Market

Petauke has many several shops run by Indians, where you can get most things that you will need.  They sell dry goods, and things for around the house.  No one shop sells everything, though, so sometimes you have to visit several in order to collect all the items on your shopping list.  The Indians give us good service because we are Westerners and they respect us – or at least, they respect our money.  We give them good business, so they like us. I have found only one shop in Petauke where I can buy real butter (not margarine) and 100% fruit juice.  These are very difficult to find anywhere else.  Things like chocolate and icecream are absolute luxury items.

The market is a busy place with many stalls.  The main foods you will find in the market are cabbage, tomatoes, rape, and onions.  I can sometimes (but not always) find green beans and green peppers as well.  The food is very cheap to us, and yet every little bit we buy helps support the Zambians who are farming it.  To give you an idea of how much things cost. . . Zambian currency is kwacha, and there are approximately 7,000 kwacha to the GBP.  I can buy a heap of potatoes for 4000K, 5-6 tomatoes for 1000K, a small bag of green beans for 1000K. . . nothing on my list costs more than 7,000K.  You can buy apples (which are expensive) and bananas but mangos and other fruits are only available a couple months out of the year, so fruit is very limited.  You can buy potatoes but sweet potatoes are very hard to find. You can buy groundnuts (peanuts) and different kinds of beans.  You can buy dried fish!   But there are lots of vegetables which it is nearly impossible to find in Petauke.

At the Zambeef shop you can buy meat (but often it is not very nice), and milk, and yoghurt, and yoghurt drink.  Sometimes I have heard that they have cheese, but I have not found any cheese yet.  What they have is always dependent on what the truck has brought.   The truck normally comes on Tuesdays and Fridays but you never know when it will actually come.

The bread in Petauke is not nice at all.  It is crumbly and impossible to make a sandwich or to butter properly.  The only nice bread I have found is the fresh buns which the women sell in the market, but that is not proper sandwich bread.

Here at the College farm, I can buy fresh eggs.  24,000K for 30 free-range eggs (approximately 3 GBP).  Sometimes I can also get fresh produce depending on how much they have available.  Feeding the students is the main responsibility of the farm, and I can always shop in the Petauke market instead.

Evicting bats

We thought that perhaps banging on the ceiling with a broomstick several times a day and unsettling them with noise and light would give them the hint that someone else was living in this house and they were welcome to leave.  Nope.  These bats just wouldn’t take a hint.  We were having no success finding where they were coming in and out of the roof.  Finally, after a week of constantly cleaning bat droppings out of our kitchen and dealing with the noise and the awful smell, it was time to evict our resident bats.

Phil and David spent some time on a ladder on both sides of the house examining the area just under the roof for any signs of where the bats were finding entrance and exit.  Then they gingerly climbed onto our very, very hot roof (which is simply metal sheets) in the blazing mid-day sun and using sticks and hammers, began prying the metal sheets up so that they could look underneath and find the bats.  They couldn’t find them at first, because as soon as the bats were disturbed they moved to a different corner.  After a while they chased them down and Phil, who was lying on his stomach on the hot roof with his head stuck down under the metal sheet, was able to see the bats huddled in the corner alongside the central beam of the house, over the kitchen ceiling.

They sprayed the area liberally with Raid, just to annoy the bats really because it wouldn’t actually affect them, and then replaced the metal sheet because it was getting too hot to do anything just then.  They came back just at dark planning to lift the roof again, remove the bats and block all the cracks and crevices so that they wouldn’t be able to get back in. However, that night when they came back, they discovered the bats had already left.  Apparently having their “cave” broken into was finally the last straw for them.  Thankfully, they haven’t come back.

I have a few photos of Operation Bat Removal, which I would love to post for you.  Hopefully one of these days the internet will be functioning unbelievably well and I will be able to share photos!

UPDATE: (four days later)  The bats did come back.  So Operation Bat Removal was underway again.  This time several of the students and someone from town were hired to remove large portions of the roof, and the bats were forcibly removed.  Then all the cracks and crevices between the roof and the ceiling were filled in with concrete to prevent them from returning.

UPDATE: (one week later)  Today (the day I am posting this) I had a surprise waiting for me when I was running the washing machine this morning.  I suddenly saw a bat crawling -- I don't know where it came from -- and it crawled into the bottom of the washing machine!  I could hear it rattling around inside, and I didn't know what to do.  So I waited, and in a few minutes (because the washing machine was on, so I'm sure it didn't like being below all the noise and vibrations) it came back out, and then it climbed on top of my laundry basket.  It was looking for a place to roost.  It was very interesting to see it climbing up and down on things, all while upside down!  Eventually it made its way across the floor to the door, where it tried to roost behind the door, and that is where it met its demise.  It was sad to kill it, but I don't like having live bats in the house.

