Garden

I'm not sure why the format of this is not cooperating. Sorry if it is difficult to decipher.

We finally have our garden started! Let me walk you through the process.

There was already an established garden plot from the previous tenants at the house. But it had to be dug up. Joshua and Caleb (mostly Caleb) enjoyed using Zambian hoes to help with this job.

Becky even got in on the action. Our yard worker, Ba Charles, actually did most of the work. He is very good with letting the kids "help" him. He has 6 children of his own.

John was able to get fence posts and buy chain link fencing to enclose the garden area. In the foreground are the two main reasons for the fence. The dogs are avid diggers and we don't want all our vegetables uprooted.

So far, we have cucumbers, zucchini, yellow squash, lettuce and cherry tomatoes planted. The children have a corner of the garden for them to tend.

Today, they each planted a cherry tomato plant in their plot. They will greatly enjoy eating the results of their labors.

Trip to Northern Province of Zambia

John was able to go along with missionary teammates Steve Hafler and Todd Beaman to see the Nothern Province of Zambia. This was a survey trip as they also took two of the college students who have been praying about ministering in this area of Zambia.

This is a short video about our trip.

A rough road

Group at Lake Tanganika

Hot Supper - it was 100F +

Our nights accomodations

Handing out tracks

I think Harold visited our yard with his purple crayon

While the dryness of the season causes grass and many plants to turn brown unless watered, the Zambian landscape is not devoid of color. It is during this time of year that the jacaranda trees erupt with their lavendar blossoms, the plumerias adorn their bare branches with beautiful and fragrant flowers, and numerous other trees are covered with blooms.

We are very fortunate to have mature trees in our yard. Two huge jacaranda trees shade a good part of our front yard.

On breezy days, more than dust is flying in the air now. The ground under the trees is a carpet of purple.

More Fun with Baby Geckos

So far, we have enjoyed having 7 geckos hatch from our collection of eggs. A few more look like they may have occupants, so we are still waiting to meet some more friends. One day, we found four babies in the container! The kids had fun watching them for a while before getting them out and holding them.

They were still losing their first layer of skin. One of the lizards looks like it is wearing a hoodie!

Becky colored at the table for a while as "her" gecko explored the table. Unfortunately, its world was a flat object and it fell off the edge onto the floor. It was not hurt. Becky also held one and sang "rock a-bye baby, in the tree top..." Then she would coo at it and say, "Ah, it's all right baby."

One of the babies from another hatching was introduced to the wild frontier of the train table in the boys' room. From this aeriel view it looks like a big mean crocodile about ready to cross the river and rest under the palm trees.

New Arrival!!!

The moment we all have been waiting for----

One of the eggs hatched today!

Here is the newest occupant in our home - a cute little gecko.

During a recent gathering of missionaries in our home, I was showing them the eggs. Some of our friends were skeptical that the eggs were really lizard eggs. Now we have living proof and another member in our mosquito-eating army.

We like geckos!

Lizard eggs

These are not on the breakfast menu.

While cleaning our window screens I found quite a few lizard eggs sheltered in the window casings. We are watching some of them to see if they will hatch or if they are duds. If any of them do hatch, I will try to get picts of the baby lizards before Caleb makes their tails fall off by handling them too much. What a welcome that will be into their new world!

What's that sound?

The past couple weeks we have heard what sounds like a distant chainsaw from our backyard. It actually was a multitude of bees and other flying insects feasting at the avocado tree. It is covered with tiny blossoms.

It's too bad that our family doesn't really like avocados. Quacamole is ok once in a while. We know plenty of people who willingly take our abundance. And the dogs eat the soft ones too.

By the time I figured out how to run John's high-tech camera, most of the blossoms were gone along with many of the insects, but I was able to catch (with the camera that is) this bee on the first try! Our simple point and shoot camera is out of batteries and we haven't invested in more yet.