I think I made a big mistake. Like praying for patience but different. On Christmas Day, the gift I gave to Jesus for his birthday was one of availability, a picture of an open door. Big mistake. Today I was ready to close the door at several points. Each visitor on its own would have been fine but the accumulated effect was a bit much. Peggy came to clean this morning and brought her seven year old daughter, Esther. After getting over her initial shyness, Esther and Brendan and Jason had a great time playing together. Following her departure, the deacon who brought Peggy to us several months ago dropped by to say hello. Peter made lunch and ate with Emanuel, our gardener, which happens every Friday and Saturday. I went to Peter’s office to check email quickly. When I returned, I got started on making lasagne with the precious cottage cheese that I had brought back with me from Lusaka. I was also making sourdough bread for our dinner with Carmen who was returning home after two weeks in Zanzibar. In the middle of all this, Samuel, the one who joined us for dinner on Christmas Day came to visit. I asked him to visit with me in the kitchen for a bit while I got things under control but then sat to visit for awhile. He was a street kid for years and so I asked him what he thought I should do with all the begging kids who bombard me when I go grocery shopping. Giving them money or food encourages them to stay on the street instead of going to a center for street kids. Samuel said that they don’t want to go there because they want their freedom. But they are very hungry so give them food if I can. But if I give them food, then that will encourage them to stay on the street. And I will have fifteen kids surround me every time expecting more and I don’t think I can handle that. No easy answers but it was good to get his perspective. Later, I had to excuse myself to the kitchen again but Samuel stayed longer. An hour and a half after he arrived, I finally thanked him for his visit and said I needed to get back to the kitchen to get the bread in the oven and finish assembling the lasagne. The bread was baked and the lasagne in the oven when two women from my “Counseling and Trauma Healing” course stopped by to visit. They are here for a different seminar which runs over New Years and they had to travel on Christmas. Don’t think that would fly in the US. It was delightful to visit with Robbina and Moddy again and to hear how things have been going since the class. Moddy was hoping I could find someone from the West to support the orphanage that she runs. If that interests you, let me know. Peggy also needs a new cell phone because she dropped hers in water and Samuel wants support to start up a ministry for street kids. There are always requests for financial help. But I told Moddy that I would tell others about her request to see if anyone would like to give in this way. I’m glad that we are making more connections with people. It will be a challenge for me, though, to remain available when they all come to visit (and request money)!
In the evening, Carmen came for dinner and brought her friend who is visiting from Seattle. We were astonished to find that we have mutual friends. Peg Achterman was a good friend of Nancy MacMillan and is also good friends with Sandy Harrison. Peg totally knows my world! She knows PMC and Urban Village and my friends! So crazy! Then Carmen chimed in and said she didn’t realize that we were part of THOSE Mennonites and said she stayed with Nancy Mac, Kimberly and Thea in Urban Village when she was checking out Fuller a few years ago. Such a small world.
Saturday, December 29, 2007
I’m not feeling happy. I’m not feeling peaceful. I AM FREAKED OUT!!!
Peter took our pail of organic material to the compost pile this afternoon and had a scary encounter with a black mamba snake. Yes, you read right. The deadliest snake in Africa. The one that if it bites you, your heart will stop in thirty minutes. Go inside, say goodbye to loved ones and eat all the chocolate in the house. So Peter saw a rustling in the grass and realized it was a snake. Peter followed it (at a safe distance he said, but is there really a safe distance???) to see where the snake was going. The snake reared up it’s hooded head and looked at Peter. Peter looked back at it and was trying to calculate how fast this snake could move. It’s not like Peter had a weapon in his hand or anything if it attacked. Just a pail of smelly vegetable peels and watermelon rind. Peter took a step back and the snake decided Peter wasn’t a threat and slithered away. We identified the snake in a book and discovered that this is the season that the black mambas lay their eggs which will then hatch in 2-3 months. Great, lots of little mambas in our backyard come March. Just what we need. At least Jason makes so much noise that the snakes will hear him a mile (or kilometer) away. The book says that black mambas are shy creatures, which is supposed to be comforting, but to tell the truth, I’m not so comforted. I don’t really want to lose any of my family to this snake. I’m not so worried about myself since I have vowed to never step foot in our backyard again, or at least not until the end of rainy season.
Peter has read this account and has verified that my writing of the event is accurate. He offered to write this blog but I don’t think he would have done the story justice. He probably would have written it in the same nonchalant way that he told me, “I saw a black mamba in the backyard by the banana trees. We should probably remind the boys to avoid tall grass and to run the other way if they see a snake.” Yes, a refresher on snake protocol is warranted.
Sunday, December 30, 2007
Last night we attended our first cultural event here. Our very first Sunday at St. Andrews, there was a group called “Fountain of Praise” who sang and I loved them. They were selling tickets for a concert so I got tickets for several of our friends and last night we went. We were bright enough to go late, but not really late enough. The concert was held at the “Little Theater,” a place we had not frequented before. There were six of us, and we had to work hard to find a place where all six of us could sit together, not because the place was crowded, but because so many of the seats were broken. The group that opened for “Fountain of Praise” may have been good but we couldn’t tell because all we could hear were the drums and bass. The distortion on the sound system really hurt our ears but we stood and clapped to the music with the rest of the audience. It wasn’t hard to find the beat. We laughed that we were probably the show within the show: six muzungus attempting to dance with “God’s General” who was even showing us the moves. Carmen wasn’t too pleased with the mouse that ran over her foot in the middle of the concert. The sermon (of course there was a sermon, this is Zambia after all) was “interesting” theologically. I was just glad for the reprieve from the bass and drums. Following the sermon, they realized they probably didn’t need to mike the drums so then it was possible to hear “Fountain of Praise” who was really good. One of our church members is in the group, and this morning when we saw her, she was so thankful that we came to the concert. I think we were easy to spot in the crowd.
