Come hear our visiting missionary!

I'd like to take a minute and invite everyone reading this blog to come listen to a wonderful woman speak at my church. Amy Morrow lives and works in Zambia, Africa where she and her husband run the Kazembe Orphanage. You read all about her family's story in Africa here or read up on the latest happenings at the orphanage on Amy's blog. Or if you don't want to read :) check out some of their videos.

Amy will be speaking at the Montezuma United Methodist Church in Montezuma, Kansas on Wednesday, May 8th at 7pm. The school age kids in our town will be lucky enough to get a visit from Amy the day before. How often do most US kids get the chance to talk to someone who has eaten hippo?

This will be the second year that Amy has visited our area and I have the immense joy at co-hosting her during her visit. I've enjoyed reading all about her kids and how they are learning and growing.



This picture of her boys Elias and Johnny just cracks me up...don't they just look like they are ready and waiting to get into mischief? Love it!

What a lovely smile!

The Kazembe orphanage is home to about 27 kids from newborns to first graders. Kazembe isn't in the business of adopting out children, rather these kids are busy raised and educated at Kazembe as a family, and as their mission statement attests, they are truly working toward improving Africa's next generation.

Our mission is to improve the lives of those in need. Because children and youth are the hope of the future, we believe in investing in them by providing education, training and leadership. As we supply instruction in values, morals and practical solutions, we will enhance the quality of their lives and give them the tools they need to succeed. (Kazembe Mission Statement)

Some days I feel like I can barely keep my three kids fed and clothed; they are always hungry and growing. Can you imagine what it must take to keep up with 27 growing, hungry kids? Kazembe is always needing financial support and volunteers. Volunteers from all over the world have visited Kazembe for a couple of weeks to many months. We all have some gift that we could share with Kazembe whether it's our money, time or a load of clothes.

If you are in our area on May 8th stop on in, Amy has a great story to share. Amy also has other times available to speak in Southwest Kansas to anyone willing to listen on May 6, 7 and 8th. Would you like to hear her at your church or community event? Leave me a comment and we'll get something scheduled!

If nothing else, take a minute to check out one of her websites above. You'll be so glad you did.

Thanksgiving Coffee from Africa

Have you recovered from your turkey coma yet? 

I think I'll survive. 

I'm posting quickly here to share the special treat I enjoyed on Thanksgiving. 

A while back I commented on my friend Amy's blog, (Amy runs an orphanage in Africa) and made a guess on her husband's and kids' costumes they were making for a fund raising event. As a prize for the most correct guesses, Amy sent me a package of African coffee. It took over a month to arrive. 

And was just a BIT travel worn! I was kind of surprised that everything was still intact inside. 

But once unwrapped I found a perfect bag of coffee. I am such a sucker for any food product packaged in a cloth bag. I'm still trying to think of something to do with the bag once I've used all the coffee. 

Even before I opened the plastic bag on the inside of the cloth bag I could smell the coffee. Boy, was it a STRONG aroma! I love strong coffee (I'll take it black thank you) but even I was a bit intimidated by the strength of the aroma. I bravely brewed a pot and oh, what a wonderful cup of coffee. Yes, it was REALLY strong and no fancy flavorings which I really enjoyed. 

I'm rationing this coffee since it's come so far and I enjoy it so much. Thanks Amy! I'm thankful for the opportunity to try something from the other side of the world. I'll pass on the termites though, thank you! 

Amy Morrow and The Kazembe Orphanage.

What a wonderful week last week turned out to be! Not only because it was Holy Week and Easter was yesterday, those were great, but for a couple days I was hostess to a missionary from Africa! 

I first "met" Amy Morrow a couple years ago when we stumbled upon one another's blogs. Amy, her husband and her 6 kids moved to Africa 10 years ago and now run the Kazembe Orphanage in Zambia. When she mentioned on her blog that she still had speaking dates open for her fundraising trip to the United States I immediately invited her to our little SW Kansas church. I admire everything that Amy and her husband Tom are doing at Kazembe. They aren't just housing kids to be adopted out of the country but raising a family. The 22 kids currently at Kazembe will be raised and educated together as brothers and sisters until they "leave the nest." I just think that is awesome! 

I have to admit that I have been a bundle of nerves for weeks. I was worried that no one would come to hear Amy speak or that we wouldn't raise enough money for this trip to have been worth her time. (We raised sooo much more than I expected!) I was worried that all the speaking engagements that I scheduled for Amy, two at school and one at church, would fall through. (We did have to do a lot of juggling but it all worked out.) Selfishly, I was also worried about what Amy thought of me. Talking to someone online can be very different from meeting them in person and I kind of worried she thought, in person, I was a bumbling dork...cuz, that's how I feel sometimes!

Amy, on the other hand, is warm, personable, funny and so very easy to talk to. Amy also was so very flexible! We drove through a rainstorm (YAY) for an hour on the way back from the airport and it didn't faze her. Of course she said that rain in the States is great because she doesn't have to worry about the roads being washed out like she does in Africa! I had to cancel/reschedule three different appointments I had planned for her...no problem....she just went with the flow. 

