It’s time once again for another exciting chapter of the
life and adventures of Aly! We actually been quite busy lately, this is nice
for me because I feel less horrible for not having posted in so long. So bear
with me, the may be a longer post but I think all of the wonderful and exciting
things we have been doing will make up for it!! Okay HERE WE GO!
First off, Ogles
hiked a MOUNTAIN! This has very little to do with me other than the fact that
she was gone over the weekend I was left alone to fret and worry over what
might happen to her while she climbing this mountain. She slipped and bruised
her bum a little, but other than that she returned in one piece. I still hold
that the worrying was merited. Anywhoo for more on that little adventure you’ll
have to visit Ogles’ blog.
Michelle’s
parents arrived here the same weekend Ogles was gone. It was nice to spend time
with a family. They were lovely and just accepted all of my weirdness and let
us pretend they were our parents for a while. They even delivered fun birthday
packages and goodies from home!
This week
also marked the first weekend of our Spring Break! Oh, how we desperately
needed a break. We had reached that point in life where you just need a break.
Our kids were tired, teachers were tired (and possibly a bit cranky), all you
want to do is go home. Praise the Lord, He provides. We had decided not to do
much over our break which was probably best. Michelle’s mom and dad were still
here so we got to hang out with them, and watch movies and eat yummy food and
candy. Easter was also during our break. Although we didn’t have fancy new
dresses and hats and shoes to wear, nor did we have our families to spend the
day with I think we found a pretty phenomenal alternative.
Here on
campus we have a group of students that are guards, they sit outside of the
buildings and houses in the evening, just to make sure that no unwelcome guests
join us. They’re all really great people
and many that we have grown to love. So, while most of campus goes home
over long breaks a few of them remain to make sure that the rest of us stay
safe. I’m not sure when the tradition started but Michelle has been throwing
them an Easter party for a few years now so this year we got to help her with
that. It was really excellent. We spent evening coloring eggs to hide and
stuffing plastic eggs full of candy. Sunday after church we… Well first we took
some really fabulous awkward family photo type pictures while we were all
dressed up. Then we started cooking. We were expecting about 30 guys to show up
so, I’m sure you can imagine we needed A LOT of food. We asked some of the guys
to come early and help grill chicken and make giant pots of rice and other
yummy goodness. So while the guys were
busy cooking Michelle, Ogles, Momma Halemeier, and myself took dozens of eggs,
candy, some crates of drinks, and candy canes and ran to the garden to hide
them all for the big hunt! We also hid a few golden and silver eggs that were
worth money; just make things a little more interesting. We had so much fun,
they guys came up to the garden and hunted eggs and candy and money, and then
we went back to the house and ate dinner. Really it was just a good time of
celebrating and fellowshipping together. (look forward to pictures some time
soon).
Ogles and I also house/baby sat for a family
on campus that was taking advantage of the long break as well. It was really
nice to have some different settings for a few days. We enjoyed hanging out
with the boys and spoiling them a bit with very few rules and no chores. The
following weekend was my birthday, Ogles decided she wanted to go out of town
so we didn’t do a whole lot. The Headmaster at ABC, Brian Carlisle, who is also
just an amazing person, happens to have the same birthday. We had a fun farewell/birthday
breakfast at Michelle’s before her parents left, and then relaxed for the rest
of the day. Later we had a lovely TACO DINNER with all of our wonderful/crazy
friends. It was a perfect day.
After two
weeks of eating junk food and watching movies, the next week it was back to
work and I have to say I was glad to see all those adorable little faces
shining bright Monday morning. We managed fall quickly back into our routine
and have a very successful week. It was the start of the forth quarter, which
is actually quite hard to believe.
During the
course of Spring break here, the President passed away. That was a very
interesting transition to be part of. (If you would like more info on that feel
free to e-mail me). Well due to that
Monday was declared a public holiday for the Presidents funeral. That in
combination with some other good circumstances allowed us to go away for the
weekend. So we three girls packed ourselves into Michelle’s car and headed to
the Lake ! We went up Saturday afternoon and spent
Saturday night, Sunday, and Monday morning there. The Lake
is beautiful! The weather was perfect and we went without and agenda. The best
way to take a long weekend. We played on the beach, ate dinner listening to the
waves and did nothing! IT was the perfect weekend! We headed back Monday
morning and just enjoyed the drive home. Malawi
is a gorgeous country. Right now everything is still green and the flowers are
blooming. The people are so happy and colorful no one is in hurry. Everyone is
just enjoying life. There is so much beauty in the simplicity of things
here. We arrived back on campus and
spent the rest of the day doing nothing. Like I said, a PERFECT weekend.
I must take
a minute now to tell you about the wonderful friends we’ve made here. Everyone
we meet is wonderful, for sure, but we’ve found a few friends that are really
just excellent! For example, I’ve mentioned before that driving and shopping
here is nothing short of STRESSFUL! So, Ogles and I generally opt to 1. not go
or 2. go and get the minimal amount of things we’ll need. Well after several
weeks of doing that we were in desperate need of groceries. So we called upon
Titu and Blessing, (and Ben, but he was MIA). The graciously drove us around
town, pushed our trollies (buggies), and were excellent company for the
afternoon. I don’t know about you, but I can’t think of many others that would
so willingly spend the afternoon doing grocery shopping… ? We’ve also found
Michelle, who is probably the only reason either of us are sane. She opens her
house to us, and feeds us yummy things, and takes us places, she’s excellent.
Then we have Owen who is always up for a coke and just hanging out. The
Floreens and Carlisles have also been far beyond kind to us opening their homes
and allowing us to simply share life with them. These are just a few of the
wonderfully splendid people God has provided for us who are better friends than
we deserve.
Until next time…
“Let each of us
please his neighbor for his good, to build him up. For Christ did not please
himself, but as it is written ‘The reproaches of those who reproached you fell
on me.’ For whatever was written in former days was written for our
instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the
Scriptures we might have hope.” Romans 15: 2-4
