Happy Anniversary to us

September 17, 2009

Happy Anniversary to us -- one year. I have trouble believing it has been one year since we left our jobs and our life in America and arrived in Malawi. A lot has happened in this last year. We have had the best days of our lives within this last year and also the worst days of our lives within this last year.

Please bear with me as I reflect over some of the highlights from the last year: getting to know and love the children and staff at the orphanage; all-night parties in our neighborhood; fireworks at Christmas instead of Independence Day; no water and no power (sometimes for days at the same time); mini-buses everywhere; lizards everywhere – even in my bed (yuck); friends and family visiting us here; planting or cultivating the orphanage fields; the kids eating lunch at a restaurant for the first time in their lives after we purchased shoes for them; the looks of excitement on their faces when you buy them a cold drink; some of them eating with forks for the first time; having a hot shower when we stay somewhere besides our home; 80 degrees on Christmas Day; no Thanksgiving dinner; praying and worshipping with the kids; the relationships we have developed with other missionaries we have met here; the restaurants we have “discovered”; the daily provisions the Lord has provided for the kids; meeting Miss Malawi; our dog Lukia who guards our house at night and sleeps all day; our cats Princess Fiona and Toby who think they want to stay up all night too; helping cook and serve the kids meals; taking children to the hospital (and a doctor telling me to pretend I work there so I don’t have to stand in line for prescriptions); buying the kids things we take for granted like underwear, slips, trousers; one or the other of us being sick and Ray ending up in the hospital; “Azungu” (white people) being hollered at us dozens of times a day; purchasing “everything” needed to run a house; paying way, way too much for a vehicle that is not worth half of what we paid for it; having the kids from the orphanage come over to bless our house; the excitement all over the country after the Malawi Flames beat Congo in football (soccer); the numerous engagement parties, wedding showers and weddings; “give me my money” being said by people as we drive by; going to the market with Esther to buy food in bulk for the orphanage; hiring and firing staff; getting the honor of naming two babies; two girls being bitten by the same dog; taking the kids for either HIV testing or HIV meds; watching the kids be creative and make something out of nothing; mending the kids clothes; playing with the kids; purchasing food for the kids that they don’t have on a regular basis – like eggs; the breathtaking sunsets and rainbows; ice from our refrigerator; our bad, bad haircuts (we have since found a place that can cut our hair decently); the kids trying to figure out what puzzles were; expensive price of gas here; finding Oreos and Diet Pepsi; the rainy season where it *RAINS*; spending hours and hours typing the school exams; going to the mountain to pray; going to Liwonde game preserve with some American friends and seeing elephants, monkeys and other animals; being *cold* in July; Ganizani’s father dying; the elections in Malawi; Ray’s father dying while we were here; drafting plans for a new orphanage compound; and lastly, our most recent highlight – adopting Mphatso, our beautiful 7 year old daughter.

We have learned a lot of lessons this last year and everything I mentioned above are memories that we would not trade for anything.

Please pray that the remainder of our time that the Lord has us here is fruitful.
Thanks for letting me reminisce over the last year.

We were scheduled to go to court for our adoption next Monday, September 21 but found out yesterday that the court is closing on Monday because it is a holiday. So, our attorney is trying to get a new court date now. Very, very frustrating.