Coming Home

My bags are packed and I'm headed home

We are just now headed to the airport for our flight that leaves at 11:45. Hopefully we'll actually leave on time :-) I have had an absolutely wonderful time here and am very sad to be leaving so soon! See ya when I get home! Love ya

Saying Goodbye

 I walked Stephanie home last night and while I was walking back I got to watch the sun disappear behind the mountains; the sky was gorgeous! It made me think of How Great Thou Art

 George arrived safely from Egypt and brought along some gifts for everyone. Elena loves her new stuffed animal and shawl. I walked into the parlor today and found her just like this

 She also loves George as does Elias; they have both been having fun having another person to read to them and play games with them.

  Tonight was my last service here; it was sad having to say goodbye to everyone. I have been so blessed to be able to meet so many wonderful people and I will miss them all lots!

  Jenaboo is the lady on the left- we don't speak any of the same languages but she always greets me and gives the biggest smile. The other day when I came out she got a big smile on her face and said, "My friend" I laughed because I had said the same thing to her when we pulled up the day before.

She was very delighted to meet George tonight as well :-)

 Chloe loves George (big surprise right?) She kept looking up at him and cooing; it was so cute!

I'd like to introduce Philip Jr. Anyone else agree?

My little sweetheart

 Daddy's girl

Mommy Jane and Jane Francis came over to meet George and say goodbye tonight; Mommy Jane said that it was good good he could come and meet my African friends :-)

I guess I should be saying this is just see ya later not goodbye but its still sad. I have made so many new friends here and will miss them all!

Fun Times

Today Stephanie came over for a tea and nail painting party :-) Elias showed up for the food and ended up staying around to watch me paint the girls nails

 I am not a professional nail painter as you can tell, but I had fun painting their nails :-)

 Mommy Jane took us to the rice fields yesterday- it was a beautiful afternoon!

 The view was so pretty with the mountains in the background!

 We looked like a little army with all the people we brought along but it was fun :-)

Yesterday Clemont came over to see me before I leave; we had a fun time!

Friday Fun

I spent the night with Rosemary on Thursday and on Friday morning she asked if I wanted to go horseback riding. We hiked up to her old house and from there went riding for over an hour. It was a blast and the view was beautiful! When we got back to the Needhem's house Sam and Abby were just leaving to hike to the waterfall so we went along. The view there was also gorgeous! Unfortunately I was crossing over the water to snap a better picture when my feet slipped out from under me. My poor camera took the worst of the fall and has since stopped working :-(

We went up to Sabga on Thursday night and this was the view that greeted us- it is soooo beautiful here! 

 Enjoying the view

 This is from where Rosemary and I hiked up to... You can see the Needhem's house in the middle of the picture. We went from their house to the top of the mountain and then rode from there to the top of a few other mountains

 It was so beautiful

It was a great day and I had lots of fun! I loved spending the day with Rosemary- she is a blast :) 

All In a Day

So have you ever heard the joke about the two blonds that couldn't figure out how to open the office door? Well let me tell you about it...

Tonight the kids were in the office watching a Curious George when all of a sudden I heard Elias crying. I was on the phone with my family but I walked over and tried to open the office door. Well the door wouldn't open so Abby told Elena to unlock the door when she finished the show. I continued talking on the phone until I heard Elena crying. Abby tried getting Elena to unlock the door but she wouldn't touch it; I got off the phone with my family and came over to try and help out with the situation...

Both the kids were in the office crying because they were locked in and we had no keys. Abby and I both tried (unsuccessfully) our own techniques at opening the "locked" door

I tried the good old bobby pin trick...

 While Abby tried the credit card tactic... As you can tell she was quite the distressed mother

 Unfortunately, none of our techniques were working and Elena, being the drama queen that she is, was still crying thinking that she would be locked in the office forever. Finally I looked at the top of the door and noticed that it wasn't shut all the way. At that point I said, "Um Abby is the door even locked?" She gave the door a good shove and sure enough, it popped right open! We spent a good ten minutes trying to get the door unlocked and when she finally shoved it open I think we laughed for another ten minutes.

