my pre-school class singing "Jesus Loves Me"

The first part is in English and the second I believe is in Lozi, the common language spoken there.

Finally...

What I posted below is a slideshow with pictures and videos that I took while in Africa. For those of you who are new to the site, the postings below were from while I was in Africa. I am still hoping to be able to return to the Children's Home, although the soonest I would be able to go would be October. I will be keeping you posted about what is going on with that!

Having the road open now has made life so much easier here! I think everyone is glad that we don't have to spend so much time riding up and down the river in order to get anywhere. It also made taking the boys to a soccer tournament this weekend so much easier. I went with the boys Sunday and Monday to a village nearby and watched them play a total of four games. Unfortunatly, they didn't win enough to go on to the finals. But this time they all got to play since this is the Zion team, so that was good for them. We had two very long days there, but it was a lot of fun and nice to see them all have a chance to play.

Every Wednesday the children have an assembly before school. They sing songs then one of the teachers gives a message and then they sing their anthem. I went yesterday since it was my last Wednesday here and it was a little sad. The teacher that I have been helping with gave a little speech and then he told one of the boys to go get the flag since it was my last Wednesday there. I didn't know that they had a big Namibian flag here, but the boy brought it out and stood with three other boys and all of the children sang the national anthem for me. I think thats when it hit me that I would actually be leaving on Saturday and it was hard not to cry!

As my time here is winding down, I just wanted to take the time to thank everyone who has sent money and has prayed for me and everyone else here. This trip has really been an awesome experience for me and has helped me grow in so many ways. Needless to say, I will really miss all of the children when I leave, but I am seriously considering coming back and maybe staying longer the next time!

just some quick news:

 

everyone is happy to be back at the children's home!  we are finally settled and back into the normal routine of things.  today, after doing the grocery shopping in town, jessica decided to try to drive the car back here and made it!  she said it was a pretty smooth ride.  the front gate on the property couldn't open very far because of all the dirt, but the boys shoveled enough so the car could pass through.  part of the road after the gate is now a ditch, so that will have to be fixed, but for today they were able to get around that and take the groceries to the children's home.  so now, as much as everyone enjoyed a good boat ride, i think we will just stick to driving the cars in town and save time!

so we found out today that we are allowed to move back home- praise God!  tomorrow morning we will be going up to hippo lodge and start moving some of the kitchen stuff and our cook and then start the long process of moving kids, their stuff, and matresses back home.  it will be a long and tiring day, but since everyone is so excited to be going back, i think the process will go fairly fast.  i am so thankful that during our (almost) four week stay, no one got bitten by a snake, especially the python that the children CLAIM to have seen, crocodile, or fallen into the water!  now we are finally able to return to the safety of the children's home!

Last Tuesday the social workers came to look at the children’s home and Hippo Lodge and decided that it was drying fairly quickly, but that we still would not be able to move back for another couple of weeks. They talked about all of the bacteria and diseases that are in the mud and that people can get worms from it! They told us that they would come back in two weeks, unless everything was completely dry, then we could give them a call in a week to come check it out. Last Friday was supposedly the day of the second wave, but we never saw it. The water has continue to recede and we are now even able to walk across the bridge from the Minks house to the children’s home, which has been under water for over a month now! Apparently today the social workers were having another meeting to discuss moving us back sometime this week. At this time, we are waiting for the phone call to let us know what the answer is.

Life at Hippo Lodge has been pretty much the same, although it seems like everyday different children come up to ask when we are returning home. We set up a t.v. and DVD player over there last week, so that has been keeping them occupied at nights. A few of the boys are still fishing and have caught some pretty good sized tiger fish. I think regardless of the fishing and the special privilege of t.v. watching every night, everyone will be happy if we are able to move back tomorrow!

Saturday I took three of the boys to their soccer game in town and one to watch it with me. All three of the boys were able to play and one even scored a goal! After the game, I took them to the store with me to get a few groceries then we headed back to Hippo Lodge and made popcorn for their Saturday night treat. We had a huge tub full of popcorn, which was empty in no time! Sunday afternoon I went with Jessica to watch eight of our boys play soccer in the village. They used to play every Sunday before the flood started, so it was nice for them to be able to make it there this week. Unfortunately, they lost 1-0.

Well, less than three weeks until I arrive back in America and each day I get a little more excited. It will be sad to leave and I dread saying goodbye, but hopefully I’ll be back! Thank you for all of the emails, prayers and donations, and please pray that we will be able to move back to Zion Village sometime soon!!