It's AMAIZEing!

Hey Folks, it has been a long time since we put an update out there. The days here at Grace Academy, have been, in the best of ways, very busy. By the time the sun sets and the evening crickets begin their comforting nighttime song, we are usually flopping into bed and very quickly sawing logs. I don’t know what it is, but over the past few years of having children, living in half finished houses or a travel trailer, living without running water or a washing machine, I have developed a deep appreciation for the simple things like a soft pillow and bed to land on at the end of a long day. I just have to say, isn’t it a blessing from God, to be given opportunities that stretch you and push you so that you can come out the other side with an appreciative perspective. James 1:12 “Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love Him.” Over these past months I have learnt its easy to be steadfast when things are going our way, but when things get hard or scary or our creature comforts get taken away are we still going to worship our gracious God like the honourable Job? Or are we going to shut down and feel sorry for ourselves? What about if we even upheld a perspective that appreciates the trials, the long hard days, the heartache because James 1:2-4 reminds us “ Count it all joy my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” It has been a wild past couple months working the red dirt through a nationwide drought, tending to the medical needs of the orphans, praying like we never have before, advocating for our boy Milton, and finding time as a family amongst the endless list of needs around us. But, holding tight to the verses above we are truly grateful to God for walking with us through the hard days here in Zambia because we know He is shaping us and our children for our good. We are so thankful the children have remained strong and healthy, despite many, many mosquito bites and bumps and bruises. Also, grateful that Karl and I have survived near death experiences like a deadly Cobra slithering through my feet and Karl flipping his pick up truck in a torrential down pour. Sometimes it's hard to know why God shows us sinners such grace and mercy. Each of these experiences has developed in us, a new found dependence on God, realizing the little power we have in controlling our destiny. This update may not be as long as the others, but I will let you all know how the farm is doing and how God is using us as a family here in Zambia.

Many of you may be thinking I need a lesson in spelling after reading the title of this update, but do not worry, it is almost Maize harvest time, so we thought it would be a comical title for this blog update. Despite an extreme drought in the nation, our maize crops have remained green and strong compared to many in our area and it is truly amazing to see. Another big praise item to our great Jehovah-Jireh! We are about one month out from maize harvest which we are getting very excited about. We hope to get the Grace kids out to help us do this. We need to wait until there is minimal possibility of rain so that we can adequately dry the crop. 

When it comes to chickens there is not huge update, but something very exciting is that we have started producing our own chicken sausage for the cafeteria and community sales. Our biggest challenge with sausage making is developing a spice mix that is wholesome and healthy. A lot of the premixed spices you buy here have MSG and so it has been a task trying to find pure spices. We also want to make sure we are developing a product that can continued to be made when we are not here anymore. A complicated item where ingredients are sourced all around the city, will not be something that will be upheld when we are gone, so finding something streamlined and simple is our goal. 

Big news in regard to the pigs! Karl has started to break ground for the new piggery. After assessing the set up of our pig operations, Karl and the farm committee decided that moving the breeding sows and young piglets indoors during the farrowing process would not only bring us better production, but also provide a healthier environment for the mommas and piglets. Once they are bigger we will then finish them on pasture. Lots of pork is expected to be hitting the cafeteria in the comings months as we have nearly fifty pigs to butcher. Something fun we did as a family was cure and smoke our own bacon. To be honest we failed miserably because we added way too much salt, but we used some as bacon bits for a topping on dishes it worked out just fine. Haha We did successfully render our own pork lard which was fun! 

Greenhouses are producing beautifully. The biggest challenge now is trying to figure out what to grow and what not to. That involves running costs, labour input, sale price on the product and demand. We want the farm to be as streamlined as possible so that as the reigns get passed over to the local farm manager he isn’t completely overwhelmed with a 100 different moving parts. This will take time as we continue to assess this area.

Life here as a family of seven has been going well. The last couple weeks have been challenging as we met some major set backs in our adoption process with Milton, but we know God is bigger than the system and so we move forward fully trusting our Good Lord to lead us in the way He sees best. The kids have acquired some new neighbours here as the local farm manager moved into the walls at Grace. Having more kids on the farm for our kids to play with has been a real blessing. Karl has continued doing bible study with his farm team every morning. He has been very encouraged seeing the men and women becoming more and more involved in study and prayer time. I ( Kailey) have enjoyed doing early morning workouts with the preteen and teen girls. The sunrises here are amazing and God definitely feeds us the much needed energy to push through the hot days with that beauty in the early mornings. As a family we have stayed pretty close to Grace over the weekends and have not explored much. This does not upset us though as we are enjoying investing in the kids here and doing life with all of them. Our close friends are coming out to Grace to work and visit and we are really looking forward to time with them. We plan to travel to Lusaka, the capital city of Zambia with them and so we are excited to show you photos of that trip. Overall, alot has happened over the past couple months and I regret not updating you all more because now as I reflect on the time, I know I am missing many things that encouraged us and shaped us and may have done the same for you. I will try to keep you all more updated as we move forward here.

Praise Items:

We have all stayed in good health

The farm is producing well despite the drought

We have a team of many dear people lifting our family up in prayer

We have been able to build relationships with the kids and workers here

Prayer Requests:

Health and Protection over our family

Gods clarity and guidance over the adoption process

That the people of Zambia can be well fed despite a bad drought.

That our family can remain steadfast in our faith amongst the various challenges that arise over our time here.

Thank you dear friends for your continued support.