Closest to Christ

Ok! Just call me miss blogsalot. :) I was not going to post this because it is kind of personal but here goes. We all take turns helping the kids with skills, music and bible stories. Thursday is my day. Last Thursday i was holding our youngest (Axer)  while Ba Kalanga was showing the kids how to make animals out of numbers...which i might say is pretty cool. She was haveing a bit of a "tude" so i started whispering "i love you", very softly in her ear. She started whispering back, so the chorus was.... i love you...i love you...i love you .... i love you....God loves you....God loves you....God loves you....God loves you. AMAZING! Then tonight while we were singing i looked at the children and was moved beyond words. I was tough though and didn't cry. The kids don't really understand my kind of crying. They think i am hurt. ;) These children...born in a third world country where the average life expectancy is mid forties... no parents and little family... these children are blessed and highly favored because they are being told about Christ. Hopefully they see Him also.

Have You Seen Jesus My Lord?

Have you seen Jesus my Lord? He’s here in plain view

Take a look, open your eyes He’ll show it to you.

Have you ever looked at the sunset With the sky mellowing red

And the clouds suspended like feathers Then I say you’ve seen Jesus my Lord

Have you seen Jesus my Lord He’s here in plain view Take a look, open your eyes He’ll show it to you.

Have you ever stood at the ocean With the white foam at your feet

Felt the endless thundering motion

Then I say you’ve seen Jesus my Lord

Have you seen Jesus my Lord He’s here in plain view Take a look, open your eyes He’ll show it to you. .

Have you ever looked at the cross With a man hanging in pain And the look of love in His eyes

Then I say you’ve seen Jesus my Lord.

Have you seen Jesus my Lord He’s here in plain view Take a look, open your eyes He’ll show it to you.

We worship the creator...not the creation but he reveals himself to us through nature. Romans 1:20

I see Jesus my Lord every day! Thank you Father.



Kidz

The children "helping" Mrs Choma wash their toys from the play ground. They were a bit dusty.  Good job!!

What happened to my roof ?

Agriculture at New Day!

                                 

Banana Plants

These banana's were planted in a ditch about 3 ft across and 4 ft deep. The hole was then back filled to a few inches of the top so we can water. In about 9 months we will be enjoying sweet Zambian fruit.

Noah's Garden.

The garden is a total of six beds. Maize and green beans are bottom left. Sweet corn and English Peas are top left.  Green beans and peas bottom center. Rape, lettuce, spinach top center. Next week we will plant the top and bottom right beds with  potatoes, onions and fill in with radish. A row of sunflower will be to the left of the beds for the corn. Garlic and Marigolds will fill in the rest of the border. We are implementing companion planting techniques and will rotate crops from year to year.

Cheese Cave or swimming pool? 

Actually Blu could not wait for us to get a cow before starting the cheese cave. The hole will be 4 meters deep before they start putting up the walls and ceiling.  (about 12 feet)  The ceiling in the  finished cheese room will be approximately two meters high.  The picture is not that great but you can get some idea of the width by looking at my shadow.  I am at the edge looking down.

Side view of cheese cave.

New chickens are a cross between Rhode Island Red and Leggerns.  They are only 21 weeks and are already laying fairly well. We did have to move the roosters to a separate pen though.

Poultry condo complete with river sand beach and dust bathing.

This is Noah. He is the young man Blu assigned to work with me. He is just beginning to break ground on the "beeeg" garden. 30 ft beds. We will start planting tomorrow.

We are also growing cats. ughhhh      This is my new room mate.  She has a "bad name" in the neighborhood as a loose woman. What about the men involved??

                                          

Rednecks in Africa!

Blu wanted me to post a pic of my hut with the tarps on it. My roof is leaking so this was the only alternative until the rain stops which should be in a month or so.

                                                          



The following is a message from FB, for those of you who do not indulge. My future niece asked me a question about Africa...i tried to answer.   
Mindi: 
I'm curious with as different as things might be there compared to here. How similar are things??

Me: Mindi...a lot of things here are the same...a lot of the same flowers....some birds ie dove...crows... if I tooks pics of south Texas and parts of Zambia u could not tell them apart...things here are bigger...flowers...bugs ..... most things are very different....most of the bush folks only eat one meal/day of ground corn ....they wear what clothes they can find...Blu was telling me about a big guy that bought a jean jumper that really was for a woman...must have been for a big woman :) all of the children do not go to school because they have to help raise the younger children and they have to pay to go to school    ‎....the internet just goes away for no reason...wait...that happens in the states. ;) people take our empty water bottles and tin cans to use for containers at their homes. I gave my friends Cecilia and Mutinta a pear each yesterday that needed to be eaten...their very first.....they were "very good." People here work all day for around two US dollars and that is good money. The tax rate is 16% and gas sells by the liter. I can see the sun rise from my window and set from my front porch. The Zambian sunset is AMAZING...very red like the earth. The stars are like diamonds thrown onto jet black velvet and the moon is so bright it keeps us awake at night. I am extremely grateful and humbled by this experience and would not change a thing. Hope this answers your question. Its sort of like comparing apples to oranges. Both are good!

Mindi:  Yes it does answer my question it sounds amazing I'll have to come visit!!

Youth Day Activities at NDO

Today is yet another Zambian holiday! Youth Day. Complete with a huge parade in Choma and policemen on the street. We celebrated by playing games and snacking on cookies and kool aid.

Papa Wes finally has hair!

Water games.

 This was a relay race. There were two teams and the object was to lie down and have your team mate fill the bottle. Of course some were better at "hitting" the bottle than others. I am sure Darbi will post some of the "others".

 Darbi and the children watching in anticipation.

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Darbi and Mulenga

The "CREW" 

We also played volley ball with bed sheets and water balloons and had a relay race where you put your head on a bat...spin 5X and TRY to run to the other end, dress in the clothes waiting for you, get cleared by the "judge"  (Mrs Dianna) and run back. Did the egg toss with...you guessed it...water balloons.  And of course a massive water fight at the end! Most valuable lesson learned:  I can NOT run after spinning 5X with my head on a bat. Thanks Laurie for keeping me from totally crashing.

We played soccer with the kids yesterday afternoon and after today the adults are pretty much

 D-O-N-E. The maguas anyway.

Check out Darbie and Laurie's blog for more pics. I have a pretty good one of Darbi on FB also.

 

We actually do work! The second house for the children is almost finished thanks to:

The Texas Team

I guess i should say. They work and i chase chickens.  :)