"Wife Training"

     Well, since term has ended I've finally had some free time over the last few weeks which has been delightful. Along with some sewing, knitting, and other projects, I have been doing quite a bit of housework, cooking, and baking....this I have affectionately called "wife training". 

     Being in the middle of two sisters who can both cook splendidly, I stuck to the easy things like baking banana bread, and cooking taco chip ole...everything else simply got me into trouble. It's not that I can't follow a recipe, it's just that the most unusual catastrophes seemed to always come up when I was in the kitchen, not with Janice, or Elizabeth, or mom...only me. So I did the only logical thing one can do in that kind of situation and I handed over the cooking and baking responsibilities to my very capable sisters and mother, and contented myself with cleaning the house instead.

    Well, here I am in Africa with no sisters or mothers to hand things off on, and I found myself not only being in charge of my meals three-ish times a day, but in the bush where practically everything needs to be made from scratch!

    Believe it or not, I've quite enjoyed making things from scratch such as bread, tortillas, sweet breads, etc. and I have been fairly creative and content in the kitchen so far. Every night I check out allrecipes.com for new stuff to try out, and I figure if I've got a recipe (I usually only go for the four and a half - five star ones), and the ingredients then I can do it too! I can learn from any mistakes that I make, and only I have to live with them (with no little brothers to laugh at me!). I'm quite relieved, because I always figured I'd be that pathetic newly married woman whose poor husband starves for the first year or so until she kinda sorta learns how to put unburned food on the table, and he finally stops looking forward to visiting his mother's house during meal times! 

    Anyway, when I've graduated from wife training then maybe I can really count myself as the typical, accomplished homeschooling girl....well, at least until I have to knit a sweater, that is. 

Africa Road Trip

     This road trip was pretty interesting to say the least! We probably changed our plans half a dozen times as Zambia doesn't exactly run the way one might expect! Surprise, surprise! God did provide for us in a few different situations, and He kept us very safe!

This trip was filled with lots of adventures such as:

- Having a package of toilet paper fly off of the roof rack while driving on a highway (needless to say our parking lot tarp job needed some work...we learned some cool tricks on the side of the road though!)

- Packing, unpacking, and repacking the car, as our plans kept changing! 

- We tried to stop and get gas, but the gas tank cap wouldn't come off! Being still about six hours away from home, with less than half a tank, we were pretty concerned. After fiddling a good 15 minutes or so, another missionary couple from our area came by and helped us out. Apparently it was just too tight, and a man's muscles were required to get it off! 

- While watching the car at a stop on the way home, I was proposed to by one guy, and offered an ear piercing by another. 

     Well, I'm happy to be home! Roads in Zambia aren't exactly the best, and driving ability in Zambia is pretty poor. I was sobered when I saw many broken down, or crashed vehicles on the side of the road; the EMT part of me wished I could have been a help at some of those accidents! How grateful I am that God protected us throughout our trip! 

  

Our loaded up truck.

Yay! I got my two year employment permit!

Beautiful Zambian plains.

Typical method of transportation.

Closer to the school the roads are a lot smaller, and also have a lot more potholes! 

Some of the many roadside vendors.

A village that we passed.

Breathtaking African sunset! (Pictures just don't do it justice!)

You know you've been in the bush a while when...

  ~ you are surprised if the toilet flushes properly
  ~ you forget that store bought bread comes already cut
  ~ you wonder who is flying in on a small plane every time a plane goes overhead
  ~ you consider saving (or actually do save) any plastic bags, bottles, and containers that you get 
  ~ you are lost in a department store

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     The trip to Lusaka has been going well so far. We've had some fun going out for coffee, getting some shopping done, and going to an English church service this morning! 
     As we are doing food shopping, I am realizing how I have never lived on my own and cooked for myself before! This should be an interesting food shopping trip and term break as I am figuring out how to do that! This should be fun....as delicious as sandwiches and boxed macaroni and cheese are, I may be losing some weight! 

Proverbs 3:5-6

There once was a woman

Who'd forget that her God, 

Had told her that He'd guide her

Through every step she'd plod. 

She tried to follow faithfully, 

But always did forget, 

In each new situation, 

That He hadn't failed her yet. 

She'd come to Him with worry, 

Fear and anxiety, 

And He would remind her, 

"You need to trust in Me."

So that would calm her worry, 

But only for a time, 

And once again she would forget, 

And fear would cross her mind. 

But this God of hers was faithful, 

And instead of giving wrath, 

Told her that if she'd let Him lead

He'd still direct her path. 

So she tried and tried again, 

In each un-trusting battle, 

And though she is a failure, 

Her God is more than able!

I'm not sure if you have guessed, 

But it may be clear to see, 

That woman who does struggle

Is obviously me!

I'm Rightly Proud...

     End of term brought a lot of new feelings and experiences! Feelings of extreme tiredness from a busy term, frustrations from tired out kids that don't want to focus, long lists of to-do's that never seem to get done, but lastly pride in my kids with end of term results! 

     Friday morning we had a piano/guitar recital, and my two guitar students, and two piano students performed well. These being my first piano and guitar students ever, I had never had that feeling of watching your kids play publicly, knowing their piece by heart, and getting nervous right along with them! It was a pretty cool experience, and I realized that my past piano teachers have felt the same way about me...I for one never saw myself becoming a piano teacher! I guess stranger things have happened. 

     My quilting class also finished (well, I have some finishing touches to add) the baby quilt on Saturday, and it actually looks pretty good! I can't believe that it took an entire term to make a little baby quilt, but I could tell that the girls thought it was worth it when they gave it to Mrs. Towse!

     One of the girls told me that she would never again make another quilt, which made me laugh, as those were my exact words after my first quilt seven years, and around 15 quilting project ago! What a crazy world this is!