wracking my brain for ideas

I have been informed that I am way past overdue on a blog update and that I better 'get on it!'. so here I am. unfortunately I have no idea what to write about! the reason I don't blog often is because things here always follow the same pattern: term begins, half term, birthday party, half term, end of term. and all the in between bits are filled with the same-old-same... school. So after wracking my brain, here's what I came up with for this term: 1) I have 8 new students (blogged about that already). 2) The dorm is getting a 'facelift'.. 3) My parents and SBF team are here for almost 4 weeks. 4) Still working at the orphanage. 5) break plans in more detail... 2) Jim Smith (retired Brass Tacks worker) came out mid-term to help with some dorm renos. Yes, we have done renos on the dorm in the last 2 years but this is different. The front of the dorm/ main sitting room was literally falling off. There are huge cracks in the walls and the attic floor (sitting room ceiling) was unstable. Solution: get rid of the attic and have a huge cathedral ceiling in the sitting room. They have opened it up by taking out the bedroom beside it and making it one large space. They also braced it up underneath (can't explain how they did that one, barely understand it myself. They have extended the sitting room out several feet and changed the entrance way slightly. This is still an on-going project and will probably be on hold for the break and picked up again next term. 3) Hurray! My parents and 4 others from their assembly in Sudbury made up a short term team to come work on some smaller projects. They all arrived in one piece but managed to find out about army ants the hard way!:( They began by giving the house they are staying in a thorough scrubbing/cleaning and re-organizing. They are now working on one of our "guest blocks" which is used when parents come to pick up their kids at end of term. They or doing major reno on the bathroom area as well as electrical changes to the whole building. The ladies gave it a major clean, painted the walls and made new curtains. I'm enjoying having my Mom and Dad here and spending time with them when I can. 4)I do still get over to the orphanage but not as often this term due to some unforeseen circumstances. I haven't been able to read with the teens (timing isn't working out this term) but have spent a lot of time in the container. I have also had some fun playing with the kids. I took my mom and the other 3 SBF ladies over this past Friday and they got a tour and spent a lot of time singing and being entertained by the kids. 5) My plans for the holiday aren't too exciting. I have to do a lot of organizing of stuff. First in my house, so the team and 'bat-proof' it. Then in my classroom. I'm hoping to get my mom (the ultimate organizer) to help me out! We'll probably get rid of some stuff that hasn't be used in eons and re-locate others things to a "new home". At the end of the month, Lina and I plan to take the team back to Solwezi so they can fly out and then I need to get some dental work done... again. Other then that, i'm hoping to just relax.