October 7 - Fall Break & Maya the Singing Star

I hope all is well wherever in the world you are! Things are getting hotter every day down here, as summer is approaching....weird, huh?

I thought I'd send everyone a quick update on what's been going on around here...

Randy is working...and working..and working. He was in South Africa all last week for a series of negotiation meetings with the company who is supposed to be decommissioning one of the ships he supervises. Needless to say, he's looking forward to having a few days off some time in the next couple of weeks.

The kids (and their mommy) will be getting out of school for Fall (or is it Spring?) break this coming Thursday. I'm finishing up a 5-week substituting job in 4th grade. It has been really fun, but I'm exhausted! I don't know how people do it every day, day after day. The last thing I want to do after I've spent all day with 20 children (several of whom are little toots, by the way) is come home deal with more children---even if they are mine! :) Can I get an "Amen", anybody?!

We're praying that the kids' and my passports will get back to us very soon (They had to be sent in to get resident visas.), so we can head down to Cape Town some time during the break. The compound is lovely, and the school is great, but we need to GET OUT OF HERE for just a bit! I need to see some clean, modern shopping places, and a McDonald's or a Starbucks would be lovely, too. We'll rent a car when we get down there. I'm really excited about that, because my first time to drive in over two months will be in a "British-style" car---steering wheel on the "wrong" side, and all. Randy and I are going to rent the car using our UK licenses, since we worked so durned hard to get them. At least they should believe us when we claim to know how to drive on the left-hand side of the road. :)

When we get back from Cape Town, I'll officially be a retired long-term sub. I hope to stay busy at the school, but I intend to do other things, as well. The company pays for us to have private Portugese lessons, so I'll be starting those. There are also weekly opportunities to work with the kids at a local orphanage and at the childrens' wing of the AIDS/TB hospital. My puppets are going to have to learn the language pretty fast. I hope they're smarter than I am!

One more piece of exciting news...The school is having a talent show on Wednesday. Each class had to "audition" anyone interested in performing and then pick one act to represent them in the show. Maya told me Monday afternoon that she wanted to audition. After I suggested several easy, acapella songs (which she rejected), she decided that she wanted to use my background track (recorded by Aunt Glenda when I was about 10 years old) and sing, "Do Re Mi". I didn't even know she that she knew the song. She's heard it a million times, but she's never actually sung it herself. She sang for her class and another class yesterday , did a beautiful job, and was picked to be in the show! (I got to go in to watch, and I admit to shedding a tear or two.) She's thrilled, and I'm a proud mama, for sure. None of my friends here can believe that she wants to get up and sing a solo in front of 300 people. Pray for her, please! (Me, too. Ha!)

We really miss everybody, and we can't wait to head home at Christmas time. You are always in our thoughts and prayers. Take care of your sweet selves!