Back to the Grind!

Oh it feels so good to be back at ECA! I missed my students so much! However, I think they forgot most of the procedures I had in place! Matt had this great idea to divide all the students into Bulldog Lines (the school's mascot is the Bulldog). That is a super easy way to go through attendance, it gives the students a specific spot to stand when they come into the gym, and it is a great way to divide teams, all you have to do is say Bulldog lines 1 and 2 over here and 3 and 4 over there. Then they know exactly where they are suppose to go. When the students stand in their BDL, they are suppose to keep their hands to themselves and be quiet so they can listen to instructions and I can take attendance. The last few classes this week it has taken upwards of 15 minutes to get them to settle down. So we had to practice standing in our BDL.

I find it fascinating how I can reason with some of the kids. One class period the third graders had a really rough time getting along and there was/is a lot of blame going around. So I actually sat them all down and gave them a chance to express what they were thinking and feeling. We did not get to be very active but this was more important. The students were given a chance to actually work out their issues. Yes, we still have a lot of blaming going on but they seem to deal with it quicker. I love that each class is different. My third graders are very logical. Last class I told them all to look at the clock and I said we got to play our warm up game till the clock said 12:00. When it got to that time, I stopped the game and had them clean up. They were complaining that it wasn't fair and they didn't get much time to play. I asked them to repeat the time I said we could play till and asked them what time it was. When they remembered what I had said, there was not any more complaining. I also mentioned that if they argue less then they get to play more.

Recently I experienced my first major complaint. I just started a unit of volleyball with 3rd and 4th grades. I had a third grader come up to me and tell me that he did not like volleyball and that it was boring. I asked him why he thought it was boring and that I do not allow the word boring in my gym classes. He thought it was not fun because all we are doing is passing the ball back and forth. So I tried to reason with him by saying we need to practice the skills before we can play games with the skills. He said, well what kind of games and I tried volleyball once and I didn't like it. 'Well go try it again.' 'I did and I didn't like it.' So I asked him what sports he liked to play. His response was swimming and baseball but only when he's the batter. Oish! So he asked to sit out. I told him that we were going to be doing volleyball for the next three weeks and he cannot sit out for the whole unit. Plus, what was he going to do for the rest of the classes when we are doing other sports he doesn't like? His answer was to sit out. No way! So I talked to him about how if he didn't practice then his partner wouldn't have anyone to pass with either. Anyways, this took almost 20 minutes. He was so persistent. Wow! Actually almost the whole class was groaning when I told them we were going to play volleyball for the next three weeks. Thankfully by the second class period with them, they seemed to really enjoy it! This particular student in the next class kept holding his neck when we played dodgeball (they ask to play almost every day). I had other students come up to me to say that they thought something was wrong with him. I said if it really hurts, he'll come tell me. Naturally right after we were finished with dodgeball and we started volleyball, he came up to me and said his neck hurt. I told him if it was okay enough to play dodgeball then it was okay enough to play volleyball... 'yeah but I just tried my best'... 'okay so you can try your best at volleyball'. And that was the end of it. The third class period I had them, he didn't complain at all! Praise the Lord!

