Family Advent Celebration

Last fall, I found myself frustrated with the Harvest Party that's turned into tradition for BCA. It felt too rushed, frenzied, and like way too much work. I loved that families were together, except that with limited space it ended not working out quite so well, and what adult really wants to bob for apples, have their face painted, or color a fall picture. So, I was watching for other ideas for that Wednesday afternoon before Thanksgiving.

God provided the answer in the form of an advent celebration. My heart was for families to spend time together and to give families tools that perhaps they weren't familiar with that might help them in guiding their children spiritually. With those hopes in mind, I started brainstorming and researching. I landed on a simple event--time together with a story (one of my family's traditions) and some sharing followed by time spent with other families working on a couple different activities. Students made ornaments and cards and worked with their parents to create an advent calendar made of construction paper rings labeled with verses.

The afternoon went better than I could have anticipated. Rooms were filled with laughter, conversation, and Christmas music. I wandered between the rooms helping answer questions and interacting with parents who I don't often get a chance to talk with. I'm thankful for the staff that was willing to help and for families that were willing to try something new.

With the daughter of one of our elementary aides.

EuJin and her family working on their advent calendar.

Rose working to make her family's advent calendar.

Working together to make a 3D snowflake--no matter the ability of the child, they turn out great!

There were a couple options of style for cards families could make.
Some are visible in the picture below.

The afternoon ended with a couple families playing "6-square" in the courtyard of one of the buildings. The 4th-6th graders have adapted the game "4-square" to allow more people to play in the limited space they have.

Birthday Blessings

I had a very special birthday! I'm so thankful for the family and friends God has blessed me with who encourage me and stand with me in the joys and the pain.

My day started early--Monday morning:)--and with flowers from a friend that graced my office until I left town later in the week. Before the kids arrived, the elementary staff came to sing to me and we enjoyed coffee cake. As I came downstairs from teaching geometry, gathered my things, and prepared to head to my office, I was greeted by all the elementary students outside my building singing "Happy Birthday" in two languages and three different versions. What fun! They'd created a book for me as well, with each student preparing a page with a message and/or picture. I've been through it a couple times and truly treasure their words. The afternoon went quickly with preparations for the advent celebration. That evening I met a friend for dinner out at a Mexican restaurant near my apartment. I felt loved and cherished.

Not only was my birthday a joy, but the days leading up to it and following it were very special as well. My mailbox (both real and email) were flooded with cards, notes, and gifts. It was a very special reminder of all the people God has placed in my life!

It's Finished

They finished the resurfacing/insulation of my apartment bloc. They relocated the scaffolding to the rear side of the building (closest my apartment) and began work there not much later. It's a little disconcerting to be walking around my apartment working on things with a group of people right outside my window installing insulation.

I wish there was a least a little logic to the color scheme/location. I do have
to say that it looks better than the bloc just up the street which has the same
colors with the addition of brown. Yikes!
Here's the up close picture to show the three colors...such a strange combination, but it seems to be the color scheme of choice for this winter. I've seen blocs all around town with similar colors. And as my sister graciously reminded me, at least it's color:)

Ways to Help BCA

Just in case you haven't yet seen these... Here are some neat ways to help BCA.

1. igive.com: Make money for BCA while you shop online at no additional cost to you. When you shop at one of over 700 participating stores (Gap, Old Navy, ITunes, Amazon, etc.), a percentage of your purchase comes to us! It’s anywhere from 3% - 26% of what you spend. Free money for BCA!

2. isearchigive.com: Make money for BCA while you do internet searches. It's not quite up to Google standards, but for free money, I spend a little time using it.

3. idonate.com: Turn cars, boats, jewelry, land, timeshares, overstocked inventory, and much more into donations for BCA.

More information on the BCA website:)

I stopped by Mr. Bricolage after school yesterday hoping to pick up a few items for school projects and some things for my apartment. I found the first thing on my list and then went to ask for help to find two other things (of which I'd gotten the Romanian translation figuring that would make things easier). I went up to one of the salespeople and asked if he could tell me where the razor blades were (lame in Romanian). He proceeded to ask which type of razor blade I wanted to which I had no reply. What did I want to do with this item? Scrape things off of glass. I drew a picture and then proceeded to demonstrate with the small piece of paper I had my list on. He got this look like he knew what I wanted and proceeded to show me putty knives. Not what I was hoping for and they didn't look anything like my drawing. So, since I couldn't come up with any other words to explain what I wanted, I decided to ask for the next thing on my list...sand paper (hârtie de şmirghelui). He didn't understand it the first or second time I said it (not surprising) so he finally tried to decipher my writing. He led me over to the small selection of sandpaper and asked what I wanted it for. For a school project I explained so the color is important. At this point I was hoping he would just leave me to look at the options, compare prices, and make a selection, but he kept picking up items for my consideration--all the wrong color. I finally took one of the things he offered, thanked him, and started walking off. When I saw he had left the aisle, I returned to the sand paper and took my time picking out what I think was the best option considering my needs. I had also noticed the razor blades on the way to the sand paper so backtracked a bit to pick those up. Having completed my shopping list, I headed toward the check out, being only slightly distracted by the Christmas display on the way there.