I forgot to mention one tiny detail

In the midst of preparing for our departure, actually flying across the world for our adventure, and now desperately  longing to be back in Zambia, I seem to have forgotten to mention a little change in our lives.  I do believe I hinted at big news but never did spill the beans.  

There were several reasons why I failed to bring up yet another change in our lives.  One reason is you are probably sick and tired of hearing about all the changes happening in our lives since last fall.  So am I.  

But reality has indeed set in and life goes on.  Not always as planned but it most certainly goes on.  Frankly, it goes on too fast at times.  

Another cause of my pokiness in telling is that there was a small part of me hoping it was not going to be as thus.  

Well, it is as thus and I am slowly accepting that IT IS WHAT IT IS and the Lord has us in this position for a reason.  I was so hoping my news would be :  I AM NO LONGER TEACHING AT ALL. Nope.  None. Nada.  And the kids will go to an incredible school as I work alongside my dear husband in the ministry.  

Isn’t that just wonderful news.  

I thought so too.  

Too bad it isn’t the truth.  

The truth is that the way I am to serve my husband and our offsprings AND the children of Zambia is to work.  My work so happens to involve little people.  Some people call it teaching.  

So, after much prayer and defiance on my part, we have decided that I, mom, will re-enter the world of public education and working full time.  That means the children will attend public school for the first time in their short lives.  

How do I feel about all of this?  Thanks for asking. 

To be honest, at first I was kind of just going along with the flow.  Then I was not too thrilled.  Then I went to Zambia and somehow left my heart there.  Makes it sorta difficult to do things like get excited to have a room full of little tykes.  I was okay with the original plan of the teaching position being part time. In fact, it was an IDEAL situation if you exclude the part about us leaving our precious private school.  Before we knew it, the position turned into a full time position that proposed a big question:  Could we make this work?  Can Momma really teach full time and support Dad in full time ministry? Would minor details such as eating, laundry, completing homework, etc. be tended to?  (Maybe those aren’t minor details.)  We were concerned.  

The husband and I knew changes were inevitable regarding my job and the children’s education.  After the husband lost his job in December, we were obviously open to going where we were called.  Thankfully, our home base for his new job/ministry is in the DFW area so a move was not necessary.  If you know anything about the DFW area (Dallas/Ft Worth) you are fully aware that it sprawls over many many miles (and traffic).  Once the husband started his new job, we found ourselves traveling many miles each day: he drove 34 miles to work in heavy traffic that takes him around an hour one way and I was driving 27 miles in the opposite direction with a van full of carpool kiddos.  The husband was getting home later, and  I was losing my mind.  In addition, my part-time teaching position felt like full-time and we had to complete 15 hours of required parent partner hours (volunteer) up at the school. Remember that the school is 27 miles from our home?!!?!  The older two children wanted to play sports, have friends over, and just be more involved with the school and their friends.  It wasn’t going to happen.  The time spent in the car was killing us.  

One other issue that led to the public school system was insurance, or the lack thereof.  Working for a non-profit organization, esp one that LONGS to meet the needs of so many orphans, does not provide a perfect financial situation.  BUT we can’t complain.  The Lord has already blessed us beyond our expectations (oh, we of little faith), and we feel very confident in the organization and the leader.   But we must still support our family and provide for these children we call our own.  

So, after some struggling (maybe wailing and gnashing of teeth), I signed that paper called a contract last week and have committed to teaching a PPCD (preschool program for children with disabilities) and pre-k.  

My conclusion after this roller coaster ride is that serving the Lord does not always look exactly like we predict OR desire.  Also, the way the Lord provides is not particularly our specific choice either.  Yes, I would love to freely be able to do whatever it takes to serve the orphans of Zambia and still have time to give it all in being mom to my three sweet blessings.  I am viewing the job turning into full time as a way to give our ministry a boost while we are raising support for my husband’s salary.  He LOVES what he does.  I know it sometimes grieves him that I have to do something I would rather not do.  True, I have thought that I got the bad end of this ministry deal but as I release my previous expectations (to be back in the home full time and available to help more in the ministry), the Lord is giving me peace about serving in this manner.  

