Settling in at Mirembe

The touring part of tour has come to an end and though we are a bit sad that the concerts are over, the host families are over, the bus rides are over, the new cities are over, and the amazingly generous churches are over, we are happy and relieved to be together and have a rest from the craziness that was so much a part of tour life. We have settled in to our life here at Mirembe House in North Carolina for the next 6 weeks or so. It's good to be back, nestled in the woods, next to the lake, at a place all our own. Here the children can run around and play outside or inside and we can just be a family. What a blessing this place is. This past week was camp, meaning the children did nothing but play. They thoroughly enjoyed themselves in the warm sunshiny NC weather.
One of the highlights of this past week was our complimentary trip to the Paul Mitchell Salon training center, for free haircuts and manicures. Even the skeptical boys ended up having a good time. After all the pampering was over, the people at the salon turned on music and the whole staff had a giant dance party with all of us. How many can say that have had a dance party at the salon?! Haha. Then they all played a big soccer game in the field next the salon. Good times.

Being at Mirembe House also means we get to do all our own cooking which is fabulous. I have learned many things and aquired many random skills while on tour, one of which is grocery shopping and cooking for approx 30 people :) This past week I had to make beef stew for everyone and I was terrified, because I have no idea how to make beef stew. Laura, my faithful sidekick and I looked up a recipe online and started chopping. Five hours later we had two giant bubbling pots of delicious beef stew and a pumpkin cake for Laura's birthday. It turned out so good they came back for thirds! Yes! I was excited.

This week we started back into school and rehearsals to prepare for our Christmas program with the Cincinatti Symphony Orchestra. I asked a few of the boys if they were excited to go back to school and rehearsals or if they still wanted to play all day and they excitedly said school and rehearsals...because they love to learn. Bless the teacher's heart :)