Hi family and friends!

As many of you know Brooke and I returned in November 2010 after spending over 3 years in Africa serving with an organization called Hands at Work in Africa. We are still involved with Hands at Work, but we want to step it up in 2012 with your help.

Our time in Africa was incredible and has changed our lives in ways we never could have imagined. We learned so much about God’s heart for the poor, widowed and the orphan. We read in James 1:29, “True religion that is pure and undefiled is this, to help the orphan and widow in their distress.” Hands at Work is doing this in the most rural parts of Africa; by mentoring and serving people in the poorest villages, we are helping establish home based care associations and setting up local community based feeding points where orphaned children come to be fed and in many cases attend school. Local volunteers visit the children, many of them from child-headed households, in their homes to love and care for them.

Before heading back to the U.S. in November we were able to visit a village in rural Zambia called Chisamba (chi-SAM-ba). Volunteers there were already visiting children and doing everything they can with the meager resources they have. They call themselves Isubilo (meaning "hope") Home-based Care. The community has identified 78 children, the poorest children in a poor community, who are in desperate need of ongoing support.

So, we are writing to ask for your help. Would you prayerfully consider the possibility of contributing to this cause on a monthly basis? For just $20 a month local volunteers can provide a daily meal, access to education, and basic health provisions to one child through home visits. To cover the 78 kids we need to raise $1560 a month. Brooke and I have made a commitment to support 5 children, because we have seen with our own eyes the way communities in Africa have been transformed with a little encouragement and support, and it would be such an honor for us to be a part of helping the people of Chisamba. Join us!

Please visit our giving page at www.razoo.com/chisamba to find out more about the community of Chisamba and how to give. Visit www.handsatwork.org to find out more about the work that Hands at Work in Africa is doing.

We are hoping to organize a small team to visit Chisamba, Zambia, with us in 2012. If you have any interest in coming to see Chisamba for yourself (whether or not you are contributing financially), please let us know.

Sincerely,

Jed & Brooke

Hands at Work in Africa, Zambia Celebrations Last week I had the opportunity to attend Hands at Work in Africa’s Regional Celebration in Zambia. Each year Hands at Work gathers leaders from partner Community Based Organizations throughout Africa for a time of learning, sharing and celebrating about what God is doing throughout communities in Africa. This year Hands had its biggest Celebration ever in Zambia from April 13-16. The theme of the Celebrations this year was, “Going Deeper.” The vision of Hands at Work is the local church in Africa effectively caring for the orphaned, widowed and the dying and unified in this mission with the church outside Africa. All of the different sessions focused on Going Deeper in relationship to make this vision become a reality. The celebration kicked off with a message from Hands at Work founder George Snyman who focused on Going Deeper in our relationship with Christ. He asked the question, “Why do you do what you do?” The motivation for caring for the orphaned, widowed and dying should come out of a deep love for Christ, a thankful spirit for what He has done for us, and a willingness to share that sacrificial love with others through service. An excerpt of Ephesians 4 was given to everyone at the start of the Celebrations to read. I think it speaks directly to the purpose of these regional celebrations.

On the last day of the celebration before the official program started a large group of individuals gathered in the morning to sing songs together. It was just an amazing time. Here is a video of one of my favorite songs, “Ananipenda,” which translates to, “He loves me.”

Well, we are way overdue for our final post. We have been back for a couple of months now and have enjoyed reconnecting with so many friends and family, spending time outside (especially ice fishing and snowshoeing), cooking supper for my mom and dad, and working on crafty projects. The job hunt is starting in earnest now and we're excited to see what's next!

Our hearts ache for Africa, but in a way I hope never goes away. We appreciate so much what we've learned in our 39 months away about love, compassion, and friendship. Thanks for your support, your mail, blog comments, and so much else.

With love,

Brooke and Jed

Me and my nephew Gino

The view from Jed's deer stand

At the shack

Jed in Chicago with George and Pam

Just wanted to give a quick update. Things are going fine in Pretoria, after a few initial hiccups. The PC office was strangely quiet when we arrived at 8:15 on Monday morning. Although we emailed PC a few times before we arrived to touch base about our Close of Service 10-14 Oct, nobody mentioned that Monday was a public holiday in the U.S. so nobody would be there to start our medical checkups and interviews. So, we spent Monday hanging out watching movies and at the mall. It was a little torturous, after running 24/7 for the last few months, to be forced to slow down so suddenly. But this little "break" is probably a good thing, ultimately. I'm generally happy to be working long hours...I consider it a privilege to spend myself on behalf of the most vulnerable, who are so close to God's heart. But this is really a test of whether I truly believe what we've been learning and saying for these last few years, that we are before we do. I know God loves me not for the work that I'm doing but just for being me. I just need some practice in loving myself even when I'm twiddling my thumbs in the waiting room at the PC medical office or taking a walk or visiting with the Australian tourist at breakfast this morning.

Finally, our itinerary...

09 Oct - Pretoria for Peace Corps Close of Service

14 Oct - Cape Town holiday

22 Oct - Zambia for Hands workshop

02 Nov - Chicago with George

08 Nov - Minnesota, finally!

Had such a fun shower tonight for Jen and Pragcidence. The highlight was that as each of us arrived, we received a slip of paper with instructions for how we can pamper them, so throughout the baby shower they had foot massages, manicures, etc. It was fun to treat them in that way, and it gave us each an opportunity to sit next to one of them and get to chat. I wish I would have taken a picture of them to share with you!

I also enjoyed trying a new crochet project...hats for the babies. Jen's having a boy and Prag is having a girl. Here they are:

It was a nice afternoon with the ladies!

Nephew Gino at 2 months old...care to add a caption?

We watched E.T. and ate caramel corn last weekend. Jed had never seen it!

Marc, Kristal, Tyler, Alicia, Lynn, Lize-Marie, Jayme, and Jed in our living room.

We caught Boo having a nap in this position the other day. So funny!

Me and my dog...

Saturday we hiked Mt. Legogote (meaning "lion"). It's the mountain we see everyday near the office and from Hands Village. What a fun time with friends!

