Our class pet and other randoms - with pictures!

I've spent the last hour recording down some of the haphazard things going on in my mind since my last blog. Prepare yourself for a very random posting! But first, I've realized over the past few weeks that I've neglected to post some of the pictures I've taken over the past couple of weeks, so I thought I'd begin with some of my favourite shots of spring in Haiti. Enjoy!

Above are some sweet girls in kids church

Some kids in the village

Bright garden flowers

Some of the boys from Tytoo Gardens

Dominican sunset

I look forward to sharing the other 600+ pictures with you when I get home! haha

So far this week it has rained pretty much every evening which has been the start of a somewhat greener Haiti. Unfortunately, the mosquito's love it just as much as we do, so I've had to use what is commonly know here as 'Haitian perfume' - bug spray! :)

Along with mosquito's, the birds have also returned, taking on their role as my early morning alarm clock, chirping their hearts out in the tree behind the guesthouse. The kids and I have adopted a new class pet as a result. Every morning when I arrive at the classroom there is a little bird at our class window who makes a continuous attempt to get into the room. Our glass window opens on an angle from one side, so with it only being open about halfway, the little bird makes countless attempts to enter through the window, only to bang against the glass. The poor little guy doesn't give up easily! 

So, in honour of our trusty little pal, we've adopted him as our class pet. The other morning Bridgely gave him the name 'Bonker' - from the way that he 'bonks' against the window. Teagan took a picture of him and I've attached it below.

And while we're on the school subject, Laurens, Cheryl and I have nailed down a the last day of school for June 25th... It's hard to believe we've got less than 2 months to go! Currently, we've covered all of our math chapters and are focussing on our last few units of science and geography. I feel like we are in excellent shape to complete all of our expectations by June, and of course, have room to fit a bunch of fun celebrations in the mix too! The kids and I have already begun our end-of-school countdown as we anticipate summer holidays and going home. We had our Christmas countdown in December, Dominican Delight countdown for April, and so Teagan named our last day countdown 'Splendid Summer', in keeping with the alliteration trend! ;)

And for the record, as of this morning we've got 37 days to go!

As a result of my planned return to Haiti again this coming September, I will be back in Ontario for the majority of July and August, and I've very excited to see you all! The time at home will be definitely be packed full of planning for the 2009-2010 school year, participating in more wedding festivities, and of course, spending lots of quality time with family and friends!

On that note, I have to mention how the Lord totally blessed my socks off last weekend. As I mentioned in a previous blog, there was a hope that I would be able to witness a portion of the Erin and Jesse's wedding ceremony through Skype. Well, all morning my hopes got weaker and weaker because the connection was being extremely inconsistent. However, early in the afternoon when my Uncle Randy called me, everything appeared clearly and I was able to follow the ENTIRE ceremony by video. The phone call cut out about 4-5 times throughout the service, but fortunately Uncle Rand was totally reliable and dialed me up seconds later so I hardly missed a thing! Later on in the evening during the reception, we gave it a try again, and the Lord once again blessed me by allowing for me to follow the majority of program. I first began by talking to a lot of family members and friends while the guests ate wedding cake, and then my dad was able to position the computer at the table next to him (which was right beside the podium where the speeches were given) so I was able to listen and view a significant part of it. At the end of the night when the connection finally gave out, I had to catch myself and take time to thank the Lord for allowing me the privilege of witnessing so much of the big day. It would have been wonderful to be there 'in body' and witness everything without relying on a computer, but considering that I am in Haiti it was definitely the next best thing! Below is a picture of part of my living space and where I sat as I viewed the show. :)

Well, you made it to the end of my crazy posting... This weekend I am going to the market to shop for some bread that will be used in my kids church story on Sunday morning. I am planning to tell the story of how Jesus fed the 5000, so we are going to attempt to 'recreate' the miracle and give out pita bread and candy to the hundreds of kids that show up. It should be an interesting adventure getting the food and distributing it, so I'll be sure to blog about it when the weekend is through! :)