The cool thing?  

I am ministering to three groups of children!   

1. the precious children of Zambia

2.  our very own kiddos

3. a room full of wee ones that will call me teacher

I am blessed.

Shoes

My favorite day of Camp Life in Zambia was (hands down) shoe day!  On Thursday of each week of camp we distributed shoes to each child attending camp.  I am amazed at how a simple gift of a pair of shoes can make children so very happy.  Those sweet children are so thankful for anything they call their own.  (Well, there were always a few who would tell you that the shoes were too tight in hopes to get a different pair of shoes.  Funny how kids are just kids and have their own opinions no matter where they live or how much they have.)

I loved measuring each child’s foot, putting new white socks on their dirty feet (oh how I wish we had the time and means to wash those feet!), and then presenting them with a brand NEW pair of shoes.  It was a bit time consuming to lace up each shoe but it was well worth it.  I loved looking up at the children gazing down at me while I adjusted the shoes to fit perfectly on their feet.  Their faces were expectant.  Grateful.  Precious.  Once the shoes were tied and the child gave me  a priceless smile, I would lean into the child’s lap, place one hand on a foot and the other hand on their head and pray a blessing over them.  One by one.  A prayer claiming that those feet would truly carry the good news of Jesus.  Then the child would stand up and walk off, looking intently at her new gift.  

And I would receive the gift of watching them proudly accept their new shoes.  

I so love shoe day.  

And so I found it extremely interesting that my two sweet daughters gave me these for my birthday last week:  

I don’t think I have ever actually received a pair of shoes as a gift (I have received money to purchase running shoes but never actual shoes) so I had to smile as I pulled the pair out, remembering our recent ministry of giving shoes to orphans.  What a sweet and innocent reminder from my girls of our precious time in Zambia.

Pictures of our time in London

I am finally getting around to posting pictures of our quick trip to London.  As you will gather from the photos, we crammed a lot in during our two days of touring.  We were tired from our flight from Africa but we all enjoyed traipsing around London town. 

This is the fam in front of the Tower of London.  This was shortly after my little accident on the subway.  That topic will be saved for another post!  Let me just say that my kids now have a new fear:  doors on the Underground tube in London. 

The only touristy thing we paid for was the Tower of London.  We weren’t certain how the kids would respond but they LOVED it, especially the individual towers.  They are still talking about them (mainly the Bloody Tower). 

Papa gave the kids an assignment to find a Beefeater and discover why they are called such.  This specific beefeater told the kids, “Well, I have no idea really, but it must have something to do with beef.”  Thank you. 

Our family in front of the Tower Bridge.  

The Lad and Dad on the upper deck of a double decker bus.

We had lunch at a fun place called Giraffe. 

Daddy and Little Miss in front of Big Ben.  Did you know that the name of this clock tower is not really Big Ben?  The name refers to one specific bell in the tower.  

The Houses of Parliament are behind us. 

Traveling halfway around the world was worth this one snap!!!  When I showed my daughter this picture, I exclaimed how great it was.  She thought I was referring to the London Eye in the background.  Forget the fact that I not only have very few pics of the Lad smiling but definitely not one of him smiling AND hugging his sister. By the way, have you noticed the smiles on the Lad’s face in these pictures!?!? ! We still are clueless as to why he decided to smile so much in London. 

Enjoying supper at a Japanese noodle house.  Yummy and cheap (well, for London standards). 

Buckingham Palace

Pumpkin in St. James’s Park adjacent to the palace. 

By this time Little Miss was worn out (it was about 7:30pm).

Enjoying an English breakfast on day two.

The kids in the Natural History Museum.

I could not resist this picture.  The kids were not really up for posing.  uuugh!

