Easter Eggs

Happy Easter to all of our family, friends and supporters back in North America. We counted many blessings this Easter. Among them were Teya’s first ever experience of decorating Easter eggs and our first 100 (and counting) eggs from the new laying hens we recently brought to the school.

It was actually a big week for our family, and for Teya in particular. On Monday we celebrated her fourth birthday. This was a big event for all of us, especially because, as far as we know, it was the first time her birthday was celebrated. She definitely caught up on celebrations and everyone within the province knew it was “a happy birthday for Teya”! We started the day with Jean’s world famous cinnamon rolls, an Esther School tradition, then had a family party in the evening. We are so blessed to have Tina’s sister Jennie, her husband Mick and our niece Olivia here for a 6 week work assignment and they were able to join as well. We were even able to phone and FaceTime several family members back home.

Tuesday and Wednesday were also great for Tina and I as we were able to go away overnight with Drew and Arika. After nearly two years here together, this was our first outing as couples aside from one afternoon lunch outing awhile back. We had a beautiful time and were able to relax, reflect and prepare for their upcoming departure.

We enjoyed a uniquely Zambian worship service this morning as the local congregation we attend hosted several sister churches in a weekend-long Easter conference at the nearby government school grounds. Nearly 100 visitors camped out at the school since Friday, participating in worship, teachings and baptisms. The Easter morning service was the capstone event and we were blessed by some amazing singing, a powerful message, and the chance to partake of the Lord’s Supper with our brothers and sisters here. This followed an equally powerful Palm Sunday service last week where we joined with the large local Roman Catholic congregation for joint worship and a palm procession through the village. I can tell we have been here for awhile as our presence barely registers notice anymore!

Unfortunately, the realities of life and death here are never far away and we were tragically reminded of this again earlier in the week. While away on Wednesday, we received word that a young neighbor girl passed away suddenly after a brief unknown illness. Marianna lived just meters from our home. She had just turned 5. Her family is well known to us including a sister in Grade 1 and several cousins throughout the school. She herself had just been registered for consideration for next year’s preschool class. So for the second time in just a few weeks we helped bury a young child and mourn with their family. The acute sadness of this event could only be offset by the beauty with which this community comes together in times of difficulty and grief and only accepted in light of the love of a Perfect Father with whom this little angel now rests.

Please pray for these mourning families and for the entire community as we continue forward in His name. Tomorrow, though a national holiday here, we will attempt to finish the roof of the P/K building that we have used the advantage of our Easter Break to complete. Tuesday we return to school after a week + off. This Friday is our assessment day where we will test the 78 children who recently registered for next year’s preschool class. The following week we will meet as staff and with members of the community to select the 24 that will make up the class of 2028.

After that we will begin to interview for next year’s new Zambian teacher, welcome the Miedema family to campus, and say goodbye to the Roelofs. Also before the end of the year we will harvest 3 acres of beans, peanuts and okra, have 3 class trips, 76 parent teacher conferences and 1 field day. Then, the final week of school, we will host a 10 person team from Dordt College, followed immediately by a 20 person team from Calvin College. If we are still alive at that point, we will conclude the year on May 30 and then continue assisting in the transition of staff and students while continuing our construction schedule and sustainability projects.

Needless to say, your continued prayer is appreciated.

Happy Easter! May the joy of His Resurrection fill your hearts and homes.

…of mice and men

Some of you may know that Tina and I have been open to God’s calling to adopt a child for a long time – we actually talked about adopting since before we were married. Adoption and foster care were always a special part of my family growing up and I (Kevin) even worked in the field of child welfare for many years early on. Although it was not the primary purpose of our move here, we figured that coming to Zambia offered a logical time and place to take this call seriously. The statistics regarding orphans in Zambia are staggering and the local response far from adequately addresses the need.

We shared with just a few people last year that we were pursing the adoption of a specific little girl who we had visited in an orphanage nearly every week for almost a year. Sadly, it didn’t work out, and was a difficult loss for us. We’ll spare the details for now, but when things fell apart with her, we obviously didn’t understand why. We had a difficult time discerning God’s specific plan for this aspect of our family. This became even more pronounced when we regrouped more than once and attempted to pursue other scenarios, only to have more doors painfully slammed in our faces.

