Happy New Year!! We were so tired last night I do not think anyone was awake to ring in the new year. Maybe some of the kids made it but I know for sure Aaron and Tyler crashed. It may have had something to do with their staying up too late the night before. :) The adults decided to celebrate with our fellow Texans at 8am this morning. Our celebration...we missed it! Some were trying to make the morning devotional on time and some were braiding hair so we were not even together. LOL! I can honestly say this is the BEST new year EVER! What a blessing it is to be here! Yesterday, we had 110 kiddos at our VBS and it was POURING down rain!! The kids just kept coming. It was AMAZING to witness! The FBC students were all in leadership roles and did a phenominal job!! Brandi led our group devotional last night on spiritual gifts and did an outstanding job! We had another great dinner provided by Darbi. Debbie brought a "Jack Fruit" for dessert. Be sure to go to Darbi's blog to see pictures. I think Debbie was a little disappointed...she planted a Jack Fruit Tree in her yard not knowing what it was. LOL! She was like me...did not try it. It looked NASTY! We were also blessed in that we did not lose electricity for long yesterday. Blu was prepared with candles and flashlights so it was no big deal at all. As for today, the boys are all building book shelves for the school. The girls are painting the windows of the school. Kelly and Darbi are setting up a classroom and I am working on laundry and costumes for the Nativity Play and VBS crafts. Those that know me, don't be shocked! Our costumes are simple...masks and head pieces...things I can handle!! Prayer warriers...please pray for no rain from 2-6pm so the kids can move freely without getting drenched at VBS and make it home as well. Love to all!

I am posting early today while we have electricity! Yesterday we had lots of fun! The tour of the orphanage was amazing! The kids went with us. We experienced lots of whistle blowing (The kids make whistles out of grass...very shrill.) We gave lots of "piggy back" rides. After the tour, Blu needed to milk the cow. Several of us went to watch and yes, I have pictures of Blu milking the cow! Ash, Aaron, Brandi, Tyler, Cassie, Kailey & Kenny all milked the cow. I was their encourager/photographer. Kenny also had the opportunity to scoop some poop! I did not get a picture of that as I moved very quickly. I think my dad would have been impressed! LOL! We had an amazing spaghetti dinner cooked by Darbi. Kailey led our group devotonal and did an AWESOME job. We then planned for VBS that starts this afternoon! We all got to experience another downpour when going back to our houses. That is the muddiest my feet have ever been! The kids stayed at Blu & Darbi's house playing games until late into the night. I think they were feeling it this morning as we had breakfast at 7 am! We then had a devotional with all the employees of New Day led by Blu. As always, he did a great job! We are now all divided up working on various things. Some are working on the classrooms, some are playing with the New Day Kids (We do not call them orphans.), while some of us are preparing for VBS. Lunch will be soon. Tonight we will bring in the New Year before our friends & family if we can stay up that late. LOL! At least the adults are still hitting the hay early. I think we are going to build a camp fire if it is not raining. You never know, with Blu it may become a bon fire!! I want to let everyone know that Darbi just posted some pictures of our team on her blog at the following address: tidwelladoption.blogspot.com I am not that advanced yet...sorry! I will post more tomorrow!!

Slept great last night! Several people fell asleep sitting straight up. One slept in that chair until 6am! We were up early this morning. Right at the time for us to go eat breakfast, it came a DOWNPOUR! I was able to find some umbrellas. It got muddy fast! It was only by the grace of God one of us did not fall in the mud. LOL! Blu cooked AMAZING pancakes and eggs for breakfast. Church was awesome! Ashlee, Red and Brandi taught the children's Sunday School class with an interpreter. The rest of us enjoyed a lesson on loving one another. The song worship was a lot of fun. Trying to sing in Tonga was a challenge but everyone tried hard. It was a very intereactive service with scripture read by volunteers in both English and Tonga. Luckily Debbie and I did not get in trouble while she was catching me up on the group of people in church. Everyone thought we were crazy because we got a little emotional. One little girl from the orphanage turned to us and asked why we were crying. They think that you only cry when you are sad about something. Some of us rode the bus to take some of the church members home. The family sang the whole way. Their house had a thatched roof with solar panels on top. :) We then had a great lunch and are all relaxing. All the girls have their hair in braids...even mine for the first time ever. We are about to start preparing for VBS that starts tomorrow! Later, we have a tour of the orphanage and a birthday party for two of the orphanage children, one of the teachers and possibly two of our people on the Mission Trip who celebrate their birthdays on January 6th and 7th. Sh...don't tell them...I am pretty sure that it is a Zambian tradition to soak the birthday people in water on their birthday! HeHe! I will be sure to get lots of pictures! I may not be able to post anything tomorrow as Zambia has rolling blackouts to conserve electricity and our day is Monday. Love to all!

First Day at New Day

Wow! What an EXCITING time!! I do not have much time because a storm is brewing. Brittish Airways was a TON better than American Airlines!!

The people of Zambia are SUPER friendly! We have arrived safely at New Day Orphanage. We saw lots of "different" things today on our bus trip! From chicken houses on the side of the road to termite mounds that are HUGE...it was an adventure. Especially Blu's driving...after he lost the keys to the bus at the airport(for only 10 minutes)...those of you who know Blu understand that none of us were shocked!! We were at New Day for about 30 minutes, had time to unload, then the kiddos from the community arrived for their Saturday play & devotional time. We played, sang, learned about the Bible and fed all of the children. We cleaned everything up then we had WONDERFUL fajitas for dinner! Thanks Darbi!! As expected, we are all exhausted! We are showering and then off to bed. We love you all and can feel the prayers! I will post again tomorrow night!

Airport!!

We are at the airport! Ate a healthy dinner at McDonalds!!

Charging Phones at DFW while waiting on our delayed flight due to "routine maintenance".

Patiently Waiting...

We are getting so excited! It is Christmas Day and we are all preparing for the BIG trip to Africa!  The kids are working on the packing list. I have been working to get the bills paid while making a list of everything we must get done in a short amount of time. I thought this might be the best way to keep everyone posted while we are gone on our trip. I will post more soon as time permits!  :)