Daily Schedule

Perhaps you have wondered how things go around here.  We make schedules that we try to keep, but it is inevitable that they always change.  The changes depend on whether we hear from the hospital as to whether they are ready for another child or when the surgeries will take place.  My day is pretty set, usually.

06h00 wake-up and walk around the city, then get ready for the day
08h00 morning meeting and devotions with the staff
09h30 - 12h00 morning activity with the kids, usually a craft and visit to the park. (Today I only had Rawa with me for crafts.  He is eight years old but looks about four or five.  He arrived in Jerusalem on Monday and is still a bit shy of me.  We painted drums out of milk cans today, and he really is an expert painter!)
12h00 lunch prepared by the mothers for everyone at the Shevet house
13h30 - 14h30 nap time for mothers and kids
16h00 - 17h00 play games with the kids
18h00 dinner with the staff, clean up
20h00 prepare for the next day's craft, blog
20h30 say goodnight to the kids and make sure they brush their teeth. This is usually not a brief task. :)

I usually get to bed around 23/24h00.  Now in the times not on that schedule, I blog, walk around the city, run errands, cook or a myriad of other things.  Some days I go to the hospital to visit kids that have had their surgeries.  There are other people in the office that go get patients from Gaza and take them to the hospital, take kids to their various tests at the hospital, do the shopping, bill-paying, errands, cooking, cleaning, website design, correspondence, etc.  It's busy!  I now have a few hours free, and I thought I would go walk in the city, visit the market, play guitar or go buy some blue paint for our crafts.  We are missing this essential color.  I may also go pray at the round Ethiopian church down the street.  It is full of colors and icons I don't recognize, but I am drawn to the quiet incense-filled atmosphere and prayer rugs. As this year, as well as my time here in Jerusalem, comes to a close, it is a great place to go meditate.