From Legogote: Peebles Valley, where we work and live.

We could see White River, Masoyi, the Farm, and ASM.

Alicia and Tyler

Emmanuel and Floyd

Kristal and Marc

You know who...

Thinking about little Peggy tonight. Not sure why. Wondering if she's safe, or if she's cold. Praying.

What a fun day!

Gradually and two of his friends spent the afternoon at our place. They loved the swing...

and the trampoline...

the birthday cake...

But the biggest hit were the balloons...

We went to a concert, a talent-show-style fundraiser for a nearby village project, and had a sleepover. The kids (including Jed) all had a great time. :)

So, here we are 11 days into July already. We've been back in South Africa for a month already. Two weeks after returning to SA we had a little get together with some of our old Peace Corps friends. 4 of us extended for a year (Me, Brooke, Tom Barker, and Nick Verono) and two more of our friends have come back to South Africa (Rose Zulliger, and Keri Dodge). Keri is working just up the road at YWAM/Ten Thousand Homes and Rose is getting a masters in public health down at University of Cape Town.

From L to R (Brooke, me, Tom, Nick, Rose, Keri)

We got together to reminisce old times and we also got to watch the USA in the world cup, well, not live, but we got to go to a bar together and cheer on the red, white and blue.

Go USA

Unfortunately, the US lost to Ghana 2-1 in that game. Disappointing, but at least we got to go down together. It was great to have each other and it definitely made the game more fun. For the US we were playing the last African team surviving and we were the definite minority at the bar.

I've been so busy posting these pictures to Facebook, I forgot not everybody has access. My new nephew Gino, born July 6th...

Isn't he adorable? I can't wait to hold him and kiss him!

I would like to thank the Quilters of Grace Lutheran Church who generously donated 12 quilts for Brooke and I to take back with us to South Africa. It is winter here, and although it doesn't get nearly as cold as it does back in the states, temperatures can dip to freezing and below at times. Here is a picture of Emmanuel and his neighbor Derek with one of the quilts that were donated. Emmanuel was part of my Junior Achievement program last year. He lives on his own in a cinder block house with no insulation. You can tell by the smile on his face how blessed he feels!Emmanuel on the left

Grace Lutheran Church also sent back many new pairs of socks, soap and face cloths to give out to those in need. They also allowed us to host our "Taste of Africa" dinner at their church. Thank you so much for all you have done! The rest of the quilts and donations are on their way to Swaziland today with Robyn and Samantha!

The World Cup is being played in South Africa! For those Americans and Canadiens out there, the World Cup is the soccer, sorry football, World Championship played once every four years. And unlike the World Series it actually involves teams from all over the World, even the US has a team. Ok, so many of you Americans do know what the World Cup is, maybe I'm just spending too much time with my English friend Dan Waspe and his brother, Rupert, who just happens to be visiting his brother in South Africa while the World Cup is taking place (coincidence?). I must admit that without Dan and his brother, I probably wouldn't be paying as much attention to the World Cup as I am, but any reason to be able to dress up in the stars and stripes (and maybe get under an Englishman's skin) is good enough for me.

From SoccerDan and his brother Rupert at halftime (I think Dan is saying this is the greatest day of his life

Until he found out his brother got him tickets to the Eng v. Slovenia game a week later.)

I had the good fortune of being invited to go to the Chile v. Honduras game by Dan. The game was played on the 16th of June at Mbombela stadium just 40 minutes from where we stay. As many of you know from our other posts about Kruger Park, we are just minutes from one of South Africa's greatest wildlife habitats and that theme plays out in the stadium. From the support structures that are meant to look like giraffes to the zebra stripped seating area.

From Soccer

From Soccer

I've read and heard from many that the vuvuzellas are incredibly annoying and hurt your ears, and yes, the vuvuzellas were humming, but to be honest to me the loudest noises at the game were coming from the speakers (in typical African style) before the game and at halftime.

From Soccer

We got to the stadium just over 3 hours before kickoff because we were told you needed to be at the park and ride at least 3 hours before the game to make sure you get to the game before kickoff. A group of about 50 of us arrived at the park where we were greeted by ticket takers telling us the stadium wouldn't open for another 15 minutes. We were literally on the first bus to arrive at the stadium!

From SoccerThis is how many people were in the park when we arrived (they all came on our bus)

Three hours before game time finally arrived and we were allowed to enter. They asked to look into our bags to make sure we weren't carrying any contraband (aka anything that has a logo on it that isn't Coke, Sony, McDonald's, Budweiser, MTN, or one of the other "official sponsors"). We were then asked to walk through a metal detector. Dan carried his 4 year old son through with him and was told by the attendant, "The red light went off." Dan said, "Ok," then walked away. I was next in line and told to stay put while she called over her supervisor. When her supervisor arrived she asked, "what does it mean when the red light goes off?" The supervisor responded, "that means the person is carrying some kind of metal. You should ask them to make sure their pockets are empty and tell them to walk through again." By this time Dan was long gone. Let's just hope terrorists aren't the first to arrive at sporting events! My walk through the metal detector was uneventful.

From Soccer

With 3 hours to kill before game time we decided to walk around and see the sights, eat our sandwiches which we were allowed to bring in, and take in the World Cup atmosphere. This consisted of joining in cheers with the throngs of Chilean fans there and trying to decipher what the Hondurans were saying. Think back to my 2 years of Spanish in high school, I'm pretty sure I heard, 'tengo' and 'taco.' Which means I have a taco. Now I'm not sure, but I don't think the Hondurans were cheering about having tacos. The Chile cheer was much simpler. One fan would shout, "Chi, Chi, Chi." The rest of the group would answer, "le, le, le." Then in unison we would all shout, "Viva, Chile!" The other cheer was, "Ole, ole, ole, ole, Chile, Chile," and no not the Sven and Ole kind, but the bullfighting, "ole" as in Oil of Olay.

From Soccer

We were asked to engage in some soccer banter; luckily I had two Englishmen with me so I didn't need to say much, and I had read on the press guide that both teams had a player named Suazo, that would key their attacks. So every once in a while I would say, "It all depends on how Suazo plays." And regardless of the fan base I would get nods of agreement.

