Frog Belly Farm'in

John and I are all moved in and just getting the finishing touches put together for our new home out at Frog Belly Farm. I have gotten the milking system down and will be learning more of the chores this week. There is also a big Farm Festival happening this Sunday so we will be busy helping out with that. It has gotten colder here and wet. Lots of wind too! I wonder what a Colorado fall will be like? hmm.... I am sure it will be full of deliciousness here at Frog Belly. We had goat milk ice cream last night with fresh strawberries! YUM!

So after living here in Boulder a whole couple of weeks John and I are on the move again! We will be moving out to Frog Belly Farms, just north of Boulder. I'll be working with the family there who helps run the animal side of things on the farm (goats, chickens, cattle, and hogs). I am excited to gain experience. Last night we butchered and plucked 21 chickens, now that is a lot of feathers. I think it is gift to know where you food came from, how it died, how it was handled, what it ate... all those sorts of things. I am getting back into goat milking too... only this set up is a lot more swanky than what I knew before (even a milking machine)! Life continues to throw us surprises, so we will wait and see what this chapter has in store.

Grandpa is gone

This is the resident fox at Family housing in Boulder, CO where John and I are now living. It is very passive to all human activity occurring around it. The fox takes a nap in the middle of the court yard.

Here is the family after the Memorial Service for Granddad at Sunset Church of Christ.

Since Granddad was having surgery in New Mexico grandma's sister live in the area. We visited with great Aunt Joan and great Aunt Margret (pictured above, far right).

The morning after granddad's death mom and I went on a hike in the mountains. It is a beautiful arid landscape in New Mexico.

Death, so certain. It changes everything. It seems that change has been the only constant for me ever since I have returned from Zambia. It makes it hard to adjust when it seem the ground is constantly shifting beneath your feet. But, we are resilient and adaptable... it just takes time.

Moving Out West to Live the Boulder Life

Here is a picture of grandpa and grandma Mick, Aunt Elaine, Christian, Dad and Jamie when we visited them way up north in Lankin, ND. We had a great time, grandma even picked some apples and made 2 delicious apple pies!

On our trip out west we had to stop by and see the sights: Mt. Rushmore and Wall Drug!

John and I are getting settled here in Boulder now. Today I volunteered in the morning for Growing Gardens, a local community garden and we had 4 preschoolers come "help" us harvest sunflower seeds. Kids are so funny! They had a blast pulling out the seeds (and eating a few).

John has an office now so we finally got the ice samples out of our freezer- HOORAY (more room for ice cream!). The rest of my plans include unpacking/organizing (yeah we are STILL doing that) and going to check out the Farmer's Market. I also need to keep on the job search and find some health insurance.

Home Sweet Home

We have made it, back to the USA. With only a few mishaps such as my car being in the shop, the airline loosing our water samples (but finding them again) and myself breaking 2 clay pots in the ATL airport (I am really good at breaking clay pots I have broken 4 in a two month time span). Being jars of clay has new meaning to me- fragile and temporary. Today we will begin our journey out to Colorado. The adventures continue!

Farmer's Day

Today is the Zambian holiday of Farmer's Day. We went to the 83rd National AG Show in Lusaka today. WOW! It is big and a bit overwhelming (hundreds of thousands of people there)! But, we had a good time walking around the exhibits, seeing produce, some chicks, quail, turkey, cows, goats and pigs. We are going to be in Lusaka for a bit and our Internet access/use will be greatly reduced, so we apologize for the inactivity and lack of pictures. We look forward to coming home to you guys soon!

Mutomboko Ceremony

The President of Zambia Mr. Banda giving a speech.

The Paramount Chief doing the dance of conquest.

As our time here in Zambia is wrapping up we spent our last weekend "up north" going to the Mutomboko Ceremony in Kazembe. We left around 8:00 Saturday morning (thanks to transportation provided by PLARD) and rode the few hours up to the site. When we got to Kazembe it was so full of people, people everywhere. We scoped out the stadium area and then decided to go visit some waterfalls nearby (instead of just sitting around and being in the crowds). We also went up a little bit further north so that one of the other passengers could go see his daughter at the boarding school she is at (she is in 10th grade) and give her some food and money so she can take the bus home in a few weeks. After that we went back to Kazembe for the ceremony. We got there in good time and didn't have to wait around very long. The place was crowed though, so we climbed up on top of the Land Cruiser to watch. There were a number of speeches. The President of Zambia was there and gave a speech on what is being done in Luapula (fixing roads, fertilizer support program, building a cultural center, and stuff like that). Then there were some dances and then the Paramount Chief (the big boss man) came out and did a dance. The ceremony is celebrating the conquests of the Lunda people. We didn't know that at a certain point the Chief will lift his leg and stomp it down and that indicated "He is King" and "the end of the Mutomboko ceremony". At that point everyone started running and fleeing the stadium, to me it appeared to be chaos! People were running in every direction! We climbed down off the land cruiser and left, that was the end. Others stay and spend the rest of the night drinking/partying. It was an interesting thing to experience.