These past 3 weeks have really whizzed by. I knew in my mind that the time would pass quickly, but now I can't believe that tomorrow I'm heading to the States already! As I look back on the days since we arrived in Glasgow on the 17th of October, I'm convinced that we really could NOT have scheduled anything more into our days. They were full up to the brim, and we managed to see SO MANY of our friends in such a short space of time. It has truly been such a blessing!
During the last couple of weeks we've managed to visit the congregations of Partick, Edinburgh, Shettleston, Arran, Ayr, Duthil Dores, Portmahomack, and Inverness. We've traveled by bus, train, ferry, and car. And during the few days (or portions of a day) when we've been settled back into the manse in Partick in between our travels, we've managed to have 10 individuals and 4 different family units over either for a cup of tea or a meal in our home! And while traveling we've enjoyed the warm hospitality and generosity of many dear folks. We've loved the fellowship and the opportunity to spend time with the people we miss when we're in the remoteness of Eastern Province, Zambia.
It may sound like our life is really hectic right now, but truthfully there has been a necessary element of "pace and pause" throughout. We have managed to have a quiet day or two with nothing scheduled in between the busy times, which has helped us get through. Elijah especially has coped with all the travel spectacularly well! He has managed with incredibly late nights, lots of sleepovers in strange beds, long church services and meetings, and all these unfamiliar faces calling his name! It's all an adventure to him. He longs to go outside constantly (living on a busy street in the city has been a trial for this Africanized toddler used to running barefoot and free all day!) and loves going for rides in the car. Yesterday when I pulled out the suitcases to start packing, he spent quite a while happily sitting cross-legged inside his open Trunki on the floor!
It's hard to believe that Elijah and I fly out tomorrow morning (brutally early) for a long day of travel to my parents' house in North Carolina. It will be so exciting for Elijah to go spend a few weeks with Grandma and Grandpa and all his uncles and his auntie. We will miss David. :-( He will be headed north again at the end of this week to visit Beauly, Evanton, Ardelve and Aultbea congregations! After he comes back south at the end of next week he will be visiting Ayr and Knightswood before flying out on the 21st to meet us in the States.
If you are one of those whom we've NOT managed to see yet.... well, we will be back! :-) Lord willing, we plan to arrive back in Scotland on the 26th of January, complete with the "brand-new model" in tow. It's still uncertain how long we will stay (hopefully a week or two) before we head back to Zambia, but we are hoping to connect with many more of you during the end of January and the beginning of February.
Stay posted, I do hope to post photos very soon, but they are still on David's computer at present and he's in Inverness meeting with the Home & Foreign Missions Committee today!
Tuesday, 8 November 2011
Tuesday, 25 October 2011
catching up
Well, I finally have a chance to put a wee note on my blog after being without much internet access for a couple of weeks! We're back "where this all started" really, staying in the manse where we were living before we moved away from Glasgow! Lots of travel ahead, starting tomorrow, we'll be bouncing from place to place in Scotland. I've just finished arranging bus tickets to Inverness, hiring a car for next week, and sorting all kinds of other details.
We left the College on the 8th of October and spent the next ten days in Lusaka with the MacDonalds, which was really lovely. Managed to get our new truck that week, praise the Lord! It was nice to be able to at least use it for a week before we left the country. :-) I also had another scan which indicated that the baby's growth is right on target and everything is just fine! And more bloodwork which revealed that my hemoglobin has come up even further -- another answer to prayer!
On the 17th we flew to Glasgow. Elijah did as well as could be expected on the very long 9 1/2 hour all-day flight from Lusaka to Heathrow. We finally reached Glasgow VERY late that night after delays because of weather and were welcomed by our friends the Keddies, where we stayed the first night and most of the next day. Sorting through our winter clothing, doing a big grocery shop, all that fun stuff before settling into the manse where we are now.
It's been SO lovely to see so many friends again, to catch up after months away, and to enjoy lots of fellowship and company!
We miss the College, and all who are still there remain often in our thoughts and prayers, since we are speaking so often of the Lord's work there. It is especially on our minds now that we have just learned that our dear colleagues the Zwemstras have accepted a call to a congregation in South Africa and will be leaving the College in March 2012. We appreciate your prayers for them as they face this transition, and for ourselves as we will be faced with mounting responsibilities after only having been on the field for less than a year! Please be praying that the Lord will provide another lecturer or two for the College!
We left the College on the 8th of October and spent the next ten days in Lusaka with the MacDonalds, which was really lovely. Managed to get our new truck that week, praise the Lord! It was nice to be able to at least use it for a week before we left the country. :-) I also had another scan which indicated that the baby's growth is right on target and everything is just fine! And more bloodwork which revealed that my hemoglobin has come up even further -- another answer to prayer!
On the 17th we flew to Glasgow. Elijah did as well as could be expected on the very long 9 1/2 hour all-day flight from Lusaka to Heathrow. We finally reached Glasgow VERY late that night after delays because of weather and were welcomed by our friends the Keddies, where we stayed the first night and most of the next day. Sorting through our winter clothing, doing a big grocery shop, all that fun stuff before settling into the manse where we are now.
It's been SO lovely to see so many friends again, to catch up after months away, and to enjoy lots of fellowship and company!
We miss the College, and all who are still there remain often in our thoughts and prayers, since we are speaking so often of the Lord's work there. It is especially on our minds now that we have just learned that our dear colleagues the Zwemstras have accepted a call to a congregation in South Africa and will be leaving the College in March 2012. We appreciate your prayers for them as they face this transition, and for ourselves as we will be faced with mounting responsibilities after only having been on the field for less than a year! Please be praying that the Lord will provide another lecturer or two for the College!
Thursday, 29 September 2011
tired
It's funny how your brain works. I am so inexpressibly tired. Every part of me is tired, and I just want to lie down and sleep and rest and vegetate for weeks. My brain has been telling me, "Just get to the end of term. You can do it, you're almost there!" It has been telling me that somehow things will slow down and there will be a chance to catch my breath. Now it is the night before graduation. Today was the last day of classes. The term is ending, and tomorrow we will have a celebration and our students will leave and the College will be very quiet and uninhabited for the better part of the next 4 months. And yet, suddenly, I have realized that this is just the beginning! I am tired now, and somehow I don't think that's going to change. Why was I ever thinking it was going to change? After the graduation, I have to finish writing our newsletter, and send it. I have to write a column about the graduation on behalf of the College. I have loads of baking I need to do to finish up the flour, sugar, oats, etc. in my cupboards before we leave the house for 4 months! I still have organizing and scrubbing and cleaning to do to prepare my house for our absence so that everything is clean and orderly while we are away. I have one week to do all these things and more. And then when we get to the UK... no, things are not going to slow down there. David will be preaching twice every Lord's Day, plus we will have mid-week meetings as well, and reports to give for the College. Traveling throughout the country, visiting as many friends as possible, navigating by bus and train again... it will be a busy time. Then we will go to the States. More travel, more speaking engagements, more preaching, more visiting. And then, after a few weeks, yes, things will finally "slow down." For me, at least! David will still be preaching and reporting in churches, plus preparing his College lectures and working on administration.We will be settled in one place, with family. Awaiting the birth of our second child! After the birth... recovery. That takes time. A newborn. A new schedule. A toddler who will have to get used to the idea of a brand new sibling occupying Mama and Daddy's attention! There will be preparations to make - clothes to sort through, shopping for things to take back to Zambia, all sorts of paperwork. Baby's birth certificate, baby's new passport, baby's plane ticket. And then, more international travel, this time with two children in tow, one of them only a few weeks old. Back to Scotland in the dead of winter... traveling the length and breadth of the country... more preaching and reporting. More visiting with dear friends and supporters. More gathering of supplies. And then at the end of it all, our return to the College. Another international flight with our young ones. Readjusting to our previous life which will be all new.... new baby, new routine, learning how to do things with my hands full, always. Hot weather after 4 months of cold and coats and snow! The start of a busy new term, February 2012.
Yes, somehow my brain tricked me into thinking that things are about to slow down now that the term has ended! :) So my mantra is: "Take it one day at a time."
Yes, somehow my brain tricked me into thinking that things are about to slow down now that the term has ended! :) So my mantra is: "Take it one day at a time."
Friday, 23 September 2011
hazards
As we anticipate traveling to the UK in just a few weeks (!) and then on to the USA, I've begun to realize what a big change this will be for Elijah! How many new experiences he will have, as a toddler -- experiences he never had as a non-mobile infant Here at the College it is easy to feel like there are many dangers. I keep a close eye on Elijah. In and around our house we frequently have scorpions and poisonous centipedes. We are training Elijah to identify these "creepy crawlies" and how to smash them with a shoe! There are also lots of snakes around and we have to always be on our guard. Yesterday morning I went out our front gate to shoo away a stray goat which our dogs were barking at, and there was a snake just outside our gate! It was so close to me and I never even saw it. I am so thankful that it decided to run rather than bite. Based on the size, speed, and behavior it exhibited, I am sure that it was a black mamba, upwards of 3 feet long. And then there are not-so-deadly but still nasty little pests, like the bees that are everywhere in our garden, and hornets. This morning Elijah was stung twice on the hand!
But then I have started to think about how I must prepare my son for the hazards of the Western world! Like gas radiators and fireplaces, and wood-burning stoves. (Thankfully, he already knows and responds to the word "Hot!") Like stairs (he's never met a 2-story house since he became mobile!). Like busy streets. Here at the College, we might drive to town once a week, at MOST! We live at the end of a very long driveway (4-5 miles long?) and the only traffic coming to the College is our colleagues, so Elijah hasn't really seen more than one vehicle at a time since we moved here. We will have to teach him how to live safely in a house that doesn't have a fenced and gated compound.
I've just been thinking that it's funny how some people assume that since we're living in Africa, there are more dangers. But there actually aren't. They are just different dangers. And the key is to be aware and to train your children, while they are young!, to recognize and avoid the dangers. It will be an interesting 4 months in a cold climate full of strange and new experiences for my curious toddler. The hazards will be there, but so will be the fun!
But then I have started to think about how I must prepare my son for the hazards of the Western world! Like gas radiators and fireplaces, and wood-burning stoves. (Thankfully, he already knows and responds to the word "Hot!") Like stairs (he's never met a 2-story house since he became mobile!). Like busy streets. Here at the College, we might drive to town once a week, at MOST! We live at the end of a very long driveway (4-5 miles long?) and the only traffic coming to the College is our colleagues, so Elijah hasn't really seen more than one vehicle at a time since we moved here. We will have to teach him how to live safely in a house that doesn't have a fenced and gated compound.
I've just been thinking that it's funny how some people assume that since we're living in Africa, there are more dangers. But there actually aren't. They are just different dangers. And the key is to be aware and to train your children, while they are young!, to recognize and avoid the dangers. It will be an interesting 4 months in a cold climate full of strange and new experiences for my curious toddler. The hazards will be there, but so will be the fun!
Wednesday, 21 September 2011
improvement... and a hospital experience
Many thanks to all of you who were praying for us as we had another antenatal scan and more bloodwork done to check my hemoglobin levels and the growth of the baby!
We're relieved to report that according to the scan, everything looks fine with the baby's growth. And she is certainly VERY active. I feel like I have an acrobat-in-training doing trapeze stunts inside me! I've not gained any weight in the past month, but the baby seems to be happy and healthy.
The bloodwork revealed that my hemoglobin levels have risen from 9.3 to 10.0! Not as much of an increase as I was (probably naively) hoping for -- but it is a definite improvement, and we're moving in the right direction! As David was quick to remind me, the fact that I've been able to increase my hemoglobin by .7 within 4 weeks, in an environment which does not provide a high-iron diet, shows that I've been diligent with my supplements and getting what I can by way of diet, and I should be encouraged! So we will continue doing what we can, and within a few weeks I will be back in the "Western world" where I will be able to rigorously monitor my diet for the entirety of my 3rd trimester! I do have 3 more months to keep working on my hemoglobin levels!
When we went to the hospital on Monday I was hoping that it would be a quick "in and out" visit like it had been the week before when we took David to be treated for the dog bite on his arm. Well, the hospital was pure chaos! I think part of the pandemonium was due to parts of the hospital closing at noon because the following day (Tuesday) was Presidential Elections here and so there was a half-day holiday. It was very crowded and there were crying babies and harried-looking mothers everywhere. First I had to wait in line in one room to register. Then I had to wait in line in the main waiting room to be weighed and have my blood pressure checked. It's not like a normal "doctor's office" -- it is a big open room with rows of benches on either side crowded with people, and a scale right in the center of the room! You have to "queue up" and wait for your turn to step on the scale, the staff worker quickly jots the note on your registration card, and then you are waved into a different queue to get to the table at the front of the room to have your blood pressure checked. All completely in public, for all to see, in front of hundreds of waiting patients!
