More visitors and lots of travel and Happy 60th!

On Sunday the 7th of September we were joined here at Chidamoyo by Nicki, Justin and baby Noah and Tom came to visit to follow up on the schools program that Major is helping with in our area.  They spent 2 days visiting the projects they have in our area and dedicating a new school, Devare.  We have 4 schools in our area that their organization, ZRSDP, have helped with and we are thankful for their support and help to improve schools in are area.  We were happy to meet Nicki and Justin's first child Noah who was 4 1/2 months old.  Congratulations to them!
On Friday the 12th of September we welcomed Bart, Cathy and Jennifer Holdener when they landed from Sacramento, CA in Harare.  Cathy and I met in 1975 when we began our nursing program at University of California in San Francisco.  We both started work at Sutter Memorial Hospital in Sacramento when we graduated in 1977 and both bought houses in the same housing development in Sacramento.  All my years I have been in Zimbabwe I have been bugging her to come and visit and so I was so excited when her family finally said YES!
They arrived at 9:30 p.m. and the next morning we were up at 4 a.m. to leave at 7 a.m. for Victoria Falls.  Sue and Gene and Sylvia and her sister-in-law Mollie, the Holdeners and I spent 3 nights in Victoria Falls and then went on for 3 nights at The Hide for a safari.
We enjoyed so much our time together and seeing animals and just a relaxing, wonderful time together. We had our own private camp at The Hide and we all enjoyed it!  We flew home on the 19th of September and drove immediately home to Chidamoyo where we arrived at 1:30 a.m.!
Having only 1 day at Chidamoyo to show Cathy and family my home was quite a whirlwind.  They travelled with Major out to Batanai to see my rural village after seeing the hospital and the rest of us unpacked and repacked to get ready for our next adventure!
At 6 a.m. on Sunday the 21st of September we left for Kariba to begin a 7 night trip on a houseboat on Lake Kariba.  There were 14 of us--all my friends who were invited to celebrate my 60th birthday!  Cathy and family, Sylvia, Gene and Sue, Major and his wife Patience, Ben and Karen Pennington (missionary friends from Masvingo), Dave and Becky Altman who are teaching at the Bible College in Harare this term (they used to be missionaries here in the late 80's to late 90's), and Gladys Jongeling who celebrated her 77th birthday on the trip!
We had a 2 story houseboat with a small sitting pool, 2 smaller boats to go fishing and game viewing on, a cook and helper and a captain.  Off we went for our adventure.  We moved to a new place on the lake each day.  One night, 10 people left to spend the night at Rhino Camp and enjoy a 1 day safari.
Major and Sylvia and Jenny spend a lot of time fishing each day.  Jenny caught a 10 1/2 pound Tilapia (bream).  Everyone was so excited and we got to have fish 2 times to eat!  What fun!
We saw a lot of different animals and just enjoyed relaxing, talking and being together.  We ate plenty and played games and read.   Gladys and I enjoyed celebrating our birthdays while on board.  What a great time we all had and sad for it all to come to an end.
We received sad news on Monday the 22nd of September, that our fellow missionary, Marcia Kay Thomson died in the US after a year struggle with cancer.  Marcia was 76 and spent 51 years in Zimbabwe helping at Mashoko, the Bible College and our Print Shop at Masvingo.
After we got off the boat on the 28th of September we drove straight to Harare to see off the Holdeners on the 29th and Sue and Gene and Sylvia on the 29th.  We took everyone shopping at different places before they left.  Wow, the time went by so fast.  It was so great to have special friends here to celebrate my special birthday!

 Tom, Justin, Noah, Nicki and Major

Bart, Cathy and Jennifer Holdener

Group on boat cruise on the Zambezi River

Cathy and Kathy

Jennifer, Bart and Cathy at Vic Falls

Mollie and Sylvia in Vic Falls

Group on Safari at The Hide

Holdener's at Chidamoyo Hospital

 Group out game viewing on Lake Kariba

 Out game viewing at Kariba with Patience, Sylvia

Major fishing off the boat

Gene and Major and elephants in background

Group out fishing on Lake Kariba

Ben Pennington and Becky Altman on our party boat