Happy Thanksgiving

Today we were able to celebrate Thanksgiving with 50 fellow missionaries from the surrounding area (30 were children). We are thankful for the opportunity to serve the Lord in Zambia and also for the friendships God has blessed us with.

The meal was terrific. The only thing missing was an actual turkey (though some excellent chicken was a fine substitute). Other than the lack of turkey, all the normal American trimmings were brought, even the cranberry sauce (though some of us would not have minded if that has been left out).

Good food, great fellowship, and lots of fun - much to be thankful for!

Here are a few photos of the festivities.

Kids not Critters

Enough with the nasty bugs and other creatures that we share our home with. Thought some of you would like to see some pictures of the kids. They are growing quickly! And they love it here.

When the rains started, we were able to get the kids' new umbrellas out. The boys had been playing in the rain since there was no lightning with that shower. The umbrellas were simply props for this picture. They obviously were not used to keep them dry. The little lady that Becky is stayed dry - this time.
The boys are also sporting their new shirts from our church in SC. Caleb's frog shirt is so appropriate, since he loves to catch the frogs and toads.

Becky often asks me if she can wash my dishes. As there is always a pile of them by the sink, I wish I could tell her, "Yes, go ahead." However, washing dishes here in Africa is a little more complicated than in the States. Actual washing is the same, but then I rinse the dishes in boiling hot water with bleach added. At three years of age, I don't think Becky is able do this safely. I do let her help dry and put the dishes away, though. Here she is wearing one of the Washer's (no pun intended) aprons to protect her dress from bleach splatters.

Another new critter

Last night we had a new visitor in the kitchen. Thankfully we noticed him before he got any of our toes. We think it is an earwig. Though he looks very menacing he is harmless (at least what we found out about earwigs on the internet, said nothing except about their pinchers). Commonly they are known as Pincher Bugs.

Critters in the Night

Tonight was an eventful evening here on the Washer Plantation, at least as far as critters go.



During supper time Auntie Joy came up and asked for help catching a large spider in her bedroom. She is collecting them for the Hafler family. The picture here is of the same kind of spider but one that we found already dead outside.









About an hour later Auntie Kristie came to the door and asked if we wanted to see a couple snakes that they had just killed on the sidewalk in front of their apartment. (If you would like to see the picture you can visit Joy's blog at http://joyinafrica.wordpress.com/ ). They were a couple of small black mambas (small but very deadly). Our dog, Zambi, was the one who announced that the snakes were there - he was the hero of the evening!






After Joy finished blogging about the snakes, spiders, etc she was walking back down to the apartment and found an even bigger tarantula on their door step. We caught this one as well for the Hafler collection.








We are thankful for the Lord's protection that no one has been bitten by any of these creatures. Also that most of the nasty ones have been at the apartment and not our house ; )