Nostalgia: 2010

I'm easily sentimental, and after watching Toy Story 3 last night, I'm in a very reflective mood. The verse in my devotions this morning was from Psalm 118:24. "This is the day that the Lord has made. I will rejoice and be glad in it." The highlights were also in the book like that. So I thought: What better day to look back on my last year than this day? And to rejoice!

God chose to lavish another 365 days on me in 2010, and it has been good.

The month of February was dark at BFA as we underwent an emotional time and had to deal with several wounded students on campus. But God brought healing, and in May we saw 17 students baptized. Victory!

In June, he blessed the Custer family with the birth of Olivia Marie, the happiest little niece on the block, and we found out that another niece was due to arrive in January (any day now). It's such a strange and wonderful feeling to see your family grow and multiply.

This summer saw me back in the states trying to raise the necessary support in order to be back at BFA by the Fall. It held moments of rest, complete panic, worry and fret, joys, humbling conversations, scary presentations, encouragement, frustrations, and in the end, the overwhelming truth that God provides and works all things out in his own timing! What a privilege it is to be on this journey with him.

August found me in the classroom. In some ways, 10 years of study and trying out all kinds of jobs and positions seemed to culminate as I "arrived." Now I can laugh at that and say "hardly!", but it still is a blessing to be teaching full time in my very own classroom.

This last week has to go into the Highlight List as well. I'm actually writing this from a hotel in Turkey where I'm at a conference with many other veterans of the faith from all over Europe. It's the physical rest and the spiritual feeding that I've been craving for the last couple of months all in a very historical setting that of course invigorates me like nothing else. :-)

Over all, the one thing that really stands out to me this year has been the RELATIONSHIPS: new people, old people, founding relationships, restoring relationships, deepening relationships. It's been at the center, and I've been so blessed by the people God has placed around me - on multiple continents. I rejoice!

Hope

Hearing the prodigal’s flailing roam

piecing by footstep the fragile path home

Opening weary arms with tender long

pierced to wash away yesterday’s wrong

Proving forgiveness is etched with pain

inviting the scar with promise for gain

Embracing security, enough to suffice

eternity safe through love’s sacrifice

(It's more of an Easter poem than a Christmas one, but the two do go together, don't they?)

Thoughts during Finals

This is cool. I'm sitting in Finals and blogging. It probably helps that I don't have to take them. (Only grade them all afterwards. ... Think I'd rather take them.)

Anyway, that's not what I wanted to blog about. As I'm sitting at the back of the classroom looking out over 15 heads, my heart is squeezed, and I'm surprised at how much I've come to love them. SB when she runs up to me every day with a "Hi. Hi. Hi. Hi. Hi" until I answer; even now, she's bouncing in her seat as she writes the final essay. DP's quiet intelligence as she shyly sits at the back of the room - until a little game of Jeopardy brings out quite the personality! BR, a Swiss boy scout and all around outdoorsman, who wishes all of class was spent on World War II. KB whose favorite activity is Journal writing and who can wax eloquently with the best of them. LA's enthusiasm for learning; sometimes when she's waving her hand in the air, I think her eyeballs are going to pop out because she's willing me so badly to call on her. LS, the class clown, who now also has crutches to add to his daily tricks and who seems to be best friends with all the girls a grade above him. HK, my beautiful 7th grade Korean, who is going to grow up to be the world's best brain surgeon, though she doesn't know it yet. And that's not even half the kids I love so much!

Class Update

The majority of my day and week is spent in the classroom, and I'd love to give you a glimpse of each class. (Not that we did all of this in one day, of course!)

Here are some 6th graders creating clay tablets with Cuneiform. We had been studying Hammurabi's Code, so they created various laws for our classroom, e.g. "If a student arrives late to class, he must do 20 push-ups." Pretty funny. It's wonderful that Kandern is a pottery town, and the clay only cost a couple of Euros, plus we have free access to a kiln. Hopefully the tablets will all be fired this week and displayed in the Middle School soon.The 7th graders just finished a unit on U.S. History. At the end, we had a "dress-up-as-a-U.S.-history-character" day. Among others, we had a Native American, Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King Jr., a WW 2 pilot, a flapper, and a survivor of Pearl Harbor.
The 8th graders are in the middle of wrapping up a World Religions unit. Here's a picture of them doing research. Tomorrow (Nov 29) will be the exciting day because their videos are all due. :-)Finally, my Beginner's German class is lucky because they get to have Kaffee und Kuchen (coffee and cake) every other Friday. We invite a German speaker guest, and they all have to interview the guest in order to deserve the cake and coffee part. It's been a fun application of what they're learning, plus I get to bake! :-)Lots of fun to be had in the Middle School when we are able to take a break from the books.

