Hello all!  I hope all is well back home.  We are doing well here.  We've had a pretty good week.  The girls are doing well and have had a good week at school.  Samantha had her assessment this week and the teacher said she was fine in the class she's been attending.(Praises!!)  She said Samantha's grasp of language was great and she had her draw a picture and tell about it.  She said the picture was very detailed and Samantha could explain everything in it.  She said Samantha did pretty well with her letters and numbers and she felt like Samantha would pick up things quickly.  She then noted the Samantha is very.....self contained  :)  That's my Samantha.

Kaitlyn is also doing well.  She had a guest speaker in science this week and was able to tell me all about the lesson (which is unusual for her).  She also had her first spelling test today and did very well (the words were much harder than she was used to).  After school today, one of Kaitlyn's classmates had a birthday party at the "cinema".  We dropped her off with all her classmates and they watched 'High School Musical 3' and had cake and treats.  She had a great time and I had a chance to meet some more parents and friends from her class.  One of these parents was the teacher who assessed Samantha. (It's a very close knit community which I'm finding comforting and fun).

We took Samantha for ice cream since she couldn't go to the party and then went to arrange for internet at the house.  We finally chose a company and they are scheduled to install internet into the house on Monday.  So....if all goes well, we should only be without internet tomorrow, Sunday and part of Monday. 

While Brad was inside arranging for service (Olivia was asleep so Samantha, Olivia and I waited in the car), Samantha and I saw a Bridal party pull up to a hotel, I assume for the reception.  There was a processional of about 4-5 cars all honking as they pulled into the parking lot.  The lead car had the bride and groom in the back and each of the cars had a big bow in the top corner of the windshield on the passenger side and one at the opposite corner of the hood by the headlight in front of the driver.  A tule (sp?) sash stretched from one ribbon to the other--white on the bride's car and pink on the wedding party's cars. There was a matching sash and bows on the back of the cars.  On the bride's car, there was also a large swag of white roses, baby's breath and greenery that stretched from one corner of the hood to the other.  It was all very beautiful and elegant.  I must say, I liked it much more than our traditional shaving cream and tin cans :).  

We also went to a local seamstress (I think she's from the UK) and bought a king sized mosquito net for our bed.  I had already picked up a queen size one for the girls' temp bed at a the local "Target" (GAME).    We found she also makes curtains which we will probably go to her for as we gradually cover the windows.  We will have to have them specially made due to the type of boxes and runners we have over all our windows.  She also had little girls' dresses and assorted wall hangings and placemats.  We really enjoyed her and as we were leaving, I told Brad I thought his mom would really like her and enjoy her shop.  He agreed and said she was like the 'Mary Stevens' of Lusaka.    

Following the party, we went back to the hotel and had Pizza and Movie night. Olivia was very happy to be out of her car seat and to have her sisters here.  She was so giggly at everything they did and they loved it.  Brad ordered some watermelon juice to go with the pizza (blended watermelon I believe) and Olivia LOVED it.  We've been giving her slices of watermelon, cantelope, mango, and honeydew at breakfast to chew on while we eat but I believe this was her favorite.  Her eyes would light up whenever she saw the glass and when she finished a sip out of the glass, she'd stick her tongue out on her top lip, grin, giggle and then open wide for another.  

The Rains

Well, when we arrived, we were told 'the rains' had begun (the rainy season).  We had one storm one of the first nights we were in the house, but other than that, there hasn't been any until this week.  We've had storms the past 3 nights with a little carry over this morning.  I've been thinking the rainy season may not be as bad as I imagined (I guess in my head I was imagining the rain forest  :) ), but one of my friends did mention that the rains don't seem bad now, but by February, they'd be getting old.  I have noticed an increase in the mosquito population this week with the rain--hence the need for the nets over the beds at night.

Vocabulary

One of the many blessings of feeling led to this particular country and place was that they speak English and we are able to communicate well with most everyone.  It has been both fun and interesting to note some very different terms between British English and American English.  Below I will list a few that I can remember:

Lift Elevator

Robot Traffic Light

Costume Swim suit

Torch Flashlight

Toilet Refers to restroom or bathroom--they will NOT know what you are talking about unless you ask specifically for the toilet

Bookpack Backpack

Bin (been) Garbage can

Rubbish Garbage

Cells Batteries

Cinema Movies

Well, that is all I can come up with right now.  I'll add more as we hear them.

More Connections

Well, I have a confession to make.  We all got up and got ready for church this past Sunday and decided to visit a church I had seen an add about in a local publication.  We knew nothing of this church, but I liked what they said about themselves.  It was very similar to when we tried Discovery in Birmingham.  I had picked it out of the yellow pages because it's mission statement spoke to me, and as soon as we visited, we knew it was the place for us.  Well, anyway, we ended up running a little late (surprise, surprise) and when we found it, it was total chaos with cars and people everywhere, pulling in and out of a cramped shopping area to park.  I suddenly chickened out (and I guess Brad did too, because he didn't protest at all) and suggested we wait and visit somewhere we had a recommendation for.  Well, later this week, we were eating lunch at a cafe that we have taught how to make BLTs  :), and a young girl came up to us and introduced herself as Molly and told us that she just wanted to meet us.  She had been on our flight all the way from Atlanta to Lusaka and remembered us.  She is from Georgia and is doing a quarter long internship at guess where--yes, the church we thought about trying.  She said that the pastor and his wife are American and she thinks they're great.  Following our conversation, I have to admit, I felt the Lord was pulling me back again and saying--'you were right the first time--you should try it.'  So, we'll see.  Maybe we'll give it a try again this week. We'd appreciate all your prayers for the courage to step out and try the unknown.   

Our Plans

Well, I guess that's about all for now.  We will be checking out of the hotel and moving back into the house tomorrow morning (late Friday night for you all).  We have two beds and two couches our friends have loaned us, a pack-n-play we purchased, a table and chairs (not yet delivered) that Brad's work is loaning us, and our washer and dryer finally hooked up with appropriate adaptors (also provided by another friend of Brad's).  Our security is in place and we will hopefully have internet Monday evening. Things are moving right along on this side of the world.  We would still appreciate prayers on behalf of our stuff.  It seems it is being held hostage for additional ransom.  Please pray for this situation and for our dad's who are handling it on that end for us.  Thank you dads.  We know it is very stressful and time consuming. We don't know what we'd do without you.  

We love you all.  Give each other hugs for us.

Love,

The Zookeeper