The early mornings dawn with mist these days from the overnight rains. And snow on the mountains has been a regular sight for the past week or two. It never gets less beautiful. Imagine looking up to see glacier precipitation while standing in the town equivalent of a rainforest.

In the early mornings Naomi and Quinn and I wander outside and walk around the track that surrounds our pitch, taking in the beauty of the morning. We watch N and Q’s friends start off for school on foot at 7 am. We greet our students as they head to the kitchen for their morning breakfast of posho porridge (cornmeal mush).

We always walk over to see the size of Naomi’s soy bean plants which are growing like weeds, and to greet our Ugandan-Kenyan “little sister”, Nancy, who lives next door. She thinks Naomi and Quinn are the best people EVER and yells with joy when she sees them coming.

I continue to struggle with some kind(s) of sickness. The icky symptoms have gone on for almost two weeks now, not debilitating but wearing. So last night after gathering for our team meeting and pizza dinner, Scott gave me a malaria test at the dining table (two actually since the tests have been less than accurate lately.) Negative.

I also swallow four large pills in a row to treat giardhea, an intestinal parasite, in case that is what is causing the days of diahrea, nausea, dizziness, achiness and tiredness. Much of it could be stress, but surely something else is wrong. The pills are no help as the nausea increases. Perhaps it’s ratitus again.

David continues to balance the many, many demands of his job. Being a Head Teacher is like being a general manager. Distractions or time away mean that the whole system begins to lag, and issues pop up. Something as simple as a new gatekeeper threw it all off this week as students arrived at their classrooms just after dark due to another timing issue and then proceeded to go wild when they found their classrooms still locked due to the gateman’s failure. We look for root causes, we solve them, we discipline, we continue to move forward. On the other hand, David and I also share the Director job, and being directors means a whole ‘nother set of issues to deal with. Add to that life and decision making and you have a set of pretty exhausted people!!

Much of our time in the last three weeks has gone to our future as a family. From meetings in September we began to get our mind around the idea that yes, God really will move us on from this ministry in the not-too-distant future. Deciding when, how and where require a LOT from us, both logistically and in prayer. Would you join us in praying for God’s call for the next year to be radically clear to us?? Our heart is to serve well and leave well and to be faithful to whatever He calls us to next.