20 Weeks...

Well, we're half way there...I can't believe how fast the time is flying by! I started feeling little kicks from the baby this past week and Josh finally got a feel a couple of days ago! It truly is an amazing feeling and a constant reminder of God's faithfulness. I'm so thankful that I have been feeling well and I pray that will continue throughout the remainder of my pregnancy, especially while we are here in Zambia. I am daily trusting in the Lord for His shield of protection over me and baby.

The Zambian kids love to guess what I'm having....typically, the boys think it's a boy and the girls think it's a girl. Right now, I really don't have a clue. Initially I was pretty confident that it was a boy, but now I'm not as convinced. We'll just have to wait and see!

Joy Party!

The theme this year for Camp LIFE is joy....For the JOY of the LORD is my STRENGTH! (Nehemiah 8:10) The kids are also learning to put Jesus first, Others second and You third. On Thursday of camp the kids went out into their compounds (along with their American counselor) to share the gospel and hand out sugar, oil and eshima (a cornmeal product and a staple food here in Zambia). It was such an amazing experience and taught the kids so much about putting others before themselves. Yesterday (Friday) at camp we had a JOY PARTY to celebrate all that God has done over the past week! Because the kids put Jesus first and others second, they were blessed double fold with their very own sugar, oil and nshima to take home and a blessing box filled with with all sorts of fun goodies! The kids were blown away by God's goodness and blessings.....for the Joy of the Lord is their strength!! Indescribable joy was definitely overflowing yesterday....it was absolutely incredible!

Blessing box assembly....the boxes are filled with all sorts of school supplies and toiletries for the kids!

Each kids also receives a Camp LIFE certificate with their picture with their American and Zambian counselor...

It's time to party!!! The GO Center was decked out for the party!

JOY EXPLOSION!! The kids went NUTS over the confetti!

Celebrating...

Gertrude LOVES Josh....they did a little dancing to celebrate all that the Lord has done!

Blessings from the Lord...

Jesus....Jesus is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. Colossians 1:17

Others...Do not forget to do good and to share with others. Hebrews 13:16

You...Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great in your reward in heaven. Luke 6:23

Shoe Day!

Today was shoe day at Camp LIFE....it's definitely one of the best days of camp for both the Americans and Zambians. What a true gift it is to fit each kid with a new pair of shoes....they are so grateful for their blessing from the Lord!

Gertrude was so happy about her new shoes...

Gertrude and her younger brother, Junior, posing for a "snap" in their new shoes, shirts and bandanas! How precious are they?!

My very favorite picture from the day...

An update on Gertrude and her family....

Both dad and Junior tested positive for AIDS. The family will start ARV's soon. To take the ARV's they have to have proper nutrition or the ARV's will not work and make them even sicker. Family Legacy is trying to decide what needs to be done to ensure that this family is properly cared for. Please pray for guidance and wisdom from the Lord as decisions are made over the next week.

Gertrude....

Yesterday I had the great honor of spending most of the day with a sweet 7 year old girl named Gertrude. Unfortunately the majority of our time together was spent at a local clinic in downtown Lusaka. Gertrude looks like she’s about 4 years old...her tiny frame and dark, sunken eyes will absolutely break your heart. She is literally skin and bones and her breathing is extremely heavy.

Sweet Gertrude...

When she got off of the bus on Tuesday morning at Camp LIFE, we knew we had to get her to the clinic quickly. Her mom and 14 month old baby brother were on the bus as well (it is not normal for parents and young siblings to come to camp, but now I know that God was at work here). I, along with 2 other Zambian Family Legacy employees, took Gertrude, her 24 year old mom, Dina, and her baby brother, Peter, to Tiny Tim and Friends, a clinic that treats women and children free of charge.

The entrance to Tiny Tim and Friends...

All 3 of their HIV tests came out positive. According to Dina, Gertrude has been sick since she was 2 years old and she has had a horrible cough for the past 3 years. Gertrude will be tested for Tuberculosis next week…that the doctor said that she most likely has. My heart is so burdened for this child and her family. The Lord lead me to Psalm 91 yesterday afternoon after we returned to camp from the clinic...it is such an amazing passage of scripture that has brought me great hope for this family. The entire passage is amazing, but I’m fervently praying over the last 3 versus for Gertrude…

“Because Gertrude holds fast to me in love, I will deliver her; I will protect her, because she knows my name. When she calls to me, I will answer her; I will be with her in trouble; I will rescue her and honor her. With long life I will satisfy her and show her my salvation.” Psalm 91: 14-16

If you have a spare moment today, please pray for the following…

1) That Gertrude would come to know the Lord this week at camp. This is her first time to come to Camp LIFE, so it will probably be her first time to hear the gospel.

2) That the JOY of the LORD will be her STRENGTH! Joy just happens to be the theme for camp this year. Pray that joy will consume her and bring her great hope.

3) That she, along with the rest of her family, will get to start ARV’s very soon. ARV is a treatment for HIV.

