, 2013

J.O. Chifundo Secondary School

Isaac took his NASA presentation today to the school in Kalingalinga that was built for my brothers in the late 90s.  I had a great time showing him around and listening to him.  The kids ate up the slide show and asked amazing questions!!



The kids think Isaac's equal to a rock star!

Gracious is a grade 12 prefect and wrote us the sweetest thank you note for coming.
 The principal then took Isaac on a tour of the school and showed him all kinds of things.  This school is a fabulous gem in the community, but the tuition fees are just barely enough to pay the teachers, much less add to the school.  The teachers are trying to have more computers for the students and hope to offer computer classes for an extra fee after hours to educate the community and raise some extra funds.  Don't be surprised if we start asking for your help soon!

It was a great day and so much fun to see Kelvin and our old friends.  Our friend Given's brother, sister, and nephew still live in Kalingalinga, and we were able to visit with them.  Baby Richard is so stinkin' cute!!
Kelvin and Kennedy
Tonight, Lottie and Julian picked us up and we treated them to dinner at a Thai restaurant.  We had such a great visit.  It still amazes me at our ability to have friends so far from home.  What a blessing!

Wednesday, June 26, 2013

Milk and Medicine Distribution Kalingalinga Compound



There is always so much to love while in Zambia!!!  Keep scrolling down for more of our adventures.

Milk and Medicine distributions last for a whole week, but I think today was our last day to be able to join them.  Our schedule is so full, and at the end of the trip, I’m sure we’ll still know of things we wanted to do but didn’t have time to do.  

Today we met at the Jesus Army Church in Kalingalinga for distribution.  There were so many young girls today in charge of families-either their own or siblings and cousins.  Today’s health talk was about HIV and the new recommendation from international health organizations that it’s safe for an HIV positive mom to nurse until the baby grows teeth and can potentially draw blood.  That still makes me nervous, but that’s what I’m learning many organizations are saying. 
Abram and big sis Loveless drawing with chalk.



Charles thought the van so was cool!  We toured the whole thing.

During distribution, I had three awesome helpers.  My job was to hand out rice, and these three cuties had a ball reaching for the bags, counting 1, 2, 3, and then stopping until the next family was called.  So cute!!!


Abram, Charlies, and Annie helping me.

Abram
With some boys who stopped by to say hi.

 We would love to have you join us in sponsoring this program.   Please feel free to ask us questions!

We spent the afternoon at Garden Hills School which is a grades 8-9 campus.  They are trying to build 2 new classrooms to expand the school.  Isaac and Banda helped the construction team measure out the foundation and begin digging it.  There aren’t back hoes and Caterpillar machines, so the guys worked insanely hard for several hours. A few of the little kids from the area had come to watch.  I think one or two of them had a dad working the site.  I know enough Nyanja to ask for their names and tell them mine.  I played and sang kids’ praise songs with Jess, Joshua, Moses, and Mate for quite a bit.  I doubt they knew a word of what we were singing, but their smiles showed they didn’t care.  Then I listened to the school kids have devotions and worship after their lunch break.  So amazing!  I also did some shoveling but then ended up teaching an impromptu civics lesson to the grade 9s.  Lucky for me, the Zambian Constitution’s Bill of Rights nearly mimics ours so we were in business!


Joshua and Jess

When we got back to the House, a local family was here.  The mom is named Lynn and brings her kids by every so often to visit the babies.  CACZ needs more families like this!!!  I asked her if she had considered having her kids’ schools do charity events for CACZ.  They haven’t yet, but she loved the idea.  I hope something comes of this!  She wants to bring her kids back to play on Monday or Tuesday since it’s a national holiday, and wants to visit some more.  Anna, from Every Orphan’s Hope, was back today too.  We had a great visit while playing as well.  Lord, thank You for Your people! 

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