After spending 7 hours yesterday outside under the hot sun at church, our family was really looking forward to Monday. We planned to meet up with several other mission families at the Iturbe river, about 2 hours from our house. It promised to be a day of fun, relaxation and fellowship.
At 4:00am Monday morning I was awaken by a huge thunderstorm. I got up, shut the windows, and put towels by the leaky doors. Just as I got back in bed the electricity went off. It quickly got hot and humid in the room and the sheets were kicked off. The mosquitoes began to feast on any exposed skin. Without the white noise of the fan, the crickets seemed like they were chirping from under our pillows. I was afraid River Day was canceled and I could only imagine the disappointment of 17 kids as they woke up and saw the standing water. When it rains our pot-holed dirt roads turn ugly and it makes driving a real challenge. Plus, the river current gets dangerously strong and the beach disappears. The forecast of a 60% chance of rain didn’t help.
After much texting and calling, we all decided to go anyway. We donned our bathing-suits, make a picnic lunch and loaded the car with floaties and sand toys. About 15 minutes into our trip we slid off the road and got stuck. It took Jeff 40 minutes of digging and three guys pushing for us to finally be on our way again.
We arrived at the river about 10:30 and immediately the kids jumped in the water and began playing. God blessed us with a beautiful day with no rain.
BOOK REPORT DAY
Time together with team mates is sometimes few and far between, so when we do meet together we pack in a lot. In addition to it being River Day, it was also Book Report Day. Our team has 12 home schooling kids between grades 1 and 4, plus 4 in Jr High and High School. We recently decided to organize several group events during the year (remember the pictures of Jeff dissecting a pig heart and eye as several children looked on?). Today the kids brought a book report to present to their friends. Each family had practice the week before on eye contact, speaking slowly and clearly and standing tall. Most of them had no problems getting in front of the group and speaking. Even the ones that needed more coaxing (one of which was one of mine) eventually got up and read. I am so proud of all of the kids. They were very brave and did a great job. Next month the kids will present a report on their state.
We also celebrated the 4th birthday of David (son of our team mates who live in San Francisco with us). It was a cute puppy dog theme complete with puppy ears, dog tags, a bone game and a delicious dog shaped cake.
We also squeezed in a camp follow-up meeting and discussed ways to improve future SIM camps.
Jeff digging us out at the start of our trip.
Ginny at the river
Tyler and Micah building...something.
Joshua and Ryan wrestling in the water.
Rocks and snails and puppy dog....ears. Micah at a birthday party.
Ryan giving his book report for our homeschool co-op group. As you can see, it was a very formal event - bathing suits and puppy dog ears.
1 comment:
Don't you love river getaways! That is a great looking cake, I'm very impressed. My cakes seem to melt due to the humidity (or my lack of ability).
Post a Comment