Vern

Our German Shepherd “Vern” came in and started begging.

When Vern sits, he sits on his tail.

Strawberries

Our family loves strawberries.  We also love strawberry jam.  We have strawberry plants in the garden, but they do not supply us with enough strawberries for our jam usage.  Another missionary couple from the States lives on our side of town and grows more strawberries than we do.  Their gardener calls me each week to see if I need strawberries.  We usually buy them, wash, stem, and freeze them.  Then as we need more jam, I get them out and make jam.

Ever since our kids started eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, I have been making strawberry jam.  Every spring in the states mom and dad would come to visit us in South Carolina in May.  Dad, the kids, and I would go strawberry picking.  I remember usually coming home with 9 gallons of strawberries.  Dad would wash and stem them with help from the kids.  I made lunch.  The whole afternoon was spent making jam.  I just stood in front of the stove making jam and filling jars.  I had two pans the same size for making jam.  While I stood and stirred, Dad washed the last pan I used.  He measured the strawberries out for the next batch of jam, mashed them up, and measured the sugar.  The whole day was spent picking, cleaning, and making strawberry jam. 

The last year that we lived in SC we lived near a strawberry farm.  So we just bought them already picked.  I made jam several times a week until we had what we hoped was enough jam to last us the year.

I love using Sur-Jell to make jams.  I had a friend in the states who made jams/jellies the old fashion way: no Sur-Jell.  I wondered why.  It is soooo time consuming.  Well, I packed Sur-Jell to make jam over here in Africa.  I did not pack enough!  I am not sure when I ran out but it was a long time ago.  I have been making jam ever since the old fashion way, but I am no good at it.  You use a spoon to test the doneness of the jam.  You let the jam drip off of it and the way it drips off is a way of telling if it is done.  By the time I think it is dripping the right way, it is over done.  We have caramelized jam and it doesn’t spread on bread.  I have a recipe that says to boil it while stirring for 20 minutes.  It usually is caramelized.  So when I make jam we boil it for 18 minutes.  It is a little runner than if I used the Sur-Jell, but it is what works for me.

Here are some pictures from making jam in 2008.  I love those big red strawberries.  To bad we will be missing the strawberry season in the states.

Not sure where Lane was.  I have no pictures of him helping.

Last week I made the last batch of strawberry jam for this term in Zambia.  It is the colder/dry season right now and while we are still picking strawberries, we are not getting enough to make jam.  So they are going into our oatmeal!  We might have to go buy some jam to make it to the end.   The cheapest comes in a tin can and it very dark.  Flavor is not that great, but it will do.

God bless, Rita

This is for Grandpa!

 

Tobias can actually do work and here is a picture to prove it!!

When we lived in the states, every May one of my children went to stay with Grandpa and Grandma Martin for 2 to 3 weeks.  I’m not sure how old Tobias was when he went for the first time.  I do know he was in elementary school.  Grandpa was trying to get Tobias to help him do some work.  Tobias informed Grandpa that, “He was not made to work!”  He has since outgrown this thought, thank goodness.

Esther Bible Study by Beth Moore

In January of 2009 some women in our church started this Bible study.  I counted out how many lessons there were and how many weeks I had to do this Bible study before we left for orientation in Richmond, VA.  There was enough weeks and so I decided to do it.  I had never done a Beth Moore Bible study but had heard a lot of good comments from other women.  This was also a way to get to know more women in our church.

Well, I never did get to finish it with that group of women.  Two of the weeks were canceled due to snow storms.  At the end I was just way to busy packing and feeling crunched for time that I wasn’t even getting my lessons/homework done.

I brought the book to Africa.  At some point I started it all over.  I read the book of Esther and I reread all that I had done in the study guide.  But I only got a week or two done beyond what I had already done in the book and then something came up and it sat on the shelf again. 

Then I heard about being able to download the audio, so that I could listen to the lectures that I had missed.  So I wrote down the lessons that I missed and Steve downloaded them for me.  This time I just reread the book Esther again and then just started where I left off in the workbook.  Again one or two more weeks were done and it again went back on the shelf. 

