Christmas Chips

Many children enjoy making Christmas cookies. This year, we made Christmas tortilla chips! Instead of just triangles, the kids used cookie cutters to make fun shapes like stars, Christmas trees, bears, and bells. The best part is that you can eat more chips than you can (or should) cookies!

Merry Christmas from Africa

I'm not a poet, but here is a Christmas greeting from Zambia--

The stockings are hung by the chimney with care.

The mount on the wall is cozy in Santa's cap.

The tree is trimmed and the lights are lit.

The manger awaits THE GIFT on Christmas morn. (Becky had the privilege of placing Baby Jesus in the stable on Christmas Day.)

Becky's Birthday Party

Becky was able to share her party this year with a friend who turned 5 on Dec 7. Besides other missionary girls, Becky also invited three of her Zambian friends from church. The party was lots of fun and the time went by quickly (for that, Mom was thankful). There is nothing worse than a party that just drags on and on.

Even though we are in Zambia where there is no snow, the girls played "Pin the Clothes on the Snowman." Becky ended up blindfolding the snowman with his scarf.

Becky had asked for Strawberry Shortcake and a Christmas tree on the cake. The other birthday girl's mom managed to accomplish that. It was cute.

A fun tradition here is that the birthday person is fed their first bite of cake. Since there were two birthday girls, they fed each other cake.

Nsobe Trip 2

On Wednesday, Dec 10, our whole family was able to go on a field trip to Nsobe with Faith Baptist Church School. The principal is a single missionary lady, but all the teachers are Zambians. We were able to help transport some of the school children in our van. It sprinkled almost the entire drive there, but once we arrived the sun came out and we were all very thankful for the beautiful day.

Caleb, Becky and Joshua were able to go fishing for the first time. They loved it! Caleb caught a small fish, but it came off the hook before he was able to bring it in. We did not get a picture of "the one that got away."

Joshua and Becky both brought in a fish. Of course we had to bring the fish home even though they were very small. We enjoyed a taste of fish soup the next day. Two small fish don't make much soup. It is amazing that Jesus could feed thousands of people with two small fish and five loaves of bread.

We also went on a game drive. We saw five giraffes and some waterbuck.

Then the real fun began. In order to allow all 72 children to have a turn on the game drive, we rode in the Faith Children's Village orphanage truck which is bigger than Nsobe's game drive truck. We took along a camp guide so we wouldn't get lost. However, we did get stuck on the muddy trail! Our "game drive" turned into a "walking safari" since we had to walk back to the lodging area. With two dozen 1st, 2nd, and 3rd graders, we didn't see any animals on our walk, but we did find some mushrooms (edible) which the children gleefully picked to take home. After the truck was finally pulled out, it was too late for the older children to go for a drive. They all went on a short walk and were able to see the giraffes, waterbuck and a mommy and baby monkey.

We were all tired at the end of the day, but had a wonderful time.

Nsobe Trip 1

The first weekend of December, Sophie was able to go on a ladies' retreat with some of the other ladies from Faith Baptist Church in Riverside. We went to Nsobe Camp which is about 1 1/2 hours from Kitwe.

We arrived Friday afternoon and it started raining as soon as we moved our bags into the chalets. We gathered in one of the chalets and enjoyed an ice-breaker activity and just talking until supper. The meals at Nsobe are wonderful! However, many of us were wanting to order the venison stew and enjoy some game meat. That wasn't available Friday night. :( Most of us had fish instead. It was tasty. After supper, we returned to the chalet in the rain and were blessed and challenged from God's Word by Mrs. Sakala, a pastor's wife from another area. She spoke to us on contentment from Philippians 4:11-13. For some reason I had never realized that the famous verse 13 "I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me" comes right after Paul telling about how he had learned to be content in every circumstance. We can be content, because we can do all things through God's strength. Partway through her challenge, the electricity went out. None of us dared to complain - we had to be content! I was laughing inside about God's practical application of what we were learning. Thankfully, all of us are accustomed to living by candlelight.

On Saturday, we awoke to a beautiful day and another wonderful meal. After breakfast, we packed our things into the van and then sat down by the lake for some games, chatting and another challenge from God's Word.

Then, some of the ladies ventured out onto the lake canoeing. The atmosphere is so peaceful and calm. It was wonderful just to relax and contemplate God's goodness and sovereignty.

A couple of the ladies went fishing. This picture was taken at the beginning. By the end, the shoes were off and the ladies were ankle deep in the water. Quite a few little fish were caught and released, but one of the ladies did bring in a 9-inch (or so) bream.

About noon, we were able to go on a game drive. The camp consists of over 1000 acres and they have a variety of wildlife living on the property. We saw over half a dozen different species of deer/antelope. The highlight of the trip was seeing the zebra. They are very elusive and are not often seen. Our guide drove off the trail to follow the zebra for a ways. God's creation surely is amazing! Some of the ladies told me that it was the first time they'd seen some of the larger deer and zebra. My first time to see them outside of a zoo!

We were about 3/4 done with the game drive when it started pouring. We were riding in the back of an open truck. We all got drenched! Needless to say, we did not see any more animals once it started raining. We could hardly keep our eyes open for the cold rain pelting us as we drove back to the lodging area. Thankfully, we had all our bags with dry clothes in the van, so we were able to get out of our wet things before coming home. The weekend was full of memories of sweet fellowship and challenges from God's Word.

Thanksgiving Take 2

Wow! Pictures finally uploaded! I have been trying since Thanksgiving.

After our wonderful meal with fellow missionaries, the kids went outside to play.

Joshua and Caleb played football (aka soccer) with some neighborhood kids that had gathered in the field outside the gate. (That picture still refuses to upload, so I am going to put this up without it.)

Becky found some girls to play with. They were gathering grasses and then building a nest in a tree. It kept them busy and out of harm's way from the ball game.

Zambia Home #2

When we first arrived in Zambia, we had the privilege of staying in a missionary's home while their family was on furlough. We were there for 10 months. That family returned to Zambia in May. In April, another missionary family left for furlough and they asked us if we would like to stay in their home while they were gone. This helped them since they wouldn't have to pack up their whole house and the property is more secure when someone is living there. It helped us since we didn't have to locate a rental home yet and their rent was lower than what was available in open rental houses. We have enjoyed both our house-sitting experiences, but the second family is due to return the end of January. However, a missionary couple from another organization has retired and they moved back to the States at the beginning of December. We have made verbal agreement with their mission about renting that home. We figured we'd better put pictures of our current home on the blog before we move out. God has blessed us with more than we've needed as far as a roof over our head.

A view of the front yard. The poles are holding up banana trees that have fruit on them. It takes months for the bananas to be ready to cut.

A view of the back yard. Those familiar with the house will appreciate the vantage point. ;)

Little Helper

Becky likes to play house with Auntie Yvonne (our house worker), especially if it means she can help with the work. The Hafler's home has parkay floors throughout most of the rooms. Although it makes for a lovely floor, it takes a lot of work to keep it looking lovely. Becky was getting a bit carried away helping polish the living room floor and entertaining her trainer too.

Ba Yvonne is very patient with the kids and loves interacting with them. We will miss her greatly when we move from this home next month.