Merry Christmas-Happy Birthday Jesus



snuggles with aunt lizzie and uncle rich



smiles for aunt paula

hugs from the g-rents

making aunt chenai smile

Dada excited about all day basketball

Loved this movie!!!

yummy dinner

homemade cinnamon rolls

Luke 2:9-12 (NLT)
Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared among them, and the radiance of the Lord's glory surrounded them. They were terrified, [10] but the angel reassured them. "Don't be afraid!" he said. "I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. [11] The Savior-yes, the Messiah, the Lord-has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David! [12] And you will recognize him by this sign: You will find a baby wrapped snugly in strips of cloth, lying in a manger."
So your first Christmas came and went and it was delightful experiencing Christmas with the best  Christmas gift dada and I could ask for. You got to catch up with your aunt Lizzie and uncle Rich, aunt Paula, aunt Kaneeka and cousin Kelis, and your grandparents. Christmas eve wore you out with all the driving, receiving your gifts and socializing. I think you only got 3 hours of sleep during the day and basically plonked out while I held you at 10pm that night.
On Christmas day after your morning nap aunt Chenai and I left you with dada watching basketball to watch the movie Sherlock Holmes. You were supposed to fall back asleep soon enough. Supposed to!! We had a delightful time watching an awesome movie but poor dada. Apparently you cried 75% of the time we were gone, dada looked like a train had hit him:(. After a couple of minutes of mama and feed time you were back to normal, and aunt Chenai started on making a yummy dinner of Mac and cheese( with turkey bacon bits and artichoke) and a creamy chicken pot pie. Finished off with cinnamon rolls I made and an assortment of lemon, strawberry and red velvet cupcakes aunt Chenai baked.. Yes we had a glorious time. With all the excitement during the  last couple of days you were out by 6:30pm.

I made sure to not over plan or set any expectations for your first Christmas and just enjoy Jesus' birthday with our little family and aunt Chenai- and it turned out quite lovely. Just another opportunity to be thankful for the people God has put in our and now your life.

Merry Christmas baby girl

Happy birthday uncle Shingi aka bhudhi-Tinki-Godfather.

His laugh comes from the depth of his gut.
He loves to entertain with his stories and comedy even if it's a little flavored with "additions".
He's passionate about his politics as only a Muchemwa man would be
He's our only brother and it's obvious he grew up amongst women :) His sisters love him and we can't wait to him say " the Lord laid it on my heart" just embrace the truth brother:)
He's an awesome husband and father to the cutest little mini-me's and step dad to two pre-teens-God's grace upon you brother
And your Godfather.
We love you bhudhi-uncle Tinki and wish you the very best birthday.

Christmas experiences

So today you got to meet Santa at your Pediatricians office. I'm mentally able to call him Santa now. See back in Zim and other countries across the pond he's called Father Christmas. Cool right? We were in line for almost 45mins and the whole time you were playing smiley baby and coo games with mama while you were in your stroller and social baby when you weren't as you smiled at everyone who said hello to you. I was a super proud and happy mama. 

I was more excited than I thought i would be. I am trying to make sure you experience things more organically and not checking off the expected baby milestones just because. But I figured you need at least a memory of meeting Santa. I have some of meeting Father Christmas a couple of times, so why should you not. It wasn't a yearly ritual for our family. You see until i was in my early teens we more often than not went to mama's grandparents homestead in the village grandpa grew up in for a week or two. Sometimes we'd go to grandma's parents but their village was only an hour away so it was more of a day visit. The "long" 5hr trip to grandpa's parents was more exciting when I was younger as we ( my siblings, cousins and an uncle/aunt or two) were packed like sardines in canopy covered pick up trucks while the older adults rode in the sedans. We'd often make a gobble stop at a layaway to devour the goodies all the moms made in their respective homes. Before reaching the homestead and turn into the dirt road that led to it we'd stop and stock up on goodies that were to most of our cousins in the village more luxuries than staples. Think sugar, tubs of butter( not too much since there was no electricity therefore no fridge), tea, bags of a dozen loaves of bread, cans of jam spread, biscuits( cookies in America), potato chips ...yes we  literally got enough food to feed a village. On top of that they'd always be a fattened cow that was picked from the krall to feed the masses expected. Not all of our village neighbors had city relatives like our family did so they'd stop by, most of them  on Christmas day to join in devouring the Christmas luxuries. I remember the overwhelming feeling of family and community,  and it didn't matter who lived in the city or the village we were all just people celebrating family. Obviously as I got older I preferred the Christmas at home with your grandparents because they felt more normal. Yiu know the tree the gifts ( that we shopped for that week) under the tree Christmas morning etc. But now I'm glad I experienced Christmas time so colorfully. My hope is that you have your own unique experiences in life especially during times like the Christmas season. That you'll one day have your own unique stories to tell. 