A trip to London would not be complete without fish and chips and mushy (mashed) peas.  While we were consuming this greasy meal, I mentioned to the husband that all we needed was rain for our London trip to be complete (it always rains in London).  Minutes later, I looked out the window and saw the London rain!  Our trip could officially end.

We made a quick stop into Harrod’s. 

All that fun plus a ten hour flight AND a six hour time difference made us all want to come home and do this. 

The time?  5:30pm Texas time.  We tried and tried to wake them up but it was to no avail. This might explain why these two young ladies were up at 2 am the following morning.

Our little adventure in London (brief as it was) was a wonderful ending to our big adventure in Africa.  After spending the previous two weeks with our American teammates, it was great to spend some just-our-family time together.

Next summer we hope to spend some time at another international tourist destination . . . Victoria Falls, Zambia!  Only 11 more months!

Where my heart is…

 

Home

 How can I feel like my heart is still in Zambia and be so happy to be home at the same time? 

After trying to change our flights to extend our stay in Zambia two or three more weeks, we realized that we would have to sell a child or two in order to afford the price difference.  After writing that sentence, memories of a Zambian father actually trying to “give” me his three year old daughter came to my mind.  Yikes!  I have so many things to share.  So  many experiences and we wanted to stay and experience even more.  This year was just not meant to be a long stay.   It did not help that there are only three flights every week from Lusaka, Zambia to London.  

I have TONS to share but am also lacking TONS of sleep so I will leave you with high hopes of posting pictures tomorrow.  After all, I should be up around 4am if the morning goes anything like today.  Gotta love time differences!

Photos from Zambia

At DFW airport unloading all of the luggage.  Yes, we paid a guy to help me. 

This is a group picture of Family Legacy’s American staff and the fourteen children that moved into the FIRST home at the Tree of Life Children’s Village last week. We went back to visit them yesterday and they were all flourishing.  

Our family in front of one of the Community Resource Centers run by our ministry.  We had a fun time with the children last Saturday.  

Camp Life trains the Zambian children to share their faith.   On Thursdays of each week of camp we go out into THEIR communities and support them while they share!  It was incredible to watch my wee Martha (only 6 years old) sharing with a family using the Evangecube.  

Our Little Miss with Saliya.  Remember!!!  If you see a kid on here that you have a desire to sponsor…GO FOR IT!  Just let us know. 

The Lad truly enjoyed leading a group of boys at Camp Life this week.  I actually captured him smiling a few times.  

The husband’s group from this past week.  He had a marvelous experience. 

This is the Lad looking at the view from the hilltop at our land for the Tree of Life Children’s Village.  

This is one of the little guys at the new Children’s home.  He is pretty special to the Lad.  They love to play ball together.  

Well, this uploading of pictures took a VERY long time so no telling when the next round of pictures will appear.  I do hope you enjoyed seeing what we have been up to here in Zambia.  We are very happy here and love seeing what God is doing in this nation.

Six Days

 We have been in Zambia for six days now.  Well, the husband has been here a lot longer than that but we have been a family again for almost a week.  Our son just told me how much he likes it here.  His comment kinda surprised me. He has not mentioned his desire for video games since leaving DFW airport.  Miracles do indeed happen. 

Speaking of miracles, I have many to mention.  I would like to share one sweet experience.  When we made the decision to bring all three kids to Zambia with us, we were a little doubtful about all of them handling the cultural differences, esp. our son. Over time, we were assured that this is what the Lord has called us to do so…..here we are!  We have been amazed how the children have handled everything-eating strange foods, the time difference, people who look and act differently from us,  and staying up way late.  Sure, we have had a few meltdowns but all in all it has been beyond wonderful.  I will never forget this summer.  

Anyhoo, back to my point.  The Lad has always struggled with transitions and things not going as he plans.  Hmmmmmm. Not sure where he gets that from!?!?!? We knew that this trip would stretch him way thin.  I felt like the Lord was telling me a few months ago that this time here would change our boy’s life.  I believed it.  I just did not believe that it would happen so fast.  