There are several examination rooms on each side of the main waiting area where each patient sees a doctor, and I was told to wait in front of Room 16. I tried to explain that I was not sick and did not need to see a doctor, I just needed to get some bloodwork done and an antenatal scan, but I was told to wait for a doctor anyway! Apparently the way the hospital works (I'm guessing because no one actually explained this to me) you have to see a doctor first so that you can get a piece of paper with their written permission for whatever bloodwork, radiology, etc. you might need for your condition. There was no place to sit, so I was standing in line in front of the door for perhaps 20 minutes. The door to Room 16 remains open so you can see that the two doctors inside are dealing with patients. After waiting for a long time and the line hadn't even budged, one of the doctors inside Room 16 looked up and for some reason called out to me -- I have no idea why! I was the third person in line. I don't remember what he said at first but it was something like "What do you need?" I said, "I just need a full blood count and an antenatal scan, that's all!" He said, "Go to Room 15!" I said, "I really don't need to see a doctor at all, I'm not sick." (Really hoping to save them some time and trouble!) He insisted: "You are sick. Go to Room 15!" *sigh*
So I went back to Room 15 to wait. But immediately it became apparent that no one waiting in front of Room 15 knew who was in the queue, where the queue started or where it ended! There were no remaining seats so about 6-8 people were loitering in front of the door. Every time the door opened, several people who were closest would make a dash for it and try to get inside to see the doctor before the door closed! It was absolute pandemonium. I was standing there trying not to get trampled, and really not convinced I was in the right place at all. A few nurses tried to sort out the queue for Room 15 but gave up because there was so much confusion. No one knew what was happening! Finally I spoke to one of the nurses (knowing that she would speak a little English!) and explained my situation -- that I simply needed a full blood count and a scan -- and asked her to tell the English doctor, who knows us at the College, that I was here waiting because she would be expecting me. (I had spoken to the doctor the previous week to find out about getting a scan, so she knew I was coming that day.) The nurse didn't know what to do with me so she asked another guy. The man said "Follow me" and before I knew what was happening he opened the door to Room 14 and took me straight inside, where the doctor was already dealing with a patient, and motioned for me to sit in the corner! So I waited while the doctor finished with the patient and then it was my turn to explain to the doctor -- again -- WHY I was there and what I needed. I spent several minutes trying to convince the doctor why I needed the scan and bloodwork in the first place.
"You're not sick!" she said.
"No, but I was anaemic last month when I saw my doctor in Lusaka, so she wants to check my hemoglobin levels to see if they've come up, and she wants a scan to check the baby's growth."
"But you had a scan in Lusaka last month, why do you need a scan here?"
"To check the baby's growth! I've not gained any weight in the past month and they are concerned to make sure the baby is still growing!"
"Is the baby moving?"
"Yes!"
"Then why do you need a scan?"
and so on.... followed by "Why do you need a blood test?" Next time I will make sure I have a letter of referral from my doctor! A referral letter is not necessary, but it certainly would have made my morning easier so that I didn't have to keep convincing people of why I had come to the hospital in the first place!
Finally I got the paper from the doctor, rather grudgingly, which allowed me to go to the lab to have the blood test done -- more waiting. . . and then from there to the radiology department to have the scan done -- even more waiting! That was an experience in itself. When I went to the radiology room and told the man at the front desk, "I'm here to have an antenatal scan," he immediately said "Follow me" and quickly ushered me through the waiting room (where about 8-10 ladies and a couple of men were seated) and straight into the ultrasound room where the doctor was seated at his desk.... at the same moment that another man was wheeling another patient who was in a wheelchair into the ultrasound room! Hospital policy is that urgent cases always go first, and I was just following instructions, so I waited for the doctor to tell me what to do after the receptionist handed the doctor all my paperwork and left me in the room. The doctor said, "Madam, wait outside the door and I will see you next, after the man in the wheelchair." So I obeyed and stood outside the ultrasound room door, since there were no remaining seats.
After a couple of minutes I realized that all the women who were seated were getting upset because it was obvious that I was suddenly at the head of the line when they had been waiting for who knows how long! There was a lot of muttering and murmuring in Nyanja which of course I couldn't understand but I certainly was getting the gist of the conversation! Finally one of the women got up and huffed out of the room. She came back a few minutes later with a nurse who took the woman's paperwork (like the receptionist had done with mine), barged into the doctor's office, gave him what sounded like a major telling-off (in Nyanja), left the woman's paperwork inside, and came out. The other woman looked pleased with herself. I, meanwhile, had managed to find a corner of a table to half-sit on while I waited. I noticed that one of the other women had inched her way to the end of the bench where she was seated and looked like she had every intention of dashing inside the doctor's office as soon as the door opened so as to get inside before I did. I had absolutely no interest in fighting and elbowing my way into the doctor's office so I completely ignored her. Sure enough, when the door opened and the wheelchair patient emerged, said woman shot inside the office and immediately plunked herself down on the examination table while I followed her through the doorway and wondered what on earth the doctor was going to do in this situation. The woman sat there with her arms crossed and rattled off something in Nyanja to the doctor and he looked at me and said, "Let her go first. You wait outside and come in next." So, I returned to my post standing in front of the door. I felt really bad about being at the "head of the line" and I didn't understand why I was given "preferential treatment" but at the same time I felt very strongly about obeying the doctor's orders, because he was the only one around who was giving clear instructions! All morning, I had been struggling to figure out where to go and what queue to stand in, and everything was so disorganized that I was determined to follow the instructions which were given to me. I waited, and as soon as the doctor's door opened again another woman repeated the trick and dashed inside, nearly knocking me flat. The doctor quickly told her to leave, and as I settled myself on the examination table, he muttered something about "always pushing and shoving their way in...!" This experience made me really sad because I didn't like the feeling of "cutting in line" but I was really trying hard to obey any instructions that were given to me because it was so hard to know what I was supposed to do. And in a situation like this where there is no orderliness and no one knows where the start/finish of the queue is, the doctor is the only one who can decide who he is going to see next! It was an unpleasant experience, but I was thankful to be finished quickly and out of the way so that the women could finish fighting over who's turn was next.
In all, it was an exhausting and stressful morning... BUT
* we are so thankful to have a hospital not too far away
* we are so thankful to have access to basic medical care (and if it was an emergency, they would take good care of us!)
* we are so thankful to be able to check the health of the pregnancy without having to travel all the way to Lusaka!
And I learned a few more lessons about life in Zambia in the process! :)
We're relieved to report that according to the scan, everything looks fine with the baby's growth. And she is certainly VERY active. I feel like I have an acrobat-in-training doing trapeze stunts inside me! I've not gained any weight in the past month, but the baby seems to be happy and healthy.
The bloodwork revealed that my hemoglobin levels have risen from 9.3 to 10.0! Not as much of an increase as I was (probably naively) hoping for -- but it is a definite improvement, and we're moving in the right direction! As David was quick to remind me, the fact that I've been able to increase my hemoglobin by .7 within 4 weeks, in an environment which does not provide a high-iron diet, shows that I've been diligent with my supplements and getting what I can by way of diet, and I should be encouraged! So we will continue doing what we can, and within a few weeks I will be back in the "Western world" where I will be able to rigorously monitor my diet for the entirety of my 3rd trimester! I do have 3 more months to keep working on my hemoglobin levels!
When we went to the hospital on Monday I was hoping that it would be a quick "in and out" visit like it had been the week before when we took David to be treated for the dog bite on his arm. Well, the hospital was pure chaos! I think part of the pandemonium was due to parts of the hospital closing at noon because the following day (Tuesday) was Presidential Elections here and so there was a half-day holiday. It was very crowded and there were crying babies and harried-looking mothers everywhere. First I had to wait in line in one room to register. Then I had to wait in line in the main waiting room to be weighed and have my blood pressure checked. It's not like a normal "doctor's office" -- it is a big open room with rows of benches on either side crowded with people, and a scale right in the center of the room! You have to "queue up" and wait for your turn to step on the scale, the staff worker quickly jots the note on your registration card, and then you are waved into a different queue to get to the table at the front of the room to have your blood pressure checked. All completely in public, for all to see, in front of hundreds of waiting patients!
There are several examination rooms on each side of the main waiting area where each patient sees a doctor, and I was told to wait in front of Room 16. I tried to explain that I was not sick and did not need to see a doctor, I just needed to get some bloodwork done and an antenatal scan, but I was told to wait for a doctor anyway! Apparently the way the hospital works (I'm guessing because no one actually explained this to me) you have to see a doctor first so that you can get a piece of paper with their written permission for whatever bloodwork, radiology, etc. you might need for your condition. There was no place to sit, so I was standing in line in front of the door for perhaps 20 minutes. The door to Room 16 remains open so you can see that the two doctors inside are dealing with patients. After waiting for a long time and the line hadn't even budged, one of the doctors inside Room 16 looked up and for some reason called out to me -- I have no idea why! I was the third person in line. I don't remember what he said at first but it was something like "What do you need?" I said, "I just need a full blood count and an antenatal scan, that's all!" He said, "Go to Room 15!" I said, "I really don't need to see a doctor at all, I'm not sick." (Really hoping to save them some time and trouble!) He insisted: "You are sick. Go to Room 15!" *sigh*
So I went back to Room 15 to wait. But immediately it became apparent that no one waiting in front of Room 15 knew who was in the queue, where the queue started or where it ended! There were no remaining seats so about 6-8 people were loitering in front of the door. Every time the door opened, several people who were closest would make a dash for it and try to get inside to see the doctor before the door closed! It was absolute pandemonium. I was standing there trying not to get trampled, and really not convinced I was in the right place at all. A few nurses tried to sort out the queue for Room 15 but gave up because there was so much confusion. No one knew what was happening! Finally I spoke to one of the nurses (knowing that she would speak a little English!) and explained my situation -- that I simply needed a full blood count and a scan -- and asked her to tell the English doctor, who knows us at the College, that I was here waiting because she would be expecting me. (I had spoken to the doctor the previous week to find out about getting a scan, so she knew I was coming that day.) The nurse didn't know what to do with me so she asked another guy. The man said "Follow me" and before I knew what was happening he opened the door to Room 14 and took me straight inside, where the doctor was already dealing with a patient, and motioned for me to sit in the corner! So I waited while the doctor finished with the patient and then it was my turn to explain to the doctor -- again -- WHY I was there and what I needed. I spent several minutes trying to convince the doctor why I needed the scan and bloodwork in the first place.
"You're not sick!" she said.
"No, but I was anaemic last month when I saw my doctor in Lusaka, so she wants to check my hemoglobin levels to see if they've come up, and she wants a scan to check the baby's growth."
"But you had a scan in Lusaka last month, why do you need a scan here?"
"To check the baby's growth! I've not gained any weight in the past month and they are concerned to make sure the baby is still growing!"
"Is the baby moving?"
"Yes!"
"Then why do you need a scan?"
and so on.... followed by "Why do you need a blood test?" Next time I will make sure I have a letter of referral from my doctor! A referral letter is not necessary, but it certainly would have made my morning easier so that I didn't have to keep convincing people of why I had come to the hospital in the first place!
Finally I got the paper from the doctor, rather grudgingly, which allowed me to go to the lab to have the blood test done -- more waiting. . . and then from there to the radiology department to have the scan done -- even more waiting! That was an experience in itself. When I went to the radiology room and told the man at the front desk, "I'm here to have an antenatal scan," he immediately said "Follow me" and quickly ushered me through the waiting room (where about 8-10 ladies and a couple of men were seated) and straight into the ultrasound room where the doctor was seated at his desk.... at the same moment that another man was wheeling another patient who was in a wheelchair into the ultrasound room! Hospital policy is that urgent cases always go first, and I was just following instructions, so I waited for the doctor to tell me what to do after the receptionist handed the doctor all my paperwork and left me in the room. The doctor said, "Madam, wait outside the door and I will see you next, after the man in the wheelchair." So I obeyed and stood outside the ultrasound room door, since there were no remaining seats.
