Bon Appetite!

Just like last time, we have a cook who comes to work 5-6 days a week. She cooks lunch and washes all the dishes while we are doing school. The kids think she is one of the best cooks ever!

A special meal.  Pasta & chicken!

Ian

Ian can be most often be found in the yard with his stick.

Isabelle and Molly

More from the first week of school

We continued with about 2 hours of day for school this week. Caleb and Isabelle were always anxious to get started in the morning. They would start doing school before our official starting time at 8:00AM. 

 The pictures are from Tuesday morning  Caleb got an early start, and Isabelle soon joined him.  When they were done with their individual work for the day, they sat out on the porch and played Legos while they waited for us to get started.

I'm sure the enthusiasm will wear off, but it's nice for now.

Today, we had a funny conversation during school.  Ian had to do a "time audit" of how he spends his days.  I took the opportunity to talk to all of them a little bit about time management.  I didn't want to overload them with too much information, so I stopped and asked if they had any questions.

Isabelle: "I have a question.  Do you like this drawing of Coyote?"

Ian: "I was thinking about the different books I've read, and I was wondering...."

Glad to know they're hanging on my every word!

First day back to school

 My pictures are a little out of focus- still experimenting with the new camera.

Today was the day to jump back into school- or at least dip our feet in the shallow end.  We spent about two hours on math and reading, and that was it for the day.

We're going to keep a light schedule this week, and aim for full time next week.

Unpacking

Coyote is just a little spoiled

We arrived back in Impfondo last Monday.  The kids were pretty anxious to see Coyote with their own eyes, and make sure he was really doing OK.  As you can see, he's just fine and he is happy to have the kids back to give him attention.

I'll take this bed.

We were able to bring four trunks with us on the plane from Brazzaville, four more came Thursday, and the remaining seven came yesterday.  Fifteen trunks seems like a lot when you are trying to transport them.  When you unpack, and realize that's about it for the next three years, it doesn't seem like much!

I'm remembering how much time and energy daily life takes without modern conveniences.  For example, we had a huge pile of laundry between our dirty clothes from our trip, dirty linens left here, and some things in the house that just smelled musty.  In the US I would have been able to wash and dry all that in just one day, maybe two.  Here it means hand washing, one basket at a time.  But at least I know I'm providing work for some women in the community.

Ian's last clean outfit our first morning in Impfondo.
Good thing he doesn't care if his clothes match.

Stephen has been playing handyman around the house- doing some minor repairs and trying to get things in working order.  He's also had a few meetings and is cleaning out his office.   He'll be working part time the rest of this week, and he'll start full time next week. 

For those wondering about school, we have all of our school books now.  I'm hoping this week to organize what we have and make a schedule.  We may be starting a light school schedule next week, or it may be one more week.  I'm trying to get things at our house and guest housing working smoothly first so that we will have fewer interruptions when we do start back.

Laundry on the line.

For now, everyone is happy and healthy.  We're glad to be back and beginning to settle into life here.

School- Weeks 3 & 4

Baby Kylie joined us one afternoon

Ian reading to Caleb

Isabelle's haircut

 Week 3 & 4: Sept 9-13 & Sept 16-20

Ian's thrilled to be working on grammar.

We were able to have two weeks of school in one place (Cut Bank.)

Stephen was working in Browning & Great Falls, but the kids and I stayed in Cut Bank.  We still managed to take our school to a few different locations. :)

Recess at the library on a chilly day