Mini-Reunion

The three siblings and our families - Don't worry, Mom, we got along great!

The reason for my recent silence has been a lack of it on this side of the world! We were just privileged to have my brother Brad, his wife Nancy, and their three children - Ben, Will and Sophie, here in Morocco for ten days. Thankfully we were able to get Mom's ticket to overlap with them for two days so they could see each other. We sadly said goodbye to Mom and then Brad & family split their time between Ron's home and ours. On the weekend, we all fit in a trip to the Sahara.

It was a wonderful time of catching up with each other and the fun of just being together. Friesens have a way of making every single minute precious because we never know when we will see each other again! It was encouraging to hear updates on the country in which they work and to hear of Brad's new solar, wind & hydro business which he just started. His designs are already in demand in other countries too and we are rather proud of him! Nancy has had the chance to tutor the Vice President of the country in English, teach preschool, and keep up with their three kids who all go to an American school there stared by Laura Bush and attended by kids from all over the world. There is endless opportunity for work along with the hope that the country will someday become stable again if corruption goes down and development goes up.

Ben, Will and Sophie have all grown so much. Sophie fits right in with the plethora of girls we have here already and was like a big sister to our two. Ben and Will introduced a whole new meaning to the concept of playing with the doll house. Instead of sweet, quiet bedtimes and meals of beautifully-clad dolls, the home instantly became the center for the Secret Service complete with murder investigations, double agents, and dolls jumping off the roof. In two days flat, they had the girls playing rather un-Mennonite games and had all of us quoting from "Nacho Libre" even though we've never seen it! Ah, yes, I guess I have to admit there are just a few differences between boys and girls!

Blind School

Mom, the girls and I joined some of Ron's visiting friends as they did activities at a blind school in Meknes. Field trips are my favorite part of home schooling!

Jumping rope - the blind can hear this type of jump rope coming and can control it and so are very successful.
Mom teaching a girl to jump rope. They got up to five times together!
This ball is attached to this boy's waist so he can always find it again after kicking or hitting it.
You can't see it, but on the other side of this balloon is a bell which helps the students know where the balloon is to play with it. They also had balls with bells inside and it was fun to hold the hands of a young boy shaking with excitement at the thought of catching it!

Later the girls had lots of questions for me. How did the kids get blind? Where are their mommies and daddies? Where are their toys (we saw some of the dorm rooms - immaculate with no personal items visible)? How do they read? How do they see? For the last one, I reminded them that when they met one girl, she felt all the way up their arms, over their faces and through their hair. "That's how they see" I told them. They mulled over that one for a while.

Basketball Camp

Last week Gerald went on a three-day basketball camp a few hours away with my brother Ron and some friends. Here is Mr. Defense (called "The Glove" by buddies in Topeka) teaching the kids a thing or two. Gerald says the bad thing about this picture is that no one is doing what he is doing!
Gerald with his translator talking to the kids. There were 100 kids who came in rotation.
Fromage! (cheese!)

Gerald and a new buddy.
Goodbye!