Sunday, January 29, 2012
Mom too!
January 30 - Happy Birthday Mom! Wish I could take you to the beach to celebrate... Love you!
Health Day
Saturday was Health Day at St. John’s Lutheran. The general premise is to provide medical screening, education, and opportunities for doctor consultations in an effort to bring the public to the compound. Last year they had a successful Health Day and wanted to host it again. Instead of having a broad range of topics, it was decided that this year the focus would be diabetes. Much advertising was done through church, school, even radio and newspapers. Volunteer doctors and nurses were sought to provide the free screenings, medical equipment was borrowed from the government, and students from an American medical school based here in Antigua all came to serve for the day. The main attractions were free eye screenings, free doctors consults, and a presentation by a knowledgeable nutritionist.
Friday night the youth group from church helped to set up and clean up the rooms that were to be used. Cindy Johnston was the main organizer for the event, and she had everyone pitching in. I was set to making copies, using our temperamental Rizograph. Though it took a little longer than originally hoped, set-up went smoothly.
We were on-site at 8 to get the final touches in place for our 9:30 start time. Several people showed up at 8:30, hoping to be first in line to see the doctors. Presenters (true to Island time) showed up late, one nurse was sick, all of the nurses forgot their blood pressure cuffs, one doctor didn’t show til 11, the other doctor thought Health Day was Sunday and arrived just before noon. There were supposed to be two people conducting eye exams. The first person showed on time, but the partner was the one with the equipment. The equipment came, though the partner never did. Attendance was down from last year’s 80 to about 40. Mixed bag, really, because with the hiccups that presented themselves, we would not have been able to accommodate more. Ah well, that’s how it goes. We were able to encourage several people to come back and visit some Sunday. We’ll see how the Lord chooses to use this event for His kingdom.
Saturday, January 21, 2012
Just Some News
Happy Birthday, Dad! I told my kids that it was my dad’s birthday on Friday and that his birthday present was their pictures. We took a few minutes after chapel and before our spelling test to take pictures to send. Conveniently enough, we also took a full staff picture, so I was able to send that as well.Friday night Julie and I hosted the Johnstons and Sternhagens at our house. Sternhagens brought wings and salad, Johnstons brought juice and garlic bread, and we all split the cost of pizza. It was really nice to be able to host, even though we are still without an oven, and our house isn’t quite the epitome of kid-friendly. Still, a good time was had by all. After pizza the kids were taken home and put to bed, and the adults went out to see a movie. Just a nice night.
Today, Julie found a TV for our house! There is a store down the road where people sell things they don’t want anymore. Though we have the TV, we are still struggling to get the DVD player to work with it. I can’t find the input channel! Ah, frustration.
And the last little bit of news for the week… I got a cold last week Friday. I was super stuffy/sneezing over the weekend and had a sore throat Sunday. My voice got lower and kind of left me during the week. Always interesting to lose one’s voice, add to that the fact that one is in charge of 29 very loud, rambunctious 7- and 8-year-old. Oh, and try to teach them songs for a class play when you can’t sing above an A, the harder you try, the softer you get, and the CD player can be overpowered by 3 people singing. Lord willing, I heal quickly. Choir sings for church tomorrow, and my class needs to keep plugging away at that play.
Sunday, January 15, 2012
A Lesson in Humility; A Lesson in Perseverance
Two little stories for you this week…
I received a new student on Tuesday. He took the assessment for students applying to Gr 2 and did a fair job. While I was a little reluctant, reflecting that it is hard for teacher, new student, and students alike to have such a big change in the middle of the year, Pastor Johnston and Mrs. James encouraged me to take him on. I began frustrated because I had no desk for him, having lent my extra out to another teacher, I had not had opportunity to meet the child myself, nor his parents, and if I’m going to begin something, I like to begin it on Monday, not the middle of the week. The boy comes just moments before school starts on Tuesday, all smiles and blushes, a little bit of a lisp, and uncertainty in his eyes. Come to realize (what I should have considered right from the start) that the assessment he took is for children just entering Gr 2 at the beginning of the year, not jumping into a brand new curriculum in the middle of the 2nd term. This poor boy is far behind on things, and a large factor is that the curriculum is foreign, quite different from what his previous school was using.
