Camping trip day 1: Kasanka National Park

Note: We (David, myself, Elijah, and our colleague Marjanne) traveled from Petauke to Lusaka on Thursday 9^th June and spent Friday running errands – renewing the vehicle insurance, shopping, etc.  The weekend was a really relaxing start to our holiday as we visited with friends and enjoyed good food!

DAY 1: KASANKA (Mon 13^th June)

We left Lusaka at 6.20 Monday morning 13^th June and met the Zwemstras just outside of town on the Great North Road.  The road was VERY good and we were all impressed!  The difference between the Great North Road (also known as the Chinese Road, because the Chinese have engineered it) and the Great East Road (built by Indians) which runs through Eastern Province – a much more backwoods area – was stark.  Not a pothole to be seen!

We reached the front gate of Kasanka National Park around 2.30 but had to travel a further 35 kilometers within the park on a narrow bumpy road before we reached the campsite which was on a hillside overlooking water where antelope gathered.  Phil (who had business in the North and traveled up separately) had reached the campsite the day before and was settled in, waiting for us.  The campsite was not what you would imagine if you are used to camping in American campgrounds – there was no running water, no flush toilets, no picnic tables, no BBQ pit. . .  It was what we would call “primitive.”  J  The camp facilities were comprised of a long-drop toilet (if you don’t know what that is – come visit Africa!  HA HA HA) and a bucket shower, and a hide on the hilltop where you could watch the wildlife and birdlife.  The camp attendant brought firewood and buckets of warm water for anyone who wanted to use the bucket shower.  We set up camp and then the men and Marjanne and the kids went to the Fibwe Hide to explore while Jacomien and I made dinner (in peace!).  The Fibwe Hide is constructed up a very tall tree where you can overlook the plains and is particularly designed to view fruit bats at certain times of year.  On their way back to the campsite, the group saw baboons and two elephants!  I was quite jealous when David told me he’d seen elephants within an hour of arriving at our first destination.  I still haven’t seen elephants. 

We all enjoyed pasta salad for diner and after the children were in bed we sat around the campfire and listened to the animal noises.  The two elephants were in the water below the campsite – we could hear them trampling around.  During the night no one slept well!  Typical for the first night camping.  It was SO cold – unbelievable -- and there were lots of animals around – we could hear the elephants and hippos very close by, and during the night David woke up to see the silhouette of a warthog sniffing around just outside our tent!

 Note: I will be posting these entries in installments. . . please look through the photos David has posted on Facebook if you haven't done so already!

moving house

Yesterday the M family moved away from Covenant College.  We are sad to see them go after 5 years of faithful service here, but it will be exciting to see what new field of service the Lord leads them into.

Our family has now moved into the M's previous house.  It is such a stark contrast to where we have been living that it is hard to describe!  We have at least quadrupled our living space.  This house is large and sprawling.  There are 4 bedrooms plus an office/library which could also serve as a bedroom.  This is the first time since David and I got married nearly two years ago that we are living in a house with more than one bathroom!  We've really moved up a step in the world!  :)  The kitchen has floor-to-ceiling storage cupboards which make my heart sing after the previous kitchen's storage difficulties (total storage: two small drawers, and four cupboards.  For everything, including food).  It is nice to have space for things like my slow cooker and lots of other kitchen items which had to stay in the boxes until we were in a larger house!

It is SO nice to hang pictures on the wall!  We have a lot of family photos which we wanted to frame and hang so that Elijah will learn to recognize the faces of his grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and other relatives.  Plus it just adds such a lovely homey touch to our new place to have items of personal significance and sentimental value hanging up.  :)

We were very thankful for the other house, which we had settled into quite nicely since our arrival in February, but this house suits our growing needs even better - and then some!  It has such potential for hospitality.  And Elijah now has plenty of space to roam to his heart's content.  For an 11-month-old who is showing great interest in walking, that's a dream come true.  He also now has a sandbox to play in, which has already been a huge hit!  (For Mommy as well, because it meant a few minutes of peace and quiet. . .)

There are extensive flower gardens which will need a lot of upkeep, but I will have help from the M's gardener.  There is also a small vegetable/fruit garden but not much is growing at the moment - there is a papaya tree, some pineapple plants, and some strawberry plants which might yield fruit in August or so.






