There ought to be a warning for this…

Actually, it surely doesn't happen enough to warrant one as this is one of the craziest things I have ever heard of happening to someone. I walked into our bathroom to tell Andrew something funny that happened but ended up laughing harder at him. That isn't nice considering what I am about to tell. Andrew has asthma and before we left he got a pretty good stock of his daily preventative inhalers. The one he was using ran out and he went to the closet to get one. You should know that there are ants all over this house. I have probably sprayed 50 ant colonies at this point. If I am washing dishes they are biting my feet. If I am hanging clothes on the line I have to catapult them off first. They are on our toothbrushes. Before I go to bed I have to brush them off the mattress. They are truly everywhere. There are all sizes too. And this story is about the tiny ones. I don't know how many there were but some ants made a colony in Andrew's inhaler and unfortunately Andrew found that out in a terrible way when he sucked a whole lot of dirt and ants right into his lungs. I can't imagine what that felt like but what a surprise. Isn't that one of the worst things you have ever heard of? I laughed so hard. I wish that I had a photo of his face. Poor Andrew! He's fine now but inspects things a little closer before inhaling these days.
In other news, I haven't been online as much lately because Andrew started work and I started the full homeschooling program. We only have one internet stick and he takes it to work with him. By the time he gets home and we do dinner, and then do the bathing, cleaning up, etc. there really isn't much left in me. So, sorry for the lack of communication lately. There has been a lot going on that I have had full intentions of writing about though.
TRS had its second annual sports day meeting where every child and staff member is divided out into one of the four "houses". They have races of all kinds that cater to each age group and at the end of the day there are awards, an Africa queen pageant and trophies. It is so much fun to watch the rivalry, taunting and laughing between the staff and kids. They build up to this day for weeks getting t-shirts and shorts for the event and practicing at the field for several days. For at least a week before the event the beginning to every conversation is the question of which house your in and whether your going to win or not. The 4 different houses have a color and the name of one of the four founders of TRS. So, green house is Uncle Paul's house, yellow is Auntie Erica, red is Auntie Tina and blue is Uncle Jason. There was a team here, which uncle Jason is leading, that got to participate in this day of fun by running a 100 meter guest race. Uncle Jason supposedly won the guest 100 meter dash but that is being contested by a few unnamed other guests. He says it is official if you get a certificate, which he did, so he celebrated by running, jumping, laying in the dirt kicking and thanking everyone from God to his wife and then the DJ who let him use the microphone. The kids were laughing so hard.

My personal favorite of the races was the staff race. I have to say I was impressed! These guys are fast. And, they are such good sports. Quami is sure he would have won if he hadn't have been wearing jeans even though Pastor Daniel won and he was wearing jeans too...

Men running race 1


Ivey and Sallieu






We got a car today! We are all so excited about it. The kids know that once we get a car we will drive to River #2 on Saturdays so they have really been looking forward to the car purchase. Today I was getting lunch ready and I heard John excitedly shout to Albert: 'Albert! Dad is coming with a motorcar! Dad is coming with a motorcar!' And all 5 went running to the gate. This is the first car three of them have ever had. Thank you Harpeth Community Church!

Land Rover Discovery


Skype has been awful and so we just called the grandparents instead.
call to Mimi and GrandVan


Daily life:

laundry


Ivey and Isatu in beautiful matching skirts that our great and talented friend Lindsey made for and gave to them. If you ever need a personalized item I would totally recommend her. lindseyrconner@etsy.com


I adore this hilarious beautiful boy!


Bodyguards on the way to church

If you are wondering if we have lost Levi due to his lack of appearance in most of the photo's-don't worry, he is just very busy working on his career. He has told me he wants to be a zookeeper. He has been steadily collecting, observing, poking and prodding. Today it was the ants on the lime tree and a frog, a few days ago he had some strange water snails from the beach, tomorrow-who knows. So he doesn't have time for or interest in photos.