Freedom House

Today we served dinner at the Freedom House.

This week, we actually made all of the food.

I pre-made pasta at home and packed everything up in the jeep.

Zeek and I picked you up from school and we went straight to the center.

You and Zeek worked hard chopping and prepping, 

while I reheated the pasta and baked the garlic bread.

All was successful, and after about an hour of clean up

we were ready to return home for a weekend of rest and relaxation.

We have no pictures of your first service at the Freedom House, two weeks ago.

If you recall, we had very little time for pictures (or anything else)!

Let's just say "Pizza Hut saved us", and we'll leave it at that. :)

AFS Welcome Dinner

Tonight you had a local gathering with AFS.

I wasn't feeling very well, so Zeek and I only stayed about an hour.

Thanks to our liaison family, you were able to stay until the end. 

I was sorry I couldn't help you make some plans with 

the students you have spent time with here, so far.

Hopefully, we can plan a girls' day for you

 sometime in the near future. 

AFS Camp

This weekend you went to camp.

You spent time with many other AFS students.

There was more orientating...

and friendship making.

A police officer taught you more about our laws

and the rules of AFS.

 AFS really does make sure that you are completely informed. :)

You ate a lot and had a bonfire in the "cold".

And then we picked you up on Sunday.

You were tired, full, and happy.

We were happy to have you home! :)

All of these photos are from Sarita.

A Night To Remember

Tonight was crazy.

Zeek and I picked you up from school. We went home and did a little cleaning, grabbed some pb&j sandwhiches, and headed out to the Cup o' Joy to see Dara Maclean in concert.

She was SO good. We had pizza. Zeek had popcorn, chocolate and soda.

We met Brian and Tristen.

Then after the concert we noticed that the stars were AMAZING! So we packed up some blankets and headed up the street to look at them from the hood of the Jeep. We were only able to lay under the stars for about 5 minutes when we were interrupted by some unusual activity. We ditched the field and did some detective work instead. We ended up taking down the license plate numbers of three suspicious cars parked on the sides of the road in our neighborhood, returning home, and calling them into the police. We later received a thank you call from the cop informing us that we helped them bust an sizable underage drinking party.

The full story is a little more exciting than that, but I will not be posting the details on the internet. I know that you will never forget this night, and you can share what really happened with whoever you see fit. ;)

When we got home Zeek was so excited that he got to have some excitement in his life "for once!".

You laughed and said, "I love it here!" on the way into the house.

I love that you love it here. Even if we do have to play super spies for some action! :)

A Sunday with Cassie

On Sunday, Pam dropped Cassie off to spend the day with us. 

The two of you had seen each other a couple of time,

but hadn't had anytime together, alone to get to know each other.

We all went to church, and then we returned home

where the two of you made a taco bake lunch together

without me in the kitchen! Mostly. :) 

 After we ate, the three of us were going to make cards,

but instead we ended up talked for hours!

Cassie put in some driving time taking us home in the Jeep.

It was a good visit. 

1st Day of School

I don't know who was more nervous, you or me?

I just wanted to shrink myself and hide in your backpack at school all day. 

Or, as you joked, I could just show up and pretend to be another student 

since some of your teachers thought I was at open house anyway. :)

My prayer for you this morning was that nothing would happen that you didn't understand today. 
That everyone would be good to you, and that you would be well taken care of. 

I know you are strong and smart and perfectly capable of handling whatever comes your way. 
But I so wanted to protect you today. It was hard to let you leave the Jeep and walk off into the school alone. 

Once the day was through and you were returned to us on the bus, I was at ease. 

You had a great day. You did very well and were well accepted. 

You enjoyed your classes and like your teachers. 

You especially enjoyed your Spanish class where you were "famous" because of your fluent Spanish speaking. :)

I'm so happy for you that all went well. 

Though it will not be as fun to spend my days without you now that you are in school during the week, 
I am glad that it is all working out well so far and that you are happy.