The Lizard

WARNING! SOME MIGHT FIND THE FOLLOWING PICTURES DISTURBING.

Exciting day in the yard. Our ferocious guard dogs chased a huge monitor lizard up a tree and then did what they do best. Annihilated it! Our dogs have taken out a lot of unwelcome guest in our yard, but this was their first giant lizard.

Then our little African Country Boy thought it was the coolest thing ever. Don't worry we did not eat it.

RIce Fields of Cinteteba

We were blessed to have another baptism in Cinteteba last Sunday. Three men who had previously trusted in Christ received baptism. We had a long walk from the school were the church gathers, but it was a beautiful view with the vast rice fields in the background.

Travels and Bible School

We had the wonderful opportunity to go to Lake Kariba in Siavonga, Zambia for a week of fun in the sun and air conditioning!  It was wonderful to get to see some old friends and meet lots of new friends! Hutch and Lulie had a great time in "school,"  where Hutch made very clear that he preferred this school to ours here at home because they "didn't do ANY reading, and played super heroes."  His direct quote.  I guess I need to work on my kindergarten lesson plans.  It really was fun, and we were refreshed when we came home!

Now we are preparing for Bible school next week.  Pray for James as he teaches New Testament 2, Church History 1, and Biblical Doctrines 2.  Pray for the participants, that they would grow and learn together and be encouraged!

 

Recycling, Kaputa Style

When we arrived to Kaputa in 2007, we soon saw the different ways children make toys.  Since there is no Toys R Us here, they have to be pretty creative.  One way is that they use bottles and containers to make cars and different things.  We have always saved our bottles and cans to give away.  We take the bottles we collect to different villages.  It feels good to have our own version of recycling.  

 

Its always humbling to see the joy on a child's face when you give them an empty plastic bottle to play with.  

Church Leaders

Please pray for leaders in our churches here in Kaputa. It is always difficult to find men who are willing to lead and holy in the way they live their lives. We had a deacon ordination in the Kaputa Town church, but we are praying for God to raise up leaders in the other churches in the district.

Long Time, No Write

We have been offline so to speak, but not for the normal reasons.  The real reason is that we've been traveling and been in the BIG CITY of Johannesburg!!!!  We began our trip on Jan 10th and didn't stop driving until Jan 14th!!! That is FIVE days on the road!!!! Who in their right minds would drive for FIVE days with three preschool/toddlers in the car????? We will!!!!
As long as it was, in Lusaka and shortly after, we met up with the Vines and Langstons.  It was fun stopping and letting all the kids play in the hotel, yes we stayed in hotels on the way down!!!!!  We ate lots of good food, saw movies, bought movies (every Barbie movie for sale in South Africa), and shopped till we dropped!!!  I love to shop, just going to the mall everyday was like a shot of adrenaline for me, I'm getting ready for black Friday this year!!!!
James did leave us for a week to attend a Church Planning Training, which was the actual reason for our trip.  We survived with the other mom's and kids, eating out on the playground at the guesthouse in Joburg, shopping together, and playing all the time! You should have seen us unload at the mall. Three moms, eight kids.  It was hysterical.  We definitely could have been on a reality show.
After two weeks, we packed up and drove back, spent a few days in Lusaka getting supplies and then on home.  We are happy to be home, in our own beds, and back to the routine.  However stressful, vacation is awesome!!

Charlie got a car!

Lulie loves the arcade, notice the bear that Daddy won her!

Carousels!

Never get tired of seeing elephants on the road in Botswana.

back in Zambia at the Zambezi Sun, Livingston. Best pool in the world!

New Year!

We have been so busy after Christmas and New Years, that I meant to update the blog many many times but it just kept getting pushed to the back of my mind!  We had so much fun with Happy and Mamie, we were so sad to see them go! With the new year brings so many good, exciting things! We are going to Johannesburg next week, then later in the year we are coming to the USA!!!!!!

 This is our beautiful moon flower plant? We got it from Mbala, and it is so beautiful now with all these blooms! Charlie wanted to pull them all off!

We have already started back with school, Hutch is reading so well, and Lulie is such a little artist.  She already writes as well as Hutch!

We had our first worship service in Chintiteba this week.  It went really well, except there were two funerals so attendance was way low!  Still, we are praising the Lord and the work that He is leading us to do!  I didn't take pictures but pray for the people of Chintiteba that they would begin to grow and that more and more would come to know the wonderful gift of salvation in Jesus Christ!