Our new house

Here are photos of our new place!  We are feeling a bit overwhelmed with the amount of work to do to make this home.  It's the little things you can't "see" - all the cupboards in the kitchen need to be replaced.  They are just particle board and I'm scared to put anything in them for fear of them breaking!

We moved in here on Saturday and there was at least 3 other MCC workers that came to help us get things situated.  There is a huge yard but it need a lot of work (some work was done before we arrived).

The water everywhere we've been in Zambia has been fairly safe - but probably not here.  Kate and myself are both sick.  We'd appreciate prayers (especially for Kate - she threw up 10 times last night).  She is keeping gravol medicine done and is doing okay but not hungry and not drinking much.  We'll take her to a doctor if it continues but so far the medicine is working okay.

Here are the photos you are waiting for!

The living room

Also part of the living room - it's down a couple stairs.
I think playroom?  Right now our internet is hooked up
in this room so it might have to be an office too!

The kitchen.  No appliances came with the rental so we got
a new fridge and small stove (still 4 burners) and a hand me
down washing machine that Andrew is trying to fix so it
doesn't leak.  

The kitchen has this really great pantry though! We ended up putting the
fridge in there too.

Hallway taken from the master bedroom
The living room is at the end to the left and the
kitchen at the end to the right.  The bathroom
is in the middle on the right.

The main bathroom

Sink and shower come separately!
There was no hot water when we got here
but the landlord came by and showed us
the switch.

This one is now the kids bedroom
They wanted to share still.  Two beds fit
but barely!  (We turned that one).  Note weird
"plant" decoration that had to be removed!

This one would be another room for the kids
if they decided to have different rooms.  Both
these rooms are next to the Master Bedroom.

The master bedroom - the nicest room in the house I think!

And the ensuite!  For real!  Though the sink is coming off the wall.
Everything is harder to "fix" here because the walls are solid concrete!
Andrew's thinking to build a cabinet under it to support it.

The front of our house!  It's on a bit of a compound - walled in.  The gate needs a lock though - we have one, but we haven't seen our neighbour yet (there's a house at the back that is rented) and I don't think he'd like us to put a lock on the gate and him not have a key!

Prayer Requests:
-That we can make this huge place feel like home.  3 rooms in the middle are not being used by us yet! We're hoping to have a guest room (small) and an office.  And the other room is also a guest room while the kids share.
-For Michelle and Kate to feel better.  It's hard to do anything when you feel awful!

Our first few days (in Lusaka, Zambia)

Thanks for your prayers!  The plane ride over went well.  The kids slept most of the first flight.  There was a great play place in the London airport that we spent most of our layover at.  Kate was asleep before the plane took off on our London to Lusaka flight.  Malachi was out shortly after.  They decided that it was merely nap time though so they were both up around 1am and did not go back to sleep.  The iPad kept them fairly quiet though.  Andrew and I did not get much sleep.

We arrived at the Lusaka airport and easily got our visas and all our luggage and cleared customs.  It was the easiest African airport I've been through!  Ron Mitchell, one of the Zambia country representatives for MCC, met us right away as we walked through the door.  We are currently staying at the "MCC House" in the "MCC guesthouse."

The backyard of the MCC house!  Can't believe
 everything is flowering so much in dry season!
Gorgeous!

Our flight arrived at 6:15am and we tried hard to stay awake all day.  We went to the mall in the morning.  Yep.  A mall.  Andrew got his first cell phone!  We had naps and at supper time the electricity went off so we went back to the mall to eat at Wimpy's.  It had burgers, wraps, breakfast food and a children's play place.  Our kids didn't eat anything.  They were ready for bed.  Malachi woke up around 2am but went back to sleep.  Kate woke up around 3:30am and did not go back to sleep.  Andrew dozed on the couch a bit.

Tuesday we played around the MCC compound for the morning.  A long morning (when you get up at 3:30am!)  We had brunch with the Mitchells, though it was more of a second breakfast for us!  I got to see the stuff for our new house in Choma that was packed up for us (well I got to see the furniture and was told what was packed up!)  The truck that was arranged to take the furniture and household items to Choma showed up - an 18 wheeler!  It didn't fit in the driveway.  There had been a misunderstanding, but they loaded the truck up and it was going to stop back at the depot to swap for something smaller before driving to Choma.  I also got to browse the MCC library.  The afternoon consisted of naps for the kids and reading over the orientation booklet for us.  We chatted with the Mitchells about our job descriptions and how to start.  Then we tried to wake the kids up... I fell asleep trying to wake Kate up!  We woke up in time to have supper with the Bishop of the Brethren in Christ Church (it is the BIC church that runs the schools I'll be working with).  The kids went to bed late (around 10pm) and us shortly after.  Andrew woke up around 1am and Kate shortly after.  While trying to put her back to bed Malachi woke up.  Only Malachi managed to get a bit more sleep after that (and me!)   The jet lag has been one of the hardest things - especially with the kids as our sleep depends on theirs in a way.

