Where do I even begin. A lot has happened in the past month and I don’t even know if I can remember it all. I think I could describe the last few weeks with one word…CHANGE. To start, since I last wrote Stephanie has finished her term and returned back home to Virginia. Steph, if you are reading this you can rest assured that the void you left has been felt….mainly by Linus and Chikulu. Just the other day one of them told me, “Ahh, where is Stephan? She has not been seen. And me, I have really been missing her.” (for anyone who is not Stephanie, that quote was supposed to be said in your best Zambian accent.)

Steph stopping to hug Chikulu one last time before we left for the airport. Our guard/gardener/fix-it-man, Joseph, standing proud.

When Steph left I decided to reorganize and change the living room. I was very pleased with the outcome and even the boys could not believe the difference. The boys even decided that we will now always hang out at my house (didn’t we do that already???). I think they were taken in by all of my candles and fresh flowers (their inner girl really appreciated it). Unfortunately my mood to clean and redecorate did not last long enough for me to make it to my bedroom, so it is still a wreck.


before the overhaul........(well, the furniture was originally not arranged like this. but i had already moved everything around before the brilliant thought of grabbing my camera dawned on me)


after the overhaul.


Before Stephanie left the mission had a braii (bbq) for her. Here is one of the last pictures of us taken together before she left….sniff, sniff.



And now for the blackmail…..
Me and Steph had made plans for us concerning her last few days in Zambia. One of those plans was to do facials and girlie things like painting toenails the night before she left. Well…….the boys wanted to see her too and spend time with her too that night. So I made a rule that the only way they could come over would be if they did the girlie things along with us. And as you can tell from the pictures, they did. There is no picture of Alan, but he participated too. He did his nails but drew the line there and refused to do face stuff.


Chris, who was the most enthusiastic of the bunch. Here he is sporting his pond's pore strip. He was so fascinated with the end results.


Mallory being camera shy for some reason. What is so embarrassng about clear pores?


This time last month I was in the western part of Zambia. I fully intend on telling all about it and including pictures. Unfortunately, while I was out there my camera decided to be temperamental and didn’t work. So I am in the process of getting pictures from the boys to show you. I really enjoyed my time out there. I was gone for three weeks and stayed with the Connard family briefly until I went further west to stay with the Davis family.
Also, since I last updated, two important days have passed, November 7 and November 18. The 7th marked my one year in-country anniversary (which is weird to think about) and the 18th was my birthday (which is even weirder). On my birthday many of the ladies in the mission took me out to tea. After tea Paige Thompson (a missionary kid here) and I went to the salon and spent a large portion of the day there. She got red streaks put in her hair (not red like my hair color, but red like red-red). I was not as bold as my companion though. I opted just to have my hair washed and set (blow dry). Later that evening the Dickard's had me over to their house for my birthday meal. It is Nancy Dickard’s tradition that when someone has a birthday she invites them over and prepares whatever meal and dessert they request. For lack of a creative thought I went for the good ole standby—Mexican food. For dessert we had banana splits, yummy! The thing about the banana splits is that most of the ingredients aren’t readily available here so most of it Nancy had to make from scratch (including the ice cream). Thanks a lot Mrs. Nancy for going to so much trouble for me! (and I am sure my mom thanks you too.) Also, thanks a lot to those of you who called or emailed me, I really appreciated it.


Post dinner at the Dickard's. Happy birthday to me!


tea time