It's open and they kids have come!

What a day it has been....the lack of sleep, the tears, the work, and the things we had to go through has come full circle. PRAISE BE TO THE LORD JESUS CHRIST!! HE chose and brought 14 children into the first home at the Tree of LIFE Children's Village TODAY!! It was so amazing to think back through all the things that had to line up for this to happen and then today... we finally got to walk the children into their new home! There were a lot of emotions today with seeing the joy and light in the faces of these children who have gone through so much! I wept tears of joy for these precious kids. It was amazing to watch the hand of God work in ways like this. I can't even put it into words of how amazing today was! Thank you all for praying over the transition for these kids. As I left tonight, they were all sitting down eating dinner for the first time as a family!! 

Here is newest family at the Tree of LIFE...

Emma (12), Esther (2), Bupe (4), Dorcas (10), Hassan (8), Misheck (4), Beauty (14), Temba (6), Baby Joe (5), Monica (10), Norah (9), Bwayla (10), Paulina (11), Mirriam (4)...and there is actually 2 more coming in the next few days! 

I will put up pictures and videos when I can.  Hope everyone is doing well. Many Blessings!

Crazy, but such a fun week!

My group that helped me organize and box up about 10,000 books for our kids!!

Part of the group at the Craig's House for Heather's birthday!

I have had a busy few days in the sense of interviewing potential house parents to choosing the kids who will be living in the Tree of Life Children's Village. You would think that would be the easy part but honestly it was very hard and heavy weighing on my heart. Holly and I met on Wednesday with over 20 potential house Mom's to be raising these children in the village. How exciting it was to know that some of these women will be loving on the children in our village!! It was a long day of talking, but productive...then afterwards we all went over to our offices in Chilenje to visit some of our LIFEWAY girls. They had prepared a special birthday surprise for Heather. It was sooo cute all what they did! I literally think she got 30 cards from them since it was her 30th birthday. 

While we were there, I got to spend some sweet time with Emma and Beauty so below is a video of Emma singing. She wanted to sing a song for my mom...or Auntie Jan. :) 

Friday afternoon we all headed out to the "Big Land" (aka - The Tree of LIFE). We worked the rest of the day getting organized with the upcoming week. Saturday, we spent the day at the villa reading through and assigning kids to their NEW homes at the Tree of LIFE. Long, but good day. 

Sunday we got up and headed off to church!! One of my favorite things here in Zambia. It was located in Matero - a compound that actually has children and families living in trash bag houses. And if you can imagine a wood frame with black trash bags draped all around it. It's definitely something hard to even think about. Anyways, the worship and preaching at church was amazing!! God is at work and He knows what we need to hear from His word. We grabbed lunch and then me and the girls (Holly, Heather, and Paige) went out to the Tree of LIFE to work. It's becoming our second home. We have a lot of work to do this week in getting it ready for KIDS!!! The first set of kids will be coming Friday!! :)

Please pray for strength, energy, good health, efficiency, and time management. We had a long meeting last night discussing everything this week and it really will be a miracle if everything happens. We have the opening on Thursday and then we will be bringing kids in on Friday. It's going to be one of the most powerful days when we see our own kids walking in complete freedom, safety, a positive environment, and to just be around those who love them!! 

Praise the Lord for what HE is doing!! Thanks for sharing this experience with me!

I'm off and running for the week...I'll be spending most of my time at the "Big Land" prepping the homes!! 

Love you all!

Beauty moves into LIFEWAY

On Tuesday, I had the privilege of bringing sweet little Beauty into LIFEWAY!! It was an exciting afternoon for both her and her Aunt who has been taking care of her. Her Aunt Martha kept thanking us for what we were doing. She even asked if Temba (her son, Beauty's cousin) could go too. It was darling! We first picked them up at their house and then went to get them Chicken and Chips on the way. Once we arrived to the girls home, she was welcome with open arms by Emma!! Her and Emma have known each other for a while so it was a sweet reunion for them both. The are the cutest best friends and it made my heart so happy to see them together!

