Get-Together

We have had a number of International Bible Fellowship church get-togethers recently!

It has been great!

Some folks from IBF church on our back porch enjoying Sunday lunch - my mom's delicious saucy chicken recipe!

We had such a fun evening with these couples who attend our church. We all have something in common-our spouses are all from other countries! South African/American, SA/Zimbabwean and Zim/Malawian. We also enjoyed hosting a professor from Christ Seminary in South Africa on this night too.

American, German, Zimbabwean and South African. We had a wonderful time...although I need to remember not to order the spinach canneloni at this restaurant. It looked as though it were swimming in about a gallon of oil!

This family (their son is missing in this pic) attended IBF church for many years, but have since moved back to their home country. It was so much fun to see them in Lilongwe again and to hear how the Lord is using them to impact others for Christ.

A smile for Nanny

I know many of you have been praying for my dear mother. She is not going to have the cancerous lump in her breast removed and she is not taking any radiation or chemo treatments as per the advice of the doctors. Instead, she is looking at changing her diet, exercising more and has started a course of oxygen therapy. She is feeling fine and we continue to thank the Lord for each day He graciously gives us. I have been doing better too and continue to have good days with the odd bad one here and there. Thank you so much for asking and for continuing to pray for us. We trust the Great Physician!

This is the way...

the lady rides! My dad often put us on his knee when we were kids and sang that song to us, except his was in Dutch..."so ry de dames sagt sagt sagt, so ry de heren hard hard, so ry de boere hosse bosse"...okay my Dutch is pathetic, but I know it went something like that. The other day our kids wanted Brian to sing to them and he did, in English, with two on each knee.

Tennis

Ami has started tennis lessons and is enjoying them thoroughly. I played tennis growing up and eventhough I wasn't very good at it, I liked playing. Brian says if it'll improve her golf swing one day then he's all for it!

Good-byes

We are alone up here on the top end of the ABC campus. The last of our neighbours left today, most back to the US and one to the UK. Some have gone back for good because their terms are up. Others are going back for a scheduled one year furlough. We shall miss them all!

Big Gogga

Brian found this huge bug on the inside of our screen door. Seems like it's some type of a cross between grasshopper, praying mantis and stick insect. See the size of him? Absoultely harmless I'm sure, but just the thought of him crawling on me at night gives me the ughies!

Hedgehog

We were at some folks from church for lunch the other day and the kids found a hedgehog in their garden. Quite tricky to try and move this prickly guy around.

We bath lots here!

10 years ago...

On June 16th, 2000 my husband proposed to me from a hot air balloon on a beautiful wintery morning in South Africa. In the process, he mistakenly dropped the ring while we were still a couple thousand feet in the air! Many of you know that it was all in jest and he then proceeded to get down on his knee and pulled out the real ring! So thankful for you my darling and look forward to what the Lord will do in the next 10 years. I love you more each day.

Allison Mae is One!

We celebrated Allison's birthday today with our family and the traditional first birthday Biedebach table. We are so blessed to have her in our family. She is a delight to us all.

When Brian's dad turned one in 1933, his parents grabbed a table from the house and sat him on it with his birthday cake. When Brian and his siblings each had their first birthdays the same table was brought out. When Ami was about to turn one Brian asked his dad if we could have the table sent to Africa. Grandpa Mark didn't want to part with his heirloom and so he paid to have a replica made in SA. Bradley had his first birthday in CA and so he sat on the original:)

Open House

Today was Ami's open house at school. The parents are invited to the classroom to see their child's completed work from the year (all 10 weeks for Ami). We went along and enjoyed meeting some other parents. Ami has done well considering all the adjustments we've been through these past couple of years. She is enjoying school and now Brad and Ben can't wait to go either. The summer school break is a long one and so we look forward to lots of fun at home and sleeping in!

There are 15 kids in her class.

She received an award for having compassion towards her classmates.

"...e-wo"

Allison picks up most anything now, holds it to her ear and attempts "hello".

Joy toys

The children decided to dismantle their tuckshop and instead used their sign board for the base of the new car they built. Don't you love it? They didn't get very far, but they had a whole lot of fun thinking they would.

Graduation

Brian's class of twenty five senior men graduated on Saturday . The gymnasium on campus was packed with people and the ceremony went on for three hours. I snuck out with the four kiddos shortly after the academic procession :)

Mary wore her red dress, red dress, red dress...

Mary wore her red dress all day long and in my case all ten years' long! That's from a book we read to the kiddos, by the way :) On Friday night, we attended the senior banquet at the Capital Hotel here in Lilongwe, to celebrate the African Bible College senior students' graduation. It was a fun evening out and we enjoyed catching up with the students. The dinner is one of the highlights of the year. It's a formal function and the students go all out to dress up. So what did we do? Well...we didn't go all out, we just hauled out the good old wedding outfits from ten years back and put those on...again!

2010 Senior Banquet- give you one guess what I wore to the last senior banquet...sorry no pic.

2003 at my friend's wedding. I went to school with both these girls. We were in grade one together.


2006 Our friends, Dave and Lindy's wedding.

With my boet and sus at my mom's 60th birthday party in 2004.

2001 at Andrew and Caroline's wedding.

Nanny

My mom is looking at alternative treatments for her breast cancer. Because of her heart condition, she may not have radiation, chemotherapy or hormone treatment. Our God answered our prayers so faithfully and her cancer is contained. It has not spread. We are so thankful!

Please keep her in your prayers. I am doing okay, still good days and bad- but trying not to overdo things and rest.

We are so thankful for skype and when our connection is good we can chat to family!

Put your face on

My mom has always said, before applying her make-up, that she needs to put her face on. Ami and her good friend decided they were going to put on their faces. It seemed at one moment as though the boys wanted to put theirs on too. But when I asked them if they'd like a little smeared here and there, they both screamed at the idea in disgust. Whew!

Ami very carefully applying the lipstick and Brad showing Sarah how to pucker.

We affectionately refer to Sarah Rose as our fifth child. We shall miss her because she and her family will be on furlough for a whole year beginning this month.