July Update

What a month July has been for us! We have had some trials but God has been so faithful as always. Thank you all for your prayers, love, notes of encouragement and support. We definitely can feel the prayers and love even though we are across the globe. My health is restored and I am feeling myself again. We have started the new school year (second grade and kindergarten) and are loving all the new books and curriculum for this year. All the details that need to be taken care of to get our vehicle fixed are coming together and we have been so blessed by all the help we have received from the company that hit us. They have called us, visited and looked at the car, brought us chocolates, and they are fully insured so they are able to pick up all the expenses for fixing the car. We are still trying to figure all the details out, but we are thankful that the driver that hit us worked (passed tense because he did get fired) at such a good company. We have gotten calls from the American Embassy saying that they can assist us if anything goes bad or wrong. We are so thankful for God’s provision. God provided for the kids and I, even at the accident site last Wednesday. Many people stopped to check on us and one lady stood with me and the kids and held Tazi while I got all the glass out of all our hair. A man came and checked on us, left and came back with a pizza for the kids to eat in the car. I told Macie that I thought he was an angel. She said, “How could you tell?” it was so cute. We never know, but all we do know is that God took a very bad situation and turned it around for good and His glory. Also, at the police station I was also able to talk with a woman who is a Jehovah’s Witness. It took a while for the report to be written up so we got to have a nice chat. You never know what God has in store in the good and rough times. I know that many of you also have felt his protection recently so let us all give Him the praise and glory for what he has done. Thank you for rejoicing with us.

Just a little update for you more specifically about the kids!!!!

Tazi turned five months this week and is just the most smiley little thing. She loves the kids and is definitely used to all the noise in the house. She sleeps better in the noise than in her quiet bed.!!! She is nice and fat, (as they say here) and is a very easy baby. We have been trying to get her to eat baby cereal and the basic foods but she won’t have anything to do with it. She makes the worst face and spits out everything. This is the longest I have exclusively breast fed any of the kids. We will see how it continues! We recently borrowed a walker and she loves sitting up and seeing everything. She is not yet sitting but I found her rolled over in the opposite position today when I left her for 2 seconds to get a diaper(she was on the couch)!!!! She has only fallen out of her bouncy seat once so that is great for my record with the other three kids!!! No injuries so far!!!!!

Payton loves his bow and arrow that Movety (our guard) made him yesterday. Don’t freak out, it is made from dull sticks nothing piercing or dangerous. He will be turning 4 the end of August and he is such a little boy. He loves doing Bible with us in the morning and has learned to sit still for longer periods of time. YEAH!!! He is great at memorizing the weekly scripture verses and often ends up singing them around the house. He just received some bath toys in the mail from Mimi and Papa in Hawaii and he finds any excuse during the day for needing to take a bath! He loves his littlest sister but is not so sure about holding her now that she is getting so big. But he is always the first to give Tazi her passie when she is crying!

Emma is just a little princess; always wanting lip gloss and her dress up shoes, even when she is playing in the dirt. She is doing great with her reading and off to a good start in Kindergarten. She is my perfectionist and is very slow and exact with her work. Emma loves ballet and can be seen dancing around the house or yard most of the time. She is shy when meeting people but warms up quite quickly. She has learned so much this past year in school and her and Macie love singing their continent and ocean songs together for our house helper. Emma’s favorite thing is picking out Tazi’s outfits, matching head bands and socks!

Macie is fun loving and a free spirit and reminds me so much of myself. She is always laughing and smiley. She catches on so fast in school and loves to read. She loves talking to other Zambians and makes friends really easy. She is very diligent in school and likes to get ahead in her math lessons. But she does not like practicing her flash cards!!! Sounds familiar?! Macie is a great diaper changer and loves being the big sis and entertaining Tazi. She also loves riding her bike and has recently turned it into a horse and rides it around the drive way! She is working hard on her reading chart to earn horse riding lessons!!

The kids teach us so much every day…especially patience!!!!! It is such a blessing doing school with them and I have gotten so much closer to them and am enjoying who they are becoming. Of course there are always days that are rough and some that are VERY rough but overall we are enjoying all the new changes Zambia has brought our way!!! We are all trying to learn the local language and getting is sloooowly. We love Zambia and really feel like it has become home to us. (home away from home) But we are ALL definitely looking forward to our four months in the states and visiting with all of you. Thank you again for all your love and prayers. We love you all and thank God for his provision in so many ways!!!!!

Much love and Blessings,

The Whitfields:

Elise &Luke

Macie, Emma, Payton & Tazi!!!

Ps. We have more specific dates now for our time in the Dallas area: Dec 26^th through Feb 9^th! We would love to get together with all of you if possible. Please e-mail us if there are certain dates that would work for you. I know the Holidays are busy so that is why we are letting you all know so early. Thanks!

