(Or, what happened yesterday afternoon/evening...)
Coming home from a wonderful, relaxing, fun weekend in town with Kayci and seeing the excited faces of our little girls, who run toward the car to greet us when we’re just on the edge of campus.
The sound of their giggles when we pile them all in the back seat for a short ride down the hill in the car, a rare treat.
The relief of assistance when twenty people descend upon the car to take everything to its place—10 kilos of onions, groceries for the week, four 20 litre jugs of water, overnight bags, wholesale boxes of soap...
Seeing the boys survived their first unsupervised overnight and, as instructed, did not host a raging party for all the fisherman who pass their house each evening. The surprise and delight of walking into the house to find they’d cleanned (it was spotless), organized, and decorated it. This was on the coffee table:
An uninterrupted afternoon nap.
Going down for Sunday dinner—PILAU, IT’S DELICIOUS—and catching up with all the girls and matrons.
The overwhelming flattery of Ester insisting on sitting on my lap to eat her dinner. Though she eats it at a tenth of the pace I do, this little girl finished a portion that rivaled my own! And, I appreciated that she took great care to pick each grain of spilled rice off my skirt. (We’re still working on her spoon skills—she is quite capable of using it as a weapon; she needs a little more practice with it as a tool for eating.)
Surprise public holidays*...no school on Monday! (And Happy Birthday, Mohammed!)
The beauty of our girls’ voices as they sing worship songs in groups on Sunday evenings for one another, and the camaraderie of this weekly family time.
Witnessing the confidence of two girls, who get up to perform funny skits for their sisters after Sunday evening prayer time.
Discovering the boys—who have no access to newspapers or the internet—know more about what’s going on in the world than I do. Apparently, there are record breaking snowstorms in the US/Europe and Chris Brown and Rihana might be back together...? (Confirmed by Google News)
An actual, real, HOT shower.
A comfortable bed, sans scorpions.
Drifting off to sleep with all these memories floating up into my fluffy white mosquito net.
*Edited to add...maybe it wasn't a public holiday...ooops...
Maybe after Chris finishes his book he can write a parenting book on how to get 4 boys to clean a house without being asked...I know a few parents who need instruction... :) I miss pilou Sundays!
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