Chobe Safari in Botswana

Trip to Livingstone

We left Lusaka at 6:00am for our drive to Livingstone. We packed a lunch of sandwiches for the long ride ahead. Along the way, we saw many "new" things for Mom and Dad including this man carrying straw on his bicycle...

We did have to make a couple of pit stops along the way. We stopped at the Golden Pillow Lodge where they have a restaurant and bathrooms...

The road was fine until we got to the detour...

The detour took about 30 minutes, and we could see the main road to our left, so it was like we were on the frontage road. The workers have removed all that was left of the tarmac (pavement) and have begun grading the road for new pavement. The detour road was actually not that bad, only a few "humps" (speed bumps) every few meters. And we laughed at all the road signs...

After the detour, we were headed for the worst road ever. It was a bumpy 35 minutes along the last stretch before arriving into Livingstone...

Finally, after 7 long hours, we made it to Livingstone, arriving at the Zambezi Sun Hotel, where we were greeted by the tribal dancers...

Stay tuned for more stories from our trip to Livingstone!

Baptism Video

Kelsey's Baptism

Today, Christmas Day 2008, Kelsey was baptized in the Chongwe River in Zambia! We were joined by Kelsey's grandparents (the Abstances) and the Rodgers family. Kevin Rodgers gave the opening, then Ricky got to baptize Kelsey, and her Pop Pop gave a closing prayer. She was very excited to have her best friend, Hannah, there to witness this special occasion in her life. The water was a bit chilly, but when she came up from the water, her words were, "That was cool!" And she wasn't referring to the temperature of the water, she was stating what an awesome experience that it was to be baptized. Thank you Kevin and Suzie, Zach, Justin, and Hannah for sharing with us your home and your time! Kelsey will always remember her baptism on Christmas Day in Zambia.

Here we are traveling across the river rocks to find a good spot for the baptism.

Uncle Kevin explaining about baptism.

Best friends - Kelsey and Hannah

Merry Christmas

Before... (around 6:30am)

During...

After... (around 7:00am) - Now it's playtime!!!

Parent's Day 4 - Christmas Eve in Zambia

On this rainy Christmas Eve we stayed around the guest house mostly. Dad and Ricky went downtown to buy more tile for the project going on here in one of the rooms. Mom and I made chocolate covered pretzels. We were also busy making a video to send back to Denmark for their Christmas Eve service. It took about 6 takes before we got the video complete. The kids wanted to take Meme and PopPop over to the showgrounds and show them the horses. So while Ricky & I stayed at home to prepare lunch and wrap a few presents, the kids took the grandparents for a walk across the street and into the muddy pasture. They saw the baby colt and loved on all the other horses. They also gave Edward (their friend at the stables) a New Testament Bible that PopPop had brought from the States.

Dad is checking out the fleet of BMOZ vehicles parked at the guest house.

Boys will be boys! Ricky and Dad playing Wii.

Tonight, we went to the Marlin for our Christmas Eve dinner. We took the kids here last year on Christmas Eve, so I guess we made a tradition.

Christmas Singing in Zambia