ecole l'ocean

today was ella's first day of french preschool. the teachers speak french and the children speak french...everything is in french (days of the week, months of the year, colors, etc.) so this is a new experience. we had been to visit a couple of times and she was excited to start. we prayed together the whole way there. i told ella that her name meant "light" and that is what she was going to be in her classroom. she said, "it is dark?" we talked about how people who don't know the Lord are in darkness, but those who know him are in the light, and so it is us who in the light who have to shine his love. she like that.

i think we (me and ella) were both a little nervous upon arrival. i took her to her classroom and when i gave her a hug she clung to me. one of the teachers in a class next door spoke english and we had met her before so she took ella and helped her get adjusted to the class. as i drove home i prayed and prayed. i prayed for her all morning. i kept thinking,"what the heck am i doing? i am in a foreign country. something can happen to her. what kind of mother am i?" bad, bad thoughts. i had to cling to what i knew was true. the Lord is her protector, we have a peace about her being in school, she is ready to learn french, and she will have fun. i picked her up a little early because i was afraid she might have been crying all morning. i was pleasantly surprised to see her playing with another little girl...i have no idea what they could have been talking about. i asked her what her favorite part about school was and she told me "coloring and when you come to pick me up." she does want to go back, but not tomorrow. maybe in a few days. i think we will start out with twice a week and then possibly work up to three. i am so proud of her. she is so brave. way to go ella!

lunch duty.

the kids and i took our usual thursday afternoon outing to mcd's. for those two hours we are back in america. well, today when we pulled into the gate, this is what i found...pay close attention to the tall man shooting the basketball.



yes, that is right. it is scott. there are two funny things about this picture. one is that he always complains about lunch duty. he hates it. he was actually grumbling baout it this morning right before he walked out the door. so, this is how i find him at lunch duty. looks like fun to me. two is that he totally took this kid out in whatever game they were playing. i forget what the game is called but you know it...where the person behind you tries to make it before you do...i think it is called knock out. not only does scott get some kid out and win the game, but then he proceeds to tell another kid that was getting first in line (named sam) to give him the ball back because he (as in scott) was now actually first. so , scott proceeds to go first and the kid behind him makes the basket and gets him out. ha! it was quite a sight to see. i am so glad i had my camera in the car.




notice that scott's ball will not go in and the kid in the shooting stance makes it and now poor scott is out of the game. oh, and scott had no idea i was witnessing any of this. he will find out when he checks our blog.

peeping batman

this is what was peering through our back door one morning at 7:30. i was sitting at the kitchen table eating breakfast (still in my pj's) when batman came looking for ella. i have to add that ella is scared of ezra when he has the mask on. he has to take it off and say, "ella, it is just me, ezra."

"so, what would you say you do here?"

any of you remember this quote? it is from the great movie office space. i thought you may be wondering what it is that we do here in morocco. here are a few highlights. scott obviously teaches all week. he is teaching 8th grade science and 10th grade ancient civilizations. his classes are off to a great start. i am sure he will share some stories with you later. i am at home with the kids. i am pretty much homeschooling ella, and she will also be starting a french preschool next week (hopefully). we have a lot of fun reading, singing, dancing, making art work, and playing. scott and i are high school youth leaders. we have loved getting to hang out with them on tuesday nights. they are a really great group of kids. i meet with american moms on wednesday mornings for tea and coffee and on wednesday afternoons i will be a part of a conversation group for arabic speaking moms at the school who want to improve their english. i am taking french lessons on tuesday and thurday afternoons when scott gets home from work. we have a playgroup once a week and try to go to mcdonalds once a week so the kids can play in the playland and so we can get some "american" food. we go to the beach when scott isn't working and the weather is nice. he has the surfing bug so we are usually at the beach on saturdays. since entertainment in minimal (the movie theater only has movies in arabic) we have become big fans of having movie night at our apartment with a projector (and yummy popcorn made by linda) so it feels like we are at the real movies. we are also big fans of the wii. it feels like we are usually busy so the time is flying by. here are some recent pics.

b and daddy at the beach


ella at the beach



sweet b playing in the morning


the knight rescuing the princess (aka ella and ezra)

marrakech

we spent this past weekend in marrakech. we stayed in an old hunting lodge about an hour outside of the city. we were able to see a different side of morocco as we drove for an hour up the atlas mountains. i will admit that i was a little (okay, more than a little) freaked out on the way up the mountain. you have to imagine the four of us in a tiny electric blue european car trailing up a steep mountain, competing with oncoming traffic and the occasional donkey for space on the narrow road. as i was about to vomit from the twisting of the road and looking over the edge only to imagine us driving right off, scott kept reminding me that it was actually safer being in such a small car. all i could say was, "stop talking!", "look at the road!" slow down!" i am sure you get the picture. we finally arrived at the lodge and it was great spending time together as a family and hanging out with other teachers at the school. we did some shopping and scott got a rock that he is very proud of. now, it is not just any rock. he swears it will be worth a lot in the states. that is still up for debate. we will post a pic of this rock later. on our way home to casa we stopped into marrakech to do some shopping at the market. i got a basket for my produce shopping and scott got a djembe so we were both happy. ella was happy because she got to see snakes.

snake charmer


the market



the four of us


scott and b