The final score of the game was 1-0 Chile. One goal in 90 minutes. It was exciting, but not like American sports are exciting. The thing I think Americans will never get about soccer is that it routinely can and will end in a tie. Without even so much as an overtime or a shootout? In America we want a clearly defined winner!

So the reason we had to take the bus to the game is because there is no parking area at the stadium. You can't get dropped off or picked up outside the stadium and there is no walking on the roads that surround the stadium. So after the game 35,000 fans poured out of the stadium and waited for buses to come pick us up. We ended up waiting for 2-1/2 hours. I have since heard that with subsequent games at the stadium they have streamlined the exit process with better marked areas for where each bus will pick up and where they will be going. In the end the biggest reason we didn't get on a bus sooner was the 4 year old we were carrying with us. For some strange reason Dan didn't want to try to push to the front of the line and risk getting hit by a bus?

From Soccer

From Soccer

In the end I'm glad I can say, "I was there" (the official FIFA slogan at all ticket sales outlets). All in all my first professional soccer match and first World Cup game was fun. Although, unless the US gets to host the World Cup again it might be my last match for awhile. We also ended up going to the fan park in Nelspruit that night to watch the South Africa game. It was packed, cold, and South Africa lost, badly, but we still had a good time.

From SoccerThe official Coke theme song for the world cup

From Soccer

Me with Marc Damour and Tyler Ralph, supporting South Africa

I think I might have even impressed my English friend Dan enough for him to root for the US, should England find themselves out before us.

From Soccer

Great thanks to everyone who supported our Taste of Africa night at Grace Church on June 1. We had about 60 people attend. Highlights of the night included seeing nearly everyone eating authentic African cuisine (including chicken, pap, soup, ifisashi, and chakalaka) with their hands, so many great questions from the audience about our experiences and Hands at Work's support for orphaned and vulnerable children, and fun prizes. In all, over $2500 was raised to support essential services like home visits, education, and food security for orphaned and vulnerable children in some of the poorest communities in Africa.

Jed's dad, Wally, and my mom, Gina, along with

other family members helped prepare dinner

Ladies from Grace Church volunteered to take tickets and help with clean up

Materials describing Hands at Work in Africa were distributed

Centerpieces like this one, including a variety of South

African goodies, were given away at the end of the night

Me and Jed in our "africa" T-shirts

For more information on how you can help, go to www.handsatwork.org and click on "Get Involved."

The wedding weekend was fantastic! We went to Elbow Lake Lodge and such a great family time. Megan was gorgeous, and we're so happy to welcome Blake into the family. What a great guy!

Emily Law took beautiful professional pictures, and you can see them on her Flickr account by clicking here. The following are a few that Kim and I took...

Dress Rehearsal

Megan and Blake with Pastor Holly from Grand Forks

Wedding Day - Kim doing Megan's hair

Bridesmaids almost ready to go!

Me and my cousin Billy

Megan and Uncle Bill

The real thing

Bridesmaids

Husband and wife

The reception

Brooke and Jed

My cousin Ryan, Holly, and Lilly

Mike and Sisi Kimmie

Pops and Gram

The best picture I got of Megan's dress

Dancing the night away

Going to Megan's wedding prompted me to look at our wedding photos. (We'll have been married for 7 years this July!) Thought you might enjoy these...

Brooke and Jed

Dad and Brooke

Kim and Brooke and Jon

Pam and Wally Heubner

Gina and Jeff Rittgers

Dolly and Jim Grillo (my grandparents)

Marlene and Orv Rittgers (my grandparents)

Eloda and Leland Krumwiede

Here are a few highlights so far.

My birthday, which was planned in detail by me and included (all in one day!)... A walk with the fam in the woods

It's woodtick season, hence the pants tucked into our socks. Classic Minnesota fashion...

Mama and me

Foosball with brother-in-law Michael and "little" brother Jon

Me and Kim drinking, ahem, virgin margaritas

Fishing with Jed on Spirit Lake (a.k.a. by mom as the "South Bay of Vermilion")

Blowing out 30 candles

Kimmie's baby shower Teacher Megan leading games with the aunties and cousins

Megan's bachelorette party at the Twins' game

Me and my sisi

Brand new Target Field All photos of our time with Jed's family are conspicuously missing. That's because we don't have a camera right now and these are all from my sister's camera. We'll have to get pics from the other side of the family soon.

Please join us for:

A Taste of Africa6pm Tuesday, June 1Grace Lutheran Church in Hibbing

We'll be serving African food for dinner, speaking about our time in Africa, and door prizes will be given. Call our cell phone 218-969-2149 if you're interested. Tickets are$30 per person and all proceeds from the event will go to Hands at Work to support orphaned and vulnerable children in Africa.

For some reason, I think it gets harder to blog as we're approaching a time in the U.S. Not sure why. But we definitely feel our brains making the shift towards home. (It's not the kind of thing that just sneaks up on a person, at least for me.) And I think it's partly because I start to think more about what's different in my life, how I've changed, as I imagine home.

On Saturday morning I got a call from Eunice. She and her twin sister, Eunie, are 19 now; they are the heads of their household, living with and caring for their 8-year-old nephew Gradually. You might remember them from a couple of previous posts. In the last two years we have gotten to know these girls very well. We buy them groceries periodically, have them over to watch movies and jump on the trampoline. Nothing so special. Anyway, on Saturday morning, Eunice said over the phone, her voice strained with anxiety, "We need to tell you something. We have no food." The night before, they had to ask a neighbor for a little bit of corn meal so Gradually had something to eat, which he must have in order to take his medication. And today, there is no food in the house.