This week I got it off the shelf to see what needed to be done to finish it.  Only one lesson and one audio lesson!!!  Yea!  Last night I finished it!  It only took me three years and four months.

I love reading the book of Esther.  This is the second time I have done it with a group of women as a Bible study.  I highly recommend Beth Moore’s Bible study on Esther.

Pictures from the Two Oceans Marathon

This pic is from 2011.  Notice how tired Steve looks.

This picture is from this years race.  It is raining and he is looking much better than last year.

Still smiling!!

Finish Line

Last Years finish.

Finishing the Firsts

I didn’t finish the firsts, so here they are:  First time driving by myself for a long trip in Zambia.  Steve usually does all the driving.

First time getting money out of a ATM in Zambia.  I have done it in Jo’burg, South Africa.  Steve left what he thought was enough money.  We didn’t realize some accounts were not set up yet.  So I had to get money to pay for the guest house stay.  There are sooo many people all over the place, it makes me nervous when Steve is getting money out of an ATM.  All bank ATM’s do have guards there 24 hours a day. 

First time putting fuel into our vehicle.  Now I do have to say this is no big deal as all gas stations are full service.  You just pull up and tell them to fill it up.  But I do have to count out all that money to pay for it.  I can’t just swipe my debit card and it be paid for.  I have to count out the bills.  Then I had to remember to fill the book out with mileage, liters put in, amount paid.  I almost forgot the first time.  Then, Tobias took that over as he was riding shotgun.

Now this next one is not a first, but I hardly ever do it.  This is where I’m going to tell you that my husband spoils me and I live him for it.  Putting talk time on my phone.  Here we buy scratch cards and then enter the codes into our phones to get more talk time. 

Now this is a first, sending talk time from my phone to my husbands phone in Cape Town.  It actually is quite easy once you know what you are doing.

Many firsts for Rita in Zambia

Well, in the last post you see that Steve drove or I should say rode to Cape Town, South Africa.  I think Grant did all the driving.  What happened to me.  I got to experience a few firsts.  I have done these things in the states, but not in Zambia.

Sunday and Monday we just hung out around the guest house relaxing.  I did still have a few errands to run.  After a week of meetings and all that traveling, I just needed some down time to relax.  I spent a lot of time lying in bed or the chair reading a book and getting lots of sleep.

On Monday night, our team leader, Blake Kimbrough hitched up our trailer to our vehicle for me.  Then, He and my kids with Joel Scheafer’s help loaded up the trailer.  He then got it all lined up so that I could just pull out of the parking lot.  I don’t claim to have any knowledge on how to back up a vehicle with a trailer attached. 

Side note:  Joel Scheafer came down to Lusaka with his dad to see a dentist and he rode back to Mbala with us.  We were glad to have him along.  It turned out to be quite handy to have two teenage boys with us when the trailer came unhitched in Kasama.  They had to do quite a bit of cranking the wheel down to get the hitch up and hooked up again.  The trailer, I think was the heaviest it has ever been.

So, to the firsts:  I do drive, but Steve does all the driving on our long trips.  I drove from Lusaka to Mbala for the first time all by myself!  We did do it in two days.

When we first pulled into Lusaka at the beginning of this trip we met the Sprayberries.  They are missionaries who use to work with our mission and started the 40/40 orientation training we have here in Zambia.  They live along our route to Mbala and invited us to stop over some time.  I jumped right in an asked if it would suit for us to stop in on our way back.  I did ask them if I would have to back up that trailer.  Luckly, they had a circle drive.

So our first day we only drove about 5 hours.  I was all prepared.  While doing long drives to my parents house in the states when we lived in South Carolina, I learned that audiobooks keep me awake.  I can stay awake the whole trip with Steve driving, but put me in the drivers seat and I want to go right to sleep.  So I had two books lined up and that is what we listened to.

Wednesday, we left around 8AM to drive the rest of the way home.  I think we pulled into the Schaefer’s place at 5PM.  Lynne had supper waiting for us.  Tobias and Joel unloaded all of their things.  Then we went home.  It was so nice to sleep in our own beds after being gone 2 weeks and 1 day.