I will admit: I despaired. How on earth am I to help a child to catch up on nearly a year’s worth of content, still have him active and participating in class (which he has little to no background for), and keep the rest of the class plugging away?! Enter grace and mercy of God. Other teachers will help me with my recess duties while I stay in for morning breaks to tutor him on math. Our IT teacher will take him some mornings to work with him. I will spend an hour on Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons after school, practicing reading and language skills, and Gr 1 teacher, Ms. Abraham, will work with him Monday, Thursday, and Friday afternoons on phonics and the like. My selfish nature (shamefully) resents all the extra time this will take, and yet, with God’s help, I will reach this little boy as best I can.
I received a new student on Tuesday. He took the assessment for students applying to Gr 2 and did a fair job. While I was a little reluctant, reflecting that it is hard for teacher, new student, and students alike to have such a big change in the middle of the year, Pastor Johnston and Mrs. James encouraged me to take him on. I began frustrated because I had no desk for him, having lent my extra out to another teacher, I had not had opportunity to meet the child myself, nor his parents, and if I’m going to begin something, I like to begin it on Monday, not the middle of the week. The boy comes just moments before school starts on Tuesday, all smiles and blushes, a little bit of a lisp, and uncertainty in his eyes. Come to realize (what I should have considered right from the start) that the assessment he took is for children just entering Gr 2 at the beginning of the year, not jumping into a brand new curriculum in the middle of the 2nd term. This poor boy is far behind on things, and a large factor is that the curriculum is foreign, quite different from what his previous school was using.
I will admit: I despaired. How on earth am I to help a child to catch up on nearly a year’s worth of content, still have him active and participating in class (which he has little to no background for), and keep the rest of the class plugging away?! Enter grace and mercy of God. Other teachers will help me with my recess duties while I stay in for morning breaks to tutor him on math. Our IT teacher will take him some mornings to work with him. I will spend an hour on Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons after school, practicing reading and language skills, and Gr 1 teacher, Ms. Abraham, will work with him Monday, Thursday, and Friday afternoons on phonics and the like. My selfish nature (shamefully) resents all the extra time this will take, and yet, with God’s help, I will reach this little boy as best I can.
Now, you may remember that we have not had the privilege of hot water while we have been here on the island. When we have visited the Johnston family, they kindly let us partake of theirs. Julie and I were determined to find a way to make the water for showers bearable without going broke on water heaters, gas, or electricity. There is a device that plugs into an outlet, pushes water through the pipe and over hot coils, heating the water as it makes its way through the shower head. We found such a device at a hardware store near our house and ask a member-friend to install it for us. Julie took the first shower and proclaimed the water “bearable” – nice because previously you would have been gasping for breath while you bathe. Pretty excited, I took my shower the following afternoon. Didn’t realize the switch needed to be flipped for the outlet to work. Ok, next morning Julie takes her shower. The circuit shuts off mid-rinse; the power goes out in both bathrooms, my bedroom and the dining room. After some advice from Cindy, we find the circuit panel and flip the breaker. Next morning, I take my shower and the electricity cuts again. This time I know where to go, and after the chilly finale to my shower, I flip the breaker again. Seems that the device needs more power than the spliced wire running to the bathroom outlet can provide. We are waiting for our friend Patrick to come back and run a new wire from the circuit panel to the outlet directly so we can have a more powerful and reliable current for the outlet. Until then, we have the choice between our old nemesis (cold showers) or taking turns flipping the power back on. We’ll let you know what we decide.
Teacher call to humility and motivation for the week: “Instead of trying to get that child out of your hair as fast as you can, help them!
Monday, January 09, 2012
A Prayer Request
Dear Readers,
This is a call to prayer; please flood the throne of God with petitions for my student, Tyara. She is 7 years old and has a lump (most likely cancerous) in her back. She left Antigua before Christmas and traveled to St. Vincent where a team of U.S. doctors visit several months a year to "volunteer" their services. The hope was that these doctors could perform a surgery on Tyara and that she could heal quickly and come back to us. I received a partial communication from her mother today, saying that they could not do the surgery in St. Vincent and the back-up plan, doing the surgery in Virginia, also will not work. They need to find a specialist because the surgery will be very complex. Please, please lift up Tyara, her family, and friends. Everything is very uncertain. The only certainty is our hope of heaven, complements of our Savior. May His will be done.
"Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray. Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise. Is anyone of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective."
