Getting back on the horse...

I didn't really fall off of the horse with this blog, but I have been off of it and I hope to get back onto it and be a more "frequent rider/writer" than I have been lately. This update might be a little bit longer, but I'll try to keep them more frequent and short.

SNOW! As you have seen by the last pictures that we got our first snow a few weeks ago. We cracked the first week of November and the heavens opened up. A few inches the first night, then two days later a few more inches, then the next day a few more inches. We probably had 6-7 inches by the end of the week. The downside to this is that the students have to go out and clean up the sidewalk. If they don't have class, their job is to clear the sidewalks. So after the first snow all my students loved the snow. Now, they're not as big of fans of it. Yeah, any sidewalks, concrete or roads are cleared by shovels, wooden signs (which are flipped and used as shovels), and those giant wisk-broom-looking things. I asked one student and they said, "well, if we didn't clear the snow, then the school would have to pay someone to come and do it." My thought was, "well duh, you're paying a lot of money to come here, they can afford it", but I guess it's a different mindset here.

I gave them midterms last week. They had to do group presentations about a topic we had covered in class. What's worse is that I had to grade them on pronunciation, grammar, and fluency. Man, I don't know who was more nervous them or me. I think it took me about as long to figure out their notes and grade during the class after the presentation as it did for them to give their presentation. I was so glad when that week was over. I feel bad giving these sweet little kids a bad grade. (Alright, some of them who don't pay attention in class, it was easier to drop them down a few points, but the ones who try and just don't do very well, it's difficult.)

It was pretty cool because He knew I was freaking out about having to judge and grade them, so He signed me up to be a judge for Foreign Song Competition for the Bilingual department.  I should have probably guessed that I was going to do something when my students kept asking me if I was coming or not.
So I showed up and they asked me if I could help judge. I said, "uh, ok. I guess I can if you want me to." Then they showed me to my seat with my name tag and score sheet... nice. The song Foreign Song Competition was pretty interesting. I really enjoyed it. There were some contestants who could have been on American Idol, one for her good ability and one for her...spunk...and dancing. The only downside to this competition was the fact that it was for the bilingual department... aka not just English. So when they sang in German and Japanese and Korean it was difficult to give an accurate reading of whether it sounded native or not. There were German, Japanese, and Korean teachers there too judging, but I still had to vote. Jordan helped me vote and we thought that most of them sounded pretty legit to us, so we treated them alright.

The last thing I wanted to let you know about is our new Boy. Man, he growing so fast. I'm so glad that the Sprite has cracked open that noggin of his. It's just flowing with questions and comments and insights and all sorts of things. Less than a week after his Birth, he finished up Matthew's story and fell in love with our Hero's last words. "Go to all nations... and surely I am with you." Our boy wrote it down on a piece of paper and was telling it to his classmates during class- this is what He said and this is what He promises and ..... He's going at it. It's amazing. He's not just like excited about what he's learning, but he's being intentional and seeking out people and saying "I want you to experience this joy. I don't want you to go there, but I want you to be in the Kingdom." It's beautiful. In fact, we're about to go watch the Passion for the first time with him and two others who are in the seeking process. It's going to be hard, but good. Just asking for open hearts and understanding.

Love you all and wish you could see what's happening here.

P.S. as a moment of truth. I tend to wait til things are on the upswing or going better to email people back or blog or do different things. I don't want to wallow it in or express it. So if it's been a while or if I haven't emailed you back (and I'm just behind on that anyways) or things are kind of quiet - I might be having a rough time and could use some extra vertical thoughts. Thanks.