What a day!

Well, today was one of those days. A good day? A bad day? I am not sure!

I needed to have a hard talk with a good friend this morning and so I left the house a little bit sick to my stomach. I hate confrontation but it was an important talk and I was really glad that I had done it afterwards. However, I did some crying and when I left I was still very close to tears.

I had to rush off to ladies bible study; the kids wondered if I should maybe not go because they could tell that I had been crying, but I went anyways. There were only 3 other ladies there and when each of them looked at me at different times as they (or I) arrived and said, "Darcy, what happened?" I broke down and gave them each a good cry. :-) so silly. But so nice to have good girlfriends whose shoulders are open for me to cry on.

So, in the middle of the bible study Anna came to get me that there were some people in our yard talking to them (Joel wasn't home but Morris, our yard worker was there) about shutting off the electricity. Yikes; so I ran (sadly, stepping on some doggy doo on the way) home (I was right next door) and tried to talk the man into not shutting off our electricity. He talked to Joel on the phone and then told me that Joel told him that we had no money so couldn't pay our bill. I told him I KNOW my husband didn't tell you that; and that we had already paid our bill and he could NOT shut of our electricity. I was SOOO not in the mood to deal with this; and when he tried to give me the form saying he was going to shut off our power I wouldn't take it. Finally I was able to talk the guy into not shutting off the power.

So, I went back to the bible study and just enjoyed a nice talk with the ladies and we didn't end up leaving until almost 2pm! So glad that Alissa had made lunch and fed the kids while I was gone.

That afternoon at 3 or so Carolyn came over for speech with the boys and when speech was done we were able to have a great visit. Sigh...thank the Lord for good friends! We could talk without worrying about supper because a lot of us were going to go to the new restaurant our church opened up in town.

During our visit a man who had really, really over charged us for something came by to ask for Christmas and New Years presents. I couldn't believe he did that; when I had no gift for him he asked for mangos (which weren't ripe yet). He told me that he had seen Joel who had given him the gifts he asked for and had sent him to me so I could also give him gifts. I told him I KNOW my husband didn't do that (what was up with people lying to me about Joel today?) and sent him on his way. I was maybe more abrupt than I should have been, but after my dealings with the electricty guy, I was just not in the mood to deal with this guy.

Right before supper time Sally stopped by on her way home from exercising and we were able to have a quick chat. I love Sally's visits; she often stops by on her way home from working out and we visit for awhile before supper time.

We left and met up with a bunch of friends at the Grace Hot Pot and had such a good time. There are no real restaurants here so we haven't really had a meal like this with friends where you don't have to cook before hand or clean up afterwards! It was just fun visiting with everybody. What a nice evening! The kids sat in one area at several tables and the adults sat together. The restaurant was closed except for us; it was very nice.

Anyways, so we got home around 8pm and I realized that I was thinking of what a great day I had; instead of what a rotten day (like it started out). Also, it is a day for the record books; I didn't cook at all today! Kaleb made breakfast, Alissa made lunch and we went out for supper! Yay!

We have been in Zambia for more than a year now; in Africa for more than two years! It always seems amazing right after the birthdays of the kids and I realize how much they have grown since we left.

We had a fun Christmas time this year. We were planning on taking a trip to Malawi to visit friends but the other missionaries also had plans for the holidays and since everybody couldn't be gone at once, we stayed in Kabwe. It was relaxing and nice and there ended up being a huge fuel problem in Malawi so we figured it was probably just as well that we didn't go at that time. On the 26th we went to a little retreat place called Ibis Gardens which is less than an hour away for 2 nights. They have a wonderful pool (Jon learned to swim!) and a place to play volleyball and the kids taught me frisbee (Andrew is a good teacher). We watched movies before bed and played games during the day and ate at the restaurant some meals; some meals just had sandwiches in our rented house. It was very nice. Short; but still nice just to get away.

Joel is going to be going to the US for awhile coming up and he is going to take Alissa with him! I am so excited for her and also for my parents and Jamie who get to spend time with her (because she is a great person!). I am going to miss them a lot; I have no idea what I will do without Alissa's help (she teaches Josh and Jon mostly and also helps me a lot with cooking); and also without her company. It is fun to just hang out with her and laugh and talk about life.

Ok, now that I remembered my address for this blog I will have to see if I can write in it more regularly. And maybe after Joel gets back from the states I will actually have a camera again!

Catching up!

It has been a few months since I have posted on my blog. My friend Amy asked for my blog address so I realized that I should write an update for her!

We are in the wintere here so usually are pretty cold! It isn't as cold as it used to be in Brazil; but is plenty cold for us. We go around all wrapped up in blankets in the mornings and evenings around the house.

School is winding down; it is about time since Tim Heath is arriving next month with our things to start our new school year. My poor kids don't get much of a break. But they are happy. I will just put a few pictures of our crazy family taken over the past few weeks and months. I have a new one to put up after I put it on the computer of a snake Morris killed in our yard (he said 5 so far!).


Alissa, Kaleb, Rachel Roth, Andrew and Anna
Alissa and Kaleb being silly!



