I haven't really gotten it into my head that we are leaving in less than 2 months. Like I said in my last post, I am both excited and sad. I need to get into gear though, because we have so much to do! We have all of our ticket stuff taken care of, so thats a relief. But we need to sell our car (and hopefully get a U.S. check for it as opposed to a huge wad of Malawian Kwacha) and our household items (table, fridge, stove, etc.).

Plus there is still so much I want to do! I am still working on orders for Charles (placemats for Andy's mom, placemats for myself, and a couple purses for Holly). I want to go to church with Lucius family. I want to see Zomba.

Then things will be pretty crazy when we get home. We need to figure out jobs (we have a few possibilities, but nothing set in stone), housing (we will probably be renting a house in Fondren--Bech's brother and sister-in-law live there now), and insurance (this one freaks me out!). We want to visit so many people (we are for sure going to Oxford, and mostly for sure going to Branson...we also want to go to Leesburg). And, I am going to need to go to Little Tokyo at least a few times in July...okay, so that's more of a want...but still. You get the picture...busy-ness!

Please pray that I will stay calm during all of this. I love planning, but I also have a tendency to worry!

2 months

today is april 21st...we are leaving for home on june 23rd. so its almost 2 months. in some ways, i am so excited and anxious to be home. but i am also getting sad about some of the things i will be leaving. so i am making a list of things i can't wait for and things i will miss:

things i can't wait for:

5. diet dr. pepper...you cannot get this here, and i LOVE it!

4. not having to filter my water

3. being able to just plug an appliance in, not having to go through a step up transformer

2. wal-mart. okay, i'm pretty sure i am going to get flack for this one, but, seriously, that store is great. i mean, i can go there and get basically everything i need in the way of groceries. here, we have to go to foodworths, bowers, shoprite, and chipiku to get everything on our list

1. FAMILY! we just got to see bech's parents but even two months is a long time to go without seeing parents. plus, we haven't seen my parents and blaise and ansley since the beginning of December...we will go almost 7 months without seeing them. not to mention, Fahmohr, Nana and Papa, Gaga Jean, and Hunter, all who we will have gone 11 months without seeing!

things i don't want to leave:

5. lucius, our gardener

4. how calm life here is...life here is just slower, and i love it. there's very little of the fast-paced, rushed american attitude

3. the malawian people. malawi's nickname is "the warm heart of africa" for a good reason. i love being asked, "and how are you today, madam?" and answering, "fine, thank you, and you?"

2. the other missionaries at ABC...we have made some lifelong friends here

1. my students! i am so sad to leave them...they are amazing, and i love them so much!

but we will be home soon...on june 29th about 6:30!

a visit to lucius' village

we have talked a lot about lucius, our gardener. when katy was here, bech and she were able to go visit him at his village, cauma. last week, we took bech's parents out there.

this is a cluster of village children crowding around our car and yelling "mzungu" (which means white person)...most of the time a white person goes into a village here, it creates quite a stir!

lucius is building a home for his family. the man bending over is the bricklayer. lucius is telling us about his home.

lucius is in the red shirt, the man in the light brown shirt is his neighbor, and the little girl is his youngest daughter (he has three girls), tadala. all around the village, the men are growing maize. here is lucius' field. he is growing enough maize to provide nsema (the staple food item here...it is similar to grits, but very bland. people here eat it 2 or 3 times a day, sometimes plain, sometimes with a little relish) for his family for a whole year, plus have some maize to sell.

here are bech's parents with lucius, his wife estar, tadala, and his middle daughter jesca.

here is a close up pictures of jesca...isn't she gorgeous?

i hope you all enjoy seeing some pictures from a typical village here in malawi. i know i have asked for prayer for this so many times, but please continue to pray that someone will hire lucius when we leave!

i am trying to upload pictures but it just won't work. so be looking out soon for pictures of lucius' village and family and of cape town. but for now, all i have to say is

Happy Birthday, Bech!!!

well, i hope you guys have all seen the tiny april fools at the bottom of yesterdays post...we are definitely not pregnant! so sorry if i freaked anyone out...but it was a pretty good april fools, right?

exciting news...

Bech and I have really exciting news to share with you all....we're pregnant! We have known for a few weeks but wanted to wait until Bech's parents were here to tell them in person. They were really excited and so are we. Obviously, this is not necessarily when we wanted to have our first child, but we can't help but be excited to meet him/her!

Here is our first picture of either Jack Nolan or Lucy Bech!

April Fools!