Graduation Party 2020

The day after Karis' birthday, the country was put on a mandatory 72-hour lockdown, and Kylie's graduation party was 6 days away. After 72-hours, I guess the government decided that was enough for a little while, because after that, there wasn't another lockdown for six whole days!

So, on May 28, 2020, we celebrated Kylie.

 We printed some of her artwork and hung it on the wall, and after the party, people started asking if they could buy some of it, so she actually made quite a few sales that night and took orders for future projects.

My one snafu was the cake/cakes.  I knew which cake in town Kylie liked best, and I THOUGHT I knew where it was made, but I should have known better when I had to explain a L.O.N.G. time to get what I thought was the right one (and of course, they spelled "congratulations" wrong).

I called someone who had ordered it before and asked where to get the cake (which is what I should have done in the first place because cakes aren't cheap!), and she told me.

So, now I had two cakes on order for the party, which I guess wasn't too bad, since 34 people ended up coming.

This is the right one!

So many of our friends brought food, and Kylie and I made dishes, too.  It was quite a nice spread!

Look at the beautiful fruit tray one of our friends made!  Thanks, Jessica!

Doug welcomed everyone and said the blessing.

Then, after eating, Doug shared some memories of Kylie and read scripture verses over her.

This shoe picture is one you rarely see in America, so I always think of you and strange things you might want to see.  I also see someone getting a drink out of the bathtub we set on the porch, which ended up being quite a source of entertainment for all the kids who attended.

One of Kylie's dear friends was able to make it. She helped steer Kylie into graphic design, tutored her in French, and also danced ballet with her. 

And finally, at the end, we got a picture together.

Congratulations, Kylie!

Not Your Average Graduation Photos

On May 18, 2020, Kylie drove around town with a new girl we were introduced to who said she would be glad to take Kylie's graduation pictures. We are thankful for Ashley Eleazar and her photography skills and for the colorful and unique city backdrop that provided us with some beautiful pictures.

They started out at the city center where colorful crafts are sold and then moved to places less colorful but just as unique.

What a blessing she could be en pointe two years after her injury (and before her surgery in America)

May 18, 2020

Kylie, you are a beautiful person, and I love seeing how He is moving in your life. 

Happy graduation a year late :)

One Special Thursday...an End and a Beginning

Thursdays are special for us. 

It's the last day of the week, and our tradition is to have pizza and a movie.

It started a long time ago with nachos and popcorn on Fridays in America, 

but in Africa, we started making homemade pizza every Friday 

because it was hard to get cheddar cheese and chips were near-impossible to find.

Now we are back to pizza, 

and even though many in the family would prefer homemade pizza, 

buying it is SO much easier, 

and Thursday nights are pretty busy already with ballet, gymnastics, and soccer.

On May 7, 2020, I drove to pick up pizza for the first time since March 12th, 

and it was clear that they were not taking dine-in customers.

Can you tell what gave it away?

This particular Thursday we were celebrating something bigger!

Earlier that day, we had all joined together in the kitchen as Kylie turned in her last assignment for her senior year.

With sketchy internet delaying the turn-in and "Pomp and Circumstance" playing on my phone, we celebrated our first graduate in the Taylor household.

Kylie, when this posts, you will have almost completed your freshman year of college.

We are so proud of who you are, your accomplishments, 

and how you have allowed God to work in your life.

We love and miss you!

May 7, 2020

Time to do "Stuff

The weather warmed up in May, and it seemed that everyone wanted to be outside.

We celebrated in the park the graduation of two girls we have had to pleasure of watching grow up.

There was cultural dancing

And reuniting with friends I hadn't seen in a while.

Caleb entertained some little ones.

And the girls were happy to be outside with people.

I had an incident with our outside water tap, and got some second degree burns on my toes and leg.

But that didn't hold me back from visiting some friends who flew to Europe to see me!

This sweet lady planned the whole thing as a way to encourage me and love on me.

We had a great time!

 May 14, 2019

We saw a church that has been being built since 1882.  It's still not finished!

Its projected completion date is 2026, but it's still pretty amazing to see what has been done so far.

 May 16, 2019

Every part of the church was designed with meaning and purpose, and as you walk around the outside and stand in the inside, everything you see tells a story.

This is a panoramic view of the inside, and you can see that even the colors of the glass which follow Jesus' birth from a spring evening (blues) to the intensity of his death on a cross (reds) make this building an incredible example of architecture.

