Back to School!

We've officially begun the new school year!  Our summer break was short but amazing.  (Photos from our trip to Ol Pejeta are forthcoming).  The boys have started the school year strong, and let me say that collaborating with our friends, the Webbers, has made school extra exciting for all the kids this year, and for the mamas too!  Sharing the teaching load is always a good thing.

We started a new tradition: Back to School campfire!  Last week, while Eli had time off, he made the fire pit I've been asking for.  That man surpassed my expectations for a simple fire pit by creating this beauty in our yard:

He scrounged around the compound to find the needed materials, borrowed an axe from somebody, and got our boy in on the action!  Kai carried bricks, chopped wood, and had the time of his life.  I'm pretty sure he's gonna want an axe for Christmas this year :)

Someone took this video for me.  That boy is too cute!

So the fire pit was completed in a day and ready for campfires!  Having a campfire is such an American thing, as we've discovered.  Our African friends have been a bit confused by the concept of sitting around a fire for fun.  But alas, we are enjoying it thoroughly.  And we inaugurated our school year with a Back to School campfire on Sunday night.

The Webbers joined us for hot dogs (with homemade buns!) and s'mores using the last of our marshmallow supply.  It was quite a treat.

A guitar was busted out, we reminisced about our favorite camp songs, and good fun was had by all.

And then we started school!  Caleb is in Second Grade, Kai is in First Grade, and Asa is in Preschool.  They are growing so fast.

And here's the whole crew.  The Horns and Webbers make up the Chogoria Mission School, as Lauren has dubbed it.  These kids just love each other and are ecstatic to do school together.  And Lauren and I are so happy to be comrades in arms!  

I gotta say this, because it still humbles me and sometimes moves me to tears.  When we first moved here, Lauren told me that they've been praying for three years for another homeschooling family to come to Chogoria.  Three years!  And now we're here.  It is so humbling to know that we are a direct answer to prayer.  Part of the reason God brought us here was for this very thing: being friends, schoolmates, and comrades with the Webbers.  We are so thankful for this family!

 After a great day yesterday, today was another big day: Asa Bubba's first day of preschool!  I am teaching a class twice a week for four little munchkins and I'm just so excited about it.  I had the privilege of teaching a preschool class for both Caleb and Kai while we lived at Tenwek, and I really wanted to do this for Asa too.  There are four kids in the class - three Americans and one Kenyan - and it's such a great opportunity for these kiddos.

Just look at this precious son of ours!  I mighta shed a few tears at the thought of my baby going to preschool...

And oh how this boy loves his mama.  I'm the luckiest Mama in the world!

And here is our class!  Asa feels so special going to school, as well he should.  He's been wanting to do school for so long now.  Every day when I'm doing school with the other boys, he asks for something to do.  "I want an activity.  What's my activity?"  (Except he pronounces it "actibidy"...too cute...)  Well now he's got his own class and he's so happy.

This morning when we walked across the yard to the "gray house" where preschool happens, we heard the hornbills calling in our compound and Asa declared, "The hornbills are so excited for me to go to preschool!"  Oh.my.heart.

We thank God for such an amazing start to a new school year!