Sisters

I miss this girl so much!
And maybe the yogurtland a little too ;)


And did I mention I miss this girl also. ;)

I wonder what they are both up to today. I wish they weren't so far away.

"Remember that time we spent all Saturday painting the school?"

I'm not sure if you can say that. I know I can't about my high school years. But my students can.

Last weekend we spent almost the entire Saturday painting the second floor hallway of the school. We had about 30 kids show up to help. With not enough brushes we were not able to keep them all busy. Nearly 6 hours later we only had a small group who endured to the bitter end. They worked hard, had fun, and best of all it looks great. The goal was fading blue- starting light and going darker down the hall. Just one side though. We hope to use the other side to hang class murals... coming soon of course.

A little disarray...

Getting to work...

Lots of blue...

Careful up there Caleb...

Can you see the fading effect?

Not only did they do a good job painting but they did a great job cleaning up.
It took almost an hour to wash all the brushes and pans and mop up the paint that
had gotten all over the tile floor.

Bora on the left was our main Student Council member in charge of this event.
She did a great job and we were able to accomplish a lot in one day.

Our dedicated group that stayed til the end.

I told them to choose their favorite wall and they chose this one.

Birthday Celebrations

We celebrated my birthday like 13 times this year. Even though my birthday was January 10th it feels like the partying just kept going and finally ended last weekend. Despite all the different celebrations that happened I think this is the best picture I have from my birthday this year:


Or perhaps this one?

But at least we had a cool view at a very fun Vietnamese restaurant:

Despite not having very many pictures of it all, I had some lovely times celebrating with friends here.
I think 25 is going to be a good year :)

Beginning Again

A new semester is upon us.

I love a new start. Don't you?

It felt like it came so quickly and has been full. Days are filled with the usual lesson planning, grading, copying, meetings, more grading, tutoring kids, giving make-up tests and quizzes, handing out the occasional detention, planning for a student council retreat and sea tribe meeting and of course more grading.

In between the many mundane and routine tasks of teaching lie moments that need to be captured. Teachable moments of speaking blessings on others, building responsibility in middle and high schoolers, challenging my group of leaders, listening to hurting people, and encouraging students and fellow staff members.

I am blessed and challenged by each and every day. Please pray- it's going to be a whirlwind of a semester.

Radical

: returning to the root or origin. That is what I did. Christmas break was lovely and while I was back in America I "returned," as you might say, to the "root." I had the opportunity to meet up with some friends from college in San Luis Obispo, my college town. It was a beautiful time of remembering where I had come from, my roots, and what God had done in my life in college. We went to the beach and watched the sunset. We swung on the swings while watching the waves come crashing in and then going out again, just like I used to do in college. We ate at some favorite restaurants. We enjoyed frozen yogurt and wandered around downtown, window shopping all afternoon. We hiked my favorite mountain, letting the view take our breath away and the cool wind rejuvenate us. We stayed up way too late talking and catching up on all the things that have happened since we left that small town to venture out into the big, big world. I'm stealing this quote from a friends blog. Yes, I'm one of those. But it so perfectly summed up my feelings about my time of returning for the holidays and especially my time of reflection that weekend I spent back in San Luis Obispo. "In a sense, it’s the coming back, the return, which gives meaning to the going forth. We really don’t know where we’ve been until we’ve come back to where we were. Only, where we were may not be as it was because of who we’ve become, which is, after all, why we left." –Bernard, Northern Exposure

San Luis Obispo

Hiking Bishop's Peak

Lots of laughs and lots of chatting

 

Enjoying a beautiful sunset with good friends

   

 I love swings. I had forgotten how much. Sometimes it's the simple things in life.

Happy New Year

Goodbye 2009. What a year.

What will 2010 hold?!?!

I can't wait to find out.

Selemat Tahun Baru!