A season of changes

It has been a while since our last post. There have been a lot of changes lately that kept us quite busy. After Lucinda and Anneloes left us in August we had a week of rest in the office. Once we got back to the office we went through some changes in out staff which has kept everyone very busy lately.

At the same time the weather is changing here dramatically. We went from very nice winter weather with temperatures around 25C to a very hot Spring season with a temperature of 37C today. Zambians tell us that it is already very hot early which means that October will even be hotter. The good news is that people expect the rains to come "early" this year which would be the end of October or early November. Maybe we will still experience that before we head back to Canada the beginning of November.

For us the most amazing thing is not that during Spring trees get new leaves and that some blossom but that here in Zambia trees still do the same but without having had any rain for more than 6 months. In Europe and Canada after 6 months of draught trees would have lost all their leaves and nothing would be blooming but here new life starts even without any rain. God did an amazing job creating these trees and shrubs in such a way that even without any rain they still rejuvenate and get new leaves and that they bloom.

Even the fruit trees start to produce their fruit and we are lucky to have some strawberries from our own garden as well although I must admit that we water them regularly unlike the trees. The mango trees are full of fruit and in about 3 months the mangos should be ready.

The change of seasons here in Zambia is very different from what we are used to in Canada and when we talk about it with our Zambian friends they look surprised at us since for them it is the normal thing to happen this time of year. Clearly it all depends on what you are used to. Seeing blooming trees and shrubs after 6 months of draught is amazing to us but normal to our Zambian friends. Clearly God loves diversity but made sure that wherever you are, you can enjoy the new life of Spring with or without rain. It is obvious that the trees and shrubs have their ways of getting water even this time of year and they'll have to wait for another month or two before the rains start.

God clearly knew what He was doing when he created everything. We can only look in amazement to the splendor of His creation and enjoy it.