Happy Thanksgiving

The dorms celebrated last week, and I got my fill of turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, and stuffing. It was wonderful, and I wasn't even required to clean it up this time. The best part was sitting around afterward, drinking wassail, and listening to the dorm guys sing loud ballads ("I will always love you," "Time to Say Good-bye," you get the picture). Dinner and a show! Never a dull moment at BFA.

Hoping you all enjoy time with family and friends today. Eat some pie for me!!!

Remembering Well

I wrote this at midnight last week when I couldn't sleep after visiting a Holocaust exhibit.

November 9, 2010

Today, of all days, I broke a glass. Before fate or fortune could stop it, it had slipped from my fingers and scattered into hundreds of pieces, escaping even into the tiniest crevices of my kitchen walls. Of course I retaliated with the broom and dustbin, but there was that one shard, astoundingly wedged between floor and the cupboards of my new home. The broom wasn’t enough, so I had to use my very fingers to pry it loose. With a violent tug, the sparkling glass came out, but not before it had extracted the tiniest trickle of blood from my index finger, the price of its sacrifice.

Today, of all days, I met you. I believed I was heightening my intellectuality by attending my first German lecture. Proudly was I ready to cast my critical eye over the newest museum display and talk mightily with my fellow colleagues about our superiority of compassion over people of the past. But I had barely made it past the door when you greeted me, standing there in your button-down wool coat, carpet slung over one arm and tote bag firmly clutched in the other. You stood in the middle of the lively crowd, and your thoughts were a hundred miles away. No one was looking at you. Everyone was too busy staring at the guard who had just barely forced himself into the edge of the frame, finger outstretched, tonsils glaring at me from his open throat. Your father was scowling at him, your mother hanging on to his arm fearfully, her own bag pressed against her chest. Kids who should have been in school were congested up almost to your legs, and neighbors hung with their big bosoms over their balcony rails to watch the spectacle. You just stood there in front of the transport truck, obviously unfazed, your smooth facial features emotionless and your lips pursed in a straight line. Yet the injustice of what was happening simmered beneath the surface. You could feel it in the pulse of your fingertips, and your eyes were fiery as you stared off into a distant land where no price was demanded of your blood.

Today, of all days, I walked the same streets you once called home. The glass has been cleaned up along with your carpet and other possessions that were pried from your fingers seventy-two Novembers ago. Then, the people praised themselves for their purity and rational-mindedness; now, we praise ourselves for our empathy and open-heartedness. Yet how does any of it compare to the simplicity of a young girl whose life splintered into thousands of shards in the blink of an eye? Who was asked to pay an ultimate price? And only one forgotten photographer noticed as she boarded that transport truck and slipped into oblivion.

Today, of all days, I will remember your scar as I finger my own.

Finally: an Update!

I know it's been a while. Oops. Life continues to be good though very very very very busy. This week for example, I got asked to babysit last minute Monday night, drove some colleagues to a Holocaust exhibit Tuesday night, attended an Alpha Course session Wednesday night, subbed at my regular dorm Thursday night, went to a fun concert we've been planning since August on Friday night, and moved in with a couple high school kids to babysit Saturday night. All of it was very fun, and I'm glad I did them, but it's a challenge filling in the cracks with lesson planning and grading when all I want to do is use my new Internet to call people. :-)

Actually, I also mention all those evening things because I covet your prayers for some of them:
- babysitting: the family from Monday night has a student of mine you'll meet in my next prayer update if you get those. She could really use your prayers for her academic needs.
- dorm life: November is traditionally the hardest month for the dorm kids. They've been away from home now the longest, and Christmas is "still" a month away. This is when they're the crankiest. Grades tend to slip, and fights can break out in the dorms. Pray for perseverence.
- Alpha course: The 1st night came, and 10 missionaries showed up. 0 Germans. I wasn't overly shocked having grown up watching my parents do evangelism in slightly religiously dead Europe, but it was still a disappointment when so many of us had invited friends and neighbors. We're going to keep doing it in the hopes that one of these Wednesdays an outsider might still show up. You could pray. Thanks!
- Concert: It was a personal encouragement to me to see my favorite group (Casting Crowns), and I praise God for the opportunity to go. :-)

You're all a blessing. Happy November!

