The boys have always enjoyed the I Spy books and Where’s Waldo books. We were looking for our cat Fluffy and it was like looking at one of those types of books to find her.
Can you spy Fluffy?
Pockets
As any mother knows – laundry never ends! We are blessed with a washing machine. I’m always surprised at what comes out of the washer. When the boys were little, I would check their pockets, but now I tell them to that before putting their clothes in the hamper. Some things are still left behind, but by Jonah and David.
Some things I’ve found lately in pockets. This week when taking the clothes out of the washer, sand was pouring out of a pair of shorts. Jonah had played with his friends in a sand box on Tuesday and about 1/2 cup of sand poured out when I grabbed them turning them upside-down to remove them from the washer. Jonah also had a shopping list with two $1 bills folded into a very small square down in a small pocket in a pair of shorts. David usually has tissues (due to his allergies) in his pockets or some change, but this week it was a peppermint. His pants are fragrant now. The peppermint was still wrapped, but mostly dissolved from the wash. I’m just thankful our laundry adventures don’t have lizards or other little critters.
Spontaneous Ride
David goes to the airport frequently. During the months of June, July, August and January he goes at least weekly, if not more. The reason is people are arriving and leaving the most during those months.
Yesterday, he took a colleague and her friend to the airport. He spoke with the wood tax lady (yes, anyone leaving with wooden items pays a tax on them) and he spoke with the porters that he knows by name. He made sure everyone got the spots needed and started to leave. As he was driving through the parking toll booth, the parking attendant was pointing to something and David thought there muse be something on the car. He got out to look at the car and while he did a police officer jumped in the passenger side.
He soon learned the parking attendant was trying to motion that the officer was coming to hop in for a ride. David was surprised! She asked where he was headed. He told her and she told him where she would like to be let out.
When he came home he was still dumbfounded by the events and we had a good laugh.
Medieval Games
The Joint Learning Session with the emphasis on the Medieval times has finished. I (DeAnna) organized sports for this session. Three mornings a week the boys and I arrived at school at 7:15 so we could get set-up by 7:30 to begin. The students played warm-up games that were part of the theme and mastered one of three tournament sports events (spear toss, joust or horseman’s gallop a.k.a. hurdles). The last day there was a closing ceremony with many fun presentations and it all ended with the tournament.
The students also learned stilt walking (we used big cans), juggling, jestering and miming.
Gate Makeover
We returned for our second term November 28, 2012. We moved into the home where we currently live, shortly thereafter. Immediately we recognized a problem with the gate when we opened it for a car to enter. It would drag across the ground and the hinge was broken. We had it fixed by a local welder at the time.
A few months later we had problems with the walk gate portion – this is the part where we can walk in and out without opening the whole gate. The bottom portion of the door separated from the side support bracket. We had it repaired by a welder who welded on patches of metal. The welder suggested painting the areas he welded to prevent rust and he used the paint he had. That’s how the gate became mint green with orange spots.
Two weeks ago, the bottom support piece for one side of the gate separated from the side support bracket. Every time we opened the gate we needed to lift and basically carry that part while swinging it open. This time I (DeAnna) asked the Construction and Maintenance Department manager in our organization who is a master welder I could hire to fix our gate once and for all. He put me in touch with a man. This man came and looked at our gate to give an estimate and explain what would be needed for the repair. He commented how ugly our gate was being green with orange spots. He repaired the gate and we are hopeful this will be the last repair needed for quite some time. We decided to makeover our gate by painting it.
It was a family affair painting the gate. The only paint available is oil based. We all shared in the duty of painting our gate and we are happy with the end result.
Feudal Four Square
During this Joint Learning Session the theme is Medieval Times. All the classes have been learning more about life during this time period. The art time and sports both incorporate this theme.
The students seem to play two different recess games together – four square and knock out. After giving the boys the number of minutes they had to play before time to go, I (DeAnna) listened to the conversation they were having while playing. They decided that each square had a name, not a number. They discussed that they could have feudal system four square. So instead of 1, 2, 3, and 4; they had king, queen, prince and princesses. They were discussing the potential of making it into nine square so they could add in duke, barren, knight, freeman and serf.
DeAnna vs. Caterpillars
A few years ago, I (DeAnna) learned the hard way not to touch caterpillars here. While on recess duty this week, I noticed many little (1-2 cm long) caterpillars hanging under a tree from what looks like a strand of spider thread. I also noticed the caterpillars swinging in the wind as the breeze blew. One caterpillar blew onto my right arm. I looked at it and then all the sudden had pain and itching where the caterpillar was on my arm. That caterpillar quickly flew off my arm. My arm swelled up, turned red and itched like crazy. I slathered hydrocortisone cream on my arm and the symptoms slowly went away.
The reminder of the experience is a red place on my arm that looks like a burn.
I asked around and no one knows the name of these little creatures. My advice is stay away from caterpillar hanging on spider threads under trees.
DeAnna 0 points; Caterpillars 2 points
Karate
We are in the midst of a Joint Learning Session. What that means is three times a year homeschooled children and the children from the mission school come together in the classroom for a few weeks. Our school year is kicked off with a session, we have another one in December and the last one in April. We started this session August 8th.
Normally the Joint Learning Sessions focus on a point in History as the theme and many extra-curricular activities are offered since there are more children and more parents to help. During this session, a woman who works in Finance offered her talents to teach Martial Arts and Ballet two afternoons a week during the three week session.
Yesterday when the boys were in Martial Arts, the instructor asked each child a question about Karate. Many responses made me chuckle, but one answer made me chuckle more than the others.
Instructor: “What don’t we use Karate for?”
Child: “To kill people.”
Shoes
I (DeAnna) teach Sunday School and I like to start with singing. Usually during the week preparing for Sunday School, I listen to children’s worship music to give me ideas of what songs will go well with the lesson. One of the songs we have is titled “I Got Shoes.” The lyrics of this song says that all God’s children got shoes. It’s actually singing about putting on these shoes to walk all over Heaven. At first it struck me because I see so many of God’s children who don’t have shoes. Although the song is referring to Heaven, it hit me for the present here on Earth.
Sophie is very dear to our family. She has big, wide feet, size 12W in US sizing. She usually crams her feet into shoes that are many sizes too small, making it quite uncomfortable for her. She shared that if she wants shoes that fit, she needs to buy men’s shoes or flip flops. Like most women, she would like to have some shoes that are feminine and dressier for church or other places.
I was so excited to be able to present her with three pairs of shoes. She was so excited that she grabbed me and started kissing me. She tried them all on in front of me to model her new shoes. She did a little dance and raised her arms in the air while thanking God for shoes that fit. It brought tears to my eyes.
Man’s Best Friend
It’s been said that dogs are man’s best friend. I don’t know about that – I’m more of a cat person, but I grew up with a dog.
About six weeks after we arrived in Yaounde in 2010, Joshua was bit by a dog. He wasn’t ever really exposed to dogs before the attack and it made him plus Jonah terrified of dogs. In 2012 when we came to look at the house we live in now to decide if we wanted to move in, there was a dog. At first the boys were scared to enter and after talking with the owners of the dog and hearing how great of a guard he is, they offered for him to stay with the house. David & I were happy about it, but we were thought it might be too hard on Joshua.
Buddy is a great dog and just the other day Joshua said that Buddy is his favorite pet. Joshua hurt his knees while playing and was upset he needed to take a break from playing to allow scabs to form. I caught him out on the porch explaining it all to Buddy and Buddy was thrilled to have the attention.
D squared + J squared = Anderson 