An Update on Tuesdays

We've continued going on Tuesdays and helping with the Sala Sala Kids' Club Ministry.  We've found it to be a real joy, for sure.

There's been an ongoing series this semester about the many names of God.  This past week was "King."

I've included a few fun pictures from this week; but, stay tuned next week...it's HOPAC's "Service Emphasis Week" (aka SEW) and starting next Thursday, we're doing a 4 day camp for the Sala Sala kids.  It's based on an Olympic Theme of "Becoming a Champion - Faster, Higher, Stronger, Together."  Next Wednesday I'll be up at HOPAC helping the 15 students plan the lesson for Saturday, "Stronger".  My plan is to use the story of Samson.  It's going to be a great time and I'm sure I'll have a bunch of pictures and stories to share. It reminds me of Vacation Bible School (aka VBS) back in the US!

Playing on the ride-on toys

Sitting, chatting, and playing with blocks

They love it when the trampoline comes out!

Snack time at the end.  I love their crowns this week as we talked about how God is the King!

Just a few of them hamming it up for the camera

"What!...There's No Water?!"

Yes, you read that right, from the 23rd of February until the 2nd of March we had no water coming into our compound.  Now, we have 4 back up water storage containers.  They each hold 2,000 Liters.  The top two are for the yard and garden, the bottom two are for the house.  So, it's not quite as dire as you would instantly think.  But, after a week with no NEW water being added to your reserves...when you want to drink, wash dishes, do laundry, take showers...it starts to run out.

On Wednesday night, Indy came inside and told me "I can see the bottom of the tanks."  I wanted to cry, I wanted to throw my hands up in the air.  I was frustrated, tired of rationing what we did have and worrying about every time someone flushed the toilet (yes, we went there, I would make them all go at one time and then just flush once to try and conserve.)  We called a friend who knew some people in the water truck business to see about ordering a truck full of water.  I sent out an email to a few close prayer warrior friends and I finally let it all out...I cried, I vented, and I prayed!  I hadn't felt like this in months, for the most part, things have been going well.  Well, it's either that, or I'm just more used to all the "ups and downs" and "off and ons" that are normal to life here in Africa! 

Later that night, Indy was out with our gardener and he came inside and said, "You're not going to believe this, there is a trickle coming into the tanks. It's not full by any stretch; but, if we're careful, it might just give us a few more days."  Oh my goodness, THANK YOU LORD!  What an answer to prayer.  I felt embarrassed that I had lost my temper, that I had so instantly felt forlorn and overcome.  I know water is basic to life; but, as Indy put it, we did have a fix, we could have ordered a truck of water.  Why was I so upset, why wasn't I just turning to the Lord and praying?  I felt my weakness in this situation, and I was reminded of His strength.  Remember the story of Paul's "thorn" in 2 Corinthians 12 (specifically verses 9 and 10.)  Again, I am reminded that His grace is sufficient for me and that in my weakness, I am strong!

This week, in my Bible reading with the Journey Girls, we were reading the book of Joshua.  What stood out to me this time through...the tricking of Joshua and the Israelites by the Gibeonites.  They had put on their worn out clothes, old wine skins, and made themselves dirty to appear as if they had come from afar.  They made a treaty with Joshua instantly because they "appeared" to be telling the truth.  Joshua made the agreement without any prayer or intercession to the Lord.  I'm sure that if he had stopped and taken a moment, that the Lord would have laid on his heart that they were being duped.  Another reminder that things aren't always what they appear.  I am still working on my self-control and not instantly jumping to the place of frustration and anger at my circumstances.  I am so grateful, that yet again, in His grace, there is forgiveness and the working of a miracle...we got some water.

