homesickness

     Seven months ago yesterday, I left my home and got on a plane to go to Africa.  Prior to this trip, the longest I'd been away from home was the 10 weeks I spent in Chicago doing summer missions. There were times I felt homesick in Chicago, but the circumstances were different, I had reliable internet, and there was no time difference.  My parents will tell you, though, that I've never been one to get homesick. I think it probably disappointed them a bit when I was younger. I'd show up after children's camp and their excited inquiries of "Did you miss us?!" were met with, "nope!"  As I got older, I learned to amend that answer to "of course!" to assure my poor parents of my need for them.  And in reality, I was always glad to see them when I returned from any trip.  However, they raised me as an independent first child, and as a result I've always enjoyed getting away from home and exercising some of that independence.  For some reason, I've just never been very attached to home. Something in me longed for a new and different place.  I think this desire has, at times, manifested in a disdain for my hometown, especially, but looking back, perhaps that was just a symptom.  I think I've always known that God had somewhere else for me- that Columbus wasn't really my home.

     Having said all this, I must admit: after 7 months in Malawi, I can honestly say that I've experienced homesickness in a way I never had before. But it's mixed with this very real love I have for the place that I am living.  A friend of mine who is studying in London said recently that his homesickness is much more related to people than home itself- that we should call it "people-sick" instead. Admittedly, that sounds quite odd, but I'm realizing more and more how true it is. I don't really miss my house and my stuff back home. In fact, thinking about how big and open my house is makes me a little uncomfortable. But I miss my family. I miss my friends. I miss certain foods. I miss the drive from Clinton to Columbus. But those last two are beside the point, I guess.

     Right about now you are probably wondering to yourself, "Well, what IS the point, Allison? Surely you're not just stating the obvious reality of homesickness."  And you would be correct. So here's the point: (in a roundabout way, of course.)

     Last night I dreamt about going home.  I saw my mom's face and talked to her and was really excited because I had so desperately missed her.  I hugged my dad.  It was great.  Needless to say I was a little disappointed this morning when I woke up.  But you learn that things like that happen, and you just kinda move on. But then, in church today we sang "How Great Thou Art." The last stanza says,
When Christ shall come with shout of acclamation
and take me home, what joy shall fill my heart!
Then I shall bow in humble adoration,
and there proclaim, 'My God, how great Thou art!'

Singing these words, for the first time in my life, I glimpsed what it meant to be homesick for Heaven.  Having experienced the longing here for what I cannot tangibly have right now, I saw the comparison in a new light. Heaven. Home. My real home. The home for which I will always be homesick. And it occurred to me that I can love this Earth and the things and people on it in a very real way. I can feel the attachments here and enjoy being where God has put me, because He has work for me now here, in Malawi, and eventually in some other place.  But I will never be finally home until I'm with Him. That as much as I long to see my family, or even the physical place of Mississippi, my soul longs infinitely more to finally find it's rest with it's Creator and Lover.  This longing is good. It's natural.  It's inevitable.  Heaven- not the physical place, if there is such a thing- but the condition of being forever with my Savior, face to face, veil removed....
Oh, what joy shall fill my heart!  Then I shall bow in humble adoration and there proclaim, "My God! How GREAT Thou art!"

School Days

Hi guys! Someone mentioned wanting to know more about school around here, so I thought I'd dedicate a post to talking about academy life.  For those of you who might not know, I teach 8th, 9th, and 10th grade language arts and literature at African Bible College Christian Academy.  My day starts at 7 and ends at 2:30. The upper school has the longest day- the little kids get out anywhere from noon (Kindergarten and Reception) to 1:15 (6th grade). In the past, the upper school day has ended at 1:30, but this year they decided to extend they day for an additional period, so we now finish at 2:20. The decision to add a 10th grade class is also new, so I'm the first to teach 10th grade World Lit around here. I have to admit, 10th grade is probably the easiest for me to teach. I think this is a fantastic age where students are starting to be old enough to think on higher levels and make some larger connections. I can lecture without losing them entirely, but I can also leave them to do a lot of independent work, and they're totally capable.

