My Chilins

I would like to introduce you to some of my favorite people in Mzuzu. Each week I try to go to the Crisis Nursery to hang out with some of the sweetest little babies you ever did see. These kiddos are kind of everything from cast-offs to just orphans with families too poor to care for them after their mother's death. So this nursery takes in newborns - toddlers...then makes sure they have a good home to go back to, or an orphanage that will take them.

This sweet smile and fat cheeks is Barnabus. I love that smile. He is such a happy baby. He should be heading out soon, but I don't think there is a good place for him to go. But it means I get to see him longer! :)

This little boy in green in my arms is Allen. He just got to the nursery 3 weeks ago after his mother buried him alive. Yes, you read that right. Some others saw her in the cemetery and wondered what she was digging in there for. After she left, they went in, and dug up a baby. I can't believe it.

There are many more of the previous children here that I get to love on all the time. One of my favorites is Glory but she is home now in a village...she is the one on my facebook profile.

This is such a sweet part of my day!

What am I doing?

I've tried writing a blog on my time in Spain...but my heart just wasn't in it. So I deleted it.

Then I tried writing one on how I've been doing emotionally as my time is coming to a close, but the theme was pretty much whining. So I deleted that one.

So how 'bout I just ramble and see where it goes?
I'm sitting in a hotel right now trying to send in some documents to my company and the internet isn't being friendly. I've sat here for about an hour and half trying to attach a word document, and it still hasn't attached yet.

I've been in a very contemplative mood lately...thinking about my time here...what it will be like back home in America...wondering how I"m going to put my two years over here into words...

I was reminded this week of the "missionary sacrifice." I'm missing an event back in America that I never thought I would miss, and it hurt my heart deeply. I've missed many of the past year, but for some reason this one seem to just pierce my heart.
When I heard it, it made me want to wallow, wallow, wallow in how hard my life is. Ha. I know...how lame is that? All I have to do is look out my window and see more people than I can count whose life is harder than mine.

Jeremy and I are reading Numbers in Bible class and I get so frustrated at the Israelites for how many times they complain! And when I pouted and cried because I didn't get my way with the timing of this event happening, I realized I was just like another Israelite in the wilderness complaining to the Lord.
Its during these times when I think.. "Will I really be able to living overseas for a long periods of time? without my family? Missing all the fun/momentous occasions back home? Am I really will do that for you Lord?"

So of course, all day today He's put songs on my Ipod (Hillsongs "Arms Open Wide") and phone call from friends (Gordon) who just lay down God's truth on me.

Gosh...this is HARD.
Living overseas can really SUCK sometimes.
*attention: in case you already didn't know, I'm NOT a super Christian. I fail more than the rest and trust me, so many people could have done a better job over here.

I think I've decided I'm coming home in October.
And now I'm laughing at WhenParentsText.com

And here's where I"ll end my rambling.

Can I Keep Him?

Mom? Can I have a new pet? Please?
He was just there on the side of the road...looking all helpless. And I really think he likes me...especially my hair. 


I'll take him outside!
I'll feed him!
I'll give him baths!


And he's just so cute with his two independent eyes rolling around in all directions...and they way his little prehensile tail winds its way around my fingers...


And the way he changes colors with his moods...


Can I keep him? Please mom?

Why Does It Always Have to be Snakes?

I could be really spiritual and say that I haven't blogged in over a month because I'm fasting from it…or I could go with the typical excuse and say that I've been busy…or I could go with the African excuse and blame the internet.

But let's just be honest: I'm lazy.

So, now that I've had my sabbatical, my fingers are rested, and I'm ready to get back to my blog.

I'm promise you nothing exciting has happened….except for when one of the most poisonous snakes in the world was in my backyard…oh, and I went to Spain..but other than that…NOTHING has been going on.

Since the green mamba happened back at the beginning of January, I'll start there.

Maureen (my gardener's daughter) and her friend knocked on my back door wanting to take pictures with me. Before you start to think I'm either extremely egocentric or a huge celebrity, the real reasons were
a) because they are very fascinated with my camera and
b) they like to look at the pictures of themselves

So, we sat on my back steps and took pictures. Quite fun. I taught Maureen how to hold the camera and take a picture. Unfortunately, she doesn't seem to have a knack for photo taking…which we will bear witness to later on.

Back to the story: we have taken about 10 photos when all of a sudden her friend says something very seriously in chichewa and points. Maureen looks frightened and turns to look. What? What? I asked.

MAMBA! They yelled. I looked and about 15 ft away from us was a long, long, long green snake with his head and about a foot of its body off the ground just slithering and being all creepy-like. (for the record, all snakes are Mambas to Malawians)

I ran to the storage closet and got a shovel while Maureen ran and got her father and mother.

Austin, her dad, came running and immediately started throwing rocks at it as hard as he could. Some would hit it and some wouldn't, but the snake started to get mad and started slithering real fast.

So, here's whats going on in my mind.

1. I have a shovel with a very short handle….
2. I could be this really cool girl and run and chop the snake in half.
3. If it bites me I will be the stupid girl who ran and tried to chop the snake in half and died.

So, i just ran with the shovel over my head after the snake keeping back far enough, but close enough to get a good whack in when I felt it was safe.  It kinda looked like I was fencing with a shovel.

Austin is still throwing rocks at the snake but it hasn't stunned it enough. Now, its headed straight for their house.

Let me put in a brief side note here: Africans are TERRIFIED of snakes. They believe that they are pretty much the devil himself and that all snakes are bad.

Ahem, continuing on…so Mama Chirwa sees what needs to be done and does it:
She picks up a rock, pulls her arm back like she's in Rookie of the Year, and hurls a rock at that snake so hard, I barely even see it happen. WHAP! She hit that sucker dead on. That woman is a BEAST!

I felt it was stunned fairly well enough for me to move in. So I preceded to chop the junk out of that sucker. I just kept hacking away.

After it was sufficiently dead, I raised the shovel above my head and yelled in my best Braveheart voice I could muster.

The Africans thought it was hilarious. They also think I'm a little crazy.

And now…you will see why Maureen not quite understanding how to take a picture just a few minutes before was such bad timing…

She was the one with the camera during the adventure.

And here's the only pictures we got of the snake. I tried to crop them so you could at least see it.





After this, Austin told me: "Mama, the snake would have killed us and would have tried to hurt us because the moon is on this half of the sky. That means, the devils come and bewitch the snakes during this time."

Shows a lot about the culture huh?