Crazy Colors

I had this idea in my head.....

Needed Materials:
- Book Shelf
- Duck Tape
- Paint
- Paint Brush

After a bit of time and a lot of patience.....

Look I painted a shelf! 

It may not be perfect but is still way cool 

Blue!

When working with someone with autism you just have to know how to ask the question.

Case and Point:

Campers got a chance to get treats at the beach.

One student got a large, blue snow cone. So you can imagine how much ended up in her mouth and how much end up on her face….

Here is what happened when we got back to camp:

Counselor: ‘Student, did you have a snow cone?’

Student: ‘No!’

Counselor: 'Are you sure?’

Student: ‘It wasn't me!’

Me: ‘Student, what color was your snow cone?’

Student: ‘Blue.’ (said with a big smile) 

Meet at Portillo's

A friend from Uganda was in America! 

Well really she is a Canadian I met in Africa

but she was in America! 

So I had to take her for Chicago style hotdogs

mmmmmm....was nice to have them again

and was nice to catch up with an African Friend 

Sergeant Pepper

I adopted a guinea pig! 

His name is Sergeant Pepper but you can call him Pepper.

I was told he is five years old. 

He is from a family in Wisconsin. 

He loves to eat hay and to explore. 

Spiral Graph

Remember spiral graph??

We have a swing hanging from a tree in our back yard

It was too plain...

So my mom and I painted it yellow and spiral graphed it! 

Now it is even more fun!!

Beach Fun....?

It was a hot day so we took a family to the beach. 

It was beautiful and so fun. 

That is until I felt a 'rock' hit my foot

I saw blood in the water so went to clean it off

It didn't look bad but hurt a lot

Then realized I was stung by a stingray.

It was so painful!!

Now that I am back in America, I went to the doctor and taking antibiotics and even though it still hurts a bit. it is getting better. 

Lesson is: shuffle your feet a lot when in water with stingrays. 

Wow...so fast

It all happened so fast. 

The end of the school year....

all the good byes....

And now back to America

It was hard to leave Rwanda but I know God has a plan

Rwandan Family

This was my Rwandan Family

This was everyone that lived at my house

Salonge, Liz, Desire, Joel, Eli, Theo, Me and Brian

I will miss them all!

An Update

Thank you to everyone that made it possible to get a new computer.
I am back online....

Even without a computer life still went on and rather fast

In a short summary here is what has been happening: 

January

We are now back for the last term of the school year. 

Everyone is studying hard

February

My mom came to visit me in Rwanda!!

We went on an adventure and had so much fun

March

My housemates and I moved out of our house and sold everything: even the chickens 

God has called Liz and Joel back to Australia

God is leading me back to America for a while

(If anyone has further questions please feel free to contact me) 

Africa has been a big part of my life for a long time and I feel God has a big plan for me and Africa will always be a part of it in one way or another. 

April

This month marks 20 years since the start of the genocide in Rwanda. 

We took time to remember the lives that were lost and learn from the past. 

I will be more regular with my updates so feel free to check it out. 

Happy New Year

I just wanted to update everyone:

- My computer, among other things, was stolen. I am working on replacing those things.
- For those of you that have been following for a while now you may know Bella, my guinea pig who meant so much to me. She passed away but I know she is in a better place now.
- My car was hit and needed a bunch of repairs but it is now working well.

I had a great Christmas in the village of Kenya :)

It is hard when so many things happen when you are just trying to do good but I know God has called me to do what I am doing and will continue until He says otherwise.

December was a rough month for me but God is good and He continues to be in control.

Thanksgiving Dinner

It might be a week after the 'real' Thanksgiving but....

We had an amazing Thanksgiving dinner. 

With some Australians, Kenyans, and Europeans

I was the only American :)

We had chicken, mashed potatoes, green beans and....

not to forget the pumpkin pie

I am Thankful for the people God has placed around me. 

Busy!

This is a normal occurrence in my office....

Lots of people doing lots of things: 

- documenting

- writing worksheets

- making presentations

- writing lesson plans

- finding materials

- organizing

Students and staff all together  

Vitamin C

Bella has been a bit sick lately. 

I called a vet in America and she recommended Bella to take a small dose of human vitamin C.

So I gave Bella a 16th of 500mg of my vitamin C and I ate the rest. 

I hope with this Bella will get better and we will both stay healthy. 

Rooster!!

My alarm is set for 5am. 

This morning about 7 minutes before my alarm went off a rooster had found my 5 hens...

He was crowing so loud way before I wanted to get out of bed. I was not very happy. After about 15 minutes of him crowing I went outside and chased it out of my yard. 

Oh, country life in the middle of the city....

Race

Sunday I ran a race. 

David (in yellow) ran a half marathon and Brian (in black) and I ran a half of the half marathon. 

Before the run. 

It was a long hot run but we all finished

After the run

Now it's time for a shower 

Sunday Mornings

Routine:
- wake up
- open the windows and let the dog off the leash
- make banana bread
- cut Bella's food (she is a picky eater and only eats certain parts of vegetables)
- fed the bunnies the part of veggies Bella does not eat (and pet them)
- got eggs from the chicken's cage
- weed the garden

I live on a farm in the middle of the city :)
I love it

Bring and Take

I called someone and said:

"Please bring the computer to the classroom and take the keys to the office."
Meaning: computer to classroom and keys to office.

All said and done... the computer was in the office and the keys were in the classroom....

I realized that take means away and bring me here.

After we clarified the confusion the computer and keys got to the right spots.

Concert and Play

This is Leila and her brother. They put together a song and sang it. 

 This is a dance crew. 

It contains three of my staff and their siblings. 

They were great. 

Three of my staff were in a play and it was great!

Tr. Patrick

This is Patrick. 

He was one of my staff. 

I trained him to be a teacher working with a student with special needs. 

He saw a job opening last week for a teacher at a school by his house. 

Together we practiced interviewing. 

There were 20 other trained teachers and him all interviewing for one position. 

He was the one that got the job! 

Way to go Patrick!! You are a great teacher! 

Horses?!?

I found out there were 10 horses in Rwanda. 

So, I found where 4 of them lived and went horse back riding!

Brian had never seen a horse that close before and he got right on. 

We even trotted a bit...up and down, up and down. 

It was so cool. I love horse back riding!