Yay Santa or Father Christmas.

happy birthday cousin Ari Vama

Today is cousin Ari's birthday and he's a big 5 year old boy. According to uncle Tinki he's been super duper excited to turn 5.
We're excited for you too Ari and wish you so many more. And now we count down until you meet him.. See you soon Ari, we love you:)

clemence vama a.k.a baba parp mudhara

had a conversation with  my brother shingi the other day that brought to light the concept of what a good father is. in the midst of it we agreed that yes these days men are called a good dad just for physically being there but not completely engaged with their kids. (P.S shingi i still think you're an awesome dad). i think the reason we have a hard time understanding this "present" dad concept is because parp was such a force in our lives. when he was with you he was fully with you. parp lived for mother and us, we were the loves of his life and there was never a doubt. he lived to give us the best and pushed us (sometimes shoved us) to be the best. but in the pushing he allowed us to push back with our version of what was our best. that's a good father. he may not be here anymore and this week has been particularly sad but he's "presence" is always felt. he is not physically here but he's strong sometimes, especially during the teen years, overbearingly loving presence is felt and remembered all the time. i love my father with a depth i can't explain. he taught me how to love my family and friends as much as i do, by how deeply he loved me no matter what continent i was on. i didn't always understand his methods but i always knew why. i didn't understand why it was so important that he name me after his own mother until i had my own child and made sure she had his name. we will keep you alive through the stories you told and the stories we now have to tell. your name will live in Ari Vama and Zoe Clementine, your drive and passion will live in all your kids and grand kids. and even though Zoe never met you, when you met again one day i pray she'll feel like she's known you forever.

Loss

Psalm 4:8 (NLT)
In peace I will lie down and sleep, for you alone, O Lord, will keep me safe.

For those who have lost a loved one we see love in a different way
For those who have lost we cherish each day. Each day is a gift becomes more than just a saying
For those who have lost songs that play make our hearts remember more poignantly
For those who have lost every smile and gesture in your child is a reminder of what they're missing or how you see them in her
For those who have lost crying while smiling just means we feel them more that day
For those who have lost family mean
more each day
For those who've lost, your heart breaks more deeply when more are lost..

RIP

Cousin Tapiwa 1974-September 4th 2011
Cousin Enesia 1990- December 2nd 2011.

Cousin Edwin 1970-December 9th 2011
For those who have lost memories are all we have, so you don't stop talking about them
For those who have lost we still talk about him as if he were still here
For those that lost we vow to never lose that way again, saying I love you every chance we get
For those who have lost we listen more attentively and act more willingly when God reminds us to call someone just tell them you love them
For those who have lost there are lessons learnt in death that life can never teach.
For those who have lost God's grace gets us through each day

We love you Parp

October 8th 1945-December 10th 2010

parp with Texas kids and grand kids

Phil's BBQ-"For this i'll come back to America for"
classic parp

limo ride baller status-he loved it

family wedding pic





oh how you've grown

You had your two month check up today and oh boy oh boy!! For a second i worried if i had been feeding you too much until the doctor assured us you were..her words " a perfect baby in all her growth categories". You are now 12.5lbs and 23inches!! I'm storing the dumbbells i have a my own self-made weights. We are so happy and proud of you! Trust me it's relief to hear since i vowed not to be that first time mom who called her pediatrician every time you cried 5 minutes more than usual or spit up two more times than yesterday. Instead I'm the new mom that gets on her phone to google what ails her baby at 2am or 5am in the morning when you sniffled more than usual or you poop looked a little off twice in a row. The pediatrician was actually impressed by how much i knew and my solutions to perceived 911 situations that i handled so well, thanks to google of course. Yay iPhone!!

The worst part was watching get your shots though. It started off cute when you got your oral vaccination. You kept smiling at the nurse and stubbornly spitting some of it out the smiling again. It was adorable. Then we had to lay you down for the sucky part. I sang to you before and during the process and told you i loved you while dada was told to hold your little chubby legs down:( I know he didn't like it at all, it was cute how he hummed along as i sang "this light of mine" to you as you screamed with each needle shot. I have to say it wasn't as painful for me as i thought it would be. You were  obviously distressed but i just held you and talked to you as we walked out and by the time we got to the store ( doctor's office is two doors down from the store..thank you Jesus) you fed and went to sleep. That's my Zoe:)

Now lets see what the next two months before your next check up have in store for us

Smiles for Dr Fresno

two months of pure pleasure

you are two months old today and we can't believe how fast it's gone by and how now compared to the "skinny" baby we met two months ago you're what dada calls "beefy"..We love our beefy baby.

You "talking" like crazy and smiling constantly which makes us burst into laughter delighted by that sweet smile. The best is when you wake up each morning and you look up and see my face and you give me this huge grin, how does one have a bad day when it starts like that. When dada takes you to play in the morning we love watching you play the roll off dada game. he holds you you move your little body like you're running on your belly and at just the right time launch yourself back on the bed. it's hilarious especially since dada does it over and over again.

You watch our mouths when we talk or sing to you and "repeat" what we say, i don't know how many times i think if someone was to see and hear us all "talking" they'd think we were a crazy family. And yes we are, CRAZY IN LOVE with our Zoe.

Happy Two Months Sweetheart!!!