A Typical Morning

I've begun to realize that there is no such thing as a typical morning here. My goal is to do school from 8:00-11:00 AM with a 30 minute recess at 9:00.
This morning started a little slow. Last night, we were at a friend's house for Bible Study, and got to bed a little late.
Mama Melanie (the lady who does our laundry) came about 8:00, and we started school about 15 minutes later. After that, many things seemed to happen this morning. Thank goodness Stephen (finally) had a day off!

- Our stove was out of butane, and there were no more tanks in the storage shed. I had to make a couple of phone calls to try to figure out if we could get one. (We couldn't.) Then when our cook and her assistant came, I got to explain it all in French (along with trying to figure out how many people would show up for lunch today- 9 adults and three children.)
- Coyote Jack (our cat) got locked in one of the sheds close to our house, and I had trouble opening the door. Stephen was able to get him out.
-Caleb discovered that he had a huge cockroach in his chair. I'm glad Stephen was here to handle that excitement.
- Two young women showed up looking for "Mama Ginny." I don't think they spoke French, but maybe they were shy. Mama Melanie speaks some French, so she helped me figure out what they wanted. After calling Ginny to come to our house, she realized (with Mama Melanie's help) that they were looking for jobs cleaning, but we had no openings. Ginny went back to praying with patients and I went back to school.
-Our water went off.
-On top of all of that, a NGO is using the chapel for some training. They seem to be taking more breaks than anything else, so they are milling about or sitting under trees all around. (Not that they are bothering us, but it is one more distraction.)


Finally, it was 10:00, and we decided to give up on math, and take a break for our "petite party." I bought Coke and Fanta Orange to celebrate Stephen's first day off in a couple of weeks. We shared it with the three ladies working, and had some time just to talk together.
And then, of course, recess. Maybe the rest of the day will be normal and boring. . . . .

Update

Isabelle picked out this cloth while we were at the market one day. Ciska (our cook) made the outfit for her. She only charged about $4. The wrap type skirt is what women wear here most of the time.

It has been awhile since I posted. We have been doing well lately, just busy. We enjoyed our trip to Brazzaville, but it was a little longer than we had planned due to airline issues. We returned Sunday, March 7, and Stephen went back to work that afternoon & evening.
He started call the next day, and has been on call all but three days since then. (Dr. Harvey had an unexpected but necessary trip to Brazzaville. He should return today, and Stephen will have a bit of a break.)
The rest of us are doing well, just busy catching up on things after being gone, plus the usual- I'll spare you the boring details.e to
It hasn't all been work. We've had some time to play, too. I hope to post some of our recent pictures this weekend. :)
I seem to have caught a cold, and my throat is too scratchy to do all of school today. I'm letting the kids watch a movie, while I try to catch up on a few other things. (like blogging.)