Peace Centre

Bradley and I went to the Peace Centre yesterday. The Peace Centre houses many refuges from surrounding countries. One singing group that performed were from Rwanda. The children at the Centre also performed a puppet show of the Nativity story and sang Christmas carols. Our children performed the Nativity story also but acted it out. The two performances were great!

Remember that it is the middle of the summer over here so we were all packed into a room- 200 kids and a few adults, small room, all curtains closed for a better effect for the puppet show- It was about 100 degrees. So many kids complaining about the heat- I looked down at Bradley sitting on the ground with all his class- he was on the end so there were 3 kids from the Centre hanging on him. He did not complain once- what a sweet kid!

Erik and I were invited to a "Meet the President dinner and dance" Saturday night so we had to dust off our dancing shoes- ha!! The invitation stated that the event was to begin at 19 hours. We got to the Mulungshi Center on time, waited in line to go through the metal detector, ran into Susan and Dave from Bible Study(he works for the National Milling Company- they are from Kansas City). Soon after Jonathan and Rita(Erik's Zambian business parter) arrived, we were seated and the entertainment began- around 20:30 hours(8:30). We heard the Vice President speak, then the President, then there was some tribal dancing and Trina, the African Idol, sang a few songs. We queued(lined) up at about 21:30(9:30) to eat and then Erik and I left. It was a fundraiser for the MMD political party and they donate publically. They would call from the microphone, "Zesco (the electric company) is donating 10 million Kwacha". The donation form was a binding agreement so...we skipped out as the donating began.

Sound of Music

Saturday night was the big performance at the kid's school of The Sound of Music. Bradley's class sang the song that accompanied the puppet show. I took a picture of a few of the kids in his class before the performance. His buddy Somang Kim then some other friends Briyanca, Kaileigh, and Tara.

We also took a picture of the cast to show you how diverse the school is- there are 84 nationalities at the school. It was a great performance and I was very impressed with the talent. Some children were acting, some singing, some in the orchestra and some backstage helping. The drama teacher did a great job including all classes in some fashion.

Harold Keene and Chomba came over for lunch on Sunday as well as the Mutale family. We had turkey with stuffing, ham, sweet potato casserole, mashed potatoes, green beans, biscuits, chocolate cake and pumpkin cheesecake- all from scratch. Erik and I spent much time preparing but it was nice sharing an American tradition with our Zambian friends. We also obtained a copy of the last Monday Night Football game- the Saints vs. the Packers. Erik, the kids and I all snuggled up to watch our first football game this season and did just what came natural...I slept during the first quarter, Erik during the 2nd and 3rd as the kids played Rummikub. Brought back some good memories...Who won the game? Who cares? Just the sound of Hank Williams Jr. talking about "all his rowdy friends" was enough:)

Happy Thanksgiving!

"Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!" 2 Corinthians 9:15
That Gift is Grace. God gave me a gift that I did not deserve, that I could never be "good enough" to receive. He gave becauses He loves me(and you)- now my life is forever secure in His Grace because I chose to accept it!

As you all- we won't celebrate until Sunday- gather together with your loved ones and name the things you are "thankful for"- I pray that there is some recognition of the life, the hope, the peace, the joy, the promises, the forgiveness that can only come from Jesus Christ.

I am also thankful for Erik, Chelsea, Bradley, of course- Peterson, for our grandparents- here and gone, for our parents, for my sweet aunts who have loved me so dearly and I love so much back, for my uncle who challenges me but loves me anyway, for all my cousins, for my neices and nephews, Cindy and David, Michelle, Bridget and Klint, all my friends who have supported me and loved me through this experience to make it easier, the internet and email to stay connected, Skype and chatting with mom often, Gretchen, Haley and Sheldon living in eternal love. I have so much to be thankful for and so do you, name your blessings one by one...

Have a great Thanksgiving- I love you all!!

The planting has begun...

Moses and I went to the "nursery" today and picked out our starter plants. We chose eggplant, onions, tomatoes, green peppers, cabbage and chinese cabbage. There was no okra so we will try seeds. When the kids came home, Chelsea said, "How are they growing already?" Wow, is it hard to bite my tongue:)

Bradley has a field trip to the Peace Centre on December 5th for a Christmas Party. His class will be presenting "The Nativity Story"- how cool is that!! Bradley's teacher is due to have a baby in February and she has had to prepare 3 performances in 4 weeks - a "land use" skit, the Nativity performance on December 5 and Grease on December 10th. She will be exhausted and ready for our Christmas break.

Bradley's class will also be in the "Sound of Music" school performance this weekend. His class will be performing the puppet show scene. We will be going to the Saturday night performance.

Tomorrow night we are going to Hillsong United performance here at the Lusaka Fairgrounds. Hillsong is a christian music group from Australia and has been touring South Africa and added Zambia to their tour. This is quite a big deal for this area. Tickets were around $5. We are praying for no rain as it is an outdoor concert.

Chelsea's class will have an improv night next Tuesday. We attended an improv night last week with the other Year 7 class and it was really funny. An amateur "Whose line is it?" My kids laughed and laughed.

Things are getting busy around here as the end of school approaches and we begin a peaceful, joyful Christmas season- that is my prayer anyway.

Moses, Moses, how does your garden grow??

