4+3+2+1= 4 Quarters, 3 Teachers, 2 Sides, 1 Week.

Who knew that so much could happen in one week and yet, so much could still need to be done.



Making Bilateral Symmetry Insects!



4: We have already flown through ¼ of our school year! It is crazy to think about how much has happened and yet how fast it has gone. From the topics that we have covered to memories we have made, I wish that at times I could slow down the movie or go back to enjoy the parts even further. Still this year there have also been a lot of challenges. So as the Lord knows best I guess, we continue to flow through life with everything flashing past us, growing and learning as we go.



We designed half of the insect on one side
and then painted that half, folding and squishing
to make the symmetrical side!



3: We have now reached the week where Mr. Bloom, our (Jenn and my) student teacher is teaching all of the subjects. He will continue with this until for two more weeks and then we will start taking the classes back. This whole time has certainly been a learning experience for all three of us. Our students are learning to adapt and switch between each teacher, their style, and their differences. While we have tried to remain as consistent as possible with our expectations, and routines, it always takes some adjustment for the student teacher, etc.

2: Last Friday I went and judged my first debate tournament! It was certainly different than the debates in the states, as the program is new and growing, but it is definitely a great learning experience for all involved. The ACA students did really well. For all of the debates that they have participated in during the last 2 years (since it started), ACA has won most of the debates with a superiority in their English and persuasive arguments. Last Friday was the initial debates with no eliminations and tomorrow the students will compete again with single elimination brackets for the 6 teams. The debate topic is whether or not Paraguay should amend their constitution to allow for presidents to be re-elected after their 5 year term. In the past, Paraguay has had dictators that are ruthless and a very corrupt government which still carries over to present. Yet Paraguay has made improvements recently. This debate competition promises to remain interesting and exciting as the finals progress tomorrow!

God is the Ultimate Super Hero!

1: All of the above is just a glimpse of part of my last week. I am also busy planning for our camp coming up which I am directing, leading our subcommittee for re-accreditation of ACSI, taking the MAT this Saturday, etc.

He is omnipotent, omnipresent, and omniscient!

Prayer Request:

1. Please pray for the new teachers coming in, and the teachers switching out

2. Please pray for our overnight elementary camp that will be Oct. 24th – 27th

3. Please pray for our classes and students as they go through transitions and what comes next.

Firsts:

- First time judging a debate tournament!

Our creations!

El Equipo de Naranja: The Orange Team

From fingers to toes in orange (flowers
and ribbons in hair, with facepaint and orange
nail polish)

Have you ever tried to blow up 40+ water balloons? To say the least it is harder than you would think. They are so small and these Paraguayan ones taste terrible! I never knew that the muscles in my mouth could hurt so much. Nonetheless the balloons were successfully blown up to then be popped over the next few hours. Why was this done you may ask? It was done for el equipo de naranja! Family Adventure Night (our PTA picnic) was this last Friday night and we were able to raise lots of money for our school at all of our booths, food, and entrance fees! While the exact numbers have not been announced I know that at least several thousand dollars were raised from the game tickets alone.

All for one and one for the carrots (hey
they are orange and my boys loved them.)

Like last year, 4th grade was teamed up with the 10th graders. Yet instead of being purple like last year, we were given the color ORANGE!!! Head to toe in orange we came to the picnic ready to compete and try to get the most people to play at our games. Our two games at our booth were a ring toss around bottles and a balloon game with numbers inside (balloons with numbers (related to corresponding prizes) are blown around by a fan in a cage. A contestant grabs a balloon, and receives the prize for the number inside). Hence the reason for lots of water balloons being blown up.

Go Orange Team!

Praise the Lord the weather stayed nice and the storm held off to the next morning! The families and students had a great time and it was a wonderful time to improve connections between parents and teachers!

How many licks does it take to get the center of a Paraguayan Lollypop? 1106

Looking for homes and things we miss
everyday!

My crazy whirlwind of a two week class, has come and gone, and I must say that this was by far my favorite master’s class so far! It was all about Secondary Language Acquisition; and I found it to be exciting, challenging, and applicable. It was truly great to be able to learn more strategies and methods to provide better instruction for my students. As well the class helped me to better understand the process and necessary foundations. In fact, I am starting to think more about further study in Bilingual Education. Praise the Lord for this blessing!

Examing nature and the making
connections to the biogeochemical
cycles!

