Fall Festival

 We have gotten used to the tradition of a fall festival while in Mali. The kids change, as has the location, but many of the games stay the same and it is still continues to be fun.

There is no such thing as a fall festival without bobbing for apples.

Pumpkin bowling

Finding the candies in pudding using only your mouth.

Corn stacking. It was a new game this year. Don't know if it will be a repeat. Hedi ran the table well, though. :)

 Throwing balls into the buckets. There was a web of string in between the legs of the ladder that they had to throw through.

 Cookie on a string race. Silas was ready for his cookie.

Wrapping the kids like mummies in toilet paper

Haven enjoyed playing in the paper

Pumpkin smashing. It can't get much better than throwing a rotting pumpkin off the balcony for a group of boys.

Then we roasted corn and hot dogs on the grill

A final game of cake walk provided the dessert for the evening.

Both the kids and adults had a good time and we look forward to next year!

Silas turned 7

Hard to believe but Mr. Silas turned seven in September. He was very excited, as you can see! :) He had a Jurassic Park birthday. 

Pin the slab of meat on the T Rex

Water race with cups that had holes in the bottom

 Moving across the floor while the whole group only touches the safe "rocks" on the ground.

Some game that involved water balloons with the kids against the adults. (The rules don't really matter, do they, when it involves kids getting to throw water balloons at the adults?)

Then there was a dinosaur pinata that the boys made in art in school. Pinatas are always fun.

We love this Silas boy so very much. He is all boy and full of energy. He does well keeping up with his brothers and makes sure his desires are heard. He has a sweet heart and loves having his family all together. So thankful for this wonderful gift!

Rainy season

Anyone who knows us knows we love rainy season. The rains mean playing outside while it pours and drinking hot chocolate. Now that we work in a different area that requires us driving into the region, rainy season means a few more things, not all quite as enjoyable. 

Enjoying the victory of narrowly missing the downpour that followed us out of the village.

We had a steep learning curve with our car and the mud. Pretty much every trip we took ended up like the picture below. Hopefully, this next year, with knowledge gained, we will do better. The sand/dirt of the fields turn into what is like quick sand when wet and it is nearly impossible to get out. Even with our huge jack and special traction pieces, we had difficulties and twice had to be pulled out by another 4X4. The first few times of being stuck were fun and an adventure. After it kept happening, it lost its appeal. Below was the last time we were stuck for the season and the boys were just over it. We were walking the field as we waited and I heard one of the boys say, "We might as well just start digging our graves." The kids were troopers, though, through the many times of being stuck. It's not like they had places to sit and get a cold drink while we waited, it was just outside, in the sun, surrounded by fields of corn and wheat. This is just one of the ways I'm reminded so often, esp in this new role, that the kids are really apart of this, too. They have to be willing to serve as well. Thankfully, they are.

Rainy season does mean hanging out in the house and playing games. Brett and D made a make shift chess game with medicine bottles that were at the house.

The mud is especially fun out in the village. The boys were all in it. Deep in it.

I don't even know how to comment on this picture, but I sure do love it. :) (And, yes, he has on underwear. We have moves past the days of being naked in the mud).

School year 2015-2016

Since I am so far behind in blogging, I can recap the whole school year in one post. We started in July and officially ended in April. 

We didn't get a teacher this year so it was my job for the year. We (I) started the year with some fear but it ended up going well overall. 

Silas was willing to take the teaching position from me. I considered it but wasn't too sure how much we'd actually accomplish with him leading. :)

Especially when his teaching tactics are a bit silly. 

We managed to be smiling on our first morning of school. I told the boys that the theme for the year was grace. We were going to have to be willing to give and receive it and be patient with one other as we went forward.

Hard at work, mostly

In history we started learning about Native Americans so we made some fried bread one day. We also made some masks and tried blowing paint as that was representative of some form of Native American art that I knew at the time but have since forgotten.

We also tried a log house model that failed. I think Kenan said something to the effect of, "At least we did a good job at failing."

Bella, our monkey, tried to get into class some days. How cool is it that they can say they went to school with a monkey looking in the window?

We tried some art projects as well. This was printing with ink.

The highlight of the year was all the experiments we did with science. There was something to do almost every day. I'm not sure how another program will ever live up to the one we did, but it was a lot of fun.

And, yes, there was no shirt requirement for school. :)

We learned 50 verses together this year. I was really impressed with how the boys did, so much so that I told him I may up the requirement next year. :)

We also did a Christmas play and there was a fun little Rube Golberg experiment we did but I can't seem to find pictures of either.

We ended the year all smiling. :) This was our last day of school in Mali. We have finished up a little more in the US and ended with Dawson having an appendicitis (more on that to come). 

I can say that I'm very thankful for this year. It was super hard, one of the hardest yet for me, but it was good. I loved knowing what the boys were learning and being able to talk to them about school throughout the day. They are bright boys and were willing (for the most part) to listen and do what I asked. I will treasure this year. I don't really want to do it again, as it pulls me from the medical work, but it was a special gift for this year. I think the boys learned a lot and I know I learned a ton and was challenged in new ways. It showed me a lot about myself and my continual need of grace and His strength and wisdom.