A Time to Be Thankful

Hard to believe that the time for Thanksgiving has arrived, and yet here it is all the same. The Lord has truly given us more than we could ever ask for or imagine (Eph. 3:20). Luther summarizes things well when in the explanation to the First Article, he speaks of God preserving us by providing us, "clothing and shoes, food and drink, house and home, spouse and children, land, cattle, and all I own, and all I need to keep my body and life." This week in chapel as we were reciting this passage, I couldn't help but smile to myself as I mentally adjusted, "clothing and shoes, food and drink, house and home, Julie and kids, lawn, goats, and all I own, and every adventure God sends my way."

Here in Antigua, they do not celebrate Thanksgiving; instead they celebrate Harvest: a time to be thankful for the food we have to eat. Churches conduct food drives for those in need; the sanctuary is decorated with the food stuffs and with sugar cane. In the 8:30 service, the choir sang and my pan group played (with me on the 4 bass... might be a favorite). In the 11:00, grades 3&4, grades 5&6 sang, and one of the Kids' Pan groups played. And appropriately, Pastor Sternhagen's sermon highlight how blessed we really are.


Last weekend, our faculty participated in an event called Celebrate Teachers. Every year our Zone (kind of like a school district) puts on a dinner to recognize the teachers of the school in the zone. Everyone gets dressed up (we borrowed dresses from Mrs. Greaux), gets their hair and make up done, and looks forward to a good meal. Interesting contrast in formal/informal ways of doing things. Awards were given for everything (including to Julie and me for being new to the district) and each reward was accompanied by handshakes from 3 different people. (formal) There were also door prizes and a dance contest. (informal) It was a long evening, but it was enjoyable.

The playground that was donated to SJL, courtesy of LWMS, has finally been completed! Unfortunately, it has been rather soggy, and Miss Rosenbaum made the mistake of letting the kids go out to recess without checking the state of the grounds... so Wednesday was a very muddy day.

I continue to learn more and more about my kids, myself, my profession, and most importantly, my Savior. God is good! All the time!