During the midst of my master’s class, when I was not working on my 4th and 5th grade work, I have been working on some of my responsibilities as the chair of the Safety, Health, and Nutrition committee (for our ACSI accreditation). I have been busy setting up new emergency evacuation procedures, folders, protocols, etc. Our school has been under code for years in all of these areas, and it is definitely taking a while to get things back together. We already have one fire drill down and another one this week. Thankfully we are working hard to improve and provide a better and safer environment for our students.

Fresh cut flowers that some of my students
brought in for me!
 (including orchids and
hibiscus)

The Joy of the Lord. During this crazy and busy time it has been the joy from the peace of the Lord that has given me the strength and support that I need. This joy is such a blessing and it is great to see it in my children as well. You also can’t help but smile from the innocence and joy in my students with their comments, actions, and determination. For instance, the Tootsie Roll Pop sales movement about “How many likes does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie Roll Pop?” came up in a discussion and I mentioned it to my students. What happens next, but one of my 5th graders licks a Paraguayan lollypop 1106 times to get to the center!

Licks to center: 1106

Master’s Class Take Three!

Our internet has been having problems in our apartments so I apologize that this was written and ready for Tuesday, but did not post!

All right, day 1 down in my third master’s class and in a couple of hours I will be off to my second night. Sorry if this blog post is a little short, but with full-time school (6:40am- 3:00pm) and then master’s class M-F (6-9pm) and Sat. (8-1pm) for two weeks things are definitely crazy. Still in all the craziness, I feel so blessed with this class. I am currently taking “Teaching English as a Second Language”. Out of the three classes I truly think that I will enjoy this class the most. The teacher has had a lot of experience in the area, as a student, elementary teacher, parent, and master’s level professor. She seems to have really thought through the material, and the assignments seem applicable and clear. It is such reliefs after the last few classes have been a little all over the place and crazy. This teacher has recently moved to Paraguay with her family and I hope that she will teach more classes to come!

Here are some pictures from some of the class activities that we have done this week!

Prayer Requests:

1. Please pray for strength, endurance and wisdom while I take my master's class

2. Please pray for the sicknesses that have been going around the school!

3. Praise the Lord we have a new junior high teacher! She should be coming soon!

4. Praise the Lord, several of our teachers and staff are expecting! Please pray for a smooth pregnacy and for the new replacements that need to be found as some are leaving and others will take a leave of absence.

Firsts:

1. First time hearing that the Nina, Pinta, and the Santa Maria are "the famous sisters" and that Leif Erikson "was the fastest man on earth". One of my students put this on a social studies test for my co-teacher! He did admit that he didn't study and hadn't done the homework. : )  

Strawberry Festival and Cold Days!

     So as I am writing this, I just finished making my great great grandmother’s secret sugar cookie recipe! They are delicious. Yet it still struck me that tied for my favorite part were the cookies and the heat from opening up the oven every time! It has suddenly dropped back into our cold winter weather and with the humidity it gets you deep into the bone. Now for all of you northerners that are laughing at me right now… with Paraguay’s cold days usually in the low 40s and 50s, I have not forgotten about our winters. Here the cold really gets you as there is little if any insulation on the buildings and the humidity can truly pierce you to the bone. It feels like you are living in your garage and there isn’t really an escape from the cold. Often it is colder inside the buildings than outside. Especially like at church this Sunday as the cinder block walls and metal sheet roof served to keep the cold in like an icebox. Keeping this in mind, PLEASE pray for the people that live in the chacarita (one of the biggest slums in Asuncion), shacks, and on the streets. I am blessed to be able to layer lots of clothes, have hot water and a stove, and other ways to get warm, they do not.

     While this weekend was a cold one, I was able to go to the strawberry festival at Aregua! While it was much smaller than the Grove City strawberry festival (I know, hard to believe ; ) the strawberries were delicious and the time with friends was great! Paraguay had a fantastic strawberry crop this year and Aregua ( a town 30 minutes out from Asuncion (see a post from about a year ago for more on Aregua and its pottery) put strawberries in and on everything! There were chocolate covered strawberries, strawberry filled empanadas, little strawberry cakes, strawberry fruit salad, strawberries and crème, strawberry jam, strawberry juice, other strawberry drink (some alcoholic) and of course fresh picked strawberries! This was such a treat to be able to have some of these sweets as strawberries, really any berry, are rare and expensive here. I have to admit, I have almost finished the whole kilo I bought on Saturday!