My 10th graders always exceed my expectations. They're a really brilliant class of 12 students: 6 guys, 6 girls. We've gained and lost a few over the past semester, but at this point, the guys are Malawian, American, and Norwegian. The girls are a bit more varied- 2 girls are American but have lived in Ecuador most of their lives, 1 is ethnically part Indian, but has lived here most of here life. 1 is American, 1 is Portuguese, and 1 is Norwegian. I think that covers everyone. All this to say- they're a very diverse class. But they get along splendidly. So far we've read Hemmingway's The Old Man and the Sea, where I asked them to think of it as an allegory and write a paper explaining the symbols. They wrote their own journey stories for me, where the main character starts in one place and ends in another (these were quite entertaining), and then we moved on to Lord of the Flies. Overall, they really enjoyed this book.  We talked a lot in this about fear and the nature of man. Are humans inherently evil? What is the author trying to say with this book? Do you agree with him or disagree? The class had a lot of opinions to share on these subjects, and I really enjoyed thinking through it all with them. We then moved on and did a poetry unit, which was fantastic.  90% of the class cared very little for poetry at the beginning of the unit, but by the end, I think they all had a new appreciation for it.  I probably should've read more poetry with them, but I really wanted to get them writing, so we focused a lot on form and style in their own poetry.  I gave it to them as a way to explore their own personal emotions and thoughts. Told them this was a fantastic and creative way to really reflect on what they're thinking and feeling. They all presented final portfolios after Christmas break and I was blown away. I have a class full of poets! We're now reading The Screwtape Letters, which is proving to be a challenge, but is forcing them to stretch themselves a little and to reflect on their own spirituality, which is a neat thing for this age.  One of my students is especially quizzical and is always questioning and challenging what Lewis has to say, which makes for some good class discussion. So that's 10th grade.

My 9th grade class is perhaps even more diverse, with students from Malawi, America, China, Korea, Portugal, Lebanon, and South Africa. This is probably my most diverse class academically, as well. Although they're all very bright, the levels of English vary in this class, which makes things more difficult at times. We've also had 3 students drop out since the beginning of the year, which has been kinda tough. We really miss those guys. This started as my largest class, but is now down to 11 students. My challenge with this class is simply keeping them motivated. They're great kids with a lot of potential, but they tend to want to do the bare minimum. (Of course, I know nothing about that.) It took me a while to warm up to this group, but we've all gotten to know each other now, and we get along grandly. We started the year reading Bruchko, and then moved to Peace Child.  Both of these novels are missionary autobiographies, and really are excellent stories of faith.  This class is less willing to get into deep spiritual discussion, but we were able to really see the gospel and admire the faith of some brave men in those stories. Considering this is also probably my most diverse class in terms of religion, that was a neat experience. Our last book of the first semester was Jules Verne's Around the World in 80 Days.  I wasn't sure what my students would think of it, but they really enjoyed the book- perhaps simply because it was so very different than the previous two they'd read. We had a lot of fun with this book. Right now we're working on Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, which quite frankly, is hilarious. These kiddos aren't overly fond of Shakespeare, but they LOVE laughing at Romeo. They've been highly amused by his declarations of love for Rosaline which were so quickly cut short by his adoration of Juliet. As a side note, they also find it highly amusing to try and set me up with any single men they know. 23 is so old, don't ya know? Obviously I need a husband.

