Sala Sala Christmas Party

Today was our Sala Sala Christmas Party...it was the day we invited all the older kids, that usually come on Monday, and the younger crowd (that we work with) that come on Tuesday, to a joint event.  It was the wrap up for a semester that we've spent telling them all the stories that point the way to Jesus!

There were 175 invites!

I'm pretty sure all of them showed up!

We had buckets of food, presents, entertainment, games....it was a blast!

The kids waiting to enter, through the back gate at HOPAC.

Shaun, checking them off the list.

Rose, talking to the kids and seeing their letters that they brought her.

The 12th graders did the final skit, the angels speaking to the shepherds about Jesus being born.

Grace and Megan.

Ali with some of the first ones to arrive.

Esther and some friends.

Laura with some of the kids, watching the entertainment.

A local dancing group.

Everyone was fascinated with the show.

Beautiful lady!

What a great personality when he was dancing.

Lucy and Benjamin

Rose with one of her friends.

Aries, one of the young ladies we work with from Changamoto...a ministry that works with local people dealing with alcohol and drug abuse.

Eva, she also is from the Changamoto ministry.

Yes, they are pretty amazing!

What incredible balance.

It started to rain and cooled things off a bit...Gwangi loved going out and standing in it!

Musical chairs.

What a sweetie..."piga picha" she said to me..."ok!"

Piga picha means "take a picture" in Swahili.

More musical chairs.

The boys got pretty competitive.

Christine, helping one of the little ones with her plate of food and juice.

Rose, helping an older sister that was trying to carry two plates and juices...you can see her little brother behind Rose's arm.

Handing out the food.

Karen, serving it up!

Michelle and Jane making some plates too.

Presents....they all received the book, that also had puzzle pieces inside.  Then, they got an age appropriate gift....cars, coloring books, etc.

What a blessed day!

Fall Semester 2012 Wrap Up

Today was our last day of school until 2013...tomorrow there is a School Assembly at HOPAC and Krypto is playing the violin, so we just decided to wrap things up today.

It has been an amazing semester, and as we prayed this morning together, and thanked the Lord for all the things we have learned over the semester I was so overwhelmed at the things the kids remembered, thanked God for, and thought were important too.

Krypto- He has really excelled in Math and Writing this semester.  He has taken off with fractions and is 2/3rds of the way through Math-U-See's Epsilon book (equivalent to 5th grade, while he is 4th grade by age.)  He went from barely being able to write a paragraph at the beginning of the semester, to writing a History paper and a 10 page short story in the past two months.

Gwangi- He loves Math as well and is almost done with Math-U-See's Beta (equivalent to 2nd grade and he is in 2nd grade), he has 4 more lessons to complete the book and in February will be starting the next book, Gamma!  He learned how to write in cursive over this past semester and has such neat handwriting. He will actually copy out sentences in print and then convert them to cursive, for fun!  His reading ability has gone off the charts as well.  At the beginning of the year he had to read 1 chapter of a Magic Treehouse book each day.  Now, he can read one of the books in a day and the other morning, I found him with Caleb's "Redwall" book, and he had read 3 chapters of it before breakfast, by choice.

Sissi- At the beginning of the year, she seemed to know her letters, now she is putting them together and sounding them out, reading things like "Go, Dog, Go" and street signs when we drive on the road and the words to praise music when we're at church.  Her handwriting is really neat and she loves to do cutting and pasting and crafts almost every day.

Art, the kids love art.  Here we are studying Renoir and working with pastels.

We're using Confessions of a Homeschooler's FREE Artist series.  You can find it here - http://www.confessionsofahomeschooler.com/blog/2012/09/worlds-greatest-artists-vol-2.html

I love this picture she did of a dolphin.

Working on our vocabulary words for Tapestry.

Building a fort for our "Oregon Trail" studies.

We studied the Human Body this semester with Answers in Genesis...this was our "wrap up" and review activity.  I printed all the pieces from Confessions of a Homeschooler.  You can see these items here - http://www.confessionsofahomeschooler.com/blog/2012/08/life-size-human-anatomy-activity-3.html

Working a bit more on our Body Board.