Prayer Requests:
1. Please pray for all of the new teachers at ACA. They are starting teaching for the first time, which is overwhelming on top of moving around the world to a foreign country.
2. Please pray that we get the new teacher that we are looking for! (The position is middle school Social Studies and English if you know anyone who may be interested!)
3. Please pray for ACA and all of the new changes that it is going through!
4. Please pray for the people that cannot escape the cold and are suffering!

Firsts:
- First time going to the Aregua Strawberry Festival!

Beauty in the Ruins

    This weekend we celebrated two holidays: La Fundacion de Asuncion (the foundation of Asuncion) and El dia de los ninos (the day of the children (to celebrate the children who had to fight in the past wars of Paraguay when they ran out of enough men)). Because of this we had a 3 day weekend and I jumped at the opportunity to go to the southern part of France and see the Jesuit ruins near the city of Asuncion!

    The Jesuit missionaries were some of the first people to reach into the center of South America and current day Paraguay. Along with being some of the first European people to learn Guarani and make contact with these people, they also stood up for these indigenous people during the major land battle between the Spanish and Portuguese. With desires for the land and slavery, eventually the Spanish and Portuguese forced out the Jesuits one of the last supporters of the Guarani. While some of the Jesuits and guarani at the missions left regretfully, but without violence other missions stood their ground. The movie the Mission is a great representation of some of this history and I strongly recommend the film!!!

    Because of the removal of the Jesuits, their missions were destroyed, never completed, or left to age over time. The ruins that I was able to see were that of the ruins of Trinidad and the ruins of Jesús. The ruins at Trinidad are some of the largest in Paraguay as you can see from the numerous buildings that made up this mission. The Church and accompanying building at Jesús were never completed before the Jesuits had to leave. Recently these ruins have been remodeled and restored.


    I was so blessed to be able to see these ruins and get a look into the history, passion, and light of God shown in that time. The impressive sculpting and beautiful architecture is truly breath-taking and astounding for them to have been created during that time and with hand tools. They were definitely in the middle of nowhere and still are pretty far away from anything else.

Happiness or Joy

           This month, our elementary school is studying Joy. Joy has always been special to me, not only because it is my middle name but also for what it truly is and where it comes from. This Thursday I will be our chapel speaker for 3rd – 5th grade and I have decided to share with them about the difference between happiness and joy. This has certainly been a lesson that I have worked to grow and learn from for years and find to be a huge part of teaching and living overseas. Happiness can come in a moment and is fleeting. It is directly linked with the about of emotion that is evoked from something. Webster defines it as good fortune and a pleasurable or satisfying experience. When teaching, sometimes students will say something funny, a lesson goes well, a parent tells you a positive thing their child has learned. These little moments are great and enjoyable, but by themselves they will only bring happiness. If in the next minute a student says something hateful to another, or a lesson completely flops, the happiness can change into sadness or frustration. And suddenly the good feelings are gone. When living overseas, one minute you can be discovering a new part of the culture you are living in and the next remember a wedding that you missed because you were away. You could be learning to make a new dish and the next be told of a family injury or hard time that they are going through and not be able to be there for them. The happiness can be gone in a second and if it only comes from what is happening at the time, your emotions are in a constant roller coaster ride.

        The exciting thing is that we have joy that is everlasting and comes from the Lord. Webster defines joy as a source or cause of delight and the emotion evoked by possessing what one desires. While I believe this is be partially true, I also believe that what we truly desire most can only be fulfilled by God and that it is He who our joy then comes from. I love the quote from Mother Teresa that says, “Profound joy of the heart is like a magnet that indicates the path of life. One has to follow it, even though one enters into a way full of difficulties.” The joy the Lord gives us is not a roller coaster, but if we can continue to trust in Him, we can be blessed will an inner “fountain” of joy that is never ceasing. Through teaching and living overseas it has been this joy that has blessed me and guided me in ways to allow opportunities to continue to share God’s love and joy to those around me. I am so thankful for the joy of the Lord that is there in the good times and the challenges.

Prayer Requests:

1. Please pray for all of the new teachers at ACA. They are starting teaching for the first time, which is overwhelming on top of moving around the world to a foreign country.
2. Please pray that we get the new teacher that we are looking for! (The position is middle school Social Studies and English if you know anyone who may be interested!)
3. Please pray for ACA and all of the new changes that it is going through!
4. Please pray that the school would be blessed with the Joy of the Lord and turn to Him in all times.