Fall Party

Life is finally settling down a bit. That doesn't mean it's getting quieter by any means, but I'm getting more comfortable with its routine, and there's lots of laughter again.

Exhibit A would have to be the Middle School Fall Party a couple of weekends ago. I was blown away by the creativity of the students' costumes. The theme was "Children's Books." Here are some costume examples:

2 Stepsisters

Goldilocks and the 3 Bears
Grumpy the Dwarf and Bigfootthe characters from Winnie the PoohCat in the Hat, Thing 1, and Thing 2

The teachers all wore letters and were the alphabet from Chicka Chicka Boom Boom. I accidentally found this rap online, and of course then we all had to wig out to it on stage during the party. The kids called it "epic" when we were done. I'm not quite sure what I let myself be talked into, but I had fun! (For video, please refer to facebook.)

Best News...

...I've heard all day: Jen's blog. Hooray, Jen and Harry! I'm so excited for you!!!

Middle School Overnight

Last weekend was the Middle School Overnight, a night on which crazy teachers take the entire middle school to a youth hostel on the German-Swiss border. To make it even crazier, they do it on a soggy weekend full of rain in order to coop themselves up inside with said middle schoolers! Actually, it was a blast!

We played Group Scategories, had a bonfire with S'mores, played Capture the Flag in an apple orchard, watched a hilarious movie that was perfect for their age, and followed it up with a time of Praise & Worship. The chaplain and I ended the night by taking willing and brave students on a night hike!
After breakfast on Saturday, we went on the famous "Middle School Overnight Country Hike." We crossed the border into Switzerland which was cause for more than one spread-eagle (or feet) picture. A big debate arose over the cows: Were they cows on the border Swiss or German, and would they say "Muh" or Mueeh"? In all seriousness though, the hike was the best part because I ended up having some really great conversations with some kids. One boy was missing his old school in Russia, and I gave him room to vent about all the changes in his life lately. Another girl wanted to know my opinion on all kinds of theological topics, and the best was when we went back and forth listing all the things we were excited to do in heaven one day. Super fun!This was followed by the group photo, and then parents showed up to pick up their much-missed kids. The end.

Teacher Retreat

Last Friday after school, 42 teachers piled into some cars and took off for the Teach Beyond Chalet, which happens to be in Adelboden, Switzerland (Alps!!!). The purpose of the retreat was to connect as staff (since the turnover rate at BFA is so high every year) and to unite under a vision of what it means to be a teacher to TCK's. We spent time reading and praying together, hiking, playing games, and doing everyday tasks such as cooking, cleaning, and driving.

Goats frolicking on the mountainside

Friends Katie and Jillthe view Sunday morning at breakfast

Round and Round

In 7th grade Geography, we've started a new unit on Water and Climate. One of the things I needed to teach was the water cycle. Trying to be the impressive, cool teacher that I aspire to be, I looked to youtube for any funny or creative ideas to really drive home the main concepts. Lo and behold, I found this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YswL4dIDQuk

At first, I thought it was way too elementary and corny for my wanna-be-cool-and-grown-up middle schoolers, so I chose another one instead. Much more adult and fact-driven. On Tuesday, I cued up the video on my laptop before taking it into the classroom and plugging it into the beamer. However, when I went to hit "play," I had selected the wrong video, and, as you can guess by now, played this one instead. The kids LOVED it!

I had to immediately play it again, and for fun and review I played it again today. Now everyone on campus hates me because all the 7th graders are wandering around singing the song. "Oh the water cycle, round and round. Vapor goes up and rain comes down." And if you watch to the Uncle Dan part, try to imagine how they dissolve into giggles every time we reach that part.

