Mondays with Allee

Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end. Ecclesiastes 3:11 How is tomorrow June first?! KEMPS will close for a month long break at the end of this week and the excitement is definitely in the air.  The students started their final exams on Friday and will finish them today.  Then the teachers will begin busily grading exams, preparing homework packets, and finalizing end of term reports for each student in their class.  Most of this work is actually done during the school day while the students review their exams and hurriedly write corrections of the questions they missed so they can go outside and play with their friends.  The rainstorms we were getting nearly every day have suddenly stopped and the days are full of warm sunshine.  Even though we follow a yearlong school calendar which begins in January, with the final ...

From his abundance we have all received one gracious blessing after another. John 1:16 This weekend we received a welcome break from the heavy rains that have been blessing us nearly every day since March.  Waking up to the sun pouring through the windows, warming the gardens and drying the hundreds of school uniforms draped across the clothes lines – it was a boost of energy and joy that we didn’t know we needed so badly.  While we are thankful for the cool weather and irrigation that the rains bring, it also makes life more difficult.  The power cuts much more frequently during storms.  Many people walk to and from school or work, so they are forced to either get soaked, or pay for transportation, which is greatly slowed or sometimes even impossible due to flooded roads.  Which reminds me… Earlier in the school year the head teacher told me about a meeting between some of the church leaders and the administrators of the Lutheran schools in Bukoba.  During...

Come to me, all you who labor and are heavily burdened, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am humble in heart; and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.        Matthew 11: 28-30           Is it really May already? It seems that Christmas and New Years just passed and here it is, almost summer again.  Last year at this time I was home with my family in College Station, indefinitely.  We were, just as everyone was, hunkered down together, ordering groceries, baking banana bread, doing puzzles, and watching movies.  As a family, it didn’t take us long to settle into an at-home routine and get quite comfortable not leaving the house, except for when it was absolutely necessary.  Even my sister Lauren, who was a senior in high school at the time, became accustomed to staying home, spending Friday nights taking bike rides with her o...