Kalimba Reptile Park

After a week of doing nothing but resting, watching movies and playing cards...we had the Shaw's over for dinner Friday night then went to Kalimba Reptile Park on Saturday.
As we went into the reception area we ran into Niki and Kelsey Cook- they were there with the new 40/40 group- Baptist Missionary training in Lusaka, 30 something new missionaries coming to Zambia- How awesome is that!! We saw the rest of the Cook family by the snake cages then ran into Suzie and Hannah Rodgers by the pool. Small world!
The Revillas met us at the park so my kids were happy to run around with 3 more kids. We had a tour guide that showed us all the different snakes that loom around our area. There was one bad boy that I would never want to meet, The Black Mamba. He will stand up and look at you and then chase you down. My friend, Caroline, found one of these in her garden(that is what they call a yard) a couple of weeks ago. Scary!!
We also met some Puff Adders, a huge Python and brown house snake. The kids got to hold this snake. Chelsea asked for the snake skin from one of the big daddies so we now have that hanging in Bradley's room. Jane told me that it scared her when she walked in.

We got to see baby crocs, teenage crocs and Daddy crocs. The smaller crocs were all enclosed in a "pin" with a four foot cement wall around it. The Daddy crocs were in a man-made lake that was surrounded by a two foot cement wall and chain-link fence above it- the big hole chain-link fence. The crocs would lay right beside the wall and the kids would stick their fingers in to point at it- Never happen in the U.S.!! I asked our guide if any visitors had been eaten- he said what I wanted to hear, "no".
The kids swam in one of the two pools they had while we grilled hamburgers and sausages. The weather was great- the flies were everywhere- but for less than $15 per family, it was a very nice afternoon. My children were very happy on the way home as they planned to decorate our office as a snake skin museum- Great!!

Flamboyant Trees

With the rains- 3 days now- have come the most, okay 2nd most, beautiful trees. Since we arrived in August, the streets have been lined with Jacaranda trees- purple flowers.

Now the Jacaranda flowers have fallen and the red Flamboyant trees are blooming-

Have I told you what a beautiful country Africa is? I tell Moses all the time.

Our avocado, mango, papaya and lemon trees are all starting to bear fruit. It is so exciting!The kids check them out everyday to see if they are ready yet. In our impatience we have taken many fruits that are not quite ripe- just to taste.

Moses and I went to the Rose Garden to pick out some new flowers for summer and buy some fertilizer. I am going to have him plant some yellow daylilies- that will remind me of the Bradley girls and Florida. We also bought a Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow plant. We have a lot of purple, red, white flowers in the yard- the yellow lilies will be a nice contrast!!

Who's right??

Maybe that is not a fair question...

I'm reading a book right now comparing the African culture to that of the Western Culture(European/American). The book is written to help the Westerner better understand his environment when in Africa.

Help me to understand this... In Lusaka- there is a 70% unemployment rate...which means 3 out of 10 people work.

In the US, there is a 6.1% unemployment rate(Sept 2008)...which means 9.3 people out of 10 work.

Just grasp that for one moment...In the Great Depression, the US had an 11% unemployment rate.

The majority of Africans work to survive where "the accumulation of capital and wealth is the goal of the Western culture". This is the jest of what I was reading...Africans live for today and the needs they have "today". They, as a society, take care of each other. For example, I asked Jane today- if your neighbor needed money and you had money saved for Elizabeth's school- what would you do??? I would give her half and keep half for school then ask someone else to help pay for school. She said, "I believe that if I share what God has given to me, He will continue to bless me." How could I argue with that??

I tried to explain to her that we, Americans, take care of our own immediate family but rarily do we share the financial burdens with our friends, neighbors, etc. It sounded weird coming out of my mouth, especially when she repeated it back to me- "You mean you don't give money to other family members or friends who need your help." I tried to explain that all my family members had jobs and were self-supportive- that it was easier to get a job in the US than in Africa.

It is interesting to think about...I guess in the US we also have bank loans at our disposal or we have saved for a rainy day or we have too much pride to ask a friend for money. We would just go out and get another job to get us where we needed to be. Not an option here.

We Voted!!!

To all of our concerned friends, yes, we have done our part!!! We faxed- isn't that amazing- our absentee ballot on Wednesday to the Supervisor of Elections then followed up by mailing the originals. We are able to read bits and pieces of the news regarding the election and I must say I am glad that we are missing this battle. God will prevail- He always does!!
We are about to go through the Zambian election process on October 30th. There are 3 candidates running but 2 really stick out. One is the current VP and the other ran for President in the election 2 years ago and barely lost to the late President Manawasa. Jane told me that the last time she voted, she got to the precinct at 4:00am and was finished at 1:00pm. Wow, am I glad we have many voting stations in Florida. Both Moses and Jane are very discouraged and don't want to vote as they say all these promises are made now to obtain the vote and then nothing changes for them, only the people at the top. I explained what a privilege it is to have the "right to vote".
On a side note- we had our first rain since April last Friday- it even hailed. Wow- I love the rain. You don't realize that until you miss it. The sound, the smell!! It rained again on Thursday as the kids and I were pulling in the driveway so we ran to the backyard to get all the clothes off the line. Chelsea said, "This is kind of fun!" Peterson didn't know what to do so he ran along with us acting very excited!! He has become quite the hunter- he hunts lizards- big lizards, and toads and only the Lord knows what else!!

Rough Week

I should check the calendar as I think it is close to Mother's Day...

