Taylor Cleanup

We took the girls over to the school during the cleanup to give them an idea of what was going on. They enjoyed trying on the masks. We had to use them because the fire extinguisher chemicals were very irritating.

I (Laura) worked all day Monday, September 24, at the school. That night I had trouble breathing. By Tuesday I had a lung and sinus infection and decided to stay at home with the girls. I used the time to write a prayer letter that was a little overdue. After a round of antibiotics, my cold and cough are pretty much gone.

Jorge worked the rest of the week at school with the other teachers. The professional cleaning crew began working on Tuesday, September 25. They started in the library. Every book had to be taken down from the shelf, vacuumed, and boxed up.

Each teacher had to go through their classrooms, itemizing every thing that had to be thrown out. It was not a fun process! I had to throw out several text books that were thoroughly covered with chemicals. One of my 7th grade boys has asthma, and I didn't want him to have an asthma attack from using contaminated materials.

Each classroom was completely emptied. Everything had to be cleaned. All the books dusted off. Each desk and all the shelves were washed. It was a hot job out in the sun and 95 degree weather. Once the rooms were emptied, the windows were washed and floors cleaned and waxed.

Joe was the supervisor from the cleaning company. We really appreciate their help. On Friday there were 15 people on the crew. We were a little worried that we couldn't get everything done by Monday evening, but God gave us all strength.

I fixed lunch for everyone on Friday. We ate sopa de mani which is peanut soup from Bolivia. Everyone came over to WGM's guesthouse to eat.

The rooms were ready to move back into by Monday. We had to bring in all the cleaned furniture: teacher's desk, students' desks, shelves, tables, etc. Then we had to unpack all the boxes of books and classroom materials. My room had fewer things than some of the others. Jorge and the girls helped me all day Monday. We finished around 5:00 p.m. I believe the other teachers worked much later in the evening.

Tuesday, the students were back in school. It has been a good week altogether. I did find it a little frustrating to teach without some of the texts. This afternoon, the A Beka shipment arrived. We should have all our books for class tomorrow.

Thank you to each one who has prayed for us. We have felt your prayers. God has given us grace and strength to clean and clean and clean some more. I appreciate all the staff who have worked so hard. God has unified us in a beautiful way.

Thank you also to those who have sent in donations to the school. I'm sure there are some things that the insurance won't cover. Your donation will be put to good use to help the school and students.