Welcome to Petauke

I apologize that you haven’t heard anything from me since we arrived in Lusaka.  After I posted my last entry, I was informed that the internet bandwidth where we were staying was so limited that we should only check our email once a day – NO other webpages.  So the blog had to wait.  After we arrived at Covenant College, the satellite dish for the internet was still broken and we had to wait for the technician to finally come out and fix it.  Unfortunately even now the fixed internet is still not 100% and I have to plug my computer into the modem in Phil’s office in order to get a strong enough connection to update my blog!  So I am writing blog posts in Word while offline, and then posting them all at once when I have the opportunity and the internet will cooperate.

So, on the 18^th of February, we drove from Lusaka to our new home at Covenant College.  Well, I say we “drove” but actually we rode with Phil, the Farm Manager at the College.  It was a beautiful day to travel and the five hours went by quite quickly.  I am delighted to inform you that I saw my first African wildlife on this trip!!  We saw several baboons on the side of the road as we approached the Luangwa River.   Yes, as unbelievable as it may seem, I never saw a single wild animal during my 3 months in Uganda in 2008, and was bitterly disappointed, so the opportunity to see baboons before I even arrived in Petauke was exhilarating!

Anyway, we arrived at Covenant College around 3pm and moved our 4 trunks into our new home.  There are welcoming flower beds at the front of the house with marigolds, canna lilies and other pretty plants.  It is a small but adequate house, with one bedroom, a living area, kitchen, toilet, shower, mudroom/laundry area, and an extra room/bedroom at the other end of the house.  When we arrived we quickly realized that the ceiling over the kitchen was inhabited by a colony of bats!  They were making their presence known not only by the huge racket overhead (it sounded like a couple hundred mice running back and forth) but also by the large amount of droppings all over my kitchen counters, sink, floor, everything.

We had just enough time to scope out the situation, set up Elijah’s travel cot, find the things we would need that night and familiarize ourselves slightly with our surroundings before we went for dinner at the Molenaars’ at 5pm.  The whole team was there: the Molenaars (Cees, Mirjam, Joas, Rhoda, Obed, and Moses), the Zwemstras (Heinrich, Jacomien, Cobus, Nelrie, and Anel), Phil, Marjanne, Mark, and two other Dutch NGO girls, Annika and Janet.  Only ourselves and Phil are native English speakers!  Cees and Heinrich are the other lecturers, Phil manages the farm, Marjanne heads up the Christian Education Ministry, and Mark is the tutor for Joas and Rhoda Molenaar.  It was an enjoyable dinner gathering and for me, it was good to finally put faces with names!  We received a warm welcome from our new colleagues and it has been fun getting to know them.

Our first full day in the house was spent in “clean and fix” mode.  The top priority was screening the windows and doors with mosquito netting, and David spent the whole day finding ingenious ways to rig the netting up until he had made the whole house livable.  I was scrubbing the bat dung out of my kitchen so that I could unpack my pots and pans into clean kitchen cabinets.

Now that we are unpacked and have done some fixing-up and organization of the house, it is starting to feel like home.  I hope to be able to post some photos soon, but there is no way to know whether the internet will be good enough to upload anything. It is a struggle just to get it to update my blog!

Zambian weather (and photos)

I was asked a good question about what season it is here in Zambia.  Right now we are in the rainy season which runs from approximately November to approximately March (give or take a month or so).  It is quite warm this time of year, around 85 degrees F during the day (not sure how warm it is at night).  In the sun at mid-day it's still pretty intense.  The warmest time of year is from September to November-ish.  It gets very, very hot then, and very dry because the rains haven't come yet.  They don't really have a "winter" here.  The coldest time of year is between June-August, but it doesn't exactly get cold, just chilly (the Africans feel the cold though).  Temperature-wise it's far more like autumn than actual winter!

Below is a photo of a couple of the boys slaughtering the old hog which had gotten too big to 'service' the females anymore, so he has now been turned into bacon:

Elijah meeting the newborn piglet!  He reached out his hand immediately to pet it, and here I am prompting him to stroke it gently.

 The six piglets were born yesterday.

 These lambs were born yesterday as well.  The mother is the brown one and the father is the black-and-white one.

 The boys preparing their lunch - 'nshima' which is ground maize (corn) boiled into a very thick porridge which is eaten in chunks with 'relish' of meat or vegetables.

 Elijah making new friends!

 Looking at the new ducklings who hatched this week.  They were in the far corner of the duck house.

new blog title

Hey folks, if you'd be willing to suggest new titles for my blog. . . now that we are no longer residing in Scotland, 'thistle epistles' doesn't quite suit anymore. . . I will appreciate any creative suggestions, especially ones that might be clever for a blog in Africa.  Comment away!

goodbye Glasgow. . . hello Zambia

This is our first full day in Zambia!  We are staying with friends in Lusaka, the capital. They have a farm
and host 25 boys who would otherwise be living on the streets.

