Now, that's something you don't see everyday...

Greetings! We are here in the desert, continuing to work and receive the Lord's love.

Monday, September 15, 1008

We celebrated two birthdays today! Noah turned two and Mr. Roberts turned a number that is monumental, but cannot be mentioned here because of my discretion (30). We laughed, we celebrated, we ate cake. It was very nice. We also got to see the Dallas Cowboys win on Monday night football! Very exciting. How 'bout them Cowboys? But enough of that.

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

We had a student withdraw from our school today. It was quite heart-wrenching. It was so sad to see him go. He rode the bus to the reservation and was always well-behaved when I saw him. I just hate that he withdrew to attend a different school, because I know that he is going to miss out on so much! He is going to miss out on the great educational material and the caring of the teachers. I can't imagine his receiving that kind of love at the reservation boarding school. The child has lost a great opportunity by leaving. Mr. Bill and Miss Dawn asked him to think it over and at the end of the day, he still left. We will miss him! It is just very disappointing to lose a student, any student.

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Mr. Bill left today for the Northwest to teach about missions and the importance of supporting missions in the world. He also is presenting information about the Navajo Trails Mission, its history and current situation. His leaving has left an empty place here. I began to miss him about an hour after he left. He is such an active part of the School planning and the Mission here that it is strange for him to be away. We are all praying for him. I don't know if he has mentioned this, but Bill also got a new granddaughter last week. Congratulations Mr. Bill! And Roy and Monica, of course!

I did something for the first time today. Well, our whole family did. We went out after it was dark and watched the Moon rise. We went outside about 8:30PM and watched something that we could never see in the Kentucky mountains. We watched the full moon come up over the horizon. We could begin to see the sky lighten right where the moon was going to rise. The stars in that area began to dim. Then a little piece of the moon appeared over the horizon. It continued to rise until it was full and clear. That is certainly something you don't see every day... I asked Jerry if he loved it here and his response was that he is enjoying its beauty. The visibility of the stars is amazing on clear nights. I can literally see thousands of stars. We are going to use Jerry's star chart from his science book to identify some of the constellations. So far, we can only see Ursa Major and Ursa Minor (the Big and Little Dipper). Right now, the star chart in Jerry's science book shows the night sky in the northern hemisphere at 11PM. We haven't been out THAT late yet to watch the stars.

Sunday, September 21, 2008

Sunday was a beautiful day! Jerry ran the bus to Tolani Lake. The girls and I rode up to the church in our truck. Jerry taught the Sunday school lesson about being "Wholehearted." Mr. Roberts started a sermon series about "Super Heroes of the Bible". We had an attendance of 23 people at the church service, and we had several out sick with a stomach virus. We had some visitors that I had not met before, which was really nice!


Abby, I might mention, missed the whole event of the moon rising. She is afraid of the snakes in the dark outside and wouldn't come off of the porch. She wouldn't even let me hold her and stand in the yard. I have to admit she gets that fear honestly. I am always warning her to pay attention at dusk and watch out for snakes when we are outside. Abby is doing well in the school. She is learning a lot and behaving well for a Kindergartner. She doesn't eat much of her lunch most days, but I know that they have snacks in the classroom, so I don't worry too much. She is a little upset about being smaller that everyone and younger. She asks when she will begin to lose her baby teeth like her friends. And she asks when we are going back to Kentucky. She still misses Eva and Margo and Ivy and Alex and Jason and all her friends. Just this morning, she told me "The house is different, huh?" I asked her what she meant and she said "It's different from our house in Kentucky." She is also picking up the speech patterns of the Navajo children, such as adding and interrogative "huh?" after every sentence. For instance, Abby will say "I'm coloring with red, huh?" Or "That was fun, huh?" It is very cute. She is excited to visit "home" at Christmas. She wants to spend the night with Eva and visit her Nana.

Kelcy is doing fine. She does not mention home nearly so much as Abby. She just goes along with whatever we are doing. She does seem to be arguing a lot with Noah lately. She wants to be the "mommy" to him and keep him from getting hurt or doing something he shouldn't be (at least, that's the way she sees it). It is very frustrating for Noah to have her taking things away from him that she deems dangerous or, more probably, something she wants for herself. There has been a Navajo lady who came by three days last week to watch Noah and Kelcy. They really like her and were doing very well. It has been a great help to me. It was also very nice to get to know her. I am still learning about the culture and the people of the Navajo Nation. Being able to spend time with the Navajo people really helps me. Also, while I am riding the bus in the afternoons with Jerry, I get to know the kids a little better. I get to hear their conversations and ask them questions. It is nice to get some interaction.

My office is located at the Red Sands Christian Church and the kids classes are down at the Red Sands Christian School building, so I don't get a whole lot of chances to speak to the children. I do get to see them everyday at lunch, as all of the school kids walk up to the Church to eat their lunch. I also get to see them each morning at the opening program and on Tuesday mornings when we have chapel at the Church. I will get several opportunities to teach the Chapel lesson to the children throughout the year. I also get to lead the children in songs every third week during chapel. If anyone has suggestions for some rousing church songs, complete with hand motions, just email me or leave a comment with the suggestions.

A sneak peak for next week, Jerry's class gets another new student and the school is having a concert group perform!