Can you imagine? They're 19. They're in 10th grade, since like many orphans, they're a bit behind in school. They're working hard to graduate high school...they have no electricity so they do their homework by candlelight most nights. They have no money and can't get jobs if they want to finish school. (Even if they did want to quit school, they would struggle to find work...the unemployment rate is around 30% in the area.) The thing is, no child should worry about where she will find food that day. We sometimes become desensitized to the idea; we get used to all the melodramatic TV commercials and people asking for money. But these are children I love and care about. Imagine if it were your child, only with no auntie or uncle or grandma or social worker to run to for help. They have a few neighbors who are sometimes kind to them, even though they have very little themselves. And consider that in many places, including here in Africa, there is almost nothing standing between that desperate hunger and prostitution, if you're a 19-year-old girl.

I remember years ago a friend asking me how God could bless me with so much and yet allow others to suffer. I told her I believed God blessed me in order to bless others. Don't get me wrong; there have been times when I've cried out at the injustice of it all. When I close my eyes, I see their faces. I see grannies who have lost four out of five children. I see two-year-old Peggy, her listless eyes and her cold little feet, whose sick mother was driven to prostitution in order to buy food. I see Gift and Lorraine and Nora and Daniel and so many others. I'm not sure you can feel the magnitude of the problem until you walk in the village and hear the stories. HIV has ravaged Africa, devastated Africa.

I absolutely still believe that God expects me to do something about it, whether I'm here or living in Minnesota. After all, the Bible says, "True religion is this, to care for the widows and the orphans in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world." James isn't saying be nice to each other and that's enough. The command "care for the widows and the orphans" isn't mean to be symbolic in any way. He's saying go do it. Love God and love your neighbor. Not deep down in some pink, sweet, cloudy way, but literally. Take care of the poor. Feed, clothe, visit the orphans and widows. If you're serious about it, re-read the story of the Good Samaritan, which takes it a step further. (Our pastors and priests are too often watering this one down.) Not only should you not ignore the poor. Not only should you not be satisfied giving them a dollar as you step over them in the street. But cross the street. Seek them out. Go out of your way to help...even dirty, smelly, sick strangers. Even the ones who don't deserve it. This is serious stuff.

Another thing I've learned (and when I say learned, I think I mean more like a teeny tiny revelation into God's character) from being in Africa is that Jesus was a man of sorrows, well-acquainted with grief. The only reason my heart breaks for these children is because God's heart is breaking even more. He's asking all of us, pleading with us, to be part of the solution, to bring justice to the poor and oppressed, even though it's difficult. Jesus was pretty radical, and he's calling us to be radical, too.

Whew! If you made it this far, thanks for reading. I certainly don't have all the answers. And I'll be thinking a lot in the coming months about how to translate all of this into life back home. For now, I'm happy to be around to take the girls grocery shopping when they need food. And their story is one of the more hopeful ones, since their older brother is currently attending university on a full scholarship and has good job prospects as an accountant when he finishes in June. It won't be the end of their struggles, but it sure could be a new chapter for them. Just as a footnote, Eunie and Eunice and Gradually were featured in a video that was part of the Living Truth telethon in 2008. If you want to hear more about their story, I think you can link to the video here.

So I saw a link on ESPN saying, "Newspaper sorry for depicting Coach K as devil." Seeing as how Brooke went to UNC (go Tarheels) I thought I should click on the link and read the story. It was an interesting little story. Probably not the first nor last time we'll see Coach K depicted as a devil. As I finished reading the article my eye caught the ad on the side of the page.

Newspaper depicts Coach as devil and furry little woodland creatures do the same to Brendan Fraser movie poster. As coach K says, "Juvenile, simply Juvenile." I didn't even know Brendan Fraser was still acting! Just to make sure it wasn't a joke I clicked on the ESPN story again from the home page. It was a different ad this time although if the movie plug was on purpose great job Furry Vengeance Marketing Team even if it is a little juvenile. Although after watching the trailer I think that is exactly what they are going for!

By the way Brendan Fraser in Furry Vengeance opens April 30h and Butler wins their first national championship on April 5th!

We've always laughed about how our dog Boo would eat anything, but we recently started pushing the envelope a little, testing different foods. (Johanna the Jack Russell terrier, on the other hand, is very picky. Won't eat the crust of bread or any vegetables.) So, here is a list of things Boo eats:

broccolicorn cobsmelon rindsice cubescarrotsraw potatoesraw noodlesapple coresuncooked riceused tea bags (?!)plastic toysShe ate a hot chili once, but hasn't made that mistake again, much to Jed's disappointment. (He's tried repeatedly.) Strangely enough, she won't eat guava or kalamata olives.

My aunt Debbie Grillo taught me to crochet about three years ago, right before we left for Africa. Since then, I have crocheted mostly scarves, baskets, and dishcloths, but I was really just looking for an excuse to take on a bigger project when I found out Kimmie was pregnant. The baby blanket I made is about 1m square and it's made of soft machine-washable cotton. The old Afrikaaner lady working in the yarn store was NOT happy I bought cream colored yarn for a baby blanket. She kept looking at me in dismay and suggesting more colorful options, like lavender/turquoise variegated yarn with sparkles. Ugh. I really like the way it turned out. The pattern is available here. I hope little Franklin likes it. (That's the latest name Jed picked out for him, we're trying it out.)

Here is a short little video of Kachele Farm in Zambia where we stayed during our time in Luanshya. The man in the video is Samuel Zulu who moved to the farm with his family at the end of last year from Chipata, Zambia. I will try to post more video from the trip in the near future.

Highlights from Jed's birthday party at a nearby lake...

Jed's favorite thing to do in the world...fish

Birthday cake

Friends

Marley and Sonney

A rainbow over Mt. Legogote

Laughing at Marc and Divine untangling a line from the tree

Me and Jed untangling another line from another tree

A truly South Africa braai...boerwors, sausages, steak, chops and chicken

We had such a relaxing afternoon. We're so thankful for the great friends we have here, especially Dan and Jen (Marley and Sonney's dad and mom) for making it such a special day. We love you guys!

Hands at Work Conference time is here again, only this year instead of one big conference we're having 4 regional conferences. It will be a very busy time for us in the office, making preparations. In order to prepare our hearts and focus on the children we serve, we will have a time of focused prayer leading up to our first conference in South Africa on March 25. We'd love for you to join us. Follow this link to see a description and to download the prayer guide.

