Mmmm--Nsima!!!

Sydney loves Nsima! Joyce made us dinner the other night. Nsima is a corn based flour that is made into play-doh consistency and dipped in a sauce or relish of some kind (ndiwo)--we tried beans. Both of the kids loved it--maybe because you can use your hands to roll the nsima into balls and dip it.
We've had another full week of new adventures. We are praising God for many blessings--we received many Christmas cards and even a few packages this week from many of you. It is so good to hear from you and we thank you for our prayers and encouraging words!
I(Heather) feel like I accomplished something huge this week--I made a trip to the grocery store by myself. "What's the big deal?" you ask. Well, I've been quite fearful of driving--especially in the congested areas--such as where the grocery store is. But practice makes perfect--so now that I have had one uneventful trip, I'll have to just keep practicing.

Mike has become quite a handyman around the house--he's had to since things seem to break quite easily here. But in this picture Mike was spraying for mosquitoes.
We made a trip to the local market in search of a shoe-repairman. Sydney's favorite flipflops broke. We would have just thrown them away as our attempt to staple the toe piece back down was unsuccessful. But on Joyce's suggestion we brought them to the market. A very busy place and a bit overwhelming. But we found the man and he fixed the shoe in about 3 minutes--for 50 kwacha (about 40 cents). What a deal--and Sydney was so excited to have her favorite shoes again!
Many of these encouraging events happened on the same day--and after a language lesson that made us feel like we are really learning some Chichewa! God was pouring out

But a week ago we were struggling to find joy amidst some tough circumstances. Our dog, Anna, died last week. She started acting sick on Wednesday--lying around and not eating and she died early Friday morning. We buried her in our back yard after a short funeral. We're not sure what happened, but some of our friends wonder if she ate a poisonous frog or other animal. It's possible since she was still a puppy and she ate anything and everything. We are glad we still have Joshua--the german shepherd. But we do miss Anna.
Death is so common here in Malawi. I probably had the most difficulty saying good-bye to Anna and she was just our dog that we had known for only a few months. But everyday people are losing loved ones here. It's so much more of a part of life. I'm not sure I will ever get used to that when we start taking care of patients in the clinic.
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