After a couple of minutes I realized that all the women who were seated were getting upset because it was obvious that I was suddenly at the head of the line when they had been waiting for who knows how long! There was a lot of muttering and murmuring in Nyanja which of course I couldn't understand but I certainly was getting the gist of the conversation! Finally one of the women got up and huffed out of the room. She came back a few minutes later with a nurse who took the woman's paperwork (like the receptionist had done with mine), barged into the doctor's office, gave him what sounded like a major telling-off (in Nyanja), left the woman's paperwork inside, and came out. The other woman looked pleased with herself. I, meanwhile, had managed to find a corner of a table to half-sit on while I waited. I noticed that one of the other women had inched her way to the end of the bench where she was seated and looked like she had every intention of dashing inside the doctor's office as soon as the door opened so as to get inside before I did. I had absolutely no interest in fighting and elbowing my way into the doctor's office so I completely ignored her. Sure enough, when the door opened and the wheelchair patient emerged, said woman shot inside the office and immediately plunked herself down on the examination table while I followed her through the doorway and wondered what on earth the doctor was going to do in this situation. The woman sat there with her arms crossed and rattled off something in Nyanja to the doctor and he looked at me and said, "Let her go first. You wait outside and come in next." So, I returned to my post standing in front of the door. I felt really bad about being at the "head of the line" and I didn't understand why I was given "preferential treatment" but at the same time I felt very strongly about obeying the doctor's orders, because he was the only one around who was giving clear instructions! All morning, I had been struggling to figure out where to go and what queue to stand in, and everything was so disorganized that I was determined to follow the instructions which were given to me. I waited, and as soon as the doctor's door opened again another woman repeated the trick and dashed inside, nearly knocking me flat. The doctor quickly told her to leave, and as I settled myself on the examination table, he muttered something about "always pushing and shoving their way in...!" This experience made me really sad because I didn't like the feeling of "cutting in line" but I was really trying hard to obey any instructions that were given to me because it was so hard to know what I was supposed to do. And in a situation like this where there is no orderliness and no one knows where the start/finish of the queue is, the doctor is the only one who can decide who he is going to see next! It was an unpleasant experience, but I was thankful to be finished quickly and out of the way so that the women could finish fighting over who's turn was next.
In all, it was an exhausting and stressful morning... BUT
* we are so thankful to have a hospital not too far away
* we are so thankful to have access to basic medical care (and if it was an emergency, they would take good care of us!)
* we are so thankful to be able to check the health of the pregnancy without having to travel all the way to Lusaka!
And I learned a few more lessons about life in Zambia in the process! :)
Saturday, 17 September 2011
prayer requests
We would greatly appreciate your prayers for two specific items:
1) On Monday (19th Sept) we will be going to the hospital an hour away where Katie will have more bloodwork to see if her hemoglobin levels have risen, and another antenatal scan to check on the growth of the baby and the health of the placenta. Please be in prayer that all of Katie's nutritive efforts will have brought her hemoglobin back into the "safe" zone! And especially please pray that our little unborn daughter would be healthy, strong, and growing properly and that the pregnancy would continue to be uncomplicated.
2) On Tuesday (20th Sept) there will be presidential elections here in Zambia. Please keep the country in your prayers during this time. Zambia is a peaceful nation, but there is always a measure of discontent and chaos during election seasons in any country. We do not anticipate any trouble, and we live in a quiet rural area, but we will be lying low for a few days and not venturing out much. Please be in prayer for Zambia next week and in weeks to come.
Friday, 16 September 2011
antics
Elijah has now reached the "I'm going to climb on everything heedless of my own mortality" stage. The side of the tub, the side of the sandbox, the dining room chairs, the storage trunks, the kitchen steps. Now the sofa is his newest trick. I'm fine with him climbing on and off the sofa. Climb up, turn around, squirm down. Climb up, turn around, squirm down. It's the gleeful scaling onto the back of the couch and using the arm of the couch to try to wrestle his way onto the windowsills that has me concerned. Um, I can't just hide the couch to keep him from climbing on it. So Mr. Spoon emerges to teach Elijah that Mama does not approve or condone of that new trick.
Yes, we have reached the stage where "No" is an all-too-common word, but thankfully legitimate amusements also interest this little monkey. He has learned from his daddy how to dribble one of his small plastic balls around the house! I foresee a football fanatic in our family. (Wait. We already have one...)
His other new antics this week: giving "high-fives," which he thinks is the most hilarious thing in the world (you should hear him cracking himself up! such a belly laugh) and wearing Mama's sandals around the house. I have the feeling I'm going to be searching for my shoes often in the future.
His vocabulary so far includes "touch" and "yes." And I am positive that he was trying his best to say "bath" the other night. (He gets so excited about bathtime!)
As for my antics, this is what I'm up to: entering another giveaway over at Life in a Shoe. 'Cause I'm a good, faithful reader, that's why. And 'cause I love long, modest, beautiful skirts! And these giveaways have been too good to resist!
Yes, we have reached the stage where "No" is an all-too-common word, but thankfully legitimate amusements also interest this little monkey. He has learned from his daddy how to dribble one of his small plastic balls around the house! I foresee a football fanatic in our family. (Wait. We already have one...)
His other new antics this week: giving "high-fives," which he thinks is the most hilarious thing in the world (you should hear him cracking himself up! such a belly laugh) and wearing Mama's sandals around the house. I have the feeling I'm going to be searching for my shoes often in the future.
His vocabulary so far includes "touch" and "yes." And I am positive that he was trying his best to say "bath" the other night. (He gets so excited about bathtime!)
As for my antics, this is what I'm up to: entering another giveaway over at Life in a Shoe. 'Cause I'm a good, faithful reader, that's why. And 'cause I love long, modest, beautiful skirts! And these giveaways have been too good to resist!
Tuesday, 13 September 2011
women's conference
We mentioned this briefly in our August newsletter, but I wanted to share in more detail so that you would know how to be praying for our ministry to these women. This post is taken in part from an email I wrote to a friend.
Each year (usually twice a year) Covenant College hosts a conference for the wives of our students. This conference is one of the vital ways we can reach out and minister to these women, encouraging them in their roles as wives and mothers and offering practical, Scriptural, and medical instruction. It also gives them an opportunity for fellowship because many of these women travel quite a distance to reach the College, and if they meet a new friend who is also a student's wife who lives in their area, then they have an opportunity for mutual encouragement in the future.
The women arrived here on Thursday morning, 1st August. They travel by bus or taxi or pay for a lift on a passing lorry. They travel in any way they can. After their arrival, they had time for a cup of tea and a bun, before the program started at 10hrs. Since it was a Thursday and the students still had their usual 7:30 class that day, we asked the students to stay after class for the start of the conference, so that we could speak to the students and wives together in a special talk. Heinrich spoke from 10-11 on the topic of being created male and female in God's image, from Genesis 2. Then David spoke from 11-12 on the topic of Christian family life (the importance of teaching your children the Scriptures, family worship, etc.) from Deut 6. After lunch, the students left the College and traveled home for an extended weekend (all except for a few weekend students who camped out in the small classroom) and the women moved into the dormitory.
In the afternoons (Thurs and Fri) we had three items on the program: a health topic taught by Mercy (a trained nurse from Katete who is also the wife of one of our graduate students), teaching the women some of the Nyanja Psalms, and a craft led by Marjanne. Acklas Banda, one of our graduating students this year who often leads the singing during the students' morning worship, kindly delayed his travel home on Thursday afternoon to teach some Nyanja Psalms to the ladies, which we then reviewed throughout the rest of the conference. The women LOVED learning new Psalms. They requested that we please teach them new ones at each conference in the future!
This was the second women's conference I had the opportunity to assist with, and this time I had a much bigger responsibility - to lead one of the Bible studies! On Friday morning I led the first Bible study of the conference. We started at 8am to study the story of Mary and Martha (from Luke 10) and the importance of seeking fellowship with Christ and not being distracted by our daily labors. Then from 9-10 they broke into small groups to discuss the questions I had written about the passage. After tea break we had another hour and a half to discuss the questions together, and then I finished my Bible study with some practical suggestions of how to find time in a busy day to spend in God's Word seeking the Lord. The ladies asked if they could have copies of the Nyanja discussion questions about the Bible study to take home and lead their own Bible studies. There must have been 25 women at the conference because that's how many copies I printed and each woman got one!
On Saturday morning Jacomien led the Bible study from Genesis 2, about Eve and the role of women in marriage and family life. It was the same program - an hour of Bible study, an hour of small group discussion, tea break, and then the remainder of the morning was spent discussing all the questions together. The women had so many questions about marriage and family life that the session didn't end until 12:30 and their lunch was late!
Marjanne was in charge of crafts each afternoon. She helped the ladies use clean baby food jars to create candle-holders or salt shakers. They decorated the outside of the jars by gluing pretty stones and beads and gems.
The first afternoon, Mercy, the nurse, spoke to them about puberty: how to understand the changes in your child's body, why they are happening, and why it is important to communicate clearly about these things without embarrassment. She dealt with the cultural issues which require that the parents do not speak to the children about these things - only the grandparents or another relative can speak to the children. She had two helpful pamphlets which explained things simply so that the women could understand what is happening in the male and female body. The women had SO many questions! In fact, after dinner that night they requested that Mercy please teach them more. So she spent another TWO HOURS teaching them late into the night, and they could ask her many questions.
The second afternoon, Mercy spoke to them about family planning - simply outlining the options available. She then asked Jacomien, Marjanne, and myself to say something about what to do if you have a choice of birth control which will kill a fertilized embryo (baby). So we all had a chance to share with the women the importance of remembering that God sends children as a "heritage," the importance of making all decisions with prayer and searching the Scriptures to see what would God want you to do (not just what do you want to do), and the importance of choosing a method of birth control which will not abort a newly-conceived baby but will simply prevent the bodies from functioning properly to create a pregnancy. The women said that they
were very satisfied with our answers and very thankful for the teaching.
It was very encouraging to see how excited they were about learning and also fellowshipping together. We heard them singing and praying and sharing Bible study late into the night. Whenever we saw them having tea break, one of them would have her Bible open and they would be discussing things from the Scriptures! On Friday morning they were all assembled in the classroom 15 minutes earlier than we had asked them to be, so that they could have a longer time for singing Psalms! It was a joy to behold.
Throughout the conference, we were helped with translation by Edah, Mercy, and Veronica - the wives of three of our students. Amazing women, as always! Able to facilitate discussion and communicate clearly with the other women, they served as our 'group leaders.'
There was such a good atmosphere about this conference, the women were so eager to participate and of course that is the key for a successful conference. It was so encouraging to have them so willing to answer
questions, participate in the discussion, ask questions, and keep discussing things among themselves! That willingness to participate makes all the difference and it is very encouraging to those of us who are teaching!
The ladies left after lunch on Saturday 3rd August after an uplifting conference. We shared a photo of the group in our August newsletter. Unfortunately I've not been able to upload photos on Blogger recently - for some reason it has refused to work properly. I will attempt again at some point to put a few photos up on my blog for you all. In the meantime I hope you are okay with just posts!
Each year (usually twice a year) Covenant College hosts a conference for the wives of our students. This conference is one of the vital ways we can reach out and minister to these women, encouraging them in their roles as wives and mothers and offering practical, Scriptural, and medical instruction. It also gives them an opportunity for fellowship because many of these women travel quite a distance to reach the College, and if they meet a new friend who is also a student's wife who lives in their area, then they have an opportunity for mutual encouragement in the future.
The women arrived here on Thursday morning, 1st August. They travel by bus or taxi or pay for a lift on a passing lorry. They travel in any way they can. After their arrival, they had time for a cup of tea and a bun, before the program started at 10hrs. Since it was a Thursday and the students still had their usual 7:30 class that day, we asked the students to stay after class for the start of the conference, so that we could speak to the students and wives together in a special talk. Heinrich spoke from 10-11 on the topic of being created male and female in God's image, from Genesis 2. Then David spoke from 11-12 on the topic of Christian family life (the importance of teaching your children the Scriptures, family worship, etc.) from Deut 6. After lunch, the students left the College and traveled home for an extended weekend (all except for a few weekend students who camped out in the small classroom) and the women moved into the dormitory.
In the afternoons (Thurs and Fri) we had three items on the program: a health topic taught by Mercy (a trained nurse from Katete who is also the wife of one of our graduate students), teaching the women some of the Nyanja Psalms, and a craft led by Marjanne. Acklas Banda, one of our graduating students this year who often leads the singing during the students' morning worship, kindly delayed his travel home on Thursday afternoon to teach some Nyanja Psalms to the ladies, which we then reviewed throughout the rest of the conference. The women LOVED learning new Psalms. They requested that we please teach them new ones at each conference in the future!