At one point, we even came to terms with the idea that adoption may not be, for some reason, God’s plan for our family. We reluctantly accepted this as a possibility, although it never felt right. Eventually, however, after so many dead ends, we recognized that we had been trying to lead and not following God in the process so we stepped back and prayed for God’s direction.

In hindsight, we saw that we had again gotten caught up in creating our own plan – in this case one that involved adopting a baby or an older child. When we let go of our own plans we were almost immediately presented with the option of adopting an older child – a plan that we would never have sought on our own and, honestly, brought us significant fear at the time. But, we recognized God’s voice in the call and decided, cautiously at first, to move ahead. We have had nothing but peace since.

We were quickly introduced by our social worker to a beautiful little girl in an orphanage about 4 months ago. She had been found wandering around a busy road in Lusaka almost two years ago and authorities estimated that she was around 2 years old at the time, so very rough math puts her around 4. After searching in futility for family members to claim her, including a media blitz that included national television, the authorities concluded that she had either been purposefully abandoned or that a caretaker had died or otherwise left her and she wandered away. She was placed into the care of social welfare and assigned to an orphanage where she has since lived, along with a minimum of 25 other 2-5 year old children.

Our little angel was given a new name when she first came into care, likely by another social worker or police officer. We have given her the name Teya (“Tay-ya”). We will likely never know anything about the first two years of her life – even how old she officially is, but will have the unique opportunity to give her both a new name and a new birthdate.

We visited Teya several times in the orphanage and were eventually able to take her out for the day in early February. We later had two weekend visits that went very well and it didn’t take long for her to steal the hearts of our whole family. Last month, we went in for our home study interview and were hoping to ask to be able to have her visit again, either for that weekend or for two days the following week. Our long shot was that they would let us keep her in between as well so we would have her for a full week.

Instead, the Social Welfare Officer ended up granting an indefinite pass starting that day and promised to register our court request to begin the mandatory 3 month foster period. That basically means that Teya is in our home for good as long as everything continues as it should. At this point we are waiting for a confirmation of the court date where we would obtain the official approval for fostering. In the meantime, we are scrambling to initiate the first steps in the adoption process.

We have witnessed some difficult cases with various friends and acquaintances seeking to adopt here lately so we will never be fully confident until we are all safely at home, but this was a VERY positive step. Teya has been doing very well here and it feels like a family already.

Its amazing to see her blossom here – we hardly recognize her from the little girl we first met and visited with. She spends most of her days skipping, dancing, singing and laughing all over the house. She has even shown her sassy side a bit, but we thank God that at least she is full of life!

With a process as difficult, but familiar to the one in which we had to abandon our plans for our lives and recognize and follow God’s lead to move to Zambia, we turned the sharp corner of releasing our plans to adopt a baby and embrace God’s plan to give us an older child. Also as before, we take so much peace and and joy in the benefit of hindsight that reveals how much greater God’s plans always are for us. We can’t imagine it any other way now and are beside ourselves with anticipation for bringing this angel home.

Again, we are thankful for all of your support while we are here and for walking through this next journey as well. Some specific prayer requests:

Obviously, that things with the adoption process would progress as smoothly as possible and that we would be able to leave at the end of our term here as expected. Immediately, that means that we would obtain a court date very soon and that our request to foster would be approved.

Also, that Teya would continue to acclimate to our family and receive the love that we are so ready to share with her. Please also pray for the boys who are adjusting to receiving a new sibling “mid-stream”, and a GIRL at that! (This is new territory for all of us!)

Please join us in praying for God’s direction and peace during the final stages of our service here at the Esther School. Specifically, we will soon be notifying our friends and partners here locally that we will be leaving at some point soon. This promises to be a challenging process, so please pray that they see God’s hand in this project and trust His long-term plan for the future of the school.

Pray also, please, for the transitioning staff and leadership at the school – for those of us who will be withdrawing and for those coming in. We trust that God has called those who he will equip for the unique needs of the next phase of the project and pray that the appropriate roles and responsibilities can be adequately reassigned and clearly accepted and understood by all.