A Much better First Day

Yesterday was the first day of classes! My Middle School Principal also dubs it "the day of screaming children" because everyone is so excited to see each other again after the super long summer apart. Some MK's, who were on Home Assignment in the states or Canada or Korea, were even gone for over a year, so the tears flow readily. It's a very happy reunion.
The big highlight is the Opening Ceremonies for the entire school (high, middle, and elementary), faculty, staff, dorms, parents, and friends. We all marched in to happy music, and then they switch it dramatically for the Class of 2011 who parades in carrying the flags of all the countries represented by this year's student body. This year it's 52 countries!
Normally, the first part of the ceremony is a speech by the Director of the school. Since Tim Shuman resigned last year, our new interim director, Phil Peters, was on the schedule. But I didn't see him anywhere in the front row. Weird. Suddenly, the lights dimmed, and a spotlight shown on this big black box in the rafters where Phil was emerging and within 10 seconds was rappelling down to the stage. Highly cool. The kids absolutely flipped out with laughter and applause.
From there, things went on pretty normally. The Middle schoolers split off from the big group for our own assembly, ID photos, and textbook collecting, and then I took the 6th graders - my Homeroom Class!!! (so adorable) - to our classroom. Following some housekeeping items that took nearly an hour and a half, we then entered a mock schedule where the kids visited all their classes and met their teacher for 8 minutes. It was super busy day, but all in all, I'm so glad school's starting, and I no longer have to be in the planning stage.

Here I am in the Middle school office with my friend, Rachel (the Science and math teacher).I hope soon to introduce you to my students a bit.

A "Crappy" First Day

That title makes it seem like I had a horrible first day back, and that's not quite true, just a horrible first hour. Literally crappy. And here's why:

** Warning: not for the weak stomach!**

It needs to be said first of all that flying is not very kind to my bowels. I get bloated on planes and of course feel very uncomfortable throughout the whole travel experience, so I'm always happy to get back to a real house with a real bathroom. When David picked me up from the airport, he took me straight to my new apartment, which was SOOOO exciting. After we brought up the suitcases and he took off to let me nap, I immediately headed to the bathroom to do my thing. Forgetting that the pipes hadn't been used in 3 months, I proceeded to press down the button to flush. It didn't send out flushing water, however. Instead, it sent out a high-pressure burst of air that in turn sent poop and pee flying all over my bathroom and all over me.

Needless to say, I was not very happy (though grateful my mouth had been closed). I only freaked out a little though and was able to quickly find a rag to clean up my mess, hose down the shower, peel out of my clothes, and then quickly douse myself in pure water. I also ran around the apartment opening all faucets to let water run out. Welcome home, huh?

Yuck.

So kiss me and smile for me

Because I'm smiling pretty big right now. As of yesterday, my support is at 100%!!!! WOHOOOOOO! I still can hardly believe God made it all happen!!! And truth be told, that is the "unofficial" number, which means enough people have told me they'd like to support me, and 100% of the costs could be covered. However, the "official" number is lower, meaning not everyone has told WorldVenture yet, so they still think I'm at 95%. But I'm sure people will let them know in the next couple of weeks.

I leave today on that jet plane! 7:40 tonight. I'm scheduled to arrive in Basel tomorrow at 2 pm local time, and the Loves will pick me up and take me back to my new apartment, lined wall to wall with boxes that need unpacking. You can pray for me for the next few days:
- to get over jet lag quickly
- set up my classroom
- get the first week of lessons planned well
- find lights so I can see in my apartment
- can get settled enough that I'm don't freak out living among boxes for a few days

THANKS to everyone for the love and support this summer. THANKS to God for allowing me to return to BFA on time!

I would go to the ends of the earth

To be honest, I had my first "this missions thing stinks" today. I haven't had one up until now. Sure there have been rough patches and mornings I didn't want to call another church and "beg" for money, but I never was sad to think of going. I never doubted that my calling into missions was the greatest thing ever! Today though, when my parents drove off and I left my brother and his family at the airport, for the first time, it wasn't so rosy.

