The Status

   The Status on School:

Elleigh is adjusting.  Things are better than they were for her.  Once again, just a lot of adjustments and a much different atmosphere.  It does not help that girls are SO mean!  I pray NONE of my girls ever act like some of these girls.  Surely parents know when their kids are just down right mean.  I told A one night after a long time of talking through girl issues that I just could not imagine why the Lord thought I could do this 4 times!!! 

Decked out in their panther gear on Friday!

Sallie is doing wonderful!  HUGE PRAISE!!!  The Lord knew with it being not an easy adjustment for Ell that we needed it to be for Sall.  We had our ARD meeting last week and it went really well.  It is one of those things I really can not explain to you but as I sat there waiting to begin my emotions about got the best of me.  8 people surrounding you all about to tell you what your child can’t do.  Just one of those things that you just wish you never had to do.  It went really well though.  She spends part of her day in special ed and part in general ed.  They all say she is doing well and her special ed teacher has really high expectations for her.  Of course they have all fallen in love with her.  I know she is mine but something would have to be wrong with you to not fall in love with Sallie.  Most often it is because she is not given a chance.  Her special ed teacher teared up as she told us she knew Sallie would succeed on the first day when she walked in the classroom and looked around like “I got this”  That is Sallie!  Hopefully she will continue to do well and our meetings will all be as pleasant as they possibly can be under the circumstances.  One of my greatest fears was that she would be mistreated (and she may be at times) and I know she will face that her whole life.  I have avoided so many situations with her because I can’t stand to see her left out or treated differently.  We have been in situations where other children have said, “she’s weird and doesn’t talk” and many other things that are hard for me to take.  Most often she is just ignored.  However, her teachers tell us that the kids in her general ed class love her and play really well with her.  I can’t tell you how happy that makes me!  Someone at church told me on Sunday that they heard she was the class celebrity and that the girls argued over who got to play with Sallie!  WONDERFUL WORDS to this mama’s ears!!!  Thank you Lord!

One thing is for sure-she sleeps very good at night!  She is wiped out!

This is what we see from her these days-walking away!  She gets her back pack on and she is ready to go!Ell was brave enough to deck out in her BAMA attire for school!

The little girls are getting used to their new life.  They get closer every day.  I love to hear them playing together and using their imaginations.  Every day I am amazed at what they are learning.  Hopefully next week we will get started with some more structured learning time.  Every time I look at my memory card I have a million pictures that I have not taken!  I do love this one!

This is another find on the memory card…  Lizzie and Elleigh look so much alike!  They act a lot alike too which is why they normally are fighting!  Not sure how they got a picture this close together and both survived! Lizzie was helping A make pizza and she wanted me to take her picture.  She loves having her picture made (by herself!) I looked at this and noticed how much the toddler look is fading…  BIG SIGH!  Next yr she will be in school.  I hope I make the best of every second I have with them at home. We have been asked about our decision to put the girls in public school vs homeschooling.  Over the past few yrs of homeschool I have seen MAJOR benefits.  It is not easy (at all!) and it is not perfect (nothing is) but I think that Elleigh was homeschooled in the best yrs possible.  We were able to work through so many things at home during a time when they can be so easily influenced by others.  I hope that she has a firm foundation to stand on and is not changed by those outside influences now.  We felt like it was a good time to put her back in school and with us moving here where homeschooling is not nearly as popular as it was in FW.  However, we went into it all knowing that we would try it and if we feel that it is not the best for her then we will re-evaluate.  Others have said to us, “well it is public school.”  We are well aware of that and we know what goes on in schools and we feel she is prepared to handle those things but it is still our decision as to what situation is best for her as far as school.  I know some say you can’t shelter them forever (and I have said it) but I have learned that homeschooling is not about sheltering them.  It is about educating your children while preparing them to make wise choices without being influenced by things they don’t need to be influenced by.  We were talking to a homeschool family recently and we were discussing how you always get the comments about your children not being social enough.  Well, there is a lot of “social life” they do not need to be a part of!  As far as Sallie, well we just have to see.  So far, this seems to be a great fit for her.  We do plan to start Lizzie and Millie here in public school.  I would love to homeschool them during middle school but who knows?  All of that to say we are just taking it one yr at a time and making decisions we feel are best for each of our children individually.  So, that’s where we stand on the schooling issue!  As with anything, it all has its pros and cons!