Feeling blessed

Rain. And more rain. While most of our friends and family have been snowed in in a winter wonderland, we have been shoveling buckets of water out of our front door! As you can see from the pictures drew and Kevin are getting their daily workouts. We’ve even had to put sandbags in front of the doors!

Although the rain sometimes comes in excess, it has been a huge blessing to the people here in our village. They see their maize and ground nuts growing, and are able to collect rainwater for such things as laundry and bathing.

I had the opportunity last week to attend PE with Hudson and watch the preschoolers play “What time is it Mr. fox?” with Mr. Dave. The kids just love this game. Their squeals of delight were case in point. I was then able to go down to the preschool and help during “CenterTime”. I was at the flower arranging station. It was so amazing to see the kids put together beautiful bouquets and so excited to give them to their teachers! Here are a few pics from preschool…

This past Friday we had another beautiful Chapel, the favorite part of the week for most of our staff. Since preschool is currently meeting in our old “chapel” meeting space, we all squeezed into Ms. Jillian’s Grade 1 classroom. It was cozy but just perfect. We have all been taking turns leading chapel this semester, and this week happened to be our niece Lindsey’s turn. She invited our older kids to act out the parable of the Good Samaritan. She then went on to lead the kids in a time of worship. We were so proud to see her living out her faith and sharing her God given talents.

Today was a big day, as the guys woke up early for “The Big Pour”, poring the concrete slab for the new chicken run. It was a little inside joke for them, since both Kevin and Drew worked for large Concrete companies in college, and here they were pouring concrete together again, this time in Africa! we were so blessed and moved by the fact that Moline Christian School raised all the funds for this project to be possible. We are very excited to have a new home for our already existing chickens, as well as purchase new egg laying hens and broiler chickens for our lunch program.

Speaking of the lunch program, this was lunch today! 🙂

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This little one's mom, Charity, runs our school kitchen. She was one of our lead volunteers last year, working as many hours as needed and filling in for people when they didn't show. We were able to reward her for her hard work by offering her a paid position this year as our kitchen coordinator. She uses one day a week as her volunteer hours and is paid for the other 4 days. She works with and organizes the other momma volunteers and cooks breakfast and lunch every day for our 75 students and all of our volunteers. She does a wonderful job and we are so Blessed to have her as an integral part of The Esther School.

I quick stopped in Grade 1 today to take some quick pictures. I caught them during center time and they were all busy learning and having fun. Here are a few pics!

I was hoping to get to Kindergarten but they were busy with “Teacha Rachel” learning about the number 7 and I didn’t want to interrupt. 🙂

We are truly amazed with rebuilding of our preschool. As you can see the wall has already been rebuilt! We have a ways to go yet as we need new tresses and ceiling tiles. We will also be plastering and painting the interior walls, and need to rewire the electrical. All in due time. We want to thank so many of you for your outpouring of prayer support and financial support. We are so very thankful to outer church, Brookside CRC, for your special offering to help with rebuilding efforts. We were truly humbled. We have seen time and time again of the goodness of God, even in the midst of trouble.

We have had an amazing time with Drew’s mom and sister as they have been a blessing to us over these last 2 weeks. We are sad to see them go on Friday, but will be welcoming a new crew of family members. Mike and Shelby Heyboer (Caitlyn’s parents) arrive Friday and Mick and Sheri Honderd (Jillian’s parents) arrive Saturday. We are very eager to welcome them to The Esther School…and them put them to work! 🙂 Please pray for safe travels for them on their journey here.

Thanks you again to all of friends and supporters. The Lord is truly at work here in Zambia and am so excited to able to share a piece of it with you all!

Blessings Shower the Esther School

Today started like any normal day here. I got up at 5:30 to beat the Internet traffic and catch up on a few emails. After devotions, I headed out to check on the start of school and pray with the teachers. I then took off to pick up some food for lunch this week. I was able to get a box of tomatoes from a neighbor but struck out with the guy who was supposed to have saved some chickens for us. After asking around and making numerous phone calls I found some were ready at the Bible College that we work closely with. They were big and at a good price, but also at the end of a 30 minute drive through the bush during rainy season on roads that are barely passable to begin with.

