September update

 This is my Monday, Wednesday, Friday speaking class.

From the left we have June, Joseph, myself, Jessica and Rebecca.

I teach this class from 3:30 to 5:00 in the afternoons. 

I have an additional class with 2 students in the evenings from 6:30 to 7:30.  

I also have another Tuesday, Thursday class that I'm teaching for free as a trade for my visa letter.

As much as I do enjoy these classes, I hope to have enough preschool students to be able to only teach one speaking class in the future.  

But as the preschool is still small I need to teach these classes in order to have enough income to continue.

 This September we had our first birthday party. 

Suri turned 2 years old.  

Suri enjoys school, but has been unable to attend because she's been sick all month.

She has been having fevers off and on and the family is not sure why.

They have drawn blood and are checking to see what that may tell them.

Please pray that Suri will be well soon and able to return to school.

 As Myanmar is such a hot country the children chose to have ice cream for the birthday instead of cake.

Ice cream also melts faster here, so it was a pretty big mess to clean up by the time all the kids finished.

Maybe next time I'll have all the kids take off their shirts first...

 We found a building block train set at one of the supermarkets here.  It was the best $8 purchase.  The boys love it and play with it every day when they arrive to school.  We may have to purchase another set as the school grows.  Especially if we continue our 2 girls to 5 boys ratio.  School activities and play are a lot different having so many boys.  Thankfully both the younger girls do well with a bit rougher play with the boys.

 Jonathan is a bit quieter than the other boys and plays well with the younger girls.  

They call him, "Ko Ko Kyi Jonathan"...Big brother Jonathan, in Myanmar.

 Here are three of my wilder boys.  Nate, Fred and Shane.

They are good boys, just very active.  Especially Fred.  

They make school very exciting and lively and they keep me on my toes.  

I'm getting pretty quick and witty with how to direct these boys in the Myanmar language.

Often I can't afford to say it in English first and have them not understand...especially when they are bouncing around the classroom or playing Power Rangers...etc....

 Here we are learning about the sounds on the farm.

The kids' favorites are the donkey by the wagon says, "Hee hee haw," and the turkey in the straw says, "Gobble gobble gobble."

The boys do enjoy some quieter activities like puzzles.

But these activities only occupy them for a short time and then they are off to their other exciting school adventures.

Sometimes I'm amazed at how actively these boys can play considering the heat of the upstairs classroom.  They will be dripping sweat and so we have started a little rest time after they play hard.  They lie still for about 5 minutes before they can play again.  

Pray that things will work out to be able to rent the attached garage for our house.  Presently it is a storage for the landlord's things.  But for an additional $50 or so a month, we may be able to rent the garage next year and it would work well as a larger downstairs classroom next year.

 There is the possibility that the landlord will decide not to rent the house next year, then we will be house hunting, house fixing and moving again...

Please also pray for future school building plans.  I would love to build a school building on one of the properties that I purchased 3 years ago and a house on the other.  These properties are in Taung Gyi.  It is a much cooler area in Myanmar and the area I would like to end up living in the future.

Thanks again to all of you for your prayers and support!  

Without you this school would not be possible!