I suppose meeting Olivia had something to do with it; she'll be walking the next time I see her. It's also the fact that as a family, we've always had the next get-together on the calendar, even if it was nearly a year out in the future, there was something certain to look forward to. Furthermore, I've never left for a two-year stint to anywhere. The most was 11 months in Taiwan. 2 years!?! It just sounds so much longer!

I was feeling pretty low in the car on the way back to Shoreview tonight. So God showed up in the form of a song on the radio again (he's done it before). The song "Jesus, I believe in you" has ministered to me before, but never quite the way it did tonight: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ErYjQNg_BAw.

Jesus, I believe in you,
and I would go to the ends of the earth
the ends of the earth
For you alone are the Son of God
and all the world will see that you are God
You are God!

It's all about Him. I've had the privilege up until now that it could also be somewhat about my love of Europe, my own knowledge of German, and my comfort of living cross-culturally. the cost hasn't been as real to me, but now that it is, I need to remind myself daily that it is still all about him. As they told us in training, nothing will keep you in your calling as much as a commitment to obedience. So, the "stinky days" will probably come again, but I know who's God, and I know where I'm supposed to be.

Yikes!

In faith that the final 7% will come in, I went ahead and bought a ticket!!! Not quite sure it was the wisest thing yet, but the prices were too good to pass up, plus you kind of need to book at least a couple weeks out in advance. However, I won't be able to use it until WorldVenture registers 100% support. Please pray!

Renewal Conference

Renewal Conference is WorldVenture's Annual conference for all its missionaries (who can come) and the staff members from headquarters. The President of the mission gives the State of the Mission update, and we get to hear about all kinds of new ideas and great initiatives for reaching more people around the globe. It's very exciting.

But my favorite part by far were the first two days where we spend every minute of every session only in prayer. I'd never been to a Prayer Summit like that before, and I know I thought "What in the world could we spend two whole days praying about?" However, it was amazing! Monday morning was all about just praising and worshiping our cool God. In the afternoon, we broke into two groups - men and women. Tuesday morning was for prayer in small groups, and I got to share a neat time with 4 amazing women I admire. Then in the afternoon, we all came back together again to offer petitions for the various ministries around the world.

in the Europe/Middle East prayer room

I walked away from the week emotionally and mentally drained but spiritually so revived! Funny how that works.

Showing off my niece

This melts my heart! 12 days till I get to meet her:

My Country Tis of Thee ... which one?

The 4th of July always brings with it such mixed feelings. I am extremely grateful to be an American. More than anything, I know what privileges my little eagle-embossed, blue-stitched passport bears outside these borders, not to mention the incredible opportunities and freedoms I've gotten to experience within this country. I've gotten to travel coast to coast and back again in one summer, seeing sights such as roaming elk in Yellowstone, the crack in the Liberty Bell, the view from the top of Space Mountain, and the chance to lie in four states at once. My education is another thing not to be taken for granted. I'm nearly finished with my master's degree - how many people around the world can claim that? How many of them female? And of course, who can forget the American staples such as national security, religious freedom, and apple pie?

However, a part of me feels more homesick than ever on this particular day. And with each passing year it gets harder and harder to pinpoint where I'm homesick for. Austria to be sure, but each trip there reminds more and more that I've moved from resident to visitor status, so it's hard to be HOMEsick for a certain place anymore. Germany and BFA? Not yet. My parents' house? Maybe that gets a little closer, but it still doesn't explain the way I both burst with pride and feel riddled with guilt when I try to sing "My Country Tis of Thee," which has nothing to do with where my parents find themselves at the moment.

The longing to have a home country and, more than anything, to BELONG somewhere is so strong sometimes. Once again, the only place I can find solace for my aching heart is in God's word and the promise of the place he's preparing. I trust that he knows me so well that he's going to make my house in heaven exactly what I need on all levels - spiritual, mental, emotional - and that upon entering it, I'll know for the first time in my life that I'm HOME! It will fit me like a glove and wrap me up in a warm blanket. Until then, I'll gladly cheer the fireworks, mumble as many of the words as I can remember to the Star-Spangled Banner, and stand tall and proudly when I watch the waves roll in on an Oregon shore, but oh how I long for that day of being finally in MY country! The one that ironically truly is of sweet liberty.