We arrived very early yesterday morning after an all-night flight from London.  Elijah slept pretty well.  The flight was virtually empty -- only 75 people on board.  I was amused that as soon as we reached altitude and the seat belt sign went off, people immediately began wandering the plane and introducing themselves to each other.  "Hi, I'm from the Copperbelt, do you live in Zambia too?"  (The Copperbelt is the province in the north of Zambia. ) The people sitting directly behind us were American missionaries.  We were on the same flight with our Farm Manager, Phil, as well as one of the Dutch girls who is an NGO worker in the town that we will soon call home.  It was nice to see so many friendly faces.  I noted that the African couple seated a couple of rows back were praying quietly together during the flight.

I actually might have gotten a little bit of sleep if it wasn't for the seat belt sign which kept going on because of turbulence, which meant that I had to keep Elijah strapped to me and hold him as he slept.  Otherwise I would have made him a bed on the extra seat and curled up myself!

We are thankful that when we reached Lusaka airport, since we knew where we were going this time (David having visited once before) we were able to get to the front of the line in immigration, which went very smoothly.  All our bags were on the belt by the time we cleared immigration so we were able to collect them quickly, and we had no trouble in customs.

It is hot here.  :)  Obvious, I know, and probably over-stated too, but it does need to be said.  I haven't encountered hot weather since I married David, 19 months ago, and it is admittedly a brutal shock to the system when arriving straight from the chill of Glasgow.  But thankfully it isn't as bad as it could be!  I know that we have arrived as things are beginning to cool down (September and October are the hottest months of the year).

More later, but for now it's time to get Elijah settled into bed.  For those of you who might be wondering, we're at GMT+2 here which means 7 hours ahead of the East Coast, and 2 hours ahead of the U.K.

crunch time

We've booked tickets for Zambia!

We're moving on the 9th of February.

That's 41 days away.

Of those 41 days. . .

18 will be spent in the States.

4 are Lord's Days.

Which means that only 19 days remain in which we can finish all our packing and all our preparations.  Finish working out all the logistics of international shipping of our belongings.  Finish making all the purchases here and in the States of all the miscellany that needs to be toted to Africa with us.  Finish cleaning the house.  Finish pulling all my hair out.  Finish going stir-crazy.

Ahem. 

And of those 19 days. . . one will be taken up by our open-house this Saturday (which I still need to do all the baking and cleaning for).  And one will be taken up by David's ordination on the 28th of January.  And that leaves us with 17.

SEVENTEEN DAYS!!!!

Elijah update

maybe if I post photos of my adorable 5 and 1/2 month old son, someone will comment on my posts?

Elijah is now eating a little bit of solid (mashed/pureed) foods and still breastfeeding as much as ever.  He loves to eat.  He is fascinated with water bottles and loves taking a sip when we will let him.  He is very happily interacting more and more with his toys, and he loves books, and when we sing to him.  He also loves anything paper, which will be quickly crumpled and salivated upon until it is unrecognisable!  He will sleep anywhere, which is quite handy.  He loves to cuddle and is taking an interest in touching Mama and Daddy's faces when they hold him.  We get ear-splitting grins and cute giggles from this little guy on a daily basis.  When we are out and about, he makes instant friends with strangers in the elevator, on the bus, on the train, on the tube, at restaurants...  His smile brightens their day.  I have watched him actually looking down the aisle on the train for someone to catch his eye so he can smile at them.  (I think he gets bored with just Mama and Daddy all the time and wants to interact with somebody else!)

in London last week

 his first chinese food ;-)

Elijah loves food.  Particularly if it's food that he sees his mama and daddy eating!

see that little face?  "More, mama, more!"

don't worry, I didn't give him any of my spicy Indian food (though I did let him taste my mango lassi!)

what Elijah does on the train!

what Elijah does on the bus

and then he does this

and more of this

and when he wakes up he does this :)

Elijah had his first sweet potato at Thanksgiving... 

but what he desperately wanted was some of Daddy's turkey leg!

home again

We are home, safe and sound, after a very fun but tiring trip south -- first to Wales, and then on to London. 

We left early on Thursday morning.  It was quite an adventure just getting out of Glasgow, which was snow-bound and icy!  Our train to Birmingham was scheduled to leave at 10am and to catch it, we had to get from our house on the West End to the train station in the city centre.  We phoned for a taxi first, thinking that would be the most reliable form of transportation. . . and were informed that no taxis would be available for at least an hour, if at all.  Well, that would have made us miss our Birmingham train, so we decided to walk to the nearest train station and hopefully catch a train into the city centre, since supposedly the local trains were running.  Well, we reached the station after a treacherous and difficult 15-minute hike through the snow dragging our luggage. . . and when our train arrived, no one was allowed to board it!  Because so few trains were back up and running, those which WERE running were hugely over-crowded, and the conductors refused to let anyone else board the packed train.  Now we were starting to really get concerned.  It looked like we were going to have all our plans scuppered simply because we couldn't journey the 5 miles from our house to city centre in time to catch our train south.  We had two choices - we could wait at least 30 minutes for the next train to come through, which was severely delayed and which we had NO guarantee they would let us board.  Or we could walk back down to the main road and hopefully catch a bus which would take us to city centre. . . a risky choice, since the buses were only running once every half hour and were facing severe delays because of slippery roads.  But that seemed to be our best option.  Thankfully, the Lord controls all these things and we were able to quickly catch a bus which got us to the city centre train station FIVE minutes before our train was scheduled to depart!!