4) That Gertrude’s father’s heart would be softened by the spirit. Her father is in denial about their health….we found out that Dina was on ARV’s before, but he made her stop them because he didn’t want to deal with stigma that comes with AIDS. A couple of FLMI Zambian staff members visited the father last night and he agreed to get tested along with their middle child, which is a huge praise! Pray that he will follow through with his word and agree for his family to take the ARV's.

Gertrude and I did some coloring while we were waiting at the clinic....she LOVED coloring!

A new friend we made while waiting. Grace loved coloring too!

Thanks for reading this lengthy post and for your prayers! I'll be sure to keep my blog updated with how Gertrude and her family are doing.

19 Weeks...

Baby Rives at 19 Weeks...

What a thrill it has been this week to feel baby flutters inside...I felt my first flutter right after we landed in Lusaka, so I'm guessing that was baby's way of saying that he or she is happy to be here {or maybe just happy to be off the plane}! Baby is adjusting well to life in Zambia. I can't believe that we have already been here for a week....time is flying by! I'm feeling great, besides some minor allergies. The air is so different here and the dust is a little overwhelming at times....I'm sure I'll get use to it eventually. Thankfully, I've been sleeping really well at night... and eating lots of tasty Zambian food!

Today was the first day of Camp LIFE.....it's a smaller week {less Americans Counselors and Zambian kids} but they do that on purpose so they can work all of the kinks out before we have 70-100 Americans and 1000 Zambian kids each week. Next week is an off week and then we'll start back up the following week for Week 2 of Camp LIFE. My mom and Josh's mom will be here for Week 3 of camp....I can't wait for them to get here!! Josh has been extremely busy with work and I'm staying busy as well helping with whatever needs to be done.

Yesterday after church, we went into town for lunch and to do a little shopping. This area is called the Arcades....there is a huge grocery store there and quite a few restaurants and shops. See Mom, It's really not that different than Dallas! :) This area is obviously utilized by the upper class of Lusaka.

The Arcades...Zambia's version of a strip center!

This is a hardware store...their version of Home Depot!

This is Spar!!! An amazing grocery store that has everything I could ever need or want....from tasty fruits and vegetables to lots and lots of CANDY!!

And here is my handsome hubby driving on the right side of the car! He's a great driver here in Lusaka {they drive on the left side of the road}. I took this picture before we made a quick trip to the local market {not quite as nice as Spar} to pick up some bread and eggs...

Power at the Tree of Life!

On Thursday, the electricity at the Tree of Life (TOL) Children's Village was turned ON!! Through the "Power Up the Village" campaign this past spring, God provided the $380,000 necessary to wire the TOL with electricity! Now the entire village is equipped with power, which enables the TOL to grow! Before the electricity, the TOL ran off of solar panels. The solar panels could barely generate enough power for the 4 houses that are currently open and filled with kids. In order to grow the village and open more houses for more kids, they had to have actual electricity. To celebrate this amazing milestone we spent yesterday evening at the TOL and made brownies with the kids now that they have working ovens or "cookers" as they call them. We had such a great time and the kids definitely enjoyed their first taste of brownies!

Power at the TOL!!

The new school lit up! The first phase of the school will open on June 4th!

Lahema's House lit up! Agness lives in Lahema's House, so we made brownies with the kids that live there.

The kids LOVED helping...

Mariam and Josh pouring the batter into the baking dish...

Everyone enjoyed a lick out of the bowl!

Me with Esther and Agness. The brownies are baking in the cooker behind us. The solar panels did not produce enough power to run the cookers, so until now the house moms cooked everything outside using charcoal stoves.

It's brownie time!!

Josh and I with Aggie...

Brownies and milk....life if GOOD!

This morning we went to church out at the TOL....it was amazing! I couldn't resist posting one more picture of our Aggie! She is on the praise team and did a fantastic job leading worship this morning! She is wearing the dress that Josh gave her back in November.

Baby Bump at Week 18 (plus a couple of days)...

Week 18....Zambian style {no makeup and air dried hair}!

The baby bump has grown quite a bit over the last couple of weeks. Granted, this picture was taken after I thoroughly enjoyed 3 pieces of pizza and a coke for dinner! Baby seems to be adjusting well to life in Zambia. Yesterday morning was the first time that I really didn't feel well, but I think it was due to not eating enough for breakfast before we headed out to tour one of Family Legacy's Community Resource Centers and Lifeway Christian Academies. After lunch at Subway {don't worry...I had them torch my sandwich in the microwave}, I felt much better!

I am not taking any malaria medicine while we are in Zambia, so please pray specifically that God would protect me and baby from malaria and any food/water related diseases. Since we have been here we have not seen one mosquito! The mosquitoes that carry malaria only come out between midnight and 6am, so that is why we are sleeping under a net. Thank you so much for your prayers!

Home Sweet Home...

We're currently staying in Villa 38 at Mulungushi Housing Village. It's actually a really nice villa compared to the one we stayed at in 2008 during our first visit to Zambia. We've been busy unpacking all of our things and making it as homey as possible. We're hoping that we get to stay in this villa for good, but we may have to switch villas in a couple of weeks. Here are a few pics of our place...

