Going To Johannesburg

Levi and I leave tomorrow for Johannesburg, South Africa. He will have his oral motor skills evaluated on Monday then on Tuesday, he will be admitted into the hospital to do a hearing test under sedation. After these two tests, I am to sit down with our Personnel Director to discuss how we can get the best care for Levi. Yesterday, I got in touch with a Speech Language Pathologist who has a private practice in Lusaka!! Most of her clients are children and she has been practicing for 14 years. She was very kind and very willing to help us with Levi. We do not know what options we will be given to us for Levi but my heart is definitely leaning toward seeing this SLP every 2 months or so while we work with Levi at home in between his appointments. There could be a wide variety of options, so I pray that the very best one will be found for Levi - no matter what that means for us as a family. Please pray for us next week.

We could do nothing without your prayers.

Please Pray!

We have a Volunteer Team that is scheduled to come to Zambia on June 5th. Since their flight is with British Airways, they are not sure if their flight will be cancelled or rescheduled or what. I know that we all have been planning about a year for this trip. Please pray that their specific flight will not be affected by the British Airways Strike.

Manuscript Theology

We have just learned about something new. It has been coined 'Manuscript Theology' or in other words, copying the Bible. It's very easy. You get a good notebook, a pen and the Bible and start copying the Word of God. So far, I have copied the Book of James and now am copying Ephesians. This is a great way to slow down and really savor each inspired word of the Lord. One of our friends has already copied the whole New Testament.

It's so easy. Why don't YOU try it?

Ki Maliha!

Winter has come here in the Western Province of Zambia. It was 57 degrees this morning when we woke up. That is cold when all your windows are open. Here the kids are bundled up to ward off that morning chill. Yesterday, I actually wore a jacket until about 10:30am.

Camping Out at Sefula Women's Conference

Here are some of the ladies that attended the conference. One church had already left. They studied the book of Ruth for 3 days.

Just a man who went by the church. They use dugout canoes as sleds to transport things. They slide quite easily on the sand.

This is where the meetings were held. We pitched our tent right under this tree.

Speech Therapy for Levi

One of the reasons why we were in Johannesburg, South Africa was to get Levi properly evaluated by a Speech Therapist. He saw a Speech Therapist 3 times. She was able to get a good sampling of his speech and will complete a written evaluation in about a week. He is definitely going to need quite a bit of focused speech therapy. My heart is so heavy for him and for us as we just don't quite know how we are going to get him the help that he needs. The speech therapist said that she would keep in close contact with us by email. We need to order him some specific games, activities to help us teach him. We just need wisdom in these coming days and I think that I just need a hug from our Heavenly Father!

Levi's Third Birthday Party

We had Levi's third birthday party a day early. Tomorrow will be another busy day of shopping for us and I wanted him to have a little bit of a special time with cake, presents and friends.

Levi got a battery powered bubble gun. He and Zoe had a blast with it.

My baby is 3 years old tomorrow. Wow-how time flies!

Posing with his cake and some presents.

Resurrection Sunday

I have to confess that Resurrection Sunday has completely caught us unaware this year. We have had no holiday decorations in every store announcing Easter, no commercials for Holiday Sales and no aisles of Easter candy. Good Friday in South Africa really caught us by surprise as almost all the stores were closed. Side note: they are closed on Good Friday but open for regular business on Easter Sunday. We have no new spring finery, no new shoes this year and no candy filled Easter baskets. Neither Jeff nor I have bought any new clothes in almost a year-except I bought 2 new skirts in Cape Town.

But do you know what we do have? We have a wonderous joy inside of us given to us by our risen Savior. We have a Friend who loves us and died for us. We have the privilege of serving our Lord in Zambia. We have a glorious new day to remember a God who loves us and gave his Son for us.

Celebrate Jesus today!

"But he was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our sins; the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His wounds we are healed."