I found out that 2 people that I have met have contracted HIV, both women.
One woman found out when she was pregnant but her husband refuses to be tested. The baby was born HIV negative, thank you Lord!!
The other lady did not give me her story but is in the professional field with a couple of years of higher education.
Two women, two different backgrounds, two different financial situations, one homemaker in the compounds - the other a government employee. Why does this happen??
Everywhere you go- there is prevention available.
A radio show I listened to suggested men have an operation that will result in a 65% less chance of spreading the virus- NOONE, NOONE speaks of abstinence.
Is the value of life worth so little that you would rather not know?? There is FREE ARV medicine to help build the immune system and avoid sicknesses that could kill you.
How is it spreading so quickly?
It is acceptable to have more than one wife especially in the villages. The Chief of a village must have many wives to keep up his status which demands respect from the others in the village.
I don't know about the other men in town that are not chiefs!
Jane asked me if our husbands were allowed to have more than one wife...I told her Erik has enough headache with one!! She told me that even if men don't take more than one wife, they can still have many girlfriends.
HIV does not discriminate to age, race or social class, or Country!!
***As I read back over this I realized that I am not just speaking about Africa- the Chief of the village example excluded. Dr. Phil, a parent in Bradley's class, is a Doctor from the US doing research on the transmission of HIV- he told me that Africa is no different than the US as far as their attitude towards this disease- The US just found out about it before it had spread throughout 25% of the population. I pray we are teaching our children about God's perfect plan!!

Stumbling Block

Have you ever made a decision that affected another person? Have you ever done something that someone else followed your lead? In your own life you justify and rationalize your actions but when you see the effect it has on others - do you feel responsible?

Paul says in 2 Corinthians 6:3, "We put no stumbling block in anyone's path, so
that our ministry will not be discounted."

This scripture helped Erik and I to make the decision not to drink anymore. Although I have not found scripture directly stating alcohol is a sin, only drunkenness. (Gal 5:21) I know that when I drink- I say and do things I shouldn't. Would you discount my commitment to spreading the Gospel if you saw me in the state of drunkenness?? How about when I gossip?? How about when I lie?? How about my life before Christ??
Oh- my heart was heavy with all these questions this morning.

But then, I opened the Word- thanks be to God- the answer to all of our life situations. He wrote it just for us- inspired and literal- God's Word never changes because He never changes. He wants the same things from us that He wanted from the disciples, the apostles, all the people before us and all the people to come.

Back to the Word- I went back to Paul in 2 Corinthians 5:16-21- and read about being a new creation in Christ- God reconciled us to Himself by sending Christ- not counting men's sins against them- Do you hear that?? Not counting men's sins against them- and who would know that better than Paul who was persecuting Christians until God called him out on his way to Damascus(Acts 9). Paul, the one who spread the gospel to all Gentiles (non-Jews) in the New Testament- talk about sin and yet God used him to show us that no matter how big the sin, Jesus died for us all.

"Be reconciled to God. God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us so that in
Him we might become the righteousness of God".

How much does your Heavenly Father love you?? You can't even begin to imagine...

Monday, Monday...

I have found in our friend, Bob West, another music lover...we will just be sitting around the house and someone will say something and we break out in song. We had "dueling" you-tubes last weekend recalling songs from the 70s, 80s and movies. It was fun- Erik was caught in the middle but sang along with us. We borrowed the Sound of Music from our neighbor last night and watched and sang!! See how creative you get without cable tv, or maybe the proper word is bored!!

We spent Saturday morning at the kid's school for Bradley's Swimming Debut. He swam in both the 25m Breaststroke and 25m Freestyle. He was 6 out of 6 in the Breaststroke and 5 out of 6 in the Freestyle. The best thing about my boy is that he is happy to be where he is. I have to ruin it with my competitive spirit. After the race, I told him that if he wanted to learn to swim faster, he would have to train more. He said, "no thanks!" End of that discussion. Chelsea's convinced if he would have shed a layer, he would have knocked some time off the clock. (He did insist that I buy him the school's swimming uniform, a blue/green Speedo bikini- he wore it "under" his trunks)

We rested Saturday afternoon- Erik and Bradley went to a movie- Bob fixed some short ribs for dinner and we went to bed early with the intentions of waking up at 2am to listen to the Gator game. Well, when the alarm went off- we turned it off, went back to bed and woke up at 4:30am- nearing the end of the 3rd quarter and it was 20-14- Wow!! That is all I will say since some of my best friends are Tigers or at least married to one.

We went back to Cornerstone Church on Sunday and I was invited to my first "Kitchen Party" by the women of the church. I heard that people have a kitchen party when they need to update the items in their kitchen. Throw yourself a party and people bring you presents- I like it!! Don't start this trend in Jax until I get back- I get to have the first one!!

This morning Niki Cook, Lee Shaw and myself met at the school and walked and prayed over everything we saw and didn't see. We prayed for the headmaster, faculty, maintenance men- for the athletic fields to be covered with children demonstrating good sportsmanship with decent language, we prayed for the lunch tables to be filled with pure conversations void of gossip, slander, or insults, we prayed for the playground- for safety, friendships to be made, good old fashioned fun. We prayed for the Christian teachers- for their witness to be convicting to other faculty and students- we prayed for our children to be bold and confident in their faith and to know that God is with them wherever they may be. We prayed for all the other children- to find the One True God- there are so many different religions at our school. What a blessing for me as I have seen the power of prayer!!

Meredith Smith- thanks for the comments- God is so good how he gives you the same verse more than once in different places- He must want you to memorize that Scripture- It is 2 Timothy 3:16- Read all of 2 Timothy 3 as Paul describes the last days...see if you recognize any of those behaviors!! Tell your Bible teacher, "Thank you"!!