Hi Mom!

Today my sweet mom plans to visit Fred, one of my two amazing brothers. She thinks he is too thin, has told him so on several occasions over the past year, and is now taking the next step. You never stop being a mom, and I for one am glad.

Mom made arrangements to meet Fred at the grocery store early this morning. After buying a cart load of yummy, healthy ingredients, they will head back to his house where she will spend the day cooking, visiting, and checking my blog.

Mom, I know you haven't seen the blog in quite awhile so I wanted to prepare a little treat for you. When I told all your chickadees that you would be at Uncle Fred's reading the blog on his computer, they all wanted to send their greetings. So here they are!

Shauna age 13

Caylie age 6

Sia age 10

Isata age 13

Carlin age 12 & Steven age 11

I trust that you will enjoy a glorious day and look forward to hearing all about it. Mom, you make the most yummy food. I can't wait to see you in October! I love you gobs and bunches.

Blessings and joy,
Beckie

Happy 12th Birthday

Carlin Russell Sibley
Here is Carlin in one of his favorite places.

I am filled with emotion as I contemplate Carlin; who he is, how he joined our family, and the impact his life has made on Jason's and my hopes, dreams, and plans for our "golden years". We thank God for the privilege of second-season parenting ushered in by the birth of this precious baby boy twelve years ago today.

The Matambos brought home a rooster and a hen to raise for food a few months ago. Carlin and Steven named the rooster "Johnny" and the hen "Misty". They found it hard to believe that these chickens would not die of old age, if you know what I mean. The kids keep the chickens fed by catching grasshoppers, crickets, and other bugs for them to eat.

Misty hatched five eggs four weeks ago bringing lots of excitement to our home. The chicks are growing fast and are very tame as you can see by the pictures above and below.

I had no idea chickens could be so much fun to have around. They truly are great pets.

Okay, is it so wrong to want a more formal picture of my son on his birthday? Evidently it is. Pictures in the tree and with the chickens were easy to come by; however posed ones are not. I included some of those below just to give you an idea of what I go through to capture a more formal picture.

Actually, you get to see more personality displayed during the process of capturing these images.

For those of you who know our oldest son Justin, I'm sure you will agree that the photo above is a "Justin" look if there ever was one. The picture below is what I got when I said, "Come on Carlin, just smile." This was his way of showing that I was asking the impossible.

"Awe come on Mom! You have ENOUGH pictures!"

Carlin has been a great sport about all the pictures I take for most of his life. He is now at an age where he doesn't like his smile. Can you even believe that???

We are planning a big birthday celebration Saturday afternoon with the Janmans. I promise to take lots of pictures as I want to introduce you to this family. You will love them as we do; of this I have no doubt.

Blessings and joy,
Beckie

Shopping Fun

It's been awhile since I've posted. We experienced an unexpected (for us anyway) cold snap. With no way to heat our home, I got chilled to the bone and could not warm up. I ended up with a fever and generally felt horrible all of last week. My first sickness in Zambia, and hopefully the last. I missed all of my usual activities including blog time. Since then, the weather has warmed and we managed to find a small electric heater so we can warm up. Thank you to all who missed me.

Today I thought I'd treat you to another of our daily activities that we all enjoy. We are heading to the market to buy vegetables but today is extra special because the kids and I are eating lunch at a little cafe' there.

The journey to the market begins with a right at our gate. In the picture above, we have just left our house.

This little eatery is owned and operated by our taxi driver's wife. Water for food preparation and cleaning is bucketed inside. We enter the eating area by stepping through the opening between the lace tablecloth and curtain. Gloria, our newest student and daughter to Jefferson and his wife, has just shown us the "door". (Jefferson is our taxi driver and his wife runs this cafe')

Below, our children wait in gleeful anticipation of a Zambian lunch. The red bowls contain water for hand washing.

Facial expressions reveal that this special meal is serious business for the Sibley children. The menu consists of nshima, cooked spinach, and your choice of chicken, beef, or meatballs. Notice the lace tablecloth to the left is the same one in the first picture. In other words, this little place is narrow.

We enjoyed this extra treat and the food was quite yummy. Best of all, it didn't cost an arm and a leg for us to eat as it would in town.

Here is where all dishes are washed and food is prepared. I wanted a photo of Jefferson's wife (I don't know how to spell her name) cleaning and the lady in green wanted to join the fun.

After we bought our vegetables, we passed by our little eatery once more to find another set of customers enjoying a meal.