Last night during testimony time with 54 other Americans, our ten year old son raised his hand.  I was about to hide under the table, not knowing what on earth he would say.  You just never know.  The lad is not a big fan of public speaking and most certainly not one to share his thoughts and feelings with strangers.  Apparently, that all changed last night.  For some reason the staff kept changing his Zambian partner.  I was not too keen on this and dreaded the Lad’s response.  Well, his response FAR exceeded my expectations.  The way that boy stood before others and announced that he knew that Lord was going to do great things even if it was not the way he wanted things to go, made this momma cry.  He was the sweetest and cutest child.  I have rarely seen that side of him.  In fact, he had about half the room in tears.  

And to verify that the Lord is certainly at work in his little life, satan has attacked us in many ways in less than 17 hours.  The poor Lad woke with a tummy ache and has thrown up numerous times today.  Somebody did not want him at camp today. We are truly victorious in Christ!  The Lad is feeling much better and both of us (and his youngest sister) have enjoyed a quiet afternoon.  

I so want to share photos with you.  We will go to an internet cafe on Sunday so hopefully I can take advantage of faster internet then.  Until then, please picture 500 Zambian children singing, dancing, laughing, hugging, and crying.  It has been an incredible first two days of camp.  There are so many wounded children (both physically and emotionally).  I have been SHOCKED at the stories of witches and satanists in the lives of the children.  Not all of the children in our care this week are true (double) orphans but the majority of them come from horrible situations.  One gal in my group started crying when telling me about her father being sick.  I kept asking how he was sick and she finally told me that he was praying for satanists and then they beat him very badly.  Another gal lives with her grandmother and said she only eats when they have food.  No telling how frequently she actually eats.  

Please pray for the children in each of our groups.  Pray that we love and minister to them.  Pray that they will certainly grasp the main message of camp this week that JESUS LOVES THEM.  We are teaching them that God is all knowing, all powerful, ever present, etc, etc.  Basic YET powerful message!

Zambian Style

I am experiencing food, living conditions, and transportation in full Zambian style!  This morning we had a Zambian pastor who led us in worship in MAJOR Zambian style.  Oh my word!  Or shall I say Oh my Lord, you ROCK!  I have NEVER experienced anything like it.  I must confess that “screaming” pastors and praise songs in a foreign language sorta freak me out.  But today was a new experience.  My heart is sooooo full of joy and anticipation of what the Lord is going to do this week during Camp LIFE AND in days to come. 

I desire to post pics but the internet here is slow.  

I best finish up laundry and then head back to my villa for a super night of sleep to get energized for 15 little Zambian gals for camp Zambian style!!!

So much to tell

Soooooooo much to tell but so little time.  I don’t even know where to start.  

Maybe I will start from the beginning.  Our trip here was long but went very well.  The children endured the journey with amazing attitudes and stamina.  Little Miss did have a bit of a meltdown in the immigration line in Zambia.  I was thinking that it was just not great timing but inside, I was about to meltdown too.   NOBODY slept on the second nine hour flight except for Grace’s 45 minute nap at the very end. Considering our 7 hour time difference and it being 6am in Zambia we were rather tired by the time we gathered our luggage and made it out to see Daddy!  

We headed back to the village and unpacked a bit.  I was so anxious to have some downtime with the husband but he helped me unload our stuff, changed into a shirt I had brought him, and kissed us goodbye.  UUUGH!  It turned out to be just fine that he left.  The children and I had a glorious nap (over 5 hours for the kids) while the husband went to the dedication of the Tree of Life Children’s village.  When he returned, we organized our house (called a villa here) a little more then headed to supper with the summer staff and the other family that traveled with me.  We enjoyed a meal of pizza at Manda Hill shopping center that pleased the children and us.  We even had yummy ice cream. 