At which time we were informed that our Birmingham train was canceled and we would be placed on the next train to London which was leaving 45 minutes later.

So we boarded that train and finally left Glasgow after a chaotic, stressful start to our journey.  Unfortunately, being on the train to London meant that we would have to transfer and catch a different train part-way through our journey, which just added to the nail-biting experience.  The whole way south we were wondering if we were going to make our connection in Birmingham.  It was touch-and-go because the train was so delayed and because the transfer took up precious time.  We arrived in Birmingham at the exact time our bus was scheduled to LEAVE Birmingham -- but again, the Lord was gracious to us, and even though we had a frantic 10-minute walk from the train station to the bus station, our bus was delayed long enough that we caught it with PLENTY of time to spare!  Isn't God good?  :)

So then we were on our way to Cardiff by bus.  It was a smooth and uneventful ride, apart from being delayed and arriving in Cardiff an hour later than expected.  We then caught a local bus to get to our friends' house where we would be staying.  David thought he knew where we were going, but he didn't, and we got off the bus at the wrong place and were lost in Cardiff, in the dark, in the freezing cold.  Thankfully we called our friends and they came out in the car and rescued us!  It made for a very long, stressful day of travel but we were thankful to arrive in Cardiff in one piece, and very thankful that in spite of all the hiccups, we didn't have to re-book any of our tickets because the Lord worked all the timing out!

We had an absolutely lovely weekend.  It was fun staying with our friends Todd and Kathyryn and their four children.  For David it was a renewal of old acquaintances (they went to seminary together) and I was enjoying getting to know them for the first time. 

On Saturday we attended the wedding of our dear friends Colin and Victoria. It was a beautiful wedding with lots of smiles and laughs, good food and amusing speeches.  We are so happy to see them married and starting their new life together.

On Sunday we worshipped in Cardiff with Todd and Kathyryn, and had a restful day.  Then we were up bright and early Monday morning to catch our bus to London.  Thankfully the bus trip went more smoothly than our previous travels!  The background to our London trip (for those of you who don't know) is that on July 11th, 2008, David and I met for the first time in London, and that meeting was what eventually resulted in us getting married exactly one year later (on July 11th, 2009).  We weren't able to go back to London for our 1-year anniversary on July 11th, 2010 because we had a newborn baby occupying our time and attention and mama wasn't up to traveling either.  :)  When we were planning our trip south to Cardiff, David suggested that we take a detour on the way home and spend one night in London, to retrace our steps from 2008.  :)  It was a romantic suggestion which I eagerly accepted!  So that's why we took the bus to London. 

We arrived in the early afternoon on Monday and took the tube to the place we would be staying.  Before I go any further, let me just say that it is SO difficult juggling two pieces of luggage, a diaper bag, a suit bag, a collapsible stroller, a backpack, and a baby up and down flights of stairs to get around on the tube!!  Even with the two of us (and we are both strong) we were struggling to manage it all.  We were very thankful for the few tube stations which had elevators!

The Highbury Centre is a Christian guesthouse in North London which provides reasonably-priced B&B accommodation.  David and I each stayed there in 2008 and so we planned to stay there again, only booking one room this time.  ;-)  We left our luggage there (oh the relief!) and headed back out (it was late afternoon by now) to retrace our steps.  We started out at the British Museum which was where our evening had started in 2008, but we took it at a bit more relaxed pace this time.  Then we headed out in search of the particular Chinese restaurant where we had dinner together in 2008.  The thing was, we didn't remember what the name of the restaurant was OR where it was located!  We only had a vague direction that we knew we needed to walk in, and we both remembered that it was on a corner on the right side of the road, and it was a two-story restaurant.  Amazingly, we found it!!  And it took less than 20 minutes.  The food was good and we enjoyed our dinner together.  Then we started out again on our walking tour of London.  We walked to Trafalgar Square and then to Buckingham Palace before making our way towards the Houses of Parliament and Westminster Abbey.  By the time we had gotten that far, Elijah was cold and tired and very unhappy being in the stroller. We wanted to find a cafe or something where we could sit and have something warm to drink while I nursed him, but we couldn't find one and he was crying.  So I ended up having to sit on a damp wooden bench in the garden behind Westminster Abbey, nursing Elijah outside on a damp briskly cold night!  Ahhh, the joys of motherhood.  Brrrr, just thinking about it makes me shiver!  After that we were all a bit worn out and Elijah was becoming undone, so we just took the tube back to the Highbury Centre and settled in for the night, having worn ourselves out completely.

