Independence Day

Tomorrow in Zambia we will be celebrating Independence Day…48 years of independence to be exact. The local village school is putting on a program starting at 8 hours Zambian time, where each grade, starting at grade 1, will be putting on some kind of song, dance, poetry reading or play. The children at The Esther School have the day off, so we will be joining our friends at the village school to witness these cultural festivities. I’m so excited to be a part of something so important to these people.

Life at The Esther School continues to be busy! The students are doing quite well…still adjusting to school life, to new teaching, and a new language, but still smiling. Always smiling. Just wanted to share some of those smiles with you now. Please enjoy some photos of the last week or so. You will see some photos of the children all assembled in the library singing…these are from our first and second chapel. We have been joining together on Friday mornings for devotions and worship time. The kids just love it and it is such a blessing to witness.

I want to thank everyone who has been lifting us up in prayer and sending us encouraging words! It has been a crazy couple of weeks with on and off again water, limited power, excessive heat, and 50 students to care for! God is so good though and always knows just how much we can handle. The power of prayer is more evident here to me than ever before, so we thank you! Please continue to pray. As we begin our 4th week of school things are getting quite active. We have a PTA with many meetings and many opinions :), numerous parent directed work teams, as well as a few sick children needing medical attention. Please pray for all the children as they continue to adjust, as well as the teachers, teaching in 100 plus degree weather with no air, no fans. We ask prayers for our own family as well…for Kevin as he serves as Administrator and is pulled in numerous directions at once (for those of you know Kevin well, know he is great at that, but it is stressful at times too.) Prayers for Rowan as he is a part of the kindergarten class At The Esther School and is doing great! Prayers for Clayton with homeschooling..that his litte brain doesn’t get too bored and I can come up with some new, out of the box ideas for him! (Teachers…help!) For Hudson…he is such a little trooper. He just kinda hangs out all day. Pray that he continues to be a happy healthy little guy and keeps going on the potty! Less laundry for mom is always good! Thank you again! We couldn’t be here doing this work without you all.

yesterday’s sunrise

Homeschool

We had our first day of homeschool! Nothing against any of you homeschoolers out there…but homeschooling was one thing I (Tina) NEVER thought I would do! I am very right brained…more scattered with my thoughts…not someone who sits down every night and plans out lesson plans and new ways to intrigue the brain of my eight year old! But guess what? I am actually enjoying it! I am learning SO much. Who would have thought re-learning about vertebrates and invertebrates would be so fascinating? Arika and I joke about how we are going to be geniuses when we get back…we really should get ourselves onto a game show of some sort. :o) Clayton is doing great at picking up the material. We start our day every day with coffee (hot chocolate for Clay) and devotions then onto schoolwork. The first two days he had all his workbook pages done before I even had a chance to go through all the fun material I had planned! I had to give clearer instructions that he had to wait until I could explain the subject so at least I could “feel” like I was teaching. And there have been many reminders since that first day that I am the teacher and HE is the student. On Sunday night (the night before we were to start homeschool and I was just starting to do my planning for the week) he asked me what I was working on. When I told him I was planning out his week he was so disappointed. He thought that with homeschool he would be the one to pick out all the subjects and units and plan his day accordingly. I told him this homeschool situation would not work out well if he didn’t allow me to be the teacher. There have been many times this week where I have gotten frustrated with him because he clearly “knew” better than me.

On one of those days..a day I was feeling frustrated..I read my “Jesus Calling” devotional and God so calmly and quietly reminded me that I do the exact same thing him ALL the time. I forget that He is the teacher and I am the student. I try to get all my “workbook pages” done without consulting Him first. Thank you Lord for that reminder. Here is the excerpt from “Jesus Calling” (written in first person as God speaking…)

“They forget that I am sovereign and that My ways are higher than theirs. Underneath their driven service, they may secretly resent Me as a harsh taskmaster. Their worship of Me is lukewarm, because I am no longer their first love. My invitation never changes: Come to Me, all you who are weary, and I will give you rest. Worship Me by resting peacefully in My presence.”

1 Timothy 6 verse 15 reminds us that “God will bring about in his own time – God, the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see. To him be honor and might forever. Amen.”

Enjoy these photos of the first days of school! The cool thing about homeschooling is you get to do “other things” too….ummm…mom don’t look at the motorcycle pic. :o)