So long grade 12's!

As I reflect on the last few weeks since I last wrote the blog it is amazing to see how much we have squeezed into this time!
I won't write about everything otherwise it would be an extremely long blog but some of the things we've been up to is;
A meal with Jons tutor group, A white elephant party in the girls dorm, A safari dinner with the youth group, A sleepover with the primaries, lots of monopoly and the completion of the yearbook(phew!)! It's been a jam packed few weeks but a brilliant few weeks too! Lots of fun :-)
This week has been bitter sweet as we have said our farewells to Grade 12's and to 6th form. They have now finished their exams (well... some unfortunately have one more tomorro!)
Thursday we had the dorm farewell party which was amazingly organised and put together by the Grade 11's, they organised a brilliant night of entertainment :-)

(above)Chipe and Chigo who hosted the evening!

(below) Grade 12 girls with one of their teachers!

Yesterday the dorm became a beauty parlour as the grade 12's got ready (and completely transformed!) for their meal out with some of the school staff. As one of the dorm parents I had the privelege of being invited along to the meal and what a fantastic evening it was! The students had raised all of the money themselves for the evening and it was well worth it :-)
They all looked completely amazing as you can see!

(above) The whole grade 12 class

(below) some of the girls with 2 of their teachers

    (below) Myself with Miss Clara(fellow girls dorm parent) and Mrs Kmanga (boys dorm parent)

This morning we had the leavers service in the school hall and again it was a BRILLIANT service. It was lovely to hear the students speak and reflect on how much being at Amano has influenced them in a variety of ways. It really is a special place and a privilege to be a part of it all :-)

One thousand gifts...

I cannot believe that a month has nearly passed since I last blogged! Time seems to pass so fast. There are now only 4 weeks until we return back to England for Christmas. I have been reading  a book recently called ‘One thousand gifts’ by Ann Voskamp.

 It has really got me thinking about time and how time is such a gift; to be treasured and thankful for. It’s easy to look ahead to Christmas and wish time to pass by quickly for the moment of being reunited with loved ones; one of my famous quotes has always been “I cannot wait until...”and I cannot tell you how much I cannot wait to see my Mum, Dad, Des Brenda, Vicky, Helen, Joey, Tanz and all you other wonderfully special people back in the UK, but this book has really challenged me and reminded me of a quote I read long ago ‘Wherever you are, be all there’. So easy to say but so hard to do. Voskamp rightly quotes that ‘Time is a relentless river. It rages on, a respector of no one. And this, this is the only way to slow time: When I fully enter time’s swift current, enter into the current moment with the weight of all my attention. I slow the torrent with the weight of me all here’. Her challenge is to live slow, to take note of each moment and enter fully into it, giving thanks to God for each small blessing along the way.

It has been a real eye opener as I have sought to find beauty and joy each day, even when things are busy and times are sometimes tough. Like last week Thursday when little Laura came to play ( I babysit her on Thursdays); it was such a pleasure to feed the fish with her in the rain and to share her joy as she proclaimed “Miss Kerry, look at the purple things in the water!”. Beautiful purple flowers growing from the ugly green lilies on the pond; something which I may not have usually taken any notice of!

And yesterday when I took the primaries swimming (and it rained again!); how wonderful to watch the girls laugh and play and sing at the top of their lungs!

 Moments which pass by so quick and the day is gone, I now realise these moments need ‘the weight of all my attention’ if they’re to be truly enjoyed and treasured.

Now I think of it, there are lots of great things to report from the last month. One of the most memorable being our visit in half term to see Jons brother (Rob) at Kaloko where he has been living and working for the past 3 months. It was another African adventure as we made our way there on public transport; a journey which should have taken 3 hours but unsurprisingly took 8 as we waited for buses to fill up and cars to be fixed; never a dull moment! It was sooo great to be able to picture where Rob has been living and meet the people who have been a part of his journey here in Zambia. His living and working conditions are certainly not what we are used to here at Amano; Kaloko is a much more rural/village setting with more basic living conditions. 

But we loved every minute of it. His friends were a joy to spend time with as we ate, sang and played games together. We also had the privilege of hearing Rob preach at church on the Sunday. It was quite sad to say goodbye to this special place and it was only last weekend that Rob finished his time at Kaloko and heads for Zim and then back to England.

This weekend, Jon and I took a few of the girls to see a local fireworks display. The fireworks were a lot lot better than we had been expecting and we had front row seats; with health and safety standards at a minimum we found ourselves VERY close to the display. It was a great night and lovely to do something different with the girls J

I want to finish this update with one last quote from Voskamp; ‘The brave [are those] who focus on all things good and all things beautiful and all things true, even in the small, who give thanks for it and discover joy even in the here and now, they are the change agents who bring fullest Light... When we lay the soil of our hard lives open to the rain of grace and let joy penetrate our cracked and dry places, let joy soak into our broken skin and deep crevices, life grows’. What an oasis in thought when so often we’re surrounded with negativity.