The Ms have kindly left some of their furniture (sofas, dining table and chairs, kitchen stove) out so that we can use it for the next couple of months until they return with a moving van to take away their things.  This also means that we can buy our own furniture gradually over the next couple of months instead of having to furnish a whole house at once - I think anyone who has moved knows how expensive that can be!

We moved all our belongings yesterday, which meant that today we could start unpacking and locating specific items we need.  The house is a wreck, because we have reached the "worse before it gets better" stage!  But tomorrow we will need to pack for our upcoming camping trip, so the rest of the unpacking and organizing will have to wait until the end of the month. 

The kittens (which after much thought, have been named Shasta and Aravis) were terrified when we first brought them to the new place yesterday evening, but they are already growing in confidence and happily exploring the whole house.  We will leave them inside the house while we are traveling and have arranged for someone to come and leave food and drink for them and change the kitty litter.

And a note on which to end: so far, the internet is working SO much better over here than in our previous house!  What a treat!  We were able to load a bunch of photos on Facebook today, so if you haven't seen them yet, head on over and check them out.  After our trip I will hopefully be able to post a few on here.


Postscript: as I was about to hit the 'publish post' button, Elijah came crawling up to me. . . and his diaper fell out of his shorts as he came!!  It was quite wet but as I've been using the lower-quality diapers (all that's available in Petauke) they obviously don't hold up as well as the name brand diapers!  But what a hilarious incident!  Thankfully it's bath time so he has already been scooped up and rushed off to the bath.  Never a dull moment. . .

a few thoughts

Regarding blogging.  I want, actively want to blog two or three times a week, consistently.  However, I am resigned to the fact that it seems that will not happen at this point, and I just try to blog sporadically as I am able.  David often asks me about my "neglected blog" and how long it has been since I last posted.  Today, I just said to him, "You know what?  I am a mother first, and a blogger afterwards."  And that pretty much sums up my thoughts on that.  On a day when I am not trying to catch up on laundry, catch up on dishes, and prevent Elijah from catapulting himself into self-destruction and danger, or pulling the cat's tail, or eating a half-dead beetle off the floor. . . I will write a blog post.  After we move house next week, I will inherit more hired house-help from the previous occupants, which means that I will be able to spend less of my time digging myself out of a black hole of housework, and more quality time with Elijah, and I am hoping that it will mean I can devote a couple chunks of time each week to keeping my blog updated.  That is what David wants, too, so I will try to make it a priority.  For now, though. . . well, next week I am moving house and then we are leaving on a 2-week holiday.  So regular posting will happen after the end of June!

So.  Elijah.  My cheery wee boy. . . always into something.  He took his first steps this past Lord's Day, to our great amusement.  Five steps in a row on his first try!  He hasn't shown much confidence to do it on his own when Mama is not there to be walked to. . . but I am sure that will change quickly. What he has shown great confidence in is trying to scale or climb or otherwise maneuver himself around any step, obstacle, or horizontal surface.  This has resulted in him climbing (and laying down on top of) his walker, climbing onto the sofa and sitting nonchalantly (and probably unwittingly) perched literally on the very edge, and constantly attempting to traverse the steps in our house. We have three areas of steps: the front steps (two very large steps with a sheer drop-off on either side), a big step down from the living room into the extra room at the end of the house, and a big step down from the kitchen into the toilet/shower area.  It is becoming increasingly difficult to keep Elijah from plummeting down any or all of these steps multiple times per day -- and there is nowhere to land except on a bare concrete floor!  *sigh* 

Yes, and speaking of not having time. . . I am still trying to edit our mailing lists for our monthly newsletters.  Unfortunately this takes not only a lot of time and work, but also a better internet connection than I usually have.  Then the other day I spent a couple hours working on it. . .made all the necessary changes. . . and Gmail didn't save any of them!!  I was SOOOOO frustrated!  So apologies to any of you who have requested to be added to the list and have not yet received our newsletter.  I did add you.  But you will have to be added again.  I will persevere. . . and one of these days our mailing list will be accurate!  In the meantime, if you are interested in receiving our newsletters and aren't, you can contact me (by email or FB message, rather than leaving a comment with your email address on my blog) and I will add you to the list when I am able to update it.  :)

David's birthday and other tidbits

Hello to those of you who are still checking my blog even though I am failing to update it regularly!  I don't want to begin every post with an apology, so I won't, but I will trust that you understand that life is busy and I really, really WANT to write more often than I am able to. 

