Update

 

We haven't been posting because our internet connection hasn't worked for the last 1 ½ weeks so I am sending this from a friend's computer.  Here's what has been happening:

First, we purchased the lot that we wanted last week.  According to everyone here, it is truly a miracle.  Apparently buying land is not that easy and our land agent said there are people who have been on the waiting list for years so God must have been with us.  Our caregivers have also been amazed that we could buy land and such a nice lot.  We can only give God the glory as we were ignorant to the process and just let God handle it without getting too involved.  Now we are waiting for the plans from the architect which we will submit to the City Assembly.  When they approve the plans we can proceed to build.  Please pray that this approval process doesn't take months and we can start building soon.

Second, we have hired a supervisor for the nursery.  It is a woman that has been working as a fill in caregiver and a general helper to me.  She worked for the government for 20 years so she has experience in the real work force and has some supervisory experience.  She is a mature Christian with a heart for God.  I have always been impressed with her but never considered her because we were told we couldn't hire someone that already worked for us.  One day Andy mentioned that maybe we should just hire Veronica for the position.  It was like a revelation to me and I immediately felt that she was the one.  Since hiring her I have seen a change in her as she has risen to the challenge.  She takes initiative and isn't afraid to approach me with her ideas.  So far, I have been very pleased and haven't observed any negative attitudes from the other ladies.

Now that we have a supervisor we are looking for a house to rent for the nursery.  We just received our 9^th baby last week, a 6 week old little boy named Solomon, and our 2 bedrooms seem awful small.  I have also hired a young lady to be the nursery housekeeper and cook so the nannies can devote most of their time to the babies.  When Veronica and the housekeeper are both working there are 4 ladies plus nine babies all squeezed into the nursery wing.  Please pray that we can find a rental house.  Apparently Mzuzu is the fastest growing city in Malawi and housing is in high demand.  We started looking last week but they get rented as soon as they are available.           Lisa