My 8th grade class is made up of 7 girls. 1 from Malawi, 1 from SA, 1 from New Zealand, 1 from Zambia, 1 from America, and 1 who is truly African-American. . Ethnically, they've got a bit of everything, but in reality, most of them have lived here longer than anywhere else, so they have a lot in common.  Now, I have to say, 13 year old girls are not my specialty. This class is a real challenge for me, simply because of their age.  They're great individuals with a lot of excitement and potential. They're smart and beautiful, and I really do love them. I can't wait to see how they each grow up.  I started the year off with The Giver, which is a fantastic book. It's my favorite, and I was excited to read it again with these girls. Whether they wanted to admit it or not, they loved it, and aced the test on it. I was proud of them. :) We then read Treasure Island, which was tough for them.  It's a boyish book, and it had a lot of vocabulary that was unfamiliar to them. We made it through it, though, and they all took something away from the book.  Next on the list was A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens. Again, not an easy read. They did really well with it though, and I think they mostly enjoyed the story.  Because I'm awesome, we watched A Muppets Christmas Carol when we finished reading the book. They weren't overly impressed with the musical nature of the Muppets, but they enjoyed the story and I think the story stuck with them a little better after actually seeing it.  We focus a lot on grammar in this class, because 7th grade somehow missed out on getting a grammar curriculum.  The girls would say it was the bane of their existence, if they knew what that meant. Perhaps I'll teach them that phrase today. As much as they dislike it, though, I'm seeing progress. I encourage you to pray especially for this class's relational dynamics. If you know any 13 year old girls, you know that it's just a hard place to be. These girls are learning a lot about the world and each other, as well as learning about themselves, and that puts a lot of strain on their friendships.

So there ya go! There's a little about my life as an ABCCA teacher. Hope you enjoyed it! 

10 things I no longer find strange

1. Fuel Queues- In the past two weeks the fuel crisis lessened and you could actually drive up to a gas station and get fuel in your car sometimes. Without waiting for hours! It kinda freaked us all out a little bit. We've gotten so used to seeing lines all down the streets and sitting around in those for hours, that we don't really know how to react when they're gone. I hear they're coming back though, which is oddly reassuring. Have I mentioned I don't like change?

2. Using the word "queue"- Isn't that a fun word? You should type it, or spell it out loud to yourself. Q-U-E-U-E. ha! Excellent! I never used this word until I came here. I probably didn't know how to spell it, and it certainly was not a part of my daily vocabulary. Here, however, it's not unusual to chat about "queueing up" or "sitting in a queue". No longer strange.

3. Buying produce on the side of the road- We never buy bananas at the market. We always just stop on the side of the road. Apparently this selling is illegal and is the source of much turmoil in Malawi lately, but let's just face it: the market is much more chaotic than the guy at the corner of Chipiku or the dude sitting on the turn off for ABC. Speaking of shopping:

4. Shopping trips that take all afternoon and involve no less than 5 locations-  When you shop in Malawi, you go where things are cheapest. Cereal can cost up to 3 or 4 dollars more at Foodworths than at Chipiku. But cheese and yogurt and cheapest and taste best from Foodworths. (And they have these delicious fresh rolls...that's why Aly and I really go.) Chipiku has the cheapest of most things, but it's small and dark and crowded. But it's a good place to fill your crate with cokes. Shop Rite has produce if you're skipping the market, but the market is cheapest. And I absolutely hate Shop Rite. Game and Spar are basically like walking into Wal Mart or Kroger, but you pay for it. Nyama has good meat and bread, and sometimes eggs. But lately we've been getting as much as possible from City Supermarket, which is new and very close by. After all, we are in a fuel crisis!

5. The market-  It really is nothing weird to drive up, park on the side of the road next to the dumpster, and turn down the man who walks up selling bootleg movies, mops, and flashlight bulbs. I also say no to the dozens of boys chasing me asking if i'd like to buy a plastic bag. We also politely decline all the shouts of "sista! potatoes? onions? mangos? carrots?" as we walk to our favorite vegetable guy and tell him what we need, pay less than 6 bucks for it all, and allow our favorite bag boy to carry it back to our car. We then tip him and leave! Very routine.

6. Outages- The lack of water, electricity, or just most of the electricity is no longer odd. We have had water a lot lately, but sometimes there's no hot water, or sometimes it just goes out altogether. That also makes bathing less than 3 times a week fairly normal. But hey...this is Africa! :) I've told you about the power outages. Right now we have only a little power. We're not sure what that's all about. They call it a brown-out, because everything has that sepia sort of tone, since the lights are really dim. Fortunately we can still charge phones and computers even in a brown out. However, our fridge doesn't appreciate it. But again...all of this is very normal. We went for a couple weeks with VERY few outages, and we all were kinda freaked out. It just wasn't right!

