Real Men watch Chick Flicks!

Usually it is always the girls over watching all the cheesy chick flicks that I love but there was a little twist this week. There were four of the boys over and none of the girls and they were all super into a movie on tv called "The Prince and Me." Not kidding, they were totally enthralled. It was hilarious and I had to capture it in a photo!

Thanks Aunt Linda!

Linda is in the US on holiday and she sent back a box with a bunch of little cars. We have this great mat here that has roads and stuff on it but we haven't had many cars to play with. This week I put the mat outside in the carport and gave the kids the cars. They were so stoked! They have played with them nearly every day this week. Thanks for sending the new cars Auntie Linda!

How Sweet?????

The two boys below, Josh and Peter, constantly make me laugh. Last week we were walking home from the gym. (The boys and I go to the gym three to five times a week. We have to walk through the bush so they are there to protect me.) Anyway, I was commenting on these sunflowers on the side of the road and how I thought they were really pretty. Peter asked if I wanted some and I said yes but I didn't have a knife or scissors. He proceeded to wrap a towel around the base and took the whole thing out of the ground, roots and all. I am not sure if it was a sweet thing to do or just one of Peter's weird little things that he does all the time. Either way, I did get some sunflowers for my table!

Practice

One of the high schools had a talent show on Thursday. Three of my girls where dancing in it and guess where they have been practicing for the last week. They are pretty hilarious and I am quite impressed at the amount of time and the commitment they are putting into it. They even had one of the high school boys to come and give them some "tips." I think that a couple of the girls really enjoyed the "lesson!"

Home from School!

Noshka and Fla walk past my house every day after preschool in the early evening. They often stop in to say hello, swing for a few minutes and always ask for sweets. They stopped by tonight looking so cute that I had to take a picture. They are both decked out in their new clothes looking very smart!

Happy Mothers Day!

This is a great picture. It shows five generations of women in my family. I am sad that I am not in the picture but I love seeing my family all together. I tried to explain the family connection below. I hope it is not to confusing!

The front row starting from the left: The Great, Great Grandmother (my Great Grandmother)Eleanor; my cousin Emily, my mother Pam who is holding my niece Abby. The back row starting from the left; The Great Grandmother (my Grandmother) Sonny; my Aunt Shari (Emily's mom and Sonny's daughter); and my sister Angela (Abby's mom)

My Saturday

I had a great Saturday.

One of the neighbor girl's birthday was Saturday so some of the kids came over and we made birthday cards and I made the girl, Johanna, a necklace and gave her some sweets. Her family can not afford to do anything so she was really excited to recieve some small things for her birthday.

The youth came over for dinner and a movie. This is a pretty routine thing on Saturday or Sunday night. This time it was scary movies and we had vegetable beef soup, bread and tea for dinner.

It was a great Saturday!!!

New Friends

There are two new volunteers in town. Mio and Tak are from Japan and are here working with the HIV/AIDS clinics. Sky and I had them over to my house for dinner one night. We wanted to let them know they had a place to hang out if they needed a break or anything. My house works well for volunteers here because we have hot water sometimes and television and the ADSL internet. They were so much fun to have. We taught them how to make french toast and hashbrowns. They were quite amazed at everything. It is fun to have new faces around.

Classwork

One of the classes I teach this year is RME (Religious and Moral Education). This term we are learning about Christ, from his birth to death. This first week we learned about the birth of Christ. For their homework, the learners had to draw a picture of one part of the story and write on the bottom what their picture is about. Sorry for the blurry pictures. I have written below each photo exactly what they wrote and how they wrote it. The last one is my favorite, I totally laughed out loud.

Jesus Crise

Jesus was born at bathehem

Jesus was born in the kral

and there was also three mans

who was following the star

intil after two years

By: Julinda Nghipangelwa

WHEN Maria and Joseph Whent to Betlehem When Mary Whent to get a Child of God Jesus

By: Johannes Ndumba

it was Jesuse Grise day when they have born him and then the poeple come and visit him.

By: Emilie Kahiku

the Baby God

(this one is my favorite!!)

The Angel came to Mary

Do not be afraid Mary. The Lord send me to tell you that your pregnant.

