Winter?

Down in South Africa it's really cold at this time of the year, but here in Malawi, it is still hot enough for a swim!

IBF on Sunday

Today we had a number of folk from our church come to our house for a baptism after the church service. We did it in our backyard since the water in the ABC pool is so freezing cold now.

Brian chatting to some regular attendees, who are from Zimbabwe originally.

This is the back of the guy in blue who got baptized. He was born in SA, but has lived in Australia most of his life. He is touring Africa and became a believer about three weeks ago. Please pray that he would find a good church when he returns to Australia and that he would grow in his faith.

A new family who have been attending International Bible Fellowship Church. They are from Sri Lanka.

"Eating her curds and whey..."

When I was cleaning our lettuce for salad today, this is what came crawling out! Ugh:(

Toothless

Bradley lost two teeth in two days. The second one he just yanked out on his own.

Visits

Our friend Katie, stayed with us for ten days and the kids were sad when she had to go back to her home yesterday. But today, we had some more friends fly in from California. They are here for a week to check out possible ministry opportunities with the proposed seminary we hope to start. They came loaded with goodies for us:) With all the people we have had visit here from the US, it feels like we have a Costco down the road! It has been good to get to know Jim, Ben and Leah and it's exciting to see what the Lord will do here and in their lives.

Katie

Jim, Ben and Leah

How does your garden grow?

The kids planted some seeds in their self-made vegetable garden. The 'soil' is hardy and so we'll be very surprised if the seeds actually grow. What has been fun to note is how diligent they are at watering their sandy mounds.

This is their scarecrow. It is the remains of a chewed up soft toy posted on the top of a long stick.

Here they are building a fence so that roaming dogs won't get in to trample their hard work.

They were quite pleased with themselves.

Baby no. 5

Today we 'got a baby' to look after for one week. It's been such a joy to have this tiny little girl in our home. Her dad had to go on an overseas trip and her mom works, so we gladly took her in to help them out. She is so precious and the kids have fallen in love with her too.

Ben's Birthday

Benjamin turned four today and we celebrated early in the morning with our traditional wake up in your bed to a candle-lit cupcake, happy birthday song, hugs, kisses and presents.

He requested Mexican tortillas for his birthday supper. He's our Californian boy.

Birthday cake!

Pet

Bradley often finds pets and keeps them for a day, that's about as long as they last with all the manhandling. They are usually some type of bug or gogga, but today he found a little lizard.

A river...?

Yes.. of mud, what else?

Camp Out

What a night! There was great excitement when it was decided to camp in our back yard. Allison and I stayed inside, not because we didn't want to camp, but because it was a dad and older kids' thing. The night was quite eventful and Bied didn't get very much sleep. He was in and out the tent getting water for those who were thirsty and moving kids around too trying to get them to sleep. Ben proved not to be the camping type. Eventually, Bied brought him inside and he slept in his own bed. Ami and Brad were 'rained' on by condensation droplets. Still, they loved their experience and hope to do it one day for real.

Bob

Ami has been wanting to cut her hair for the longest time. She eventually did it over the Easter holidays and loves her new bob. We also had a dear lady visit us for a couple days. She is the aunt of missionary friends of ours who serve in Germany. She was so kind to our children. When we dropped her off at the airport, Ben asked why she couldn't stay with us forever.