News and Notes - February 18

If you're waiting for news on the pumpkin, you'll have to wait a little longer. My plans for a Valentine's Day jack-o-lantern had to be scrapped. I had invited some of the missionary's kids over on Monday night for a carving party. Then their vehicle broke down. We still didn't have a vehicle, either, so we weren't able to get together. I thought I'd carve the pumpkin on my own on Tuesday, but the power went out at 2 p.m. and was off until the next morning. After cooking dinner outside over an open fire, I was too tired to carve a pumpkin by candlelight. I didn't feel well on Wednesday and Thursday, and David was gone to Lusaka, so the pumpkin survived a few more days. Now I'm out of the mood, so I think I'll wait until I can have some of the kids over to enjoy carving with me. Today we harvested eight more pumpkins, so we have quite a display on our veranda.

The good news of the week is that after months of delays we FINALLY have our new vehicle. David went to Lusaka on Wednesday and spent the obligatory hours of waiting in line at government offices for paperwork to be done. The lines and paperwork continued through Thursday, but finally at 6 p.m. Thursday night the license plates were on and he was able to head home. We now have a Toyota quad-cab pickup. Unlike the Land Rover, the pickup's doors will close and stay shut! We may eventually miss the excitement of the Rover's leaky roof and rattling windows, but for now we are reveling in the dry, quiet interior.

Some day when I'm ready to write a very LONG blog article, I'll explain the details about ordering the vehicle on September 4 with a promised delivery date of mid-October. Here's a tease: Every time we asked the Toyota dealership when the vehicle would be in, they told us, "Two weeks!"

We still don't have the camper shell. The dealership sold it to someone else, even though we paid for it in December. They tell us they'll have another one for us in--two weeks!