I will start by sharing about David's birthday which was last Saturday (14 May).  We had a fun gathering in the morning with our colleagues here at the College, numbering 9 adults and 8 children including ourselves.  I spent 4 days baking treats for the occasion - there was banana bread (homemade), peanut butter cornflake bars (homemade), cocoa cookies (homemade), jello, cheesy soft pretzels (homemade), and popcorn (cooked on the stove) for the snacks. . . and TWO kinds of birthday cake.  Raspberry chocolate brownie cheesecake, and peach yogurt cheesecake.  With icecream!  It was my first time ever making cheesecake and they weren't 100% perfect but everyone seemed to really enjoy them.  In the end I think I made too much food because there was a lot left over, but I was able to share it again  the next day at our potluck supper on the Lord's Day evening. 

So we stuffed ourselves with food, and then David and I introduced to our friends the game "Apples to Apples."  If you have never heard of this game, it is such a fun group game especially for a party!  It is an American game but what makes it fun was that you don't have to have any special "skill" - even children can play - and because the point of the game is to define words (very subjectively!) it also made for really fun conversations with our friends who are not native English speakers!  I think everyone had a good laugh.

For David's birthday I had secretly arranged for an African shirt to be made for him at the tailor in the boma (town) and also a matching suit (skirt and top) for me from the same material.  So that we would have special African outfits to wear particularly when he is preaching in local churches!  To do this, one day I snuck one of his dress shirts out of the closet and took it with me to the boma when I went shopping, and gave it to the tailor so that he could use it for David's measurements!  David of course never noticed what I did.  I found the material in the market - all you need is a chitenge (Zambian long piece of cloth which the women wear as warp skirts but which are multi-purpose material!) to make a shirt, and two chitenges for my outfit.  I found a nice African pattern in blue which I thought David would like.  When the outfits were ready, I hid them in Marjanne's house until David's birthday.  When he woke up on the morning of his birthday, I gave him another present which I had bought for him, which made him think that there were no more presents coming.  Then just a few minutes before our guests were scheduled to arrive for the party, I suddenly said to David,  "Now, this is the time when you have to go into the toilet and close the door and stay there until I come back!  And you are not allowed to look out the window!"  He protested, of course, but I insisted, so he finally went into the toilet.  Then I quickly ran to Marjanne's house and changed into my new African outfit, carrying David's shirt behind my back.  Marjanne came along to take photos of the surprise with our camera!  I called David outside to surprise him with our matching outfits, and he WAS surprised!  It was a lot of fun.  :)  We got a couple of really fun photos but they are on David's computer so I will need to try to upload them later.  I love finding ways to surprise David with nice gifts.  :)

The day ended with a yummy birthday dinner. . . I think David really enjoyed his special day.

In other news, we now have two new additions to our family: brother and sister kittens!  We are still deciding on names for them but they are settled very nicely into our home.  One (the male) has long hair (black, grey and white) and two white paws, and the other (the female) has very short plain hair and grey and black markings very similar to her mother.  They are so much fun to watch!  May they catch many mice, bugs and another unwanted critters and may they guard our property from snakes!

Last week was the Women's Conference hosted here at the College for the wives of our students and graduate students.  I will also share about this in our upcoming newsletter at the end of this month.  About 50 women attended.  It was an encouraging 4-day gathering to minister to these women, many of whom, like their husbands, have not really previously received any training from the Word of God to encourage them in their roles, and some of whom (like many Zambian women) cannot even read or write. During these 4 days Mirjam led the main Bible study in the book of Ruth, which some of these women had never even heard of.  So we were introducing them to the historical context of the book, the significance of the book, and what it was pointing to: Jesus Christ, our kinsman redeemer.  There was much opportunity for discussion in large and small groups to make sure that the women understood each passage.  The program also included health classes, craft times and supplies for knitting, lots of devotionals, and time to fellowship over food.  I especially appreciated the opportunity to meet these women for the first time knowing that I will see them again at future conferences and this was the first step in building relationships with them.