I didn't get a chance to take too many photos during her talk at our church. Taking pictures of a slide show isn't the easiest thing to do!! But she had some fabulous photos of her kids to share with us. Every year during their trips to the States the Morrow's share an update video of what they've been up to in Zambia but being new to our area she shared clips from a few of them to catch us up on her story. You can find all their videos here.http://vimeo.com/missionaryfamily . Check out their 2008 video for some AMAZING images of before and after images of their orphanage building! I can't believe they managed to renovate anything from what they started with. 

Aren't these kids adorable? With smiles like that I can tell these kids are truly loved. 

During our three hour drive from Wichita back to my home Amy and I were able to talk a lot the struggles that they face in African culture. What struck me the most was the incredibly poor education system in Zambia. A "high school" education in Zambia is less that what American students are taught by third grade. Problem solving and critical thinking skills are absent. Most adults aren't skilled at any trade and those with jobs are rarely qualified for them. As Amy and I spoke I was literally speechless; I just did not know what to say until Amy spoke and said, "Yeah, you really have to see it to believe it." A life in Zambia for a native citizen isn't something I can even begin to imagine. 

I know that all you readers know how blessed you are to be American or living in the West. But really, we have no idea what so ever how lucky we truly are to have what we have and the ability to do what we do. We have clean beds and clothes; we aren't hungry or in danger of starving (in fact most of us could do with skipping a meal now and then couldn't we?) We have the blessing of worrying more about how our kids are doing than worrying about where our next meal comes from. In Zambia they are still living for survival and don't have the time to worry about nurturing. We are so blessed with college education debt!! Yep, we are because our kids have the opportunity to be educated, truly educated with the bills to prove it, where most Zambians don't. 

Despite all the words I just wrote about Amy and her orphanage I still feel speechless. I still feel as though I was given a great gift in meeting her and hearing her story. I don't feel obligated or guilted into helping Amy and her orphanage but rather, I feel truly blessed with the opportunity to help.

 I don't always say, or type, the right words to express how I feel about things and this post is no exception. I rather feel I've bungled it up but I hope you get some sense about the work Amy and her family are accomplishing. Take a minute to check out one of her many sites, help them out a little with few dollars. If we can all do a little, great things will happen. 

Airport and the African Missionary

I am heading to the airport right now and I am soooo excited!! 

Nope, I'm not going anywhere and no one is flying to see me. 

I'm going to pick Amy Morrow from the airport. 

Amy Morrow is a missionary in Zambia, Africa where she and her family have started the Kazembe Orphanage. 

Look at all those gorgeous kids! 

I first learned about Amy a couple years ago when I stumbled on her blog; Amy's Assorted Adventures. On her blog she shares stories about all these wonderful kids, the adventures of living in rural Africa which includes a 3 hour one way drive once a week to the grocery store! 

Amy is currently in the United States on her annual fundraising trip for the orphanage and she has agree to come to our little corner of Kansas to share her story with us. I'm excited to finally meet her and helping her spread her message. She'll be in my little town speaking most of the day tomorrow at the school and the Methodist church. 

I know that most of you reading this won't be able to come hear her speak but would you mind saying a little prayer for her right now? I ask that you pray for Amy's safe travels and that her trip to SW Kansas is blessed. Thanks!! 

Hopefully I'll have more of Amy's story to share with you next week! 

Too many....

I've went and done it again. I have found myself with a list a mile long of projects that I need, or want, to work on/get finished but can't figure out just how I'll get them all done. Of course if I stopped cooking, cleaning or doing laundry I'd be able to get everything done with no problems!! 

The boys have been working on a 4H art project off and on for the last week. They decided to do something with paper mache, which was fine with me because I don't mind the mess. But what I thought would be a small little sculpture has ballooned into quite the projects. They both decided to create masks, then decided these masks should be part of their Halloween costume (Wow! Are they thinking ahead or what?) but now we kind of have to create part of the costume to go with the masks to at least take a picture of for their 4H project. It might not make sense otherwise. Yip is working on a Batman mask and Yap is working on a knight's helmet. I sure hope Yahoo doesn't get some crazy idea that I'll make her Rapunzel or something for Halloween!! Can you imagine me trying to figure out a wig for that? 

I finally was able to get halfwayish done with a project of my own this week.

Can you guess what it's supposed to be? 

I'm making a 5 foot stuffed airplane for a friend's Vacation Bible School this summer, well May not really summer. I still have to put two engines on it, wheels, propellers and then spray paint it. I found a great little pattern here and then enlarged it to the scale I needed. Rather than use stuffing the boys helped me wad up newspapers to fill it. 

DR was nice enough to build a wooden frame for me yesterday to put inside the wings. This is going to be hung from the ceiling. I sure hope it works.

I don't mind doing projects like this for friends but I'll be happy when this one is done and out of my house. It's big, bulky and just not really something that's that exciting to work on. 

