Exactly where God desires us to be

Yesterday, Dave and I celebrated 21 years of marriage! How time flies. For a quick second, I thought, if I had known that 21 years ago that we would have been celebrating our 21st anniversary in Africa, what would I have done? Thankfully, God just gives us one day at a time to unfold His plan in our life. Dave and I are both thankful that this anniversary was spent here in Kitwe, exactly where God desires us to be.

On Wednesday I realized that I actually like living here now. (It only took 5 weeks to be able to say that :). Having the Kirsche’s here was so good for me. Kevin, Jackie, and the girls were just soaking in each day and loving every minute of what God was teaching them. I saw how I had been holding my life here at arms length and it was time to embrace it. Embracing each day as God ordained makes life so much happier and fuller.

We have had an eventful week. Dave will try to update later to let you know all that he has been up to. The past 2 weeks have been packed with hosting and feeding our friends from America. The 2 coaches from Florida arrived on Sunday to help get the PE program at the Trust School started. It has been a fabulous week! The kids are loving every minute of their time with the coaches and Rick and Kelly have far exceeded everyone’s hopes with what they have accomplished in a short week. We will be sad to see them leave tomorrow. Dave and Lydia have been helping all day each day with PE and Mary-Frances and Virginia have been able to help quite a bit also. One night our entire house was asleep by 9 pm!

Last Saturday my purse was stolen from our car. It ended up being a long day of spending time at the police station with a potential suspect and calling American Express to cancel my credit card. Throughout the experience, I was reminded that nothing “slips” by God. Dave, Kevin, Jackie, and I were thankful that Dave’s back pack, which was sitting right beside my purse, was not stolen. Not only did it contain Dave’s computer and some money, but it also contained all 13 of our American Passports. To deal with that being stolen would have been much more difficult.

Someone asked me what I was enjoying the most about Africa. I would have to say it is the relationships that God is allowing me to develop with many different types of people. I have loved getting to know the 13 children that play on my front steps every day. Each day the will say “Auntie, can I have a sweet?” It is so cute, they know once a day I will give them a piece of candy or gum. Brenda, the mother of 4 children, lives right across from me. We have been able to spend a couple of hours together on several Sunday afternoons just talking and getting to know one another. She is looking to me as a mentor (her children are 3 months to 6 years) and it has been a privilege to share with her some of the things God has taught me about mothering over the years. I have enjoyed getting to know Caroline who I walk with. She is a beautiful 32 year old who has never been married. She was orphaned at age 16, but has a beautiful outlook on life and the goodness of God. Victoria is a jewel! She is a teacher at the Trust School. The week that I arrived, she came to Bonnie needing extra work so that she could bring home some more money to her family. She helps me keep up with all the laundry that needs to be done as well as some light housework. At first I thought that I was the most thankful for the help she was providing me with all of the hard work. Now, I realize I am most thankful for her friendship. It has been fun to share American food with her and her family. She has had pancakes, cheese, and chocolate chip cookies for the first time ever. Can you imagine??? She has also been teaching me how to cook Nshima and other African dishes. They are quite good. From observing her, it seems that oil and salt are a stable in African foods. You can pray that I hear the Lords voice and be able to minister to the people that He places in my life.

As we continue to get to know the people God has put in our path, like the gardener for our little compound, or the security guard (who chased off a potential thief who had climbed the wall at 4:30 am the night before last), or the precious children at the orphanage, I am even more convinced that people are created in the image of God. We might look different, eat different, have different traditions, but in most ways we are so alike. We laugh, love, cry, hurt… the list goes on. I am thankful that our children are able to see and experience the Big and Creative world that God has created.

In closing, I wanted to share a few words that Mary-Frances wrote last week.

Love,

Shelley

By the way, Sadie Grace is doing well at school. We have posted pictures below!!