Some recent pics from the first few weeks (sorry – out of order)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Manzi

For those of you who have been waiting for more updates – I apologize – we now have a satellite for Internet service here, but our solar power supply is not yet configured correctly so we run out after sunset every night and lose our connection. Our efforts so far have primarily been spent on correcting issues with our water supply, power and other maintenance related issues. We have also been doing our best to help our children acclimate and to spend time with people from the village here.

The children here are absolutely beautiful and a joy to be with. They seem to be quite enthralled with all of the new muzungus who have moved into their village, however, and spend much of their time staring in wonder at our strange ways and faces! We have befriended a large group of children who live around the school and we have been sharing quite a bit of time with them playing, laughing, and attempting to learn each other’s languages. I have to admit that most of them speak much better English than we do Nyanja or Sori, but we are learning quickly and only occasionally seem to embarrass ourselves.

If you’ve heard here or elsewhere, we have had some issues with our well and pump. For the most part we have been running out of water every day and have had to limit our use, supplement from the local borehole, and repurpose whatever we do get. We’ve had the pleasure of several new experiences like bathing in a Rubbermaid tub with cold water, watering the garden with used laundry water, and spilling gallons of water in the back of our vehicle while bouncing back up the path back from the village well. The kids think its quite a treat. Lauren was even overheard saying: “mom, I like having not having water. We get to play on the merry-go-round and we don’t have to take showers.” Our boys are practicing their Ninja Warrior training. “Ninjas feel no cold!”.

Then for the miracle. I have to share this – and there may be as valid of a physical explanation as a theological one – but after troubleshooting the problem and running out of water daily for the first two weeks we finally pulled our pump out to take it in for testing. The following 48 hours – while the pump was out of the well and an hour away – was the only time that we never ran out of water. We since replaced the pump (with a new sensor) and know for a fact that it has not been pumping as it should, but somehow we still have water. It appears that the well simply does not recover quickly enough to provide as much as we need, but God has truly been providing and this experience has softened our hearts to the plight of millions worldwide who spend most of their existence seeking and obtaining safe, clean water.

Again, we thank you all for the prayers and for your words of encouragement. They have sustained us through our many adventures so far including skinned knees, dirty feet, tired bodies, rats galloping across the ceiling during devotion time, unidentified bugs in bedrooms, and the ever-present smell of an inefficient sewer system!

WE MADE IT!!!

It was a long (but manageable) journey, but we arrived in Lusaka early Monday morning (local time) and we were greeted by a beautiful African sunrise, smiling Zambian faces, and the joy of some new and familiar faces.  After loading more luggage than should have been legally allowed, we made the hour-long trek to Nangwenya, our new home and the permanent home of the Esther School.

 

Our first few days have been filled with jetlag, joy and many (also manageable) challenges but we are feeling great and happy to finally have arrived in the place that God has called us to.  Some of you may have heard that we have encountered some problems with our well, our power supply, and a lovely stomach bug that attacked the younger children.  We look forward to sharing some more detailed stories (we’ve got some doosies) when we have time, but for now, with limited time and internet access, I wanted to assure everyone that we are doing fine and have not been discouraged – if only a little distracted.

 

We are still working on the well situation, but we have plenty of bottled drinking water and are able to obtain water from the local well for washing and boiling.  In fact, we have been gifted with many blessings in disguise along the way.  For example, our kids got a chance to try the well in the village where children ride on a “merry-go-round” in order to draw water from the well.  It was a beautiful picture of the Kingdom, seeing American and Zambian children against a breathtaking backdrop working together to understand, teach, and learn from one another as they laughed without reservation and served a Greater Purpose.  It was beyond words.

 

The power supply has also been improving.  We have plenty of lights and fans and several of our outlets are functional.  Again, some room for improvement in time, but we have all that we need.  In fact, we commented that we have Living Water and the Power of the Spirit and that is all we really need for now.

 

The children are also doing much better.  As we had anticipated, it is very common for people to experience intestinal trouble as they adjust to new food and water.  We were sort of hoping not to have 4 of 6 kids throwing up and 3 at the doctor in the first 24 hours, but they weathered the storm just fine and we almost immediately feeling better after the first day.  We had wanted to explore our options for medical care anyway, so it was great to find out where a good doctor was and we were pleased with the care that we received. The doctor said that we had likely picked up a bacterial bug and that the younger ones just had a harder time fighting it off.

 

I couldn’t say enough about how wonderful the people here have been.  The local Zambians have been unbelievably gracious and friendly.  We are excited to learn more from them and the way of life here, which has so much to offer.  We have also been so blessed by our expat contacts here.  Sophie and her beautiful Daughter Natasha met us at the airport with a warm greeting and some help navigating the airport security and baggage handlers, then came back yesterday to offer some help, encouragement and fellowship.  Bob, the contractor from Every Orphan’s Hope who has been building the Esther School thus far, met us on campus almost immediately and jumped to the ready to help us get to town and a doctor when the kids were sick.

 

Through Divine intervention and (editorial note:) the only redeeming benefits of Facebook, we had been previously introduced to Stephen and Aby Nelms, a young missionary family in Chongwe and founders of Give Life.  They showed up Day 2 with medicine, hugs and Sprite when they heard the kids were sick, then hosted us in their home for laundry, food and showers so that we could regroup.  We even had a chance to play some basketball and get our technology fix!  They have also shared a generator, much from their several years of experience here, and the internet card that we are currently pirating to post this message!