So, are you ready for the happy ending?  On Friday, after my calling the water company (Dawasco) about 20 times over the course of the week and being told they would be right over, Indy came home from work a bit early and took our gardener with him (he can speak Swahili much better than we can :)) up to the Tegeta office.  We had tried to go to the Kawe office before and were told that they couldn't help us, that we weren't in their area.  The advice we had been given from friends was to wait and bring a fundi back to the house with us.  A fundi is a worker that has skills in plumbing, electrical work, etc.and is pronounced fun-di with a oo sound, it's not "fun"...remember a fundi isn't fun (thanks Amy for that quote)!  Not only did Indy bring back a fundi; but, also the lead engineer.  They had it fixed in 10 minutes.  A few weeks back the line up the street had broken and a bunch of sediment got in the line and had drifted down the hill and clogged our meter so that no water could get through.  He had to take out the meter and clean it up and then the water gushed in.  We'll have to keep an eye on it; but, I feel such a relief, such a lifting off of my shoulders.  Thank you to all of you that prayed for us.  It's always an adventure here!

Summer School 2012 Plans

In the past, the kids have been young and then last summer, we were moving.  So, we never did much for Summer School.  This year, I'm thinking it will be different.  I'm thinking that sticking with a routine will be best.

I'm not sure how much we'll be traveling and since Daddy is actually off of work, something we're not used to even when he was teaching at the Academy, this will help us to structure our days a bit.  I'm not saying we won't go and have fun and play at the pool and do family lunches...but, if I have something planned, then we can always skip it, or use it, as need be.

So, here is the basic plan :)...should only take about 2 hours or so in the morning, and then the rest of our day is free.

1. We're going to keep up with music lessons through the summer.  I hope!  I've spoken to the piano teacher and he is on board  I still need to talk to the violin instructor and I pray that will all work out as well.  Krypto  lost so much over the past summer by not playing while we were moving and in transition.

2.  I've got some review math books that the boys will do a page in each day.  Just to keep them up to speed on what they've learned so far...again, praying they don't lose all their skills while we take the 2 month break.

The two new and exciting things.....

3.  Expedition Earth!  It's a World Geography and activity program that I printed to do this year; but, we already have so much going on with our core history curriculum, Tapestry of Grace, that I let it drop.  It's put out by Confessions of a Homeschooler and you can see it here if you're interested.

http://www.confessionsofahomeschooler.com/world-geography

The kids will have a "passport" and will "visit" 30 countries.  Usually, you would spend a week on each country. We'll be "flying through" and just spending a day.  We'll learn all the basics, read a book about it, do some mapwork, listen to a song, etc....and then move on.  Krypto did take a World Geography class last year at High Country (our homeschool co-op back in Colorado) and he loved it.  I'm actually thinking about ordering the "Carmen Sandiego" DVDs from the 90's to let them watch this summer.  It's been so long since I watched it...I was actually already in college when it came out, so I wasn't a faithfull follower, does anyone know if the kids would like it?

4.  Finally, ART.....I am SO bad about doing art during the year.  By the time we finish all our "have to be done" subjects, I'm just too tired to get all the stuff out and deal with the mess of 3 kids doing art.  SO, I'm promising to do art everyday this summer!  We're going to use the "Word's Greatest Artist" curriculum from Confessions of a Homeschooler again (can you tell, I love her stuff.)  Some of the artists we have already covered while we were doing the Renaissance last year.  We'll review them; but, the point of this is to draw, paint, chalk, etc. EVERYDAY!  My kids are always asking to do art and I'm super excited that by scheduling it and only having a few things a day to do, that we can pull this off.  I think it might also help to have another adult around (Daddy) to help with the mess.  Here is the curriculum if you're interested in looking, it's a free download!

http://www.confessionsofahomeschooler.com/blog/2011/06/worlds-greatest-artists-unit-study.html

So, any thoughts, feedback, ideas?  What are you doing for Summer School this year?  I pray this finds you well and blessed!  Here's to planning a great summer!!!

School this Week...and Planning Ahead

Here's a few pictures of school this week and also of some of the planning ahead that I'm doing for the summer and next school year.

Sissi working on her Rod and Staff "C" book.  It's all about Numbers and she does it when the boys are doing their Math work.

Gwangi made some neat crafts this week and Sissi had her "baseball guy" join his animals.  They really enjoy the Kumon "Pasting" and "Craft" books.  Gwangi is also just a few lessons away from finishing up Math U See Alpha...we'll be in Beta by next month!