On Tuesday morning, after having a leisurely breakfast and assembling our luggage once again, we maneuvered our way through the tube to King's Cross where we would later catch our train home to Glasgow.  There we left the two heaviest pieces of luggage so that we could travel a bit lighter, and then we headed out by tube towards the Tower of London.  We walked from there across Tower Bridge, which David and I both have clear memories of doing together in 2008 -- we were paying more attention to our conversation and enjoying each other's company than we were the scenery, I think!  Then we went in search of a place where we could eat lunch, and after wandering around for more than half an hour, we found an Indian restaurant close to London Bridge.  YUM. I was really in the mood for some Indian food and that hit the spot.

Then we returned to King's Cross but we still had a long time before our train left, so we walked down to the British Library, which we had never been to before.  Another of my husband's brilliant ideas.  :)  We specifically wanted to see the Gutenberg Bible, and we did!   We also saw the Magna Carta.  I could have walked around in there for hours.  It was such a fascinating place.

Our train left London at 3pm and we reached Glasgow at 9pm.  Those hours were spent cuddling a tired baby who was  ready to be home, and trying to keep him happily occupied.  We are so thankful to have a little boy who is such a good traveler, and who will sleep anywhere!  It would be very difficult to take these trips and to travel by bus or train for hours if that wasn't the case.  Hopefully he will do just as well on his first transatlantic flight next month.  :)  Today we are resting and recovering -- all three of us are worn out, but it was a fun time and brought back many happy memories (and made new ones).  We took lots of photos which I have posted on Facebook, and I will try to post a few on here eventually.

short, overdue update!

It's cold.

We're busy.

It's really difficult to post on my blog when I haven't posted in a while.  It's really rather self-defeating. I sit here with my fingers poised over the keyboard, and think, "Where do I start?"  And then because I can't figure out where to start, I don't start, and nothing gets posted, and then the next day the exact same sequence happens again.

Anyway.

It is bitter cold here. And snowy.  And icy.  And it has been for two weeks now.  And I am tired of my toes being cold, even when I am wearing socks and slippers!

Elijah has one tooth, and I'm positive he's working on a second, because the grumpiness has increased rather than decreasing.  He is curious about everything.  I can keep him occupied for fifteen minutes with a brightly colored unopened package of gum.  To be honest, Elijah is the main reason I haven't posted.  I have a hard enough time keeping up with the laundry and dishes, while constantly occupying Mr. Cute-but-Demanding Five-Month-Old. 

Speaking of which, this is all I am able to post right now because we are heading towards naptime!

the day David didn't ask me to marry him

Two years ago at this time, David and I were in a long-distance relationship (he was in Scotland, I was in North Carolina -- we were talking on the phone every day) and knew that we wanted to get married.  We were already discussing wedding details and trying to figure out when our respective schedules would allow us to see each other again.  Even though we both had no doubts about whether we were going to get married, the "official" engagement had to wait until David could fly to the States to see me and my family.  He wanted to "pop the question" in person.

This led to an inside joke between us.  During our phone conversations David would often jokingly ask me to marry him -- "practicing," he explained, "for the real thing."  Of course, I never answered him -- that was part of the joke.

David flew over to the States to visit me in November of 2008.  My 21st birthday was the 23rd of November, and he arrived just a couple days before that.  He was trying to think of a way that he could surprise me with the engagement ring, but that was going to be a challenge because 1) I knew that he was planning to officially propose (no surprise there, as we were already beginning to plan our wedding), and 2) I knew that he wanted to propose before my birthday, so that I would have my engagement ring as a birthday present!  That didn't leave him very much time to figure out how to catch me off guard!

David arrived on the Thursday, and my birthday was the Sunday.  On the Saturday, David dropped me off at work and came back several hours later to pick me up when my shift ended.  While on his way to pick me up, he decided that he was going to put the ring box on the passenger seat so that I would see it when I got into the car.  He threw his coat onto the seat and thought, "When she opens the door, she'll move the coat and see the ring, and then I'll ask her to marry me." Well, I opened the car door and saw the coat lying there, and all in one quick, unsuspecting move I picked it up, tossed into the back seat, and sat down!  Right on top of the ring box!  David immediately pulled the ring box out from under me, and without thinking, made a beautiful backhand toss, casually flipping the ring box into my lap.

His exact words: "There, it's yours if you want it!"

I opened the ring box, and there was a gorgeous diamond ring.  My response: "Will you put it on my finger please?"