7. Ants- They're still here. I still eat them. They still crawl on me. They still search for moisture. I basically ignore them now. I only kill them if they're on me or if they're crawling across the computer screen.

8. Carrying HUGE bundles of currency- Kwacha is what the money is called here in Malawi.  The national exchange rate is something like 167K to 1 USD. The black market exchange rate goes as far up as 350MK to 1 USD. So anywhere you go, you take a few thousand kwacha. It's recommended that you keep at least 5000K on you in case you get pulled over, because that's the most common police fine (yes, you pay on the spot.) I once left the house with 265,000K on me. (We were going to buy plane tickets.) Add to this knowledge the fact that the largest bill is 500K, and you can imagine how huge the stack of money I had was. Good times...

9. Driving on the left side of the road, on the right side of the car- Only once since I started driving have I royally screwed this up, and that was at 3 am when someone called and woke me up to go sit in a fuel queue. I feel like that's excusable. I only drove on the wrong side for like 10 seconds. And there was not really any traffic. One of my biggest fears about going home in July is that I'll be unable to navigate the roundabout leaving the Jackson airport because it goes the opposite direction than these. Yes, I realize that's petty, but it's something I think about, okay? Major intersections here are always roundabouts, and they go clockwise. In the US you rarely encounter roundabouts and the go counterclockwise and I really just think I'll panic going through the one at the airport! (I also no longer find roundabouts strange, if you didn't guess.)

10. Altering lesson plans because the copier won't work- Our copier at school has more problems than the country of Malawi, I think. Okay...exaggeration. But only kinda. Today we had to take everyone's copying needs down the street to a print shop so that teachers could get what they needed for class. I have too few grammar books in one of my classes, so I have to copy pages for some of my students before we can move on to the next unit, and if the power is out, or my directions are misunderstood, or the copier simply refuses to copy, we just find something else to do for the day. This has also led to a few changes in test formats, an all sorts of similar things. Hooray for flexibility! And no longer being surprised.

Dreaming...

   Today is John Chilembwe day in Malawi. The man is considered a martyr for the cause of equality and independence in Malawi. Having read up a little, I am glad that this man refused to accept the oppression of colonialists, but I must say, I have more respect than ever for Martin Luther King, Jr.
     See, today is Martin Luther King, Jr day in the States. I gotta admit, growing up this just meant a day out of school for me, which was something I appreciated. Sure I thought his speeches were kinda cool, and I was real sad that he died, but that was about as far as it went. I now see this man as a role model. I'm not saying he lived some perfect life- I'm sure a lot of you may disagree with some things he said. I'm not certain how his theology aligns with yours. Blah, blah, blah.
      But here's the thing- the man was incredible. He knew that skin color didn't determine anything about an individual, and he understood that violence was not the way to share that truth. He believed in the essential humanity of each of us, regardless of our outward appearance. He sowed love and understanding and hope.
     As a Caucasian American girl who grew up in the South and is now living in Africa, I've seen a lot. I've seen racism- humanity at its worst.  I've felt racism. I've been the minority, I've been the majority. I've harbored prejudice, and I've felt prejudiced against. And what I've discovered is that we all have our faults, and we all are sometimes scared of what we don't understand.  But education should cultivate understanding and the Holy Spirit should cultivate selfless love.
     The battle MLK gave his life fighting still rages in a lot of places, and it hurts me deeply. It breaks my heart to pieces to see friends, family, or strangers base their idea of a person on the individual's skin color. So today, I encourage you to look inwards. Examine your heart for any of the devilish fiend that is prejudice, and pray that you'll see through Heavenly eyes. After all, where man looks at outward appearance, God looks at the heart. Jesus didn't give His life to create a Kingdom divided by skin color. The Bride He gave himself for is one of many colors, languages, and cultures.
     I beg you, at some point in your life, to spend time in a place where YOU are the minority. I did, and it changed my life. So, my brothers and sisters, let's put aside our stupidity and learn to see ourselves as one tiny part of this beautiful, diverse, colorful creation. Learn to love.

