Brain Drain

It's been a day. I love my students, but sometimes balancing two grade levels in the morning can be a bit much! Today, the 5th graders were preparing for their math test while they 6th graders were learning about turns and rotational symmetry. Not a good combination as both classes had bumps along the way. By the end of math class I had to ask my kids to give me a few minutes without asking me questions so I could 'breathe' a little bit. Then during snack break, I again requested that I actually get a break today. They were all very understanding and cheerful about it. I think it probably helped that they were recipients of the leftover treats from yesterday's staff meeting.

EU changes

Signs of EU progress in Romania:

-All sorts of cables and lines coming down off telephone poles (only to be left draped over others or laying on the sidewalk...for months)

-Tram lines being redone to meet some new regulation

-"Earth friendly" shopping--it seems that there is an EU law requiring all plastic bags to be biodegradable and that stores charge patrons for those bags. So, the era of cloth bags has come to Romania. I find myself having to think twice before walking out the door to make sure I have bags enough to carry what I anticipate bringing home. And I miss the free garbage bags, but I'm thankful for the chance to do a small thing to help the environment.

A New Woman

I spent much of this fall maxed out--trying to balance many roles and stay on top of many different things/situations. That left me with little energy once I got home from FULL days at school. I wasn't able to find the energy to cook much or do more than the basic necessities which was quite sad.

So, it has been wonderful this semester to feel like I once again have energy once I get home!! I am enjoying cooking and baking! I made poppy seed bread for small group, meatballs and gravy (although from a packet), cupcakes to celebrate a birthday, and a couple other things along the way.

I love coming home and feeling like I can tackle projects! I pulled out my crocheting that was gathering dust in the closet and smile at the progress I'm making. Dishes and laundry are getting done...

And I still love teaching! My kids are the greatest!

God is good!

Jehovah Maginnenu

The Lord our Defense

In chapel this year we are studying the names of God. As we rotate who teaches each week, I have been blessed to be reminded of some names and rejoiced to learn new names. This week, I took a turn teaching chapel.

The lesson started out talking about "sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me". The reality is that words can often do much more damage than physical injury.

We discussed how we need to take words that wound to the Lord and allow him to be our defense. We don't need to grow bitter or resentful, but instead can trust that God is on our side and will defend us.

Following up on a previous lesson, we then talked about how Satan is the one that seeks to throw lies and wounding words at us most frequently. We can choose to stand against him in our own strength or to stand behind Jehovah Maginnenu and allow him to defend us. We looked at some specific lies that the kids had identified earlier and at what verses for God's word we can use to refute the lies.

To help create a visual picture, I made two different shields. One was quite small--to represent standing on our own strength and wisdom, and the other was quite large--to represent standing behind God and his promises. As I 'threw' lies at the students holding each shield during the demonstration, it was powerful to see the reality of the choice. Standing on my own, I leave myself very vulnerable. When I stand behind Jehovah MAginnenu, I stand protected. His defense might not always be immediate or visible, but he is the Lord our defense.

Student Council 08-09

We finally managed to get all of us in one place at the same time:) What a great group!

Christmas 08

It is wonderful to be in Prague with my family:) Jason and Megan traveled here this year as well and we are all staying together in my parents' apartment.
Martin and Alice joined us for Christmas. We had a wonderful (mostly traditional) meal!
We've enjoyed walking around Prague together--revisiting favorite places and discovering some new ones as well.

Cute Niece!!

For Christmas, we gave my parents one of those digital picture frames and my sister sent along a CD of pictures. There were many I hadn't seen and I really think my niece is the cutest thing, so I'm sharing:) Hope they bring a smile to your face too!

Jenni's Visit

It was wonderful to have Jenni visit me on this side of the ocean:)
She spent a day with me at BCA and then we spent the rest of her time here doing other things.

We joined the Mather family and some BCA students for Thanksgiving.


The following morning we went to buy tickets, and were faced with a packed train station (more details in a previous post...)

We finally made it to Brasov, one of my favorite cities in Romania and enjoyed some time walking around this historic city and eating dinner at Bella Musica before ending up at our 'hotel' for the night.
Then on our way back to Bucharest, we stopped in Sinaia. It was a beautiful, snowy day! We tromped through the snow to Peles and then toured Pelesior. We were very thankful to get on a warm train headed to Bucharest.


We braved the crowds for the Unirii Day parade, but soon decided to leave since we couldn't really see anything. We passed an additional 1,000+ people headed toward the parade.




Lots of fun memories to hold on to and some pictures too:)

Christmas Concert

This is just part of the Christmas concert I attended last weekend.

Tagged-take 2

Here are the rules: Go to 'My Pictures' folder, open the 5th folder and the 5th picture. Post it and tag 5 others.

It was fun to pull up this picture again and be reminded of the fun memories of this summer ('07). It's hard to to believe how much Seth changed in just a year:)

And to think what he'll look like this coming summer when I get to see him again:)

I tag Jennifer at Everlaughter Life, Laura at winter adventures, and Whitney at Whit and the Brit. (I'm not following rules and only tagging 3 people...)