Service Week & Thanksgiving

This last week, as you may know, was service week at our school. All of the students from K-12 were involved in serving others somehow. The older students went off campus around the Kemang area and out to serve others and build relationships. Erik lead a group of 9th graders out to a place called Kupang. They spent the week in an orphanage and nursing home. He returns later tonight and so far I have heard many positive things about his week and I am looking forward to hearing more details about what God did during their week there... We also had lots of fun in my class learning about what it means to serve others! :) Here is how our week in 1st grade looked {warning: this blog contains mass amounts of adorable pictures}

On Monday, all of the 1st grade classes (3 classes) met with some Kindy students and read to them. We talked about being good examples and what it means to show service in this way. 

 

Throughout the week we talked about what service means and how as 6 year old's we can still serve others. In our class, we focused on serving the cleaning staff at our school. We made cards for them and spent some time in the kitchen baking bars to give to them. The students had a hard time at first understanding why they didn't get any of the bars we made - but they were really excited about giving them to the cleaners when the time came. I love watching my students beginning to grasp the fact that everything isn't about them. They were sincerely excited about serving others in this way, and I hope and pray that attitude continues throughout their lives!

Getting ready to serve what we made to the cleaners ... 

We also spent time during the week talking about Thanksgiving and being thankful. We talked about the story of the 10 lepers in the Bible and the kids took time to think about all of the things they have to be thankful for. It's very easy for my students (and myself) to take for granted what we have, but I was proud to see them think of the many things they have to be thankful for.

On Thursday, we celebrated Thanksgiving! The kids got to wear "fall" colors and our wonderful class parents made us a yummy Thanksgiving lunch to enjoy with all of the Grade 1 students. It was lots of fun!

After the yummy lunch, parents were invited into the classroom to make a craft together. We were packed! :)

Today (Friday) we wrapped up the week by reflecting on what we learned. We also spent time decorating our class for Christmas - one of my favorite things to do! {I mean it IS the only thing you should be doing after Thanksgiving day, right?!}

It was a tiring but fun and sweet week with my kiddos. I am so thankful for my job and for my wonderful co-workers and students! Thanks for continued prayers- we have 3 weeks left until Christmas break! Time is flying and we are loving life and so blessed! We love you all! 

Bye for now <3

Big Girl Decisions Part II

It's Sunday in Jakarta and we just got finished Skyping with the Fry fam. Last year, I dreaded Sunday's. I still have some rough Sunday's this year too, but they aren't near as bad. This year our wonderful church added a Saturday night service that we have attended regularly and so that has made Sunday's a relaxing, Skyping, sleeping in late, breakfast cooking, watching football kind of day {War Eagle btw}. Which is what we need. And this Sunday is even better, because we have a day off on Tuesday- so it doesn't make Monday seem so bad.

Anyway, as we were Skyping and catching up with the Fry's I realized that there is much going on in our lives right now. I have been wanting to blog about what is going on in our lives and hearts for a few weeks, but it is a little hard to talk about at this point because final decisions haven't been made officially yet. I will do my best to explain the decision process we are going through at this time, but bare with me as I may be a little vague.

Last year at about this time, I posted this blog: Big Girl Decisions. If you didn't read it, check it out. We were at a very different point in our decision making process last year. And even though this year we are feeling led differently than we were at this time last year, there are still hard and big decisions we are praying about and making, and we are feeling some of those same emotions we were feeling last year at this time. For those of you who aren't aware of the process, we sign a year by year contract. We sign our contract before the Christmas holiday (around December 14th). So as we are coming up on this big decision, here are some things you can be praying for us and with us about:

First at foremost we are seeking wisdom. We believe that there may not be a "right" or "wrong" decision in this circumstance, but we do believe strongly that God has a plan for us and we want to do what is best. Our first desire is to glorify God, so whether we stay here or move back to the States, please pray that our desire would be to honor God. It's easy to let emotions and desires (which aren't necessarily bad) seep in and cloud our decision making process. Not that we aren't letting our desires help us make our decision, but we just want to make sure that we are seeking God first throughout the process.

Be praying for the remainder of our year here. This big decision is overwhelming and exciting but we don't want it to take away from the moment we are living now. We want to be all here. We believe God has us where he has us now for a reason, and we don't want to forget that.

Once our decision about staying or going is made for sure, I will be able to ask for more specific prayer requests. I wanted to let friends and family know where we are at now. I know that even though this blog is not specific, that many of you will join us in praying. It is exciting and scary not knowing exactly what is next for us. God is working in our lives and we are excited about our next stage in life and ministry wherever that may be.

We love you all. Bye for now <3