So i noticed...

So I put nya in preschool instead of Kindergarden in my last blog. Sorry- SO she is in 2nd grade. No teasing just Kindergarten. And by the way our container made it here to Lilongwe. So now we wait until someone tells us it is coming to our house. Don't know how long that will be. We wait and see. And wait and wait. As we wait I will blog again. I will put more pictures soon.
Amy louise- for the family

No internet and sometimes no electricity...

But we still in full swing of things. Nya started preschool yesterday and loved every minute of it. But she claimed it was so sad that there was no homework. Probably the only year she will say that. I know that. It is awesome to see her automatically making friends and loving recess. She really adapts very well.
Bob starts tomorrow teaching. He has his Genesis class that has 40 students in it. It is a freshman class 3 times a week. He also has His Ephesians class 2 times a week tomorrow. It is an elective so all different grades are there. On Thursdays he will be headed into the villages to work with orphans and children with the child evangelism project with students from the colleges. We plan to head there with him. Bob also will be teaching 2 times a week a World Religions class that is also an elective. And he will be teaching at the high school 10-11th grade bible. SO Busy will be his middle name.
Anyways Thank you for your prayers Our container is here in Lilongwe. So we are just waiting for it to get out of customs. It is a huge process that I don't even understand. So we wait. It could be tomorrow or maybe 2 weeks from now. So my prayer is that it soon soon soon.
We have had our battles with electricity today was a brown out not a black out. So our lights and everything went in dim mode. My neighbor that has lived here for 17 years came and told unplug your fridge and all important electronics because they tend to blow up with brown out. Great. Blowing up electronics. And you know that a new fridge costs at least 3 thousand dollars here. Super! Africa no reasons to explain brown outs.
Also we have had no Internet for the last 6 days. It is such a claustrophobic feeling for me! But it is up and running tonight. Yippee! SO I blog to you all. or as they say here y'all! Alot of southern sweet folk live here.
Well as for now we are in high gear mode. So far we haven't gotten sick so that is another answer to prayer! I will get pictures tomorrow of Nya at school and Bob at school!
Well-lots of love Amy Louise

My little helper...

Nya has been the new helper in the family... She loves to clean. She so did not get that from me. Here she is cleaning the windows for me. They so different than American windows. They are like a car a/c vent. Weird.
So when you bananas go bad think of us and pray for us. This is the fresh batch that I got. The rotter(is that a word?) they get they still are good. They taste sooo good here. The flavor is phenomenal. They are a treat.
So every night when we go to bed we lock ourselves behind this door. It is the way they do it here. So very different. Security. It feels soo very safe though.

Here is a picture of my wash clothe that is actually my paper towel. So when you are complaining about cleaning this remember to be thankful for your conveniences. I miss paper towels already.

We went to church yesterday and loved it. The pastor was out of town so we don't really know how it will be when he is in town. But we will try it again. It was so fun to immersed with Malawians here. It will be great to have deep friendships with people here in Lilongwe.

School starts next week for Bob and Nya. It will be good to start a routine and start doing outreaches here in the city. Outreaches will include street evangelism and working with the street people and also in orphanages and prisons. It will refreshing to start the next season. We will be keeping you all in the loop.

Thank you for prayers we appreciate them. Please being praying for us as we head into routine and also get involved with local ministries. Pray for the church that we are to be apart of. And pray that as I work in the hospital and Bob teaches that we will radiate Christ. Pray also that Nya and Analise will continue to remain healthy and that settle in here at their new home.

Love you all- Amy Louise for the family

The Backyard.

So here are some swings that Bob brought in his suitcase to put in the back yard for the girls. They absolutely adore them. Analise is hourly asking to "B" that is swing in little missy language. An the girly on the right is Leanne's youngest Sara Rose. She will be 3 in September. She is always saying in her cute little language "I want to go to y'all's house." (They are from Mississippi) So here she is at our house...
Here is the back of our house, Nya and Leanne's middle girly Molly Grace. She is 7 years old and Nya's Buddy. They love to take Dolly for walks but Dolly is not the big fan. She meaning dolly has been attacked crows here on campus. They were swooping trying to grab her. They are as big as she is. She also has been chomped on by the other big dogs on campus. So She would rather stay inside. But no she has to walked by the kids. Poor Dolly.
Here is my animal lover's daughter. Nya found this baby gecko. She wanted to keep it forever. But she let it go. I like geckos since I found out they eat mosquitos. Please come and eat the mosquitos.

