The night before she left : (
Isaac's cousin's family
Nia and Imani's 3rd cousin
Nia with Nyanya (Grandma in Swahili)
Someone let us borrow their boat. It took some convincing for Imani,
but Nia was all ready to jump in
When she first came.
It was pretty chilly
My parents' wedding pic
Talk about lots of changes. I got a part time job about 5 minutes before school started (actually about 6 days) to share a first grade class with a lovely lady named Tamara. We threw things together very quickly and I was back into the busy and full world called "education". She taught the class in the mornings, and I took over the afternoons. We meshed together pretty well and things were coming together.....until about a week and a half later....when we were told that a school down the road needed one of our teachers to go there (we only had about 18 kids in our class, while that school had 30 first graders in theirs). After some tense and unsettled conversations, our temporary music teacher (who was covering for a teacher on leave) volunteered to go....and Tam and I said we would share the teaching of.....are you ready? MUSIC!!! Wow! I never thought I would ever say that I teach music. We are actually really enjoying it...and I also have some time to teach English as a Second Language. I am endorsed to teach it, but have never had the opportunity. Thank God (and my parents) that I played piano as a child, and the clarinet. I'm also grateful for ten years of singing on worship teams (Campus Crusade and church) and doing grade level programs at my last school. It's awesome. I feel like God gave me a back door into things I never would have wanted. Doesn't He just ALWAYS know what is best? I hate to even say it if any regular classroom teachers are reading this.....but it is soooo nice to not have the stress and pressure and lack of time that the regular ed teachers have.....I'll enjoy it while I got it!
Imani started Kindergarten also...just down the road from our house. She is in the morning class and I work in the afternoons, so I get to walk her to school and help in her classroom. It has been very challenging for me to be the parent instead of the teacher. I'm learning how to be quiet and not say all my educational "thoughts" and just know that the teacher has SO MUCH to do and I can work on just being helpful. Imani loves it and enjoys being a helper to lots of her classmates. She told me today that she has now asked each person if they know God yet. I wonder how her teacher is feeling about our little evangelist : )
Isaac's mom came in September and we had fun getting to know each other and trying to communicate despite our language barriers. She got to spend lots of time with the girls and she was here for Imani's soccer season. She also borrowed a sewing machine (thanks to Esther) and made some skirts for a woman in our church. She was just starting to get her own little business going. She did some cooking and taught me a few things about Kenyan cuisine. She truly is an example of a Godly woman. Isaac and I are so blessed to both have such Godly mothers : ) She is gracious and patient and content in all circumstances. I told her that hopefully one day, I can be like that too....by the grace of God. She was not able to stay until December, though, and just went back to Kenya last week. We are all missing her a lot.
We also threw a big surprise party for my parents' 40th wedding anniversary. Thanks to all of you who helped us and who attended. It was a great time. I didn't know if we could pull the surprise part off....and honestly, it was a KILLER for me to not burst out about it. I was so relieved when it was finally revealed! No more big secrets for me to keep. Thank you Papa and Mom for not giving up on marriage and honoring that commitment you made to the Lord 40 years ago. As I said that night, and quoted from Jacque, "When you take two sinners and put them in a house to live together...you are going to have conflict!" Thank God for His grace and forgiveness and faithfulness to us. We can always turn to Him for everything! He is the one who makes marriage what it should be.....and He is the one who helps us through when it isn't what we expected : )
On a running update......after giving my knee the much needed break it deserved (thanks Isaac for all medical advice) and NOT doing the 18 mile race that I craved, I was able to get back to long running without pain anywhere!! WOW--it's been a long time. I was already signed up to do a half-marathon on November 7th (paid last year, got injured, postponed one year) so I trained for 3 months. I also lost about 12 pounds. So I weighed about 20lbs LESS than I did last year at this time. That definitely helps with running better and having less pain. Unfortunately, I still should have done a hill run at least once a week, slept a bit more, and not skipped some of the training workouts (because of busyness). Of course I wanted to beat 2 hours again...but no! I did it in 2 hrs and 3 minutes! DANG! It was also hotter than expected and I didn't carry enough water...plus I dumped some of what I had over my head..desperate for some relief. Needless to say, I felt BAD afterwards and really questioned WHY I run during those last...say....5 torturous miles. Tara was driving near me, doing her best to encourage me. But I just wanted to die. I think I had a bit of heat exhaustion. Anyway, live and learn...you'd think on my 7th half-marathon....I woulda, shoulda known better.