The books we used this past week for school.  We were learning about the "Seven Years" or "French and Indian War."  It was a really great week.

Krypto - "My favorite thing this week was learning about all the battles."

Gwangi - "My favorite thing about History was learning about George Washington."

Sissi - "I liked learning about him turning into the President."

We use "A Reason for Handwriting" and on Friday, they get a nice piece of paper with a picture on it, to copy their Bible verse on, after working on it all week.  This week, Gwangi had the Armor of God.  He copied his verse, and then cut out all the pieces that were randomly situated on the paper, and glued them into a "person."

His completed warrior.  He actually went on to line it with cardboard, make a stand for it, and put it in a Lego fort.

Some of what I've been working on this weekend.  We'll use these "Roadtrip USA" pages (from Confessions of a Homeschooler) as we learn about the States, as they enter the Union, through our Tapestry of Grace curriculum.  We're coming up on the Revolution...so we'll be using it soon!!!!

I also got all my Literature pages and maps printed up for Tapestry of Grace Year 3 next year and figured out what we're doing for Summer School.  Stay tuned for another post about that!

Menus

I have had several questions lately about meal planning here, and many hits on my old menu planning post.

It's different here; but, isn't most everything...

-- I can't really do the whole idea of freezer meals with hit or miss electricity.  I would devastated by the waste of effort, time, and money if I had to toss stuff.
-- Buying things in bulk is not a good idea because the bugs seem to find ways to get into it, or it goes stale, or it melts in the heat. Again, I'm not a big fan of waste.
-- Produce is fresh here; but, due to the heat, it goes bad very quickly.  You can't buy for anything more than a few days out.
-- You have to go to several stores or dukas to get what you need...and what was there last time, won't necessarily be there again...so if you want it, buy it when you see it, and you have to be flexible with your meal plan.

So, instead of monthly planning, which I did for years, I am now planning a week at a time.

Here is last week's Menu...

Monday - Hamburgers and fries
Tuesday - Fish and rosemary roasted potatoes
Wednesday - Date Night, leftover fish tacos for the kids and the babysitters
Thursday - Boerwors and Lentil Soup with rolls
Friday - Pilau with fresh fruit and cheese fondue (a bit of a late family Valentine's Day dinner)
Saturday - Dinner at a friend's house
Sunday - Leftover Eisbein and Mushroom Soup with French Bread

We usually go shopping on Sundays, after church, since we're already down in town.  This is what I've got scheduled for this week...


Monday - Spaghetti and Meatballs
Tuesday - Wraps with rice, beans, veggies and cheese after Sala Sala
Wednesday - Friends for dinner, Chicken Curry with a side and a salad
Thursday - Alice Springs Chicken with a side
Friday - Verna's Mexican Night
Saturday - Homemade Pizza for Saturday at the Stamps
Sunday - Lasagna

For breakfast and lunch, I just keep staples on hand and we rotate through a few tried and trues depending on what we want to eat that day.

Breakfast...
French Toast, pancakes, banana bread, cinnamon rolls, eggs, yogurt, smoothies, fresh fruit, toast, etc.

Lunch...
Tuna or egg sandwiches (this is something that I really miss...sandwich meat here is super duper expensive and that is for the cheap processed stuff that I won't buy anyway. It galls me that I could spend less, at home, for the good Boarshead meat, which isn't even available here, with no preservatives, at the Sunflower Market...ughhh...ok, onto another topic), quesadillas, grilled cheese, noodles, lunch at HOPAC with Daddy, etc.

How do you do your menus, has "where you live" dictated that you change things away from an old, established routine?  I'll try to post a few of these, every once in awhile.  You never know, it might give you some new ideas!

It's been a busy weekend

After traveling last weekend, we told the kids we would have a fun family weekend...at home ;)!

Well, on Saturday morning, we started off with some fun baking and a trip over to swim at a friends' house.  It's still local, right?  Then we had a great time playing games in the afternoon and had dinner at another friends' house that night.  The kids didn't want to come home; but, we have to sleep sometime.

Krypto showing us how he can dive!

Daddy and Sissi

Gwangi getting ready to do a cannonball jump

Oh yeah!  Love the jump!