Isaiah 53:5

MK Funny

We are staying at the Baptist Guest House in Johannesburg, South Africa. The rooms here have phones in them. We have not had a real telephone in our room for a year. The kids keep trying to play with the phone and I keep telling them that that is a real phone and they will call someone. Zoe came running into my room, telling on Levi that he was playing with the phone again. I told her to hang up the phone. She just stopped and stared at me. She didn't know what I meant. I told her to take the receiver and put it on the phone. She was still stumped. She had no idea what to do to "hang up" the phone. Our MKs are so precious but also have such a unique life.

End of Meeting Kids Program

All through our meetings, a team from Bryan, TX were taking care of our children. Our MK's go to do VBS during this time. At the last night, the kids 5-11 years old got to sing

them to the rest of us.

A very candid picture of me holding the camera in front of us and seeing what it takes...

Zoe and Hadassah - supposed to be singing. The girl to the right of Zoe became her best friend while at our meetings. She is a MK from Lesotho.

Me and Levi-goofing around again...

Can you believe it?!

We have finally made it to Johannesburg and can you believe it?!? Everything is closed today for Good Friday. We already got run out of a great mall last night at 6pm because the whole mall was closing-even the restaurants! We found out later that this is normal and a leftover from apartheid. So we frantically tried to find a grocery store that was open so we could buy some basics for today since most everything will be closed. We finally found some bread, eggs, juice, peanut butter and potato chips at a 7 Eleven. I guess those items will comprise our meals for today. :) Gee, we have dreamed of getting here for weeks and now we are stuck with not much to do!!! Oh, well-we will make good plans for tomorrow! :)

McDONALD'S!!

Our family FINALLY got to eat at McDonald's after almost a year! We all enjoyed Mickey D's. We are now in Johannesburg, South Africa. We'll be here until about April 10th. We have loads of shopping to do and Levi will have his speech therapy appointments next week. We'll celebrate Levi's third birthday on Monday. How, I have no idea but it will get done. :)

We have no special plans nor special clothes for this Sunday. To be honest, we had no idea this Sunday was Easter until just a few days ago. Our meetings in Tshipise were great and we have alot of spiritual things to ponder and many changes to make because of the great Bible preaching and teaching. More posts to follow from our adventures in America - oops, I mean Johannesburg!

K2 Cluster's 2010 AMTM

Here is just a glimpse of where we are right now. We are at our Annual Missionary Training Meeting in Tshipise, South Africa. We have a team from Bryan, Texas taking care of all 46 missionary kids. We have an actual worship team and have had some wonderful Bible teaching times from Pastor Tim. We leave here on Thursday to head to Johannesburg, South Africa for some R&R and medical appointments for Levi.

We Got It!

We got the contract on the house! This is our new home in Lukulu. Please continue to pray for all aspects of our lives that will be lived out within these walls. Pray for enriching family time. Pray for a lifestyle of ministry. Pray for our neighbors that live around us-that we will become good friends with them and our kids will make new playmates. Pray for our security. Pray that the Lord will continue to open the hearts of the Lozi to be receptive to the Good News. We are so grateful for your prayers. We could never do this without you.

A Day of Sun and Fun

While we are here in Lusaka, one of our missionary kids (Caleb Bowman-2nd from left) had a birthday at the water park, Adventure City. Several of his missionary cousins got to enjoy his day at the park, also. Here they are from left to right: Trent Lewis, Caleb Bowman, Hannah Rodgers, Hadassah, Abby Bowman, Anna Bowman, Zoe and Levi. The kids all had so much fun!

Church in Sefula

This is where we went to church today.  This church is well established but just a month or so ago got their own 'building'.  It was really a wonderful day of worship.  Our Zambian friends worshipped with laughter, smiles and lots of dancing.  In SS, the kids memorized Romans 3:23.  I was in the Kids' Sunday School class and got the first part memorized in Lozi. :)  

Hope you also had a great day of worship!

Our Day Today

Today, we took a trip to Senanga to put a short term missionary friend on the boat to go across the floodplain.  The boat that was supposed to take him was not going to run until he got a full boat which was 17 people.  There was no guarantee that boat was going anywhere today so we went to the Senanga Safari Lodge to wait and decide what to do.  As we were pulling into the lodge, we saw that they give boat rides.  So, thank the Lord, they agreed to take us across the floodplain for a decent price.  So all 7 (driver included) hopped onto a 4 passenger speed boat to cross the mighty Zambezi River.  It was a fun ride.  We all had to wear life jackets that were too big for all of us, especially the kids.  Here are some photos from our day.  