Elijah of course keeps every day very full and very fun.  He is very close to taking his first steps and he wants to talk but mostly just grunts very enthusiastically when he is trying to communicate, although he does say "da da da da" (not to David though) or "goi goi goi goi" when he is really excited!  He loves to play in the sand and the dirt (no shock there). He claps his hands and has recently learned to click his tongue - fascinating himself with the new noise.  He plays "catch" with Daddy with his little yellow ball  - one of his favorite games - and yes, he does throw the ball back to us each time, amazingly!  He has a good healthy appetite and especially loves to eat nshima, the Zambian staple dish of boiled maize porridge. Some of his other favorite foods are rice, pasta, cheese, guava, banana, raisins, and yogurt.  We think that one or two of his molars might be slowly working its way through - fun times.  Of course we are always struggling with the sleepless nights but always hoping that somehow a good night's sleep is just beyond the corner!


So that is some of what has been keeping us busy recently. I hope to blog more within the next day or so. . . and of course I am already starting to compile our May newsletter which will be sent out by the end of the month.

update on Nelrie

We are very grateful for your prayers for Nelrie and are happy to inform you that she seems now to be making a recovery from the severe bout of malaria.  Originally she became sick on Sunday evening, a week ago (the 17th).  Her parents administered malaria medication but her condition gradually worsened until they were very concerned about her.  Although the fever and vomiting had subsided for the most part, she was extremely weak, refusing to eat or drink, very confused and unresponsive (delirious at times) and sometimes not even recognizing her parents.  By Wednesday they realized that they would need to take her to hospital, so her father took her to Katete (1 hour away) where she still tested positive for malaria, showing that the previous treatment had not been effective.  She was given different medication but not admitted, as the hospital staff told her father that he would be able to give her better care and an environment more conducive to care than they could.  They spent the night with friends in Katete and returned home on Thursday, but Nelrie was still extremely weak and confused and they watched her carefully.  During this time they had to feed her and give her drink using a syringe.  By Saturday she had gotten up once or twice and walked outside to see what her brother was doing, but mostly just slept and was too weak to do anything else.  Now there has been immense improvement and she is no longer confused or refusing food and drink.  The malaria is gone, but please continue to pray for her full recovery.  Nelrie, who is 5 years old (sorry I mistakenly informed you that she was 6) has lost at least 3 kgs (over 6 lbs) during this illness and now only weighs 2-3 kgs more than her 1-year-old sister.  She is very weakened by this illness and it will be a while before she is back to normal. 

Please also continue to pray for the rest of us here, that no one else would succumb to malaria or any other illness. We need your prayers for the Lord's protection.

Welcome to our home - PHOTOS!

 

 As you face the house, we have not one, but THREE entrances!  On the left is the door to the toilet, shower, and laundry area.  In the middle is our main front door, leading into our living area, kitchen, and bedroom.  On the right is the door to the spare bedroom.

 

 This is the back of the house, which faces the College.  On the left are the spare bedroom windows – three of them.  In the middle is our bedroom window, and the kitchen window. On the right is the window over the toilet (and our hot water heater).

 This is the front of the house, looking into our enclosure.  The fence was constructed to give us a bit of privacy because the main path to the village used to run directly in front of our front door.  Now the villagers walk behind our house but they can still see into our windows!  As you can see we have a couple nice shade trees on this side of our fence.

 

This is our laundry area and shower.  Here you get the first glimpse of my twin-tub washing machine, which you have already been introduced to.  As you can see, the shower is not enclosed so when we had a house guest (Rev. Macdonald from Ness) we had to rig up a sheet over the doorway to provide privacy and “signal” that the shower was in use.  We always communicated very carefully about planned shower times!  :) 

 

 

The view out the bathroom door.  The bicycle belongs to Asnet, the wife of Samuel who is one of our farm workers.  Asnet helps me clean house once a week.

 

My washing machine!

 

 The view from the front door. Kitchen and bedroom straight ahead, couch to the left.

 My tiny gas cooker with 2 burners, and tiny oven.  And wonderful fridge!!

 My kitchen.

 The view of our living area from the kitchen, looking towards the door to the spare bedroom. The front door is to the right of the photo.

 The other side of our living area.

 

 Our bedroom. Since this photo was taken we swapped the beds around so that ours is on the left and Elijah's is on the right, to accommodate a bigger mosquito net which encloses both the beds.We each have a trunk for our clothing and shoes (to keep the scorpions and other creepy crawlies out.)