Olivia Marie

It is with so much joy and more pride than a spinster aunt probably should feel that I get to introduce the newest member of my family: Olivia Marie Custer!!! She was born on June 25 after 33 hours of labor (Fiona, you're my new hero) at 21 inches and 7 lbs 12 oz. And she's adorable if I do say so myself.

Summer Reading and Reflections

It's been a long time that a book as moved me to tears as often as Too Small To Ignore by Wess Stafford has. In it, he tells his testimony starting with the blissful months he spent living with his family in tropical West Africa, being loved on and cherished by the African village his parents were ministering to, and growing both in his conviction of God's love for him and the calling on his life to help the poorest of the poor. I actually laughed out loud at some of the stories, especially the one where a clothes donation arrives from America, and the chief, who gets first choice of course, selects old women's nighties to wear.

However, his testimony also includes the dark months spent at his MK boarding school several hundred miles away where he encountered child abuse of the foulest kind, both physical and emotional. It broke my heart and just added to the mounting resolve I felt this past year to keep fighting for children around the world. They are under so much more attack than I ever realized. Wess Stafford makes the point that the most common age in which people turn to Christ is under 18. Ask most believers today when they became Christians, and you'll receive a "pre-adult" answer. That's why he's convinced a spiritual war rages over children because the enemy knows if he can keep them from trusting God before 18, half the battle is won.

I went to BFA thinking I was serving missionaries across Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and North Africa and helping them stay in their ministries, and that's still 100% true. But it's so much more. I've found MY mission field in the 320 kids who attend our school, many more non-believers than I expected. So many of them have seen and experienced deep hurt already in the countries they come from: friends oppressed, families divided, war, murder, constant threat, and adamant refusal of the hope-bringing gospel. If Satan can get to them in these years, he may be able to destroy not only the ministries of their parents (who can't concentrate or ethically stay on the field if their kids are hurting), but also the spirits of these kids entrusted to BFA.

My child advocacy may not be among the poorest of the poor as Wess Stafford's is, but I believe in it more assuredly today than even a year ago! If you're looking for some not-so-light-but-excellent summer reading, I highly recommend this book.

Summer Plans

My summer is slowly taking shape, and I thought I'd put up some dates just in case any of you wonderful, loyal readers want to come to anything or possibly get together! I really want to see ALL of you this summer.

6/18: Update Evening at Grace Church Roseville in Roseville, MN
7/6: speak at Women's Missionary Stewardship at Grace Church Roseville
7/8?: leave for Nebraska, see friends and family along the way
7/11: speak at two churches in grandparents' home town?
7/13: arrive in Colorado
7/15: speak at Deborah Meeting at E-Free Church Colorado Springs, CO
7/15 - 7/17: Training at WorldVenture
7/19 - 7/23: Renewal Conference for WorldVenture
7/27: start journey back to Minnesota
8/1: speak at Cedar Creek Church in Hayfield, MN
8/4: speak at Bible Study at Hayden Heights Baptist Church in St. Paul, MN
8/4-8/8: Family Vacation (hopefully with my new little niece)

I'd love to fill in all those gaps. :-) E-mail me! Much love,
Katrina

Lizzie's Big Day

My whole reason for coming back to the states before BFA's school year was up was so that I could share in my old roommate's Big Day. It actually started 2 days earlier with the bachelorette party. Ask me sometime about how lost I got on the way there.
Here's a better shot of the beautiful bride on her wedding day:
I really enjoyed my time as a bridesmaid in the stunning blue dresses. I laughed so much! Though part of that could've been the jet lag. Rita (in the picture below) was usually the main reason for my laughter. Ooh, and they had the cutest chocolate-covered strawberries ever!
What a gentleman Ben was to help her into her shoes before their first dance and the father-daughter dance.Loved the shock when Lizzie discovered it was HER car that got smeared and not Ben's. I think he loved that, too.
All in all, a very fun day! Friends of Lizzie, if you want more pictures, see facebook.

Moving Day

I once again forgot to take pictures of the actual apartment, but it's a mess now anyway. Here are some shots of the move though. Thanks guys (AC, KK, TC, TA, HP, SS, and EH) as well as all my WorldVenture colleagues who showed up to move and pray. Love you all.

