With Kelly and Tricia Huckaby staying with us last week, Ireen and Ian learned a couple of new games. They absolutely loved Freeze Tag and in the picture above they’re dashing back and forth across our front lawn in the game Red Light – Green Light. Tricia would call out “green light” and they’d start to run, then “red light” and they’d stop. Fun times!
Willy and Nilly are Ciyanjano’s new residential goats. Purchased by Brent Roberts to help keep the vegetation down, they’re a motley crew. Because they are an undisciplined an unmonitored ensemble, I like to check up on them once in a while. Andrea and I took the kids out to see them and they chased them around and around. Eventually, as goats love to do, they perched themselves on a lonely rock. From there, Ian and Ireen could get relatively close for observation. Ireen, who is usually terrified of animals, did extremely well with them. Both of our kids were proud that they entered the “goat fence” and lived to tell about it.
Over a month ago now, in a disciplinary measure with Ireen, we took away her Barbies. The Barbie family had been growing in size and multiplying faster than rabbits. Ireens infatuation with them had also been growing such that all of her free time was consumed with their family dynamics and whatnot.
Every since the Barbie family “disappeared”, Ireen’s play creativity has skyrocketed. She now builds with blocks, makes paper people, delights to read books, and has recently gone fishing with her fishing buddy Ian. Yesterday they went fishing off “Couch Island” with her pop-bead dress-up neclaces. Actually it was Ian’s idea, but Ireen caught the first fish.
We snapped this pic of Ian after we had sent him to bed for a nap. Andrea found him asleep with a book of his own choice. Books are an important part of his life these days. He needs a book in order to go to sleep, in order to go poop, in order to be comforted, etc. He studies each page with intensity and is particularly attentive to the books Ireen has to read for school.
Andrea and I have had the privilege of hosting the Makeni home fellowship group from Lusaka Baptist Church. Every Tuesday night we gather for a Bible study which the whole church is going through. Whoever hosts the group for the month also leads the study. The groups is quite large for a home group with an average attendance of adults at around 20-25. Right now I’m leading the study on a section about the knowability of God. It’s really been interesting for us as a family. The groups loves to hang around and have fellowship until 9:30 PM – which is late for our kids, but they have grown to love it.
Last weekend was one we won’t forget for some time to come. I constantly have my ears open for new and exciting family outings here in Lusaka. So, when a teammate called and said that Michael W. Smith was going to be in town I jumped at the chance to purchase tickets for our family. Although he’s not our favorite Christian artist, the opportunity to go to a concert is rarely afforded us. We have such fond memories of concerts in the States from the Artist Series at Wheaton to the Mountain Opry in Chattanooga, not to mention bluegrass festivals, Riverbend, and Night Fall. In fact one Sunday morning worship at New City Fellowship would do our souls and ears good!
The concert was to take place from 2pm to 8pm last Sunday. Since things rarely start on time, we weren’t worried about arriving too early but did arrive around 2pm. There were already hundreds of fans lined up outside the stadium. We had eaten a large breakfast so for lunch I just packed a soft cooler full of drinks, crackers & peanut butter, snacks, and fruit. We took our place in line perhaps 200 yards away from the entrance. There was no shade from the hot sun, no barrier between us and the busy road just feet from us and no clean spot to sit.
Our place in line
Trying to hide from the sun
At 2:40 they began the sound check…at least that’s what it sounded like from our spot in line (which had not changed since 2:00). By this time I was tired of keeping the kids in line – literally – and carrying the cooler. I was also worried about sunburn since I hadn’t thought to bring sunscreen. Somewhere around this time new lines began to form at other entrances…so those just arriving were ahead of us in line. At 3:00 we decided we’d give it another 45min before we left.
People race to form new lines
At 3:30 a gentleman behind us in line received a call from someone on “the inside”. They hadn’t finished setting the stage up. We still hadn’t eaten, Ian needed a diaper change and we were in the same spot in line we had been in for an hour and a half. We decided to leave around 4:00. Our tickets were burning holes in our pockets.
We went to a Korean restaurant and had a leisurely meal. The children played outside in the grass as we enjoyed our food. The Korean Paparazzi fresh from S. Korea came pouring out of the kitchen with digital cameras and cell phones all wanting a picture of the little muzungu, Ian. We finished our meal and then I called a teammate who was at the concert around 5:45. She was in the stadium and they had just announced that MWS was on his way. Tim and I decided to give it another try.
