Puddle-icious

'Thwock!' A small rock landed in the brown puddle overtaking the dip in the dirt road. Malachi got ready to throw another one as ripples spread out from the place his stone had landed. The air was quiet and humid, but cool thanks to the overcast sky, as well as the big rainstorm we had earlier. Occasionally a car would disturb the puddle, or a passer-by would greet the busy three year old, as they delicately skirted the water by means of a raised pathway. It was a peaceful Sunday afternoon in Mochipapa.

Sometimes it is difficult to keep Malachi awake around suppertime--when he skips his afternoon nap. The great hope is that he will go to bed early, and we will enjoy a quiet evening. This hope is not always realized, however...and the over-tiredness that his family must deal with is not always worth it. But there is always hope, and some father-son bonding time around rocks and puddles.

A few other thoughts:

This morning I was half an hour late for church (Sunday School precedes the service), and I was the first one there. The door was locked. I undertook to study Exodus 18 myself, standing outside beside the half finished clinic building, trying not to sit too long on the wet log...not too many people came for the service today (and we didn't know who had the keys) so eventually we held a short prayer time and dispersed.

My sermon last week went okay, and I am recycling it for this Tuesday's chapel, with some changes.

I had a prayer answered last week, but not in the way I expected. I was feeling a bit overwhelmed at work because our morticing chisel broke, so we were morticing doors by hand...the boss had been away for awhile so I was trying to help the foreman with new customers' quotes, and scheduling pending jobs which neither of us knew enough about. I'm not exaggerating when I say that morticing by hand takes about 20 times longer. And there was a certain customer who we were a few months behind on his kitchen cabinet job due to a wood issue, and hadn't even started, and it was a huge job...just on my mind. So as I chiseled away at my piece of rosewood, I voiced these problems in my spirit, not even praying per se, but bringing God into them. At tea-time the customer I mentioned came to ask if we had started on his kitchen yet. I had to tell him no, we had not, and no, we did not know when we could start, and no, the boss was still away... yet I took the opportunity to ask if we could change the type of wood for the boxes, and he was quite affirmative and gracious, and it lifted a load off of my shoulders because it will likely save us a significant chunk of time in the midst of the busy-ness. I realized later that it was an answer to prayer.

Lastly, I hurt my upper back somehow--I think it was partly from exerting myself whilst pruning our guava trees, coupled with bad posture when reading a book the other night. Not sure if it's just muscles, or a slipped disc? I don't think it's a pinched nerve. It hurts very much to sneeze. It has put my oil-change plans on hold, and we'll see how work goes on Tuesday, as well!

Handymanning Around

It's been a somewhat eventful week here in Choma. Last Sunday our kitten bit Kate while she was trying to feed her. It was a tiny bite at the tip of her finger but we immediately became worried about rabies. Not because our kitten was acting strangely, but because our dog 'eats' the kitten, and plays voraciously with the other dog who has come back after being given away, who wanders around town frequently. So, for peace of mind we started Kate on the anti-rabies vaccine at the local medical clinic. Now, six days later, all the animals are fine, but we will continue the third shot of the series on Monday and stop after that (unless the cat dies suddenly).

We promptly got the feline version of the rabies vaccine for our kitten so that this doesn't happen again, and tried to catch our dogs so that we could give them the shot too before we give them away (we've decided they're more hassle than they're worth, and have people willing to take them off our hands). But, the dogs will not be caught. They're friendly enough until I get near them with a leash. I even drugged them with sleeping pills one day, but although they acted a bit woozy, they never slept...they have a lot of room to run around so it's difficult to contain them. However, I've fixed our front gate so it's a little harder for them to get out on the street.

I was discouraged about my failure to deal with the dogs, so I turned my energies toward other things needing attention. I cleaned out our spare room (fifth bedroom) which has been a breeding grounds for collecting junk and working on projects. We plan to convert this into Michelle's home office, and use her current office room as a dedicated guest room. Also, our fridge plug has not been reliable so I took it apart today and it seems to be okay now; while I had the fridge moved, I realized why it has been leaking water on the floor these last few months--the drain hose was directed away from the drip tray! And, while I was at it, I tackled our ensuite door, which has never closed properly--maybe due to settling? I cut off a strip at the top of the door, added a towel hook, and fixed the lock so that you can open it from the inside, not just the outside. I am very satisfied with my handymanning today!

Here is a picture of a typical lock in Zambia (the one I fixed). I couldn't believe that these are the norm here, but it's true--even our exterior doors have these, though often a second security mechanism as well. I don't like them personally--they seem to break easily, and are probably easy to pick if you know how.

We took our monthly worker renewal meal at the Choma Museum tonight. We usually order chicken and chips, and the kids love getting Fanta to drink! They jump on the trampoline while they wait for the food, and we eat outdoors at a picnic table nearby. Fine outdoor dining in January! And now I need to polish off my sermon for church tomorrow. I'm borrowing the sermon idea from Gerald Janzen--'The Snake and the Son.' It combines the bronze snake in Numbers 21 with John 3:16.

So, that was my week. How was yours?