Hi there. I’ve got some time while I wait for the first load of sand to come, to tell you a little about graduation.
Monday afternoon the cooking began for the Tuesday evening party. Of course there were lots of problems. Some of the cooks backed out on us, the chickens and rice the students were to contribute didn’t come, the goat was too small, etc. But we got things worked out. I’ve never been involved in cooking a meal like this. Everything was done over the open fire and in the hot sun. Very educational, and I sure appreciate the cooks.
Our menu was potato leaf over rice, goat and chicken shish-kabobs, fried potatoes, squeeze oranges, and ginger beer. It really turned out nice.
After dinner, my students did their dramatization of a Bible story. They were nervous, and I was so nervous for them. It went so well that the leaders asked that they do it during the graduation ceremony.
Graduation was Thursday and the church was packed. Long service, but nobody seemed to mind. From there we went to the building site for the “cornerstone laying” ceremony. Of course all the VIP’s were here, including the K’s and L, and so there was lots of commotion. But, it was nice.
The next day students started leaving. That can be hectic. And we were also busy with rice harvest. Thankfully some of them agreed to stay and help. So Perry has been busy hauling the rice into the school. Can’t leave it in the field because it will be stolen. So today he hauled a few loads, and then I took the workers to do some Christmas shopping. As soon as I returned, Perry headed out to bring in the rest of the rice. He barely finished when the truck with 250 bags of cement arrived. Perry had a crew waiting to unload them. Dirty, sweaty work.
As soon as they were done they decided to go bring a load or two of sand. Perry had contracted people to dig the sand and pile it up and rented a dump truck to do two days of hauling. So I decided to make Christmas cookies and write a letter, while I waited for him to come eat supper, and read our mail. The truck had also brought mail for us.
Break
What a night. It is now almost 9 pm. While I was thinking about what next to write to you, a bicycle arrived with a message from Perry. The truck was stuck, and he needed me to come with our truck and a chain so we could pull it out. So I sent a message to A to come and watch the kids.
When I got there, it only took a few minutes to pull the truck out. That was because they hadn’t even loaded it yet. Perry asked me to stay while they loaded it. Good thing. It got stuck again. Well, we tried to pull it out, but no use. They had to dump some of the load; and we were able to pull it out. I started to drive back home with some of the workers, and the truck behind; when we noticed the truck wasn’t behind us anymore. We waited for a time; and then went back. The truck was stuck again. One more time.
So, when we finally got home and dumped the sand it was 11:30 pm. What a night! The whole event reminded me of some of the late harvesting nights on the farm. Then he ate and we read the mail, well worth the wait.
Now it is a day later, and I am still writing this letter. The next day the truck got stuck again, and they only hauled one load that morning. But it got better after that and they worked a couple of very long days. In total, they hauled 25 loads of sand, which will be enough for the building project and some left over.
Glad that is done so we can focus on Christmas and celebrating Jesus’ birth
Merry Christmas and a happy new year
Nancy
How well do you handle interruption? How important is it to wait and share things like mail together?