A few Martin Luther King, Jr quotations I enjoyed:
"I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice. . . that one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers. "


“Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.” 


“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter. . . The day we see the truth and cease to speak is the day we begin to die.” 


“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” 


“An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity.” 

Unhindered

I think I mentioned at some point that I was doing a read through the Bible in 90 days plan...well, 90 days turned into...more than 90 days. I slacked off for a while (surprise) but I've picked back up in Chronicles and got to read the second account of the journey of the Arc of the Covenant to Jerusalem. So here's the story: David and his buddies are bringing the arc back home to rest with the Israelites, but they disobey the guidelines Moses set out for transporting it. As a result, the arc almost falls and this guy named Uzzah reaches out to steady it and when he touches it, God strikes him dead. No one was ever supposed to touch the arc- it was the physical representation of the presence of God, and therefore was most holy. So David panics a little bit at the realization of what he's bringing home and decides to leave the arc residing on the outskirts with this guy named Obed-edom for a while. Obed's family is blessed as a result, and David later decides to do things right and bring the arc into Jerusalem. This is a HUGE deal. There's a giant celebration and parade sort of deal with sacrifices being made, and music being played. And then there's David...

See, this is possibly my favorite story in the whole Bible. David himself just intrigues me on so many levels. I've often thought that if I have a son someday, I hope he'll be like David. Sure, the man made mistakes. Big ones. Ones that humanity wouldn't be prone to forgive. But even with all of that, David's considered a man after God's own heart. David LOVES the Lord. This love prompts him to do some things that seem unreasonable. I could cite them, but if you're curious just go check out 2 Samuel and 1 Chronicles. His commitment to the God who chose him to be king is inspiring to me.
So, the arc is coming into the city and there's a giant celebratory parade, and David- David wears a simple linen robe, much like that of the priests. No kingly garments. No jewels and crowns and fancy robes for the occasion. See, David knows this isn't about him. David's not trying to be something special. He's not trying to take the spotlight. David's caught up in the pure ecstasy of what this means. The presence of GOD- YHWH- is coming to dwell with him. He's prepared himself for this- He knew it was coming. He took the time to think this out and realized he should humble himself in anticipation. But now- in the moment- he's overwhelmed! It's just too much! The joy is bigger than He imagined, the realization so much greater than he could have foreseen.  The Spirit of the Living God is with him, and he cannot contain his joy. 

"And David danced before the LORD with all his might."

Oh, that I would rejoice this greatly in the presence of my King- my Savior. Oh, that I would be completely unhindered in my worship- that I would encounter the reality of the Living God in my life and daily dance with all my might at his renewed mercies each morning. That I would put aside my mistakes, let go of my shame, and bask in His forgiveness and love. That I would worship freely in such a way that it makes little of me and much of my Lord, that I would be a living testament to the joy and freedom and life found in the Creator God.  

Cape Town Adventures

     I believe I mentioned in a previous post that Aly and I were planning to spend a week in Cape Town after Christmas.  Well, these plans certainly came to fruition and on December 27th our friend Michelle drove us to the airport and we began our journey!

    On our first flight, I managed to somehow secure an entire row to myself. There were three seats and I was the only one there. It was pretty excellent. Aside from that little blessing, there was also CHEESE on this flight. SA airlines apparently serve a meal on basically every flight. I wasn't overly hungry, but I decided to see what airline food was like in Africa, and was overjoyed to see a nice little block of cheese on my tray. Now, you can get cheese in Malawi, but generally it's quite expensive and relatively tasteless. I'm not sure how or why this is true, but it is. So- first thrill of our short venture back into the "Western world": Cheese!

     The rest of our day went very smoothly and we found ourselves being shuttled from the airport to our hotel by a wonderfully entertaining little bus company we stumbled upon and arrived at our hotel with no problems! We were pretty tired from a day of travel, so we basically stumbled into our 11th floor room of the Capetonian Hotel (google it, Dad...it was very safe!), turned the AC as cold as we could bear, and snuggled into bed. 

