Saturday, March 30, 2013

He is risen!

Just a quick update to say

A) Have a blessed Easter! He is risen indeed!

B) I am no longer deathly ill--just a little snuffly. Praise the Lord for His healing!

C) I am almost done with report cards--I am just waiting for another teacher to put in some marks so I can do the averages. Praise the Lord for His help!

D) In just 5 more days I'll be climbing aboard the little plane to begin my journey home--I can't wait!

..."and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied. But now Christ HAS been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep. For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead." 1 Corinthians 15:17-21

Monday, March 25, 2013

Praise the Lord for healing!

It’s been a rough trek for the last few days. I’ve had a shocking head cold that has knocked me flatter than I’ve been since I had bronchitis last year. To add to the normal fun of a cold, I have also been experiencing sudden violent nosebleeds at inopportune moments. I think the nosebleeds are a combination of the dryness of the week, the excessive nose blowing, and the antihistamines, and the altitude (I never had this problem back home); whatever is causing them they sure are demoralizing and annoying! Thankfully I’m turning the corner back to health, and I can think of something other than sleeping in every spare moment. Thank you for all your prayers! I’ve slept so much in the last few days that I can’t believe I can still sleep at night. I guess that more than how awful I’ve felt has let me know how very ill I was. I continue to take Vitamin C like it was candy, and to pray that I’ll be well over this before I travel in a week and a half. God is good.

My bags went over to Kalene this weekend to be flown down at some point before Jill and I fly out with the kids on April 4th. With the kids big bags there won’t be room for ours, so we had to plan ahead a bit. I packed what I could think of, and I’ll have a backpack for the oddments I couldn’t send ahead and the many things I’m already starting to realize that I forgot. I need to start working on report cards as well as continuing to write and mark exams, and in case I had any time to get bored I need to do some tidying in my house so it can be available for next term. Maybe that is part of why God allowed me to be knocked flat with a cold—so I would be rested at the start of this week!

Praise the Lord for He is the one who walks with us through even the worst of colds and the busiest of weeks!

Friday, March 22, 2013

Sick...

I've succumbed to a nasty cold, so while I'm very grateful that I think I managed to clear my chest out enough that it won't become bronchitis, I'm not feeling that well. God has been giving me the strength to get the things I must accomplished, but I have to say that I'm chaffing a little bit at the timing. While there is never a 'good' time to get sick, this weekend is especially not a good time. I have to have my main bags packed and ready to send over to Kalane by Sunday afternoon, and I need to finish working out my taxes. I'm also on this weekend, and next week is exam week so I will be quite busy with writing and marking exams as well as working on report cards. Prayer for a quick return to health would be appreciated, and for wisdom as I try and balance all the things that must happen before I fly out in just under two weeks. It's a good thing that I have a big God to lean on in times like this!

Monday, March 18, 2013

SNAKE!

It’s interesting how it’s like you have two dictionaries in your head. One full of words you know what they mean, but the second is full of words where there are vivid, living definitions that leap that will forever follow the use of that word for you. This weekend I added a word to my ‘living’ dictionary—that word was puff adder.

Jill and I were finishing our Sunday lunch when I heard my cat hiss at something in the kitchen. Now this is not usual, and the answering hiss I heard back convinced me that this was something I needed to go investigate—NOW. When I went to the door I saw a snake curled up in front of my screen door, and the cat crouched a couple feet away and watching it with blazing eyes. The snake had chosen it’s spot for a last stand brilliantly from it’s point of view—it was in front of the only accessible exit from the house, and it was also cutting off access to my brooms which might have been of use in dealing with it. However, it was also trapped, and had no way of getting out again.

I put the cat in my room so she wouldn’t get underfoot, and then Jill and I proceeded to watch and decided how to deal with it. I fetched the curtain rod I had in the dining room for Jill, and then got a bucket from my bathroom so I could deal with the immediate threat before the snake met its more permanent end. As I carefully edged into the kitchen, the snake started to hiss loudly and puff itself up alarmingly. I didn’t know how fast it could move, but I sure knew that I didn’t want to find out the hard way. I decided that the bucket would require me to get too close to the angry, frightened reptile, so I stepped back to get a cardboard box. As I did, my skirt brushed my leg and I about jumped through the roof. There was *just a bit* of adrenaline flowing through my system by now!

I fetched the box and managed to successfully toss it over the snake—now the immediate danger of being bitten was dealt with. I then called Pam to have her send Mark and the watchman over. When they arrived, Jill and I pushed the box out the door and onto the porch, the box was pushed off, and the snake met a quick end at the end of a shovel. Praise the Lord!

Of course the ironic thing is that it was St. Patrick’s Day—the guy who supposedly sent all the snakes out of Ireland. Too bad he didn’t come over to Africa too… I knew that there were snakes called puff adders, but I have never considered how they got their name. The memory of that snake puffing and hissing at me has now graven it deep in my mind—PUFF adder. I just hope there aren’t any more of them before I leave! I’m not sure my nerves can stand it…

Other than that, I’ve had a lovely weekend. Lots of sleep, and playing around with a few projects. I can’t believe we’re down to two and a half more weeks!

Friday, March 15, 2013

Ants and Rain

I haven’t updated for awhile, but I’ve been about run off my feet these last few weeks. Last weekend was our second half-term, and I got a few things done that I had been putting off. We had a lot of rain that weekend so the kids spent a lot of time in the dorm, but I think that bothered the frazzled teachers more than the kids!

On Monday my gardener came and got me right before lunch and told me the red ants were at my house. When I got there I found ants all over my porch, soak-a-way, and enthusiastically climbing the walls and going up into the roof. I put some powder across my kitchen doorway, and then I gave him some “Doom” spray to get them off the walls. During lunch he used fire to beat them back, and when I got back again I found an ant free home! I was so thankful that the gardener was there that day, and that he was willing to help out! When the ants are marching you can generally keep them out of your home if you catch them early enough, but once they have taken over all you can do is move out until they are finished!

I’m trying to get everything organized for when I’m gone, and it’s a daunting task. I did a lot of planning at the beginning to term, but there is still a lot that needs to be done. I have pretty much sorted and put away the things from my container boxes, and now I’m trying to get my extras out of my house. I’ve started throwing things I want to take with me into my faithful Rubbermaid box so I don’t forget them when the time comes to pack. We still do not have someone coming out who could sub for me, so it’s looking like the other staff are going to have to compensate. Prayers for either a helper or extra strength would be appreciated!

We have had so much rain these last few weeks—praise the Lord! The rivers and wells are filling up, and the ground is getting the good soaking that we need. I love the smell of rain out here, and the smell of the clean earth afterwards. Hopefully the rains will continue till the end of April so our water table will get back to normal before the dry season!