We arrived at the stadium a little after 6pm and sure enough, there was MWS and band performing on stage. The crowd was excited and seemed to have forgotten their long wait in line to get into this concert. Midway through the concert someone decided to let the crowd advance toward the stage. Unfortunately, our friends and their children were at what used to be the front. As the mob advanced, a couple of their children were caught underfoot. That family left as their children were very upset! Just after 7pm MWS started wrapping things up. Not wanting to get stuck in traffic, we opted to leave before he performed his concluding songs.
As we drove home, we couldn’t help feeling severely disappointed and exhausted. To top things off, as we were driving along, a line of 4 unmarked vehicles with their hazards flashing drove by pointing guns at us. The last vehicle (a flatbed truck) ran us off the road without the slightest provocation. When we did get home, Ireen was crying and Ian was repeating…”guns scare me, Papa”. We gathered in the living room and thanked God for protecting us.
Let it never be said that we didn’t try to participate and do fun things with our family. I just hope this doesn’t make us too cynical.
Warning: You may cringe or your eyes might water when you read this post.
Yesterday I was working on a sewing project which has been on hold for the better part of three months. As I rarely iron (forgive me mom) I’m not sure I’ve properly lectured Ireen about iron safety. My iron has a base which heats it and when you remove it from the base the iron is cordless. While the iron was heating in its base, I asked Ireen to pass me some sewing pins. Instead of walking around the iron she reached over the iron to hand me the pins…unfortunately, the tip of the hot iron was exactly eye level. Yup, you guessed it, she burned her eye.
Immediately we got ice and tylenol. She said that the burn was only on the lid. However, I became more and more concerned since her eye was watering non-stop and opening her eye proved to be excruciating. I then tried to contact my mom and mother-in-law…because they have all the answers 
but neither was available. Then I called Tim to see how far he was from home – 2 hrs minimum drive. I then woke Ian up and walked them both down the lane to SES (Specialty Emergency Services) where there are paramedics on-call. I found Leighann. She took a look at Ireen’s eye and said that no damage had been done to the cornia – Praise God!!
Last night when Tim returned from his trip, he and those with him were very concerned for Ireen. In fact when I called they were in the middle of praying with a tribal cheif about spiritual attack. Tim excused himself saying, “my wife never calls this many times in a row”. When he returned to them, they began to pray for Ireen’s eye. They prayed that her eye would be protected and that no perminent damage would occur. God certainly heard their prayers.
Ireen went to bed early and woke up late this morning. Her eye is swolen and still painful to open but other than that she is back to her normal self. I put this bandaid/eye patch on her eye this morning to make it easier for her to see out of the other eye. School is canceled for today.
Thirty years ago today, Andrea was born near the small village of Muruu, Kenya at around 9 PM. Andrea’s mother (Donna Armes) had been planning to deliver in Nairobi – a four hour bush drive away. Andrea had other plans though, making a surprise visit 5 weeks early. God providentially made it possible for a Dutch doctor to be present and assist with the delivery and even helped avert a crisis when Andrea was born with the chord around her neck. Ever since, people have come to know Andrea for her warm heart, joyful spirit, creative energy, and depth of character. I thought it would be fun to post a few memorable photos. Happy Birthday AJ!
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Victoria Chitambo (a.k.a Ba na Ruth – Mother of Ruth) paid us a visit today. Not having been to our new home before and being a good friend of the Hilty family – it was a high priority for her to make it home. She is married to ACTION Zambia’s CROSS Project worker John Chitambo. Victoria always has an encouraging word for us when she comes – something that makes her especially effective in her job as an HIV/AIDS counselor at a local VCT (Voluntary Counseling and Testing) center. The stories she hears first hand on a regular basis are simply shocking. But in the midst of all the tragedy, Victoria trusts the Lord to grant her wisdom in how to advise the multitude of patients that pass through the clinic. She brought a chitenge suit for Andrea as a gift – which is the one that she’s modeling in the picture.
A year and a half ago I made a playset for Ian and Ireen out of wood poles bought at the local timber market. The playset started as just a swingset – but a ladder, deck, wheel and climbing rope were soon added. With our family’s recent move due to flooding, I disassembled the playset and decided we should resurrect it at its new home at Ciyanjano. After much work, Jailos Sakala and myself fastened and bolted the various pieces to reconstruct it. Our Zambian friends were confused by the term “playground” and said that it should be called a “playpark”. So playpark it is. Eventually, I’d like to add other play structures and equipment to the area. The kids at Ciyanjano are already having a blast with it, but with kids camps coming in the future – we’ll need added capacity. What kind of equipment would you recommend we consider? The materials need to be locally available and I’d like to incorporate salvaged items into the creation of the playpark. I’m totally open to suggestions.