 

I’m not sure how we would have survived the first couple of days without the support and love shared by these wonderful, Godly people while we were in such need.  Again, this all served as a beautiful Kingdom vision and challenged us to consider and understand what it means to help and be helped and to share together in mutual support.

 

All in all, we have been doing wonderfully.  Our tidy little North American to-do list – complete with my trademark checkboxes – sits on top of the fridge where it has been since the first day, and where it probably belongs!  In the meantime we have been dealing with life as it happens here in Zambia and loving (almost) every minute of it.  We have shared many laughs and very few tears and cannot wait to see what yet lies ahead in the next several weeks as we settle in and transition over to our new home from our temporary residence in the Teacher’s Quarters.

 

We will do our best to keep you posted.  Getting our internet set up is on that to-do list…

 

 

HERE WE GO!!!

The day has arrived!  After years of God moving in our hearts and lives, a year of wrestling with the call, over a year preparing since making our commitment last May, months of packing, weeks of moving, late nights and early mornings, an all-nighter to get out of our home on time and a few precious days with friends and family…(inhale)…the day has finally arrived.  We’ve been filled up, stretched thin, knocked down, lifted up and thrown around, but God has been so faithful to us throughout the process thus far both intimately and directly and through the support of so many family, friends and even strangers.  Oh yeah, and we haven’t even left yet!

For the past ten days we have been staying with our parents, mainly the DeKams, but also with the Gills in Kalamazoo.  We are so grateful, not only for the hospitality and comfort that they have provided, but that we were able to share our final precious days so closely with them.  I can only imagine how bizarre it must be for someone else to get such a close look inside the craziness that is our life and family right now as we live out of suitcases and pack two years worth of our lives into rubbermaid totes.  Apparently, there are also a few loose ends to deal with before one moves a family to Africa for two years, so we have been running around dealing with things all week.  What a Blessing it has been to have the comfortable and loving presence of parents and grandparents to cover our tracks and care for our kids as we deal with the “business” of moving.

We have been able to commit to some quality down time as well with family and friends.  We enjoyed a wonderful weekend camping a few weeks back, a day at the lake with family that was absolutely perfect, and multiple “final treats” of ice cream, meals out, and dips in Uncle Trent’s pool!  Yesterday we were able to spend the afternoon with the boys picking out a few final treats for the trip and even caught dinner and a movie.  While we have been running pretty fast and loose (even more than usual) it has been wonderful to see how God has provided some meaningful opportunities to share with each other and the kids about what is happening in our lives and what He has yet in store for us.  Even watching Madagascar 3 yesterday (hilarious by the way) provided many lessons that we were able to share with the kids to help relate to their current experiences and the adventure that lies ahead.

Around 1pm today, the Roelofs will join us and we will begin, along with our parents, the first leg of our journey by driving to Chicago.  At 9:35pm EST, Lord Willing, we will depart via British Airways to London, a 7 1/2 hour overnight trip.  We will spend most of tomorrow in London and, condition of children permitting, hope to get out of Heathrow to stretch and catch some sights in the Royal City.  Clayton, especially, has been fascinated with London and is very excited about being able to explore there. 

Tomorrow evening (around 2pm our time) we will then reboard for the long leg from London to Lusaka.  This is about a 10 1/2 hour flight, but is usually empty enough to provide room to stretch out.  At 6am Lusaka time (11pm Sunday night EST) we will arrive at Kenneth Kuanda International and be greeted by Sophie Hartman, a young woman who has been serving with GEMS in Lusaka (Sophie has a wonderful blog at crownsofbeauty.blogspot.com).  Sophie has arranged for a minibus that will transport 2 families, 30 pieces of luggage, 10 carry-ons and a new electrical inverter to the Esther School.  Fortunately for us, the trip from the airport to campus is less than an hour so we will soon enough be in our new home and, after a full day of rest, hope to begin the week of settling in and acclimating.

So there it is – the itinerary for the trip we have been anticipating for well over a year.  It’s utterly amazing to contemplate it all when we look back from today over the past couple of years and forward to the adventure that lies ahead, an adventure that literally only God knows what will entail.  Again, we are so grateful for all of the love, support, encouragement, prayer and help that we have received from so many of you.  We have often said that our only regret has been that we have not had time to adequately thank all of you, but please know that we are eternally grateful and would not be miving forward without your help.

I did my part this morning by getting our “bad luck” out of the way.  While on an early morning prayer/bike ride my crank arm fell off and I rode over the pedal, popping my tire.  I laughed, carried my bike home, and began my devotions.  God has placed several scriptures, stories and songs in our path throughout this journey and one of them has been the story of Joshua.  As I reread Joshua  this morning, I was struck by Joshua 3:5:

“The Joshua told the people, ‘Make yourselves holdy, because tomorrow the Lord will do amazing things among you.”

We are far from holy, but through God’s grace we have been humbly following His call.  Throughout Joshua, throughout the rest of Scripture, and througout all our lives the same theme shows up over and over: God provides direction to His people according to His Will.  When people seek their own direction they fail.  When they follow Him He does amazing things for His Glory and to fulfill His Will and His people are blessed.  May we be a blessing to the people of Zambia as we do our best to seek His face and fulfill His will.  We pray that each of you will seek His face as well and serve Him and others in the way that He has called you.

 

Talk to you soon from Zambia!!!