Thanks for stopping by.  :)

prayer request

Please pray for our colleague's 6-year-old daughter, Nelrie.  She has been taken to the hospital in Katete (an hour away) tonight because she is not recovering from malaria.  Please pray that her tiny body would be strengthened and that she would regain her appetite - she has been refusing to eat and drink - and that she will receive good care at the hospital.

This has been a VERY bad year for malaria.  So many people have fallen ill - many of the students and staff here at the College have been sick.  The rainy season (the worse time of year for malaria mosquitoes) has passed, but people are continuing to get sick.  Please pray that no one else would get sick!

life

Tonight, as David and I are sitting at the dining table playing a game together, we can hear village drums beating, not too far away.  Living out here in the bush (fully recognizing that we are definitely not as far out in the bush as we could be!) the nights are full of what I would associate as "summer" noises.  Crickets chirping, frogs croaking, a breeze in the trees.  We are an 8-minute drive away from the nearest paved road, so there are no traffic noises, which is lovely.  At night you can see hundreds of stars and constellations so clearly.  Unfortunately we don't spend any time star-gazing because of the mosquitos!

It has gotten noticeably cooler at night now, almost too cold to be comfortable without a light sweater.  The temperature changed drastically within the course of only one or two nights.  I went digging through our clothing to find a couple of long-sleeved items, and was shocked to discover that I apparently didn't bring any for myself.  Everything seems to have been left in our boxes.  Discoveries like these (we've had a few) are pretty frustrating because we tried to pack so carefully!  But when you're moving you can't keep track of everything no matter how hard you try.  Pajamas are the only long-sleeved things Elijah has here.  Thankfully during the day it still gets quite warm and the sun can be really intense, so he doesn't need anything long-sleeved except for sleeping. 

The rainy season is over and already the grass is turning brown and the vegetation is dying.  Within the next couple of months people will start burning the grass, to prevent raging wildfires which are a real problem later in the year (during the very hot months).  Very soon the harvest will be brought in, as soon as it has time to finish drying.

I haven't been very successful at updating this blog very frequently.  Sometimes I sit down to write a post and just can't find the words.  It is hard to write about daily life because daily life (believe it or not, even in Africa) isn't always very exciting and it is hard to imagine it being post-worthy.  :)  Most of my time is spent doing the same things -- washing laundry, washing dishes, shopping, cooking meals, cleaning the house, and of course occupying Elijah. I am working on writing up a couple of posts about cultural things which have struck me recently, but that takes a lot of brain power, discretion, and prayer because I want to write about these things with sensitivity.  I hope to post them soon, though.

There are many things to be thankful for.  We received David's work permit on the 31st of March, which is good for two years and means that we are now legal residents of Zambia!  This means that we can now arrange to have the rest of our belongings brought into the country.  We were happy to receive notification that our boxes have been released for shipment from Glasgow and they are expected to reach Lusaka on the 19th of this month, so we should have them here at Covenant College at the end of this month!

The Annual General Meeting (AGM) of Covenant College Zambia Trust met from 31st March - 2nd April.  The Trustees arrived at the College from near and far.  We have local Trustees (from Petauke, from Eastern Province, and from Lusaka) as well as Trustees from South Africa, Scotland, England, America, etc representing the various denominations which support the ministries here.  It was a busy weekend full of meetings from early in the morning until late at night, but we were all blessed by the spirit of unity and graciousness that prevailed.  It was a pleasure to host our own Rev. MacDonald from Ness, Isle of Lewis in our home for several days.  We enjoyed much warm, edifying fellowship around our table with him as well as others.  Somehow when you are so far from family and friends, these visitors and times of fellowship become even more precious.

David had the opportunity to post some photos on Facebook the other day, which I hope many of you have enjoyed looking at.  One of these days I do still hope to post a few on this blog, especially for those of you who may not use Facebook!

There are only 3 weeks left in this term, and then we will be saying goodbye to our students for a couple of months.  They will travel to their homes to bring in the harvest and care for their families and congregations, and we will be kept busy here at the College with several conferences, travels, logistics, and preparing for the next term. 

new posts!

Okay folks, I have put up 4 new posts today.  I'm sorry I haven't been more regular about posting but it all depends on how strong the internet signal is in our house (sometimes my "update blog" page refuses to load).  I hope that you are enjoying the glimpses into our life here.  Please feel free to leave a comment.  If you ask a question, I will try my best to answer it in a later post.  Tomorrow, if the internet cooperates, I hope to post a few photos!  :)  So stay tuned!