So these are the pictures I took today. Just wanted to keep you updated. We are excited because we are going to go church this weekend in the city. It will be great to get out and meet other people that are not connected to ABC. Not that we don't love ABC and the people here on campus but it will good to expand into the city and make a difference with that church body. So pray that it is good fit and we don't have to church shop. :)

Love you all-Amy Louise for the bunch

Settling down...

Thought I would just add a picture for fun. But what you see in this picture is us trying to settle. You find yourself being pulled to serve. No one has said anything but every part of you wants to help people. We crave to start serving. Did you hear me say Crave. We do. When you see the poverty and the people you crave to help them. Give them all you have, all your money. Really. It is the Jesus in us permeating through. We (bob and I) drive through the city and continually ask Why did we get to be born in America. Why do we have what we have.

We are learning to be balanced in such a unbalanced world over here. It is hard to settle when you are craving to get started. I don't if I am making much sense. But as of right now we need to settle in. We need to settle our spirit, settle our kids, settle our marriage and settle our house. We are already making a difference in Dennis and Josephines families. We have to remember we can't change the world, we can only change what we have around us and in our paths to change. We will serve and give, we will make a difference. We are learning to be patient in the moments and not jump the gun. We are called here to teach (bob) and serve in the hospital(amy) and go serve with other ministries. But right now just pray that we settle in and we serve when God puts it in front of us. Pray that we don't just go exhaust ourselves in vain and miss what God has us here for.

Thank you- Amy Louise

Our new friend Josephine..

So we were told to hire a someone from the village across the street to give them a job. For what - here at ABC so many locals are hired to give a better life. So Mrs. Josephine ended up being available for us. With many high recommendations. She has been working here in many families home since 2003. She told me since she has been working here she has been able to get out of the transient village and move on her own land and have chickens and build her house with her husband. Her husband works at the hospital here on campus. They have done so well working here. It is humbling to have anyone work in my house So my pride and love for them run so deep. Well- We now have Grandma (a gou gou) As Analise say a goo goo. That is grandma. She is here to help and we get to help here. She had 15 local chickens and they all died except one so she is saving here money so she can get more chickens to help her family. Simple She said that working for us helps them. Okay put away my pride and allow her to come and Help.

Grandma J wrapped a baby on Little Missy's back just like the mamma's do here. Bob had to hold her so I could take a picture.

Here is my kitchen. She is awesome!
So here I am learning to put away my pride and trust that we are making a difference.

Amy Louise

Here are some pictures of our house...

Here is the dining room being well used this morning.

Here is Analise on our borrowed couch. This is what you see right when you walk in the front door. Do you see my laptop on the couch? That is where I am sitting right now and typing.

Here is Little Missy walking out the front door and Dolly going with her to great Sundance the neighbors dog. Where Sundance is where we park our car. Bob is out running errands. He is always asking me what can I go out and get next. I hate running errands because driving in car thing. Very stressful. Wrong side of the road, too many people asking to be hit. It is so Not relaxing for me. He loves it. So he goes to town. He is in his element. He likes to drive more.:) I sent him to go find baskets big baskets for shoes and toys. So he was excited and was gone. He was going to get a friend and do it.

Well- that it for now...

Amy Louise for the familita

So here are some pictures...

When we flew into Lilongwe we had traveled so much. We were up at 4:30am and arrived at 12:50pm. Analise fell asleep on the landing so that is a picture of that. Nya was beaming ear to ear that we finally made it to Africa. We are here she declared Where are my new friends.
When we arrived at the house. Our gardener Dennis made us a welcome home wreath. What a beautiful treat. The girls had found a box of dress up stuff that was sooo played when we first arrived. Only six days ago.

So I will keep posting pictures.

Love- Amy Louise

I Know it has been 2 days...