I was able to get the birds, as well as some medicine and information from the American doctor there before returning, bringing a few hitchhikers with me who were leaving the clinic and trying to make it, with their newborn baby, to Chongwe which was, after the half hour ride to the road, another 20 minute drive on good road. I dropped them as far as my own village and either wished them well or deeply offended them in their native tongue.

When I finally got back to the village I was met by our local nurse who flagged me down saying she had received an emergency call from a young woman in labor trying to walk to our local clinic. So, once again, truck becomes ambulance as she jumped in, along with her elderly assistant and the 15 protesting chickens who somehow didn’t appreciate their stay of execution.

We sped back in the same direction, passing the confused hitchhikers, again walking, and travelled a short distance before finding a young woman doubled over along the road that I hadn’t noticed on the way. We quickly loaded her and brought her to the clinic before the other 16 of us returned to school. Upon arrival, because of the extra time taken, I had the pleasure of assisting in the dispatch of my remaining travel partners so as not to further delay lunch.

Fortunately, I was interrupted by a team of local bureaucrats who were checking the damage from last weeks’ storm and our subsequent progress. After meeting with them for some time I returned to help serve my old friends as part of a nutritious lunch. Just another morning at the office…

It’s so hard to believe that just one week ago we were scrambling in a downpour to assess and react to the damage inflicted by the storm that leveled our preschool building. With the help of so many in the village we were able to ensure that not a minute of school was missed. Our children returned, so pleased to find many of their things still intact and ready for them in the library. We gathered in prayer at the site of the disaster and offered thanks that no one was injured. We talked with the children about how we don’t put our hope, faith and trust in bricks, buildings or plans, but in our God alone who is bigger than any of those things.

While this has been a setback, we are so encouraged by the outpouring of support locally and across the globe. We have received many visits from local friends and government officials. We were even featured on the national news service, meaning that the story of the Esther School was literally piped into multiple thousands of homes across the country. More text messages have followed and we are grateful for the exposure.

We would also like to thank so so many of you who sent messages of support and helped spread the word about the need. We were overwhelmed by the inspiring verses, assurances of prayer and words of encouragement. Many of you have also asked about giving. For the sake of efficiency and accountability, I would direct anyone who feels led to give to send designated gifts directly through GEMS Girls Clubs or via the website at www.estherschool.org. Gifts given there can be specified for “The Esther School”, then “where most needed”.

Thank you again for your support. Below are some updated pictures.

The preschool class set up 2 hours after the storm

Mamas cleaning the toys the next day

The girls playing chiatu

Brenda helping momma in the kitchen

The preschool’s new breakfast spot

Talking to the individual classes about what happened

The morning after…

Pumpkin leafs damaged by hail

Repairs beginning

Praying with the student body and staff over the preschool building

Our new chapel spot outside the kindergarten

singing in chapel

Getrude leads chapel

The preschool is being rebuilt!

Sisters!

Katie V visiting the Esther School

Disaster Strikes the Esther School

While our day started out and carried on like any other today, it ended with a heavy blow to our progress. The afternoon threatened rain, but we stayed dry all the way through dismissal of our students and even the end of the work day for our paid employees. In fact, at around 4pm local time, several of us had just finished pulling up our pump from the 100 meter borehole well to check some trouble we’ve been having, when we noticed the sky darkening. We sent the remaining employees home to beat the storm, but they retreated to an empty house when it struck shortly thereafter.

Drew, Dave, and I (Kevin) stayed in the small pumphouse to wait out the shower and finish our work, but the storm picked up quickly. Soon, rain turned to heavy rain, then hail and the wind was blowing it all horizontally. It looked like pictures we have all seen of hurricanes. At one point the roofing sheets began to pull off, taking attached bricks with them. We had to hold on to the rafters to keep the roof from blowing off. After some time, the wind and hail let up, so we ran back up to the houses to survey the damage. Water was coming in the front doors and we found that three of Drew’s windows had blown off and the twins’ bedroom was flooding.

We were also worried about Tina, Lindsey, Rachel, Lucinda, Caitlyn and the kids as they had walked down to the orphanage for a visit and hadn’t returned. Just as we were devising a plan, one of our neighbor boys, Godfrey, came running up asking me to come with him. I began to protest, but he said: “the preschool, she is down”. I assumed he meant some roofing sheets had blown off, so I followed him, but only to find that the situation was much worse than expected.