Aunt Martha, Beauty, and Me

Best Friends: Emma and Beauty!!

All the girls at LIFEWAY House #1...these are Beauty's new sisters!!

I just love these 2 girls!! 

The Hope of a Child

What does this picture say to you???

(This was taken in Chainda Community)

Over the past couple of days I have had the opportunity to visit Beauty. (I blogged a few days ago about her). She lives in a compound very close to where I stay. She was in my one of my friend's group last year and I have just come to love and adore her. She is a double orphan, lives with her aunt, and is suffering from Sickle Cell and Malaria. I went to see her on Thursday night and I just cried sitting with her in her little house. Her aunt was trying to rub her back because of the severe pain she had. Her eyes were filled with tears as I rubbed her hands to try to comfort her. She had shortness of breath, a high fever, shaky hands, and just seemed miserable. We sat and talked with her and her aunt for awhile to see what we could do. We had brought her a little medicine and we provided some kwacha (Zambian Currency) for their transportation to the clinic the next morning.

We went back the next morning to check on her and she was doing slightly better. We brought her some rice, bread, sausage, and ice cream. (She had asked me the night before to bring that so we did! ) Once we got to where she lived, we made the decision that we need to move her in LIFEWAY; which is a boarding school we have more older children (ages 14 - 19) that live in our homes and attend school. Each child has been brought out of severe situations and rescued. In Beauty's case, since she is sooo sick all the time and her Aunt can barely provide we know that it will be better to have her within reach to provide specific food and medicine. SOO...next week I get to bring sweet Beauty into our full-time care!! It will be a glorious day!!

Friday afternoon we went over to Chainda Compound. We were visiting one of Holly's kids, Norah! She lives in a small house with no electricity, and 9 other family members in a very very small mud house. We brought her family lots of food and sweets for all the children. We got to hang out there for quite some time. 

This is me and little Leevie - a child in Chainda

Holly and I with Norah and her family!

We had gone to the office again this week and of course sweet Emma 

came around with us to visit the other students in school.

Today we had a meeting with most of the school directors about what this summer looks like. But one of the best things about this meeting is that we have partnered with the organization called Tiny Tim and Friends who provide free testing and treatment for OVC's (Orphan and Vulnerable Children). If the caretakers provide their consent then every child will be tested at Camp. It was an informative meeting and just amazing of how if a child as the ability to take ARV's the transformation it has on their health. Our entire staff and ministry is beyond excited on the partnership we have started with them. 

It's going to be one life changing summer!!

 

Past Few Days

This video has been long awaited but I wanted to show you my room. I took this video the first day I arrived. Those are mosquito nets you see around our beds...and yes they are still out and about! 

Yesterday Heather, Paige, and I went to Kamwala Market to find couches for the Children's Village we are opening and I was modeling the different ones we were looking at. There weren't many options as you can see we had choices of this lovely orange color and green.

Heather and I sitting in the chair that we liked. We are going a love seat, a sofa, and a chair for each house. They are going to look so great!

Today (wednesday), I stayed at the Villa to work on some things on my computer. When you are out on the ground seeing kids and having meetings it's hard to catch up on emails. Plus we just had several projects to do on the computer. It was nice to get some things done. I went for a run this afternoon and then got back in time to cook a delicious meal!! We are trying to do our best of cooking a variety of things so tonight we made Spaggetti, salad, and had bread. It was probably one of my favorites so far. 

Tomorrow, we have our first big staff meeting with all our Zambian staff. Greer arrived yesterday and we are finally ready to get together with our team here. It's exciting and we are ready to begin the preparation for Camp LIFE which is only a few weeks away. Within the next few days we have several more of our American Staff arriving so please pray for their safe travels. We actually had one staff member miss his flight and he had to stay at London for 2 extra days....anyways, I'm off to bed.

