for Sara

'Twas the Day Before Thanksgiving... and...

hurrah for snow!

It was a snow day!

I was sent home from work early...

so I...

• baked a chocolate cake
• cooked dinner for a dozen friends
• shoveled the back walk and...
• took a stroll through the neighboring cemetery

what an incredible afternoon.

looking up our street

looking down our street

O Choma Town

gifts

Serviettes (cloth napkins) we had tailored in Zambia.

beds

Good-bye to one bed,

Hello to another.

my new room!

sweet snippits

Sara and Michelle I miss you!

[A few pics of some special moments last month in Zambia 

as I said my "until-later's" with so many friends]

yes... this gorgeous kitchen is in Zambia!

special girl party! yeah!

Jim and Rachel have been such a blessing in my life this past year.

New Roomies!

Susanna, Sharon, and I moved to our "new" (very old!) house Saturday.

It's a privilege to share a house with these gals. I know there are many good times ahead,

and can't wait for Sara to join us in January!

I've learned that having an organized kitchen is a key for me to feel settled in a new place.

love the newly finished wood floors

friends have been so generous in gifting us with furniture

Sara- your chairs are so perfect for this front window!

my first time to live in a neighborhood like this one
the houses in the area are so old and have lovely character

Last Month

('nough said)

The Signing

There have been a few moments in history when I felt like I had to sign away my life... ex: the paperwork preceding oral surgery.

Earlier this week, I signed my life away again.

stately, eh?

Susanna and I are now the lease holders for a hundred-year-old house we're renting. ("We" = Sara, and her two younger sisters Susanna and Sharon, and I). The property owners have around 90 properties in the area, and thus have a 10+ page lease for tenants. Susanna and I signed multiple times on almost every page of the lengthy document!

For the next 10 months (and beyond??), Sara, Susanna, Sharon, and I anticipate finding a place to belong in this old house. I'm quite fond of the wood floors and white walls, and look forward to having another space to make my/our own.

looking from the kitchen to the front of the house

And... if you'd like to see this old abode in-person, please feel free to stop by anytime. One of the reasons we wanted to rent a house rather than just a small apartment was because we all love to host.

merge

These days, my life feels a bit like I'm inside one of those yellow road signs that signals oncoming traffic must merge. It's as if my life was on a major highway that has now intersected with another major highway.

In the midst of my life merge, the question of what to do with this blog comes up-- now that I've moved back to the States from Zambia. For lack of a more creative title in 2012, I named my blog Julie's Zambian Adventures. When I started blogging, I didn't know what a year [eventually two!] would be like living at Nahumba, but I was pretty sure it would be packed full of adventures.

Now, I am no longer in Zambia, and... I'm not sure if I'll have many adventures to share. [the world does not need another boring blog]

My mind battles with itself regarding the future... as if I'm positive that I've just left my life of adventures, but hoping that statement isn't true, and scared if it is.

Two weeks ago I left my predictably unpredictable Nahumba life (ex: the rat that was swimming in our toilet the other morning. I'm.not.kidding.)-- and turned it in for a 40-hour office job in the US.

.yeah.

it's hard not to think life with be excessively boring from here on out

So- it's an interesting merge I'm in the midst of right now, a merge I'm really not sure when will be completed.

I feel a little like a vagabond these days. In the past two months, I've moved houses three times and slept in at least ten different beds. I traveled across the ocean from Zambia to Michigan and one week later drove 10 hours from Michigan to Pennsylvania.  This weekend I expect to move again (haha... and this time I won't even have a bed, so- thanks to my brother and sister-in-law for loaning me an air mattress!).

I'm not exactly sure what I'm trying to say here, except:
here goes.

Here goes the next adventure (Exciting or not... here I come. Let's hope for the sake of the blog I manage to find at least a few interesting happenings to share from life in PA...).

I'm not sure how adventure-filled my (boring) office-job life will prove to be here, but I am determined to be content with my position and to enjoy blessings that God sends along my pathway... even if it's a curvy, hilly, COLD pathway I'm joining up with these days...


The thing that grounds me is the calm assurance of my heavenly Father.

It's a mix of odd and glorious that I'm living these "merging" days-- a mix of not knowing where I'll live or what I'll eat or when I'll move next. That's the interesting (and exhausting) part. The glorious part is that I have His peace and joy and endurance for the journey.

It's a blessed place to be, adventurous or not.

for two

Amy and I had lots of tea-drinking to do together last week before I moved to Pennsylvania on Friday. Even though we're now on the same continent, it still feels like we are way too far apart.

tea in the bedroom... hard to get better than that!

Today is Amy's birthday, so I figured it would be fitting to share three things I love about my sister:

1) Amy is creative (visit her blog to see a glimpse of her photography) and has beautiful style (she keeps our Cookie House looking so cute)

2) Amy is devoted to God and to establishing her life on His principles-- I'm always inspired when I hear about Amy's testimony at work and her passion for the Kingdom

3) Amy is dedicated-- I'm so proud of her for teaching AND going to school for her master's degree simultaneously

sorry, Bertha: You don't make the miss-list.

Bertha

There are some things I don't miss about my Nahumba life... and... Bertha is one of them.