On Friday, I had a surprise evaluation with my Kinder class. They are the ones that give me the biggest issues because of the language, the age and they are crazy sometimes! We have some great resources at school in various people. One lady, Glenda, has been teaching for years and years. She is also working specifically with ELL (English Language Learners) and helping integrate English Language Learning into every area of the school. Anyways, she came once before and observed my Kinder class because I had asked her for some strategies to help them learn to listen. She was going to come on Wednesday possibly but that didn't happen. So she showed up on Friday. My Friday Kinder class is only 30 minutes long, which is a much better time frame, there is usually only 5 or so minutes of chaos towards the end instead of 10+. Anyways, I wasn't super excited about my lesson plan but I was just going to do my best and take her advise openly. The first observation did not go well, the kids were running everywhere, not listening, playing with equipment when they were suppose to be listening... it was terrible, I cried after the class and a bit during my evaluation review. I was scared that if I got a poor evaluation that they would fire me. I told that to Glenda and she said if a good evaluation was all I needed to stay that she would always give me a good evaluation. So that was kind of encouraging in a strange way. Anyway, back to Friday's observation/evaluation. It was so much better. The kids listened much better! No it wasn't a perfect class but I would say they had 85% of their attention the whole class period! We practiced how we walk into the gym. We practiced responding to the whistle. We did various balance/locomotor challenges with our bean bags. If they did not listen then I took their bean bag away and if they did listen then they got it back. They practiced tossing their bean bags into hula hoops. It went really well. Yes, there was a small conflict with two boys stepping on each other's feet. So I separated them and asked them to go sit on lines on opposite sides of the basketball court. One, who gives me issues sometimes, sat on the line I told him to sit on and sat their with his hands folded in his lap and his bean bag on the line, like I taught them to when we are sitting in a circle and have bean bags. The other boy did not sit on the line at all but on the grass instead. So I followed him and repeatedly asked him to sit on the line till he obeyed and told him if he sits nicely without moving or talking then he only has to stay for 30 seconds. If he moves or makes noise then the time start over. The first boy got to come back and play while the other boy had to sit there much longer because he kept moving. It was a great example for Glenda! Plus the other kids were listening, for the most part, and continued their activity while I was dealing with the other two. When it was time for the second boy to come back and join the class, I made sure to stop him and ask him how he could honour his classmates, reminded him of what the instructions were, then reminded him again when he began to do something else. There were a couple of things I could work on but they were completely doable and applicable for sure! I need to work on getting the kids to repeat the directions. For example, if I want them to put their bean bag on their head... I would model it and have them repeat "I am putting the bean bag on my head" while they do the action. That will help them learn more English and allow me to check for clarification of the instructions. Oh, and I am starting to go into their classroom on Fridays and read them a story. It is great for me to see them in their classroom, listen to Kylie teach them and what strategies she uses that I can repeat in PE, plus they love story time so they pay attention pretty well.

Okay I really am trying to write less but apparently I have a lot to share! I mentioned how different my classes are, the same goes for middle school and high school. There is a huge difference in the 9-10 boys PE class and the 11-12 class in particular. Let's put it this way, when I help with those two classes, in the 9-10 class I fulfill more of a crowd control/teaching role whereas with the 11-12s I am a bit of a teacher but more of a participant in a way. Instead of walking around giving instructions and reminding the students what they should be doing (i.e. playing volleyball and not soccer), I am invited to join their passing circles or play on their team, even if they have enough players. The 11-12s are super sweet. They are the class that I go help out with when I need to lift my spirits! I tell Matt after almost every class that they make my heart happy! That is the best way I can think to explain it, they make my heart happy! So I baked them cookies for their class on Friday! They were stoked! Here is another example. I helped out with their class on Monday and on Tuesday a couple of them came up to me and started talking to me! What? Some of my cooking class students still ignore more in the hallways and these guys are initiating conversation! That's awesome! It also helps that Eric, the climbing senior that Matt is now officially mentoring, and a bunch of his buddies slackline at lunch. So naturally Matt and I are out there a few days a week hanging out with them. We get to know them that way. I want to encourage them to positively influence the younger grades because they are much less respectful. Wow! Such a huge difference.

I am feeling much better now! I would say about 95% healthy. I am starting to sing again, which I am so grateful for. It's been tough being in chapel and not being able to sing. :( I am still trying to be careful about how loud I am and how much I use my voice. I really do not want to lose it again. Thank you for your prayers!