By: Esta Salumba

Interesting Evening...

I have mentioned before that I live in a very small town. As far as entertainment or activities, there is virtually nothing! I spend pretty much every evening at home with youth kids, correcting school work or using the computer. Not so exciting. The most exciting thing happened this week on Thursday...they showed a movie at the high school! You read that correctly. I got dressed up and was so excited to go and see a movie with my neighbor youth girls. That is the reality of my life!

The second part of the night was a lot more interesting at least for me. The girls and I arrived at the school for the show and were just sort of hanging out in the front. The girls that stay at the hostel at the school came over. I haven't seen "my girls" since the middle of April. They were all there and it was a screaming, hugging, "how was your holiday" craziness. I love those girls and I was so stoked to see them! The thought struck me though that my time is short here and with these girls. I have been so blessed to be able to work with them and build a relationship with them. They are amazing and I love spending time with them. How am I ever going to be able to leave? I am so at peace with my life here and I continue to feel like I am exactly where the Lord wants me. What better place could I be?

The Duck

Some missionaries from the northern part of Namibia spent the night at my house on Friday night. They were headed to a local game park not far from my house. While they are gone for the weekend, I am duck-sitting there new baby, Kea. It is a lot of work! It is so cute and fun to have around. It likes to waddle up to my neck and snuggle in for a nap. It is so soft and cute.

Sunset on the Kavango River

Beautiful...

OVC Project

While the school is on break, I went to visit some people in a town called Rundu in the North of Namibia. While I was there, I had the opportunity to visit and help at the OVC project. OVC is the Orphan and Vulnerable Children project. Some AIM missionaries volunteer with this program. There are a couple hundred kids that come twice a week for food, games and bible stories. It was fun to meet the kids and help serve the food. It is amazing what is happening there and exciting that there are several Namibians who are volunteers as well.

Food for the kids - It is a porridge like food called Pap and two pieces of fish.

These lovely ladies are the ones who cook all the food for the kids. It takes them about three or four hours to get it all done.

Precious! This little girl was quiet scared of me. In the northern part of Namibia, there are not a lot of white people so I made this little girl nervous! :)

The kids enjoying their meal.

Meteorite

This past weekend, my friend Milka, Linda, our visitor Abby and I went out to visit the Meteorite. This is like the third or fourth visit to this thing. It is the biggest Meteorite in the world and sits in the same place it landed. In reality, it is a big rock! It is a bit impressive when you think of this thing being on fire and flying through the air and landing here. It is out in the middle of nowhere! Anyway, it is where we generally take visitors when they come to Grootfontein. Besides Mufasa the Lion, there isn't anything else out here....

Sleepover # ?????

I think that this was the best sleepover we have ever had. There were seven girls this time. We had a braii, played Murder and If you Love me. We played Chubby Bunny and Hide and Seek in the dark outside. We watched a scary movie and a romantic comedy. We talked about boys and laughed a lot. We sang and danced. And of course we stopped for some midnight tea and bread. Definately no late night pizza or taco bell! We had good discussions as well and just an amazing time of bonding. I have been gone for a week from home and I miss my girls so much! They are such a daily part of my life that when I am gone, it is really lame. I think that one of the things I love about these girls is that they are so open about everything and excited. Most of the time they are fun to be around and there is always something going on whether it be homework or me chasing them through the backyard or watching movies or walking to town. They mean the world to me. I had such a blast at the sleep over and it was a great time to spend with all the girls!

Chubby Bunny!

The sleepover was such a great, mostly because we played Chubby Bunny. That is a great game and it was so funny. I am sure many of you thought I would get more but I was only able to fit five marshmellows in my mouth. The last picture is of Sippee who was able to fit nine marshmellows in her mouth. That easily made her the winner!

Show time!

One of the best parts of the night was the dancing and performing. We had a great time although things were quite crazy. Everyone participated somehow. I will try to upload a short video to show one of the girls dancing.

The girls did a performance to one of their favorite Namibian songs.

Sussie performed alone to a Hannah Montana!

Suama did a pretty rad dance!

Sippee sang a worship song...very loudly!

And I of course rapped Vanilla Ice's "Ice Ice Baby!" :-)