By now, news of Kimmie's pregnancy is nothing new. But can I just say how fun it is to have your sister be pregnant first? I like asking her all the things I could never ask anyone else, like "doesn't the baby's kicks just feel kind of like gas or something?" Or "do you think you look pregnant or just kind of fat?" (Of course, people have told her she looks pregnant, not fat, but only really nice people, so that's not reliable.)

Also, I think it's going to fun to see her in a bridesmaid's dress when she's 8 months pregnant at Megan's wedding.

I can say all of these things and tease her because she's doing so well. She's strong and fit and SOOO excited to be a mommy. And she's going to be a GREAT mommy!

Wrapping things up in Zambia. On our way to James and Sukai’s house for supper tonight. Looking forward to it...they’re really great people. Their youngest, Yamikani, is 3 and she thinks Jed is a jungle gym. One last big meeting tomorrow and then we’re off to Lusaka for a night before catching our flight to SA on Thursday. Headaches for both of us the past couple days...praying it’s not malaria. Missing you all!

__________ Information from ESET NOD32 Antivirus, version of virus signature database 4887 (20100222) __________

The message was checked by ESET NOD32 Antivirus.

http://www.eset.com

Yesterday morning I sat in the office with the Kabwe team, and we were so grateful to have power back after an unexplained outage the previous day which seemed to affect only our office. Suddenly we heard a strange noise. I saw the eyes of the others get big, and when I turned around I saw black smoke pouring out of the electrical outlet. Oh no! I jumped up to unplug my computer. It smelled awful! The bad news is, the power is now out in our office. The good news is, my computer is okay.

__________ Information from ESET NOD32 Antivirus, version of virus signature database 4875 (20100217) __________

The message was checked by ESET NOD32 Antivirus.

http://www.eset.com

It's good to be back in Zambia. We arrived in Luanshya on Thursday the 4th, and the highlight of our time so far has just been reconnecting with our Hands at Work family here. We had a huge braai on Saturday night at Kachele Farm with 31 of us, including everybody's children. We enjoyed boerwors (South Africa sausages), chicken, coleslaw, beet salad, pasta salad, green beans, and juice. And we played games like hot potato and "shoot shoot bang." We've really enjoyed staying at the farm with Andrew from Zimbabwe and Jaap from Holland. They are both long-term volunteers for Hands, and we've cooked together, played spoons, watched movies, and mostly just hung out.

On Sunday we took the bus two hours south to Kabwe, where we spent most of our time during our 6 week visit in 2008. It's my 5th time in Zambia now, so you can imagine the feelings of being here are much different now that we know our way around and how things work and what to expect. Jed will return to Luanshya probably tomorrow and I will return probably Friday. On Thursday the 25th we will fly from Lusaka back to Johannesburg and arrive home late that night.

Some of the things we've been working on are re-registering Hands at Work in Zambia, training a new bookkeeper, assessing options for Internet, organizing visas and work permits for volunteers, reviewing project plans, and planning for 2010. We make many plans each day, but things always move at a different pace here. Some of the things that have "come up" in the past week-and-a-half are numerous police stops/tickets/bribes asked for, unexpected rains, 3 coworkers coming down with awful cases of malaria, the vehicle breaking down at least every other day...welcome to Zambia. The good news is that all that waiting allows for lots of time for visiting and building relationship. We love our friends here, and we've really enjoyed being with them.

I hope we'll have other chances to blog before we leave, we'll see. We miss you all very much!

Brooke and I are finally headed to Zambia! We leave on Thursday, February 4 and will be there for 3 weeks. (Missing the Superbowl. Luckily, the Vikings are not playing. I imagine that scene in Rainman where Tom Cruise pretends to be with the Nielsen tv ratings company so Dustin Hoffman's character can watch The People's Court as Brooke and I go door to door in Luanshya trying to find the game, when I start shouting 8 minutes 'til kickoff and have a breakdown.)

Many of you might remember that we were going to go to Zambia shortly after we arrived back in South Africa last September. Weel due to visa issues and passport problems that trip was delayed. Then due to Peace Corps issues it was delayed again. We finally got approval to go last week and we are really excited. We almost had one more delay when we called the airline to reschedule our tickets and they told us one of our flights was suspended! Brooke called the airline's main office and after being on hold for 10 minutes was told they don't know why the tickets were suspended, but if we went to the airport they could sort us out there. Brooke quickly asked what airport and the response was, "any airport." Surprised by this answer Brooke asked if the Kruger airport would work and again the agent said yes. So we quickly arranged to get out to Kruger airport (it is about as far from Hibbing to the Hibbing airport as it is from where we stay to the Kruger airport and the airports are similar in size.)

We got to the airport and found an amazing ticketing agent there. After giving our ticket information she said she would have to call the head office to find out why our tickets were suspended. We said we tried that and they told us to come to the airport! She called the head office and after being on hold for 10 minutes hung up! Then she pulled out 'the manual.' It was as thick as Gone With the Wind, with pages the size of a road atlas. She quickly started flicking through pages and typing on her keyboard, and after only about 5 minutes said she managed to get them unsuspended. All that was left was rebooking and we were good. She started typing again after asking us dates and times then asked why we weren't able to travel the first time. We told her why and she said, "Well, I don't want you to have to pay for the rebooking so I will just put funeral." She finished up and gave us our new itinerary and showed us the rebooking fee was supposed to be R650 per ticket (about$200 for both tickets). We were amazed! Let's just say the customer service we have come to expect in South Africa was less than stellar so when something like this happens you are truly amazed! Not sure how often we will get to post while we are there, but I'm sure we will post when we can.

We would like to thank all of you who continue to pray for us during our time here in Africa. When things like the customer service miracle happen it is clear that we have many people praying for us!

Getting up in the middle of the night to watch the game isn't as fun as one might think. Especially when the Vikings lose. Now the game's over and it's getting light outside...gonna to be a great day at the office! The upside of it is that right now Jed's getting out the razor to shave his playoffs beard. :)

Today we got a call from Jed's mom. Shanti's been sick, and today she had to be put down.

