Day of Thanksgiving

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good,

 for his steadfast love endures forever.

-psalm 136:1

Yesterday was my first Thanksgiving away from my family. I woke up slightly disappointed that I couldn't spend the day with them and upset that I had to teach. This thought only lasted a minute, as it was swept away by unfathamable gratitude. It started with the ray of light that was slipping through the curtains. I jumped up to look out the window. 

The sunrise was amazing. 

Just as the warmth of the sun spreads over the earth, joy and gratitude filled my entire being.  So, I started thanking God for what I did have, and you know what the first thing that I thought was, "thank you God for allowing me to see my students today!"

I have so much to thank God for! He has blessed me so much and I can't help but rejoice. Even my longing for seeing my family was satisfied with, not one, but two FaceTime dates before and after dinner. 

I had a half of a day of teaching, then the afternoon was filled with decorating and cooking. I love to decorate and just like I do at home, I went on a little scavenger hunt around the compound to find beautiful things to decorate the room with. 

We had around 25 people gather together, representing 8 different nationalities. What a blessing to share our American holiday with so many people! The food was amazing, the fellowship better, and the time of singing praise songs at the end was the best. 

Go to the Ants

I've been tryin to post this for a couple of days, but alas, the internet doesn't always work so well. I'll try it again!

Oh the irony. Tonight I've been working on my presentation for tomorrow's assembly. Guess what The talk's on...Ants!

Several weeks ago I stumbled accross a video of an incredible concrete ant colony. Scientists poured concrete down an abandoned ant colony and found some incredible things. 

The entire colony was a network of tunnels and rooms

As they dug away, they found a massive colony. 

Incredible!!

The more I've looked up ants, the more awed I've become. In an experiment, this Asian Weaver Ant carried over 100 times it's body weight!

Also, in the entire world, there are over 12,000 different species of ants and scientists are always discovering more. 

The irony occurred while I was sitting cross-legged at the coffee table in our living room. I kept exclaiming, "wow, this is incredible!" " woah, check this out.." As the word were leaving my mouth, a large ant scurried accross my toes and my immediate reflexes were to smash the pesky little bug. 

These pesky little things are actually mentioned several times in the Bible, not as pesks, but as something to learn from. 

"Lazy people should learn a lesson from the way ants live. They have no leader, chief, or ruler, but they store up their food during the summer, getting ready for the winter. " -Prov. 6:6-8

"There are four animals in the world that are small but very clever:

Ants: they are weak, but they store up their food in the summer. "

Prov. 30:24-25

As I said in an earlier post, the ants are out now. I found this trail of fast moving ants while running the other day. Mili can actually hear the ants because there are so many marching at once. 

Sweet Babies

We have made it our Sunday schedule to go to the orphanage in the morning for a couple of hours. Last week, we got to experience te matron again, but this week we were blessed to have the babies for ourselves.

As usual, we got to the orphanage around 8:15, but it wasn't until 9:45 that the kids were allowed off their potties. I've noticed that their poor bums are calloused from the hours they spend each day on the toilet. 

The purpose of this post is not to point out the shortcomings of the orphanage, there's a lot I could say, but instead, I just want you to see these precious children. 

We're now getting to the point where they are no longer faces, but they are people with names. 

They now recognize us and don't cry as much when we leave, because they know they'll see us again.

Matthew 19:14

Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these."

happy hat fete

Yesterday was our PTA's fundraiser. We also had our parent/teacher conferences after school on Thursday and Friday, but it was able to finish the conferences and check the festival before it ended. 

My sweet Hadassah.

Two of my 6th grade girls, Eli and Tomi.

Wonu-5th grade

More of my 6th grade grade girls, Favour, Tolu, and Tomi.

Demilade-5th grade

Tomi and her mother. They've lived in Italy for years, so we love sharing notes of different places we've been.

Demi and Anjola(in 4th grade)

The sweet little first grade princess...Razan

Another cute first grader...Agnes

Ah, my love...Jewel(4th grade) is such a sweet girl!

I definitely get my quota of hugs from this one!

Oh Lalolu

Ms. Sam and some of her first grade sweeties.

Michael D. sporting his mustache

And lastly my fourth grader, Enobong

I hope you are all having a fantastic weekend! 

Blessings,

Liz