Islamorada on the Florida Keys

Terry and I had dropped in at this project in Dec. 2010 while we were visiting our friends in Naples, Florida.  "Hmm, this sounds like something we would like to work at, a Christian school".  It is a "lottery project", one of the ones in the southern "sunbelt".  We had to submit our names, and hope we would be picked to work it.  We were!
The community of Islamorada is several 'keys", islands based on an old coral reef. A busy highway separates "oceanside" from "bayside".  The ocean is easy to see across the road, but the bay is somewhere behind the mangrove trees.   It is tropical here.  The first few days the weather was hot and humid.  It's a little cooler now, 25 degrees Celsius, with a strong wind. Across the highway is a resort with a swimming pool and tennis court we're allowed to use.  So far we've played tennis, but I haven't found a swimming partner yet.  I may have to go alone.

 These are gumbo-limbo trees.  Don't trees have funny names down south?  They're also called "tourist trees".  Can you see why in this next picture?

Their skin is red and peeling like the skin of sunburnt tourists, who are a common sight where these trees grow.  Our awning is up in this picture, but we finally took it down because of the strong winds.

Terry has been doing some outside work, but was stung by wasps in the hedge he was trimming. Oh, the hazards of the job!

  We ladies cleaned the school kitchen, and today I went to school, where I marked (graded) some test papers, helped a little girl with division problems, and helped a boy who didn't read very well in Grade One.  My tendency was to immediately want to "fix" the problem.  Then in my reading in Numbers, I read about the instructions given to Moses about the Levites working in the Tabernacle.  They had to retire at age 50 (!).  After retirement they could assist their fellow Levites, but were not to do the work themselves.  It's hard for us "old folks" to realise that it's more important to enable others to do God's work than to do it ourselves. So I have to help the classroom teacher in the way she wants me to help.

The teachers seem really grateful for the help we give them.  I remember how thrilled I was when people offered to read with the children in my own grade one class.