It has been some time now since I last blogged. So sorry. Time just seems to be flying by.
I just came in from picking Mulberries. They are somewhat like blackberries, and very tasty. We have them right in our yard and they make a great addition to my apple crisp. I have frozen some for future use. They create a great quick desert when we have company coming. Today I am also making my mother's ice-box cookies. I try to treat the staff at the college with either banana bread or ice-box cookies every couple of weeks at our faculty meetings or BOA (Board of Administration) meetings. This week it will be cookies. I call these my mom's ice-box cookies because they were my favorite cookies when I was a kid. My mom never cooked from recipes written out. They were all in her head. I had never baked these cookies until towards the end of my mom's life, when I asked her for the recipe. She died about six months after that and they are the only cookies I bake regularly. I think of her whenever I bake them. When I take cookies or banana bread to share with our staff, I sometimes add Cokes as all these things are appreciated treats not affordable by our staff.
Our daughter Starla arrived on September 15th and is with us until October 14th. See picture below to see how excited I was to see her!!!
It is absolutely fabulous to have her here with us, although she has spent more time with her dad than with her mom. They are currently on a four day trip to Rifa, which is a hunting conservatory owned and operated by friends of ours from Bulawayo. Unfortunately, I am not on college break and so not able to tour around the country with them. I do, however, absolutely love what I am doing here and know that this is what God has called me to do and where I am to be at this particular time in my life. It is great, though, that Glen has both the time and the means to tour Starla around, showing her much of this beautiful country that has become our second home.
The three of us, Glen, Starla and I, spent a weekend viewing the sights at Vic Falls and Starla is certainly having some unique experiences while she is here.
Mid-term exam time has rolled around again so I am busy preparing those. Our friends the Norries have returned from Ontario and the Wilsons have returned from California. The eight of us, being the Allan's, the Wilson's, both from AOG (Assemblies of God) in the US and the Norries and us with PAOC in Canada, along with Starla, got together for fellowship and a meal out on Thursday this past week.
It is almost impossible to fathom that in about six weeks we will be returning to Canada and seeing many of you. We have now been in Zimbabwe for more than a year...with our sights set on being here for at least one more year.
Here is a picture of our some of our staff at work in the Academic Dean's office (which he and I share) on our self assessment as we work towards accreditation. Our goal is to be accredited by November, 2015.
We have just received an invitation from the Canadian Ambassador's office to attend a Canadian Thanksgiving complete with turkey and stuffing. We are looking forward to that and meeting some other Canadians serving in various capacities in this country. It is summer time here...about 34 degrees C today so it doesn't seem quite like Thanksgiving time, but we will enjoy celebrating in the sun. Christmas, however, will be in Canada and we look forward to getting together with many family and friends across the country during our short month at home.
That's all for now folks!!!!
Love and Blessings
Marj