This is a call to prayer; please flood the throne of God with petitions for my student, Tyara. She is 7 years old and has a lump (most likely cancerous) in her back. She left Antigua before Christmas and traveled to St. Vincent where a team of U.S. doctors visit several months a year to "volunteer" their services. The hope was that these doctors could perform a surgery on Tyara and that she could heal quickly and come back to us. I received a partial communication from her mother today, saying that they could not do the surgery in St. Vincent and the back-up plan, doing the surgery in Virginia, also will not work. They need to find a specialist because the surgery will be very complex. Please, please lift up Tyara, her family, and friends. Everything is very uncertain. The only certainty is our hope of heaven, complements of our Savior. May His will be done.
"Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray. Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise. Is anyone of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective."
James 5:13-16
Sunday, January 08, 2012
A New Year
May God bless you and yours as we enter into his service this new year!
I was blessed to enjoy 2 weeks in the States, home for Christmas. The first week everyone was home; Brandon from WLC, Ben from culinary school, and Luke of course as he is in his senior year at CLHS. It was good to have everyone together as we are already so spread out. Christmas night my boyfriend Julius came, so it was good to spend time with him and my family at the same time.
I flew back to Antigua, leaving the San Diego airport on Saturday, Dec 31. I rang in the New Year with snores as I slept on the plane between LA and Miami. Caught a few extra Z's on the floor of the Miami airport, then landed in a slightly soggy Antigua. Met my dad who flew down on a different airline and were picked up by 5th grade teacher, Miss Christmas. Spent the afternoon showing Dad my house, my classroom, and my neighborhood.
Monday we celebrated the Public Holiday by going to the beach and watching the Rose Bowl at the Johnstons'. I'm a little bummed that the Badgers lost, but they certainly had a good run.
Tuesday Dad came into my classroom to see the desk full of the children in my care, to get an idea of how things really are at St. John's Lutheran. I put him to work right away, checking over work the children had from over break and working one-on-one to correct items they had wrong. He had some pointers and some encouragements for me, an invaluable gift from a father to a daughter. He also enjoyed exploring parts of the island, was introduced to shawarma, attended choir Wednesday night, and nearly took my house keys home to California with him. But I have my keys, he is home safely, and my only regret is having to say goodbye to my family twice in a week. One of my students reassured me as my eyes filled with tears on Friday, "It is sad when your dad leaves." Good. I wasn't sure, but now I know. =)
Everything is getting off to a splendid start. Julie and I spend a couple of hours this afternoon outlining a schedule and ideas for the play Gr 1-3 will put on this Feb. It is appropriately titled, "Why Do Mosquitos Buzz?" One of the songs is called, "Nobody Likes a Mosquito," and I think everyone will get a kick out of it. I'll keep you posted on the progress.
Again, God's blessings as you begin 2012 in Him!
I was blessed to enjoy 2 weeks in the States, home for Christmas. The first week everyone was home; Brandon from WLC, Ben from culinary school, and Luke of course as he is in his senior year at CLHS. It was good to have everyone together as we are already so spread out. Christmas night my boyfriend Julius came, so it was good to spend time with him and my family at the same time.
I flew back to Antigua, leaving the San Diego airport on Saturday, Dec 31. I rang in the New Year with snores as I slept on the plane between LA and Miami. Caught a few extra Z's on the floor of the Miami airport, then landed in a slightly soggy Antigua. Met my dad who flew down on a different airline and were picked up by 5th grade teacher, Miss Christmas. Spent the afternoon showing Dad my house, my classroom, and my neighborhood.
Monday we celebrated the Public Holiday by going to the beach and watching the Rose Bowl at the Johnstons'. I'm a little bummed that the Badgers lost, but they certainly had a good run.
Tuesday Dad came into my classroom to see the desk full of the children in my care, to get an idea of how things really are at St. John's Lutheran. I put him to work right away, checking over work the children had from over break and working one-on-one to correct items they had wrong. He had some pointers and some encouragements for me, an invaluable gift from a father to a daughter. He also enjoyed exploring parts of the island, was introduced to shawarma, attended choir Wednesday night, and nearly took my house keys home to California with him. But I have my keys, he is home safely, and my only regret is having to say goodbye to my family twice in a week. One of my students reassured me as my eyes filled with tears on Friday, "It is sad when your dad leaves." Good. I wasn't sure, but now I know. =)
Everything is getting off to a splendid start. Julie and I spend a couple of hours this afternoon outlining a schedule and ideas for the play Gr 1-3 will put on this Feb. It is appropriately titled, "Why Do Mosquitos Buzz?" One of the songs is called, "Nobody Likes a Mosquito," and I think everyone will get a kick out of it. I'll keep you posted on the progress.
Again, God's blessings as you begin 2012 in Him!
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