The rest of the busiest week of our year...

 Monday, Hunter's actual birthday found us waking to homeschool, hot season and ants.  Every once in a while, they get tired of living in our walls and come pouring out, or rather, in.

Tuesday, Wednesday, business as usual.  Then TURKEY DAY!  And YES, a friend flew over for business and brought us actual turkey breasts!  The kids dined indoors on turkey, gravy, sweet corn, home-made (by Sandy) stuffing, actual crescent rolls made by Justin, cranberry sauce mailed over by Sandy's mom, candied pumpkin, mashed potatoes, and that's all before dessert!  Amazing what can be put together on such a tiny island at the ends of the earth!

Us adults took refuge outside where the evening breeze had begun to cool us down.

Friday we woke to blazing sun and Braelyn turning 3!  I don't have a baby, I don't even have a toddler anymore!  It's bliss.  

We took our picnic of Thanksgiving leftovers to the sparkling sea and cooled off in the turquoise waters of the Indian Ocean.

It's moments like these that thrill my soul and make me forget the hardships and heat over here.

Today (Sunday) found us celebrating our 12th anniversary!  After church and the usual, we dropped the girls off at the A's and took the motor bike through the ancient forest to a quiet beach.  I surprised Justin (hard to do) with our suits and snorkels and we swam out, alone, for like an hour.  The water was warm and beautiful and we saw all sorts of sea creatures...it was magical.  Then we basked on the beach in the beauty of near silence.  

Back we came to finish up, or is it start off a week, with Christmas music, setting up our tree and decorating it.  The girls loved every second, and for the first time in 6 years, no baby was underfoot to pull on the lights or break ornaments or scatter the nativity scene under all the couches.  I love this big kid stage!  

Happy Holiday Season to you all!  May the joys of the True meaning of Christmas fill your hearts every day!

Once a year

Once a year we have 2 birthdays within 4 days of each other.  This wonderous event happens to fall on the same week as our anniversary and Thanksgiving.  This year, it even came at the end of our first week of teaching at the Adult Education Center.  It's been busy around here!  Birthdays also bring out the guilty mom in me, and I try to make up for all the unspecial days the rest of the year.

Recently, we've gotten ahold of the cartoon Jake and the Neverland Pirates.  It's a cute spin off of Peter Pan that is wildly addictive for my children.  The girls decided that THIS was to be the theme of the Big Day.

So we did our very island-best and here's what we came up with!  The kids loved it and I deemed it a Savvy Success.  You love that I've succumbed to the skull and crossbones, don't you little Sis?

The Birthday Girls

Pan's Hideout

Bucky the Pirate Ship

Walking the plank into shark infested waters!

Clues for the treasure hunt

Meet Winger the Never Bird, Izzy and The Pirate Princess.

It says Yo-Ho H and B!  My cake writing needs some improvement I know.  And yes, the candle word BIRTHDAY did come along too.  Sandy took some cute pics of the blowing out I'll post later.

Yo Ho Mateys Away!

Opening presents sent from afar with the help of Mrs. Sandy.

New pony shirt from Mimi.

It was fun, it was exhausting.  And with a night's sleep under our belts, we hit the ground running again today!  The Computer Classes are going great.  The students are enthusiastic and learning, though slowly.  We literally are starting with how to turn the computer on, how to hold a mouse, etc.  Imagine maneuvering a mouse when you've never seen a computer in your life.  It's harder than you're imagining.  But it's fun too.  Homeschool will also continue this week so that we can finish sooner at Christmas time.  

Thank You, Lord, for birthdays and blessings and beautiful little girls.  Thank you for friendships and opportunities and for making us YOURS!

Halloween...Island Style

The last day of October found us getting ready for all the festivities!  We didn't even finish school before we couldn't keep our knives off that watermelon a minute longer. 

Yes, we carved watermelons.  It was all we could find.  Now, we weren't much into Halloween when I was growing up.  Justin's family was.  So we've kind of compromised on having a nice, happy Halloween.  That is, until I carved Watermelon number 2.  Waa-haa-haa.  I hadn't let Braelyn see the carving yet before this picture...she was not hugging it later!

Hunter dressed up as Izzy from Jake and the Neverland Pirates.  The littler 2 were Indian Princesses.  So off to the beach we headed for the annual....

Mommy Hide And Seek For Candy!!!!

The other troops were made up by Princess Ladybug, Spiderman, a Conductor and Cool Moves: the original and not-yet-patented super-hero creation of Griffen. 

As usual, Mrs. Sandy did a bang-up job on the cookies.  

And nothin' says Island Livin' like cooling off in the good old Indian Ocean with a night swim after running frantically up and down the beach in search of moms holding candy.

Happy Fall!

Adult Education Center

Here she is!  And if you can imagine, the outside color is even more shocking in real life.

We've rented this small room to begin offering classes in computers.  We can fit 8 students, one teacher and a whole lot of hope.

We can't believe how excited people have been.  Classes were slated to begin this afternoon, but this is Africa.  Therefore, fees have not been paid and applications keep rolling in.

We've set a deadline for both of these things for Wednesday and classes WILL begin next Monday.  Lord willing!

Rejoice with us that this School has opened in God's time, with virtually no opposition and lots of open arms.  Justin will be teaching a late afternoon class of men and Shannon will be teaching the women.  Please pray for open hearts and minds to learn what we can teach in order to better their lives. That this school would provide us with relationships that would go deep and true.