Oh, we have booked our tickets to North America! We are going to be flying back to Detroit on Dec. 19th and staying in Ontario at Matt's parent's till New Years. We are leaving for Denver on Jan. 1st then on to Nebraska, where my parents will meet us for my cousin's wedding. Then heading back to Bogota on Jan. 9th! I am super excited to see everyone again. I mean I love it here and am not ready to leave for good but it'll be nice to see family again... and take a bubble bath and eat really tender beef and peanut butter M&Ms! Funny, I do not like regular M&Ms or any other kind but the peanut butter ones are probably my favourite candy... other than jelly belly jelly beans and white chocolate peppermint hershey's kisses... just in case anyone was curious! Okay, well we are getting together with some other teachers for Mexican food tonight then over to Mel's house (where we stayed the first week we were here) to make ice cream! Yum! Matt is out climbing with Eric, so I'll meet him at the Mexican restaurant... if he gets back in time. I love you all!

Living Life As A Joy-Filled Adventure!

PS: Some of the seniors are interested in going to TWU next year! That is so exciting!!!! Naturally Matt and I have been talking up our school and I am pretty sure we have one gal convinced!!! I think she would fit the school really well! :)

September 7, 2011 - Being sick in Bogota

Well it has been over a month since my last post and for that I apologize. When we signed up to come down here on this adventure, we had no idea that we would be so busy! We get up every school day around 5:40 am and catch the teacher van by 6:25. There is a meeting of some kind every day at 7:15 (7:00 on Fridays). School is over by 3:00 but for us, we have some kind of after school something going on every day. For me, Monday - Spanish class, Tuesday - The Truth Project (a video series that will help us get our full fledge ACSI teaching certification), Wednesday - Spanish class, Thursday - I lead fitness classes (which haven't started yet because I've been sick but we'll get to that in a minute or two) and Friday - Spanish class. Most of these go till 4:00 and then the first teacher van leaves at 4:15, which gets us to our apartment between 4:45 and 5:00. Then if we need any groceries or have to stop at the mall for whatever reason... we are home even later. It gets dark around 6:30 or so, which doesn't give you much time to do anything outside in the evenings. Plus we are usually so exhausted from school that all we want to do is eat then go to bed. We have been even more exhausted the last few weeks because I have been sick and Matt has been taking on some of my class, above and beyond his already overwhelming course load. Next year he is going to ask to teach less classes. I personally am quite happy with the number of classes I am teaching, when I can actually be at school and teach them. So about two weeks ago, I started to notice that my throat was hurting and my voice was not as strong as it usually is. I mean I thought I was use to using my teaching voice (i.e. my challenge course voice) but it is not quite the same. Anyway, after a week of fighting that off, my body gave in. On July 28th, I stayed home from church because I was not feeling well. I put some Vicks Vapour Rub on my throat to try to help it feel better and ended up getting some kind of allergic reaction or chemical burn on my neck. I went to school on Monday and felt worse so Matt took me home right after school. I stayed home from school on Tuesday and Wednesday, trying not to talk and keeping an ice pack on my neck to try to get the burn to feel better. Then came back to school on Thursday. That was a poor choice of days to come back on. That is my busiest PE day with four out of five of my PE classes. At least my burn was feeling better. However, by Friday (with only two PE classes), my voice was fading quickly, plus the cold that I was also fighting was starting to win. So we spent the weekend resting, watching movies, doing lesson planning and trying not to talk above a whisper. Well let me tell you something, whispering is just as bad as talking when you do not have a voice. Monday went pretty well at school. I would whisper to one kid then they would relay it to the class or I would model something and have them follow along. Even my Kinder class (which Matt came to help with), listened better than most other days. I show up to school on Tuesday and the nurse pulls me aside to check up on me. Her name is Sol, which is Spanish for Sun and is a wonderful person, a great nurse and an incredible prayer warrior (we go to the same church). She has been checking my throat every day to see how it is doing. Today it was bad enough to pull me in to her office, with a translator. Basically, she told me that I needed to find someone to cover my classes, she was going to call the specialist to get a prescription over the phone but if she could not get it over the phone then I needed to go to the hospital and should be ready to leave whenever. In Bogota, they are big on having people wear medical masks if they have a cough, are sick or there is too much smog. So I went upstairs with my mask to find Matt and let him know what was going on and of course I am a crying mess. Sol also told me that I was not allowed to talk or teach. So I spent the next few hours making sure everything was planned out for the people who were taking my classes for the next three days and waited for the ladies to get things sorted out. At first my principal was going to take me home, then another lady who had another errand to run. After Sol got off the phone with the specialist (there were a lot of kids in the infirmary so she was rather busy), they decided that I need some kind of an injection to go along with my list of meds. They wanted me to nip this thing in the bud as soon as possible so I could go on the staff retreat this weekend. Anyway, I guess I was able to get the injection at the pharmacy but Sol would rather do it herself, which would mean coming back to school unless they would let Sol come with us. So then they went on a search for another lady who works with the learning centre but is also a pediatric nurse. Once they found her then they had to check with other principals, one of which was not in that day, to make sure they knew what was going on and to make sure it was okay... anyways, about 40 minutes after they said we would leave we left. We stopped at a university bank so that Lucia (the gal driving, assistant to the principals and lives in our complex) could pay her rent (which was a good reminder for us to check on our rent). Then we went to a pharmacy and Sol got out to get my list of prescriptions, which came to a grand total of 26.500 (about $14-15 CND). We all went back to our apartment and she gave me my injection, in my bottom, which I cannot remember ever having done. Man alive did that hurt! I love Sol though, after the injection, she prayed for me while rubbing my bottom as well as my back. It was really relaxing. The ladies left me in bed and I tried to sleep but it was almost time for me to take my first round of meds. So I took them and made lunch, then watched a movie and slept.