And THAT is the story of how we became engaged.  Only later did we realize that David never did ask me to marry him -- even after all those months of "practice!"  And I never said yes!

However, he did successfully catch me off guard. :-D

We have had many, many good laughs about our unconventional engagement -- I'm certain that's not the only unconventional thing we've done, but it makes for a good story!

That was November 22, 2008.  Two years ago today.  And tomorrow we will have been married for 500 days.

big news

I'm really sorry that I've been so negligent of this blog.  I promise that my thoughts are with you, my friends, even though I haven't had the time to post!

So, some of you may have already heard our big news either through Facebook, or through church circles.  We are moving to Zambia!  My love has been appointed as a full-time lecturer of theology at Covenant College in Petauke, Zambia.  You can read more about the college and its related ministries here: http://www.zambianmissionsupport.org/covenant-college/

As you can imagine, there are many details and logistics that must be worked through as we prepare to go.  The term starts again at Covenant College on 15 February, and Lord willing we intend to be in Zambia before that date so that we have time to settle in a little bit before David dives head-first into teaching full-time!  However, we only have about five weeks to get everything done at this point!  We have a few trips planned between now and then - to Skye for a friend's induction, to Wales for a friend's wedding, and then. . . drum-roll please. . . to the States in January!

Yes, we are coming to the States.  We are so excited and thankful that the Lord has provided for this!  If you are in or near Philadelphia, Norfolk, Charlotte or Greenville, SC -- we may be coming to a church near you!  There are many purposes for this trip, among which are 1) renewing our driver's licenses, 2) sorting through our stateside belongings, 3) visiting family, and 4) sharing about the work in Zambia in a few churches that are near and dear to us.  We want to enlist your prayers for the labors and laborers there.  And in the process of doing so, we are looking forward to seeing many of you, our dear friends!  :-)

We'd appreciate your prayers for many things -- here's a few:
1) For all the nitty-gritty and very tiring details to come together smoothly.  Such as: our research into international medical insurance, wills and naming next-of-kin (not-so-enjoyable but necessary), shipping companies (cost, logistics, etc), the purchase of a suitable vehicle and possible shipment of said vehicle (again, cost, logistics, timing, etc), the process of David's ordination in the FCoSC (our denomination), the oversight of our Home & Foreign Missions committee as they help sort through all the details with us, the process of applying for a work permit in Zambia and jumping through all the necessary hoops on that end, all the major and minor purchases that must be made, wisdom to know what we should take with us and what we should leave behind (and where we should leave it).  Complicating all of this is the fact that we are already living in two countries at once (half our belongings are still in the States) and so we will probably end up with things in storage in both countries.  Those are just some of the things that are weighing on us these days!

2) For safety in all our travels, for strength and endurance and patience and good health for all of us, and particularly for Elijah as I think he's going to be one of the most widely-traveled babies by the time he is one year old!  He has many hours in buses, trains, and airplanes ahead of him, poor wee man.  So far we are very thankful that it appears the Lord has blessed us with a son who is a good traveler, but we continue to pray for these travels to be as easy upon him as possible.

We are very, very excited about this new place God is leading us to.  Some have expressed surprise that we are leaving Scotland.  We are surprised (in a way) to be leaving Scotland -- we didn't have any "intention" of leaving, nor any indication until now that we might be, but we were seeking the Lord in all these things and open to following wherever He led, and He has made it very clear that He brought us to Scotland for a purpose, and now He is taking us to Zambia for a purpose.  And we are very thankful for His continued guidance and provision.  It is encouraging to have direction!

I will try to post more photos soon -- but if it takes a while, have patience (but don't give up on me!).  As you can see from the list above, we will have a lot calling for our attention, and you can add to my list a baby and a husband who both need lots of cuddles and attention and care each day!  :-)

a teaser. . .

. . .to keep you occupied while you wait for further updates!

yes, we are still alive!

I'm not going to make excuses about my lack of blogging.  It was for a very good reason - I have had nearly non-stop company for a month straight now!

When I last posted, my parents and my four youngest siblings were here for a visit!  And my lovely husband was away in Zambia for two weeks.  While my family was here, we were going NON-STOP.  The first week, we bought 7-day bus passes and went around Glasgow seeing the local sights.  The first day we went to Glasgow Cathedral, the second day we saw the ruined remains of the Antonine Wall (the northernmost boundary of the Roman Empire), the third day we went to the Clydebuilt Maritime Museum which presents the history of the city of Glasgow and its shipping industry. . . and so on.

Then we finished up the week by traveling by train up to Aberdeen to visit good friends who have known my parents for something like 25 years!  We stayed overnight with them and enjoyed an outing to Crathes Castle in Aberdeenshire the next day, and then caught the train back that night. The next day, Thursday Sept 30th, David arrived home from Zambia around 11pm. . .