This was the second women's conference I had the opportunity to assist with, and this time I had a much bigger responsibility - to lead one of the Bible studies! On Friday morning I led the first Bible study of the conference. We started at 8am to study the story of Mary and Martha (from Luke 10) and the importance of seeking fellowship with Christ and not being distracted by our daily labors. Then from 9-10 they broke into small groups to discuss the questions I had written about the passage. After tea break we had another hour and a half to discuss the questions together, and then I finished my Bible study with some practical suggestions of how to find time in a busy day to spend in God's Word seeking the Lord. The ladies asked if they could have copies of the Nyanja discussion questions about the Bible study to take home and lead their own Bible studies. There must have been 25 women at the conference because that's how many copies I printed and each woman got one!
On Saturday morning Jacomien led the Bible study from Genesis 2, about Eve and the role of women in marriage and family life. It was the same program - an hour of Bible study, an hour of small group discussion, tea break, and then the remainder of the morning was spent discussing all the questions together. The women had so many questions about marriage and family life that the session didn't end until 12:30 and their lunch was late!
Marjanne was in charge of crafts each afternoon. She helped the ladies use clean baby food jars to create candle-holders or salt shakers. They decorated the outside of the jars by gluing pretty stones and beads and gems.
The first afternoon, Mercy, the nurse, spoke to them about puberty: how to understand the changes in your child's body, why they are happening, and why it is important to communicate clearly about these things without embarrassment. She dealt with the cultural issues which require that the parents do not speak to the children about these things - only the grandparents or another relative can speak to the children. She had two helpful pamphlets which explained things simply so that the women could understand what is happening in the male and female body. The women had SO many questions! In fact, after dinner that night they requested that Mercy please teach them more. So she spent another TWO HOURS teaching them late into the night, and they could ask her many questions.
The second afternoon, Mercy spoke to them about family planning - simply outlining the options available. She then asked Jacomien, Marjanne, and myself to say something about what to do if you have a choice of birth control which will kill a fertilized embryo (baby). So we all had a chance to share with the women the importance of remembering that God sends children as a "heritage," the importance of making all decisions with prayer and searching the Scriptures to see what would God want you to do (not just what do you want to do), and the importance of choosing a method of birth control which will not abort a newly-conceived baby but will simply prevent the bodies from functioning properly to create a pregnancy. The women said that they
were very satisfied with our answers and very thankful for the teaching.
It was very encouraging to see how excited they were about learning and also fellowshipping together. We heard them singing and praying and sharing Bible study late into the night. Whenever we saw them having tea break, one of them would have her Bible open and they would be discussing things from the Scriptures! On Friday morning they were all assembled in the classroom 15 minutes earlier than we had asked them to be, so that they could have a longer time for singing Psalms! It was a joy to behold.
Throughout the conference, we were helped with translation by Edah, Mercy, and Veronica - the wives of three of our students. Amazing women, as always! Able to facilitate discussion and communicate clearly with the other women, they served as our 'group leaders.'
There was such a good atmosphere about this conference, the women were so eager to participate and of course that is the key for a successful conference. It was so encouraging to have them so willing to answer
questions, participate in the discussion, ask questions, and keep discussing things among themselves! That willingness to participate makes all the difference and it is very encouraging to those of us who are teaching!
The ladies left after lunch on Saturday 3rd August after an uplifting conference. We shared a photo of the group in our August newsletter. Unfortunately I've not been able to upload photos on Blogger recently - for some reason it has refused to work properly. I will attempt again at some point to put a few photos up on my blog for you all. In the meantime I hope you are okay with just posts!
Friday, 9 September 2011
I approve of this giveaway.
Yes, I'm doing it again. I wonder if this will become a frequent occurrence? Life in a Shoe is hosting another awesome giveaway this week! I guess my thoughts on the matter are: 1) if it's a blog that I enjoy, 2) it only takes a few moments of my time to enter, 3) no spam involved, and 4) I could potentially win something really valuable. . . why not? :-) So, yes, I have my eye on these great maternity skirts. Not only do I actually need something like that, so it would be awesome to win, but do you know how difficult it is to find ANY skirts, but particularly maternity skirts, which are attractive, modest, AND the right length??
In other bargain-hunting news, I am trying out Swagbucks. I have some upcoming Amazon purchases to make, and figured I might as well try to save a bit of money here and there. It sounds like it's relatively easy and non-time-consuming to find Swagbucks while I'm searching things online, which I do every day, on one topic or another. And a penny saved is a penny earned!
In other bargain-hunting news, I am trying out Swagbucks. I have some upcoming Amazon purchases to make, and figured I might as well try to save a bit of money here and there. It sounds like it's relatively easy and non-time-consuming to find Swagbucks while I'm searching things online, which I do every day, on one topic or another. And a penny saved is a penny earned!
Thursday, 8 September 2011
25 weeks
Today I'm 25 weeks along! Celebrating by eating a lovely fresh salad with lettuce and chinese broccoli leaves from my garden, hard-boiled egg, a tiny bit of cheese, and some tomato and carrot. Somehow that number seems substantially bigger than 24. Funny how the pregnant brain works. Baby is active and happy. She seems to like kicking her big brother when he is cuddled in my lap drinking his milk before his morning and afternoon naps! Amazingly, he hasn't noticed. We've tried to draw his attention to the Bump and explain, "Baby in Mama's tummy!" but we generally can't even get him to look where we're pointing. I am sure that he will notice eventually. . . though it might not be until this strange-looking tiny thing that makes odd noises shows up in Mama's arms.
Overall I'm doing okay, and I'm still doing my utmost to maximize my iron intake each day. I'm tired, but often find it difficult to rest comfortably. I also find it difficult to push myself enough in the mornings that I get a substantial amount accomplished without crossing the line and making myself feel sick. There's an element of sleep deprivation recently which I could really do without. . . waking up every two hours either because I desperately have to pee, my toddler is crying, the dogs are chewing on a empty water bottle outside our bedroom window, I have to pee again, or the toddler is crying again (he's teething. . .) and then the toddler wakes up for the day at 5:48 when your alarm is set for 6:15 and you think. . . NO. Please no!
25 weeks along, and I can tell my brain is going into "nesting" mode. I think mostly because I've started to realize that we're leaving the College in one month -- and all the things I have to do before then to prepare my home for our 4-month furlough! Things really must be left in good order because when we come back in February, I won't have the time or energy to expend putting my house to rights after a long absence. And I will admit that there are still boxes remaining to be unpacked, from our move into this house in June. You know the boxes, the ones that have the random bits of flotsam and jetsam which you can't throw away, but which are just too "miscellaneous" to acquire a category and a permanent place of abode. But I have determined that these boxes must and shall be emptied and broken down before we leave and the contents thereof dispersed throughout the house in a tidy manner. And then I consider my kitchen cupboards. . . *guilty sigh* There has been no organizational efforts on that front either, since we moved in. Summary: complete and utter chaos, and inability to locate a particular spice jar when half-way through following a recipe.
And then there's our bedroom. We recently moved bedrooms. We had been sleeping in the room which was used by the Ms as their "master" bedroom, at the end of the hall with a bathroom attached. Their bed remained in this room for our use until we could purchase our own. Well, we did purchase our own mattress last month while we were in Lusaka, and got a beautiful solid wood bed-frame made here in Eastern Province, and when our new bed was assembled, we moved rooms accordingly. Result: everything, particularly our clothing (because we had to empty the large clothes cupboard so that it could be moved into the new bedroom), is in chaos, and I've not yet sorted the chaos out. Our "master" bedroom is now the first bedroom in the hall, directly across from the main bathroom and also directly across from Elijah's bedroom. The room we were previously using will become the guest room, which will be really nice since it is quiet, private, has its own outside entrance and its own bathroom with shower. (This is a shameless plug to get you to come visit us. COME VISIT US.)
Yes, hard to believe that in a month's time we'll be headed to the UK for several weeks. And then in November, headed to the States to await our baby's birth. So much to do between now and then!
And I will close my post by asking my mommy friends in Scotland, NC, SC, and PA (because that's mainly where I'll be for my 3rd trimester): do you have any maternity clothing you no longer need and would like to get rid of? If so, PLEASE let me know because I could really use maternity clothing and I will be very grateful for any hand-me-downs! Thank you!
Overall I'm doing okay, and I'm still doing my utmost to maximize my iron intake each day. I'm tired, but often find it difficult to rest comfortably. I also find it difficult to push myself enough in the mornings that I get a substantial amount accomplished without crossing the line and making myself feel sick. There's an element of sleep deprivation recently which I could really do without. . . waking up every two hours either because I desperately have to pee, my toddler is crying, the dogs are chewing on a empty water bottle outside our bedroom window, I have to pee again, or the toddler is crying again (he's teething. . .) and then the toddler wakes up for the day at 5:48 when your alarm is set for 6:15 and you think. . . NO. Please no!
25 weeks along, and I can tell my brain is going into "nesting" mode. I think mostly because I've started to realize that we're leaving the College in one month -- and all the things I have to do before then to prepare my home for our 4-month furlough! Things really must be left in good order because when we come back in February, I won't have the time or energy to expend putting my house to rights after a long absence. And I will admit that there are still boxes remaining to be unpacked, from our move into this house in June. You know the boxes, the ones that have the random bits of flotsam and jetsam which you can't throw away, but which are just too "miscellaneous" to acquire a category and a permanent place of abode. But I have determined that these boxes must and shall be emptied and broken down before we leave and the contents thereof dispersed throughout the house in a tidy manner. And then I consider my kitchen cupboards. . . *guilty sigh* There has been no organizational efforts on that front either, since we moved in. Summary: complete and utter chaos, and inability to locate a particular spice jar when half-way through following a recipe.
And then there's our bedroom. We recently moved bedrooms. We had been sleeping in the room which was used by the Ms as their "master" bedroom, at the end of the hall with a bathroom attached. Their bed remained in this room for our use until we could purchase our own. Well, we did purchase our own mattress last month while we were in Lusaka, and got a beautiful solid wood bed-frame made here in Eastern Province, and when our new bed was assembled, we moved rooms accordingly. Result: everything, particularly our clothing (because we had to empty the large clothes cupboard so that it could be moved into the new bedroom), is in chaos, and I've not yet sorted the chaos out. Our "master" bedroom is now the first bedroom in the hall, directly across from the main bathroom and also directly across from Elijah's bedroom. The room we were previously using will become the guest room, which will be really nice since it is quiet, private, has its own outside entrance and its own bathroom with shower. (This is a shameless plug to get you to come visit us. COME VISIT US.)
Yes, hard to believe that in a month's time we'll be headed to the UK for several weeks. And then in November, headed to the States to await our baby's birth. So much to do between now and then!
And I will close my post by asking my mommy friends in Scotland, NC, SC, and PA (because that's mainly where I'll be for my 3rd trimester): do you have any maternity clothing you no longer need and would like to get rid of? If so, PLEASE let me know because I could really use maternity clothing and I will be very grateful for any hand-me-downs! Thank you!
Saturday, 3 September 2011
blogs
I was inspired to write this post by the current giveway over at Life in a Shoe, one of the blogs which I really enjoy reading. Her posts make me laugh, and I agree with many of her philosophies (which I think always makes reading a blog more enjoyable). I can relate to many of her stories because I am from a "large" (by modern standards) family of 7 children (and also homeschooled), which isn't the same as being one of 12, but probably generated close to a comparable amount of chaos at times. I will admit that I have always been a "lurker" and that I am de-lurking simply because I couldn't resist entering this giveaway! I took one look at those Flexi Clips and thought "That's exactly what I need to keep my hair off my neck in this Zambian heat."
And while I am on the subject, let me share a few more blogs which I enjoy checking out on a regular basis. . .
Appellation Mountain is an awesome baby name blog. It's fascinating stories of every name you can think of -- from the common names to the names you wouldn't ever think of! I also like her balance between posting daily Baby Name of the Day posts, combined with occasional submitted baby name stories from readers, celebrity birth announcements and a weekly round-up of all sorts of interesting links to other blogs and articles.
Yes, I like baby name sites. Here's another, this one is more of an advice blog for those who write in with questions or dilemmas about their name options.
