Having not been inspired by any particular issue in the last couple of weeks, I haven’t posted in awhile. But for those of you who don’t follow us on facebook, it is probably time for an update.
Kevin was gone for a week to our AIM national conference, 14 hours drive south of here. The kids and I were supposed to go, but after our last 2 hour trip on good roads, my back was swollen for a week so we decided I should stay home. Since we would have had to take Toby out of school for the conference, I kept the kids here with me and gave Kevin a child-free week, which he probably sorely needed after my long absence in Feb and March. The conference gathered all the AIMers in Moz and was greatly enjoyed by all, with a great speaker who really encouraged the folks I’ve talked to. I was really sad to miss it, especially since we were in the USA last year and missed that conference. We only see our southern colleagues at that conference, normally, and Kevin came back with lots of news about everybody and their work.
Meanwhile, the kids and I got out all the legos and spread them all over 3 tables we set up in the living room/dining area. Every spare moment, all week, we were building, and a good week was had by all. I am beginning to prefer Lego building (from instructions) to doing puzzles. The kids prefer to build “freestyle” and of course are so creative, as all kids are.
Kevin brought back with him our newest dog, a 3 year old Jack Russell male named Bandito. He is awfully cute and I think we enjoy him a lot. Unfortunately, typically of Jack Russells, he believes he is in charge of all of us and must be convinced otherwise. At the moment, he is living in a roomy pen over at the AIM property and we go daily to spend time with him and let him run around. He is getting along well with the other 3 dogs (all big German Shepherd types) though we must keep an eye out so they don’t form a pack against him. Eventually it will be safe to leave him alone with them but not yet. Once we move into the house, he will be our house dog and sleep indoors at night (he is our new burglar alarm) and we will train him to be submissive to all of us. If he is unable to adjust to that requirement, we’ll find him a home without little kids, but we have a lot of hope.
Meanwhile, I continue to teach 1st and 2nd graders English twice a week at the nearby school where Toby attends. I only have 3 of them, so we can do lots of interesting activities. This week I brought clothes and we learned their names and played a little dress-up. The one boy did not find that as fun as the girls. 🙂 It is always a challenge to keep them interested and excited, as they are immersed in English all day and are frequently tired. Two are native Portuguese speakers and one is a native French speaker.
Kevin goes to his classes regularly and is overseeing the monitors. I’ll have to get him to do a blog entry on all that is going on with that. It is incredibly interesting and people’s lives are really being affected, but I don’t have the stories to tell!
Progress is being made on the AIM cottage and we still hope to move in before end of July, when we have to move out of here. We try hard not to feel stressed about it, but the anticipation is killing us! I confess I spend too much time daydreaming about what it will be like to hang my own curtains back up after 2 years of living in other people’s houses. The kids are getting excited too,although they will miss living at SIL among so many little friends.
Ben and I continue to meet daily with our language helper. He is making progress and understanding more. I continue to pray for a Portuguese immersion opportunity for him, close to home, so that what he is learning can be cemented. I have a feeling there will be a lot of Portuguese spoken on the playground at the International School when the new year starts in September. The size of the school will double and there will be more native Portuguese speakers (it is an English-language school). So perhaps that is the answer. I am enjoying my learning a lot and getting a lot of new vocabulary and more understanding of how to speak Mozambican Portuguese (as opposed to Continental).
Toby is getting ready for his Science Fair project so that is probably what we’ll work on this weekend. He is reading books like crazy and enjoying school a great deal. Mostly, though, he just wants to play with his friends. So he does a lot of that too. He is becoming an expert dishwasher and that is a huge burden off of me (for dinner dishes).
My back is getting stronger and I am able to walk more than 2 miles at a time without problems. Unfortunately, I still am unable to drive much on the roads, or walk a distance and then sit through a service, so I stay home most of the time, but that is coming. I do have numbness in my left leg again, and we are trying to address that with exercise, stretching and massage, but if it doesn’t improve I’ll have to travel to South Africa again.
And that’s just a bit of what’s going on. It is cool season here with wonderful weather – low 70s at night and mid-80s during the day most of the time. Very pleasant. -C
Kevin & Cami in Southern Africa 