The next morning (Friday) all 9 of us were out the door by 9am to catch the train and spend the day in Stirling.  We saw the William Wallace Monument, visited Stirling Castle and walked around Stirling for a little while.

The next day (Saturday) we took the train to Balloch, and walked a couple of miles around Loch Lomond, and enjoyed fish and chips with my family.

The next day (the Lord's Day) we enjoyed worship at both services, and an afternoon of fellowship with our minister and his family who had us over for a meal.

The next day (Monday) we were again out the door bright and early to take the train to Edinburgh for another day of sightseeing!  We went to Edinburgh Castle, visited the Grassmarket and walked part of the Royal Mile.

The next day (Tuesday) poor David had to be out the door by 7:30am for a day of committee meetings in Inverness.  The poor man, who had hardly had a chance to catch his breath since traveling for nearly two days straight the week before, arrived home that night weary and sick with a cold!  And no wonder.

The next day (Wednesday) we had one group of friends over for lunch, and a separate group of friends over for dinner!  Lots of fellowship.

The next day (Thursday October 7th) was the last day of my family's visit.  The morning was chaotic as we tried to help them finish packing and get out the door for their travel to the airport. We loved having my family here!  So thankful they were able to come!

We had a few days to recover before David's mother arrived for a visit on Tuesday October 12th.  We didn't do any sight-seeing with her (but then again, she's lived in Scotland before!).  It was more a quiet week, which was good because David was recovering from being sick and poor Elijah had gotten his cold, and was teething also!  David's father joined us on the 15th and we had a good visit with them over this past weekend before they left on Tuesday morning.

Since they left, we have had a very busy week (and I've gotten a cold now).  Yesterday we joined in the centenary celebration of the Partick congregation, which was a blessed event.  We had more company staying with us last night - our dear friends Davide and Debora and their three girls.  What a blessing it has been to have the extra room now that we are living in this lovely manse!  It has certainly come in handy!  :)  Today we enjoyed a Reformation Conference hosted by the Knightswood congregation with stirring talks putting us into remembrance of our spiritual heritage.

And what's next?  Well. . . stay tuned!  Juicy details to follow in the next few days!  :-D

It's a delight to have my parents and four younger siblings here for a visit.  They are loving getting to know Elijah.  As I am writing this, my mom is holding Elijah and talking to him, and he is talking right back in his own special coo-and-babble-and-laugh language.  I have never heard such a talkative baby of his age (not quite three months old).  He is already putting together sounds, he "talks" in response to us talking to him, and he seems to be desperately trying to communicate with us.  What a cutie.  Even when he refuses to go to sleep at 12:30am because he is talking away and laughing hysterically, it's cute. . .

We have excursions planned for every day, mostly in the mornings so that Elijah can still get a proper nap in the afternoons.  On Thursday we went to Glasgow Cathedral and were given an informal tour of the cathedral.  It was quite interesting, but sad to see so many of the vestiges of its Catholic history still lingering - in the crosses, the small chapels in every alcove, the stained glass which breaks the 2nd commandment, etc.  What a massive and impressive building - took more than 400 years to build!  We also walked through the "oldest house in Glasgow" on our way back to the bus stop.  We would have walked up the Necropolis, but it was a very rainy day and not nice weather for trudging up a steep, slippery hillside.

Today we took the bus up to Bearsden and visited the ruins of the Antonine Wall, the northernmost boundary of the Roman Empire.  There are a few sections of it still visible, including the ruins of a bath house which was once part of one of the garrisons which was along the wall.  On our way to find one of the remaining sections of the Antonine Wall, we wandered through the Old Kilpatrick cemetery which had an amazing view of the hills north of Glasgow.  It was a stunningly beautiful sunny day.

Tomorrow we are planning to visit the Clydebuilt maritime museum, which my dad will probably find quite interesting because of his naval background.  We have lots of day trips planned for the following week or two... Aberdeen, Stirling, Edinburgh, and Loch Lomond. . . so stay tuned. . .

But what I am REALLY looking forward to is having my husband home from his travels.  I miss him so much and it's hard to fully enjoy things when he's not here with me.  I am thankful that his trip seems to be going very well so far.  We are both hoping the days speed quickly away towards Thursday!!

Two are better than one, 

Because they have a good reward for their labor. 

For if they fall, one will lift up his companion. 

But woe to him who is alone when he falls, 

For he has no one to help him up. 

Again, if two lie down together, they will keep warm; 

But how can one be warm alone? 

Though one may be overpowered by another, two can withstand him.

And a threefold cord is not quickly broken. 
Ecclesiastes 4:9-12

Words cannot describe how much I miss my husband when he's away.  Those of you women who are military wives, I respect you from the bottom of my heart, because there is no way I could cope with what you valiantly face on a regular basis!

