Yes! More Africa Pics

You know the drill...click on the links.

Africa--Ssala
Africa--Singing with Luke
Africa--JSS Girls
Africa--Kinder Kids
Africa--Playing Outside

Enjoy!

Smug Mug Pics

I uploaded more pictures onto SmugMug.

12 June 2007 Picture Day

Smug Mug Pics

I uploaded more pictures onto SmugMug.

Kids Playing Outside

Aerial View

Dining Hall Floor

Letters

Click on each of the hyperlinks above to view the pictures. I hope to add quite a few more pictures over the next few days.

Joy and Celebration!

This is my favourite picture I took while in Africa. I love this because each child is so incredibly happy in their own individual way. :)

Grandparents

Grandma and Grandpa Thomson (Dad's parents)



Grandma and Grandpa still know how to kiss after 60 years! We even clanged our glasses, like at a wedding reception, to have them kiss. :)



Faith (Me) with my cousin Trevor's daughter, Daphne. She was my little friend!


This past weekend we celebrated my Grandparents 60th wedding anniversary. We also celebrated a Guadet Family Reunion. This would consist of my Grandmother's family and all of her brothers, sisters, their children, all the way down to the Great-grandchildren.

I learned some neat things in conversation with both of my grandparents.

• As a young child and youth my grandpa remembers going to Church for the Fowl (Fall) Fest. They did not attend church often because they would have to go via horse and buggy and it was too much work, although, they always attended the Fowl Fest.
  
• I also learned that my Grandpa's father died at 46 or 47 years old from heart failure, my Grandpa was 15. They think his Dad was Presbyterian, but nobody knows for sure.
  
• My great grandmother--who died when she was 102, was a widow for 61 years. She was a widow for as long as my grandparents have been married!
  
• My grandmother grew up speaking only French in the home.
  
• My grandmother was a devout Catholic and spoke a prayer in French before mealtime. My family (my Mom's side) also has a grace that we say before every meal. I believe it may have came from the Salvation Army.
  

It's been neat to see how God has blessed my Grandparents, and has used them for His glory. I am fortunate to live in the family I do! :)

Lunch with Smurf

While I was in Oregon, my family had the opportunity to eat lunch with my pediatrician. 25 years ago, Francine gave me Smurf at my Smurfday party. I still sleep with him. I also learned from her that as a baby I would entertain my older sister when we were at the doctors.

Habitat House comes into play

My Uncle Neil is remodeling his home. Upon arriving in Centralia, Washington, I could not wait to help! Because of experiences with the different Habitat Houses, I was more than happy to jump up on his roof frame and nail the plywood down. God is giving me good experiences that I can use to help others--yah!

Stateside!

Upon arriving at PDX (Portland, Oregon), with just my carry-on, I had a 9 hour wait for my mother. When she arrived, we together walked down to baggage claim. Mom brought me a change of clothes and my cell phone! My Uncle Forest (Mom's oldest brother) so happened to be having a plane serviced at flight craft, whose runway is "shared/at" PDX. I was then able to fly from PDX to Aurora, which is minutes away from Uncles Forest's house. The best part of my little flight...I was sitting in the co-pilot seat! Spent the day trying to stay awake--success, and slept quite well that night.

My luggage made it to San Antonio and Dad was able to pick it up. The following day he packed me a bag and then flew out to PDX. Mom and I picked him up at the airport.

Airlines

My flight from Chicago O'hare has been canceled. I am now flying directly to PDX, because United cannot route me to San Antonio, before my American Airlines flight from SAT to PDX leaves. I am very tired, as I have been up for 2 days now, with three great flights. I have been bumped up to something plus, and I will be in Portland at 1:30 or 2AM. I will meet up with my mother at 10AM. Oh well. I will continue to update pictures and more as I have time. It is about time for me to board at O'hare to go to PDX.

Letters 1

John

Today on my way to dinner one of the little guys, John, came running up yelling, “Auntie Faith, Auntie Faith” and jumped into my arms. I was quite surprised, and did not expect to have him run at me. That was fun; he’s quite a cute guy. He then gave me the honors of putting on his jacket after dinner and giving him a goodnight kiss.

Independence Day

As my time here is winding down, I continue to keep busy. Today was a very rainy 4^th of July! My understanding is that this is odd. Oh and get this, I was cold! Put that in the books! Oh and another thing to put in the books, I was so cold that I drank a cup of coffee!

I am spending my mornings tutoring with five kindergarten girls in penmanship. Their behavior is somewhat like high-schoolers, let’s see where our limits are. LOL! I have enjoyed working with them, they are quite good—I have not had the problems the other people here have had. My girls come in and do as asked, usually on the first request. I work with them for 30 minutes on penmanship, and then read to them for 30 minutes.

This afternoon I scrubbed bad sealant off of the floor in the dining hall. I had plenty of time to think and pray during that hour in a half.

Net Ball

I have been officially introduced to the game of netball. Must say, it was a blast! I played with Momma Alice, Momma Anna, Auntie Claire, Auntie Cindy, and about five or six of the girls. My knees are nice and scratched up, as Auntie Claire and I play a hard game with each other. I am sure she enjoys having me on the opposite team, as when she came up to join the game she said, “What team is Auntie Faith on? I will be on the opposite team!” =) This is always a good choice; we both play tough games and enjoy fighting for the ball.

Net ball is a cross between our basketball and soccer in my observations. I laughed and ran hard, and can honestly say that I have not had as much fun as I had playing against Claire as I have had in quite a while. Some good ol’ competition always feels nice. Seriously, I had dived for the ball, as I was not going to get it otherwise. Later on in the game, both Claire and I took a run and then dive for the same ball…I landed right in between her legs, with the ball. =) We were both laughing so hard, it was great!