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.

October

 What was the last moment you had that took your breath away?  We had one last night.  I noticed that the moon was nearly full and rising early, so we packed up a picnic and headed to a small, secluded beach.  We picnicked alongside the outgoing tide, and as the sun flashed hot pink and sank into the sea, the moon took over with a glow strong enough to cast our shadows on the white sand.  Soon, fireflies danced around us.  God is AWESOME!

Today was another Siku Kuu (Special Day) to celebrate the Hajj...the pilgrimage to Mecca Muslims are supposed to make during their lifetime as one of the 5 pillars of the faith (aka, steps to heaven).  Justin convinced me to brave the throngs and head to town with the girls.  

It turned out to be really fun.  We decided to try something new and all, all FIVE of us got on the Piki Piki (scooter bike thing) and put-putted to town.  There we walked around, visited friends, went with friends to meet their friends, and generally made the rounds.

It was really fun to see how happy we made people just by visiting.  Or maybe they were making fun OF us...hard to tell sometimes.  I was amazed that nearly ever kid in town knew my name.  "Mama Huntah" was the constant call as we meandered through!  

Here's Zahor Justin.  If you'll remember, he was born back in July during that memorable evening of me driving to the hospital without his mama when his daddy tried to speak to me in English and told me  they were already at the hospital.  His mama named him Zahor.  His daddy named him Justin.  Little Justin that is.

Homeschool plugs along.  We LIVE for Fridays when we get to do art.  This is Hunter's version of the 3 Olympian winners standing on their podiums.  She pointed out to me that there is no platinum medal. 

Braelyn decorated this horse I made for her and Avery went for donuts with faces.  I'm suddenly realizing how often we stay in our jammies till afternoon.  Joys of homeschool, right?  

The first official Computer Class begins a week from Monday!  The interest has been huge, over 30 applications have been given out, and the clock is ticking!  Justin will choose 8 men (that's all we can fit in the tiny classroom we have rented) and I will probably get talked into doing a women's class as well. It's not at all that I don't want to, it's that I wonder how I can do it all.  But God doesn't ask us to do it all, just to do the best we can at what HE asks of us.  

We pray all is well on your end.  Thank you for your love and prayers!

Busy Fall

Yes, it's been a month since I took a picture and had anything to blog.  Homeschooling is going well, but takes a lot!  Hunter is loving science and social studies, not so much the math and handwriting.  Avery and Braelyn are playing better and better together, but I still feel like a referee much of the day!  

Recently painting on paper got a little boring, so Hunter turned Avery into the frog from Gnomeo and Juliet.  Soon after, Hunter became some sort of china doll princess. 

 Later that day we took a walk though the forest marveling at all the fungi and giant teak leaves we found.

Here's the update on the Adult Education Center!  All the computers have arrived on Little Island and are in our rented room, along with various other needed things.  Only lacking desks!  They're in the workshop and nearly finished.  Here's the currant mess:

Soon these puppies should be actually working!  English and Computers, here we come!

Crafternoon

I stole that particular gem from Sandy, I must be honest. 

After lunch today Hunter read us a book called "Swimmy".  Its pictures are done with carved potatoes dipped in paint.  Guess what the girls wanted to do?

 

 

So, out came the knife and 4 potato halves soon became a giraffe, elephant, baobab tree and flamingo.

 

It was a HUGE hit!  The girls sat quietly painting at the table for what seemed like an hour!

 

Hunter turned her ideas into an amazing book.

 

"Fleing (flamingoes) are fethery fowls thye stand on onw Leg thye Livin the water.

 

Elfints are hyoog Anmls wiht littl hars and Long nosis.

 

Jrafs heve Long neks thar legs are long."

 

The final picture failed to load after 5 attempts, but it says, "Hunter ilustrater".

How cool is this girl?