The completed skeletal system and brain review.

Sissi, helping to put on some of the other parts of our body.

A review sheet that Gwangi and Sissi did for the Oregon Trail.

A game that Gwangi and Krypto made up.  They love games, and if I had known I would have brought more, but they were so young when we left...  But, it's a good thing, because it makes them use their creativity to come up with new ideas.  They used Lego pieces and boards for this one.

We had dinner at a friends' house the other night, and after dinner played Sequence.  Krypto loved it and since we don't own it and can't get it here, he made his own version...it's a bit of a smaller board, but it works and we've played it several times.

Working on our math.

More math.

Reviewing all our numbers and letters before we move on next semester.

Our Christmas Tree!

Diagramming sentences with prepositional phrases.  Thanks "First Language Lessons for the Well Trained Mind" for all that I've learned, along with Krypto..this is half way through Level 4.

My middle guy, wanted to read one of his older brother's books, and he really enjoyed it!

Just a few of the books we've read these past two or three weeks.

Thank you Becky for the Gold Gum!

My Secret Sister gift...again...because I just can't get over how much she truly blessed me!

Secret Sister Reveal #1

For the past 5 years, at Christmas time, I have been involved in a Secret Sister prayer and ornament exchange with a group of about 100 ladies that all use (or in the past have used) the same homeschool curriculum, Tapestry of Grace.  Each year, it gets better. Each year I am ministered to in a way that only the Lord knew I needed to be ministered to. He knows what I need to hear.

This year, the lady that had me lives in PA, the state that we almost moved to before deciding to come to Tanzania...she's also from NC, the other state that we almost moved to before coming here.  She gave so many clues over the month of November...clues about numbers and names of children, time of the day, places she had visited that weren't near where I lived, things about my favorite verse, etc.  It wasn't until her last clue that I "figured it out"...she wanted to wish us a Happy 15th Wedding Anniversary...and that was the day that I thought, "I know who has me."

Cori, your letter has really spoken to me, of your love, of the Father's love.  I teared up reading, and re-reading, the messages that you felt the Lord had given to you while praying for me.  Beautiful... and then the song that you linked to in one of you clues... "Like an Avalanche" from Hillsong.  A real word for me in all of this, your letter, the song, the plaque you made for me...it's love.  It's all about our love for God the Father and the way we show love to each other.  Thank you!

Link to the song...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJ2_Gg6ka-k

My time here in Tanzania has been a huge life lesson...I had many prayer requests that were sent to Cori...but the one that I truly believe was answered first, that literally I had "checked off" in my own personal journal just recently and put a note beside was about being lonely here.  It's been a struggle to be away from family, from friends, from our homeschool coop and support network.  As usual, the Lord answered in a way that isn't always how we expect; but, He gave me contentment.  He showed me that I had what I needed for now and that I could be content with what I have, in my own self and in my family.

My blog address is Whatever is True and Noble....my favorite verse is Philippians 4:8...keep reading in that chapter, and I think I have a new secondary favorite...

Philippians 4:11-13
"I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances.  I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty.  I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.  I can do all this through Him who gives me strength."

So, now that I feel more content, I am reminded of the love He has for me...what is the new Word that the Lord will give me?  I'm praying about that.  Cori gave me the word "Expectant"...I like that!  Today, in my prayer time, before I got the package...I had made a list of Words that I was feeling the Father wanted me to look more into...Grace, Faith, Freedom, Choose, and Serve all came up...I'm still working through so many things...but today, Galations 5:13 spoke to me in a new way..."For you were called to freedom, brethren, only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.  For the whole Law is fulfilled in one word, in the statement, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'"

And I find myself down on my knees again

Caught up in Grace like an avalanche

Nothing compares to this Love, Love, Love...burning in my heart.

The wood burning plaque that my Secret Sister, Cori, made for me for Christmas.  This speaks to me on so many level and I will cherish it ALWAYS!  I cannot wait to get your second package and then I'll post more.