Here's a quick rundown of the weekend's festivities (with lots of photos of course!)...

Friday morning at FHS we had the Spring version of a Harvest Festival. We played the marshmallow game, bobbed for apples, a balloon popping relay, and more!

Linda also had them all make footprints. She wanted these for herself to take back to America. :)

This weekend also celebrates Shihepo's 10th birthday. His mom brought a cake which amazingly served all the morning and afternoon children. I know we're not supposed to have favorites, but most of us with AIM consider Shihepo one of our favorites. He is just a bright light that shines every single day.

I bought him some new shoes for soccer. The kids we play with typically either play barefoot, in their school shoes, or in some very impractical or pieced together type of shoe. Shihepo had been playing in his school shoes. School shoes here don't last long as children often walk very far to school. Certainly adding soccer playing to their job description will run them down even faster.

Friday was also Linda's last full day at the center. She heads back to the States November 15th. She will be missed dearly by everyone who knows her. Linda has brought so much fun and excitement to Namibia. Though some would call her a bit crazy, Linda would have it no other way. She's the first to admit that she's crazy, and crazy about kids and Jesus! Namibia will be a bit less colorful after she leaves, but hopefully all that she's taught will be remembered by the teachers at staff at FHS so they can continue her work long after she's gone. And hopefully by saying all these great things about her, she won't kill me for posting this photo of her in a dress! :) Ouma and the others arranged for this dress to be made for her. What an honor!

Saturday morning we met our friends for another game of soccer. We started with just a few, but by the end there were around 20 kids. Summer is nearly upon us and the days are certainly getting a lot hotter a lot more quickly these days. We didn't last as long as last time, but we had a great time nonetheless!

Some of the students from the Namibian Evangelical Theological Seminary (NETS) stopped by to kick around while they were in the area. They were so much fun and the kids enjoyed the extra big players on their team. I love the little ones like the guy in the right shirt who doesn't notice his own size (or the size of his opponents) and plays just as hard as everyone else on the field!

There's a "basketball goal" I hadn't noticed before just behind the soccer field.

After playing soccer two weeks ago, I realized that while soccer is a great and positive way for the kids to expend their energy, they may not have a lot of food to eat at home to fill themselves back up. I brought along peanut butter sandwiches and juice this time. I think they really enjoyed it.

Saturday afternoon, Candace and Heather invited the older remedial class to our house for cookie baking, movie watching, and dinner. This was totally their thing and I don't want to steal their thunder, but I wanted to mention it because it was a huge success and the kids had a great time!

The boys found and enjoyed the leftover birthday hats! :)

Even Sam and Frodo joined in on the fun. Well, Frodo was a bit timid and Sam was happy as long as he didn't have to wear that silly hat again.

After the cookie baking they watched "Step Up". If there is one commonality between all the tribes in Namibia... they all can dance! Linda had suggested that they watch this movie together. She even took two of the boys to see "Step Up 3" in the theaters a couple weeks ago.

It was a great weekend and I look forward to having a few more like this before my time here comes to an end. I'm thankful for this opportunity to be able to share life together with these precious kids!