Kindle Reading And Other Sundry News.

I'm pretty sure I'm leaving my current internet connection tomorrow ~ that is, I know I'm leaving the current house I'm in and I'm pretty sure the next house I go to won't have internet. :)

Nat and I left Botswana on Tuesday and headed for the border with two of our friends kindly driving us there. It's a good thing we were reading "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies" from somebody's kindle along the way because the scenery was that boring.

We went from one missionary (in Botswana) to another to another (in South Africa)... all from our home church! It's so nice to be able to visit with these families and they have been very hospitable in opening up their homes to us. We are just finishing up a visit with one of the missionary families and are heading over to the other family tomorrow afternoon. That's the place I'm (pretty sure) will not have internet access, which is fine. :)

Nat and I are returning to America this next week, although we're going about it the long way! Johannesburg to Amsterdam to Detroit to Allentown... yikes, I'm tired just thinking about it.

See some of you soon!

Jumbled Lodging.

I feel I must give an honorable mention to the place we stayed at in Kasane last week, mainly because the pictures speak volumes!

The facility just opened in May, although it was supposed to be open in October (TIA - this is Africa). Apparently there were chalets on the property but since we were going to be staying in tents, that's where our focus was. The lady was very nice in setting us up and even arranging for the three girls to sleep in one tent, rather than having one of the girls stay in a tent by herself. Besides the dirt everywhere, lack of pathway, and the promise of landscaping sometime in the future, the place was great. Running (hot!) water and electricity have a way of convincing you that yes, this place really is luxurious!

Nat and I had to chuckle when we looked up to the right of our tent and saw this:

And we laughed even harder when we saw all the metal debris conveniently stored across the way from our tent:

This was the only picture I have to accurately show how the tents really looked:

The tents were quite cozy and the woolen blanket was a plus! The days were warm, but the nights were downright cold and I was thankful my husband forked over his blanket one night so I could get my feet warm:). What a great guy I have!

With campfires every night and the wind flapping at our door, we felt like we were kind of camping, but Krista did inform us it wasn't real camping because of the lack of an outhouse. Right.

Nevertheless, Nat and I are now looking forward to our first real camping trip... maybe this fall??? That would be fun:).

Impressed!

We woke up early Thursday morning with high hopes of catching the sun rise on the Chobe River and we were not disappointed. Chobe National Park was packed full of game, beautiful scenery along the river (looks are deceiving though!), and evidence of the elephants -- both to the eyes and the nose. :) While we didn't see any lions or leopards, I was completely happy just seeing giraffes, zebras, a crocodile, and more. I try to keep my expectations low. :)

One highlight of our safari ride was driving by the same hippo and asking him to yawn for us which he so nicely did - twice:). It was most likely a sign of aggression, but I'll stay in my happy, safe world and just think he was tired;).

The whole day was absolutely amazing and one that was completely worth the money! If I could, I would go on another ride through Chobe in a heartbeat - I would just have to drive the 6 hours north to return to the area:).

We actually did get out of the car to watch the sunset and take pictures. Call me paranoid, but I was definitely looking over my shoulder for lions to come down the hill and at the water for crocodiles to quickly jump out. I figured most accidents involving wild animals and people are never planned and I didn't want our group to be added to a statistic!

Pictures just don't do justice. Taking a safari through Chobe was one of the best, if not the best, experience I have ever had overseas. It was that good!!! At the end of the day, when we were snuggled into our tent (I'll have to share that in another post) I thought again of what a great God I serve. His creativity was on full display in Chobe!

Happiness:).

~And it has been one very sweet year filled with much happiness~

Grace.

Every afternoon around 1 PM I meander over to a little orange stand. Waiting for me there is Grace, along with her adorable 5 month old son David. We usually chit chat about the day and in the course of conversation I find some cultural tidbit to tuck away into my ever growing African knowledge. As we start the study, the distractions never totally die down around us since Grace does run an orange stand! But I've been pleased with how attentive Grace has been each and every day.

Please pray for Grace. She understands she needs a relationship with Christ and is very close to taking that step. What a joy it would be to see her come to know my sweet Saviour!