What's New with the Kowalskis?

Wondering what we are up to?

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Kowalski Christmas Chronicle 2016

Hers`s our latest newsletter!
February Kowalski Chronicle

Its a Kowalski Christmas (Letter)

Just click on the link above to view our latest news.  Have a joy filled Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Hi everyone.  Hope that you are enjoying your summer.  We have moved again - here is our latest newsletter to prove it - lol.  Click on the link below to view our newsletter.

Kowalski Family Newsletter July 2015



The map above shows Maun in the north of the country, our home for the last  years, and Gaborone on the south east corner, our new home since March.  Our newsletter tells more of the story.

Also, if you didn't see our March newsletter, please let us know, and we can make it available to you too.

Hi everyone,

We are embarking on something new, and attempting to post our newsletters on the blog.

Hope you enjoy it!

Kowalski Chronicle Christmas 2014

Back in the saddle

Well, we've been "home" in Botswana for almost two weeks now. The suitcases are unpacked and stored away, the goodies have all found a home on the shelves, and the kids are back into activities and home schooling. It seems that furlough came and went so quickly, and here we are, back in full swing. I (Keith) started back to work after a few days, and am now attempting to establish a new rhythm to life. You see, work was almost all consuming in the first half of the year, and then we slammed on the brakes, and I had no real work responsibilities for the next 3 months of furlough. Now that others have been carrying the torch (work wise), I am attempting to find my niche, and not just re-assume the massive workload that had once been mine. I think there will be some growing pains as I determine what things are mine to pick up again, and what I can leave to others, who have been doing the work while I was gone. In the meantime, we are re-connecting with the gracious and lovely friends that the Lord has blessed us with on this side of the Atlantic. It is a challenge to change frame of mind, and live our Botswana life, while our hearts still have residue of Canada calling out to us. We pray for the grace to fully engage wherever the Lord has us, that we can bring glory to His name.

The Grace of God

You've heard it said that things don't always go the way that you have planned. Well, that couldn't have been more true for our trip back to Botswana. We had a decent itinerary planned which saw us leaving last Thursday, arriving in Johannesburg Saturday morning, spending the day with our dear friend Alrike, and flying home Sunday afternoon to Maun. Well, we did arrive Sunday afternoon as scheduled, but that was about the only thing that went as planned. Our parents bid us a tearful good-bye as we went through security about 13:00 Thursday at the Saskatoon airport. We got on the plane as scheduled, and settled in for our hour long flight to Calgary. Well, the plane pushed back from the gate and spent an exceptionally long time doing what seemed like engine runs. Then, the Captain announced that he had an indicator light signifying a malfunction. We would be going back into the terminal and waiting for them to figure out a plan. "Please collect your luggage off of the baggage carousel, and return to the check-in desk for further info." What???!!! So with Jacob and Abigail's help, we dragged our six carry-on bags, and collected our eleven suitcases off the baggage carousel, and returned to the starting line. Now, our parents had long since gone home, and we were in a holding pattern at the check-in counter. You see, it may be easy enough to find space for one or two people on different flights, but we were going to miss our first connecting flight, and so the entire itinerary had to be re-booked... for six people. Air Canada did a great job of taking care of us though, which started with food vouchers while we waited in Saskatoon (6 hours), and included a hotel room in Calgary while we waited for the next flight to Toronto....yes, we had to go to Calgary, to get to Toronto. We had a surprise blessing on the leg to Toronto, as Air Canada had given us prepaid meals on that flight as well. Why do I mention this? Well, you see, when we travel, we try to do things on the cheap. We will buy a kind of minimum amount of food to share, and wait for a more economical option. So, when we each were given the ability to each order a complete meal, it was a real blessing. It is also difficult to keep everyone hydrated, and fed, so when the food comes to you, it works much better. We were routed from Toronto to Munich, Germany (7 or so hours), and seven hours after that, flew to Frankfurt, for our connecting flight to Johannesburg. We had been given another set of meal vouchers by Air Canada in Toronto, and attempted to use them in Munich. The restaurant would not accept them, but suggested that we approach Lufthansa to exchange them for us. Well, here was God at work again, as our fifty dollars were transformed into fifty Euros. Now the Munich airport is quite expensive, but with fifty Euros, we managed to eat like kings, and even have ice cream for dessert. We made all of our connecting flights, and every piece of luggage arrived along with us. We had a small hick-up in Johannesburg, as we waited for our car seat to arrive at the place we were told to pick it up. It ended up coming on the normal luggage belt, which we discovered, after waiting 1 1/2 hours for it to appear at over-sized baggage (all the while being reassured that this is where it would be sent). It made our connection time tight, but we made it just in time for our final flight home to Maun. We were the last folks off of the airplane in Maun (typical for this family of six), and were surprisingly escorted to the middle of the line for immigration, while others stood outside in the scorching heat. Checking into the country went well, and we were greeted by Mandy, one of our co-laborers in the field. At the end of a long (72 hours) journey, we found ourselves back in Maun, ready to launch into the next phase of life (after some much needed rest)!