Hillman Update

Good news from Minnesota (no, that's not a typo)--we have finally rented our house! Hopefully this will bring some money into the bank as well as some peace of mind.

Over here...we are starting the end of term break, school-wise. The kids are off until the 19th of April and I'm wondering a bit what to do with them! We will be swimming at the school a lot, and we have met a family with ponies and the kids are keen to try riding a bit. We had parent conferences with each teacher and got good feedback that they are making the adjustment nicely. Everything that's done at school is in "units of inquiry" which are kind of like integrated units, which the kids really like. Cameron has to find a mentor and do a presentation at the end of the year on a topic of land use. He already has some good ideas and is looking forward to working on a presentation.

We will be spending Easter on the coast at a town called Pangani. We really haven't been out of the Arusha/Moshi area and the kids were not interested in safari, but wanted to see the ocean and swim. We'll have some nice pics to post and we're looking forward to a family adventure.

I hate to mention it in case I jinx things--but we are hoping to (finally) have our residence permits this week. The church office sent a man down to Dar es Salaam to chase down the paperwork and to file the papers for the tax-free status on our vehicles. If it all worked out, that could mean cars and papers all in one week--dare we hope? We are learning to steel ourselves and hold everything lightly until it actually happens!

Mark will be officially (well, unofficially since he doesn't have a work permit) working with a retired headmaster who will be acting as a consultant for the next 3 months. He has set up an office in our workshop here at the house and will begin the enormous process of working with the architects and contractors on the building, writing curriculum, developing policies and operations, and hiring staff. He is looking forward to focusing more on his work, which means that we have enough of our personal lives settled for him to do this. Keep him in your prayers as his tasks are monumental!

That's it for now...