The entire roof of the Preschool side of our P/K building had peeled off and blown away and the entire east wall of the building had collapsed, bringing a wet ceiling structure down on a classroom full of resources. Almost immediately, our employees returned and began sorting out the damage with us.

Soon, the rest of our team returned to see and help.

We were quickly joined by neighbors, some of our parents and even some students themselves as word spread and the effort mobilized. The children were soon swinging on the playground and singing praise songs they had learned in school.

Within two hours the rubble had been cleared, everything that could be salvaged was moved to the library and a temporary classroom was set up there in order to accommodate school tomorrow and for the foreseeable future. As we worked, news came in with each new helper telling of damage around the village – collapsed roofs, injuries, flooding. We found out that while the building everyone had taken shelter in at the orphanage was fine, both houses one one side also had the roof torn off and the chicken run on the other side had collapsed.

We are so thankful that no one was seriously injured and that the Preschool building was empty when it collapsed. Dave, Jean and I had just finished a meeting in that very room about 30 minutes before disaster struck and all of the children were long gone. As we wrapped up, we were even treated to a full rainbow over campus as a reminder of God’s love, protection and faithfulness.

A few more pictures with more to come I’m sure…

The roof which was peeled off and thrown up, over and about 40 feet behind the building. More sheets were found behind the bathhouse.

So thankful that no one was in this chair

Please join us in thanking God for our safety and asking His provision as we seek to rebuild.

Got Milk?

Our two youngest boys, Rowan and Hudson love milk. They even have heated discussions about who loves it more! This morning was special because we made pancakes…one of the boys favorites. And both Rowan and Hudson asked for a glass of milk to go with the yummy pancakes. I poured them two glasses of milk, turned around to flip the pancakes, turned around and both glasses of milk were gone…already drank them right down. Kevin and I are constantly telling the boys that they musn’t drink all their milk before they eat! So I started in on my daily lecture about when they drink all their milk before they eat, the milk will fill up all the “spots in their tummies” and when it comes time for the “real food” there won’t be any room. I went on to say that milk is indeed good for them…but they need real food even more…some substance…so they won’t get hungry right away. The milk will fill their bellies temporarily…they will be hungry again soon! They need something that will get them off to school and through the day! And it hit me like a ton of bricks. I have been drinking too much “milk”…not real milk. But I have been filling my time and my brain with “stuff”. Stuff that I really like…”I’ll just quick check facebook…I’ll just send this one email…I’ll quick just do the dishes/clean up the house…I’ll quick just make this call…” You get the picture. These things are not “bad” things. But they are the “milk”…filling me up that so when I finally sit down and have some “real food” (my time with God, my devotions, reading the word)…I’m already full…full of stuff…full only temporarily which will leave me hungry all day. But just like I told my kids…When you eat some “real food” first…you will be prepared for the day. Have the milk later and enjoy it. Every. Single. Drop. God doesn’t want us to live a life without enjoyment. He created us each as unique individuals with passion, with a love for so many different things! But he wants us to fill up on Him first. That is when we will truly feel satisfied.

I have been trying to dig into His word…I’ve been trying to do it first thing! It’s much easier said than done. We just had a great message at church about hungering for God’s word. His example is a bit different than mine. He was telling us how at night, when he’s watching TV and a commercial comes on about some kind of yummy food, even if he’s not hungry, he then wants a snack! When you are trying to convince someone to try something, you really should give them a taste…a sample…and most of the time they are hooked! They want more. The same is true with God’s word our pastor spoke about “milk” in a different sense. In 1 Peter 2:2 it says, “Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.” His point is that once you open your Bible and start reading, you will get a taste and you will want more. You will crave what the Lord has to say to you. It is my prayer for you and I hope you will all pray for me, as we delve into the word and crave for more!