Free Range Kids is a fascinating, thought-provoking blog which I don't always "enjoy" reading, because sometimes reality is depressing and I don't like the direction that things are headed with media hype and irrational fear in Western society. But I agree with her philosophies -- and I've discovered that more and more since we moved from Western society to a rural African setting where you will find 5-year-olds in charge of their 2-year-old sibling for the day while Mama works in the fields. A note: While the blog is superb and its content illuminating, I don't find reading through the comments very edifying, simply because there is too much squabbling!
This blog saved my sanity when I was at a stage of sleep deprivation with Elijah which I thought might never end. Some people swear by the "Cry It Out" method. Some people swear by "Babywise." Some people swear by Drs. Sears, or Pantley, or a whole host of people who have authored books about how your child should sleep which admittedly some people find helpful. I don't find those books helpful. What I find helpful is Moxie's lovely, refreshing, no-nonsense, reassuring, and overwhelmingly PRACTICAL and comforting reminders that life goes on, that some day I will sleep again, and that this is not my child being abnormal nor me being a bad parent -- it's part of the growing process, it's another stage in development, it's a step forward in my child's life. WOW. I was blown away when I found Moxie. She writes on any number of topics related to real life and parenting.
Maybe I will share more linkies another day. For now, it's bedtime.
And while I am on the subject, let me share a few more blogs which I enjoy checking out on a regular basis. . .
Appellation Mountain is an awesome baby name blog. It's fascinating stories of every name you can think of -- from the common names to the names you wouldn't ever think of! I also like her balance between posting daily Baby Name of the Day posts, combined with occasional submitted baby name stories from readers, celebrity birth announcements and a weekly round-up of all sorts of interesting links to other blogs and articles.
Yes, I like baby name sites. Here's another, this one is more of an advice blog for those who write in with questions or dilemmas about their name options.
Free Range Kids is a fascinating, thought-provoking blog which I don't always "enjoy" reading, because sometimes reality is depressing and I don't like the direction that things are headed with media hype and irrational fear in Western society. But I agree with her philosophies -- and I've discovered that more and more since we moved from Western society to a rural African setting where you will find 5-year-olds in charge of their 2-year-old sibling for the day while Mama works in the fields. A note: While the blog is superb and its content illuminating, I don't find reading through the comments very edifying, simply because there is too much squabbling!
This blog saved my sanity when I was at a stage of sleep deprivation with Elijah which I thought might never end. Some people swear by the "Cry It Out" method. Some people swear by "Babywise." Some people swear by Drs. Sears, or Pantley, or a whole host of people who have authored books about how your child should sleep which admittedly some people find helpful. I don't find those books helpful. What I find helpful is Moxie's lovely, refreshing, no-nonsense, reassuring, and overwhelmingly PRACTICAL and comforting reminders that life goes on, that some day I will sleep again, and that this is not my child being abnormal nor me being a bad parent -- it's part of the growing process, it's another stage in development, it's a step forward in my child's life. WOW. I was blown away when I found Moxie. She writes on any number of topics related to real life and parenting.
Maybe I will share more linkies another day. For now, it's bedtime.
Thursday, 25 August 2011
update
I want to post an badly-overdue update about my charming, fast-growing toddler. Every day last week I attempted to upload a few photos of him to post on this blog. And every time, the upload failed. I just tried again and it's the same story. Maybe there is something wrong with Blogger's upload button? I don't know. All I know is that the upload reaches completion and then suddenly informs me there is an error. But it's nearly impossible to post a description that will do Elijah justice without photos!! :-)
Anyway, I did attempt to post last week, but all my attempts were frustrated!
We've been in Lusaka over the weekend, and came home last night. It was our usual mad dash to Lusaka, armed with a to-do list miles long so that nearly every second we're there is spent scampering frantically from one errand to the next. It was a profitable and successful trip, and we are so thankful to the Lord for answering our prayers and preparing the way before us. Even though there were moments when David and I were both ready to pull out our hair from the stress, it was obvious that the Lord was caring for us in every detail and providing what we needed. We were able to purchase the first few household furnishings of our own, since we've been using the M's furniture which they are storing here. But the biggest purchase was that of our own vehicle! We have a 4x4 pickup truck on order and soon we will have our own reliable transportation, which will be SUCH a blessing.
It was good to have another antenatal appointment with my doctor, and a scan to check our baby's growth. We have found out that Bump is a girl! :-) The baby is happy and healthy, and everything looks great! The only concern is about my iron levels, which have dropped drastically since I was sick with malaria. As a result, I will have to be carefully monitored to make sure that the placenta is not affected and that the baby continues to develop at a satisfactory rate. I will need to have an extra scan and bloodwork done next month to make sure everything is okay. Please be praying that my iron levels will rise and that there will be no adverse affect on the placenta or the baby!
While in Lusaka we also got another dog! Another German Shepherd, this one a male about a year and a half old. We wanted another dog so that our puppy, Merry, will have a companion, especially when we're away at the end of this year. Our new dog's name is Saurus (short for Tyrano Saurus Rex) and he seems to have a lovely, laid-back personality and he is very obedient. Of course, it will take some time for him to adjust to the other dogs, Merry and Lassy (the resident female who belongs to the M family) and they are still in the process of establishing the pecking order. Lassy has been "top dog" up to this point, but Saurus is pretty determined that HE is the king of this compound now. We'll see how it goes. It's a bit stressful trying to negotiate between three dogs, but they will sort it out amongst themselves in time, just like Lassy took several days to accept Merry when he first arrived. I am immensely impressed with Saurus on two accounts, particularly: 1) he's never been allowed inside a house before, but now he is a house dog (inside and outside, but for now he's sleeping in our house) and he has the best manners and is impeccably housetrained by instinct -- I think to make a mess anywhere other than outside would be inconceivable to him! He spent his first night (last night) sleeping inside (away from the other dogs) and didn't make a peep. I am really happy about this, because we would like to have a dog who can eventually sleep in or outside Elijah's room for security reasons, but Merry is still too much of a puppy to sleep calmly and quietly in the house at night. 2) He's never really been around children before, since his previous owner was a bachelor, and yet he has taken to Elijah immediately. He is extremely gentle, patient, and completely laid-back with the baby. I am keeping a very watchful eye on all their interactions, but I think we've acquired a tremendous family dog, and I'm really thankful!
The weather is really starting to warm up here. "Winter" is long gone and the sun gets more intense every day. We've got several pineapples growing in the garden, and I've got rows of broccoli and lettuce which hopefully will be ready to eat within a couple of weeks!
Anyway, I did attempt to post last week, but all my attempts were frustrated!
We've been in Lusaka over the weekend, and came home last night. It was our usual mad dash to Lusaka, armed with a to-do list miles long so that nearly every second we're there is spent scampering frantically from one errand to the next. It was a profitable and successful trip, and we are so thankful to the Lord for answering our prayers and preparing the way before us. Even though there were moments when David and I were both ready to pull out our hair from the stress, it was obvious that the Lord was caring for us in every detail and providing what we needed. We were able to purchase the first few household furnishings of our own, since we've been using the M's furniture which they are storing here. But the biggest purchase was that of our own vehicle! We have a 4x4 pickup truck on order and soon we will have our own reliable transportation, which will be SUCH a blessing.
It was good to have another antenatal appointment with my doctor, and a scan to check our baby's growth. We have found out that Bump is a girl! :-) The baby is happy and healthy, and everything looks great! The only concern is about my iron levels, which have dropped drastically since I was sick with malaria. As a result, I will have to be carefully monitored to make sure that the placenta is not affected and that the baby continues to develop at a satisfactory rate. I will need to have an extra scan and bloodwork done next month to make sure everything is okay. Please be praying that my iron levels will rise and that there will be no adverse affect on the placenta or the baby!
While in Lusaka we also got another dog! Another German Shepherd, this one a male about a year and a half old. We wanted another dog so that our puppy, Merry, will have a companion, especially when we're away at the end of this year. Our new dog's name is Saurus (short for Tyrano Saurus Rex) and he seems to have a lovely, laid-back personality and he is very obedient. Of course, it will take some time for him to adjust to the other dogs, Merry and Lassy (the resident female who belongs to the M family) and they are still in the process of establishing the pecking order. Lassy has been "top dog" up to this point, but Saurus is pretty determined that HE is the king of this compound now. We'll see how it goes. It's a bit stressful trying to negotiate between three dogs, but they will sort it out amongst themselves in time, just like Lassy took several days to accept Merry when he first arrived. I am immensely impressed with Saurus on two accounts, particularly: 1) he's never been allowed inside a house before, but now he is a house dog (inside and outside, but for now he's sleeping in our house) and he has the best manners and is impeccably housetrained by instinct -- I think to make a mess anywhere other than outside would be inconceivable to him! He spent his first night (last night) sleeping inside (away from the other dogs) and didn't make a peep. I am really happy about this, because we would like to have a dog who can eventually sleep in or outside Elijah's room for security reasons, but Merry is still too much of a puppy to sleep calmly and quietly in the house at night. 2) He's never really been around children before, since his previous owner was a bachelor, and yet he has taken to Elijah immediately. He is extremely gentle, patient, and completely laid-back with the baby. I am keeping a very watchful eye on all their interactions, but I think we've acquired a tremendous family dog, and I'm really thankful!
The weather is really starting to warm up here. "Winter" is long gone and the sun gets more intense every day. We've got several pineapples growing in the garden, and I've got rows of broccoli and lettuce which hopefully will be ready to eat within a couple of weeks!
Friday, 12 August 2011
help
Since we moved here, I've not yet taken the time to post a proper introduction of my hired help, who make a big difference around the house and garden!
First there is Asnet. Asnet has been working for me since just a couple weeks after we arrived at the College, when we were still living in the much smaller house. She is a young woman with three children and her husband Samuel is a full-time employee of the College Farm. Their family lives very close to the Farm and thus very close to us. Asnet works for me once a week, on Friday mornings. She sweeps and washes all the floors in the house and cleans the two bathrooms (tub, shower, and toilets). Asnet loves to laugh. Over time it has been great to get to know her a bit better as she becomes more comfortable around me and willing to talk more! I am hoping that Asnet will teach me how to knit a matching hat and socks for a baby. Then we can spend even more time together.
Then there is Ida. Ida has only been working for me since we moved into our new house. She worked every day for the M family who lived in this house before us, and has been well-trained. Since I knew that the house would be much bigger than our previous one and would need much more work to keep it clean, I kept Ida on as hired help for two mornings each week (Mondays and Wednesdays). That way there is not an exhausting amount of work for either Ida or Asnet, but it is evenly divided over the course of the week. I am still getting to know Ida. She is very quiet and doesn't know a lot of English, but she is a good worker. She also sweeps and washes all the floors, and she also washes the dishes for me and cleans the kitchen. If I have ironing to do, she will do it (but I don't, usually). Ida has several children and her husband Nelson is the cook and general handy-man for the College. I am looking forward to getting to know her more as she becomes more comfortable around me!
Both Ida and Asnet are currently pregnant, and expecting their babies in October. There will be a lot of babies around here next year. :-)
Then there is Amon, our gardener. He works each morning as assistant to Nelson, the cook, and three afternoons each week he works in our gardener. We are very impressed with Amon. He is a very hard worker and always willing to do anything you ask him to do -- but amazingly, I hardly ever have to ask him to do anything, because he knows what needs to be done and will do it without you having to say anything! Amon keeps our grass, flowerbeds and vegetable garden looking pristine. He rakes, sweeps, weeds, trims, slashes the grass, waters everything, and even plucks the dead leaves and blossoms off to keep the flowers looking tidy. He also burns our rubbish for us. When we need firewood for a BBQ, Amon brings it. When we needed to bury our dead puppy, Amon dug the grave. He is a strong, able-bodied and willing employee and we are very thankful for him. I should say I am especially thankful for him, because I hardly know anything about what needs to be done in the garden, and if he wasn't well-trained, the garden would probably already look a mess! Amon is married and his wife is due any day with their first child. In fact, she has already been to the hospital once -- a "false alarm." We are awaiting word of the baby's arrival.
So, those are our three hired helpers, whom we are very thankful for. The work that Ida and Asnet do in the house helps me keep up with the rest of the housework, cooking, Elijah, shopping, etc. And I am glad for the opportunity to give them some employment so that they can help support their families!