At Mulingushi Dam




Shadow, our rat catcher
Josh and Jon

Anna doing chores...................................Andrew

Too old for Barney

Joshua and Jonathan used to love to watch Barney and Friends back when we were in Brazil. The other day I found it on a channel we have here and I called them to see. I was so excited, and I happily sang along with the fun, catchy tune Barney and the other little dinasour were singing and asked the boys if it wasn't great that I had found Barney on the TV. Well, they both looked at me a bit apologetically and said, "Mom, I think that we are getting a little bit old for Barney." WHAT? Too old for Barney? When Joshua and Jonathan outgrow something I guess it makes me a little sadder than I would normally be because it means that our family has outgrown Barney. No more "I love you...You love me...we're a happy family..."

Happily Jon and Josh have not outgrown snuggles and hugs and goodnight kisses and our nightly "Don't let the bed bugs bite" contest (who says it first wins). We went camping last week with friends and my friend Kristy took some pictures of the boys on a hike. Jeff and Bri took some pictures of the other kids but I can't get those till Friday; so hopefully next week I will write again with some more pictures.

So, here are some very recent pictures of my boys who are too old for Barney.

It is Saturday!

I love that usually I don't have to wake up early on Saturday now that my kids are getting old enough to wake up and get breakfast without me. For awhile Joshua would feel the need to let me know that he was awake, but the last few weeks he hasn't done that. Of course this morning I did have to set my alarm for 5:55 because somebody was coming by for a key, but Joel said that Kaleb was already awake so I just went back to sleep. Kaleb being awake that early means that Shadow was feeling pretty playful this morning and the object of his playfullness was probably Kaleb' feet.

I have to teach Sunday School tomorrow for Anna, Joshua and Jonathan's class. That might seem like a pretty easy thing to do; but I have this thing about teaching Sunday School. I am just not so good at it; and I get really nervous. Anyways, I like to be really prepared because Joel is preaching and he could go on for a long time, so I have to have things to keep the kids busy for an hour, I think.

So, today, besides cleaning out the schoolroom which has so many books sitting all over the floor that we can't walk in there (I had to move this years schoolbooks to the livingroom), and cleaning my bedroom (it was really clean and unpacked last Sunday for the first time since we moved into this house) which tends to get used as the place for kids to do their reading or schoolwork when they need some quiet, and of course cooking and catching up on laundry...oh, and helping Kaleb finish up all the schoolwork he didn't get done last week, I need to prepare for teaching the kids tomorrow. If my books (in the schoolroom) were in bookshelves (which we actually don't have) it would be a bit easier to find something to teach.

Well, it is already 8:05! I suppose the 'sleeping in' part of Saturday is over and the 'catching up with all the jobs that I don't have time for during the week' part has started!

Hmmmm....I wonder if I can talk Joel into cooking? I might have to add that to my list of things to do!

Shadow

A few weeks ago Jasper hurt his toe; the nail seemed to be split and it was really hurting him. We didn't know what to do but Jamie sent me some information from the internet and we saw some things to watch for. Yesterday his foot seemed to be really hurting him and last night we saw that his toe was really warm, so today we called the local Kabwe vet to see if we could get Jasper in to have his toe checked out.

Before noon we put Jasper in the van and drove off to find the office of the Dr. Geoffery, the vet. The vet had to come in especially for us, and we arrived at the gate at the same time. As we were walking into his office a little kitten was following the Dr. like she owned the place. It was not making it any easier to bring Jasper in, and I wondered why there was a stray cat being welcomed into the office.

It turns out that the stray cat was kept at the clinic on purpose to help keep the rat population down. she had cut her leg and had stitches; but she was a very friendly kitten; the kids were petting her and playing with her.

Jasper, on the other hand, was being quite a handful. We haven't taught him to walk on a leash and we were paying for it today. He was interested in the kitty, and interested in the new building, and the vet, and everything. Once we got into the examining room the doctor calmly told us to lift him up and put him on the table. Well, the table was really, really tall. And Jasper is really, really big. It took both Joel and me to lift Jasper up onto the table. I honestly didn't think it could be done! After some shots for antibiotics and some cleaning of the toenail we were good to go home. Well, we were told to take an old bucket, saw a hole in the end and put it over Jasper's head to keep him from licking his wound. Ummm...I don't think so. We feel bad just making him wear his collar in this hot weather. Can you imagine a big, bulky bucket around your neck? I suppose this is what you use when you don't have those funny, clear, lightweight, plastic thingies that vets use in the states to keep dogs from scratching or whatever. We had to get Jasper off the table which was almost as hard as getting him up on it. He is sooo strong; I think he must be as strong as Jamie's late dog, Jackie, who was so strong that Jamie and I together could not put ear stuff in her ears. Well, Jasper doesn't mind his ears being looked at, but he wasn't crazy about having to sit on a table with a stray cat walking around the room near his kids.

So, Joel asked the vet if we could take the cat home. We need a cat, and Joel thought it was a stray. This is when we found out that it belonged to the vet place; but still the vet seemed happy to find a good home for it. He said it had already been vaccinated, would need to come back on Tuesday with Jasper to get the stitches out (yay; another ride in the van with two animals who are not crazy about each other), and was great at catching rats. Just what the doctor ordered!

