Full House!

Hey all, sorry its been nearly a month since my last post, but ive got good reason!! Aside from hosting four visitors for over a month, I also came down with the worst malaria Ive ever had and we have made another trip to SA to drop off visitors and run some errands as well as taking some time for a short family vacation with Rick's brother before he left! Its been busy, but its been good! Ill let the pictures do most of the talking, but I do want to let you know that although this past month has been CRAZY busy, its been a fabulous month for us! We were so blessed to have family visit us and work alongside us- its amazing how much more we value our family now that we "never" get to see them! 

My sister Brenda, her husband Justin and Rick's brother Kevin were such a blessing to us- Justin helped with so many projects around the farm and his knowledge of plumbing was sooooo needed! Brenda helped me out with orphan school supplies (including a very long afternoon of used clothing buying in a very hot and HUGE used clothing market!) and other things as well as helping Alta get some work done for the Ladies literacy groups. 

We were sad to see all of them go, but so thankful for the help, encouragement and support they brought! 

Heres a few ( ok.. a lot of) pics:

 Some of the clothes we sourced at the used clothing market... and bartered endlessly for! Along with the school supplies Brenda and Justin were able to bring with them (yey for good quality!!!!) and the rest of the items we purchased here!

 Putting together the bags of school supplies for each child in the Amigo Orphan Program.

 More donated items from brenda an Justin... balls, frisbees, skipping ropes, games, audio bibles, cars, ball pumps, flashcards...... etc.

 Handing out the clothes to the Amigo Orphan kids.. Farai got a special shirt from his sponsor... i might be a tad bit jealous!

Group shot!

 Gina made good friends with Colin pretty quick!

 The kids made foamy pictures for their sponsors. Hope to get those sent out sooner rather than later. 

 We went to visit the school on the first day of the new year! Colin was pretty much a rockstar celebrity instantaneously.... hes there in the middle of that picture.. I promise.

 Teachers from our school as well at the school in Pina with the balls and children's Bibles Brenda and Justin and a church from back home in New Brunswick donated.

 Brenda handing out the lunch meal to the preschool students.. and apparently their little sisters as well.

 Happy faces all around!

 Even those serving the VERY hot food in the VERY hot kitchen looked happy. :)

 My sister could NOT get over how Pastor Tome (our school chef) picked up a metal barrel that had been sitting in the fire over VERY hot coals for HOURS and moved it with his BARE hands. She wanted to inspect his hands since she couldn't believe he wasn't burnt.

Just one of the many children benifitting from the lunch feeding program at our school.

 My sister Brenda Faye, with Lovemore's wife, Flora and their baby girl, Emma Faye. I named Emma and obviously, used my sister's name, so it was really neat that Brenda got to meet her!

 One afternoon we visited the local "bakery" to pick up some FRESH bread... the kind that is almost to hot to hold still!

 Then we went home and got some FRESH bush honey... the kind where you just squeeze the honeycomb and it drips out! There are very few things in the world better than hot bread baked in a clay oven with fresh sqeezed honeycomb honey from your own bees on your own farm (well.. the mission's  bees & farm, but you get the idea). mmmmmm.

soooo good! 

Justin was kept pretty much busy all day every day and unfortunately I have very few pics to show for it!

Here he is trying to sort thru a whack of plumbing bits and pieces to see whether we have what we need to do the plumbing for our house. We didnt- thankfully he made a list so we managed to get a good chunk of it while we were here in SA.

 On this sunday I was SOOOO sick with Malaria, so I had to stay home, but everyone else went up to Honde to visit Pastor Paulo's church. Here they are waiting for the service to start.

 My sister Brenda, and Rick, praying for the sick, widows, and children.

 Work has also been continuing on our house. Rick and His brother Kevin put some time in helping to build the front wall, and Kevin and Justin helped to make bricks as well.

 Just some of the work! This picture is two weeks old, we have heard from the folks back at the farm that we will be AMAZED at how far they have gotten on the walls since we left.. I hope they are right!

 We drove to Beira to drop off Brenda and Justin and Colin at the Airport and spent an hour playing at the beach so they could at least say they touched the Indian Ocean....

And then drove with Kevin down to South Africa to run errands, have a few days of family vacation time with him, and then drop him off at the airport. In pretoria we stay at a guesthouse that has a lovely garden, Tendai loves to smell the hibiscus flowers that are nearly the size of her head!

Before I let you know some of our prayer requests and praises for this month, Im gonna show you a few more *yes, more* pictures. We often get asked if there are lots of wild animals on our farm or if we see lions every day. We dont have a lot of wild animals near us, and we dont see lions every day, but we do get to have some neat experiences with creatures that I thought might interest you.. sooo, here is a bunch of photos of creatures from the last month or so!

 Baby Colin, and Duiker Colin (Tendai named him after her cousin). At our house. We are in the process of letting him "go wild" so I have no idea if he will even be there when we get home.

 A very big and very cranky Chameleon Kevin found near our house construction site.

 A very tiny and curious chameleon Raymundo found and brought to us. 

 A very hungry giraffe we saw at a wildlife park tourist centre in South Africa with Kevin. And, yes, the giraffe is kissing me. (to be honest he just trying to get the food pellet I had for him) :)

 A very very curious lion we saw at the same wildlife park. First of all... I love this lion because he reminds me of Aslan from The Chronicles of Narnia, and secondly.. I love this picture because the lion is seen three times, all various reflections!

 He was so curious that he stuck his claws into our tire and rolled our truck backwards with one paw. seriously. he also bit the back bumper...

see ... there is the scratch mark- I kid you not. Our truck was bitten by a lion. Im just glad it wasnt me. 

:)

Now that you have had a laugh... Ill get down to the serious stuff!

Praise and Prayer Requests,

Praise

-For Family and the Encouragement they were to us! Having family visit us gave us that extra "oomph" we need when the going gets tough and it feels like everyone is so very very far away.

-For safety as we have travelled many many kilometres recently.

- That Brenda and Justin were able to have a good trip and positively impact so many people by being willing to help in any area they were asked to.

-That our house is progressing at a good rate, or so we have been told! We cant wait to get back and see how far along they have gotten in the 2 weeks we have been on the road!

-That other construction projects on the farm, like the Women's ministry craft & literacy centre and the Aviation ministry airplane hanger have progressed rapidly as well!

- That Ron's finger (hes our colleague who cut off his finger in early January) is making a good recovery, and the wound left from the finger that was lost is healing well.

Prayer

- For safety and travelling mercies ( in particular border crossing mercies) as we travel back home to the farm on Saturday and Sunday. Parts of the road have been washed out by recent cyclones so your prayers will really be appreciated!

-For health for us as a family- Heather had the worst malaria shes ever had this past month, and Rick has been battling a stomach bug for weeks.

-For our finances, both for our house fund and our monthly needs. Please pray with us that our goals will be met and that the funds will come in on time so we wont need to stop building.

- For our ministry as we spend the next few months focusing on not only our house project but preparing for the seminars later this "spring" (north american spring that is) and expanding the involvement we have with the local orphan programs.

Thank you so much for your support and prayers- feel free to email us, or leave a comment on the blog, we love to hear from people!

God Bless, Rick, Heather & Tendai