Here are a few clippings from a note I wrote after a rough Bertha Day a few months back:

For starters, well, that’s just it—Baby Bertha (the mini bus) wouldn't start. (I could insert many frustrated and unhappy comments at this point.)

So, we push started it (not once, but twice…). 

There are many times when push starting is the simplest and best option. This was one of those times.

... [many paragraphs of frustrating details removed] ...

Maybe that’s why I had a headache and felt unable to interact positively with any other human being for the next 2 hours of my life.

  

Top 8 Reasons I hate very much dislike the mini bus

1. Usually it doesn’t start
2. It has wonky shifting (Champion gear with shifting on the column)
3. It has ZERO power when you let off the clutch into first gear—you have to give it gas to keep it from stalling
4. It sounds (and feels) like it’s going to rattle to pieces every time I drive it down our road
5. Petrol is its choice of food
6. No airbags or crash protection engineering
7. I can hardly turn the steering wheel in car parks/the bush/etc. (no power steering)
8. It is my responsibility: to fix what doesn’t work, to drive or to say, “no” when people ask to borrow it, to make upkeep decisions, to keep it running

I could go on and on…

To try to focus on some positives, I figured I shouldn't just write the reasons the mini bus is a major stress in my life, but also jot some reasons the bus is a wonderful vehicle. Sorry… I only think of five reasons right off the bat.

Five Reasons I like the mini bus

1. It is easy to push start
2. The shifting between gears is smooth
3. It’s white, which is a good vehicle color
4. It has an incredible turning radius
5. It has seatbelts for 16 (well... almost-- some are broken)

oh, Bertha, how I do not miss thee...

*thanks to our neighbor, Jan, for shooting these pics the day I left Choma last week

PS- To Bertha's credit: Not everyone dislikes Bertha to the same extent as I do. She was Heather's favorite :) 

[I would have shipped Bertha across the ocean as a gift to Heather if possible! haha]

Sentimental

Much as I’d like to think it’s not who I am, I get SENTIMENTAL. Especially when I’m separated from people I love.

I reason myself out of saving every bus ticket stub and Vic Falls entry pass, knowing I will never need these papers again, and I won’t take the time to scrapbook them even if I were to keep them…

But then there are other papers, like note cards from my sisters, filled with wonderful messages and unique handwriting…

As I packed for Michigan, I decided to try something new for my sentimental-heart. Instead of bringing all the special cards back in my suitcase, I took photos of some of my favorites. This way, I still have sweet memories, and the cards take up no additional space in my luggage :).

one week ago

Michelle, Sara, and I enjoyed drinks on the veranda of the Royal Livingstone Hotel. 

On the drive in, we met up with these animals!

p.s.

What a blessing it was to spend the weekend with all four of my sisters. See this link for a photo.

Gym-Byes

Chez and Jules
(our Zimbabwean nick-names, respectively)

Though it’s rarely mentioned on the pages of my blog, one of my favorite Nahumba blessings has been “my” gym. Three times a week, I devoted an hour out of my day to do jump squats, inch worms, burpies, planks, crunches, weight-lifting, the ‘ol hundred, military press-ups, step moves, and… yes, even some periodic kick boxing(!) [really- you name an exercise move, we’ve done it at the gym]

Upon my arrival at Nahumba, it didn’t take long for me to realize time away from work (and knocks at the door…) was necessary. Being a lover-of-mornings (what’s not to love about the newness and freshness of the sunrise each morning?!), I started getting up early and escaping for quiet walks alone.

My solitude-filled jaunts were deeply refreshing… but also excessively disturbing to my Zambian friends—who did not want me wandering un-populated areas of tall grass alone…

[Discussion went like this: “If you want to take walks, you should walk on the road where all the people are walking. That would be a good idea.” My internal response: Um… yeah… that’s actually part of the point of taking a walk-- to be somewhere where all the people are NOT!]

Needless to say, I was crushed in spirit.

I went back to the drawing board. I looked up home exercise routines and started getting up early to do burpies and planks in the sitting room before the rest of the world came to life.

Talk about boring.

Concrete floor, red carpet, no company… Despite my best intentions, it is super difficult to challenge myself to keep going physically when I’m tired or sore. I just give up.

Then, my friend Dragana told me about a ladies’ gym in Choma.

It never ceases to amaze me how God provides for His children. I didn’t even think of asking for such a blessing here in Zambia (where being “fat” is traditionally a major compliment), but God richly blessed me with a great group of work-out gals.

Ladies of the Choma Gym- I’ll miss you and our times together… gyming, sharing garden produce, discussing world politics, and celebrating birthdays and special events over coffee and cakes. I can’t say “Thanks” enough for allowing me to join your group.

my gym friends threw a special farewell gathering for me after gym last Monday

with Dragana- my friend who introduced me to the gym

um... yeah... lots and lots of cakes... what can I say?!?

our incredible gym instructor, Cheryl!
[btw- Cheryl didn't want me to take photos as she was still in her workout attire...
but I insisted.]

PS- Oh- and just in case you’re curious… I’m a pathetic kick boxer! Hahaha.