what's going on these days

I thought I would send out a quick note to let you know what we have been up to lately. We had a busy three weeks coming back from break. School fees were due and Christi has been swamped with work. Thankfully our African friend Christine has been able to watch Mili so Christi can get some things done. We just ended the 2nd quarter on Jan. 25. This meant I had a busy time of teaching, assessing and report cards. We didn't know until Wednesday, but Monday was a public holiday. It is Heroes Day. Every year the country nominates a new hero and celebrates all the past heroes. So we ended up having no school that day. A lot of teachers went out of town. We had contemplated doing the same so I scrambled to get lesson plans, report cards, and curriculum guides finished before the weekend started. We ended up staying home and having a relaxing time. The weather has been very hot so on Saturday I took Mili swimming. On Sunday we went to church and afterward went over to a friends house for a bbq and watched the Australian Open. We were the only Americans and everyone else was British so we rooted for Andy Murray just to be safe. On Monday we went to a birthday party for the sibling of one of my students and had lunch with a married couple that teaches at our school. It felt good to have some down time, but enough going on that we didn't get bored. I should be getting two new students this month which should add some excitement in the classroom. Things are still going really well with teaching and the kids are really making good progress. I'm having a good time. Mili is so much fun these days. She is saying all kinds of words and looking more and more like a little girl and not a baby anymore. If you haven't checked out our other blog you can see a lot more pictures of Mili- www.whippsworld@blogspot.com. We love the comfortable evenings and Mili loves running around outside. We have been outside each evening with our night guard Emanuel. He is working really hard to learn English and I have been taking Kinyarwanda (the local language) lessons, so we have been teaching each other. He and Mili chase each other around. She wasn't very comfortable with Africans when we first arrived. They are fascinated by her and have a tendency to surround her. This sort of freaks her out and she was scared at first. She is now comfortable and loves the people. She can say “what's up” in Kinyarwanda which the locals go nuts over. We are looking forward to my parents coming in early March. This is very exciting for us and it should be for them too. My Ugandan refugee friend ended up having a family emergency and left to go back. He was hiding in the city when I talked to him last, but I haven't been able to get a hold of him since. We are praying he is okay and safe. If you ever think of questions that go unanswered by our emails and blog, feel free to shoot us an email and we will try to answer them. We so appreciate hearing what is going on in the lives of our friends and families and miss you all very much. We have decided that we will only be here for one year. We will be coming home in mid June or early July. Thanks for all your emails, prayers and support.