Back in Zambia

When we arrived in Zambia over a year ago, we really had no idea what to expect. We were scared to leave familiar. We were scared to leave our families. We were scared period. But none of us doubted the call…not once. And therefore we were able to go with an inner strength that only God can provide. As you all most know when we arrived last year there were some hard times. One was all living together…all 14 of us…for quite some time. Another was no running water and limited electricity. And the third was “fitting in” to the culture here. We pretty much had extremes…either we had 50 beautiful children hanging around the house every day peering in the windows or very frightened children who had never seen a “muzungu” (white person) before. I still remember our first “family walk” on the trail behind our house. A sweet little girl, who we now know to be Harriett, saw us coming from a distance. She was wearing a tattered white lace dress and the look on her face could be seen from a mile away. She was terrified. She turned and ran screaming for her grandfather. I so felt like I wanted to do that too at times during the first year. Things would come at me…things I had never experienced before and wasn’t sure how to handle and I wanted to run…I wanted to scream…I NEEDED to run into the arms of my Father. But I realized that coming into this “world” (it does, in deed, seem like a different world sometimes) that I personally, needed to be broken. I needed to be broken of all the things that “I” could do for myself. I needed to leave all that was familiar…all the things I completely relied on. I needed to realize how the people of Nyangwena lived on a daily basis. Spending almost an entire day getting water, boiling water, doing laundry by hand, getting used to the darkness…literally. But God is so good….and he had such an amazing gift for me when we returned. Instead of coming back to a house full of people, Kevin had our sweet little home ready for us to move into…beds made, house cleaned. Instead of no running water our water tanks were literally overflowing. And on my first walk (actually, my first run with my friend Tara) as we ran the same very trail behind our house I saw a tiny little girl in the same tattered white lace dress way off in the distance. She took off running. But this time instead of running away, she ran as fast as she could right into my arms. What a gift. Now I know how God feels when we have ran away screaming, afraid of what is to come. How He feels when this time we turn towards Him..we run to Him…into His always open, always enveloping, always loving arms.

Thank you for your prayers for our arrival. We had such an amazing time with family and friends back in the states and I feel so blessed to have so many people in my life that support us and are going through this journey with us. Our dear friends Andy & Tara Schreur decided to travel back with the boys and I. They started out the trip by meeting us at my parents house and rearranging bins to get them all at 50 lbs. Then loading them all into the back of Andy’s truck and off we went to Chicago. The trip went really well…Andy took care of bathroom duty for the boys 🙂 and once on the plane they were so excited for video games and cartoons that I think they wouldn’t have minded flying to Timbuktu! Andy & Tara were an amazing help…jumping in where needed. Andy helped pour the slab for the new married housing duplex, along with many other odds and ends and Tara was busy painting the new first grade classroom floors, as well as the floors in the bathhouse. We ended their trip with a little getaway to a local game reserve right in Lusaka, where we got to experience walking with cheetahs. Quite amazing!

We are now are only 2 days away from the first day of school. This past week was full of meetings…multiple staff meetings, PTA meetings, project committee meetings, kitchen staff meetings, and just yesterday our open house. Almost every parent came to the open house to meet the teachers, the children got to see their classrooms, and they picked up their new backpacks and uniforms. I had very important “meetings” of my own :)…with three very important young men…playdough meetings, monopoly millionaire meetings (awesome game Mel! Thanks for suggesting it!), snack meetings, and of course ninja meetings, as this is the boys new favorite past time. However, I was able to contribute by baking 18 dozen sugar cookies for the open house, help Ms. Jillian in her classroom by creating a tree and painting a canvas rug for her “earth” corner, and was able to join the rest of the team at the Open House and take all of the family photos. The boys helped out as well, and handed out cookies and juice to all of the families.

Rowan and Hudson are both very excited for school to start. Their uniforms and backpacks are laid out on their beds. I completed Clayton’s work spreadsheet for his first week of 4th grade. I can’t say he is as excited to start school…he is only excited for the Roelofs to come back…as we all are. We are counting down the days until their return on September 12. It will be so good to have them back. We have already welcomed back the entire teaching team, which includes two new teachers from Michigan. Jillian and Dave Draayer are amazing. They arrived and within minutes were already on a campus tour, joking with staff, picking up our kids. What an answer to prayer!

My goal is to update the blog more frequently this year…even if its just a picture or two. Please pray that I can do this! :o) Again, we are so blessed to be here. So blessed to be given this opportunity to serve the people here. Seeing each and every sweet child at the open house, was just another reminder of why we are here.

Please pray for the first day of school. For all of our teachers: Jean & Getrude in preschool, Rachel and our new Zambian teacher, Teresa, in Kindergarten, and Jillian and another new Zambian teacher, Philippa in grade one. Please pray for Kevin as he will be juggling many things this week.

Please pray for our feeding program and all of the mammas who will be cooking. This is our first year of providing lunch, so prayers that everyone shows up who needs to show up and that the food is blessed unto these children’s bodies.

Prayers for construction as this is ongoing. A wonderful blessing that the school is growing but also another task. Please pray for our team of zambian workers as they continue to build the new married housing duplex.

And prayers for me, mom. As I send my baby off to preschool (tears). Last year I was fearful for Rowan, only because he tends to be anxious in new situations. And school here in Zambia was definitely new. Children he didn’t know, who didn’t even speak his language. But, oh how he loved school and this year he is so excited to be back with his friends. I’m praying that Hudson loves school just as much.

Please enjoy some photos of the last few weeks here. Thank you again! In Him, Tina