   Our hotel had a beautiful complementary breakfast each morning, and a shuttle every hour to the Victoria and Alfred Waterfront, which is the location of a GIGANTIC mall- two stories, various restaurants and a food court, several department stores, a grocery store, and 2 movie theatres. Needless to say, we took advantage of this and spent our first day shopping at the mall and at the surrounding shops that were a little more boutique-esque or incredibly touristy. We resolved not to buy anything that first day, but (I'm sure this will come as no surprise) our resolve was weakened by the discovery of a Build-A-Bear Workshop! So we made adorable little bears and gave them South Africa shirts, and they now enjoy a position of honor on our beds in Malawi. The other highlight of this day was the discovery of McDonalds and Subway in the mall. We ate at one of these two restaurants every day for the rest of the week. 

    We decided to do a bus tour of Cape Town that went through the city, up to Table Mountain, and down to the beach. This was an excellent choice.  Let me just say- Cape Town hit the geographical jackpot. It's incredible. The beauty is just beyond belief. Table mountain has recently been declared a natural wonder of the world, and it's majesty certainly proves that this position is merited. It's surrounded by other mountains as well, and the whole scene just takes your breath away. Additionally, the city has some of the most beautiful beaches I've ever seen! The water is clearest blue (and from what I understand, frigid!), and the beach has a combination of sands and rocks that seems perfect. Apparently all the South African celebrities hit up the clubs along the beachfront, as do various American and European stars. We just enjoyed the beauty from the bus. We took pictures, but I'm afraid they really don't even come close to the rapture of actually seeing this place in person. The tour also took us through some historic parts of town, such as the renowned District 6, which was actively involved in opposing apartheid and was later demolished by the government. Much of it is still in ruins, but what has been restored stands as a testimony to the strong will of the citizens of this area and the ruins remind us of the deathly and destructive nature of racism. 

    The other big event for us during the week was the opportunity to see Phantom of the Opera performed. It was absolutely fantastic. Many of the cast had studied in Cape Town, and most were South African.  They were fantastic. I told Aly that the Phantom was my first love, and always will be. I saw the play performed in Birmingham when I was in 6th grade, and have loved the story ever since. I still firmly believe that Christine made a mistake in choosing that pretty boy Raoul.  But I digress...  The point is- this was definitely a highlight of the week- I absolutely recommend it and thoroughly enjoyed it. 

    The rest of our week was spent in various ways- watching movies, shopping, wandering the streets. Aly got a haircut, we got our nails done, we bought some fun jewelry and clothes, and we enjoyed all of it. As a side note- we watched The Help while we were there, which was really interesting. Fantastic movie, for sure. It was strange sitting in a theater in Cape Town watching Jackson, MS on the screen. It was also interesting looking at the movie in light of apartheid and all that did to the country of SA.
    Overall, our trip was fantastic. We enjoyed our time there and enjoyed the beautiful weather. Simple comforts we would've taken for granted in the U.S. were all of a sudden luxuries. Air conditioning, drinkable tap water, no power outages, traffic lights, road signs, shopping malls, television, and fast food...ahh...such wonderful things! At the end of the week, though, we were glad to come home to Lilongwe.  It's nice to be with friends again, to speak at least a tiny bit of the language, and to enjoy the familiarity of our current home. Thanks very much to those of you who were praying for safety and who are still praying for us as we're here. We appreciate it and need it every day. Happiest of new years to you and yours, and thank you for sharing in this journey!

Merry Christmas Eve Eve!

Yes, this is the 3rd blog post today. I'm just doing what I can to catch you all up.
Mom and Dad have been on me for weeks to get this thing updated, so I'm trying to do a decent job now that I'm finally obliging them.
Mom says that many of you have been wondering about my Christmas plans, so this is the Christmas post! yay!!