My hair may look black but don't be fooled- my parents dyed it from blond to black when I was a child.

 It has been quite the interesting day... 

You know how in movies the girls always jump up on chairs when they see a mouse? Well I've always laughed at that until tonight...

We walked into the kitchen to grab a snack a few hours ago when I saw something scampering across the floor. I screamed and jumped on a bench faster than anything! Well since Sam is gone we decided we should try our hand at catching the mouse so we each grabbed a broom and situated ourselves; I sat on the counter and Abby stood on the bench; we also got a laundry basket and put it in the door so the mouse couldn't escape that way. We managed (after much screaming) to get the mouse in the laundry basket only for it to run back out. As you can tell, we managed to create quite a mess trying to catch the nasty little thing

Unfortunately, we never did see the mouse again but Abby still wanted a snack so while she was getting some corn flakes I waited on the counter when the broom fell to the ground. We both screamed again and when I turned around I saw Abby with her feet on the counter; it was so funny! I don't know how she got up there that quick but I guess her adrenaline kicked in! 

Anyway, I may be able to kill a spider with no problem but a mouse is a different story! I was so scared that it was going to run over my feet and I still shiver when I think about seeing it run across the floor. I think its just because they can run so fast. 

When it comes to mice, I am definitely a scaredy cat!!!

Today was my last Sunday here; I have had such a wonderful time and I'm sad its almost over :-( 

Elena and I did get matching skirts made...

It has been quite an unforgettable day! Too bad Sam had to leave town today and miss out on all the fun. Although, it would have been wonderful to have him here to kill the mouse!

I hope you all have had a wonderful mouse free day!

Holiday Bible School

We had a great last day for Bible School; the weather was great and we had over 50 kids come! There were also over 12 kids who prayed to get saved today which was awesome :-)

Here are a few of us enjoying our bon-bons at the end of the day

I had a blast working with the kids and now I am pretty much addicted to doing VBS; It's exhausting but so rewarding!

Holiday Bible School

We just finished the second day of Bible School; it has been very busy but fun! I love being with the kids and it is so fun to work with Genesis and Exekiel; they are both so good with kids and totally get into what they are doing!

It is absolutely beautiful here! Unfortunately, we were still out playing when the clouds opened up

 I got to teach the Bible lesson today

 I love doing the songs with the kids!

 Abby taught yesterday

 One way to have beautiful children is to have beautiful parents

 I L-O-V-E the background in this one!

 Three legged race

 This is Abdou- he is such the model child! He pays attention so well and participates in every thing! He also got saved today :-)

 She thinks she's a princess

 They got the older guys to do a three legged race as well

 The only thing funny about this picture is that it was probably 80 degrees outside. Poor Hopkins!

 Best buds eatin' bon-bon's

 I love this one! He loved riding in the bus

 The kids loved this game... They each had a balloon tied around their leg and had to try to pop the other persons balloon all without leaving the circle. It was pretty funny where there were 10 kids in the circle!

 Ridin' the bus

 Sam gave a challenge today

 This is why he makes such a wonderful director!!! The kids love him

 We had about 18 or 19 kids yesterday and today Sam counted 33! Who knows how many we'll get tomorrow :-)

 Back at home... 

I was doing dishes after dinner when Elias came in with a book, sat down at my feet, and started reading :-) So sweet! He also loves to help with the dishes but once he does the silverware and cups he has more fun playing in the water than rinsing out the bowls!

 She loves her sister and as Elena says, "I think she likes me sometimes" :-)

 Elias has once again found someones shoes to wear... Genesis' are a little too big though and he couldn't even keep them on :-) He finally took them off and carried them around

 When we got home yesterday I looked in the wash room and saw this... Mercy was so fascinated with the washing machine!

 For those of you who know the story- the bread man came back today! You can just barely see his hat if you look closely... I stayed inside today :-) Abby said that he never shows up this many times in one week. For those of you who don't know the story just ask my dad :-) haha- actually don't!

It has been an exhausting few days but it has been worth it; I absolutely love working with the kids and so I am having a blast! Hope things are going well wherever you are!