From Crayons to Perfume

It only seems like yesterday when Jessica started Grade 1. I remember her first day of school....I was reluctant to leave her classroom and she said to me, "You can go now, Mum, I'm fine"! I remember her coming down the stairs after school one step at a time with her oversized backpack and her too long school dress. At just five years old sometimes Jess came down those stairs with bed hair and sleepy eyes as she had taken a little afternoon nap on the carpet. How things change! Here we are living on a hospital ship in Africa and Jess has just over a month left of primary school. In August our little girl begins Junior High. Sob! I've always loved the movie "To Sir with Love" and the wonderful theme song so I felt it appropriate to title this blog "From Crayons to Perfume".

Above is a photo of Jess with her characteristic sense of humour displaying her Mercy Academy uniform.

Can you see Jessica on the Academy map?
  

There she is!



Jessica's lovely teacher and fellow redhead from Canada, Miss Denae.



Jessica's 4th/5th grade classroom.

Jessica's maths classroom. Maths is taken by Miss Angie.

This is "The Big Room". Each day all the children from Grade 1-12 meet first thing of a morning to have devotions. Jessica also has computer, science and library in this room.



In February, a pipe burst over the Academy library and 300 fiction books were ruined. The teachers and Academy Chief Administrator, Brian Blackburn (pictured above) prayed for a solution and soon after John Tyler High School in Tyler, Texas came forward as the first responders. The school's theme is "Shock the World" and they belived that Mercy Ship's cause fitted their mandate. Above and below are Jessica's class receiving the new books. See link: http://www.tylerpaper.com/article/20110317/NEWS08/110319806