Thought I would share some photos from the past few weeks. It has been exciting! I have had the opportunity to volunteer a bit more in some of the teachers classrooms, now with Hudson in school 3 days a week. I’m helping with one-on-one reading in Grade 1 on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I meet with 4 different students individually and try to encourage them with their sounds and words. In Kindergarten I am helping with “Around the World”. The students learn about a different country every week, pray for the people there, and try some kind of food from that country…this week was Mexico and we had Hot Chocolate. Mmmmmm. And starting next week I will hopefully be able to help with “flower arranging” during Center Time in Preschool. I’m very excited to see more of those little faces that pass by our house every morning. Some other exciting things that happened this week…water issues again, had to pull the pump, but it was successful! Fixed the leak and back to pumping. We also got to eat our harvested bananas. They are awesome and we are enjoying them every day! And one of the pictures is of Drew and Kevin grilling in the rain!

It’s beautiful weather here…warm, clear skies, just had a pop up rain shower and now the sun is shining bright. We see many rainbows here. God’s little gift to us. Blessings to you all! Tina<!

Rainy Day at the Play Dough Factory

A New Year

I can’t believe we have entered the year 2014. What an amazing journey we have been on over the last few years, but I know that God has more in store! Christmas this year was one of pure thanksgiving. As Kevin stated in an earlier post, with the help of some dear friends we were able to take the boys away for a little R&R. It was an amazing trip, full of adventure, which is right up our alley. We had some special times with the boys, some much needed time for our marriage, and most of all quiet mornings where we were able to sit outside and spend some time with God and in His word. It was truly relaxing…and we were thankful for every single minute of it. It fully refreshed us and made us most ready to get back to The Esther School and get ready for 2nd semester. Here are a few pictures from Christmas and our time away.

The kids were very excited to get back…mostly to see the Roelof kids. :o) They were also excited when Kevin told them that the bananas were ready to be harvested! We have been waiting for this moment for so long…we planted a few scraggly banana tree shoots back in August of 2012 and have been slowly watching them grow. This past summer the first tree started flowering…and not long after we saw the beginning of bananas! But it has been a slow process and now finally…in a new year…in 2014 we were able to cut the first bunch down! We still have to be patient as the bananas now need to ripen once cut, but we are all very excited for that first banana. Our work here in Zambia is very similar…as we started planting seeds that first summer in 2012. We have seen so many flowers start to blossom over the last year and a half. And although we might not still be here when those flowers turn into ripe bananas, we are so very moved, humbled yet proud, of these littleflowers and all the potential that is soon to burst forth! So fitting that we could harvest these bananas to start the new year. This first picture is of the boys planting our first trees when we first arrived in Zambia…the rest are of the harvest!

There are a lot of things happening around campus, yet again. I was busy with laundry all day (I will never complain about laundry in the states again with a washer and dryer!) and kids are in the bathtub as we speak, getting cleaned up for dinner, and then bed. All of the teachers, and Kevin are attending a 2-day teaching workshop near lusaka today and tomorrow. Parent volunteers have been busy around campus planting and working in the fields. The married housing duplex is getting it’s finishing touches so Dave & Jillian can hopefully move in this week. School begins on Wednesday. Classrooms are cleaned, rearranged, and ready for a new unit. We are so excited to see all of the students again and can’t wait to see what the rest of this year brings. His blessings to you and yourfamilies in 2014! Enjoy some pictures of some of the events happening around here…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Prayer requests:

For the first day of school – teachers and students will be ready and focussed

It is officially rainy season – prayers for safe travel for our students to and from campus

For relationships, for family time, for patience :o)

For visitors! We have many visitors coming over the next few months. Prayers for safe travels

For safety and health for our children, in our home and our students

For new families and teachers who plan to join The Esther School team this summer

Thank you for your continued prayer and support! We say this a million times, but they are truly felt here in Zambia! In Him, the DeKam fam

Christmas Greetings!

I’ve realized that I begin nearly every one of our blog posts with an apology for how long it has been since the previous update, and this may be the biggest gap yet, but I will refrain from carrying on about that….next time.  We do apologize to those of you who truly attempt to keep up with our lives and work here.  We know this blog is supposed to be one of the few but reliable ways to remain connected.  Please know that in no way does our failure to post updates reflect a lack of appreciation for all that so many of you do to support us through prayer, giving and encouragement.

