birdie high rise

Things are quite noisy at New Day! Bright yellow and black weaver birds have been frantically building nests in a tree in front of Blu and Darbie's house.  Blu is so excited. J  According to Wes Wilcox, the male will build the nest and try to coax a female in for a date.  After the nests are built, the female birds will arrive to inspect them and choose one to raise her babies.  It looks like there are at least 50 nests  and the birds hang upside down to build them which is quite comical. It’s like a noisy birdie high rise.

Today is Ash Wednesday which is the beginning of the Lenten season. Lent is a time of reflection and preparation for Easter Sunday. My denomination usually doesn’t observe Lent because we focus on the Good News of Christ’s resurrection which is great! I guess I have hung around the Methodists long enough that I enjoy taking this time to think about the sacrifice Christ made for me. We usually don’t dwell on the suffering of Christ much but the bible tells us we are called to suffer as he suffered.    1Peter 2:21 "To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps. Philippians 1:29 For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for him."

Whether you observe Lent or not the Weaver birds remind me of the newness of life we have in Christ. He has prepared a place for us in heaven and invites us to join him. I don’t know about you but I will not need to do much inspecting before I move in.

New Day News Letter for February 2012

New Day News for February is up! Click on the link to view.  Thank you for your love and support for the children and the workers......us too. :)


www.newdayorphanage.org

Kitchens, Kids and Kows

Ms Carolyn in the kitchen at the Matthew house.

Things are moving right along at New Day. The teachers are busy with assessments and I have been working at the store and practicing my Tonga. ;) 

We toured a local farm yesterday and talked to the owner about good farming practices in Zambia which are very different than America. There was a group of men listening to our discussion and they laughed out loud when I told them we milked cattle up to two months before they were due to calve. They dry their cattle off after the calves are weaned at six months. Looks like I have my work cut out for me. Blu has made a plan to purchase a couple of milk cows next week so I better learn fast. :)

Darbi posted pics of the Matthew house where we are staying. There is a link to her blog on this page if anyone is interested. (The Tidwells from A-Z)  Laurie Wilcox has updated her blog as well.

Febuary 4 2012

It has been exactly one week since we arrived at New Day.

 One thing God is reminding me of is just how brief our lives actually are. My bible study today is in Psalm 90 which speaks of Gods wrath against diobedient people and the bervity of the lives of men. (V 10)   The cry of Moses heart in v 12 is that God would teach the children of Israel to number their days that they may ”gain a heart of wisdom. “  He was watching an entire generation die in front of him; burying as many as 70 people per day. Now that’s a lot of funerals.

The sermon Sunday was about being a good steward of the time God has given to us. J

None of us knows how many days we have left on this earth so the cry of my heart this week is that God would teach ME to number my days. Wheather it be 2 or 7,200 I pray I will not waste one

Git along little dogie!

The Zambian cattle have bells around their necks so you can hear them coming? After lunch yesterday I heard them in the distance but didn't think a lot about it until I turned around and they were in our front yard. They had escaped from the land joining ours and were looking for water.    yeeeehawwwww   There were  big ones, little ones, brown ones, black ones, big horns and small horns. There was even one giant one with big horns and a hump on his back. I think it was the bull. :) 

Never a dull moment! I love it!

The great chicken roundup.

New Day has about a dazen chickens and 4 turkey who have been roosting behind Kalingas house in a tree. We deceided we needed them to come live in the chicken house Blu and company built so..... we waited until they were in the tree for the night. Kalinga climbed up and knocked them down. We were supposed to catch them?  What? I am old and slow. :)  Kalinga shouted for Ba Margaret to turn the children loose and the race was on. Kids feet and feathers flying everywhere. Long story short the chickens were moved in the dark.