Outside, Inside!!

We are nearly at the end of our first week of the term. It has been busy but really good to get back into routine and see all the young people again.
But we seem to have had an eventful week in terms bugs/insects and furry little rodents.
This week Monday I started a morning running routine (at 6am!!!) with our caravan neighbour Lukondo, all went well up until the end of our run which resulted in lots of screaming and a swift run home as I ran into a verrrry large spiders web spanning our path; the worst bit being that seconds before running into the web I had spotted the HUGE furry eight legged friend out of the corner of my eye but by that time it was too late to spot!!
Tuesday I was on early morning wake up duty in the dorm. I had started to prepare breakfast and was pouring some cereals into bowls for the girls. We have 2 plastic containers to keep the cereal in and this week we had been given an extra cereal called 'Jungle Oats' which was in a small bag. I noticed it had already been opened the morning before and left on the side but thought nothing of it until as I started to pour, instead of the cereal coming out, out popped a little MOUSEs head! arghhhh. Wow, did I scream!! I think the mouse was more scared of me than I was of it! I dropped the oats and the mouse proceeded to run around my feet trying to find a place to hide. Poor Jon had heard the scream all the way from the caravan and had thought it was Lukondo in danger!! Uh oh.
By this point I was becoming rather paranoid of everything that moved!
Then to top it all off, yesterday I went across to the dorm to do a few things and Jon said he wanted to take a short nap because he was exhausted. When I returned from the dorm Jon was far from asleep as we had had a trail of army ants (huge ants which bite!) dropping from the air conditioning box thing (which is directly above our bed) which Jon had discovered as he was bitten during his nap! Thankfully we had recently brought a can of bug spray!! Jon then went outside to see where they were coming from outside without realising that he had stood directly in the centre of where they were all gathered (he said it was like a carpet of ants outside the van); this equalled lots of ants climbing up his trouser leg which resulted in a quick dash to strip off! lol. What a performance! Later in the evening I was taking a shower when I heard Jon scream, only to find out he literally had an ant in his pants!

So let's hope that's our fair share of bugs for this term although I doubt it :-)

The rains are very heavy here at the moment and Wednesday night there was a BIG storm. We had a lovely (although slightly scary) time sitting on our veranda watching the lightning and hearing the thunder and rain! What an incredible moment to be able to experience!

Moving into the trailer and the banana house!

We thank God for an AMAZING Christmas in England with friends and family. We have come back to Zambia with lots of great memories and our suitcases full of sweets and treats :-)
We had a brilliant time in Cornwall towards the end of our time in England. As a family we had all chipped in and booked a little cottage in Stratton; just outside where my Mum and Dad live in their camper van as well as my brother and his girlfriend. This meant that we were all together on Christmas day :-) It was such a special time to all be together and I think living far away from our families made us appreciate it all the more! The only downside was that it went too quick! Some pics below from our time in Cornwall!

We travelled back to Zambia on the 30th; a long but good journey and arrived back on the New Years Eve completely exhausted and falling into bed way before midnight!
We have now moved house within the Amano grounds and instead of returning to our flat in the dorm we have moved into a caravan/trailer which is a literally a 2minute walk from the dorm but offers more privacy and a place we can call our own :-) It was a bit of a challenge squeezing all of our things into a much smaller space (especially all of Jona's clothes and shoes!! ;-) but we are now all moved in and really loving it!

This is a picture of the outside of the trailer, there is roofing across the top of it which overhangs over a large veranda at the front and there is a small area for bbq's out the front although in the picture it is overgrown with grass! I will try and get some inside pics asap.

The other move that has happened since we returned is the youth groups move into the banana house. After a lot of planning and praying the banana house is now near complete and ready to use this term! yay! Jarrett and I were able to move all of the furniture we have collected for the youth ministry in yesterday and it is already starting to shape up. The space has a mini kitchen, storage room, 2 toilets and then a large space for the young people to hang out and play games. We both feel sooo pleased to now have this space to use!

More pictures to come! We hope to buy some new sofa's for the room today too :-)

Jon is currently at school attending the staff meeting and preparing lessons etc. The boarders all return on Sunday and school starts on Monday so the term is already underway!

Christmas!

We have now been back in England for just over a week! It has taken a little bit of getting used to with the cold weather, early dark evenings and crazy busyness of Southampton! But what an amazing blessing it is to be back with friends and family and have a break from school life.
We've found it a little bit weird culture wise and I think we have both suffered a bit of reverse culture shock this time being back, I think because of the consumeristicness of Christmas- the shopping and money side of things seems to have grown worse or maybe we are just not used to it. We're very glad that our families have decided to go for a 'secret santa' making it a little easier and less expensive :-)
I had a brilliant time with my friend Joey in Newcastle over the weekend. She got married in October and it was great to see all the wedding pics and her new house (and husband!). It was a real blessing to spend time with them :-)
Jon and his brother played 8 games of squash together (apparently they carried on playing until Jon won! lol. Brotherly competition!)
I had a lovely surprise when Jon picked me up from the airport on Sunday night and whisked me away for a little getaway in a posh hotel in Southampton :-) Was just what we needed as things have been rather busy and we haven't had much time just to relax. Also gave us some much needed time to reflect over the last year in Zambia and pray about the future...

On Monday we were able to catch up with our friends Ryan and Vicky and their beautiful son Tristan. They have recently moved from Southampton to Milton Keynes so it was great that they could come down and see us!

