January 19. Got up a little late this morning so only made one batch of pancakes for the two of us. It was cool and cloudy again today, but did seem to warm up more this afternoon and bring us a little more sunshine.
After breakfast and quiet time this morning, I wrote a couple announcements for today and then wrote a few e-mails.
People were quite late for the meeting this morning. We didn’t get started until 10:30, and there weren’t many here when the meeting started. They just had a short song service because of it being so late.
Daddy did not go out in the meeting room today because of his bad coughing spells. He rested in the recliner most of the time.
Matthew and David both used their preaching time today to tell the church thank you for choosing them as pastors and to give some words of challenge and encouragement to the church. It was about 2:30 before the afternoon meeting started because Matthew and Erisapet were helping a Marivo lady who wanted to be saved. Praise God for another soul born again today!
After everyone left, I got the piece of chicken cooked up that Daddy had bought in town the other day, and put it up to pressure in the pressure cooker since we are not running the freezer long enough to keep meat.
Then since there wasn’t quite enough soup left for supper, I made a pie crust, thickened the rest of the soup and put it in the crust, topped it with some cheese and a top crust, and voila! a pot pie to put in the oven and bake for supper. It tasted good too.
While supper was cooking, I set up the chairs for school and started getting all the school stuff put out in the school room. Then I found pencils, pens, and erasers to give to those who need them. After supper, I went through their pencil cases to see which items they needed and added what was missing. Then I did the dishes, finished making labels for their math and spelling folders, and printed those.
Daddy helped me get things set up for showing them a power presentation of pictures I took last year in school. We’ll do that first thing in the morning before we get down to business with other things.
“The LORD thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing.” Zephaniah 3:17 (One of my favorite verses)
January 20. For some reason, last night seemed like a long, long night. I slept, but I woke up off and on. Was awake for a while just before 4:00. A good time to pray. I did go back to sleep after a while, and the next time I woke up, it was almost 5:30. Heard it raining now and then during the night too. Finally got up around ten to six.
Warmed up pancakes for breakfast. Had quiet time. Made the bed. Got things set up for the school slide presentation. Wondered if any of the students would be here on time for school. It was a very chlly, rainy morning. Finally, at just about 8:00, Sosthenes, Graham, and Dallas showed up. I had them get out a sheet of roofing iron and put it over the skylight to help make the room darker. I was about to sit down with the three of them and pray and get started when a few others came in.
The first thing we did after we prayed was watch the slide show of pictures from last year’s school activities. It was about 8:45 when we finished that. We took a short break and then came back for orientation. There were a lot of things to talk about this morning as our schedule and some ways of doing things are different this year.
The students were excited to get calendars, letters, and bubble gum pops from Lonnie. They were excited about getting pictures too. Gave each of them one of our new prayer cards that Christy and Connie sent and also gave them individual class pictures.
No phonics class today. We had math and oral English before lunch, and spelling after lunch. They all brought lunches with them today, and we gave them popo and bananas to go with what they brought.
It was about 2:00 before all the school stuff was cleaned up and put away. Esau and Steve stayed and cut firewood, and Daddy and I went for a nap. I was really tired out at nap time today, and did not get up until about 3:30.
Started right in preparing veggies for supper - spring onion/uxai/carrot/broccoli medley. The wood stove was still going so I put the veggies over there to cook. Then I went and checked over the spelling lessons the students did today.
Came back in and put a pot of water on to heat for spaghetti. It was after 5:30 when we finally sat down to eat.
There was a heap of dishes this evening. After doing those, I put away the vitamins that had come in a package from Christy and Connie this past week. So it was a while before I got out of the kitchen.
After that, I made sure everything was ready for school tomorrow. Now it is 8:30. Time for snack and then bath..
“Yet now be strong, O Zerubbabel, saith the LORD; and be strong, O Joshua, son of Josedech, the high priest; and be strong, all ye people of the land, saith the LORD, and work: for I am with you, saith the LORD of hosts….” Haggai 2:4