The vet thinks she probably died of natural causes, as her kidneys were slowing shutting down, an apparently common way to go for 8-9 year old Siamese.

She was a great cat, and we're definitely going to miss her. We've been reminiscing about how she loved to play soccer and fetch little balls of paper, how she was always falling off of things, how we didn't miss her tail at all. (She had a tail, remember, it was just really short.) We remembered how Jed misspelled her name once and then Kim and Mike called her Shati from then on (ugh!), and her adventures flying to North Carolina and back (escaping in the airport, meowing the whole flight, etc.), the awesome cat tree Jed built for her (which he called her skyscraper), how she loved to drink out of the sink, and one of our favorites, her somersaults. I remember when I first adopted her, before Jed and I were married and I was living alone in North Carolina...it was so comforting to come home to someone...she always ran to do the door meowing when I walked in. Pam said today she appreciated the same thing, especially when Wally was working afternoons.

I'm so glad she got to stay with Jodi, Jamie, Jordan, Taylor, Morgan, and Carter for a while. And Pam and Wally, too. Everybody took such good care of her. And thanks to Pam and Jordan for being there with her today at the end. Bye, Shanti!

Today we celebrated Eunie and Eunice's 19th birthday. After a shopping spree (courtesy of my generous parents) in Hazyview where we bought new school uniforms including shoes, shirts, and socks, we brought a feast back to E&E's house. Older brother Oscar and nephew Gradually joined us for chicken, rolls, and chippies, plus pink cupcakes (which were a hit) and ice cream. They loved it. (As usual, Gradually ate like a horse...unbelievable.)

I'm don't know when it happened, but I sure do love these three special kids. Like most orphans, Eunie and Eunice are a couple of years behind in school, but they were both thrilled to show us their marks a couple of weeks ago...they passed grade 9! (Just imagine for a second that they have no mom or auntie to take care of them. They are raising Gradually, doing all the cooking and cleaning, maintaining a garden in their yard, and somehow managing to stay in school. Incredible!) Gradually is really healthy these days and at eight years old is starting grade 4. He'll be studying English for the first time this year (which Jed and I are thrilled about, of course). Five new matchbox cars made his day today. And watching him smile when Jed gave him a big hug made my day.

From this weekend's safari...

View from my seat

Hyena

Rhinos

Lions lounging (from a distance)

Baboon

Marabou storks

Rock monitor

Kudu

Cheetah (my first!)

After two days in the car

From Jed's Facebook status: "Went into Kruger National Park this weekend. We saw cheetah, lions 4 times, several rhino, over 100 elephants, around 500 cape buffalo (buffalo sex, and fighting), Hyena, all kinds of different birds, (including bird sex, Southern Carmine Bee Eater, Southern Ground Hornbill my favorites, and what looked to be a mass migration of Marabou Storks as well as 2 endangered saddle billed storks (there are less than 100 in Southern Africa), around 100 baboons (including baboon sex), 1000s of impala, hippos, wildebeest (gnu), zebra (including a zebra fight), black backed jackal, Kudu!, Waterbuck, nyala, giraffes, monkeys, warthogs (with babies), steenbok, duiker, mongoose(s), tons of vultures and many different eagles. I enjoy every time I go into the park, but this was the best so far!"

Merry Christmas, everybody! We've been reflecting on this past year, amazed at where we are and what we are part of. I (Brooke) am, in particular, thankful for the opportunity to be living in community with an amazing, diverse group of people who share our desire to serve God by serving people. I have learned so much about hospitality and caring for your neighbor from so many who have cared for us this year--especially since returning from the U.S. in September. I expected it to get easier to be away from our friends and family during the holidays (this is our 3rd year away from home), but in some ways it's only gotten harder! Still, we are blessed to be part of a family here who loves us. I've also learned so much this year about compassion, trusting God, and about appreciating every day.

Christmas Eve afternoon we spent at Mac Mac pools, swimming, reading, and having a picnic lunch. Then last night we went to a Christmas play and had a late Christmas dinner with George and Carolyn and their kids plus Levy and Pragcidence. We went to church this morning, came home to clean up, now Jed is making candy cane cookies in anticipation of friends arriving this afternoon to eat and play games. The weather's been in the 90s all week, so we're really grateful to have clouds and cooler temps today. (Of course, we're dreaming of snow...it sounds like MN could stand to share some of theirs.)

Thank you all for your support this year. You have no idea how much your phone calls and emails and text messages and packages and blog/Facebook comments mean to us! Here is our Christmas present to you...we had so much fun making it! If you laugh even half as much as we have, we'll be thrilled.

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

A week or so ago when Minnesota had that cold snap go through I started thinking back to when we first arrived in South Africa in July 2007. It was the middle of their winter and people were complaining about how cold it was. As a Minnesotan I would just smile and say if you think this is cold where I come from it can get to -40 and it will barely get above freezing for weeks at a time. They would look at me and shiver never really being able to understand what cold like that is really like. I suddenly realized I have become them. I can imagine what -20 is like, but it has been so long since I have felt it that I really can't comprehend it.

The one difference that there is between myself and my African neighbors is that I want it back. I want to feel the sting of the cold air filling up my lungs. I want my eyelashes to freeze together every time I blink a little too slowly. I want my cheeks to turn rosy red after standing outside for 10 minutes and after an hour in the cold just start to become numb. Then I would go rushing into the warming shack or sit by the fireplace or wood stove. Drop my hat and gloves on the radiator just long enough for them to dry out and run back out into the cold.

I don't understand why people would want to go on a destination Christmas to a warm, sunny place. Yesterday it was 90 today 88 tomorrow 84. The sun is shining the grass is green and it is Christmas? This year will be our third straight Christmas outside Minnesota and there is nothing I would rather have for Christmas than a foot or two of snow on the ground.

Brooke and I will be finishing up our time with Peace Corps in October next year. Let's see if I still feel the same way next Christmas, or an even better test if I still feel the same way in February, March and April.

I hope everyone has a great Christmas and gets a chance to feel the sting of cold weather!

