After we were finished with tea, we were able to walk around on the beautiful lawns of the Royal Livingstone. This hotel/resort is right on the shore of the Zambezi River just down from Victoria Falls. It was BEAUTIFUL! Kaylee said she now wants to get married there... as soon as she finds her man! :) Love you, Kay. We started walking around and soon realized that there were monkies everywhere! A bunch of them were jumping around and playing on a table out in the middle of the yard. Lacey and Kaylee decided to get a closer look. And then a closer look. And an even closer look. Then they were only a few feet away and all of a sudden the monkeys started chasing them! One of them even grabbed the hem of Lacey's dress. It was hilarious... of course they screamed and made a scene. Luckily, I got a few classic pictures of it... which will be up on Facebook once I get home. Once the sun started going down we all gathered on the big deck to relax and watch the sunset. I was just sitting there and all of a sudden I had a little visitor...

That night we met together in B Weave's hotel room for a small devotional. Ian was in charge of it, and it was so sweet. He has done a lot of growing up on this trip and we are all proud of him! We also discovered the big fuzzy blankets in our hotel room that night. We couldn't believe we'd missed them on the first night! Catherine and I snuggled up in our beds and watched a movie before falling asleep. The next morning, we decided to sleep in instead of going to the market. Excellent choice! We were so rested and relaxed when we met up with the rest of the group for lunch. After a little picnic in the parking lot of a grocery store, we went back to Victoria Falls! B Weave decided to just sit in Khaki Jackie while we went and walked around. We had to wait for a little bit while DT paid for all of us. We were just standing around when we saw a big monkey come up and try to get in the window a guy's cab! He shooed him off, but the monkey (and a few of his friends) roamed around the parking lot. I went over to warn B Weave since she had her window down. Sure enough, right after I warned her, the monkey came over and jumped up on Khaki Jackie! He had a little staring contest with B Weave while we all took pictures. Funny!

There are really no words for Victoria Falls. It's unbelievable. Does not even compare to Niagara Falls, which happens to be one of my favorite places!


After taking a few "dry" pictures, we made our way down to the mist... Now last time, when we were there at night, I ran across a bridge that goes straight through the mist. This time, when I saw it, I decided it was a no go. Padge, I don't think you would have wanted to do it either! Pretty small bridge, way high up, that's super slippery! No way! Everyone else decided to go across it so I just headed back up to the dry areas and took a few more pictures. Later, we all decided to brave the market there. Out of control. They really know how to work you and they make you feel bad if you don't buy something. Jaime ended up buying some ugly carved heads just because she felt bad. Ha! I only got what I had on my list (yes, I had a list. Nerd. I'm not denying it) so I was good. Then it was back to the hotel for the wet people to change before our sunset cruise. We got picked up at our hotel and were driven down to the Zambezi. We took a little sunset cruise down the river. It was really peaceful and relaxing. A great way to end our trip!


There was a family also on the boat who were missionaries in Malawi that were taking a long weekend trip. Turns out, the wife was a speech pathologist! So she was very interested in our work and they were so nice talking to. The sunset was beautiful! I may have taken over 20 pictures of it. Surprised? I'm such a sucker for sunsets.


When we got back to the hotel, Catherine and I stayed in our room and worked on another little G.A. secret for everyone. This morning we got up and headed over to the market. The people in Livingstone are really used to tourists and really working people. That was a major change from the markets in Kalomo and Choma where they just kind of sit back and let you look. It was exhausting going from stall to stall with about 5 guys around you at all times saying, "My sister from another mother, you have something to trade? Come and look at my shop!" It's a good thing we went to this market at the end of our trip when most of our shopping was done, though... otherwise we might have spent too much money buying little things we were pressured into even though we didn't necessarily want them!

We had to come back to Namwianga a little earlier than originally planned, but that was okay. We got back in time for lunch and then had the afternoon to pack or whatever. Dr. Weaver said we could go to the Haven if we wanted, but she warned us that it would be hard to have to say bye all over again. Kaylee and I were the only ones who decided to go back. We thought, who cares if we cry again? We want to love on our babies one last time! So we walked over there and gave the aunties a few last minute things from Caroline. As soon as we showed up, we were put to work. Kaylee went to Haven 1 and helped Pauline get the Lost Boys dressed after their baths. I stayed in Haven 3 and helped Naomi. Of course the first baby I went to see was Dennis. When I picked him up, I thought he felt lighter. Uh oh. Then I realized his diaper was stinky so I was going to change him. Naomi decided to go ahead and give him his bath. When she brought him back for me to put some clothes on him, he threw up all over himself and used the bathroom again. I told Naomi and she just told me to go rinse him off in the tub. Poor baby, he just cried the whole time. Naomi told me that he has been sick all weekend and has lost weight. After I got some clean clothes on him, I rocked him for a while. Naomi asked me to feed Memory while she finished bathing the rest of the babies. I'm not sure I've even mentioned Memory on my blog... Memory is special! She just arrived last Friday from South Africa where she has been the entire time we've been here. She has Down's syndrome and was having heart problems. They were able to take her to South Africa to have heart surgery! It was successful and now she is back and doing really well! She is sweet, happy baby and it was fun feeding her this afternoon and getting to interact with her some. Finally, it was time to go meet up with Kaylee in Haven 1 and head back home. I made a quite round of that Haven to give each baby a little bit of last minute loving. After saying bye again, we walked over to Eric's house to get some pictures with George for my capstone project. The boys over there are such a hoot. They were so funny. It ended up being a great little visit and we were both glad we decided to go one last time.

Tonight at dinner, Catherine and I hosted "The Hizzies"... our end of the trip awards ceremony. Each person received an award that we had made certificates for on the backs of Ellie's postcards. You might not get it, but here are the awards:

• Marja- "Stimulating the Zambian Economy" and "Wedding Bells"
• Meghann- "All Natural"
• Jaime- "Singing Therapist"
• Ian- "Regurgitation King"
• Lacey- "Next Ellie Hamby"
  
• Sarah- "Honorary Auntie"
  
• Caroline- "Richard Simmons"
  
• Kaylee- "Mrs. McLain Wannabe"
  
• Catherine- "Healthy Hippo"
  
• me- "Bookworm"
  
• Mrs. Keri- "Food Fairy"
• Dr. Tullos- "Safari Joe"

For our final award, we called Dr. Weaver up to sit in a chair at the front where we were sitting. We gave a little mini speech about how much she means to us and how proud of her we are now that she is the new dean of the College of Communication! We have kind of joked while we've been here about having a "deaning" ceremony for her. We had no idea what to really do to "dean" her, so we just made up our own thing. Catherine had brought a sweet cowboy hat that was baby blue and had rhinestones all over it. We put it on B Weave's head, but had a chitenge over it so no one else could see what it was. In unison, we announced, "By the power invested in us, by Martha Vendetti, we now pronounce you: Dean Dr. Ba B Weave!" And we pulled the chitenge off and everyone cheered. B Weave was laughing and loving it... and then she saw the cake. On Friday we "ordered" her favorite apple cake with a request for something special to be written on it. It was perfect! She absolutely loved it.


It was a really fun, silly end to a great trip. I have been so blessed by coming here. Thank you to everyone who made this trip a reality! I can't wait to share more pictures and stories in person with you!