Tonight was probably our most thrilling night here in Zimbabwe by far, but not the type of thrill that is enjoyable.  We had pizza night with our small group where everyone brought a topping.  These pizzas were some of the best pizzas Mat had made to date.  We all just enjoyed chatting and laughing together.  The last couple left the house by 10:15pm and so Mat and I were just chilling after a long hot day.  We had the doors open still after our guests left to keep the cool air coming in and cooling off the hot house.  Mat was in the living room on the computer and I was in the office skyping a friend in the UK. 
    Around 11pm I hear the office door opening while I'm talking on skype.  I turn around to see two black men in our house telling me to get on the floor.  They tell me to get up and they take my wedding rings and ask me where our money is.  It was al ... Read More »

   I've enrolled Calvin in swimming lessons.  He's in a class with many of my friends who have small children and today was our first day.  We got in the water with the babies, singing many songs and getting them accustomed to the water, kicking in the water, splashing water on their faces and eventually going under the water.  Calvin wasn't sure about things as the water was a bit cold and he was on his back sometimes and tummy at other times.  But all in all, he did well...he moved around the water to some favorite hits like, "Zippedee-do-dah", "The Wheels on the bus", "It's raining its pouring, the old man is snoring", "If you're happy and you know it."  It will be fun to see how he does over the next 7 weeks as he gets more and more used to the water.

   Mat left this morning with two other lecturers from TCZ to go to Hwange National Park.  Once every year, Hwange will have volunteers come to the park, station them at a certain post or watering hole in the park and have them count the number of animals that they see.  This gives the park a close estimate of how many animals are still living in the park.  Mat has been SO excited for this weekend for a few weeks now and spent the entire morning packing for the weekend. 
    Meanwhile, I've been hanging out with the girls!  Last night a few friends and I went to a shop called "Afrodizziac" where they were helping host a wine and cheese night to benefit one of the local private high schools in Bulawayo.  We had fun rating these South African wines, munching on imported cheese and trying to get the ladies with the appetizer trays to keep coming back to our table.  All in a ... Read More »

    Sam Poe, a man with the New Frontiers denomination, has been here from the USA in order to help the Oral Bible Project along.  This project is trying to bring the Bible into oral cultures who may not read or learn through reading, but who learn from hearing stories.  So he has been excited about communicating the message of the Bible through a series of storytellings. 
     I invited Sam to come into model this style of preaching to my homiletics (preaching) class.  He told a story from the Bible in an animated way, giving a bit of explanation as he went, then he asked discussion questions at the end to get people thinking about the story.  I think my students were encouraged and excited in seeing a different way of preaching on a Sunday morning that would help listeners understand the Bible in a way that may be closer to their style of learning--through listening to a story.& ... Read More »

This is a continued blog from September 6th's entry.  So read that entry first and then read this one. 

   So I counted all my seperate piles of money and left them out right where they were last week.  I am determined to catch the thief!  Kathy, the new maid, is supposed to come this morning so we'll see if anything is missing after today.
    I waited for Kathy to come in the morning, but she hadn't shown up for the day.  I had to run out of the house for a few hours, so I left the doors unlocked as normal while I went away.  Our house is surrounded by a electric fenced wall and electric gate so that no one can come in and out of the property.  The only person on our property at that time was our gardener as his wife went to work that morning.
   When I came back, Kathy still hadn't arrived to start work, but when I went to the p ... Read More »

Donna, our maid who was here from the beginning, quit last week.  It just seems like she is done being a maid and wants to farm her family's farm.  Her last day was Friday, August 29.  So this past week I had my friend's maid, Cebo, fill in for 4 days and we had Kathy, a potential maid we're wanting to hire, come for 1 day.  Both were here on their own at certain times throughout the week.
    I'm collecting the old Zimbabwe currency and have piles of this nearly worthless (though still in circulation) money by my bed.  I know exactly how many bills are in each pile.  I went to count them today and found whole piles missing or 30 bills missing from one pile or 25 missing from another!  We have a thief!  At first I thought I had made a mistake, but then it became obvious as none of the smaller denominations were missing; only the big ones were gone!  I couldn't have possibly made so ... Read More »

    I find that one is constantly bombarded with making ethical decisions here.  The latest one was when trying to use DHL.  I sold a bit of the old Zimbabwean currency on ebay and was trying to ship them out from South Africa a few weeks ago.  I used DHL, but the next day I was contacted that the item had been scanned and money was found inside so it had to be returned.  Even though this money isn't worth anything and was being shipped out as a souvenier or keepsake instead of anything with monetary value, I had to find another means to send it.
    Well a few weeks later, I needed to ship some more of this money out from Zimbabwe.  So I thought I would try my luck at DHL again, but this time in Zimbabwe.  Apparently this office doesn't have a scanner, so my package got through just fine. 
   Today I went to ship more of the same items and ... Read More »

   Well, today was our 3rd wedding anniversary.  The day began with getting Calvin up in the morning only to find that he had done such a MASSIVE pooh in the night that it was leaking out the legs of the diaper all over him and his clothes.  In fact, his sheets even had a bit of pooh juice on them!  So I woke Mat up and asked him to help me give Calvin a bath as I cleaned up the mess.  As I'm rinsing out Calvin's pajamas and Mat is washing Calvin's bum, Mat says, "Well Happy Anniversary to us!"  :)
   We went out to breakfast as a family and enjoyed having a little time out together.  Mat had made dinner reservations as well at a castle that is about 1 mile from where we live.  So we dropped off Calvin at a friend's house and went to dinner.  The Nesbitt Castle had amazing food and amazing service.  You really feel like you are being treated like royalty.
... Read More »