February 8 Update

I’m sitting in the guest house at New Day Orphanage, trying to get on the internet so I can post a blog. For the last two months we have had internet problems.  We thought that there was something wrong with the server we are using, but after the Tidwells returned and brought three volunteers to live in the guest house (Diana, Carolyn and Debbie),we discovered that everyone else was able to get on except us .Okay, so what is the problem? We are not sure, but we think the device we are using might be defective. So, until we can get it replaced, Debbie, has so graciously allowed us to use her computer and her internet device.

Today is Wednesday afternoon at New Day, and I can hear thunder in the distance, so I hope that means rain as it has been really hot and sticky today.

Since I last wrote, much has happened. The Tidwells returned, and as I said earlier, they brought three long-term volunteers with them. Diana and Carolyn will be team teaching with our two Zambian teachers to provide an awesome education for our children. This week they have been doing assessments with the children to make sure each child is on the right level. And Debbie, our agriculturist/farm manager, jumped right in and has been busy with the store, the chickens, and making lots of plans for the NDO farm.

Blu and Darbi have taken back some of the responsibilities we were shouldering in their absence, like the weekly shopping trip, keeping the receipts, etc. We were glad to give up these duties, as we have other things that we feel more called to do.

Wes has had to slow down a bit after hurting his back.  I feel sorry for him because I am well acquainted with back problems, but I guess I should stop asking him to lift things for awhile.

Now that the Tidwells are back and the guest house is finished, I’m trying to get my house in order and unpack the boxes that were still in the container. In addition to the boxes that were still packed, a container arrived from the states with more boxes—a few personal things and a lot of gifts for the orphanage from generous people in the states. So, this week I have been buried in boxes trying to figure out where to put everything. Some things will just have to be packed away until later.

While unpacking the boxes, I found three dresses that I had sent that were stored at my parent’s home. These three dresses are about 50 years old, as I wore them as a child. I decided that instead of throwing them away, I would bring them and see if they would fit our youngest, Axer. They fit her just perfectly and make great play dresses!



Axer kept saying, "Mama Lala's dress!"



Cason liked Axer's new (but very old) dress as well.

Storage for all our supplies and personal items is a BIG challenge, so we decided to build a storage unit in our yard. About a month ago we had a bad storm, wind, hail and rain, and part of our grass fence blew down. We had it mended, and then last week another storm blew it down again. We had it mended for the second time, but moved it out further for the storage unit. After it was mended for the second time, we realized that we needed to have a tree cut down that would interfere with the building. The guys tried to calculate where it would fall, and removed that part of the fence. Needless to say it fell in the opposite direction, so the fence was mended (with the same grass) for the third time.



At least we provide the local people with work when the fence falls down.



Dec-Jan Update

We were not able to post a blog about Christmas at New Day because the internet just wouldn't cooperate. We are in Lusaka where the internet is "better" so we will try to even add some pictures.

Most of the staff was gone for Christmas, so we had Christmas Eve with the children of the Luyando House and their house mother, Margaret, and a temporary helper named Mainza.

The children of the Luyando House

We finished off the Christmas story, telling the children about the wisemen who came to visit Jesus, and sang "Away in a Manger" in Tonga, which they knew well by this time.

We used soft nativity figures to help us tell the Christmas story



The children watch as Misheck opens his gifts



After the story time, Wes passed out gifts to the children one-by-one that had been sent by their sponsors in America, and some from us as well. We watched as each child opened their gifts. The most amazing thing was that no complained when they had to wait for their turn. In fact, Kelitah, who was last, came up to me before it was her turn and said, "Mama Lala, thank you." Sisi, who is so quiet, was jumping up and down and smiling as she watched the others receive their gifts. Probably the funniest part of the night was when Cynthia received a doll that cried, cooed, and made other noises as well. It was a wonderful Christmas Eve! Thank you so much to all who helped send gift to the children!

Christmas day was rainy and cool--wonderful for us Americans! Because it was Sunday, we spent Christmas morning at the New Day Church. We had planned to go to Mapanza Baptist Church across the river in the afternoon, but the rains prevented us from doing so. No adults came to church that morning because of the heavy rains, but the village children (about 30 of them) did not mind getting wet. The adults missed out on a good Christmas message and some special treats.

New Years was also rainy, but not as bad, so some of the adults came to church along with 44 children. It was a great way to begin a new year here at New Day.

Immediately after the holidays we had to get busy and finish the guest house for the arrival of three volunteers: Diana, Debbie, and Carolyn, who arrived yesterday with the Tidwells. Needless to say, we worked from sunup to sundown and even lost a few pounds in the process.

We are thankful to the Lord for giving us the strength to do the work. Mulenga worked on the plumbing, the bathroom cabinets, putting up the water tank, and such. Elizabeth finished the painting and helped Wes with the screens. Wes finished the cabinets, built the screens, helped Laurie move in the furniture, did a lot of running to town for supplies, and so much more. Laurie had the best job—decorating.

Wes spent many hours working in the guest house.

