Each new day
is a blank slate when it starts, with no huge plans being made right now, but
each day ends having been filled to the max with activity! For the most part
we’re slowly schooling in the morning and much of that has been math up till
now. Once the math is done for the day, we can get onto reading other
delightfully interesting things. Ryan, Jed and I are learning so much about
China and the Chinese people, and are loving it! Yesterday we also started to
work our way through the Calligraphy for Kids book that we found at the library,
and it was a lot of fun! We started with decorative looking patterns as we try
to master the use of the pen and the boys did so well. Ryan’s itching to get to
the writing, so he’ll be chuffed when we start learning to write in Italic
today – although it will be in pencil at first. Once we’ve mastered the style
of the letters, we then move on to the calligraphy pen. Its really fun!
Lunch time
every day is preceeded by an episode of MacGyver. The boys LOVE it! He’s such a
clever man and very inspiring. In the absence of the Lange boys, we’ll just
have to make do with MacGyver to teach us some great stunts and tricks (using
every day stuff) till we find some new friends!
The
afternoons start with a ‘quiet time’ after lunch during which those who need to
can have a nap. Oupa has a short ‘power nap’ each afternoon but Dieter also has
a longer nap most afternoons. Entertaining the little ones for a long period of
time (and keeping them quiet) is not an easy task, but I’ve eventually decided
that that is a good time to put on a DVD of some sort for them to watch. And
that works well – for now! Ryan and Jed don’t need to be entertained, they’re
old enough to read or play a game together or do something else quietly, which
is great! Once the nap session ends, the children spend the afternoon playing
out in the garden, or riding aroudn the yard, or something active usually
accompanied by much shreaking and laughter. They are really LOVING having a
yard! (Aimee has been the first one to get a ‘new’ bike, Ethan is cycling on a
tiny bike which has been loaned to us until we find one for him and Ryan and
Dieter use Oupa and Ouma’s bikes when they go for a ride. Aimee and Ethan ride
in the yard while Dieter and Ryan do much longer cycles around the
neighbourhood or to the nearby forest.)
After supper
in the evenings, we usually put the little ones to bed just after 7pm. Its then
that the TV comes on a we can watch the news, sometimes followed by a travel or
game show. Ryan and Jed really enjoy that slot of the evening. Two of our
favourites are ‘Noot vir Noot’, a musical game show which is really well put
together, and ‘Voetspoere’, a programme which journals the travels of a group
of men through Northern Africa – they get up to some really interesting stuff!
The highlight
of our day today was our Skype chat with the Langes in Cyprus. Oh, how we miss
them! We’d just been talking about them and things we’d learned from them
during our Bible reading together when the phone rang and Jacob reminded me of
the Skype date we’d made! I’d forgotten! It was WONDERFUL to see all of their
smiley faces (all except Joern who wasn’t home) and to hear their voices. Its
really hard not to want to be back there right now so we could visit with them
instead! Ryan actually said he’d far rather have played a game with them than
have to be stuck behind a computer screen making conversation! All the hugs and
kisses and catch-up on Lange News will keep our emotional tanks filled for
another little while.
PS: We have
another exciting moment planned for the day: Auntie Elsa (one of Ouma’s
sisters) is travelling a long way to come and visit us for a few days. She will
probably arrive after sunset after a loooooooong day on the road. It will be so
good to see her again, and for her to meet the little ones.
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