First there is Asnet. Asnet has been working for me since just a couple weeks after we arrived at the College, when we were still living in the much smaller house. She is a young woman with three children and her husband Samuel is a full-time employee of the College Farm. Their family lives very close to the Farm and thus very close to us. Asnet works for me once a week, on Friday mornings. She sweeps and washes all the floors in the house and cleans the two bathrooms (tub, shower, and toilets). Asnet loves to laugh. Over time it has been great to get to know her a bit better as she becomes more comfortable around me and willing to talk more! I am hoping that Asnet will teach me how to knit a matching hat and socks for a baby. Then we can spend even more time together.
Then there is Ida. Ida has only been working for me since we moved into our new house. She worked every day for the M family who lived in this house before us, and has been well-trained. Since I knew that the house would be much bigger than our previous one and would need much more work to keep it clean, I kept Ida on as hired help for two mornings each week (Mondays and Wednesdays). That way there is not an exhausting amount of work for either Ida or Asnet, but it is evenly divided over the course of the week. I am still getting to know Ida. She is very quiet and doesn't know a lot of English, but she is a good worker. She also sweeps and washes all the floors, and she also washes the dishes for me and cleans the kitchen. If I have ironing to do, she will do it (but I don't, usually). Ida has several children and her husband Nelson is the cook and general handy-man for the College. I am looking forward to getting to know her more as she becomes more comfortable around me!
Both Ida and Asnet are currently pregnant, and expecting their babies in October. There will be a lot of babies around here next year. :-)
Then there is Amon, our gardener. He works each morning as assistant to Nelson, the cook, and three afternoons each week he works in our gardener. We are very impressed with Amon. He is a very hard worker and always willing to do anything you ask him to do -- but amazingly, I hardly ever have to ask him to do anything, because he knows what needs to be done and will do it without you having to say anything! Amon keeps our grass, flowerbeds and vegetable garden looking pristine. He rakes, sweeps, weeds, trims, slashes the grass, waters everything, and even plucks the dead leaves and blossoms off to keep the flowers looking tidy. He also burns our rubbish for us. When we need firewood for a BBQ, Amon brings it. When we needed to bury our dead puppy, Amon dug the grave. He is a strong, able-bodied and willing employee and we are very thankful for him. I should say I am especially thankful for him, because I hardly know anything about what needs to be done in the garden, and if he wasn't well-trained, the garden would probably already look a mess! Amon is married and his wife is due any day with their first child. In fact, she has already been to the hospital once -- a "false alarm." We are awaiting word of the baby's arrival.
So, those are our three hired helpers, whom we are very thankful for. The work that Ida and Asnet do in the house helps me keep up with the rest of the housework, cooking, Elijah, shopping, etc. And I am glad for the opportunity to give them some employment so that they can help support their families!
Thursday, 11 August 2011
birth
Yesterday I was at Marjanne's house and a woman from the local village came by to show us her newborn baby! After oohing and aahing over the baby, she left.
A few minutes later I asked Marjanne how old the baby was, expecting the answer to be 3 days, or maybe 7 days old.
"About 6 hours," I was told.
"What?!"
Turns out the woman had given birth around 7am that morning in the local hospital in town. By 3pm she was on my friend's porch, having ridden more than 16 kilometers sitting sideways on the back of her husband's bicycle in the middle of the hot afternoon, holding her newborn child the whole way.
I never would have guessed, looking at her, that she'd just given birth. She was glowing and healthy and strong and smiling. She didn't look like she'd just experienced some of the most intense physical exertion a woman's body was designed for. I just couldn't believe it. Thinking back to my own birth experience, which was calm, relaxed, completely natural, and might I even say "pleasant" in some ways, no tearing, no trauma.... I was sore! For weeks! The first 24 hours I could hardly walk. Giving birth is not an "easy" job and truly a woman's sorrow is multiplied in childbirth. Yet this woman managed, somehow, to make it look like a piece of cake.
Within a week, she'll be back to her normal work in the fields and carrying water, etc. It gave me a perspective check! Truly these women endure things that we Westerners would never think acceptable, or maybe even possible.
Wednesday, 10 August 2011
culture
I've hardly posted any glimpses into the culture here since we moved. There's a reason for that. There are very few Zambians who are willing to answer questions and speak openly about cultural things and explain why things are the way they are. Thus, David and I don't find things out very quickly about the culture we are living in, which can be quite frustrating at times. I thought that David summed it up very well in his response to an email from a friend inquiring how we are settling in:
"Life is certainly different here and it is a challenge living in a society where they don't tell you what they really are thinking. That is probably the hardest part for me. I'd like to understand the culture and the people, but they take a long time to get to know. We are always learning about new aspects of the culture, but rarely in a straightforward way! You rarely are simply told something."
You would think that our Zambian neighbors and friends would want to share about their culture to build bridges of understanding. That is what I naively thought, coming here. But it obviously is going to take time to win the confidence of those around us so that they are willing to share. What we have learned thus far is most often passed on second-hand from our more experienced colleagues who have worked here for years Or stumbled across accidentally in the course of a conversation. For example, in the sermon we heard preached by the local Reformed Baptist minister on Sunday, who casually mentioned that when a girl "comes of age", she is no longer allowed to speak to her father. What? That's it, plain and simple. When a daughter reaches puberty, there is no longer any communication or relationship between herself and her father. She may only speak to him through her mother. Why don't people tell us these sorts of things?
And while sometimes I've had experiences that I'd like to blog about, it feels one-sided to write my thoughts about something I've seen in the culture but not be able to share any explanation from the Zambian point of view. Almost like it would come across as negative, because I wouldn't know any rationale for whatever it was.
But I will stop speaking in vague generalities and share something that happened this week.
One of our graduate students passed away some time ago. In Zambian culture, when a man dies, his extended family takes everything that belonged to him, usually leaving the widow destitute (and often with several children to care for). It's a horrible practice and one which accurately demonstrates the vulture-like tendencies of African extended family obligations. In this instance, the widow of our graduate student sent a letter to the College asking if there was any way we could help her because the husband's family had taken everything. When the husband was at the College as a student, he had been given a bicycle by the College to help him in his ministry. So, in hopes that this would improve her situation, a letter was written from our Principal to the husband's family explaining that the bicycle was a gift from the College and should be given back to the wife.
Unfortunately, when the letter (which was in English) was read by a family member to the wife, somehow the lines of communication came crashing down and she was inaccurately told that there was a bicycle waiting for her at the College and she needed to go there and claim it! So this poor destitute widow set out from her village and walked for TWO DAYS to get her bicycle from the College. She arrived here expecting that we had this gift waiting for her.
As soon as people realized what had happened, and the misunderstanding that had occurred, everything was explained to the wife. I don't know what her response was. I am sure she was disappointed, but there was nothing that could be done. Thankfully, she could at least be provided with a lift home in a vehicle so that she wouldn't have to walk the whole way back! Arrangements were made to translate the letter into Nyanja so that there would be no further miscommunication and so that the letter would serve its original purpose. However, when the widow was taken back to her village, her family said, "Oh, but we don't want her to have the bicycle back! If we ask for the bicycle back, we will get enemies, and then there will be death."
What?
It's as simple as that. If there is a disagreement about personal property, the next thing you know, someone has been 'bewitched' by a jealous or angry relative (who goes to a witchdoctor to put a curse on that person), and "then there is death." There is so much belief in witchcraft here. If there is tragedy, illness, crop failure, loss of animals, any type of misfortune, it is interpreted as a result of being bewitched by someone. There is so much fear. But no one talks about it! It just exists, under the surface, tainting the routine of daily life, turning everyday occurrences into emblems of doom. And the funny thing is, the people believe that witchcraft doesn't affect us 'azungus' (white people) -- why? -- BECAUSE WE DON'T BELIEVE IN IT! (Because we are educated.)
Ironic, isn't it?
These are just a few thoughts. Part of the reason this blog exists is to share cultural glimpses, but this is the first time I've been able to collect my thoughts enough to actually post.
"Life is certainly different here and it is a challenge living in a society where they don't tell you what they really are thinking. That is probably the hardest part for me. I'd like to understand the culture and the people, but they take a long time to get to know. We are always learning about new aspects of the culture, but rarely in a straightforward way! You rarely are simply told something."
You would think that our Zambian neighbors and friends would want to share about their culture to build bridges of understanding. That is what I naively thought, coming here. But it obviously is going to take time to win the confidence of those around us so that they are willing to share. What we have learned thus far is most often passed on second-hand from our more experienced colleagues who have worked here for years Or stumbled across accidentally in the course of a conversation. For example, in the sermon we heard preached by the local Reformed Baptist minister on Sunday, who casually mentioned that when a girl "comes of age", she is no longer allowed to speak to her father. What? That's it, plain and simple. When a daughter reaches puberty, there is no longer any communication or relationship between herself and her father. She may only speak to him through her mother. Why don't people tell us these sorts of things?
And while sometimes I've had experiences that I'd like to blog about, it feels one-sided to write my thoughts about something I've seen in the culture but not be able to share any explanation from the Zambian point of view. Almost like it would come across as negative, because I wouldn't know any rationale for whatever it was.
But I will stop speaking in vague generalities and share something that happened this week.
One of our graduate students passed away some time ago. In Zambian culture, when a man dies, his extended family takes everything that belonged to him, usually leaving the widow destitute (and often with several children to care for). It's a horrible practice and one which accurately demonstrates the vulture-like tendencies of African extended family obligations. In this instance, the widow of our graduate student sent a letter to the College asking if there was any way we could help her because the husband's family had taken everything. When the husband was at the College as a student, he had been given a bicycle by the College to help him in his ministry. So, in hopes that this would improve her situation, a letter was written from our Principal to the husband's family explaining that the bicycle was a gift from the College and should be given back to the wife.
Unfortunately, when the letter (which was in English) was read by a family member to the wife, somehow the lines of communication came crashing down and she was inaccurately told that there was a bicycle waiting for her at the College and she needed to go there and claim it! So this poor destitute widow set out from her village and walked for TWO DAYS to get her bicycle from the College. She arrived here expecting that we had this gift waiting for her.
As soon as people realized what had happened, and the misunderstanding that had occurred, everything was explained to the wife. I don't know what her response was. I am sure she was disappointed, but there was nothing that could be done. Thankfully, she could at least be provided with a lift home in a vehicle so that she wouldn't have to walk the whole way back! Arrangements were made to translate the letter into Nyanja so that there would be no further miscommunication and so that the letter would serve its original purpose. However, when the widow was taken back to her village, her family said, "Oh, but we don't want her to have the bicycle back! If we ask for the bicycle back, we will get enemies, and then there will be death."
What?
It's as simple as that. If there is a disagreement about personal property, the next thing you know, someone has been 'bewitched' by a jealous or angry relative (who goes to a witchdoctor to put a curse on that person), and "then there is death." There is so much belief in witchcraft here. If there is tragedy, illness, crop failure, loss of animals, any type of misfortune, it is interpreted as a result of being bewitched by someone. There is so much fear. But no one talks about it! It just exists, under the surface, tainting the routine of daily life, turning everyday occurrences into emblems of doom. And the funny thing is, the people believe that witchcraft doesn't affect us 'azungus' (white people) -- why? -- BECAUSE WE DON'T BELIEVE IN IT! (Because we are educated.)
Ironic, isn't it?
These are just a few thoughts. Part of the reason this blog exists is to share cultural glimpses, but this is the first time I've been able to collect my thoughts enough to actually post.
Monday, 1 August 2011
happy august!
Right.
We've been sick. And when I say "sick," I mean, we've joined the ranks of the millions worldwide who've suffered from the scourge of malaria. For those of you who weren't already aware through our prayer requests via Facebook or email, or our July newsletter, let me just sum up by saying David and I succumbed to malaria together and spent 6 days incredibly ill together. We're very thankful that Elijah was spared! We're even more thankful that our energetic, high-demand toddler was well taken care of by our colleagues while David and I were too sick to move! I won't go into the gritty details. Just suffice it to say, I've never been that sick in my life before, nor have I ever been sick for *that long* in my life before. Malaria really takes a toll on your body... and I know, for a fact, that regardless of how sick we were, we weren't nearly as sick as we could have been. The Lord is really merciful and He shows His care for us even in the hard providences!
Happily, the meds did their job and the malaria is gone, and now that we've been recovering for nearly a week, we've just about got our strength back, too. It was necessary to "lie low" last week and recover, but this week we're back to our normal operating schedule.