 In addition to all the work, we took time out for two birthdays, Michelle turned 22, and Elizabeth turned the BIG 30. We haven’t poured water on them yet, because we decided we would wait for the Tidwells to arrive so they can join in the fun.

Michelle and Elizabeth are answering the question in the birthday song, "How old are you now?"

We are happy that the Tidwells have returned, and the next month we will be busy with helping the volunteers to adjust to life at NDO. We don't blog very well, but the Tidwells do a great job! So if you want to keep up with what is happening at New Day Orphanage, you can also check out their blog: http://www.tidwelladoption.blogspot.com./

Christmas Celebrations Begin

It has been awhile since I have blogged because we were busy with a team and lately the internet just hasn’t been cooperating. It “seems” to be working better today, so I’m going to try to finish and upload this blog.


The last few weeks have been busy here at New Day as usual. A team from Clanton, Alabama came and helped us with painting and cabinet making in the guest house and volunteer hut. They also did some Bible stories, games, and crafts with the kids in the afternoon, as well as some evangelism and teaching with Mapanza Baptist Church.

After the team left, we had to get busy with Christmas celebrations, as several of our staff members were heading home for the holidays. The day before they left, we had our staff Christmas party, but of course we included the children in the activities.

The adults played a white elephant game where they each had to choose a gift either from the pile in the middle of the floor, or they could steal one from someone else who had already opened theirs. It was lots of fun, but poor Eness, the assistant cook, everyone kept stealing her gift.

The children also played a little game similar to musical chairs. They walked around a circle with Christmas music, stepping from one number to the next. If they were on the number that was drawn from the basket, they received a goody bag. Of course everyone received one. Although Axer is the youngest, she kept pushing the others as they were just not moving fast enough for her!

We celebrated four birthdays at the party with cake, popcorn, drinks and sweeties (candy). We celebrated the birth of Jesus, little Laurie’s birthday, Cynthia’s birthday, and Michelle’s spiritual birthday. The morning of the party, Michelle had come to realize she did not have a true relationship with Jesus, and she made the choice to give her life to Him.

A birthday party at New Day is not complete without a little water being thrown on the birthday people, so after the party, the children and adults filled their cups, bowls and buckets and had a water party. I (Laurie) just happened to mention that Josh would not be here for his birthday, so everyone decided that Josh looked a little too dry. Somehow I managed to stay dry, but I know that my day will come!

It is the rainy season here in Zambia now, that means lots of bugs, mud and humidity, but for the Zambians it means time to plant and hope for the future. Here at New Day we want the children to learn the good things of Zambian culture, and one of those is how to plant a field. So, that is what the children are learning to do. Each morning they go out to the field with their hand plows to dig up the ground, plant seed, and learn how to do things the Zambian way.

Well, that’s all for now. Hope I’m successful at uploading this blog. It is doubtful the pictures will upload, but I will try to add them bit by bit.

The week started out at New Day with a workshop with the staff on “Godly Discipline.” It is our goal here at New Day to bring up children who fear the Lord, and we know that they must learn how to obey their parents (in this case, all of us here at New Day). It is amazing how much God’s Word has to say about discipline. Did you know that children feel more secure when they have boundaries? Together the staff at New Day looked into the scriptures to see how God would have us to discipline the children of New Day so that they will have the greatest opportunity to become godly responsible adults.

After Wes and I took them to Scripture to see what God’s Word says about discipline, Josh and Christy Moran shared from their own parenting experience some very practical ways to put the scriptures into practice. They started out with an activity where we were all asked to go from the school room to the kitchen using any route we wanted. However, we were told that there were dangers along the way but failed to tell us where they were. After we all made it to the kitchen, Josh informed us that none of us had made it safely. Some of us took the path that led to the water filled with crocodiles. Some of us walked right off the cliff. Some of us walked through the den of lions. There was only one safe path, and none of us took it. This helped us all to see the importance of letting children know their boundaries so that they will know of the dangers that face them.

After the workshop, we had a surprise graduation party for Elizabeth, our Social Worker. Although Elizabeth finished school nearly two years ago, the school had not held an “official” graduation and she had not received her certificate. Two weeks ago she was informed that the graduation would be held on a certain date, but then it was changed at the last moment to another date. Elizabeth made the first trip for the graduation, but decided not to make the second one. Wes picked up her certificate, but we knew she was feeling sad about not attending the actual graduation. We told her that she needed to go put on her graduation suit that her sister had given her. She thought it was all part of the workshop and that it had to do with obedience. Elizabeth, being the sweet young lady that she is, walked back to her house and came back wearing her graduation suit. When she entered the room we were all singing and dancing in her honor, with Kalenga on the guitar and Mulenga on the drums. She still did not know what was going on until we pointed to the board where we had hung the words, “Congratulations Graduate.” After that there were lots of hugs, cake and pictures.

I can't tell you all that is happening at New Day right now, because I'm writing this from Botswana where I have traveled with IMB missionary, Staci Powers so that she could attend a wedding. I do know that the electric company has been working at the orphanage the last few days, but Wes says they still have much to do before they are ready to switch us on. We are excited that they have kept their promise to come out this week, and we look forward to having electricity very soon.