The top picture is of Christian when we visited Buckingham Palace in London, England. The middle picture is Buhobe, the traditional food of the Lozi people. They eat it for every meal and if they have not had their Buhobe for the day they say they have not eaten at all. The bottom picture is the relish they dip their Bohobe in.

We are back in the U.S.A. Actually, we have been back since Tuesday, June 29. But we are just now getting back to a semi-normal schedule. It was hard battling jet lag, and sickness for some of us. So, the blog was kind of forgotten for a few days. Todd has been very ill since our return and is finally starting to improve. At first, we were very concerned he may have Malaria. We did have many miles to travel this past weekend and 3 concerts to do. Todd was unable to drive, so Caleb took over. Gabrielle's ears did not give her trouble on the plane trip home, but our doctor here in the states wants her to be seen by a specialist. Thank you for all the prayers for the health of our family.

We made it to London and Gabrielle had no ear pain on the flight. Praise the Lord! Please pray for her again tomorrow as we travel on to the U.S. As soon as we can, we will post more pictures of our mission trip in Africa, so continue to check the blog often. We won't know how to sleep tonight without mosquito nets. We laughed this morning on the plane as we left Lusaka because the airline had to walk through the cabin spraying bug spray into the air. It is a regulation because we were leaving a malaria area. Well, no insect repellent tonight but we are already missing Africa. We are nearly ready to plan the next trip!!

Thank you all so very much for your prayers and concern for our family while serving the Lord in Africa. We have been richly blessed and forever changed by what we have seen and experienced on this great mission field. There is so much work to be done and so many hungry hearts to know God and His love that it humbles us to know that God would allow us such an opportunity to be a part of His work in Zambia.
We are traveling tomorrow morning ( Monday ) to London and then on to Houston on Tuesday where we should arrive at 2:35 C.S.T. Many of you following our activities via the internet know that Gabrielle has had some pain with her ears. We suspect that her eardrum burst a few days ago and are now praying that she will not have any problems with her ears while on the airplane. Please join us and cover Gabrielle with you prayers and may God answer our prayers yet again.

We are at a beautiful safari lodge in Botswana, Africa. It is considered a luxury lodge, but you know you are in Africa when the amenities in your room include mosquito nets, insect repellent and bug spray. We have been on a river game cruise and an early, and I do mean early, morning game drive (and we nearly froze to death because it is winter here in Africa). We have had wart hogs right outside the door to our room, and we have been within a few feet of giraffes, lions, elephants, water monitor lizards, crocodiles, hippos, kudu, impala, baboons, monkeys, cape buffaloes, many species of birds, goats, and lots of bugs! Now we have seen an African sunset and an African sunrise. It is so neat to see all of these creatures along side each other in their natural habitat. God's creation is truly amazing! Our children will never again be satisfied with a zoo.
Thank you for all their prayers for our healing. Most of our family is totally well again. We do think Gabrielle's ear drum has burst and that had us concerned. But she is improving although she cannot hear out of that ear at all. Please pray she will not have difficulty on our return flights home.

Tomorrow we will travel 7 hours back to the capital, Lusaka. Then on Monday, we will drive 5 hours east to Livingstone where we will be transported by boat across the Zambezi River and across the country border into Botswana. We will be staying for several days in a safari lodge with our friends, the Lowe's. Part of our purpose in coming on this mission trip was to encourage the Lowe's in their work here. So, we planned a week of safari vacation with them. We are praying everyone will be healthy, and that this will be a time of fun, and refreshment for our families. We are also praying we see lots of animals:)

This is Josh at the orphanage telling the message of salvation using Andrew the Gospel Worm. He is made of the colors of the faith. He asked if anyone wanted to pet Andrew and nearly lost him!