As many of you know, during our spring break we went on a tour to Turkey and Greece. It is SO hard to explain how amazing the trip was for both of us. We had amazing weather, spent time with great friends, made new friends, and learned so much. It was so cool to be places where Paul and the people of that time actually were. It was a trip of a lifetime that we will never forget! It's hard to pick just one picture to share from the trip but one of the highlights for me was probably standing on Mars Hill. Paul gave his sermon to the philosophers and "deep thinkers" of that city - he preached about their "un-known god" and statues they were worshiping. Our tour leader, Dan, read from Acts 17 and it was crazy to be standing right on the hill looking out at statues of Greek gods galore! Like I said, an experience we will never forget! It's going to be hard to say no next year when Dan leads another tour! :)
{check out my Facebook for heaps more pictures}
After we got back from our trip we had a day to try to recover from jet lag and get ready for the last few months of school! We are now well into term 4 and are already counting down the days until we get on a plane and head back to the States! We have about 7 weeks left - we head home June 8th and arrive to Seattle June 9th. For those of you who would like to know, we will be in the Northwest (Pacific Beach, WA mostly) with Erik's fam from about June 9th through the last week of June and then we will be in Rapid City, South Dakota with my fam until we head back to Oregon (for a friends wedding - yay!) and again to Seattle on July the 15th! It's a short time, but we are excited to see family and friends and are hoping we can see as many of you as possible :)
It is crazy to think that we are already making plans for this summer and are even thinking about next year! Next year, not much will change for us as I will continue teaching K1/K2 and Erik will continue teaching PE. The only real changes are that Erik will no longer be teaching Bible (something that is a little bittersweet - he is excited to be able to devote all his time and energy into the PE and sports program but he will miss the time he got to spend with the students in the Bible classroom) and I will have another teacher teaching with me! Mia has been my teaching assistant all year but next year she is no longer "assistant" status and her and I will be co-teachers! I am SO excited about this. Mia has done so much for me this year and I am excited that we get to continue to work together next year even closer!
Also, as we think about next year, it is sad to think that we will be losing some of our teacher friends that we have gotten close to this year. But, at the same time we are SO excited to welcome new faces to our school! There are 2 girls coming from Corban (1 that I know really well) and we are so excited about it!
AND one more big change next year is that we will be moving!! We are moving to an apartment building right next to the school. This is something that we are VERY excited about! They are closer to the school (no more walking), the kitchen is bigger, and they are in Kemang Village. We will be able to take an elevator down to a grocery store (a HUGE one - basically the Indo version of Walmart), and we are about a 30 second walk away from the mall that they have been building all year. So, as you can tell, I am just a little excited about it :) Chris and Katie will be moving there as well and the new teachers that are coming that are married (without kids) will live there also! We were very thankful for our apartment this year, but are also thankful to be moving to a new one! God is good!
So, as we wrap up this year in the next few weeks, please be praying that we stay focused and finish the year strong. We both still have a lot to teach, plan, and grade before we can be "finished"! Also, you can be praying that we will be able to move into our new place June 1st (a week before we leave) so we can get everything all unpacked and not have to worry about it once we get back after summer break. Like always, thanks SO much for your prayers and love. We love you all and are looking forward to seeing many of you soon!
Bye for now.