And then last night I met up with two of the most loveliest amazing girls EVER.. Vicky and Helen! It was quite a special meet up as it's the last time for two years that we will all be in the same place at the same time as Helen is going to Southern Sudan in January for two years as a community/dance worker with CMS. It was just what I needed and it really felt like taking in a big breath of fresh air as we spent time sharing our journey stories over the past year, our struggles, our joys...lots of laughter, tears and FOOD!!!

plus....Mr Bean made a guest appearance!

hehe.
It's great to be back and we really appreciate all of the support we have from friends and family here :-) xx

So long grade 12's!

As I reflect on the last few weeks since I last wrote the blog it is amazing to see how much we have squeezed into this time!
I won't write about everything otherwise it would be an extremely long blog but some of the things we've been up to is;
A meal with Jons tutor group, A white elephant party in the girls dorm, A safari dinner with the youth group, A sleepover with the primaries, lots of monopoly and the completion of the yearbook(phew!)! It's been a jam packed few weeks but a brilliant few weeks too! Lots of fun :-)
This week has been bitter sweet as we have said our farewells to Grade 12's and to 6th form. They have now finished their exams (well... some unfortunately have one more tomorro!)
Thursday we had the dorm farewell party which was amazingly organised and put together by the Grade 11's, they organised a brilliant night of entertainment :-)

(above)Chipe and Chigo who hosted the evening!

(below) Grade 12 girls with one of their teachers!

Yesterday the dorm became a beauty parlour as the grade 12's got ready (and completely transformed!) for their meal out with some of the school staff. As one of the dorm parents I had the privelege of being invited along to the meal and what a fantastic evening it was! The students had raised all of the money themselves for the evening and it was well worth it :-)
They all looked completely amazing as you can see!

(above) The whole grade 12 class

(below) some of the girls with 2 of their teachers

    (below) Myself with Miss Clara(fellow girls dorm parent) and Mrs Kmanga (boys dorm parent)

This morning we had the leavers service in the school hall and again it was a BRILLIANT service. It was lovely to hear the students speak and reflect on how much being at Amano has influenced them in a variety of ways. It really is a special place and a privilege to be a part of it all :-)

One thousand gifts...

I cannot believe that a month has nearly passed since I last blogged! Time seems to pass so fast. There are now only 4 weeks until we return back to England for Christmas. I have been reading  a book recently called ‘One thousand gifts’ by Ann Voskamp.

 It has really got me thinking about time and how time is such a gift; to be treasured and thankful for. It’s easy to look ahead to Christmas and wish time to pass by quickly for the moment of being reunited with loved ones; one of my famous quotes has always been “I cannot wait until...”and I cannot tell you how much I cannot wait to see my Mum, Dad, Des Brenda, Vicky, Helen, Joey, Tanz and all you other wonderfully special people back in the UK, but this book has really challenged me and reminded me of a quote I read long ago ‘Wherever you are, be all there’. So easy to say but so hard to do. Voskamp rightly quotes that ‘Time is a relentless river. It rages on, a respector of no one. And this, this is the only way to slow time: When I fully enter time’s swift current, enter into the current moment with the weight of all my attention. I slow the torrent with the weight of me all here’. Her challenge is to live slow, to take note of each moment and enter fully into it, giving thanks to God for each small blessing along the way.

It has been a real eye opener as I have sought to find beauty and joy each day, even when things are busy and times are sometimes tough. Like last week Thursday when little Laura came to play ( I babysit her on Thursdays); it was such a pleasure to feed the fish with her in the rain and to share her joy as she proclaimed “Miss Kerry, look at the purple things in the water!”. Beautiful purple flowers growing from the ugly green lilies on the pond; something which I may not have usually taken any notice of!

And yesterday when I took the primaries swimming (and it rained again!); how wonderful to watch the girls laugh and play and sing at the top of their lungs!

 Moments which pass by so quick and the day is gone, I now realise these moments need ‘the weight of all my attention’ if they’re to be truly enjoyed and treasured.

Now I think of it, there are lots of great things to report from the last month. One of the most memorable being our visit in half term to see Jons brother (Rob) at Kaloko where he has been living and working for the past 3 months. It was another African adventure as we made our way there on public transport; a journey which should have taken 3 hours but unsurprisingly took 8 as we waited for buses to fill up and cars to be fixed; never a dull moment! It was sooo great to be able to picture where Rob has been living and meet the people who have been a part of his journey here in Zambia. His living and working conditions are certainly not what we are used to here at Amano; Kaloko is a much more rural/village setting with more basic living conditions. 

But we loved every minute of it. His friends were a joy to spend time with as we ate, sang and played games together. We also had the privilege of hearing Rob preach at church on the Sunday. It was quite sad to say goodbye to this special place and it was only last weekend that Rob finished his time at Kaloko and heads for Zim and then back to England.

This weekend, Jon and I took a few of the girls to see a local fireworks display. The fireworks were a lot lot better than we had been expecting and we had front row seats; with health and safety standards at a minimum we found ourselves VERY close to the display. It was a great night and lovely to do something different with the girls J

I want to finish this update with one last quote from Voskamp; ‘The brave [are those] who focus on all things good and all things beautiful and all things true, even in the small, who give thanks for it and discover joy even in the here and now, they are the change agents who bring fullest Light... When we lay the soil of our hard lives open to the rain of grace and let joy penetrate our cracked and dry places, let joy soak into our broken skin and deep crevices, life grows’. What an oasis in thought when so often we’re surrounded with negativity.