Elijah

Elijah is probably the most flexible child I know.  Everyone remarks on how smiley he is.  He is adjusting to his new home very well and I think he is very happy living in Zambia.  He will sleep anywhere, and as long as he has his mama, he is happy.  It is hard to believe that he is almost 9 months old already!  (He will be 9 months the day after tomorrow.)

He has a very toothy smile now, with 4 teeth on the top and 4 on the bottom.   And his newest passion is feeding himself - so every  meal must include finger food now.

He is very active -- sitting up unassisted, pulling up on things and trying to stand, walking with assistance, and crawling everywhere!  His newest trick is to crawl from room to room, following me while I am working, and when I stop he catches up to me and pulls my skirt! He is becoming a menace to anything that is within his reach, so the word "no" is becoming increasingly familiar.  I am happy to say that thus far he is a very responsive and obedient child, although he has his moments of boundary-pushing. He has also become very vocal and is forming real sounds now, so our days are full of "ba ba ba" and "da da da."

It is so fun to watch him interacting more and more with his environment, but he does get a nasty bump on the head every now and then.  It's the painful part of development.  This week he gave us both a horrible scare when he fell down the two front steps in his walker.  He landed on his head but by God's grace he was amazingly unhurt except for a scrape and some bruising on his head.  We are so indescribably thankful for the Lord's merciful protection, recognizing that it could have been SO much worse!  But it was a traumatic and very scary moment for all of us.  I think I cried as much as he did!  He really keeps us all on our toes.

Market (Shopping), Continued

You may think when I say ‘shopping’ that when I reach the shop, I get a cart (trolley) and stroll down the aisles, choosing my groceries. Not so.  Instead, the shop has a counter where customers mingle in a disorderly mass (no lines/queues here!).  All the goods are displayed on shelves behind the counter, and usually the shop owner is at the register (till) and several assistants are waiting on the customers.  I stand at the counter and tell them what I want, item by item, and the assistant collects each item and puts it in a pile.  I will admit it is a bit difficult for me to see all my choices because of my eyesight!  If there is anything I need that I am unsure whether or not they have it, I always ask them and they tell me yes or no, and if they don’t have it, they are always happy to send me to a different shop that might have it.  When I am finished ordering, the assistant announces the price for each item to the owner, who punches the numbers into his calculator and then tells me my total while the assistant bags my groceries.  If I am buying anything bulky or heavy, he will carry it to the vehicle for me.  The shop owners are always very kind and always ask me how the baby is doing (Elijah always does the shopping with me).

There is only one shop in Petauke which has aisles.  That is the new ‘supermarket’ which is totally different from the Indian shops.  They do have aisles (four, to be exact), and they also have one push-trolley with a basket on top.  What I find amusing about this particular shop is that I always have someone in attendance when I go there (unless David is with me).  They hover behind me and insist on pushing the trolley, carrying my groceries, and bagging them for me at the till.  I haven’t been able to figure out yet whether this is special treatment because I am ‘mzungu’ or whether it is typical for most of their customers.  This is the only shop where I have been able to find real butter and 100% fruit juice, and sometimes cheese, but I don’t usually buy much else there.

The one major problem with shopping in Petauke is the drunk men, who like to loiter outside the shops and can sometimes be very obnoxious.  They really like to harass us mzungu women. In the market sometimes people will come up and try to grab Elijah out of my arms - simply because they want to hold the mzungu baby.  But if they frighten him and he starts to cry, they will just laugh.   It's a hard life being a celebrity.  :)

In the market this week I bought a pumpkin!  Pumpkins are now coming into season.  I can’t base my shopping on a pre-planned menu because everything I buy is dependent upon what is available in the market.  I cannot assume that there will be garlic, green beans, or bananas available every week, for instance.  So it is difficult to plan ahead.  If possible, I usually go to the boma (town) to shop once a week, and occasionally if I have the opportunity to go twice then I will usually stock up again on fresh vegetables which don’t last long.  I am gradually building up relationships with the women who sell in the market, and because I am a regular customer they often give me 'basela' (extra).

a day in the life

For now at least, this is what a typical day is like.