We went through a bunch of names and finally decided on Shadow, in honor of Mom's old cat. This Shadow is black and white. I think that she and Jasper will become friends eventually. But at this point, all I care about is that she will kill rats! I am hoping she does anyways!

Tomorrow is Sunday and the kids are all singing in church. Well, Andrew is not singing because he isn't crazy about his voice at the moment. And Anna is only going to pretend to sing since she just came down with a very bad cold the last few days and can barely talk, let alone sing, today. We will see how it goes!

Rats!

We have been missionaries for 18 years now. Over the years I have developed a sort of history with rats. In fact, at this very moment I writing about rats on my blog to avoid going into my kitchen where I am almost sure there is a big rat in hiding, waiting to jump out at me if I open the door.

Ok, back to my history of rats. Growing up I lived in an old farmhouse that had mice. I didn't enjoy hearing mice crawling around in the walls or seeing the occasional mouse scoot across the floor. The worse thing was seeing the cat just sitting, looking at the wall, waiting patiently for that mouse to come out so he can grab it. I didn't enjoy this but I wasn't super scared of it. Still, I would give an appropriate reaction of jumping up on the chair and screaming a bit.

When we went to Indonesia we lived with a local pastor for 3 months or so. They had a beautiful house with open sewers which meant that they lived in a beautiful house with lots of rats. You would be eating supper and see the rats crawling around in the kitchen on the pots and pans. You would have the rats run right by you a you sat at the table. They would come into the bathroom; and even get into your bedroom. I had to learn see this without my normal jump on the chair and scream reaction. Hard to do; but probably good for my self control. Anyways, eventually we moved to our own house and we only had one rat I think; maybe two. One came in our bathroom through a drain pipe; and maybe there was one in the kitchen. But that was it. So, not that bad.

In the Philippines I don't remember ever having rats in our house. It might have been that the rats were allergic to the chicken poop messes that were all over the driveway; or they didn't like the huge spiders or lizards in the house.

In Brazil we lived in both Curitiba and Recife. In Curitiba we did have a rat that came to visit us right when my sister came to visit us. The rat came in a broken back door and actually got very close to Jamie at night while she slept (if the rat poo messes were any clue). The next day Joel was moved out to the couch with the rat and Jamie moved into my room. Poor Jamie had thought that there was a little dog outside trying to get in that broken back door. Nope...it was a rat that actually ate through a peanut butter container she had brought us from the US!!! Very bad rat!

In Recife we didn't have rats in our apartment but we could look out back and see them playing in the garbage heap.

Back in Curitiba again we had another rat problem that lasted for several weeks (happily one of those weeks was when I was in the US). Finally we figured out where he was coming from and they were able to block up the opening and that was the end of the in the house rat problem. We still had lots of rats on the garbage pile (the place we kept the garbage until they removed it daily to the road) by the fence near our house.

Ok, in Malawi we heard about people having lots of rats. I heard scary stories about people having rats climbing up their curtains and running across their livingrooms! ACK! The worse we had was a squirrel in the house at the lake and a dead rat found outside our door in the yard in Lilongwe. I assumed we were just living in a rat free house; but I did know that we hadn't lived in that house in the middle of the rainy season yet and that is when the rats come out and look for a high and dry place to live.

Ok, so now we are in our house in Kabwe. I already shared how we had "a" rat. Sigh. Well, turns out our friends were right; where there is one rat there are plenty more hiding. We can actually hear the rat parties up in the ceiling; they have a soccer ball up there I think that they kick around. Joel closed up one of the holes and we went at least a week without seeing any rats; but the last few days a rat has been hiding out in my kitchen. He then got brave enough to move into the dining room. Then one day I saw him flash out of the livingroom into the diningroom and Jasper did his duty and scared him into the kitchen for me.

Ok, yesterday was my birthday. I had a great day and the ending plan was a movie I wanted to see. I made popcorn and even had a coke for the special occasion. I was sitting in the livingroom watching my movie when a huge rat (think small cat size; not kitten size; but small regular cat size) came running out from under MY CHAIR!!! He started circling the livingroom! He ran from my chair to the couch; behind the TV stand; over by the door but the door was too near my chair and my screaching must have made him scared to go there; so back behind the TV stand; back behind the couch; and then finally out the livingroom door to the diningroom when the kids came running at my screams; and scared him back into the livingroom to do it all again! When the boys heard it was a rat that came running armed with sticks and other tools that might be needed and had a great time chasing it around the livingroom, through the diningroom and into the kitchen (where it has a hole and disappeared). Joshua is my true friend and he closed the kitchen door and put a heavy towel on the bottom to keep the rat from bothering me again. :-)

So, here I am. It is the next morning now. And the kitchen door is still closed; the towel is still there. And I am not going to open that door. I didn't have to cook yesterday because it was my birthday. I might not cook today because I think that I will never again enter my kitchen until the rainy season is over and the rats move to their winter homes outside!