It's hard to even believe. When we found out our Meggie was getting married, I was pretty crushed we were going to miss it. It's really a miracle that everything fell into place perfectly. Jed found an amazing deal with air miles...and there just happened to be a special where you got 50% extra on transferred miles...and Jed just barely had enough miles to stay under the transfer limit...and our families were incredible generous to "top us off" with miles. We'll be home May 13 - June 11, in time for Jed to fish before it gets too warm (shouldn't the opener be a few weeks later, honestly), in time to celebrate my 30th birthday with all of you, and in time for Megan and Blake's wedding on the 5th. See you then!

If you're disappointed that we're coming and you want to know who to blame, it's this girl! For those of you who don't know her, this is my cousin Megan Garrity. She's like a little sister to me and Kim, and she's marrying Blake Ellefson, a Hibbing guy that many of you know. (We love Blake too!) They're getting married at Elbow Lake Lodge, where Jed and I had our honeymoon. Isn't that cool?

I have read so many good books lately. (You can see all of them in the left margin.) But I enjoyed The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls so much I just feel like telling everybody I know. It's a memoir, and the author tells the story of growing up with parents who are odd, neglectful and nomadic, and the tone is incredibly honest. She certainly doesn't waste any time feeling sorry for herself. I'd highly recommend it!

We celebrated the marriage of two of our Hands at Work family members on November 7th. What a beautiful day! The highlight was listening to their vows. To hear an African man stand in front of 100 people and declare his love and fidelity...it's very counter-cultural and oh so encouraging.

Pragcidence and Levy

George performed the ceremony. Here he is giving communion to Prag.

The Wedding Party

The wedding party changed into more traditional African clothing before the reception and danced in, Zambian style

Me and Jed

What have you left your fingerprints on lately? I was listening to a sermon (if you have time click and listen) George Snyman, founder of Hands at Work, gave at Grace Church in Racine, WI last week. He said God has given you a fingerprint. It wasn't the central message of the sermon, but it got me to thinking.

When I think of fingerprints I see images of crime scene investigators with little brushes searching for a print a criminal may have left behind. I also am reminded that fingerprints are unique like snowflakes no two are the same. Investigators are looking for fingerprints because if they can a print they can try to match it to a database of criminals whose fingerprints are saved in computers all over the world.

The term fingerprints these days extends much farther than just an impression left behind from touching something. There are genetic fingerprints (your DNA code), computing fingerprints (uniquely identifying data) and many more. Did you know they can even tell if you are a smoker by your fingerprint? Apparently certain chemicals are secreted by your skin if you are a smoker. If they process the fingerprint a little differently a smokers fingerprint will glow under fluorescent light while a non smokers will stay dark. Crime scene investigators are learning more and discovering new techniques that can tell increasingly more about a person simply by the fingerprints they leave behind.

So the question is what have you left your fingerprints on lately? What story do your fingerprints tell? If someone comes after you and dusts for prints will you be ashamed or proud of what they find? We all have an opportunity daily to leave our fingerprints on something that matters, on something that makes a difference. Ask yourself, where are your fingerprints?

So we are living up at the farm again. I know this is not new news to many of you, but here are some recent photos mixed in with some old photos!

From Farm

So the last time we lived up here our neighbors had a Jack Russel named Jack. Here is a picture of him playing (terrorizing) Buhle.

From 2009-11Now we are living up at the farm and again our neighbors have a Jack Russel. This time it is a girl and her name is Joanna. Buhle likes having a companion and only gets really annoyed when we pay ANY attention to Joanna and not Bu.

From 2009-11

Of course some things never change they just get bigger!

The last time we lived up here they had started renovations on the main farm house as well. You can see they came a long way. And no more fence for Bu to get stuck in!

From Puppy

The farm is a great place to live. We love our new neighbors, but we also miss our old! For all of you who have lived up here over the past couple of years just know if there isn't room in the farm house there is always room on our floor!

George, the founder and CEO of Hands at Work, and a great friend of ours here in South Africa, will be in Minneapolis this Thursday (November 12). He'll be meeting with pastors at Hope Church in Apple Valley. That evening, you are all invited to Vision of Glory Lutheran Church in Plymouth at 7pm where George will share about the vision of Hands at Work. He's a captivating story-teller, so we want to encourage you all to go!

If you have questions, you can contact us or another friend of ours who is helping to organize the event, a former Hands at Work volunteer named Dara Hillstrom. You can reach her at 480-272-2742 or darajean15@hotmail.com).

I wasn't sure how to write or title this post. It starts with a tragic accident, but I found the discussion after the accident interesting. I am in no way trying to make light of the tragic accident. Please leave comments.

Two days ago two teenage boys drowned in the dam just outside the fence of ASM. A brother of one of the boys watched helplessly from the shoreline as the boat the boys were fishing in tipped over. The two boys most likely were not good swimmers and didn't make it the 50 feet or so from where their boat capsized to the shoreline. A few staff and students went out to try to help, but they couldn't find the two boys.

You can see how close the boat was to shore

Paramedics were called, but were also helpless as the bodies could not be found. A police diver was called in, but couldn't find the boys. They called off the search off late in the afternoon. The diver had only been in for about an hour and a half but didn't have the proper equipment to continue searching, and it would be getting dark soon. Many family and community members spent the night camped out around the dam (large pond).

Individuals in rural African communities are superstitious. Shortly after the boys died and partially because the bodies weren't found the rumors started about why/how they died. Some thought hippos had gotten them. This is not so far fetched. About 6 weeks ago there were two hippos living in the dam. Little known fact that hippos are responsible for more deaths than any other animal in Africa. But as I said it has been at least 6 weeks since the hippos left. Some thought mermaids lived in the dam and were upset that the boys were fishing with nets. Maybe a mermaid got caught in the net and pulled causing the boat to tip over? The most common idea was that a massive anaconda lived in the dam and pulled the two boys under and killed them. Another said the Ancestors were angry about recent break-ins in the area and were trying to tell the community to put a stop to it.