Angels Watching Over Us ~ (From July 16th)

Dear Friends

Do you remember the Amy Grant song: “Angels Watching Over Me”? Tonight we can testify that indeed God has His angels watching over us everywhere we go. Around 5:45 PM our time I received a phone call from Elise letting me know that she was in a head on collision with a box truck near our home here in Lusaka. She assured me that no one was injured, she was in the vehicle with our four children, but that the vehicle was totaled. As I arrived on the scene I was even more amazed at her report as the damage was much worse than I had imagined. Apparently this individual, who we believe was drunk, driving the box truck swerved and came over the median separating the four lane highway and became airborne as he made contact with our vehicle. The amazing thing is that instead of t-boning our vehicle, which he should have given his trajectory, his vehicle simple grazed and slid down the side of ours. Elise and Emma where seated on the side directly impacted by the truck and logically should be critically injured or dead. Thank God that he is not a God that functions in the logical but rather in the supernatural as He showed us so faithfully again tonight. Elise, Macie, Emma, Payton and Tazi walked away without a scratch or cut on their bodies (glory be to God). In fact I received the worst injuries, slight cuts on my hands, as I climbed in and out of the driver side window. I have included some pics that do not do justice in showing how bad the accident should have been. Rejoice with us as we marvel at Jehovah’s protection of our family yet once again (He is always faithful). We would like to ask you to pray that we might use this opportunity to share our faith with those God will put in our path. Thanks for your prayers and mediate with us on the great promise found in Psalms 91:11,12, For He will command His angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways; they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone (Amen Amen Amen). We love you all very much.

Resting In His Peace And Grace

The Whitfields <><

Can you believe it?? Tazi Pics!

Family Visits!

Dear Family and Friends

What a wonderful month of June we had with our Whitfield family visitors. It went by so fast but we enjoyed every minute of it. I updated you a couple weeks ago on our trip to Malawi with Luke’s father and what a great time it was to do some ministry with him and our friends the Burns. These past two weeks with Luke’s mom Chris and Aunt Karen were also a great time of ministry but it looked quite different than our time in Malawi. Chris and Karen brought many items to bless the different orphanages we visit here in Lusaka. So the day after they arrived we went to Kanyama (EFH) the orphanage that we visit weekly as a family. The five children there have become like our own. Chris and Karen brought t-shirts and fabric markers to decorate the shirts, candy, beanie babies, other toys, balls, books, markers, coloring books, and buckets to fill with these items. It was so fun to bless the kids with these gifts that they have never received before. They had so much fun decorating the shirts and we have tons of pictures of all the fun. We went to another orphanage the following day and read books, played ball and loved on the kids. The toys and candy was a hit again and we felt so blessed to be able to bless these orphans. We are so thankful for Chris and Karen and all the fun stuff they brought that blessed so many little hearts here in Lusaka. We will include some pictures of our time at the orphanages. The ladies were also able to come to the weekly Bible study out at the farm and they both shared their testimonies and things God has recently taught them. It was so neat for the ladies at my Bible study to meet our family and for mom and Karen to meet the ladies.

The following week we visited an orphanage called House of Moses. This house cares for 0-2year olds. It breaks my heart every time we visit. One room down stairs holds about 15 cribs situated along the walls of the large room. The room is filled with crying, laughing and crawling little ones and they flock to you as you enter. The babies are in a room upstairs that is warm, quite and very clean. There is a 24-hour nursing staff equipped to take care of these little ones. Most of these babies come straight off the street or directly from the hospital. Some of the babies were abandoned at birth in trashcans and some were orphaned at birth due to the mother dying during labor. There are 17 little babies upstairs and only one of them was a little girl. A three-week-old pair of twins about 4lbs each lay wrapped in many blankets sleeping quietly. The nurses said they have great hopes for these little ones and that they are “sucking” eating well and doing great. In May a 2lb little girl passed away after a good fight but she was just too little to fight any more. These house mothers/nurses are quite aware and conscious of how the littlest ones are so it was good to hear their positive comments. It is always a blessing to go visit House of Moses and love on these little ones. They are doing so much to help these little Zambians get a good start. But it does break my heart to think of the one on one love and care they are missing out on. Please pray for homes for these little ones and for them to hear about how much their heavenly Father loves them.

To finish off the two-week trip with Chris, Karen and Noah we headed off to Livingstone to see the falls and go on safari. We had a great time hiking the falls and seeing God’s creation. There were many baboons along the trails and the kids, Karen, Chris and Luke took a long hike down to the bottom of the falls, while Tazi and I took a break at the top! We got drenched from the mist off of the falls and had a great time viewing the rainbows, and beautiful tropical landscape. We are so thankful that we could experience this wonder of the world with our family. We went on the safari the next day and were again amazed at all the animals. We took a boat ride in the morning and saw alligators, hippos, many birds, 4 lions, several elephants, water buffalo, impala, and baboons. By vehicle we saw zebra, giraffe, more impala, warthogs, many more birds and mongoose. It was another great day in God’s creation and we will share with you some of the pictures of our time.