I usually buy tomatoes, carrots, and green beans from this sweet lady. All of the vendors love to see us come. As you can see, the children also enjoy our daily jaunts to the market.

These two ladies, mother and daughter, are excellent businesswomen. We buy our fruit (bananas, oranges, watermelon), eggs, and sometimes tomatoes from them. It is always fun to be greeted with these beautiful smiles.

No trip to a Zambian market would be complete without seeing dried kapenta, tiny fish that I understand are very tasty fried with tomatoes and onion then served with nshima. All types of fish found in the market have been dried, as there is no refrigeration.

We always end our excursion at this little store within the market where we buy a bag of rolls. These are the most delicious rolls we have found in all of Ndola so naturally, the Sibley family is a regular customer.

There are many more adventures to be discovered at the market making it a charming place to shop. I hope you enjoyed this glimpse into a fun part of our day.

Blessings and joy,
Beckie

It's A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood

Would you like to join us for a morning walk around our neighborhood? Two of my favorite times of the day involve walking. In the mornings, we walk a 50-55 minute route around our area. Then in the late morning or early afternoon, we walk 15-20 minutes to the market to buy our day's vegetables and fruits. I will share more about the market next time. This post concentrates on our morning trek. Shauna stayed home on this day to get a head start on her school work.

In the above photo, we have just left our gate. The ditch provides loads of fun although its real purpose is to funnel rain away from roads and yards.

Steven and Carlin share a camera. Today was Steven's turn to take pictures.

As you can see, there are new discoveries around every bend. Carlin and Caylie were deeply involved in their latest make-believe adventure.

Sometime I will share a bit about recycling Zambian style. The above photograph shows just how to "kill two birds with one stone." Here was an old car that needed discarded. So it became part of the fence.

My boys, the explorers and photographers.

The plant pictured above looks so much like a poinsettia but it is huge. We have several of them in our neighborhood. They aren't a tree but they certainly are very large bushes. This one grows well above the eight-foot wall in front of it. Seeing these colorful plants makes me smile every time, since any I have seen were confined in foil-wrapped pots at Christmas.

Shortly after we make our second turn, we come to a pile of rocks that begs to be conquered every day. As you can see, Sia was first to the top and gives careful instructions to the others as they run up.

Can you see why I love my morning walks?

Care for a seat?

Above the kids look for fallen blossoms. They retrieve them from the ditch to enjoy their fragrances throughout our walk.

Below is one of many signs we pass along the way. We can purchase anything from cigarettes to sour milk. We pass signs advertising chickens, eggs, talk time (pre-paid cell phone cards)

The strange plants pictured below are all over our neighborhood and even in our yard. They are pokey, large, and actually not my favorite. These line the front of an 8 foot wall.

In the picture above and below you can see new construction. We are absolutely amazed at the difference in the city of Ndola since our visit in 2006. We now see cars everywhere. Nothing like the USA but compared to 2006, the changes are dramatic.

Below, the kids check out the tell-tale signs of leaky pipes under the road. Water bubbles up through holes in the pavement.

Below is yet another house under construction.

Carlin examines a bug of some sort in the following picture. All of the kids like to investigate new creatures, but I just happened to catch Carlin in this shot.


What a privilege it is to live in our new neighborhood. Although our house has its issues, it suits us much better than the one on Mungule Road, which had issues of its own.

It is a real treat to share a part of my life that truly brings me joy every day. I thank God for photography and internet as well as wonderful friends and family to share them with.

Blessings and joy,
Beckie

Another MTI Class Has Begun in Zambia!

Ndeke MTI is off to a great start. Twenty five students enrolled including Isata and Carlin! Although both completed the program, they are ready to participate in the practicum groups which are geared to practicing what is learned in class with other students.

It truly is awesome to watch our children grow in the Lord and develop their faith. They are excited about this session now that they know more of what to expect. And both want a real diploma!

Jason snapped the picture below before class began. There was still daylight shining through the windows. Lighting is a big problem for evening classes. The guys tried to hang a light bulb in the room but as you can imagine, it wasn't adequate for pictures.


The two photos below captured one of the practicum groups. The purpose of these groups is to practice ministry skills learned in class. This part of the program is a huge reason for its success.

As mentioned above, the light was so poor that colors were distorted by Jason's camera. So I converted them to black and white.

Thank you to everyone who prays for our ministry in Zambia. Your love and encouragement touches our hearts every day. Your prayers move mountains!

Blessings and joy,
Beckie