I do not know if any of you have ever lost your voice or have been told to not talk but wow is it challenging. It really makes you value verbal communication. I have had people respond differently to my not being able to talk. They all know I have lost my voice but that doesn't stop some reactions. I had a friend tell me that he thought I was incredibly boring to grocery shop with because I didn't say anything. Another said it was so weird to be talking to me but me not respond. Others kind of enjoy just being able to talk about whatever and all I can do is listen. I find it funny trying to communicate without talking to people who don't always speak English. I guess in a way it isn't that much different than how I try to communicate normally when I don't know the Spanish word for what's going on. One encouraging thing is how loving the community at ECA is. When I was waiting for Sol and Lucia, countless people came up and asked how I was, that they wanted me to get better, glad I was going home, and were going to pray for me. It is amazing how close I feel to the ECA family even though I have only been here for less than 6 weeks. So I am at home and have time to sit down and write a post. Looks like you benefit from my incapacity.

Other than being sick and staying home a lot (I have only ever had one sick day in my life... here I will have at least 5 by the time this week is over) and being at school, we have been busy. Yes, that B word again. We've been attending church regularly as well as a bilingual small group (although right now there is more English than Spanish). We've gone on the Transmillenial transit system to visit another couple teachers for dinner. We've gone curtain shopping in South Bogota (the poorer area) with the leader of our small group, who use to teach at ECA and has two girls at the school (one in 3rd grade and one in 5th - so Matt and I teach both of them). We've had countless movie nights with other teachers. We've hung out with Brady and Delainye, our good friends who live in the next building over. We can actually see into their kitchen window from our kitchen window. They are great. We clicked instantly. We met them as they were actually coming to look at the apartment we now live in. I think their plane had arrived a few hours before we me them. I am so thankful for them. We are very similar so we get along really well and are at similar places in life; both couples have been married for 2 years, thinking about having kids, and a bunch of other things. So they've been great to have around. We also went on a little hiking tour to Guatavita, which is theoretically the location of El Dorado (city of gold). It was neat and so great to get out in nature. I personally don't really feel like I live in a huge city; it really seems pretty similar to home. I mean we are in a city in a valley and there is quite a bit of green around. But nothing beats a 'hike' in the green mountains. We gained even more elevation, so this little hike was a good starter hike. Then went out to eat in the town of Guatavita and did a little shopping. The pictures are posted on my facebook page. Our internet hasn't been running well enough for me to post any pictures here but I'll give it another try.

