That time of year again . . .

. . . when the leaves start changing color, the days get shorter and the kids head back to school. Well, actually for me, the first two things don't change when you live this near the equator, but the kids are headed back to school in about 10 days. I think most of the kids are getting excited and the parents even more so. Here on the ship, school is not just a place to learn, it is also a way to get out of the cabin, spend time with your friends without parents being around and be challenged with new things. There are no parks to play in here, no sports to play after school, not too many extra clubs or groups - which can be hard for the kids. But on the other hand, they are in a country that few people from their home countries will ever visit and living on a ship with 350 other people from all over the world. Pretty amazing.
Getting ready for the school year has kept me pretty busy the past two weeks and I think things will continue to be a bit hectic for the next month or so while we are all figuring things out. Even with all the work, I am excited for the kids to come back on the 21st. Officially, I am the nursery teacher and a woman from England, Rachel Page, is the preschool teacher, but because we are sharing a classroom space, we decided that we will work together with all the kids. It has been really good having Rachel here finally. We had met briefly in England before the Africa Mercy left Newcastle and she arrived in Liberia about two weeks ago. I think we are a great match together - she has some amazing experience with preschool teaching in London and with traveling and is much more organized than myself, which will be great to help me stay in line :) The roster right now is at 15 kids for nursery and preschool (ages 1-4) which is going to be a big group, but between myself, Rachel and one mom who is going to be helping, I think it will go OK. Rachel and I will have 9 preschoolers for about 2 hours before the 6 nursery kids come for the last hour and a half. The young ones can be a little squirrely sometimes, but they are all really good kids, so it should not be too bad :)
Please keep the school, teachers and students in your prayers the next few weeks as we try to get everything going for the first time here on this ship.