goodbye Glasgow. . . hello Zambia

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

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

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

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

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

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