I am learning to try to be prepared as we take trips but I still forget things.  Note to self: bring sunscreen on our next adventure.

Creative Play African Style

Hadassah and Zoe made a swing outside this morning out of two sitenges.  And below, they made a makeshift swing inside.  Levi gets the benefits of it all.  The outside swing can hold the girls, also - with only a few spills.

Church Today

Just wanted you to see where we went to church today.  This church is in Mawawa and it one of my favorite churches to go to.  We had a great 3 hour service (not including SS) - all of this perching on small stools about a foot off the ground.  

What about you?  How was your day of worship?

Apple Pie Saturday

Here is the result of a lazy Saturday afternoon in Mongu, Zambia.  With not much to do here for entertainment, I have started to bake more and get more adventurous in my cooking.  We're letting the apple pie cool right now and soon, it will be gone!  Then I will be off to my next culinary adventure!

Saturday's Trip to Lukulu

We went once more to Lukulu to check on the house.  The owner/builder had made great progress.  Everything that was supposed to be done was in progress and almost done.  That is Africa for you. :)  It is now a very good chance that we will get the house.  The house had some quirks and things that we would not have done.  For example, the bathroom is so narrow and small that only a bathtub fits into it and even then the door will have to swing out into the hallway because it is so small.  He put a sink in the dining room because everyone here washes their hands before they eat.  Not a bad idea at all.  He painted the outside a coral color and was going to put light blue where the porches are.  I think we convinced him that it would be just as easy to finish the house in the same color. :)  The owner should soon have everything done so that when our Logistics Coordinator comes in March, they should be able to sign a contract.  So we are very happy with the progress and the greater possibility of getting this house!  

Here are a few pictures:

Above is the side view.  The house is an L shape.  The first two window is is the living room, the next window would be Levi's room and the last window is the master bedroom.

This is the front view.  The first window to the left is the living room, the next is the dining room, the next one is the kitchen window and the very last window on the right is a window in the hallway that is just in front of the schoolroom and the girls' bedroom.  The house goes on a little bit on each side.  I couldn't fit it all in.

A Rainy Day in Lozi Land

It has rained all night long and into this morning.  We had to run a few errands this morning so the kids thought that they needed to wear their rain coats because it is a very cool 75 degrees. In our new vehicle, it has some fold down seats in the very back and when we are just riding around town, we let them sit in the back.  I pointed the camera from the front seat to snap a picture of the kids.  Levi thought that he had to have the hat on, also. 

Buna Beacon in Zambia

This is for all of our friends and church family from from Buna, TX.  We are always so happy to read the Buna Beacon and get news from home.  

Just wanted to let you know that we really miss and love you all!

Ba Pepile Mbututu

You cannot walk down the road here in Zambia without seeing almost every lady carrying a baby of varying age on her back.  They use a rectangular piece of material called a sitenge to strap their children on their back.  It almost always comes over the right shoulder and is tied in front.  Here is a picture of the kids as they played with friends today and another picture of Hadassah, playing with Levi.

Our Saturday

Yesterday, we trekked the 5 hours to Lukulu to check on the house that we are hoping to be able to rent.  Back in December, the man assured us that he would have certain things done in February so our LC could come in and finish the rest.  After a hard 5 hour trip, we eagerly went by the house to see what has been done.  The owner/builder had put in some ceiling boards in preparation for the ceiling tile to be put up but that was it.  We went by the man's shop in the market and he was happy to see us, happy that we are still interested in the house.  Again, he assured us that he would get what needed to be done before the LC went to check on the progress.  So that was our whole day - 5 hours up, 1 hour in Lukulu then 5 hours back.  What a day!  Please continue to pray for the right house to be found and completed.  We are praying for this house but realize that it just may not happen.  We appreciate your prayers.  We honestly could not do any of this without you.

While we were there, we got to wander through the market a bit.  This must be the time for caterpillars because they were all over the market.  

The Lozi love to eat them.  They can have them!