We were sad to see Chris, Karen and Noah leave this week but these two weeks were filled with so much joy. We look forward to our furlough and more time with our family and friends. Thanks again for all your love and prayers for us. This week has been a little trying health wise for us. I discovered on Sunday night after going to the hospital that I had malaria. The doc took a blood test and thought that I had contracted it in Malawi. Today Thursday I am feeling much better and have finished all my medication. Thankfully I am able to breastfeed while on the meds. Luke has had an upset stomach and throwing up on Tuesday and Macie has been dealing with some soar body parts and swollen eyes. Weird stuff going on with us!! Please pray, as we are always aware of Satan’s attacks in many different forms. Tazi is doing great and trying cereal and a few bananas and pears this week. She is growing like a weed and definitely has the biggest cheeks out of all the kids!!! See what you think!!!! Thank you for all your love, prayers and support. Please keep in touch. We have missed hearing from many of you. I know the summer brings many busy weeks and family trips, but we love knowing what each of you are up too!!!! We love and miss you all. HAPPY 4^TH OF JULY TO ALL OF YOU!!!!

Dear Family and Friends

Sorry that it has been so long since we have written all of you. We had a great trip to Malawi last week and are enjoying Luke’s father Drew’s visit these past two weeks. He leaves tomorrow and Luke’s mom and aunt come to visit next Tuesday for two weeks. The kids have loved playing with their uncle Noah and are catching up for the last 18months being apart. It is such a blessing to have family around again and we are so thankful that God has provided for us some tastes of home again.

Our trip to Malawi consisted of both ministry and pleasure. We drove about 12 hours to the small town of Ntcheu 2 hours outside the capital city of Lilongwe. We stayed for four days with fellow ACTION missionaries the Burns family. The Burns are the only missionaries (whites) in the town and villages surrounding. Those four days were filled with ministry such as handing out blankets and uniforms to 50 orphans and 50 widows, playing soccer and giving a gospel message and snack during half time, building cement pews in a new church, Drew preached on Sunday morning, and lastly the men visited the local prison and shared the Gospel with the inmates. Drew preached four times in the first two days. We warned him ahead of time that you always have to be ready to preach or share from your heart and now he can speak from experience. The kids had a great time playing with the local children and also the Burns three young adopted kids. They enjoyed eating goat for the first time and a lot of Nshima (the cornmeal staple that I have share about before). We had a wonderful time working alongside the Burns family and seeing what God is doing in Malawi. We look forward to continuing our visits each year!!

After the four days in the village, we headed 2 hours East to Lake Malawi. We had beautiful weather and enjoyed three days of beach, clear water and hot sun. It was a great time of relaxation and getting out of the normal swing of things in Lusaka. We headed home on Friday morning and thank God for safe travels and His angels protecting us on our voyage back into Zambia. Thank you all for your prayers. We will post pictures on our blog if you would like to see them.

Also many of you will remember my e-mails about my house helper Pauline and prayers for her safe pregnancy. Well, the week before we left for Malawi she gave birth to a baby girl (2 weeks early). It took her more than a week to name the baby but the name is Grace Gloria. We are going to visit her this week and I thank you for your prayers and thoughts toward her. She is like a part of our family since we see her everyday for most of the day. She is out of work for three months on maternity leave and we all miss her. Also you can pray for our guard Movetty as he lost his father and is in the village with his family. Death is so common here, but it still hurts just as much. So thank you for your prayers as they grieve.

Well, we are enjoying the break from school this month and will start the new year of school in July. We have just received new curriculum and the kids have actually missed school these past weeks. It is amazing how much children thrive on a routine. We are exited to start another year and dive into second grade with Macie and kindergarten with Emma. Payton also enjoys school for a short amount of time but loves playing outside with the dog and dirt. Tazi is growing so quickly and weighs just over 14lbs. She is almost four months already and just started on cereal this week. She is such a great baby and smiles and giggles all the time. It is cold and windy here but we enjoy having hot cider and hot chocolate from the states during these chilly months. We are looking forward to our visit to Livingston with Luke’s mom Chris and aunt Karen the end of June and all the fun with our visiting family. Thank you as always for your prayers and support. We love and miss you all so much and appreciate your e-mails and picture and keeping in touch. We look forward to sharing stories face to face on furlough the end of the year. Many blessings to each of you,

Elise for the Whitfield gang!!!

I am starting to do a craft each week with the ladies at my Bible study. I would love any simple ideas or craft materials. I am lacking in both areas. This would be a great opportunity for any woman’s groups or ministry to get involved!!!!! Thank for your help!!!! Please e-mail me!