Christmas is always fun. We do a bunch of different activities as staff, having pot luck suppers, carol sings, Christmas Eve services, lots of cookies passed around, gifts exchanged, and fun had. Every year for Christmas I get to go to the Wagner family’s house for opening presents and lunch. This year was lots of fun because both Rachel and Hannah Wagner were able to come from the US and were there for Christmas. Hannah brought her friend Amanda with her, which made it all even more fun. Someone forgot to tell Micah that Rachel was coming. Whoops. 🙂 So much fun being there for Christmas.
My brother and sister-in-law, David and Robin, have been out for the past couple of weeks. Dave teaches at Messiah College, and brought out a group of 12 college kids. They aren’t staying with me, but about a 5 minute walk.down the hill, (Well 15 minutes up the hill, but only 5 down, if you know what I mean.) While the whole group doesn’t come up every day, at least Dave and Robin have been stopping in at my house each evening. Once in a while, when the guesthouse they are at gets too noisy, the group comes up for their evening debrief. Saturday night I had the whole group up for a movie night, cinnamon rolls, peanut butter cookies, kool aid, etc. They are on Safari right now in Masai Mara, and fly back to the US this coming Thursday evening. Check out their blog about their trip. So much fun having them here.
Percents. Well OK, teaching percents to my 7th grade Math class might not seem like fun, but at the end of the chapter, I had the kids do a project where they had to re-model a room in a house. They had to get onto the internet and go to Wallmart.com, or Ikea.com, or Wayfair.com, look up prices for fridges, stoves, couches, lamps, etc, take a set percent off that, add a percent sales tax, and create a poster. The only problem I found was that Home Depot blocks internet access from Kenya, so we couldn’t get onto their website. The kids had $2,500 they were allowed to spend (not literally, I didn’t give them my credit card, and it would have bounced anyway) on their room. It was great for them to be able to use the Math we’ve been learning in a “real life” situation.
Now we’re done with percents and moving on to a geometry unit. So much fun doing math. (I can’t believe I just said that, but it’s true.)
Jr. High girls football. What can I say. Coaching football is always fun. It’s great to get out and get some exercise. The girls are doing the intramural portion of football right now, however our first interscholastic game is next Wednesday against West Nairobi School. We’ve got a lot to learn between now and then, but we’re doing well. Hmm, I don’t seem to have a picture of the girls playing football, so here’s a picture of last term’s boys football waiting for their turn to play at the ISK soccer tournament. Once I get a picture of the girls, I’ll swap it with this one. Football is so much fun.
Prayer Requests:
1) Pray for rain. Right now it’s the dry season, however there are still people who live in the communities around RVA that are dependent on rains for the crops to grow in their gardens. We had a bit of rain the beginning of January, which was great, but we could still use plenty more.
2) Pray for the administration here at RVA. We had a significant discipline issue in September/October, and the fallout from that is still going on. Please lift up the administration as they seek how to deal with these issues effectively, with mercy, and with fairness.
Shalom,
Dan
Dan Dixon's Discursive Declamations 