Us at Guatavita Lagoo

The whole trekking group

Kylie and I doing a little mountain pose on the mountain. The security guard did not approve of our idea to go on the top rail so we settled for the second rail. Oh well, this is still fun!

Where we ate lunch. I guess it is very Colombian. At least the chicken was good. You had better like chicken if you come to visit because the beef is tough to say the least.

Kylie and Leroy aren't too impressed while the rest of us (Brady, Delainye and myself) seem to be enjoying ourselves!

Hurray, it worked! So that's a little taste of our Guatavita adventure. Oh and we have been bouldering! There is a student at school who does climbing competitions and has a bouldering wall in his backyard. It is incredibly challenging. I mean it doesn't help that I have been sick the last two weeks and haven't exercised much, plus I have not been climbing in two months... but that was the most challenging wall I have ever been on. It also doesn't help that Eric is an amazing climber! Wow! I have climbed with some really good climbers but wow, he is incredible! We are trying to convince him to come visit us next summer in B.C. and go climbing! He has taken Matt to a bouldering gym a couple times but this was my first time participating. His family fed us dinner and we climbed for a bit. The cold air was NOT good for my health and now my body is incredibly stiff. I think other than family, the thing I miss the most from North America is a bathtub. So far, I have not seen a single bathtub. There may be a few in some of the bigger, fancier houses but I haven't seen any in the apartments. That makes me so sad. I miss bubble baths so much. I think that would help me get better faster. :) So that serves as a warning to those we are visiting over Christmas... I will be taking LOTS of bubble baths! We are still trying to sort out all the details of our North American visit over break but once we finalize those, we'll let y'all know.

Well I think that's long enough of a post. I will work on posting more often but having the posts be shorter so it isn't such a task to sit down and read through it. No promises but I'll give it a shot. I love you! Feel free to email us, we now have what we think is a more reliable internet provider. Please continue to pray and support us. We figure that this month things have settled down enough to actually keep a detailed record of what we spend to verify that our budget is enough. We'll keep you posted and may be asking for more money, I hope we don't have to but you never know. Continue to keep your eyes focused on Christ and everything else will fall in to place!

Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do.
James 1:2-8 NIV

First Few Days

It is time for us to check out the school! El Camino Academy (http://eca.edu.co/) is about 3 mile/5 km away from us, so we could walk or run there if we wanted to or needed to. This time we went with Glenda on the bus. We walked two blocks or so to the 'bus stop' and found out which bus to get on. It cost 1300 pesos (right now it is 1800 pesos to the Canadian dollar and 1730 for a US dollar). I guess that was the cheap bus, the other one was around 1700. We got to see both entrances to the school grounds. The whole school has a fence/wall around it with barbed wire on the top then there is at least one guard on at all times. We met Santiago, one of the guards who has been at the school for many, many years! Glenda then gave us a tour of the school and we met a lot of people. We were introduced to all the principals and the director (who all seem very nice) as well as a number of wonderful office staff members. The school just finished a new phase of their transformation. So there is a new building to house the classrooms, office and library. It is beautiful! The old building is being renovated and some of it was demolished to make room for their new soccer field, which in theory will be ready when school starts in just under two weeks. When we saw it, it was being dug up and had a rather large piece of machinery in the middle of it. But from what I've heard they have the sod all ready to go in on Aug 6th. We've been told that they would appreciate it if we used the outdoor court for the first few weeks. That is fine with us since it is also very nice and looks pretty new. We also have access to an indoor facility in the old building but it has rather low ceilings and currently is filled with stuff. Next we saw where our offices are going to be, they were locked up and one was filled with stuff as well. So they have a lot of work to do but I guess they've come a long way. After lunch with some of the staff members, we caught a ride with the head architect who was working on the school and is a parent of an ECA student. He was really nice and use to be an olympic fencer! We were dropped off to tour some apartments and visit some other new teachers. This was all on the West side of the autopista (the main North/South highway). The two areas that teachers usually live in are 3 or 4 blocks from each other, so really it isn't a big deal at all. We did a lot of walking and talking to a lot of people. Oh, we got to stop at a bakery and try a couple treats! Yum! We also met some newer teachers who live in the complex we are currently staying in. Oh goodness we met a lot of people and had dinner at Glen and Glenda's apartment then chatted with them before heading to bed.