Divers in the boat getting ready to start Day 2 (you can see people climbing into trees in the background to get a better view)

Yesterday more divers were called in. They started searching around 11:30 and by 2:00 they had found both bodies. To me it looked as though the boys had drowned. Fairly simple answer. No animals, mystic creatures, or mystic beings. Although one could say the Ancestor theory would still stand. There is no proof that the Ancestors weren't responsible.

Cars stopped along the road to see what was going on

I doubt we will ever hear the end of the story. No cause of death will be shared with the hundreds of people there yesterday. Which, as in any culture, will lead to imaginative stories of, "how they really died." I guess we aren't much different in that way. Think of an old urban legend or a story from your childhood you were told about that, "scary place," or the, "abandoned house." Most legends start with some form of truth, maybe a tragic accident like this was. But it is that same tragic truth that makes the legend just believable enough.

People were lined up around the dam

I didn't compress this photo before uploading it. If you click on the photo you can see the enlarged original. (Caution: If you look closely behind the raft just poking out of the water you can see the head and hand of one of the boys being towed to shore)

Now that I'm back in the swing of things (with work, life in Africa, etc.), I think I'm ready to share a little more of our trip home. (Yes, it's been a long time coming, but it didn't feel right to go back until I had really left...sure, makes a lot of sense.)

Papa with Lilly Garrity, one of two new cousins, at Perch Lake

Close as my dad's gotten to being a grandpa so far...Kael Burkes is too funny. (Yes, he's asleep.)

How cool is it when family and friends come together? This is my auntie Debbie and brand new Lianna with Amber and Luci Bretto.

Newly engaged! Isn't Megan Kelly beautiful? Blake is a lucky guy! (Megs is pretty lucky herself.)

Papa's cabin is the greatest place on Earth

Jed with our new niece Amanda. Well, she's not that new (almost 18 months!), but we're certainly new to her. But we love her already!

Uncle Jed reading stories

My mom and dad's new house on Spirit Lake. Honestly, it was such a treat to be able to help them move. And what a beautiful place to live!

Fishing on Spirit Lake

Brothers and sisters--Jed with Jacob, Jodi, Josh, and Bobbie

Mom and Kim at the shack

We did so many fun things that we didn't get pictures of...golfing with Josh and Kathy at Giant's Ridge, supper with Aaron, meeting Bobbie's new husband Mark for the first time, eating Chipotle, walking through Grandpa Rittgers garden and hearing about Roberta's latest projects, campfires and S'mores, playing 500 with Grandma Krumwiede, supper at Shelly's with Alison and the crew, the Twins game with Mike and Kim, supper at Auntie Debbie and Uncle Greg's, Jordan's birthday party, pizza at Ciao, seeing the Schleppe-girls at Perch, kicking back with a Labatt, playing with Shanti, hanging with Beth, Andrea and Brianna, four saunas, releasing Dad's Chinese lanterns, and so much more. Wow! We have been incredibly blessed.

Thank you all for loving us and supporting us so generously. We love you!

Hi guys! Just a quick note to let you know that we weren't able to leave for Zambia on Sunday as planned. We're waiting to get our passports back, because they're in Pretoria so that our South African visas can be renewed.

Life is good here. We've moved back to our old apartment at the Farm (our 7th move in 26 months). It's a good thing and a bad thing, but we're just happy it's a long term thing. No more moving, please!

Jed's getting into his new role working with the International Team. (Sounds kind of funny when I say that, like it's a large operation. It's a team of 4 now.) They're responsible for the Hands at Work website, marketing material, the Facebooke cause and fan page, and relating to our offices in the US, Canada, Australia, the UK, and South Africa. He's really enjoying it, and it's much less stressful than coordinating the new volunteers.

I'm struggling to keep up with my work supporting Zambia. There's so much going on! Planning to do and funding coming in, project proposals and reports to review, and seemingly endless numbers of emails to get through. I love it though.

Our time away reminded me how much I appreciate living in community with such a great group of people. What a privilege to live and work with volunteers from SA, Canada, the US, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Holland, and the UK. You can't live and work together and remain just friends. These people have seen the best of us and the worst of us, and they've still chosen to love us. We are family.

Well, after spending 5 weeks with family and friends in the "states" we are now back with Hands at Work in South Africa. We had a blast back home! Thanks to everyone who made our time at home so special. It went by too quickly though. There are many of you who we didn't get to see, and for that I apologize. Before we left South Africa to head home it felt like 5 weeks would be enough time to see everyone we know, but the time just kept slipping away. Just like sands in an hour glass...

For those of you that came to our Hands at Work presentation the night before we left, I would like to say thank you. It was great to be able to share what Hands at Work and Brooke and I have been doing for the past two years. It was also a great shift into getting ready to head back to South Africa for one more year. Our new close of service (COS for you RPCVs) is now October 14, 2010. As Brooke and I were sharing about many of our challenges and successes at the presentation we gave it got both of us excited about coming back. Then we remembered the 36 hours of flights and 5 hours of riding in cramped vehicles.

Our flights were long, but uneventful (just a 1 hour delay before our flight to Amsterdam.) We got to the Hibbing airport around 5:30am on Tuesday morning and arrived in Johannesburg at 9:30pm on Thursday night. Peace Corps had sent a driving service to pick us up and take us to a backpackers in Pretoria. We spent Thursday and Friday saying goodbye to many Peace Corps friends in Pretoria. Our original end date was September 14, 2009 and so many volunteers were preparing to head back to the US for good. Because we had just been there many people were asking questions like: How have things changed; how's the economy affecting things; what food did you eat first when you got off the plane (answer: Chipotle!). We also got to ask them questions about how they were feeling about going home for good, and how did things go wrapping up their time at their sites; what do they have planned for when they get home. All important stuff we will have to go through in the next year. It was great to see everyone, but bittersweet knowing that we were losing much of our Peace Corps support staff. Luckily, we have so many great people that we get to work with daily at Hands at Work, phone calls from family and friends, visits from family and friends (hopefully!), and of course the internet!

We will try and continue to post often (hopefully more often than lately). We miss everyone back home already, but two years went by quickly and we just have one more to go!