CHIPMUNK
We are about a month from the due date for Chipmunk and have started to lay some plans. The Mubiru's, friends who teach down the road, have agreed to take the girls while Ruth and I go to town for the delivery. The Mubiru's will then bring the girls in after the birth to meet their new sibling. Some other friends have agreed to let us stay with them before the delivery, and we're not sure what we'll do afterward, but the City Inn (a hotel smack dab in the middle of town) has been nice in the past. What a treat to let other people cook, wash dishes, and all that other stuff when you have a new, high-maintenance member of the family and a WIPED OUT mom!

I looked at a calendar a while ago and noticed that April 4 (the estimated due date) is Easter Sunday. If Chipmunk is a girl, we had previously decided that one of her names would be Anastasia-which means "Resurrection". We really don't mind if the child is a boy or a girl, but the "coincidence" of the name and the date would make a girl nice-as would the fact that we have a space and clothes for a girl all set. We will let you know how things go.

FAMILY STRUCTURE
I include two articles from the Times of Swaziland, the national newspaper of the country. They deal with family structure in Swaziland. It's not a pretty picture, as the head of NERCHA (the government agency dealing with HIV/AIDS) explains. We hope men step up and take care of their wives and children; it's better for everyone.

One Catch-22 we seem to have noticed is that as men aren't too involved at home, women shoulder a lot of domestic duties and are targeted for developmental aid; and because of that, men don't get as much attention, and they drop further out of the picture. Reaching men would be a boon for them AND their families.

ANOTHER EXTRA
I also include parts of a recent newsletter from our SMA (Society of African Missions) friends. The article "Development-Not An Easy Road" is a real and representative story about the challenges of "getting ahead" in Africa.

SOCCER AND NETBALL
The ball games are underway! Usually these school sports take place during the second term, but this year they will be finished before school gets out in April. The reason for the accelerated completion is that the sponsor (Coca-Cola) wants the high school season wrapped up so they can concentrate on the World Cup which begins in June. Fair enough.

The school played its first cames on the 26th; the boys soccer team tied 1-1 against (I haven't seen it written, so bear with me) Nhlanganisweni High School, while the girls netball team lost. This is something of a change from last year, when the girls got as far as the quarterfinals, while the boys crashed out in the first round. I didn't see either game (was home nursing a sore knee-more later), but I was glad to see boys scored a goal, even though it was a tie. That is a good sign. Hope the girls can pull it together.

Ruth was walking down the road a few days ago and saw the soccer team practicing-running, that is. This year's coach is doing a great job. The team faces Mbabane Central High School next week. The city teams are often pretty good, because (according to our rural students) they've never had to herd cattle or goats or plow, plant, and weed maize; they've spent their youth playing soccer, while our boys have been raising food. Still, if our young men can combine their fitness and skills with teamwork, they may be able to surprise some teams. I cannot remember a time that Nsukumbili got out of the first round of play; maybe this year.

SORE KNEE
In early December I ran down the road on the way to fix the water system. My knee was a little sore, but I didn't pay too much attention to it, and the soreness went away. About 3 weeks ago I went running on a Friday morning and was fine, but by noon it was so painful I could hardly walk. It swelled up some, but there was no bruising. I laid in bed Saturday and Sunday. The swelling went away and I was back to normal. I laid off the running and starting riding a bike, which gave me no trouble.

Last Wednesday the school soccer team had a "friendly" game with a local club. I was asked to referee, and I did. I consciously took it easy on the knee, and had no trouble during the match. As we put the kids to bed, though, things started feeling not quite right, and by the early afternoon on Thursday I was hobbled again. Back to bed, on my back, with the knee propped up on pillows, and ibuprofen going down my gullet like Sweetarts candy. Once again the swelling and the pain went away by late Saturday, but I have given up even trying running for 6 months. This is a little bit of a disappointment, but not a huge one; I really like to walk (which I want to be able to keep doing) and the bike keeps me in good shape. I have imagined going running with the girls, and that may still happen-later this year. Still, the walking is such a pleasure, and I want to be able to keep doing that. So the running will go, as will the refereeing.

Tangentially I was pleased with the reffing; I botched only 2 calls, and everyone went home happy and with only one minor injury (other than mine).

LENT
This is the Lenten season for many Christians. Lent is the 40 days before Easter, the same length of time Jesus spent in the desert after His baptism. This is a special time for purifying our lives, of confessing and driving out the sin and dross and replacing it with greater openness to and love for God.

Each night before retiring, Ruth and I read from a small devotional book. Following is a passage from Saint Ambrose, the bishop of Milan, Italy from 374 to 397. The Matthew referred to is the tax collector, the one who immediately left his job and followed Christ when Christ called him:

"Like him [Matthew], I too want to leave behind my old life, and follow no-one but you, O Lord, who cure my wounds. Who will ever separate me from the love of God which I find in you...? I am bound to the Faith, nailed to the Faith; I am bound by the holy bonds of love. All of your Commandments will be like a cauterising iron whose touch I will bear always on my body...medicine stings, but draws out the infection from the wound. Cut away, Lord Jesus, the putrefaction of my sins. For as long as you hold me bound by love, cut away any infection that is in me. Come soon to lance my many secret and hidden passions, and cut into the wound, so that the disease may not spread to the whole of my body...I have found a Physician who dwells in heaven, but who distributes his medicines on earth. He alone can cure my wounds because He does not suffer from them; He alone can take all sorrow away from my heart and all fear from my soul, because He knows me in the very depths of my being."

Perhaps this can be your time of turning over your wounds, your sins and your life to the Great Physician. He will give you a new and fulfilling life through relationship with Him.

NSUKUMHILLBILLY
Your needlenose pliers are much more frequently used for crushing ticks you pick off yourself and family members than for handyman tasks.
Hillbilly

Your eldest daughter can spot these 1/4 inch long ticks on the seedheads of grass-stalks overhanging the trail to church; she tells you "I see three" and, after straining your incredulous 40-something eyes, you realize she's right.
Six-Million-Dollar-Woman-Bionic-Eyes Hillbilly

Have a good day,
Rudy