Poor Moses has been waiting for me to buy him a hoe so he could start our garden. Well, finally last week, I got the hoe. He has been so busy preparing the soil, building up the beds, and he is now ready for the vegetables so...tomorrow we will buy our cabbage, okra, onions, broccoli, maize and whatever else we planned. He is so much smarter than me...as I plan the vegetables, he says "well, we don't need much cabbage as there are only 5 of us that eat and the rest would be waste"- not the way I think but oh so right!!

We are so excited to see the fruit of Moses' labor- I hope Peterson stays out of the garden!!

I went to the kid's school on Thursday to pick them up and saw a man get out of his car holding a jacket- it was turquoise and black- and had a Jaguar emblem on it.

First of all, it was 3:30pm and quite warm 78 degrees and he has this heavy jacket. Zambians are as bad as Floridians when the temperature drops below 80, we are chilly.

Secondly, to have a Jacksonville Jaguar jacket in the middle of Africa. Pretty funny!! I did not ask for a picture but tried to sneak one in.

Look behind Chelsea and her friend, TsiTsi, and he is holding the jacket.

I also wanted to show you a picture of the boy with the crazy wild hair. Definitely worthy of a note from Mrs. Herring- don't tell her!

!

Hospice

I thought about those babies all weekend!! As it was raining here with some thunder and lightning, I wondered if they were scared or sound asleep like my children??
This morning there was a new baby at Mother Theresa's, she was 7 weeks old and had already lost her mother and the aunt that was taken care of her had been put in Hospice. Here, Hospice does not come to you, you go to a Hospice hospital to stay. Mother Theresa's campus has a community school at the front where children from the neighborhood come for school with the children in the orphanage. The middle of the campus is where the nuns live and the little children live. In the back of the campus are two big hospital rooms seperating males and females and housing the Hospice patients, there were about 70 people per room yesterday. The campus also has gardens to sell vegetables and also to eat, there is a workshop where a man was doing some woodwork and a few playgrounds for the children.
As I walked to the babies, I met one of the caregivers in charge of washing all the clothes and hanging them on the line. There were also 3 ladies sitting on the ground emptying cans of formula into a plastic bucket to prepare bottles. So many loving hands needed to care for these children.
I was a little late so Eneka (the Dutch lady) had already gotten most babies out of their cribs and they were outside playing. They were so happy to see me- not really- I was so happy to see them. They were in much better moods yesterday. They played for a couple hours then they would stop dropping off like flies. I would take one baby inside, change the nappy, come back out and there would be another one asleep on the mat. Ok- let me tell you about the nappy- now remember, I am the crazy woman that thought I would have my child wear cloth diapers- Poor Chelsea with the constant diaper rash. These babies have a handtowel folded over in all different directions to fit their size then these clips that stretch that I have never seen before then they would wear the plastic pants over that. Now, as Erik can tell you, I have the Super Sniffer- which is definitely a plus when someone is baking but when there are wet cloth diapers around- it is a curse!!
After the babies were all fed, nappies changed and down for their naps, Eneka took me back to Hospice. We walked into the women's side which was one huge room that had cots everywhere. Each cot was made and had water jugs and cups by it. The women were scattered about the area either eating or visiting the clinic or sitting and chatting. We met one of the caregivers, Loveness, who took us behind some curtains that were hung to seperate the room. There were probably 20 cots with women sitting on them. A few women were just sitting and talking while others were getting a bath. These women were in their final stages of AIDS. It was a picture that I have seen many times- they were soooo thin, some with sunken eyes, some too weak to sit. The nuns give them medicines to help with pain and some antibiotics to fit off viruses. The women did not look in pain just looked very tired. My heart broke for them- What a terrible disease!
The women that were in their early stages of AIDS would be assigned jobs to help care for others. They would cook or sew or garden or whatever to help. They were truly a group of women caring for each other in their last days. As I left Mother Theresa's that day...I began to think that I just saw one Hospice filled with patients, if I were to drive another mile or so...there would be another then another...This Country knows sickness so personally!!

Please pray for the sick at Mother Theresa's Hospice:
1) They have Hope in Jesus alone...
2) They make the transition into Heaven quickly with the least amount of pain...

Weekend Update!!

Saturday morning- Girls off to volleyball, boys off to baseball. Chelsea's team, ISL's U-15 girls, finished in 2nd place. They won their first two games and lost in the final match. They played great and looked much better than the tournament they played in one month ago. It was also definitely more exciting than the previous weekend's basketball tournament. It was a super hot day and finally the cloud coverage came for the final game. Erik and Bradley also made it for the final game- Chelsea was happy!!
We left the tournament around 1:30 just in time to make it to the 2:15 showing of Open Season 2. The best part, air conditioning and popcorn. The kids have a new favorite candy, Jelly Tots- Chelsea describes them as similar to Dots but with sugar on top.
We came home and made Taco Salad as we bought some homemade chips from the Shaw's houseman, Daniel. They were delicious!! We taught the kids how to play Hearts and tried our hardest to all stay awake until the Gator game at 10:30pm. Erik and I made it to game time and were happy to hear the Gators score 21 points very quickly but that was as far as we made it. We kept the internet on all night so as we woke up we could check the score but we didn't wake up again. What an exciting game, according to ESPN's write up the next morning!!
We met a new couple at Bible study last night, Christie and Brad with their 3 daughters from Birmingham. He is working for UAB and they have been here for 2 weeks. Last week we met 2 men from Birmingham that worked here doing medical missions. It is such a small world. UAB has about 30 people living in Lusaka doing HIV/AIDS research.
I also spent two days this week in The Shack. Wow, what a good book! If you haven't had a chance to read it, I encourage you to. I love the way it was written.