Tuesday, January 1, 2008
Happy New Year! For some reason, I think 2008 will be an interesting year for our family. If the last few months are any indicator, I think we should be prepared for a variety of experiences!
For the last five nights, we have played games with friends until midnight. Mom’s care package arrived just in time with the Settlers of Catan Extension pack so were able to play Settlers with Carmen, Peg, Adrian, Peter and I. Every night we would text each other to come over and play. We just couldn’t get enough! We are thankful that Carmen shared Peg with us, since we didn’t have any visitors this Christmas. It was fun to have Peg join our circle of friends for the holidays. Gathering to eat, play and laugh every night made it really feel like a holiday!
The boys with Adrian and Carmen
Friday, January 4, 2008
We have mice in our kitchen that are driving me crazy. I am finding droppings everywhere. They get into our bananas on the counter and munch away. I had the bright idea of putting boric acid on a piece of banana and seeing if that would kill it but the critter simply turned the banana over and ate on the other side. It doesn’t go near the mousetraps or the poison pellets. We may have met our match with these rodents. But I am not going to give up. The mice have been nibbling on my nice Tupperware mat on which I roll out my dough. Definitely not happy about that.
Saturday, January 5, 2008
We have really enjoyed the last while with our boys. They will return to school next week and then the busier schedule of school and homework will eat away family time. We’ve been reading together, especially from “Stories From Around the World” that we received for Christmas. Brendan has gotten into chess (Jason calls it “chest”) and so we play that quite often. In the evenings, Peter and I have taken on the game of chess (not chest) and find it to be a mental challenge. Brendan and I worked on a 1000 piece puzzle that we both found relaxing. Jason goes under the table with Ben and reads him “Clifford” stories because he thinks the dog may be a little sad. We don’t think this is so but it is awfully cute.
We are going through Sunday School materials from PMC and learning the Beatitudes with sign language. The boys have renewed their interest in legos and are coming up with amazing vehicles. It’s just been very lovely and relaxed. Jason is eating more variety at mealtimes and has learned the art of washing down food he doesn’t like with water so the fussies are almost non-existent. I have been making sourdough bread which is a huge hit with the family. We enjoy the company of friends and the boys are learning how to converse with adults. Jason is growing by leaps and bounds in so many ways, writing his name, being able to articulate better (the British accent helps him speak clearer), showing flexibility when his new Christmas toy breaks within half an hour and being content to rig up a new hitch with rubber bands. This same breakage would have led to a meltdown when we first arrived but now breakage is an opportunity for invention. Brendan is showing more responsibility and enjoys a variety of things. Though he is sometimes moody, for the most part, he is engaging and enjoyable. We are in a good season for which we are very thankful. We will take it when we have it, knowing that these times of connection come and go as our boys develop and mature. We read in the literature on missionary kids, or Third Culture Kids as they now call them, that one of the benefits is the time together as a family and the bonding that happens. Who knows if this will always be the case, but right now we are experiencing this and recognize it as a gift. Given how great things are going, it would be a shame if one or both of them gets killed by a black mamba.
Sunday, January 6, 2007
We are definitely losing the battle against the rodents. Woke up this morning to find that the mice chewed holes into not just one tetrapack of longlife milk, but three cartons. Milk was all over the cupboard. They also nibbled into a juice box which flowed in nicely with all the milk. While Peter and I were trying to keep our anger in check and clean up the mess, Brendan was trying to finish up his Sunday School assignment which was to write out the story of the birth of Jesus. In between muttering curses under our breath, we were also yelling out how to spell myrrh. My favorite line from Brendan’s story was, “The wise men lost the star so they had to go to Herod to find it.” I needed a chuckle this morning.
It was actually a sunny day with blue sky this afternoon. It has been very very wet for the last month. People tell us it has been the wettest December in several years. Usually the rainy season is in full force during January and February but ours started early. It rains every day, sometimes twice. We may have brief periods of sunshine in between but the rains come again later. Often times there are huge thunderstorms. Our garden is completely waterlogged and dead (which is just as well because I am not going in the backyard due to the deadly snake visiting, speaking of which, it could at least eat the mice and earn its keep if it is going to hang out here). The roads are full of potholes that noticeably get bigger day by day. Five months of rain and then seven months of no rain. That’s how things go here. I am trying to call it the “green season” instead of the “wet season” because it is truly amazing how green things are right now. Such a contrast to when we first came. Anyway, since we had a window of beautiful weather, Carmen and I went for a walk around the outside of the Mindolo wall. It is a nice three mile loop so it was a perfect workout. We were greeted by many children along the way and two very drunk men. I’m sure it was a bit bizarre for them to see two muzungus in trousers powerwalking on a Sunday afternoon but we thoroughly enjoyed it. Good conversation and a bit of exercise on a sunny day. It almost made me forget the war I am waging in the kitchen against furry critters.
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