Saturday we got up early (I was awake at 7:00) but we weren't suppose to go over to Glen and Glenda's till 9 to make waffles. After breakfast we went in their car with them to tour the local grocery and produce stores then further towards downtown to look at bikes. We found the bike district and a lot of really nice bikes; however, we do not want nice bikes since they are more likely to get stolen. I think we also stopped at a couple furniture places as well. There is such a range of prices for household items and furniture. It seems like you can really save a lot of money just by shopping around. They have a store like Ikea but it is extremely expensive. I mean the furniture and other items are really nice and seem to be pretty good quality but really expensive. We were going to go back to school to drop off some supplies that had been brought back to Colombia but we ended up going to another teacher's house first and there wasn't enough time. So we had chicken, potatoes and a mango/lettuce salad at Mel's place. And seriously we started getting ready for bed around 9:00. That is a big adjustment for me. I am use to staying up really late and sleeping in. Here that is not the norm. Here the sun is up at 6:30 and down by 6:30, so people are up way earlier. I just found out today that during the school year the van that picks up all the teachers comes at 6:30 AM and school starts at 7:30! Please pray for me!

Sunday (this morning), we went to a Spanish church with Melody. It was so warm and welcoming! We did understand bits of what the pastor talked about and some of the lyrics to the songs. We brought along a Spanish Bible as well as one English one. So we got to follow along in both. I took down all the notes from the power point slides then translated them when we got home. But the people at the church were so friendly! I have never had so many hugs and kisses from people at church! It was great! We met a few other ECA staff members and they got to practice their English and we attempted to comprehend some conversational Spanish. Then on our walk home we stopped in for rotisory chicken, potatoes and empanadas (they weren't very good but we were warned not to judge all empanadas on these ones). After lunch we stopped by the second largest mall in South America, which is just across the autopista from us. There we were able to convert some American money that we had and found out that there is a much better exchange rate for Canadian... who knew! But I have only seen one non-bank place to exchange money. In the Dominican there are money changers everywhere. Oh well, we know where to go now. Since we had some pesos, we bought some pots/pans and silverware before heading home. We had an appointment to view an apartment in the same complex we are staying in and it went really well. The only issue other than some lights that were being fixed and hadn't been put back in the walls, was that the main floor bedroom smelled musty. The realtor called the owner and found out that he had hand washed the carpet then left it to dry with the windows closed. So they were going to get it all cleaned and properly aired out before we would move in. We really, really love the place and are praying that things work out for us to move in. I guess it would take a day for paper work then three days to make sure it was cleaned and aired out. So hopefully by the end of the week we should be moved in... Lord willing! Our orientation for new teachers starts on Wednesday. Matt and Melody made soup for supper and it turned out really good. They used the leftover bones from the chicken from last night to make the stock as well as the leftover chicken from lunch! Chicken is very popular here. I guess the beef is rather tough. We'll probably still get some to try it.

Anyway, our big adventure for tomorrow is to go shopping by ourselves to find pizza toppings. There is yet another brand new teacher living with an ECA family who lives on the fourth floor that is going to come on our adventure tomorrow. So we are hoping that three people who each know a little Spanish will equal one person who knows a bit more! I'm more worried about getting lost, especially places that don't have street signs on all the streets, but Matt's good with directions in all places. I can find my way to certain places but not everywhere. So keep praying for us as we are working on our Spanish, and exploring Bogota! Thanks for reading!