2 days here is really two weeks. What a strange feeling to know that time really is what you do with it. I thought for some reason I would never get enough of it. But that is not true. I finally get enough of it here. I never had enough time in California. It was always "What it is11:30? or WHat it's 4 o'clock? I still have dishes from breakfast, laundry to fold from 2 days ago and that phone call I need to make and dinner is supposed to be cooking! But Now I do have time. Granted I have help. :) For all those who don't know we are supposed to hire someone to help around the house. It is really rude if you don't. Also when I have to work in X-Ray during the day, I will have to have someone watch the girls. SOOO -We have hired Grandma Josephine. She is about 50 and soooo very sweet. Nya and Little Missy are loving helping her. I will put a picture on once my computer is not broken. At this point, I am using bob's computer... with no picture software. I have to compress the pictures and his doesn't. Trust me I have tried..... That is another story. But Anyways, Time is finally in My hands! And as of now I plan to keep time on my side. :) What a treat. Seriously you must all come and visit. We have space and we have exrta time to share. You would really like it.
So you know I decided to drive the car yesterday. Okay all I can say, Who thought it was okay to switch side of the road and put the steering wheel on the other side. I am a nervous wreck just driving 5 miles per hour. At least our car is not a stick shift. I was barely driving on campus and I was shaking. I said forget it let's go out of campus and take it head on ( not literally) So with Bob car sick he said sure. So we did. I was breathing heavy and sweating. We had the girls in the back seat. Now why is it that when both parents are in the car they still ask Mom first. Can't they tell I am falling apart and Bob is just car sick. Why not ask Him first. Dad can i roll down the window. No it's Mom Mom Mom. For some reason they still need me to tell them Ask your dad. So we made it down the street with out me hitting anyone. With Bob reminding me to watch that and this. We made it to the local 7/11 Seriously we went to 7/11 to get gas and a knife. No Not for protection but I don't have one to cut things with like food. We have all our stuff still coming on the container. So I am made it. Driving won't be a luxury taken for granted. I so appreciate Bob doing it when we go out.
Well- that's all for now. We love you all and miss you guys even more.
Love- Amy Louise for the family

No pictures yet...

So I am still waiting for my Internet to be connected to my house. Africa. So slow! :) I am so amazed with my American microwave attitude. I really try to keep it at bay but it still takes over. Right now I have to go to some else house to email and blog. Well- I will put pictures on once I have Internet. I just wait. We are doing great here. We are putting together our house and connecting with the families on campus. We love the campus. It is oasis here. I love my house. It is allot bigger than I thought it would be. I am so glad that we have it. The girls are always outside playing with Dolly in the back or out front with new friends. We are slowly getting to some normal routine. We haven't had to do our own food yet. Because my dear friend Leanne has been treating us to lunches and dinners. What a treat. Today we had the most delicious homemade mac and cheese and her husband made shis kabobs (sp) Life is rough as you can see. We did go to local grocery store here yesterday. We did learn our lesson though not to go there on a Saturday. It is crazy busy. Everyone and their mother and kids and aunt and uncle and grandma and grandpa is there. :) Okay for those who had bets that I wouldn't make here because of the food. I will do fine. You can buy everything here. It is imported in so it way more expensive to shop here. But we will eat just fine. I just need to find a rhythm. Start cooking I have to tell myself. I think I lazy too. I haven't really cooked for at least a month now. So we are doing great. Naps are in order here. So I am going to run. But definitely keep the stories coming. Love you all and thank you for your prayers.
Amy Louise for the familita

SO this is Africa....

Okay we got off the plane and this is africa.The smell the people and land is africa. My friend- Leanne met us at the airport. We got all of our luggage and it was ahhhhhhh! We went into our house and put everything in and locked it and went to leannes house for dinner. We ate by candle light because it Africa. We didn't have electricity for the next 4 hours. A normal nightly occurrence from what we understand. Oh besides that we do love it here. Words can not express how beautiful it is here on campus and Nya and analise are in absolute heaven. We were able to have a fenced little back yard so dolly, nya and analise are out there any chance they have. Dolly has had a leg chomped at by the big dogs so it is nice to have a place that she can be without being bothered. But they just sit out of the the fence watching. Nya tells me that she wants to live here forever. But go back once in a while to visit. Okay. Forever huh. Don't know if I can say that. There are 8 girls about 9 and younger so it is fun for girls. Our container should be here by 2 weeks. It will be nice to have a real bed. Our house is bigger than I thought it would be. It will be fun to settle in. I am so glad that there is no rush. It definitely is in need of fixing up. Right now Bob and I are in a full bed. That is so small for us. We are kinda tall. We will make it. It is called roughing it. :) So at this point I don't have access to the Internet in my house, so I have to go to Leanne's house to email. Which we are so busy that is not often. But I will hopefully have a connection with in a week or so. I will be checking it as often I can. So email often. At this point. Pictures are hard to upload. But as soon as I can I will! Love you all- Amy for the family

Baby lions and giraffes on the other side of the world...