Another exciting place for me was standing in the harbor where Edmund Dantes, "The Count of Monte Cristo" would have sailed.  Looking out to sea, I could also catch a glimpse of the Chateau d'If (the small tiny island in the middle) where his fictional prison would have been.

Of course, I was inspired to read the book again, and I started that very night.  It took me all summer to finish.  I'd forgotten how long and in-depth the reading was, but it was so good!

 May 17, 2019

I had never studied much about the tower in Pisa, and I think I imagined it so much larger.

But my favorite part about that location wasn't the leaning tower at all, it was the magnificent church and dome structure built beside it.  It was Sunday, so we didn't get to go inside because there was a service, but the outside was pretty awe-inspiring.

 May 19, 2019

Another favorite was seeing Michelangelo's statue of David.  I wouldn't have thought that a statue would be that "awesome" for me, but I was wrong.  I was really in awe over the sculptor's workmanship and just learning the story of how he created it and under what circumstances.

What a special trip for me, and I was blessed to spend it with such dear ladies who loved on me, laughed with me, and also gave me time to rest, study and have some rejuvenation time.

Graduation...sort of

Two days before Ramadan, Keira graduated from pre-K.  

 I had been given a long note (which turned out to be not accurate) in the local language, and I had spent about an hour translating what I could before I asked a couple of people for some help interpreting it. 

Crazy enough, both people I asked to help me interpret the letter said it was not written well, and they couldn’t quite understand what was being said most of the time either, so I felt better.

I finally understood (after asking the school) that I was supposed to bring her to the school at 3 o’clock dressed in black, and they would bus her to the graduation site (which is the campus where she will attend 1^st grade in the fall).

I was a little nervous when I drove up to drop her off because there were girls in frilly yellow and pink dresses, and I could have sworn I heard her say that Keira should be dressed in black from head to toe.

I left and hoped it would all work out. 

The other thing I understood was that only parents could come because they didn’t have enough chairs for siblings and other relatives.  However, I had asked ahead of time if we could bring our language helper to help us understand what was going on, and they said that was fine.

Well...since rules (especially when driving) seem to be ignored in this country, no one really paid attention to the note.  There were kids running everywhere. Grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc.  But my three kids sat at home and missed their little sister’s graduation.

Don’t read that wrong.  I’m not mad.  In fact, I’m pretty sure they were okay with missing it.

Graduation was on an outdoor recreation area of the school where Keira will attend school next year.  Rain sprinkled and stopped, sprinkled and stopped, but the show went on.

It was very orderly before it all began.

 Group A through Group E were all led in one by one.  Some performed.  Some didn’t.  They were all dressed differently, and I was actually shocked that so many kids went to Keira’s school. 

Still no Keira.

Parents and kids were told repeatedly to sit down, but no one did.  I couldn’t see anything that was going on.  Our language helper said, “This is very normal.  No one listens.  They do what they want.”

This picture was taken during one of the performances!

Finally Group F came in, and they were in red robes.  I was told Keira would be in a gold robe, so I wasn’t looking for her, but I started seeing kids in her class...

But, no Keira.

Oh!  Wait!  There she is.   

Her whole class was half-way down the aisle, and here she came running.  She had fallen coming down the steps out of the school, so she had fallen behind.  Literally.

Her class went to the front, apparently the only group graduating, and they performed a song for the parents.  It was the only thing that was done in English the whole night.  The song was a “thank you” song to parents, sung to a recording, and I’m pretty sure many of the parents didn’t understand that they were being thanked, but thankfully, I did.

I tried to video it, but there were too many people standing, so I really didn’t get anything.  I bought the DVD of the graduation from the school, but they only included the recorded version, not the kids’ voices, and the words weren’t dubbed in time with the kids’ mouths...

What we often say here is, “What can you do?”

The teachers quickly took off the kids’ robes after graduation so they wouldn’t get cake on them, but I went and asked one of the teachers if I could have one robe to photograph Keira in.

I took Keira to the back, away from the cake and punch crowd, but as Doug and I were taking pictures with her, 

 the principal of her future school said, “I want this one,” and pointed to Keira. 

All of a sudden, a professional photographer was posing Keira in front of the school’s logo, 

 

taking her inside the school in front of another logo, and then to the library books and taking more photos.

Yes, THAT is their library.

I have no doubt she will be on some pamphlet advertising for the school next year.

Keira wasn’t always thrilled, but she’s used to this sort of thing, so she endured until we could get her back to where the refreshments were.  

Cake and candy were in the front, but juice and baklava were in the back!

Keira's favorite teacher.

With a busy May half-way over, we were definitely feeling ready for summer.

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