I had forgotten about the carrying the mattress down the street. It and two chairs were the only things that didn't fit into the truck. Fortunately, I didn't move far.
Enjoying my first outdoor dinner at the new place with Doner pizza. Yummm.

More of VW

As we're working on VW's final History project (a self-invented board game), he has me cutting out little circle soldiers while he works on the catapults and centurions. Of course, he only needs 4 catapults, but he's asked for 220 circle soldiers. So, I'm cutting away while he's drawing, when a parent walks in. She starts asking me about her two kids and their homework status, and naturally I put the scissors down to devote my full attention.

Barely two minutes into the conversation, VW looks up. "Hey, less talking, more working!"

Final Week

My last week at BFA for this first year hasn't exactly gone as planned. In fact, it's been rather tough in a year that's been rather filled with tough weeks. More bad things happened, and more tears were shed on behalf of students I've come to love and care for deeply. On Wednesday night, I found myself engrossed in a deep conversation with God, wondering what the point of being here was if the cost to my heart was so great. The spiritual weight felt heavy on my chest, and I went so far as to question MK schools as a whole. Were they really all that wonderful? Did I want to go back to the states and defend them to supporters and friends? "Sure, send your kids to an MK school where they'll be emotionally dragged through the mud!" I stood on my bed, peering out my skylight window, and praying over and over that God would bring more healing (theme of the year). It was a late night, and there didn't seem to be any answers, so I feel asleep exhausted.

48 hours later, and I'm still tired. I've been staying late at school and coming home to pack more boxes for the big move on Tuesday. There are errands to run, bills to pay in advance, suitcases to pack for the states, and good-byes to be said. And in the midst of this chaos, God just gave me a gift. 5 minutes ago, my work was interrupted by a pack of squealing boys out on the square. Yes, you read that right: squealing boys! I ran to the skylight over my bed to see what the commotion was, and I saw some strangely clad boys dashing around and looking behind lampposts, around the fountain, and under benches. One of them screamed louder, and the others congregated as he pulled a neon yellow hat out from under the bench with a crumpled piece of paper. He put the bright hat on his head, proceeded to read what I assume was a clue to the others, and then they all ran off squealing some more. It made me smile.

Maybe this place is a place worth investing in. Maybe these kids, who certainly have seen a lot of bad things in this world, need a haven, and just maybe BFA can still be one. I got to thinking. What if the bad things that happened this year would have happened somewhere else, where they couldn't have been caught or curbed or healed? What if being at an MK school actually was God's way of pulling them out? What if the people who are here are here for a reason this year? I may not know all the staff yet, but the ones I know really do care, and the students I know best have sensitive hearts. I feel honored to be a part of it.

Funniest Moment of the Day

All the seniors are stressing out about meeting their community service hours quota before graduation. Those are basically volunteer hours that they do for people in the community for free. I have 6 helping me move next week.

So today on my way home, I saw two of them sweating in the sun hauling bricks.

Me: Ah, trying to rack up those hours, huh?
HVDM: No, this is for the joy of the Lord!

Made me laugh. (By the way, those really are all HVDM's initials.)

God's working

I still look back at the last three months and cannot believe all that God has done. Here's a work in progress of my attempt to express some of it:

Out of February's grime, you brought May's identity.
Out of rot, you brought worth.
Out of ashes, beauty.

You turned February's scars into May's completeness.
You turned trash into a crown.
Shame into honor.

For February's storm, you exchanged May's rays.
For driftwood, you exchanged a temple.
For brokenness, healing.

February grew winter. May found spring.
February held loss. May gave gain.
February saw death. May was life.

I love VW

I continue to be amazed at VW's progress. He was less than happy this morning in History, and it was all I could do to drag him through the lesson. We had almost reverted to the old days of his never answering my questions and not even making eye contact.

But then this afternoon, the 5th graders came over to visit the middle school, their new home next year. The 6th graders were assigned various jobs in showing their underclassmen the ropes, and VW was given the task of tour guide down the main hallway. My heart was filled with warm fuzzies when I heard his strong voice and Swedish accent drifting through my door:

"And here is de computer lab. You will learn many dings in dere about computer programming and typing. Now Room 405 is de storage room. You will not need to go in dere. Here is de Resource Room. Come along now. Hurry, please."