Came back for some down time at the main villa and a little staff meeting.  After baths and more sorting through all our stuff, we finally got the kids in bed around 11pm.  A little late.  The girls had a terrible time falling asleep.  So much for that five hour nap being a good thing.  They did finally fall asleep and were rather difficult to get going this morning. 

The day was INCREDIBLE!  The children have been troupers and seem to be taking it all end with open minds.  Overall, they have been very flexible.  Our family enjoyed bopping around the town seeing the Family Legacy offices, the school, and the Lifeway homes.  We had a very cultural meal of nshima and chicken.  The kids were appalled that we TOLD them to eat with their hands, the custom around here when it comes to this meal.  We were thrilled that they did not complain when the strange looking “stuff” appeared before them.  They tried it and even liked it.  Kinda.  

The BIGGEST event of the day was moving the children into our Tree of Life Children’s Village.  It had to be one of the greatest experiences of my life.  This event is an entire post in itself and requires many pictures to do it justice.  Although I have no idea how just words and even pictures could adequately describe what took place today.  They never, never will.  After cheering for these precious children as their bus pulled onto the dirt road to their NEW HOME (they had no idea what was going on), we escorted them into the home.  While the children were settling in (as much as possible with all of the Zambian and American staff hovering over them), our son came up to us and said, “These children must be very happy to be here.”  I do believe he got it. He realized that not only did they have a grand new place to sleep at night but they had a HOME.  A home full of love and “brothers” and “sisters” and toys, and dolls, and books and even a table prepared for them. As one of the sweet little girls prayed a prayer like I have NEVER heard, the impact of the Tree of Life Children’s home hit me like a semi truck.  As tears started to drop from my eyes, all I could say over and over to my God was WOW!  

I leave you with that one word.  WOW!  

Oh!  And a few other words as well.  To make all of this happen, a lot of time, effort and love has been invested.  Of course it takes a lot more.  It is funny how our support raising for our personal salary took a massive backseat to all of the needs here in Zambia.  There are sooooo many needs and also so many ways you can go about helping.  If you are interested in supporting these children via our ministry, PLEASE let us know!!!  You can donate on Family Legacy Missions International’s website.  Your support can be sponsoring one of the darling children that entered the home today and more and more in the near future (they were moved in totally based on faith that the money would come in) for $150 per month.  You could simply make a donation to the infrastructure campaign -which is the biggest current need.  PLEASE go here and explore options of assisting us in providing homes AND the love of Jesus Christ to the orphans of Zambia.  

I am in awe what the Lord has done!  He has done great things for us, we are filled to the top with JOY.  And tonight as 14 little pairs of  feet crawl into beds with fresh linens and new fluffy pillows, I know that their hearts will be filled to the top with JOY beyond what I could ever comprehend.  

NOTE:  Our internet use is limited so it is difficult to download photos but I hope to do so soon.

The Zambian Cabinetmaker

The Zambian Cabinetmaker . . .

is yours truly.

Yes, this is how I have spent the bulk of my day today.  Putting together three of these.

These will be used at the villa (the house that we use as camp headquarters) or at one of our other ministry locations.  It will be used for . . . well, you know, holding stuff.

What comes to mind when you think of African missions?  Forging out into the bush with a machete and a pith helmet?  Eating strange foods and avoiding poisonous animals??  Natives with bone jewelry and face paint?  

Today my African mission was less extreme.  It was to provide more storage capacity.

I recently heard that the real measure of ministry is not in the big events, the breathtaking adventures, or the mountaintop experiences.  It is in the routine and the mundane – those times when there is nothing overly emotional or exciting to stir us to action.  There is just work.  The truth of the matter is that if all we are after in our mission is an emotional experience, we are doing it for the wrong reasons.  The greatest thing about the mundane (is that an oxymoron?) is that it causes us to refocus ourselves OUTSIDE of ourselves and onto God and the real reason that we do what we do.  The mundane can be as spiritually meaningful as the mountaintop experiences.  

Just remember that the next time you are making cabinets.  Or whatever else you may find yourself doing that feels, well . . .

Ordinary.