06hrs: our alarm goes off (but our other alarm, in the form of a cute but precocious 8-month-old, may have already gone off!)  I get myself and Elijah ready for the day and make breakfast (usually we have eggs, porridge, or cereal).

06:20 breakfast

06:45 worship with the students (Tues, Wed, Thurs, Fri mornings).  The students have a very organized time of worship in which they have 15 minutes of psalm singing, 15 minutes of reading/exposition of a passage, and 15 minutes of prayer.  Each day of the week is designated for a specific item for prayer, i.e. ‘Thanksgiving’, ‘World concerns’, ‘Church’ or ‘College’ etc. and they list various prayer requests under that day’s topic, and then various students are called upon to pray.  Plus they systematically pray for 2 of the students each morning. They have a rotation for the reading and sharing from the Scripture and are currently working systematically through 1 Samuel.  Most students are able to share in English though it is very difficult and nerve-wracking for them, but a few preach in Nyanja.    The same with the prayers – most students are able to pray in English but a few can only do it comfortably in Nyanja.  The orderliness of the worship prevents any confusion as to who is assigned to do what, and also means that we are able to hear each of the students progressing in their knowledge of the Scriptures.  We really enjoy coming along for these times.

07:30 worship ends; lectures begin; David either starts lecturing (he teaches 2-3 times a week) or he goes off to study & prepare lectures in the College office.  I go home with Elijah for the morning chores.  The house always needs to be swept and there are usually dishes to be washed.  And of course a baby to be amused!  I usually try to wash one load of laundry per day, otherwise I fall behind very, very quickly because something unexpected always comes up during the week and washing laundry takes so much time (and is weather dependent).  On Thursday  mornings Asnet, the wife of Samuel who works on the farm, comes to help me clean the house.  She sweeps and washes the floors, cleans the toilet and shower, and wipes things down.  She is usually here for 2 ½ hours.  I don’t do laundry on Thursdays because my washing machine drains the dirty water into my shower  which she has just cleaned!

08-8:45 Elijah usually goes down for his morning nap sometime around now and sleeps anywhere from 30 min – 1 hour.  While he's asleep, I try to use the time to do things which are difficult to do while he's awake, like baking or cooking, or email/blogging.  But laundry can take up a whole morning all by itself!

09:30 first lecture period ends,and the students have a 30 minute break.

10hrs second lecture period begins.  If David is not lecturing, Elijah and I visit him in the office to bring him a morning snack.  I might also take Elijah on a walk to the farm to feed the kitchen scraps to the pigs.  The remainder of my morning is spent amusing Elijah: reading stories, singing songs, or sitting in the front garden pulling weeds.

12noon I make our lunch, and feed Elijah his lunch.

12:30-13:30 is lunch break.  David comes home and we eat lunch, and usually play a game like Triominos or Quiddler to relax a bit.  On Wednesdays we eat lunch (nshima with relish) at the College with the students and staff.

13:00 Elijah is usually down for his afternoon nap around this time.  Depending on how busy my day has been, I often take a nap with him.

15:00 We are usually awake from our nap by now, and often there is something going on during the afternoon.  On Wednesdays I go to Marjanne’s house where the ladies get together to work on sewing or other craft projects.  On Thursdays Marjanne has literacy classes for the local women from the village to teach them how to read and write Nyanja.  On Saturdays there is a children's outreach ministry.  Other afternoons I work on blog posts, emails or just keeping the baby happy!

 

16:00 time to go for our daily walk.  Usually it is myself, Marjanne and Jacomien who go together but sometimes Mirjam joins us.  We don’t have a set time, but just sometime after 16hrs we meet and go.  If we have time, we make two circuits instead of one.  We always try to exercise for at least 30 minutes.  This is a refreshing time of day to be outside and it is so nice to enjoy the company and fellowship also.

17:00 David quits work for the day and comes home.  This is Elijah’s “daddy time” while I make dinner.  

18:00 dinner

18:30 family worship.  We read (currently in Proverbs), pray, and sing systematically through the Psalter.

18:45 I bathe Elijah while David washes the dinner dishes

19:00 I nurse Elijah and put him to bed, and if he stays quiet than David and I have some time by ourselves to talk about our day and just enjoy relaxing!

21:00  We try to be in bed by this time, since there is always such an early morning ahead!