Except for one thing. One additional thing. I've started "toilet-training" with Elijah (for lack of a better term). At this stage, it's more like we're working on learning to associate the words "poop" and "pee-pee" with the actions, whether in the toilet, in the diaper, or on the floor. My goal with this "training" is simply to get as far as we can as soon as we can... whatever that happens to be. I would prefer to NOT have two children in diapers... but even if Elijah doesn't successfully become a 100% toilet trained child by December, at least we've made a start... and we've not waited until he's 2 or 3 to start. So, yeah, you can imagine there's not a dull moment around this house right now! (Elijah would make sure of that even if we weren't toilet training!) Keeping a 13-month-old occupied enough by singing and reading to sit still on the potty for 5 minutes is... challenging, to say the least.
We just sent out our July newsletter, so if you haven't received it and you'd like to be on our mailing list, let me know!
We've been sick. And when I say "sick," I mean, we've joined the ranks of the millions worldwide who've suffered from the scourge of malaria. For those of you who weren't already aware through our prayer requests via Facebook or email, or our July newsletter, let me just sum up by saying David and I succumbed to malaria together and spent 6 days incredibly ill together. We're very thankful that Elijah was spared! We're even more thankful that our energetic, high-demand toddler was well taken care of by our colleagues while David and I were too sick to move! I won't go into the gritty details. Just suffice it to say, I've never been that sick in my life before, nor have I ever been sick for *that long* in my life before. Malaria really takes a toll on your body... and I know, for a fact, that regardless of how sick we were, we weren't nearly as sick as we could have been. The Lord is really merciful and He shows His care for us even in the hard providences!
Happily, the meds did their job and the malaria is gone, and now that we've been recovering for nearly a week, we've just about got our strength back, too. It was necessary to "lie low" last week and recover, but this week we're back to our normal operating schedule.
Except for one thing. One additional thing. I've started "toilet-training" with Elijah (for lack of a better term). At this stage, it's more like we're working on learning to associate the words "poop" and "pee-pee" with the actions, whether in the toilet, in the diaper, or on the floor. My goal with this "training" is simply to get as far as we can as soon as we can... whatever that happens to be. I would prefer to NOT have two children in diapers... but even if Elijah doesn't successfully become a 100% toilet trained child by December, at least we've made a start... and we've not waited until he's 2 or 3 to start. So, yeah, you can imagine there's not a dull moment around this house right now! (Elijah would make sure of that even if we weren't toilet training!) Keeping a 13-month-old occupied enough by singing and reading to sit still on the potty for 5 minutes is... challenging, to say the least.
We just sent out our July newsletter, so if you haven't received it and you'd like to be on our mailing list, let me know!
Wednesday, 20 July 2011
it has taken far too long for me to post this on my blog :)
As you may have already heard via Facebook or our June newsletter, I am expecting our second child! We are very excited about this addition to our family. In the Lord's merciful providence, the timing of this pregnancy couldn't be more perfect. The baby is due on the 22nd of December, which is right in the middle of the end-of-term break, when we already planned to be in the UK and the States for furlough.
What this means is that I am planning to give birth in the States, specifically in the Philadelphia area where we will be staying with David's family. It will be nice to have the support and help of family during this time. And I already have a midwife lined up and ready to go -- the same one who just assisted my sister-in-law in the birth of her baby boy! It's amazing how the Lord provides in all these details.
The term ends on the 30th of September and we plan to travel back to the UK on the 17th of October, to spend time with our sending church. I will only spend a couple of weeks there before traveling on to the US, due to restrictions on how late in pregnancy one can fly! So at the beginning of November, Elijah and I will travel directly to my parents' house to spend a few weeks with them. David plans to stay on in the UK for a further 3 weeks or so to fulfill his responsibilities to the church before joining us in the States to await the birth of our baby.
We appreciate your prayers that this pregnancy will continue to be healthy and uncomplicated. I have access to prenatal care and routine scans when we travel to Lusaka, which we are thankful for, and I am already in contact with my midwife in the States via email so that she can monitor my pregnancy long-distance. I've been doing fine for the most part, other than suffering from fatigue, but please pray specifically that I would have relief from the pain I'm experiencing in my pelvis and hips which severely limits my ability to walk or stand for long periods of time. I had the same problem at the very end of my pregnancy with Elijah, but this time the pain has come so early that I'm worried -- I'm not even halfway through my pregnancy!
Here's the big-brother-to-be: (photo taken during our camping trip in June)
Saturday, 16 July 2011
my love-hate relationship with baking.
Dear Baked Goods (of many varieties),
I think we need to talk.
I find myself living in a location where shopping is not convenient, where the supermarkets are not "super" nor are they "24-hour" nor do they have a "bakery" section where I can pick up a pack of bagels or something for my unexpected guests. I find myself living in a situation where if I want snack foods, or breakfast bread, or dinner rolls, or pizza crust, or crackers, or just about any baked goods you can think of.... I have to make them myself. So, I spend a lot of time carefully researching recipes, stocking up on ingredients like flour and yeast, and planning ahead to make sure I allow space in my schedule to bake what I need ahead of time.
You know, Chocolate Cupcakes, I got the recipe for you from a good friend of mine who runs a bakery (get that? a bakery, darn you!) and bakes hundreds of you each WEEK, for goodness' sake. I thought a tested-tried-and-true recipe like you wouldn't fail to be a simple but enjoyable birthday treat for my son. But no, you couldn't be bothered to cooperate. And I couldn't even scrape you out of the muffin cups! We had to eat you with a spoon.
And you.... french bread.... you looked promising, and everyone kindly said you tasted nice. But do you realize that french bread is supposed to be light and airy and crunchy? Not dense. Not flat. Yeah.
I'm not even going to begin addressing things with YOU, cheesecakes, you scum of the earth. We're not going there again!
As for you, cinnamon raisin bagels... I don't even know what to say. You rose nicely and so did my hopes. And then you went flat. And then you disintegrated when I tried to boil you as the recipe said. And then you turned into still-slightly-soggy messes even after baking. Do you realize that all I wanted was some nice breakfast bread that could also double as a healthy and filling snack?
I'm not sure that any of you are aware of the amount of time and mental, emotional and physical energy I expend on you guys. But believe me... I could find WAY better things to do with my time. And I bet I would feel better for it, instead of constantly being devastated by the failure of my latest attempt which took me 6 hours from start to finish.
I'm sick and tired of my baking attempts being labeled as "well, they were edible..." Recipes are supposed to yield a specific product, guys! Get your act together. Baking around here is necessary. I don't always enjoy it, but I always give it a go anyway. To be honest, I'm getting a bit discouraged.
Sincerely,
A Very Disgruntled Baker
I think we need to talk.
I find myself living in a location where shopping is not convenient, where the supermarkets are not "super" nor are they "24-hour" nor do they have a "bakery" section where I can pick up a pack of bagels or something for my unexpected guests. I find myself living in a situation where if I want snack foods, or breakfast bread, or dinner rolls, or pizza crust, or crackers, or just about any baked goods you can think of.... I have to make them myself. So, I spend a lot of time carefully researching recipes, stocking up on ingredients like flour and yeast, and planning ahead to make sure I allow space in my schedule to bake what I need ahead of time.
You know, Chocolate Cupcakes, I got the recipe for you from a good friend of mine who runs a bakery (get that? a bakery, darn you!) and bakes hundreds of you each WEEK, for goodness' sake. I thought a tested-tried-and-true recipe like you wouldn't fail to be a simple but enjoyable birthday treat for my son. But no, you couldn't be bothered to cooperate. And I couldn't even scrape you out of the muffin cups! We had to eat you with a spoon.
And you.... french bread.... you looked promising, and everyone kindly said you tasted nice. But do you realize that french bread is supposed to be light and airy and crunchy? Not dense. Not flat. Yeah.
I'm not even going to begin addressing things with YOU, cheesecakes, you scum of the earth. We're not going there again!
As for you, cinnamon raisin bagels... I don't even know what to say. You rose nicely and so did my hopes. And then you went flat. And then you disintegrated when I tried to boil you as the recipe said. And then you turned into still-slightly-soggy messes even after baking. Do you realize that all I wanted was some nice breakfast bread that could also double as a healthy and filling snack?
I'm not sure that any of you are aware of the amount of time and mental, emotional and physical energy I expend on you guys. But believe me... I could find WAY better things to do with my time. And I bet I would feel better for it, instead of constantly being devastated by the failure of my latest attempt which took me 6 hours from start to finish.
I'm sick and tired of my baking attempts being labeled as "well, they were edible..." Recipes are supposed to yield a specific product, guys! Get your act together. Baking around here is necessary. I don't always enjoy it, but I always give it a go anyway. To be honest, I'm getting a bit discouraged.
Sincerely,
A Very Disgruntled Baker
Friday, 15 July 2011
back to work...
Our holiday was over weeks ago, and now we are fully back into our work-week routine. The new term started on Tuesday, so the College is lively and full of people once more. The students all traveled from near and far, having finished the maize harvest. It is nice to have things bustling around here once again.
David has a much heavier lecturing schedule this term than he did last term, now that Cees has left and there are only two men -- David and Heinrich -- to do the bulk of the lecturing for 30 students. (There are also two part-time lecturers from the local area who each teach one class to help with the load.) David is teaching two classes: Homiletics (preaching) and Church History.
My days are filled to the brim with cooking, baking, washing dishes, washing laundry, and chasing a toddler and a puppy around the house trying to prevent total mayhem and destruction. Jacomien and I have also been taking language classes once a week, learning to speak Nyanja (the local language). It's difficult, but I am seeing progress and during a sermon or something I can pick out words that I know! I made french bread loaves for the first time this week and will probably attempt them again sometime. They didn't rise as high as I hoped (the yeast available in Petauke seems to be essentially worthless) and they were a bit dense for my liking, but the flavor was nice and that night my dinner guests all gave the bread a definite thumbs-up. We always seem to have dinner guests at least once a week, and there are more to come!
This past week there was a team from South Africa visiting the College. Heinrich's brother Dinant who is also a minister, was leading the team and brought a group of young people from his church. They helped Phil at the Farm, visited schools with Marjanne, did a HUGE amount of work fixing up our run-down and very dirty library, set up a "computer room" for the students, taught computer classes so that the students could learn how to use Microsoft Word, and basically helped out in every way they possibly could while they were here. Dinant opened the term as a guest lecturer, teaching on the work of the Holy Spirit. It was nice to meet them and enjoy fellowship during their stay.
Elijah is walking and talking up a storm (but we can't understand what he's saying - the only recognizable words are "da" which he applies to everything including his daddy, and "mum yum" for food), and make us laugh every day. His antics in the bathtub are especially funny. We think he is a bit confused about whether or not he is a puppy, since he likes to mimic our puppy Merry's actions -- if he sees Merry eating food, he eats Merry's food; if he sees Merry licking the floor, he licks the floor; if he sees Merry with a ball in his mouth, he puts a ball in his mouth, and the list goes on. We daily remind Elijah, "You are not a puppy! Merry is a puppy, but you are a little boy!" Elijah has transitioned very smoothly into sleeping in his own room -- we are glad to have our room to ourselves for the first time since he was born!
A lot of exciting things have been happening with our families back in the States, which makes us miss them all the more and really feel the distance that separates us. One of my brothers got married two weeks ago, and of course we couldn't be at the wedding. Another of my brothers just finished school and graduated last weekend. He is heading off for further training hoping to seek a career in law enforcement. David's sister and brother-in-law just welcomed their first child on Wednesday -- Elijah's first boy cousin! We are so excited for them! It is really difficult to be away from family during these times, but we are thankful for email and Skype and Facebook so that we can even see photos of our new nephew!
This week I managed to get lettuce and broccoli planted -- the very humble beginnings of my vegetable garden. I will plant more after we return to the College in February, but right now it doesn't make sense to plant a huge plot of vegetables which won't be ready to eat until after we've already left on our end-of-the-year furlough. The lettuce and broccoli should be ready to eat in 6 weeks! I'm looking forward to having more leafy greens to enjoy. :-) We can't get them here in Petauke. We also have a plot of strawberries which are just beginning to produce a few ripe berries here and there... so I'm keeping a close eye on them. They were planted by the M family who lived here before us, and I'm grateful that we get to reap the rewards! We also have several papaya trees with ripening fruit. I'm investigating ideas for using fresh papayas, since I think we will be overwhelmed with more than we can eat if they all ripen at once! I think I'm going to try making papaya smoothies (with strawberries, that will be especially nice!).