We went to bed at a decent time so we could travel to do what Bob has been dreaming to do his whole life. Get bit by a lion. Yep and he got his wish. We traveled to the Lion Camp and pet baby lion cubs. Nya was really not into it but Analise couldn't get enough. They were like big kittys to her and Nya's caution radar was on after she saw Bob get bit. It was nice to travel out and about. Right now we still feel like we have been in suedo america. We passed McDonalds and everthing is westernerized here. The cars and people are different but it is all about cell phones, hollywood, and investments according to the billboards we pass on the freeway. We are told we have an accent so they know we are from America. What accent do we have we ask and they tell us it is an American TV accent. Never heard of it. But we have it. This does not feel like africa. Tomorrow it will because we are flying to Malawi at 10:20 am so that 12:20 am your time on the west coast. It will be the real deal. Well thank you for prayers. We needed this repreive to rest so we can go into Malawi not falling apart at the seams. Which we are rested semi put together. We love you and the next couple of days will be transition time. Who knows what the internet will be like. So have patience with us. I am addicted to the internet. SO imagine me. :) Lots of love- Us

It is easy to fly to South Africa with 2 small kids?

Who knew. I guess many of you know what our journey was to be like. Wake up at 3:15 am on the road at 4:35am. So this is how are travel day went... We made to the airport with 12 suitcases and 4 carryons and 4 purse ( not bob he had his man purse computer bag :)) We checked in soooo smoothly. We went through security with no extra scans. What I always get double scaned. We get on the flight to DC with no problems with 2 car seats and a stroller. The girls just napped and hung out and no fussing? So we caught the airplane for South Africa. We were in row68. We had the whole row to ourselves. There were only 4 seats across. We left on time and the journey across the ocean officially started. We started out with our drinks and they offered coke. I couldn’t turn it down. It was in v8 looking can. I knew it always good for me. J We got dinner and settled in for the night sleep. The girls did great. Bob and I barely slept though. Sad How can anyone sleep upright anyways. We made it to Johannesburg 8:55 am California time and 2:55 Johannesburg time. We asked for Help from the help desk because there was no way that we could do push all of our luggage. A man came to us and his name was Gift and that was really what he was a gift. All our luggage came. Really all of it came. We took it to the luggage hold where we would keep it until we came back on Thursday to retrive for the flight to Lilongwe. We went to the car rental and got our small rental car. Did I small. It was. Bob took to it like he has been driving on the opposite side of the road for years. Mind you it also was a shift stick which means it was even more tricky. No problem for him. We went and got Dolly. What she made it too? She seemed to be great. She wasn’t even traumatized. How could be so easy and great. We then drove to hotel. We followed the M24 to N3 To M1 to the Malboro offramp. Easy. Johannesburg reminds me of New Jersey. Just lots of buildings and very metropolitan looking. Clean and easy to drive it exept that you are on the other side of the road. We got the hotel checked in and crashed! We made it and it was easy. Thank you so much for all your prayers that is why it was easy. We love you all and miss you more. We are off the to the grocery store. And visit Johannesburg downtown. Love- Us

the end of the season and a beginning of another...

Well it is officially D-DAY Whatever that means I don't know. DO IT DAY, DESTROYER DAY, DON'T Want to DO DAY Well Anyways- It Means IT IS HAPPENING TOMMORROW AND IT ALL BETTER BE PUT TOGETHER TODAY! OKAY Let's do it. So we have the house empty and doing the last cleaning & organizing our Africa luggage. Our girls are doing amazing as they have been shuffled between all our friends. Please know we appreciate all your prayers and continue to pray for our health as we travel and that the girls sleep. And us! We leave tomorrow at 7:55am but we are getting there at 5AM So that means we are waking up at toooo early mode. We arrive in Washington DC at 4pm and get on South Africa Airways at 5:20 and fly through the night. We arrive in South Africa at 2:30pm. It is 9 hours ahead off here.We will keep you updated!
Love- us