School!!!

Once again..... I can't believe that I have gone so long without posting! It helped that Dwight FINALLY did one, but he has quite a few before he catches up with me. :-)

So.... we stayed at Patti Sue's with the kids through last Friday. I think we slept for about 10 hours that night at home, and didn't do ANYTHING on Saturday! Here's a picture of Dwight and Jessica doing the dance mat. We both did it, and it was hilarious. I was just more fortunate to catch a picture of him....

Before that...We headed to Quito last Monday night to pick up 2 of our new teachers, Dallas & Alison. Last week was spent getting them set up in their new (unfurnished) house! We went all over Shell picking up furniture and household items, and their new place looks great! Melissa came in on Friday with Patti Sue, and it was so good to see her again. She taught the oldest kids (4th-6th) last year, and this year she's teaching kindergarten.

Monday and Tuesday of this week were spent at the William's house for a teacher/school inservice. Katie is acting as the director/principal for our school, and it is such a gift for all of us to have her here! Chet and Katie Williams are missionaries with YouthWorld, and they just moved here from Quito this past summer. She is a certified teacher, so she is helping Patti Sue organize and get the orphanage's school to be certified.

Wednesday was the official first day of school, and we started off with a big celebration in the morning! I have to get pics from someone else, and then I'll post them. ~ Dwight and I are teaching P.E., but I'm letting him take the lead. :-) For these 2 days, he's had to keep the kids right here at the orphanage, so space is VERY limited. The teachers are doing evaluations on the kids one at a time, so we have to keep them here. He's done an awesome job with them so far! We're really trying to introduce team work and leadership skills, because most of these kids have never truly worked as a team or been a part of an organized group activity. Here are a couple of fun pics from the relays yesterday.

Dwight and Javier.... Javier often helps Dwight work at the site, and it's been so neat to see them together. Javier would ask me multiple times a day when Dwight is coming to pick him up to go to work. :-)
Jenifer & Yulisa... Chantal, I thought you'd like this one. :-)I LOVE this one! Rosa and Abigail could not stop giggling!Marcia & Thalia ....Abigail & Rosa ... working together!
On another note....we head to Quito tomorrow to pick up my mom, Aunt Cindy and best friend Emily. I don't have words for how INCREDIBLY, UNIMAGINABLY EXCITED I am!!!!!! lol....