Snowball effect

IT'S DECEMBER!

Well, I don't know about the rest of you, but this month is turning into a jam packed set of weeks. In keeping with the season, think snowball effect.... I've hit fast forward and haven't been able to find the 'pause' yet.

It's quite contrary to the first few weeks of school. The days seemed to go really slowly back in September, but recently it seems like we barely have started Monday morning, and the week is over. Here we are onto Thursday afternoon, leaving just one morning of school left before the weekend comes. Tomorrow the plan is for all 10 of us take our first field trip of the school year. It's well earned!

During our first few weeks of school I noticed us struggling to start school on time, and thus began the bell system. Every morning I give a 5-minute bell reminder and the kids are expected to be in their seats by the time we reach 8am. If they all make it on time they get to add a mini bell to the schoolbus (a decoration tin that my mom sent in a care package), if they don't make it, we take a bell out. Out goal has been to reach 40 bells and it has been attained! As you can probably imagine, we are all looking forward to getting off of the mission property and exploring Haiti's Sugar Cane Museum close to the city. It should be a great day!

When that's over, it will bring us to yet another weekend... And they are no less busy.

Friday night's I host the junior girls over for movie night where we paint nails, do facials, bake cookies and other GIRLY stuff. :) We also have been working through a 'Girls of Grace' bible study which has been really awesome.

Saturdays are my planning days. Unfortunately the lazy mornings that I have in my head - sleeping in, eating pancakes and setting up the workweek ahead - have had to take a back seat recently. There have been quite a few teams coming in and out over the past few weeks, and as a result of our lack of a group host at this point, the staff here has had to share the load. Saturday is my day, which gives me opportunities to get out into the local villages and orphanages and hang out with the kids and meet people from different parts of North America. It's a wonderful chance I have to get out and about, which I don't get to do during the week, but as a result, my planning times have been stuck into random evenings and afternoons making my weekdays more busy. I find random hours where I hit overdrive and plan more extensively in the different grades to make up for my lack of time on weekends.

Sundays are probably my favourite days, because I get to go to church and then over the past couple of weeks I've been visiting the Louissaint family in the mountains after lunch at Gwopapapou. The Hope House kids come up to the playground later on in the afternoon and I love playing with them and practicing my Creole, but when I finally sit down on Sunday night after taking a shower, I feel like I need a couple days to recover before jumping into another blur of a week.

Thank goodness Christmas is coming. I know that the time home with be a blur of gatherings and parties, but I am promising myself a few hours to sit by the fireplace with a cup of hot chocolate and refuel.

Thank you for your prayers as I wrap up these past few weeks of school.... Pray that I can make good decisions about how I spend my time (when I get the choice! haha), and pray that I can have sufficient rest and downtime when I need it...

Less than 3 weeks to go now - 3 weeks to close up our school units, make extensive lists of what I school books and supplies I need to purchase when I'm home, celebrate Christmas with the Hope House kids, party it up with my students, and brace myself for a slightly different kind of climate! ;)

See you all soon!