Wednesday was Kate's 5th birthday.  We went to a nice place called Jackal and Hide which was a cafe / restaurant / shop / organic farm.  We had coffee break there and lunch and were able to chat with the Mitchells a bit more as it also had a playground for the kids.  When we got back after lunch I tried so hard to keep the kids awake while Andrew went for a nap.  I looked over and Kate had fallen asleep.  I picked her up, bounced her around, put her down and she crawled over to the couch again.  I started chatting with Ron about finances and I looked over and noticed Malachi had also fallen asleep.  I decided to give them an hour tops!

We had a birthday supper for Kate and she was barely awake (it was very difficult to wake her up!)  There were the Mitchells and their two kids, another MCC family lives on this compound too - they have 3 boys, (the 5 kids are between the ages of 10-14 I believe).  Another service worker from near Choma was here visiting too so we had quite a group for Kate's birthday!  We served cupcakes very quickly after supper as she was fading fast! Here is a photo from the party.....

She asked to go to bed after and I put her to bed at 6pm.  I crawled into bed at 7pm thinking that I might have to get up with her at 1am!!  Malachi and Andrew followed closely behind.  Kate woke up at 4am but went back to sleep after an hour or so and slept until 8!  She was definitely more herself today and I think we hit a turning point in the jet lag!  (I hope!)

A much happier Kate... technically the photo was taken
only 7 minutes past her actually North American birth date
was over....

Today we played around the MCC guesthouse and did some laundry.  Then we had lunch with some traditional African food.  (I liked it, the kids liked the beans and the chicken, and I think Andrew liked it too - I'll have to ask him).  I forgot to take a photo though!  After lunch I went shopping with the ladies for a few more things for our house in Choma.  We went back to the mall and to a store called "Games" which was pretty much a Wal-Mart (I think the MCCers mentioned it's owned by Wal-Mart?)

Here is us playing around the MCC guesthouse today:

Ready for another nap!

The tire swing!

Tomorrow we leave for Choma.  We're planning to spend a night in a guesthouse while we organize our house to live in.  A couple of the MCCers are going to come down with us - which is good because though I feel I could probably drive our "new" vehicle.... I'm not so sure about driving on the left side of the road in Lusaka to start out!

Prayer requests:
-continual adjustment from the jet lag
-our move into our new home and making it feel like home
-learning to drive on the left side of the road, safety!

And we're off!

Our suitcases are packed up - all 9 of them!  (We could have taken 12!)

And we leave tonight!

This is what we've been busy with the last few weeks:

Our condo is all packed up and our boxes are in storage at a friends' place.   Thanks to Andrew's parents: Chris and Nancy, who let us live with them while we packed up AND took care of our kids for almost 3 days straight while we did it!

A big huge thank you to my Bible study ladies who came over to pack up the kitchen, wipe it down AND stuffed our prayer cards into envelopes!  We wouldn't have gotten it done without you!

We also had Kate's 5th birthday party (at the MCC relief sale and the park since our condo was empty)
It was pretty fun and it was great seeing lots of friends!

Facepainting

Bouncy Castle

Birthday cake!

We also had two wonderful farewell parties.  One in Abbotsford and the other in Didsbury.   (Thanks to Sarah and my mom for hosting them!)  It truly was a great time to say good-bye to friends and family.

Now it's time to go and we're feeling sad about leaving our friends and family, tired from packing up and moving, and excited about the new adventure that is awaiting!

We leave Calgary around 9:30pm tonight (Saturday) and fly overnight to London.  We arrive there around 1:30pm (because of the time change) and then fly out that evening, on another overnight flight to Lusaka, Zambia.  We arrive in Lusaka at 6:15am on Monday morning.  (It's 10 hours ahead of B.C. and 9 hours ahead of Alberta for those of you that want to know!)

Prayer Requests:
- Good travelling children and sleep for all!
- Transition of moving to Zambia and leaving Canada (friends and family) behind.
- Getting into Lusaka: Customs and trying to juggle 9 suitcases, carry on luggage, and two kids by ourselves until we get out of the first part of the airport.
-Adjusting to a new time change and a new place
-Moving into our new house in Choma, Zambia (probably next Saturday, after a week of in country orientation).