Maybe it's not exciting because I have 20 zillion other projects I'd rather be working on. I have a half finished dragonfly painting sitting in my bedroom I'm itching to get back to. I still haven't decided just what I want to paint in my bathroom..just that I want to do SOMETHING. I've committed myself to sewing up at least two pairs of Britches for Boys by April. I've got a list of art projects I need to come up with for toddler/preschool playdates for the next few months. 

But the project I am most excited about is getting Amy Morrow to come to our little community to speak about her orphanage in Zambia!! I've followed Amy's blog for a couple years and when she said that she was headed to the States for her annual fundraising trip and still had some speaking dates opened I asked her to come to Kansas. It couldn't hurt to ask right? She agreed and will be in Montezuma, Kansas on Wednesday, April 4th at 7:00 pm. (So I've been making flyers and sending letters for the past few days.) I doubt that many of you reading this blog are close enough to come hear her but check out her blog, what a wonderful story she has to tell! And if you are close, please come!! I'd love to fill our church with people to welcome Amy to Kansas! 

So that's been my list of my many projects I've been working on.

I think I need a nap now :) 

Blogging Friends; the unexpected benefits of a blog.

I started this little old blog a little over a year ago merely with the intention of sharing my life with my friends and family. It sort of all started with Facebook. I had been trying for DAYS to get some photos of my kids loaded up for grandparents to see and it just wasn't working.

I thought to myself, "This is crazy! There has to be an easier way. Hey, why don't I try starting one of those blog things?"

I'd read a few blogs like Pioneer Woman and Chickens in the Road and I knew a few friends who kept blogs about the happenings of their families. I could do one, sure! All I wanted was a place for my family to see what my kids and I had been up to.

And my blog has done it's job. My mom and grandma both read my blog practically everyday. Then I found my sisters and cousins keep up on my blog too. Without my blog it would be months or years between times I see or talk to some of my relatives and let them know what we were up to.

My blog has been a place for me to share some of my interests and creativity as well. I probably wouldn't take nearly the photographs that I do if I didn't have a blog to share them through.

One of the most surprising benefits of having a blog has been some of the 'blog friends' I've made. I have people following and commenting on my blog whom I've never even met and in turn I've started following and commenting on some of their blogs. In the process I've come to really enjoy hearing and caring about the lives of these women.

First, there's Lana who is Walking the off-beaten path. I've actually met Lana but I bet she doesn't remember it! Lana lives back in Indiana and she is an acquaintance of my sister's. For years my sister kept going on about what a fabulous mother Lana is and how we would have so much in common (we were both teachers in a former life) and we really should meet one another. Well, my sister introduced me to Lana in the middle of the county fair one summer. After a bit of chit chat I had to run off to chase a toddler and Lana had to return to the Farm Bureau booth she was manning. I never met her again but shortly after coming to Kansas my sister passed on her blog to me. And boy do I wish I'd gotten to know Lana in person. She's a spunky farmer's wife who's not only busy with the farm life of raising crops and cattle but is raising two girls and continually promoting agriculture in her area. I admit though my favorite part of Lana's blog is the pictures of her farm that she shares. They make me feel just a bit less homesick for the Hoosier State.

Abby is a blogger friend I met through her blog, They Lend Me Their Hearts. (She's the very front nun!) There are days I feel like Abby and I must be living very similar lives although she's in the frozen north...Minnesota. She's a stay at home mom but runs a day care/preschool from her home. Isn't she brave? Abby posts a lot of what really is important in her life and her thoughts in the moment. She has three young kids like I do and shares a lot of her kids' shenanigans. Her blog cracks me up because a lot of days we seem to be having the same mom issues. Temper tantrums, coffee addictions, getting the perfect Christmas Card photo, you know...those kinds of issues! One of my favorite group of posts from Abby was when she chronicled her part in her community theatre's Sound of Music performance. It's really great to see another stressed and frazzled stay at home mom take the time to do something for herself and nurture her own interests. Abby you make me want to be more like you!

My blogger friend I would most like to meet in person would have to be Amy. Amy's Assorted Adventures chronicles her honest to goodness adventures as she and her family are managing an orphanage in Zambia, Africa. She posts about her own kids, new babies who are brought to them, their animals, their adventures traveling for groceries 2 hours one way every week and their adventures traveling back to Texas once a year. Amy has literally lived around the world and she holds me riveted with every one of her posts. Most of her stories make me laugh but some have made me cry. The most disturbing part of her blog however is the list at the top of her homepage of things that have bitten her husband, Tom. Seriously, the first time I read that list I had to Google half those critters to see what they were! Now I pray for Tom everyday that he isn't bitten by anything else. Stay safe Tom! Amy has to be one of the loving patient women on the planet. She seems to handle every 'adventure' with a great deal of grace. Maybe if I read her blog long enough some of that poise may rub off on me.

When I started my blog I never expected to connect with such interesting and vibrant women. These ladies have inspired and taught me. They've made me smile and cry and laugh in ways I had never expected. What a great benefit of blogging! If I'm really lucky, one of these days I'll get the chance to give these ladies a big Thank You Hug! I'm so glad I've 'met' you, you wonderful women!