I am married to a man who works from home.  This has its own special set of blessings and difficulties which are different from the blessings and difficulties we would face if he worked a regular 9-to-5 job or if he traveled frequently. It makes it particularly difficult when he's away because I am so accustomed to his presence.

It's as though I am walking around with half of me missing.  It leaves me discombobulated and disoriented.  I feel lost and bewildered. I can't concentrate.  I flit from one thing to another, unable to focus my thoughts and energies or make rational sense out of my day.  I can't think through things clearly because my emotional compass, my support, is missing.  I am used to discussing everything with him and relying on him every day.

It's not good for my health!  I forget to eat regular meals. I lose my appetite.  Even chocolate icecream loses its appeal (shocking, I know).  When the cupboards are bare I wander the supermarket in a daze, not sure what to buy, because cooking for one is so depressing.

I become manically attached to my computer whenever there is any chance that he will be around for a chat, and, I must admit, many times when there is no chance, "just in case."  I have been known to stay up until 4am and finally succumb to exhaustion in front of my computer when he didn't appear for a scheduled good-night chat.  (Later, I found out that his co-worker on night shift had hogged the computer all night.  I could have strangled that unsuspecting, totally oblivious, inconsiderate co-worker.  And my husband for being so non-confrontational!)

Right now my love is in Zambia visiting Covenant College for two weeks.  This is the longest we've been apart since we got married.  I have been trying to just get through one day at a time without losing my mind.  I have been able to talk with David a couple times since he left, but the hiccuping internet connections and sketchy phone connections sometimes make Zambia seem even further away, though I am grateful to be able to hear his voice!

I am grateful that Elijah and I were able to spend 4 days with our dear friends Gavin and Allison and their 6 children. . . it was nice to have the company and the distraction.  Now I am busy preparing for my family (my parents and my 4 youngest siblings) to arrive here tomorrow!!  They will be visiting us for just over two weeks.  We have all sorts of fun sight-seeing planned whole they are here, and of course they are looking forward to seeing Elijah, who is a popular guy, it seems!  :)

My sweet boy is such a charmer.  He has developed an intoxicating little giggle and the widest ear-splitting grin you can imagine.  He is a tease (like his daddy!) and a cheeky little monkey.  I have so much fun with him, watching him get more responsive by the day!!  Tonight as I was putting him to bed he decided he was going to grin at me instead of eating properly, and then he abandoned his food entirely and spent 10 minutes laughing his head off at everything I did, before he was willing to continue nursing.  Then when I finally thought he was asleep in his bed, he woke up a few minutes later and amused himself by cooing very loudly and getting more and more worked up.  Eventually I went back upstairs to try to settle him down.  Without turning on the light I leaned over his basket to quiet him down and see if he would take his pacifier (often he will fall asleep almost immediately if I get him to stop waving his arms and keeping himself awake. . . silly boy).  As soon as he sensed that I was in the room, though, his tone changed and he started laughing at me again and "singing" to me.  Irresistable! 

I'm back!

We are now moved in to the new place.  :-)  Nicely settled with only a couple boxes still left to deal with. . . mostly Elijah's clothes that are either one size too small or one (or more) sizes too big, which I am still trying to figure out what to do with.  He's currently in between sizes which makes it very difficult to decide what should be brought out and what should be packed away!

I feel like I'm living in the lap of luxury - I now have a dishwasher and a double oven and a pulley system for hanging my washing indoors!

Sorry for the lapse in blogging.  It was quite a saga getting our phone and internet set back up after the move.  Then we finally thought we had it sorted, and our phone line was suddenly disconnected, and we still haven't figured out why or who did it.  That sent us all the way back to square one, and we had to wait another week for our phone line to finally be reconnected, and then we had to wait for our internet to be reconnected. . . and now here we are, and hopefully that is over and done with!

I am hoping to get caught up with posting photos of the wee man soon. He is getting SO big!  Right now, in fact, he is wearing something marked "3-6mos."  *sigh*  I don't understand baby clothes sizes.  Half of his "0-3mos" clothes don't fit him, and half of his "3-6mos" clothes DO.  And he is 2 months old!  No wonder it's been such a headache sorting out his clothing after this move. 

At the moment he is sitting in his car seat smiling at me, flailing his arms and kicking his little legs.  We have such fun together!  He is so responsive, it amazes me each day.  Already he is noticing if I leave the room, even for an instant, and he doesn't like it!  He is so much happier if mama is right there talking to him. . . or better yet, holding him!

So, yes.  We are all doing very well.  Elijah is sleeping well and eating well, for which we are very thankful.  David is keeping busy with preaching engagements.  We had another whirlwind trip to Skye last weekend - our first long-distance trip as a family.   and I will post more another time, because the munchkin wants fed!

Well, we're moving house bright and early tomorrow morning, so this is just a quick note to say that I won't be posting for a few weeks until we get our phone and internet hooked up in the new place. . . Stay tuned!  :-)