First dust storm of the year and other things....

We had our first dust storm of the year this past week and it was quite a show! A friend and I were in our car driving and we saw it coming....

 We tried to beat it home, but ended up driving in it....

The sky usually turns quite red...we waited in the car until it passed before we tried to get into the house. When we got in the house, it looked "smoky" from all the dust. The storm was over in about 10-15 minutes. Such a drastic change in such a short time!

Ever wonder what happens to those shoe boxes you fill up and send away? Well, these kids were SUPER happy to receive some! Samaritan's Purse came to CIMI school and distributed some boxes. The kids were SO excited...though they did not arrive in time for Christmas, they made it for Easter. 

Here are some pictures of the latest visit with a family from the village. Hassan was very proud of his garden (he had many Moringa trees planted but I forgot to take a picture!) and was also proud of his well that his son dug that allows him to water the garden.

This water is life to Hassan and his family. Not only can they use this water to water their garden, they use it to launder their clothes, water their animals, bathe...and to drink!!! I was shocked to see him get water from the well and directly drink it!! Yikes! I was very happy he did not offer any to me...I don't know if I could have drank it, but I know it would have been pretty rude to refuse it too!

Hassan's son that dug the well. Hassan saved enough money to buy a pump that pumps water up to his garden

On a totally different note, I thought I would add a picture of a couple of princesses! Jaelyn's 4th grade teacher does an amazing job at putting together a yearly "medieval fair" at the end of a study of the Middle Ages. These two beauties were manning the "Princess Academy" table together. There are only 4 more weeks of school left for our kids!! YAY!!!