Prayer Request:

>For the Opening of the Children's Village (we have so many things to accomplish in a short amount of time)

>For wisdom in knowing the timing of everything

>For God to lead us in the direction we need to go

>For my time spent with the Lord to multiple and for richness

>For the Lord to utilize my gifts in discerning the situations of the kids that I see daily

>For wisdom to know which first 12 kids (out of 300) kids need to move into the Children's Village (we are in the evaluation process right now)

Many Blessings,

Joy

Rain that brings floods

Here is another video of the Rain from the other day...

I mean this is unbelievable!!

*We were in the George Compound taking this video

New Experiences

The past few days have been packed full of different things and it would take a lot to explain everything so I am going to hit some highlights...

On Thursday night we all went over to the Craig's house. They are an American family living here in Zambia. They have done our summer program several years and now they live here full time. Mr. Craig was assigned here to study the disease of Malaria; which has been a huge benefit to so many people. Anyways, we had a great "American" meal over there! 

Lately, I have been able to go into so many compounds, kids, and the CRC's. One of my favorite things so far is doing food drops to some kids in need. We go with our bus driving Gilbert and we walk around in the grocery stores getting about $60 worth of food (which is about 300,000 kwacha). It doesn't seem that much, but it really goes far here! 

Yesterday (Friday) was a fun day that started with a food drop for one of my favorite kids Beauty. She is 14 years old, a double orphan, suffering from Sickle Cell Disease, and lives with her aunt who has TB. She is one of the most spiritually mature girls and who is sooo good with english. I love hanging out with her so I went with Gilbert and brought her food. The day before I bought her some school shoes when we were in town, which was so fun to bless this precious child! She has already challenged me in knowing the word better!

Getting Ice Cream with Beauty

Dropping her off and showing her new clothes and shoes we got her

Another adventure we encountered yesterday was RAIN!!! It should not be raining at this time of year but it did yesterday and this morning. It was a new eye opener for me being in the compound watching the rushing waters taking over the streets. With just only 30 minutes of steady rain, the dynamics of the living situation of the people here changed. It was so hard for me to watch all of this because the water was coming into the homes and into a lot of the small side stores. It was really unbelievable. We were going to visit another Community Resource Center in the George Compound to meet some of our Discipleship Leaders and see where it was located. While we were preparing to leave, I noticed what buildings were located right down from our Resource Center...A huge Tavern! There were so many bars all right around us. It was in the heart of this community, which is good and bad all at the same time. Anyways, the kids were just gathered outside because they knew about "Muzungu's" being there and wanted to see us. 

This is a video of what a compound looks like after it rains...

I will try to add another video but this will give you a glimpse of the rushing water

Today (Saturday) we went to a wedding of one of our staff members here in Zambia. It was quite different than what I am used to seeing the states. For example, the wedding "started at 9am"; however, no one showed up until 10:30 and the ceremony didn't start until 11am. We actually got there 10 till 9am thinking that everyone would be there already, but we forget that we need to be on Zambian Time (which is showing up a lot later than what you say...). It was fun to see the differences between the cultures. This afternoon we went out to the Tree of LIFE Village to see the progress on all the homes and structures. We can't wait to put kids in these homes! It is getting closer with every day. 

The Amazing Cooks at the Tree of LIFE

A Staple Meal in Zambia: Nshima, Chicken, Cabbage, and Soup

*I have grown to love this and it really is sooo good!! 

When we were at the Tree of LIFE we had this for lunch.

I hope you all are doing well. Please pray for energy, rest, and time with the Lord. I am still trying to adapt to the time change and get used to the schedule. Also, be praying over the next 3 weeks...we are trying to open our children's village in that time and a lot of decisions need to be made. Thanks so much!

For the Glory of HIS Name,

Joy

Day #2: Shopping for the Children's Village

So today we went around to search for things for the children's village at the Tree of LIFE. It was fun searching for the best deals around town. We went to several areas in Lusaka, but we first stopped at now one of my favorite places to eat...MINT. It was a modern looking restaurant and one that is rare to see in Lusaka. It has smoothies, wraps, sandwiches and much more! But seriously though, we all couldn't believe how good the food was! I will certainly be stopping by this place more frequently as the summer goes on...