So, we got out of school one week ago- Friday the 16th. It was a splendid day. I spent most of it eating cookies and making cookies and listening to Christmas music with my classes. But I'm getting ahead of myself- to fully appreciate how wonderful this day was, you must know about the week leading up to it.
Michelle, our dear friend here, asked us at some point if we wanted to help her make cookies for all of the college students during finals week (same week as our last week of school). We, of course, responded with an enthusiastic yes. So on Sunday the 11th we started this quest. We made enough cookies to take to the cafeteria on Monday evening and give 2 cookies to every freshman. Monday afternoon we made enough cookies to give to all the sophomores and seniors on Tuesday evening. Tuesday afternoon we made cookies for the day scholars, and brought them to them at lunch on Wednesday. Wednesday afternoon we made cookies for all of the juniors to have on Thursday evening. On Thursday we made sugar cookies for Aly's class and for some of my students who were coming to help her class on Friday. The remainder we took to the cooks at the college and decorated with them. So, over the course of 5 days, we made roughly 700 cookies. It was...AMAZING. Granted, we didn't want to see or eat any more cookies for a good long time after that, but we had a really great time sitting at the college caf every evening and getting to know a lot more of the students. They loved the cookies, and several of them charmed us into giving them way more than their fair share, but we loved every second of it. Yay Christmas!

Since then, we've relaxed a lot. haha We used the first part of our break to simply enjoy the break! We've watched a whole season of Numbers, seen several Christmas movies, and spent time with friends who are still in the area. To our credit, we also cleaned most of our house at least once. :)

So, the plans for the future...well, Christmas eve (that's tomorrow!!!) we plan to spend the night with the Kyser family and get up on Christmas morning and take part in all their family's fun. They've got 3 kids whom we bought gifts for, and our family have sent some happies over for us too. Let me just say, I am thoroughly excited. Christmas evening we'll go to the McDonalds' house with the Kysers and enjoy a meal there. Sam McDonald is a good cook, and LeAnn is pretty amazing as well, and I am prepared to eat way too much. Just like home!

On the 27th, Aly and I are flying to Cape Town, South Africa and spending a week there. Our plans include sleeping, shopping, going to the movie theater, seeing Phantom of the Opera, and going to eat at McDonalds and Subway. I'm sure we'll do other amazing things- I hear Cape Town is breathtakingly beautiful- but right now the fast food is kinda all we can think about. You laugh, but I have missed turkey sandwiches more than I can say. mmmmm....  I'm hungry just thinking about it.

So there you have it! Christmas!
I do have to say, it's weird thinking about Christmas when it's 90 degrees outside and the decorations are pretty slim, but Aly and I have done our best to get in the spirit. Christmas earrings, Christmas t-shirts, Christmas music, Christmas shopping, Christmas decorations...we've got it all.
Of course, I miss my family a lot. I know I'll continue to miss them in the next two or three days as I hear about all the fun and start to see pictures online and all that stuff. I wish I could be home for all of that. But the simplicity here is refreshing, and I haven't once thought about material things I want for Christmas. I've never been able to say that before. I'm thankful for this new perspective, and I will never take Christmas with my family for granted again. This will just make time with them in the future that much sweeter. In the mean time, I hope you'll all give my mommy and daddy a hug from me, and remember as you enjoy Christmas with your loved ones what a truly huge gift that really is. Few Malawian families are intact, and few will actually have any sort of celebration or gift exchange on Christmas day. Remember why we celebrate, friends.
Remember the child in the manger who sought no gift. Remember the parents who were content in that little stable, who later became refugees with only what they could carry on a camel or donkey. This was the life of the Christ child. Thank him for that sacrifice, and consider sharing your wealth with someone who will be eating ngumbi for Christmas dinner- that is, flying termites they picked up off the ground- because they can't afford to buy food. I would absolutely love if you'd make a special donation this Christmas to an ABC student. Help them pay tuition so they can stay in school and change the future of their family and their nation. Tuition is roughly $2000 a year and we've lost several students already because they simply can't make ends meet here. YOU can change that. Consider the least of these...email me or go to the ABC website if you're willing to help meet the needs of my dear friends.  THAT would make my Christmas wonderful.