After all that work and effort making, buying and selling things for the sale we're now down to spending the money. School fees are due just now. Fanja came to me with her receipt for 're-inscription' fees for her 4 children: 50,000Ar x 2; 56,000Ar x 2 for a total of 214,000Ar (ca. $107). I have also passed on to her some of the school supplies that i had bought while in Canada as some of the things i can find there are FAR better quality than the stuff you get here, even if you splurge for the expensive better quality stuff. Ball point pens and Crayola markers in particular are a huge asset! Fanja told me just the other day that the cast-off Crayola markers i had given her when we replaced Judah's school markers with new ones were a huge hit at her children's school. Even the teacher had made a remark about how much better the quality was, and this was after a year of Judah using them first! yikes. I can say for sure that Canadians are justified in reveling in their stationary supplies - as i was wont to do when i lived there. More than not the pens dont work when you take them out of the wrapper and the markers are too thin and dry out within a few months. It's not for no reason that Judah's school supply list states firmly that we must re-supply items like markers, pencil crayons and pencils, pens and glue throughout the year. They've obviously learned by experience that children coming with poor quality items will no longer be able to participate with what they've got half way through the year if they arent expected to be replaced when they no longer work.
I've also paid out $100 for doctors' visit and medicine for Irene. Her situation is a lot more personal, so i wont share about it here. Suffice it to say, we're still waiting on the Lord for Him to bless her with the desires of her heart.
As we start spending the money we've earned we're also looking at how to continue bringing in income so as to support the school fees, doctors visits and whatnotall that will continue to come up. One such project is the Christmas Craft Sale that happens in early December. I've mentioned it to Fanja and she is keen to work toward such a huge goal, but i'm finding myself a bit nervous about the immensity of such a project. Ach, but we will work towards it and if by November we decide we're prepared enough to push ahead for a booth at the sale then i suppose we'll only benefit from it. Anything we dont sell we can always sell online or store until the next Manitoban sale, or? :-) I do already have 2 orders for lamba aprons which i need to get going on. Once Judah is in school full time (or, half days, as full time will be this year) i hope to sit down and work out how to portion out my time to involve things like sewing and marketing and whatnotall in addition to all the other happy activities that i hope to participate in this term. Let me not be overdoing it Lord!