niece-work

I love having hand-made pictures displayed on the fridge.

Also please note the hand-crafted zebra on the shelf in our dining room :).

Walk Around the Block

I took my camera on a neighborhood stroll the other morning.

We often meander through the next-door cemetery.

There are so many old church buildings in this area--

so stately.

This one is just up the road and regularly plays bell music for the neighborhood.

Old New-England-styled homes have lovely architectural touches.

This one is for Amy-- our neighbor's second story door that leads to nowhere!

bird song

February was my favorite month of weather at Nahumba--

mostly because it was opposite in every way from the February I've always known in the Northern hemisphere.

In the midst of the recent cold, wet, and gray,

the birds have returned to the tree outside my bedroom window.

I wait to hear them start chirping each morning.

Their tweets are welcome cheer in my day.

lovable littles

It's a blessing to live just one hour away from these special little people!

The girls loved their new outfits from Aunt Libby.

My favorite conversation from Saturday's visit (overheard in the van):

"Here's the Church.

Here's the Stables.

Open the doors and see all the people!"

Organized Happy Feelings

I get a happy feeling every time I open cupboards and see organized shelves.

Very happy indeed.

Last year and This year

Recently, I scrolled through my sent box to read some old emails from one year ago—just because.

It was one year ago that Sara joined me at Nahumba. One year ago that we got lost out in the bush taking a back route to Sikalongo with a friend. A year now since we started meeting with two Choma friends for a refreshing women’s Bible study. And also a year since the first time we hosted our Zambian youth Bible study group.

On 23 January 2014 I sent a letter home as I sipped mint tea, listened to the train whistle through Shampande, and soaked in the peaceful morning before the craziness of the day. We were confirming details of an upcoming visit from friends in February. I had also recently test-driven a friend’s Toyota HiLux (I was vehicle shopping)...

a youth Bible study in our home at Nahumba one year ago

The past couple months I haven’t been sending regular update letters home (I figure they’d probably just get boring).

If I were to send an update home just now, I’d probably talk about stuff like the recent meetings I've attended for work, drinking tea from the new teapot mom gave me for my birthday, how happy it is to have Sara, Susanna, and Sharon all home now, the weekly prayer group I've been attending, what we’re going to serve to our guests tomorrow, the fact that our neighbor cleared ALL of our steps and sidewalks this morning after the four inches of snow we received last night (yes, I baked him cookies), as well as a few other news items, like Zambia’s presidential elections last week, and the fact that my car is parked in the garage (I love.love.love garages).

This year is off to a much different start than last year, but I’m looking forward to the adventures it will hold. Likely I won’t find myself lost out in the bush (however, I did find myself LOST in my own town a couple weeks ago when I returned from Michigan…). This year I can’t get together with my good Bible-study friend in Choma, but… I’ve been enjoying fellowship at a Spanish church in the area. Also, I am once again blessed to share a house with Sara (who would have ever guessed?!). This season of life isn’t as much a “hosting” season as my time at Nahumba, because working full-time doesn’t leave much time for inviting folks over, but we’ve still managed to invite a few periodic guests to our old half-a-house—and those are good times.

Guess this is all for today’s compare-and-contrast musings.

-Tootles!

Progress

When we moved into our house, all of the twenty windows were bare. 

Needless to say, our life here is an open book for the entire neighborhood…

Grandpa would be proud of my handy job using my hammer and a few tiny tacks he left for my toolbox in 2008. Though my curtains aren't hung properly yet, at least I now have some privacy in my bedroom!

I love productive Saturdays :)