Here is our delicious food!!! 

This is a video from today of driving the streets and jamming to Zambian music. As you can see in the video, Gilbert, our driver loves to sing and dance!! :)

Leg # 2 Complete: I made it to Zambia!

Paige, Holly, and I arrived at the airport bright and early Tuesday morning at 6am...

Lusaka Airport...

Once we left the airport we headed over to Mulungushi Village where we live for the summer. Home Sweet Home!!

This is a picture of our Villa. 

Before we got too far in the day we went over to Arcades and exchanged money but also ate at La Mimosa's. It's a restaurant in town that is a common stop.

A little bit later we went out to see some of our kids in the community. Our first stop was to the LIFEWAY Homes in Chilenje. I got to see precious little Emma. She is doing well and reading soooo good! Below is a picture of us!

Then...we went over to the Kamanga CRC to see my precious kiddos!! Maggie and Susan have grown since the last time I saw them back in August. They both are doing well and seem happy! Maggie just ran and jumped into my arms!

Here is cute little Mags..

We took all the kids some Millimeal, cooking oil, a frozen chicken, milk, sugar, kapenta (little fish), tomatoes, cabbage, soap, washing powder, and some sweets!

Here is all of us!! 

(Left to Right)

Susan, Doreen (I'm holding her), Maggie, Peter, Junior, and Joseph

Our first day here was sooo great! It's very encouraging to see the kids that you love so much and to know that they remember you! I have loved being back already!! 

Leg #1 Complete: Layover in London

The first leg of the trip is complete!! Holly, Paige and I all met at DFW Sunday afternoon with our families and said our goodbyes as we checked in. We made last minute phone calls and then got on the plane at 5:30pm. 

All my stuff for 3 months...

The Fam and I

We landed at Heathrow Airport around 8:30am and got through customs. We made it through the first leg with flying colors and now we are actually at the YOTEL in the airport in London. It really is the best thing you can do with a 10 hour layover. We all are ready for some good, normal sleep. So we are here for a few hours and I wanted to post with the free internet we have. I'm going to sleep for a few hours, shower, and then get ready for leg # 2. Praise the Lord there is a Starbucks in this airport. It will be my last one for quite some time!

Here are pictures of the YOTEL..and yes it is this purple color. 

Very soothing for sleeping don't you think?. 

Paige is demonstrating of what we will soon be doing! 

Here is the twin set up for our room. Holly is in another one that is a full bed. It's really nice and we are so thankful for them right at this moment!

 

Well off to sleep we go...

Full Speed Ahead

I am just about wiped out from this week with getting prepared to leave in less than 48 hours for Zambia. Talk about crazy, busy, hectic few days. This will be my 3rd straight night up at this hour...I usually go to bed around 11 so this 1am kills me in the morning. Today was my last official day in the office for the entire summer!! I can't believe I got everything done and wrapped up. I was hurrying through the day to accomplish EVERYTHING. I had a few bumps in the road but made it through. Paige, Holly and I all agree that once we step on to the plane then we can soak it in and breath. :)

Well, my room at my aunts house is just about cleaned up and my car is packed full of not only my bags for Zambia, but basically my life. What's funny about it is that I feel like as I transition from one season to the next, it's basically me and my life packed up in my car and on it's way to the next phase of my life. Anyways, I am about to loose my mind with trying to get everything picked up, packed, and put in its place. I have just wanted to sit and be with family and I am planning on doing that tomorrow. I'm heading home and spending Saturday and Sunday with my family. Then about 3pm on Sunday I'll be at the airport. That is sure going to come quick.

I just can't believe the whirlwind I just came through to get to this point. I am sooo excited!! Please be praying for the Lord to speak through me and give me wisdom and discernment in every little decision. There is a big responsibility ahead of me and I'm leaning on the Lord for strength and guidance.

For the Glory of HIS Name,

Joy

ps-I am going to try to put some pictures up soon.