Adorable!

London, baby!

(Sarah Helget, that title's for you.)

The AP trip to London was SO MUCH fun - good kids, fantastic city, and a break from the routine. Hurrah! The youth hostel was really the only downer what with the stench, the nasty public showers, and the attached disco, not to mention the drunken fist fight right outside one's door in the middle of the night.

On Thursday we arrived, hit the British Museum, took 1/2 the students to the Imperial War Museum, wandered around Covent Garden, and saw Phantom of the Opera. My feet were shot by the end of that night. On Friday we went to Greenwich, saw maritime stuff at their museum, paraded around the Natural History Museum, snuck off to Foyle's bookstore, and attended a Globe production (that sadly left some things to be desired, such as proper clothes for some of the characters). On Saturday we visited Blenheim Palace and Oxford, where my friend Adeline joined me for the day. And on Sunday we hit some main sites in London such as Parliament, Westminster, and Buckingham (all from the outside), and returned to BFA 3 hours before they shut Gatwick Airport due to the ash cloud. Praise God!

Prime Meridian

old-fashioned tennis balls

the Globe with the rather promiscuous rendition of Midsummer Night's Dream

Definite highlight: Foyle's bookstore that the show Foyle's War was named after; I bought a book on Anglo-Saxon history in Britain (yep, I'm a nerd)

Got to see Adeline (friend from Ecuador)

Last adventure of the year - apart from moving in 2 weeks, though I'm not nearly looking forward to that one as much. Love you all and can't wait to see most of you soon.

Retro Day

I think I'm mourning the fact that Austrian schools never had spirit days (can you imagine!) by completely overkilling my costumes when we have spirit days here. The theme this time was 60's, 70's or 80's. Here's one of me with other middle school teachers and the principal - my future colleagues! Makes me happy.(If you couldn't tell, I was supposed to be a hippie.)

Kids and Colds

I should invest in the hand sanitizer stock market. Every day after my middle schoolers leave, I practically run to the hand sanitizer in the hallway, load up two paper towels and wipe down every surface I can in my room. Yesterday, one particular middle schooler finished blowing his nose and threw away his tissue (after the usual routine of his putting it on the table and my asking him to throw it away), and then he returned to his seat with a giant, hot pink booger hanging out of his nose. In revolt, I pushed my chair away, hurled another tissue at him, and pointed aghast, "What's that?" He wiped the hot pink booger into the kleenex, studied it for a minute, and said, "Must be my nose medicine. My mom told me not to blow it out." For one lingering, dreadful second, I thought he was going to sniff it back up into his nose, but to my relief, he crumpled it up and placed it on the table (until I once again asked him to throw it away in the trash).

Look what God has done

I'd never understood what people were talking about when they were glad to see a month end. Sure some months were often tougher than others, but I never blamed it on the month itself. Until this past February. It was bad from start to finish, full of crises and challenges and bad news. Those of you who helped pray me through it remember! March didn't come soon enough, and it definitely turned a corner. High school retreat picked up our spirits, and then we all headed in spring break with mission trips and uplifting conferences. I looked back at February 2010 and said, "Good. Riddance!" February was rot, dust, ashes.

Last week and today, the Black Forest Christian Fellowship (the English-speaking church that meets at school) had baptisms. I decided to forgo my German church to see some of my current and future students make this big step of obedience. Well, no one told me EY was among those getting baptized. EY was the one who helped blow the whistle on the sexual abuse case in February, and so many of you have prayed for her and her healing process since. Today I saw some of those prayers answered. God has brought beauty out of the ashes!
There wasn't a dry eye in the room. Especially from all the boys you can see in the front of the picture - her dorm brothers. During the prayer time, her mother asked everyone who'd invested in EY's life or at any time ever prayed for her to stand. The entire auditorium was on its feet, and I couldn't help but think of all the people and supporters around the world who'd also laid EY at Jesus' feet. It was a beautiful picture. Do February storms also bring May crowns?

Not to overlook all the other students who took big steps today as well, here are some other snapshots. The first one is a girl who'll be my student next year! The middle one had a testimony of loss that also made me sob, and the final shot is one of the boys from the dorm I volunteer at every Thursday. Such sweethearts all of them!