We’re Home! (Okay, so the title is a little cheesy.) Anyway, we arrived home from Zimbabwe Wednesday after traveling 32+ hours. Amazing we’re pretty much over out jet-lag, though we both woke up around 4 am the last 2 days. We had a great trip. It was more amazing than words can express. Luckily while we were there we did take lots of video and tried to explain what was going on and what we were feeling while it was happening. Jason is working hard on those videos so look for them to be posted later in the week. For now we do have some pictures. Here are a few below and you can view all 300+ by clicking here.

Kids from the Children’s Village (one of the orphanages) glad to see us.

Some of the 600+ kids that came to VBS waiting in line for 1/2 of a piece of bread and a cup of water - the snack each day

A beautiful African sunset. One thing we realized is that Zimbabwe is a land of contrasts. It contains unimaginable beauty but equally hard to believe horrors.

The group that braved baobab hill with us at 4:30 in the morning to see the sunrise. It was absolutely breath taking.

New friends from the youth group.

Saying cheese with the sunrise to our backs.

Over all the trip was very eye opening. No matter the stories or pictures you’ve seen and think you know I think its hard to really get a glimpse until you experience life with the people first hand. And by no means can I honestly say I understand how hard it is - because I don’t. I don’t go to bed hungry. I don’t make $10 US a month and have to support a family of 5 when soap cost $10 US. But one thing I can do is not forget. We will be praying for Zimbabwe with renewed purpose and direction. We would love to tell you more about our trip and tell you ways you can get involved.

Finally, we want to say thank you to all our supporters, family & friends for being so great. Also a big thanks to our church & team. We had a great time and couldn’t have done it without you. Also, thanks to Zeb & family for your amazing hospitality. “Oh man”, the trip wouldn’t have been nearly as great with out your company, stories and “shady deals”. We will truly miss you. Thanks to Nathan & Tessa for your hospitality as well. The dinners were wonderful and we enjoyed getting to know you and your heart for the Zim people. Most importantly we thank God for his amazing provision and love. We would not have accomplished anything without you. Thank you.

Packing space is precious when you’re going to Africa and running a week long VBS. Along with 2 weeks of clothes and personal items we have to take 50 soccer balls, 100 bibles, toys, food & enough crafts for 400 kids x 5 days. Needless to say a ton of stuff. Luckily, we get to take 2 suitcases each weighing 50 pounds but space was still tight. Jason’s mom had great idea to save space by vacuum packing our clothes. This was a crazy new concept to us but it worked great. We turned an entire dinning room table full of clothes into one (very heavy) suitcase. Thought you might be as mesmerized as us in how small and compact the bag actually gets. We’ll let you know how wrinkly our clothes are when we get there to see if it really was a good idea.

Ok well not really Carmen Sandeigo but where are Jason & Rachel going? To help you picture our trip to Africa Jason has made a pretty neat map.

We fly from Indianapolis to Washington D.C. to Johannesburg, South Africa to Harare, Zimbabwe and then drive to Hippo Valley, in Cherdzi Zimbabwe, where we will be working.

What a trip! It is about 3 days of travel so please keep us in your thoughts & prayers so hopefully I won’t be too cranky. I (Rachel) have never traveled out of North America so it should be an interesting and eye opening experience. We are excited and can’t wait to see what God has in store for us.

Last week I went to the Zoo with my good friend Andee from nursing school and her 2 kiddos Benjamin (2 years) and Anna (5 months). I can honestly say I haven’t been to the zoo since college and even then we went to the Christmas event so there weren’t many animals to be seen.

I was pleasantly surprised to find out that I enjoyed the zoo very much. There are fun things for adults to see as well as kids. We enjoyed walking through the Plains. Benjamin got to feed a giraffe and he was so brave. He just walked right up and stuck his hand up. We also had fun getting splashed during the dolphin show, seeing the sleepy koala bears and watching a family of otters with babies.

Thanks to Andee for inviting me to hang out. I had a great time catching up and spending time with you and your amazing kids. So everyone - even if you’re big - you should try the zoo sometime soon. They have something for everyone.

Benjamin being fearless and feeding the giraffes

Andee, Anna & Benjamin after a fun day at the Zoo. (It was really sunny)

Last Wednesday was Jason’s 27th birthday. We had a great time celebrating by going to Bone Fish, opening presents & eating cake. If you remember I’ve had some trouble with making his cake before. He requests angle food cake with sprinkles which may sound elementary but the first couple of years I had some trouble. I am happy to report that the cake turned out beautifully and the best so far.

Happy Birthday to my wonderful husband. I wish you many more!

Make a wish and say cheese

Happy b-day sweet heart. I love you

So, its official - we are really going to Zimbabwe. We were unsure if the political climate was going to calm down enough for us to travel - but praise God it has. We are excited as we are getting everything together. One part of preparing for an international trip is shots - yuck. Apparently they have nasty diseases in Africa because there are some nasty shots you have to get here before you can go - 2 of those are Typhoid and Yellow Fever. Jason was lucky, he got to take the oral of Typhoid, while I suffered through the shot. Not kidding - one of the worst shots I’ve ever gotten. It wasn’t that the shot itself burned too bad - just that I couldn’t move my arm for a day & a half with out pain radiating down my arm. But as I was thinking to myself - if this is the dead Typhoid I sure as heck don’t want to mess with the live form - so I am thankful for the shot. Jason on the other hand has to take the oral form which means he ingests the live virus 4 times over a week. There is something errie about actually eating the bug you don’t want to get. But the doc’s know what they are doing, right? Stay turned for more adventures, preparation and mishaps before we leave.

Jason & I went to the State Fair this past weekend and enjoyed ourselves as usual. The evening was fantastic, perfect weather, wonderful food and good company. Some highlights include:

• Sharing dinner with Jason’s parents
• Rachel having her first funnel cake (yummy)
• Seeing the world largest boar standing (1st time ever he wasn’t on his side looking miserable)

We did stay clear of the horse barn, which has proved a hazard for Rachel over the past year. Here are some pictures. Enjoy!

Say cheese: Jason, Chris, Linda & Rachel (in order of height apparently - not planned

Beautiful night scene

We love the fair - see you next year!