We have been both blessed and challenged lately in our work here, and we hope to continue growing in our faith and expanding this project through both.  We just finished the first half of the school year for 2013-2014 and it ended on a beautiful note (literally) with our second annual Christmas Program. (Click here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MnZu1rzNPbE to watch an amazing video, prepared by our niece Lindsey, highlighting our Christmas Program this year.) 

Our students, teachers and interns worked so hard for the past few weeks: preparing costumes, memorizing lines, practicing songs and building props.  Friday morning showers moved us from our outside venue (along the retaining wall of the Kindergarten building) into a much more cramped space in the library.  We thanked God, however, for the blessing of so many students and so many families coming to watch and for the rains which have been eagerly anticipated by so many who rely on growing their own food to survive. 

While the school is our primary focus, we’ve had so many other opportunities to serve as well. In just the past couple of months we have coordinated a mobile medical and dental team, hosted a small work team from the States, begun construction on a new entrance to campus, and are nearing completion of the new Married Housing Duplex – all while continuing to operate at full steam.  We were also blessed to have Kevin’s mother spend over three weeks with us.  We enjoyed her company and help and the boys were able to stock up on some “grandma time” that they had been missing.

Grandma even got to experience some of our daily life first hand!!! 

Kevin painting the ceiling tiles for the new duplex

Brian Miedema building kitchen cabinets for the new duplex

 

Quite a team! Brian, Jake Visser, Drew & Lauren! 

Dave, and his brother Nate Draayer, painting in the new duplex

We are all looking forward to a well-deserved break now.  We are enjoying the slower pace on campus and most of us will be traveling at some point.  Thanks to a generous donation from some very special friends, our family will have the opportunity to travel out of Zambia for an extended vacation.  We are so much looking forward to the ability to fully disconnect and be restored.  After 1 ½ years of living with and around others and having very little, if any, separation between work and home, we are so grateful for the opportunity this will afford our family to spend together alone.

Please enjoy some additional photos from over the past few weeks. May Jesus fill your hearts and homes this Christmas season.

Sweet little Doreen, from the local orphanage, during prayer time at an outdoor chapel service

An attempt at a “Staff Picture” (Roelofs happened to be in the States at the time) Pictured L-R (back row) Kevin, Lindsey, Caitlyn, Dave (PE teacher), Philippa (grade 1 teacher) (front row) Tina DeKam, Therisah & Rachel (Kindergarten teachers), Gertrude & Jean (Preschool teachers, Jillian (Grade 1 ta

 

Our neighbor, Godfrey, helping Hudson. Godfrey’s mom just had a baby boy…and named him Kevin. :o) 

One our our students older siblings helping during snack time

Two neighbor girls out gathering firewood

Clayton’s chameleon friend…I think this one’s name was Pascal. (There have been quite a few!) We always let them go…

Hudson’s good friend “Robot”. Actually his name is Robert…but the kids, with their adorable accents, pronounce it “Robot” and so of course that is what Hudson calls him. Loves his friend Robby Robot. :o) 

One of our newer preschool students, Esther. She joined school, after one of our students suddenly moved out of our village. She has such a sweet spirit, and brings so much to the classroom…

First Rain

We always laugh because our friends here remember the beginning of rain season as corresponding with Independence Day, which was yesterday, and they hold religiously to that prediction. When Wednesday looked like rain and I asked Tommy about it, he shook his head and said “mailo” (mah–ee-lo which means tomorrow but, conveniently, also yesterday), because the next day was Independence. I rolled my eyes at him but, sure enough, we awoke early Thursday morning to the sound of rain on the metal roof – which sounds something like someone shaking a tin can full of BBs in your ear!

We had a very relaxing and much needed family day playing games, reading, and even watching a movie. The rain ruined our plans for a pool day with some friends in town, but the boys enjoyed playing in the mud for awhile:

Later in the day, the skies cleared and we joined the village community for a traditional celebration of music, dancing and soccer. We are always welcomed warmly at these events, and sometimes given a bit too much attention, but no longer stick out like we used to and are actually able to “blend in” and enjoy some time celebrating, relaxing and enjoying our students and families outside of school. We will try to post some more pictures later, but have had some challenges maneuvering them from camera to iPad!