Sunday morning came and I was teaching Children's Church with Sid.  We had a great time singing and doing some skits about King David and Absalom.  The kids had a bit of trouble with their focus this morning; but, I hope they still got the message about honoring others above themselves (Romans 12:10.)

Sid doing the music

We had a lot of dancing and jumping this morning

This afternoon, after church, we went and did our weekly grocery shopping.  Krypto has been reading "A Treasure of Narnia" which is all kinds of stories and the history behind the Narnia series.  It even has recipes, and in the car this morning, he asked me to make Mushroom Soup from "The Voyage of the Dawn Treader."  I had a leg of Eisbein (pork, cooked over a BBQ) leftover from 2 weeks ago (it had been in the freezer since we had been to Verna's Mexican Night) and so I started with that and added a bunch of veggies (carrots, garlic, onions, potatoes...) and of course mushrooms.  We grated some parmesan cheese on top, served with some fresh french bread and it was oh, so delicious!

A great soup for dinner tonight

Sissi made her own "flying machine control panel" using some old cardboard from a care package, some turned over chairs, and blankets.

Game time, playing "Reds", which is about the Russian Civil War (1918-1921.) They set up on Saturday afternoon and played a few rounds today

After dinner, I decided to make a new version of laundry soap.  My Borax and Arm and Hammer are starting to run out ;).  SO, instead of a dry powder, that I've been making for a couple of years, I used the Duggar's recipe for a liquid gel laundry soap.  Here's to it working well, because I like that it uses less supplies!

http://www.duggarfamily.com/content/duggar_recipes/30455/homemade_liquid_laundry_soap_front_or_top_load_machine_best_value

Now, I'm working on this blog as we enjoy some popcorn and family movie night!  Tomorrow is a new week, I'll catch up with you all later.  Blessings!

A few thoughts on "finely ground flour"

On our journey through the Bible this year, many of the "Vanguard Journey Girls" are keeping each other accountable and sharing our thoughts and ideas each week on the same selection of readings.  We are finishing up Numbers and moving into Deuteronomy this week.  I've had many thoughts while reading through Numbers this time; but, one of the ones I posted about was how so many of the sacrifices called for "finely ground flour."


Here is a selection of what I posted in our group earlier this week...


I also was thinking about all the sacrifices...the "finely ground flour" comment gave me cause for pause as it never has before.  In the States, I had a Nutrimill that ground my grain for making bread...nice and fine like what we get in the store (again, machine ground.)  Here in Tanzania we have a different circuit rate in our electricity, so even though I can change between 110/200 with a voltage regulator, I can't change the number of circuits it makes in a minute.  It's not good for the motor on my Nutrimill so I rarely use it.  We thankfully brought a steel burr hand grinder because I was concerned about the power outages during which time my electric grinder would be useless.  The final product flour is much rougher and chunkier and we work hard to grind it and take turns because our arms get tired; but, it's still a machine that the Israelites didn't have.  To grind flour by hand and make it "finely ground" for an offering, and to bring quarts of it (most of the offerings call for 4-6 quarts of flour)...wow!!!  That is a lot of work, quite a commitment and sweat to provide that  offering!  Do we work that hard to provide our talents and gifts to the Lord?  I know we aren't "sacrificing" in the same way anymore (thank you Lord for your son!); but, we still give of ourselves through time, giftings, and talents, and it's all related!


As we ground our grain tonight for tomorrow morning's pancakes and weekly banana bread, I thought about it even more.  Here are a few pictures of us grinding, and also what the final product looks like.  You'll see how it's chunky and definitely gives you some "roughage" in your flour.  I wonder if I grind it twice, would it get finer?  How would I do this by hand if I lived back then?  I wonder, if I was a farmer or shepherd would I be having second thoughts this year about how specific the Lord was about the types of animals you could use for sacrifices.  I have a feeling I would.  I bet it's hard to find that many "unspotted" or "unblemished" sheep, hmmm?!

Sissi taking her turn with the grinding

Some of the flour in the bowl...see how it's different colors and different textures, and I have it on the finest setting.