David and I celebrated our 2nd wedding anniversary on the 11th, and had the opportunity to enjoy a dinner date at Chimwemwe Lodge in the town! The Z's kindly babysat Elijah for us so it was the first time we were able to go out without Elijah... we love our boy, but it was a real treat! :)
David has a much heavier lecturing schedule this term than he did last term, now that Cees has left and there are only two men -- David and Heinrich -- to do the bulk of the lecturing for 30 students. (There are also two part-time lecturers from the local area who each teach one class to help with the load.) David is teaching two classes: Homiletics (preaching) and Church History.
My days are filled to the brim with cooking, baking, washing dishes, washing laundry, and chasing a toddler and a puppy around the house trying to prevent total mayhem and destruction. Jacomien and I have also been taking language classes once a week, learning to speak Nyanja (the local language). It's difficult, but I am seeing progress and during a sermon or something I can pick out words that I know! I made french bread loaves for the first time this week and will probably attempt them again sometime. They didn't rise as high as I hoped (the yeast available in Petauke seems to be essentially worthless) and they were a bit dense for my liking, but the flavor was nice and that night my dinner guests all gave the bread a definite thumbs-up. We always seem to have dinner guests at least once a week, and there are more to come!
This past week there was a team from South Africa visiting the College. Heinrich's brother Dinant who is also a minister, was leading the team and brought a group of young people from his church. They helped Phil at the Farm, visited schools with Marjanne, did a HUGE amount of work fixing up our run-down and very dirty library, set up a "computer room" for the students, taught computer classes so that the students could learn how to use Microsoft Word, and basically helped out in every way they possibly could while they were here. Dinant opened the term as a guest lecturer, teaching on the work of the Holy Spirit. It was nice to meet them and enjoy fellowship during their stay.
Elijah is walking and talking up a storm (but we can't understand what he's saying - the only recognizable words are "da" which he applies to everything including his daddy, and "mum yum" for food), and make us laugh every day. His antics in the bathtub are especially funny. We think he is a bit confused about whether or not he is a puppy, since he likes to mimic our puppy Merry's actions -- if he sees Merry eating food, he eats Merry's food; if he sees Merry licking the floor, he licks the floor; if he sees Merry with a ball in his mouth, he puts a ball in his mouth, and the list goes on. We daily remind Elijah, "You are not a puppy! Merry is a puppy, but you are a little boy!" Elijah has transitioned very smoothly into sleeping in his own room -- we are glad to have our room to ourselves for the first time since he was born!
A lot of exciting things have been happening with our families back in the States, which makes us miss them all the more and really feel the distance that separates us. One of my brothers got married two weeks ago, and of course we couldn't be at the wedding. Another of my brothers just finished school and graduated last weekend. He is heading off for further training hoping to seek a career in law enforcement. David's sister and brother-in-law just welcomed their first child on Wednesday -- Elijah's first boy cousin! We are so excited for them! It is really difficult to be away from family during these times, but we are thankful for email and Skype and Facebook so that we can even see photos of our new nephew!
This week I managed to get lettuce and broccoli planted -- the very humble beginnings of my vegetable garden. I will plant more after we return to the College in February, but right now it doesn't make sense to plant a huge plot of vegetables which won't be ready to eat until after we've already left on our end-of-the-year furlough. The lettuce and broccoli should be ready to eat in 6 weeks! I'm looking forward to having more leafy greens to enjoy. :-) We can't get them here in Petauke. We also have a plot of strawberries which are just beginning to produce a few ripe berries here and there... so I'm keeping a close eye on them. They were planted by the M family who lived here before us, and I'm grateful that we get to reap the rewards! We also have several papaya trees with ripening fruit. I'm investigating ideas for using fresh papayas, since I think we will be overwhelmed with more than we can eat if they all ripen at once! I think I'm going to try making papaya smoothies (with strawberries, that will be especially nice!).
David and I celebrated our 2nd wedding anniversary on the 11th, and had the opportunity to enjoy a dinner date at Chimwemwe Lodge in the town! The Z's kindly babysat Elijah for us so it was the first time we were able to go out without Elijah... we love our boy, but it was a real treat! :)
Friday, 8 July 2011
in which I share too much information.
Yes, the blog has been silent. Why?
On the 26th of June, we brought home two German Shepherd brothers, whom we have named Merry and Pippin. They are so much fun to have around! Adorable personalities and already learning fast.
The first week that they were here, we spent constantly supervising them. Why? Two reasons: first of all, the resident dominant female German Shepherd, Lassy, who has lived here for 5 years and whom we are taking care of until the M family can come back and get her (probably the beginning of September). Lassy was not too happy about her new "nephews" and was quite aggressive towards them for several days, so whenever we had to let the puppies outside (which was frequent) we had to chain Lassy up so that she wouldn't terrify them. Otherwise the puppies wouldn't do their business outside because they were too frightened! The other reason we had to constantly supervise the puppies was of course house-training them. They were just not getting the idea of going outside to do their business. So I spent the first week constantly cleaning up piles and puddles all day long. What made it worse was that, because Lassy hadn't accepted them yet, the puppies had to sleep inside. We confined them to an empty bedroom so that they wouldn't be roaming the house making messes, but that meant all the mess was. . . inside. So every morning at 6:30 I was scrubbing the floors and removing more piles and puddles from their night's stay. For a week!!
At last, Lassy and the puppies (after days of constant hard work by David and myself to teach them to coexist happily and play together) decided that they could be friends. The situation changed for the better. We could let the puppies sleep outside, and they housetrained themselves after a few days!
But then, week two arrived. . . and Pippin got sick. He started vomiting one day. The next day he was still vomiting, and stopped eating. The next day the vomiting stopped. When he hadn't eaten for almost two days, we got him to eat a little bit but the vomiting started again. By this time he had lost a huge amount of weight and was growing weaker and more unresponsive by the day. Realizing that his condition was worsening instead of getting better, we decided to contact the local vet (in the town) and take Pippin to see him. Yesterday (Thursday of this week) David took Pippin to the vet, who diagnosed him with tick bite fever (it's quite common here and the vet described it as the animal's equivalent of malaria). The vet gave him an injection of antidote for the disease as well as injections of vitamins and pain medication, and said that he fully expected him to recover. After the visit to the vet, Pippin grew worse and worse. He had no strength, and though his vomiting diminished (didn't stop completely) he was suffering from severe diarrhea. We kept him in our room at night to keep an eye on him, so I spent the nights cleaning up vomit and diarrhea. He still refused to eat. Since last night I force-fed him soft foods, as well as giving him liquids (chicken broth and rehydrating drink) using a syringe. He was becoming more and more unresponsive and acting confused (probably because of the drugs in his system) and could hardly stand. He resisted me when I tried to feed him and wouldn't even swallow. This morning we were getting more and more worried about him but the vet said "he'll be fine!" Even my efforts to give him something to drink using the syringe were hopeless. He was immediately gagging and vomiting everything back up. After 10am he never sat up again. He was so weak that he soiled himself with diarrhea because he couldn't get up. There was blood in his stool. I was checking on him every ten minutes, trying to coax him to eat and drink once every half an hour, but all my efforts were fruitless. When I checked him at 12:30, he was dead.
I share this because it's been a hard week. I feel like I've done nothing but clean up vomit and diarrhea for days and frantically try to get a dying puppy to accept food and drink. I'm worn out and emotionally cut up about having nursed our new puppy (whom we only had for 12 days) night and day and still couldn't save his life. I did everything I could to keep him alive, but there was obviously something seriously wrong. Whether or not it was actually tick bite fever we will never know.
And of course so far I've only written about the puppies. During the past two weeks, I've also spent time baking and preparing to have friends over for Elijah's first birthday; gone to a kitchen party (bridal shower) for the bride of a local chief; and hosted an Independence Day barbecue for our colleagues. And kept up with my weekly Nyanja language lessons, which are really difficult. And caught up on all the laundry and unpacking from our trip. And moved Elijah into his own room, and rearranged our bedroom and his new room. And I've missed my brother's wedding, knowing that so many of my relatives were gathering there and I was so far away and haven't even seen more than two photos of the occasion yet even though it happened a week ago! These things all pile up. And that's why I haven't posted again. Plus, I didn't want to use up too much of our limited bandwidth at once, so I've been waiting to put up more photos. I will do it at some point, when I have a chance to catch my breath. Now that I'm no longer nursing a dying puppy, maybe next week I will have a chance. Then again, next week I need to put in my vegetable garden. . .
On the 26th of June, we brought home two German Shepherd brothers, whom we have named Merry and Pippin. They are so much fun to have around! Adorable personalities and already learning fast.
The first week that they were here, we spent constantly supervising them. Why? Two reasons: first of all, the resident dominant female German Shepherd, Lassy, who has lived here for 5 years and whom we are taking care of until the M family can come back and get her (probably the beginning of September). Lassy was not too happy about her new "nephews" and was quite aggressive towards them for several days, so whenever we had to let the puppies outside (which was frequent) we had to chain Lassy up so that she wouldn't terrify them. Otherwise the puppies wouldn't do their business outside because they were too frightened! The other reason we had to constantly supervise the puppies was of course house-training them. They were just not getting the idea of going outside to do their business. So I spent the first week constantly cleaning up piles and puddles all day long. What made it worse was that, because Lassy hadn't accepted them yet, the puppies had to sleep inside. We confined them to an empty bedroom so that they wouldn't be roaming the house making messes, but that meant all the mess was. . . inside. So every morning at 6:30 I was scrubbing the floors and removing more piles and puddles from their night's stay. For a week!!
At last, Lassy and the puppies (after days of constant hard work by David and myself to teach them to coexist happily and play together) decided that they could be friends. The situation changed for the better. We could let the puppies sleep outside, and they housetrained themselves after a few days!
But then, week two arrived. . . and Pippin got sick. He started vomiting one day. The next day he was still vomiting, and stopped eating. The next day the vomiting stopped. When he hadn't eaten for almost two days, we got him to eat a little bit but the vomiting started again. By this time he had lost a huge amount of weight and was growing weaker and more unresponsive by the day. Realizing that his condition was worsening instead of getting better, we decided to contact the local vet (in the town) and take Pippin to see him. Yesterday (Thursday of this week) David took Pippin to the vet, who diagnosed him with tick bite fever (it's quite common here and the vet described it as the animal's equivalent of malaria). The vet gave him an injection of antidote for the disease as well as injections of vitamins and pain medication, and said that he fully expected him to recover. After the visit to the vet, Pippin grew worse and worse. He had no strength, and though his vomiting diminished (didn't stop completely) he was suffering from severe diarrhea. We kept him in our room at night to keep an eye on him, so I spent the nights cleaning up vomit and diarrhea. He still refused to eat. Since last night I force-fed him soft foods, as well as giving him liquids (chicken broth and rehydrating drink) using a syringe. He was becoming more and more unresponsive and acting confused (probably because of the drugs in his system) and could hardly stand. He resisted me when I tried to feed him and wouldn't even swallow. This morning we were getting more and more worried about him but the vet said "he'll be fine!" Even my efforts to give him something to drink using the syringe were hopeless. He was immediately gagging and vomiting everything back up. After 10am he never sat up again. He was so weak that he soiled himself with diarrhea because he couldn't get up. There was blood in his stool. I was checking on him every ten minutes, trying to coax him to eat and drink once every half an hour, but all my efforts were fruitless. When I checked him at 12:30, he was dead.
I share this because it's been a hard week. I feel like I've done nothing but clean up vomit and diarrhea for days and frantically try to get a dying puppy to accept food and drink. I'm worn out and emotionally cut up about having nursed our new puppy (whom we only had for 12 days) night and day and still couldn't save his life. I did everything I could to keep him alive, but there was obviously something seriously wrong. Whether or not it was actually tick bite fever we will never know.
And of course so far I've only written about the puppies. During the past two weeks, I've also spent time baking and preparing to have friends over for Elijah's first birthday; gone to a kitchen party (bridal shower) for the bride of a local chief; and hosted an Independence Day barbecue for our colleagues. And kept up with my weekly Nyanja language lessons, which are really difficult. And caught up on all the laundry and unpacking from our trip. And moved Elijah into his own room, and rearranged our bedroom and his new room. And I've missed my brother's wedding, knowing that so many of my relatives were gathering there and I was so far away and haven't even seen more than two photos of the occasion yet even though it happened a week ago! These things all pile up. And that's why I haven't posted again. Plus, I didn't want to use up too much of our limited bandwidth at once, so I've been waiting to put up more photos. I will do it at some point, when I have a chance to catch my breath. Now that I'm no longer nursing a dying puppy, maybe next week I will have a chance. Then again, next week I need to put in my vegetable garden. . .
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