Villa 38...

Sleeping under the mosquito net has been interesting! Thankfully our bed is very comfortable!

Lots of storage space...

Large window (with awesome curtains) and vanity/dresser area...

Our bathroom....with a working shower head and hot water!!!! Life in Zambia is not so bad!

Josh is also updating his blog during our time here....he is in front of the computer a lot more than I am, so he will have an opportunity to update it pretty frequently.

joshrives.com

In Lusaka...

In Father of the Bride terms...."George, she landed." We are so excited to be on the ground safely in Lusaka, Zambia! Our flight from London to Lusaka was super easy...no problems at all. We were extremely lucky to miss the Heathrow closing due to the volcanic ash. We landed around 6:30am Lusaka time (11:30pm Dallas time). It took some time to get everyone and everything through customs. We made it to Mulungushi Housing Village (home sweet home for the next 8 weeks) around 9:30am. After unpacking the basics and putting some sheets on the bed, we took a much needed nap for about 4 hours. In the afternoon, we headed out to the Tree of Life Children's Village to see the amazing progress of the school being built there and to play with all of the kids. The highlight of my day....I finally got to meet our Agness!! When she saw us, she bee lined for Josh and I....it was so amazing! We spent a couple hours at the village with the kids and then headed into town to eat dinner. We ate at a delicious place called Mint.....they have wonderful sandwiches, salads, smoothies, etc. It hit the spot! Now we're back at Mulungushi unpacking and getting settled. We're trying to stay up as late as we can so we can get adjusted to the time change (we're 7 hours a head of Dallas). Tomorrow we'll hit the ground running unloading all of the containers that were shipped over and getting prepared for Camp LIFE to start next week. Beside being tired, I'm feeling great! I think that I'm starting to feel baby "flutters" inside! I will post an 18 week belly pic this week. I missed week 17 since we were so busy getting ready for our trip.

Back to unpacking!!

Lots of love from Zambia,
Mindy

Safe in London...

We had a great flight from Dallas to London and slept wonderfully in our Yotel at Heathrow. Now we're about to grab a bite to eat and get ready to board our plane to Lusaka, Zambia!! We cannot wait to get there.

Will update the blog as soon as I can in Lusaka. Thanks so much for everyone's prayers as we travel and spend 8 weeks in Africa!!

Packing Mania...

T minus 3 days until we leave for Zambia....it's really hard to believe that it's actually here. We have been thinking about and preparing for this trip since last summer, when God laid it upon both of our hearts that we needed to spend an extended amount of time in Zambia. My goodness, time flies! We have been busy little bees this week gathering everything we'll need for 8 weeks away from home....our guest room looks like a suit case hurricane hit...hard! They're everywhere....but slowly starting to get filled and zipped up! We get to check 3 bags each and we each get 2 carry on bags....so 10 bags total! No traveling light here!


Not only has this past couple of weeks been filled with preparation (and endless to do lists), but also with reflection on the amazing opportunity we have before us to serve the Lord and the orphaned children of Zambia. My heart is is completely full with gladness and gratitude. We are so blessed. Truly, God has taken care of every single detail....why do I ever doubt him. Thank you Lord Jesus for your faithful provision.

And never in a million years did we think we would would be traveling to Zambia with a baby on board! I love God's sense of humor. I'm resting in the promise that His timing is perfect. Since the day we found out that we were expecting, we've been fervently praying that the Lord would clearly reveal to us whether or not I was suppose to go to Zambia. He has graciously shown us His will and we feel 100% confident in that! Fear has a way of sneaking it's nasty little head in my heart at times, but my faith rests in God alone. He is my protector. He is my shield. He will walk before me during our time in Zambia. I'm so thankful for His promises!

The thief comes only to steal and destroy. I came that you may have LIFE and have it ABUNDANTLY. John 10:10

B is for Baby...and the birds & bees!

We celebrated the glowing momma-to-be and baby Rector on Sunday at a lovely "birds and the bees" themed shower at my mom's house.

The adorable invitation created by the one and only Penny Lane Designs...

Birds and bee decor...

We did a blessing branch and asked guest to write a blessing or prayer to baby Rector...

The blessing branch...

Yummy food {all things baby Rector craves right now}! We also did a parfait bar, but I didn't get any pictures of it...opps! We had strawberry, blueberry and vanilla yogurt....strawberry for those that think baby is a girl...blueberry for boy...and vanilla for undecided. Toppings included granola, mini chocolate chips, pineapple, blueberries and strawberries. It was a huge hit and so cute!

Root beer and lemonade...

Momma opening presents...

Somebody got a BOB!!!

Lots of fun loot for baby...

Group shot...

The hostesses with the mostesses...

DFW Events gang...

Fun friends...

Proud grandmomma and aunt to be!

Baby Rector....you are already loved by so many! We can't wait to meet you in July!