A Beautiful End

On Tuesday morning we left Outapi and headed toward Etosha National Park.

This is the outside of our room in Outapi Outside of the hotel. Not fancy but very nice and clean and we eat all our meals there and the food is really good. It takes a while to get it and you might or might not get what you order but it is good. We stopped here for a photo op. The Namibian flag is on top of this termite mound! YES, that is a termite mound! In route we stopped at place that was the first missionary house in the area. We toured the home which is now a museum. On the property there is a village where people still live. You pay a small amount to go into their village and they will make mahungu which is a staple food for them. She is getting ready to pound it into a flour. These sticks are HEAVY! I am telling you, these are REAL women! They do this in rhythm and sing also. A and Richard trying it out This was the little girl in the village and as you can imagine they train them early. This is the grandmother of the village and she is making the mahungu which is like a porridge. Like our children would sit and wait to lick the spoon, she is waiting. We tasted it and to me it tastes similar to meal and water but very gritty. The lady told me to just use my tongue and not my teeth! They also do a lot of weaving and it is sold in the gift shop at the museum and to those who come in to visit the village. Very pretty pieces. Also, makes it special to have it knowing exactly where it comes from. Weaving Mrs. Melba giving it a try Outside of one of the huts. Can you imagine living in these? We are beyond spoiled! A inside the missionary church These are the gravesites of some of the children of the first missionary family that died. This really touched me. First of all, the family traveled by wagon and it took them a very long time to get there and they knew it was a great possibility they or their children would die from the many diseases. Would we be willing to do that? I was worried about missing mine for 2 weeks… The church Mrs. Melba giving the little girl a doll. Of course she was thrilled! We drove on to just outside Etosha so that we would be ready to go into the park the next morning. Normally the teams will stay inside the park but this time all the accomodations insid the park were booked so we had to stay outside the park. It was very nice! Definitely NOT sufferin’ for Jesus!!! This was just outside our room. Walking to breakfast the next morning. Very nice! We checked out of there and went into the park. I was excited about it but not as excited as I got once we got in and started seeing the animals. This is not like being in a zoo! Seeing these animals in their natural habitat is A-Mazing! I was taken away once again by all of God’s creation! I have tons of pics and we saw tons of animals but I can’t possibly share them all so here are some. Our guide said this was a great Elephant sighting. All the animals are close to you but this elephant was very close! A of course wanted to touch him but it is against the law to get out of your car! Movin’ on! There were lots of elephants at this watering hole The zebras were my favorite! At the end of the day and close to the end of the park we were able to sit for a while at one of the watering holes and we watched this elephant take a bath. It was really neat to watch. I say take a bath but maybe it was just cooling off! Coming in for water We spent that night on the other side of the park. Very nice room again. It was more like chalets. This was the view from our room. A enjoying his coffee EARLY the next morningA really wanted us to experience an African sunrise so I got up with him and I am glad I did. It was beautiful and a beautiful way to start our last day in Africa Shot of our chalet as we were leavingWe still had to drive about 5 hours to the airport and then we began the long journey of plane rides home. We sat on the runway in Joburg for over an hour and had rough weather most of that flight which is the 17 hour flight so we literally ran to catch our flight to Bham in Atlanta but we missed it. We were pleased to get out a few hours later. We were exhausted but very glad to see our girls. The drive back here the next day was LONG but we made it!

I know I have reflected a lot on my trip as I posted but I will do one more post of my overall reflections! Coming soon!