We Made It!

Praise the Lord we made it to Bogota! Here's how we got here and what we've been doing in our first couple of days here... warning: this may be lengthy! 

We had a number of last minute items to take care of the day we left Canada. The main one was selling our car. God worked it out so a friend of ours that we had been climbing with at TWU and his dad wanted to buy the exact same kind of car that we were selling and after about an hour in the insurance office we got everything sorted out and the car was sold! Praise the Lord! We had our last supper with my family and a very emotional good bye with my brother (Andrew) and his lovely girlfriend (Robyn)! There were many tears shed. I felt bad for the random guy who walked up our driveway to try to sell us on cleaning the gutters or something and we are all a teary-eyed mess. I couldn't help but laugh. Then my parents drove us down to Seattle where we spent a couple hours awake at my best friend Janna's house before we all attempted to sleep for a few hours. 

Matt's alarm went off at 3:30 am and we were out of the house and off to the airport at 4:00 am to catch our 6:20 flight. We decided to take one extra checked bag (bringing our total up to 5) plus our two carry-ons each. Our extra bag only cost us $100 because we purchased our tickets before July 1st (on or after July 1st it was $200 for each additional bag). Praise the Lord that none of our bags were overweight. We actually were able to weigh our bags outside before actually checking them. We found out they were each a few pounds under-weight with the exception of one that was 49.5 pounds. So I was able to put a couple more things from my carry-on in the checked luggage. We had an even more emotional good-bye with my parents before heading through security. I am so grateful to my parents for driving us down to the airport, sacrificing sleep and storing all of our stuff at their house. (By the way if you need a kitchen table, they are selling ours. It's really nice, solid wood a light maple colour and has six chairs... $100. I am sure they would love to sell it soon). We had a pretty uneventful first flight from Seattle to Atlanta (about 4.5 hours). We got to watch TV and free movies the whole way. I slept for about the last hour of that flight. Once we got to Atlanta we had to navigate the terminals to find ours but made a little pit stop in the food court. When we stopped to look up from our much needed caloric intake, we realized that we were surrounded by various missions teams. They were pretty easy to spot as they had matching shirts but it was so neat to see Christians going so many places. There was a team going to Uganda and Ecuador as well as a couple headed to Moldova. Our second flight was delayed by 15 minutes, which really wasn't a big deal to us. The reason was that there was a group whose first flight was delayed so they just made our flight even with the 15 minute delay. This team was from a church in Michigan (possibly Highland something or another church near Flint). The gal that sat beside me was a joy to talk to. This was the first time I have ever carried on a real conversation with the person sitting beside me on a flight. We ended up giving her our prayer card and she's going to be following along as we take part in this wonderful adventure! The team is going to Southern Colombia (near Leticia), where Colombia, Brazil, Peru all meet at the Amazon. They are going to be doing various service jobs as well as going down the River for a few day trips and/or multi-day trips to minister to the people in the villages. They are here for another 7 days or so before heading home. During our flight I was watching our progress on the moving map. It was neat to see when we were going over various islands and places I want to visit as well as places I have visited. Once we arrived in Bogota and our plane parked, we were shuttled to the terminal by a bus then waiting in the longest line of my life! There had to be multiple planes that unloaded around the same time because there were many hundreds of people making their way through immigration. We stood in that line for around an hour and a half! We were joking with the missions team that it was like being at Cedar Point (a rather large amusement park with huge roller coasters) you are in line for hours for a 30 second ride. We stood in line for 1.5 hours for a 2 minute experience at the window. We only had a couple communication issues. We made sure to show the immigration officer our visas so that helped. Our luggage was already waiting for us so we just had to track down all the pieces, Praise the Lord they all made it. Now we were told that if we have more than two pieces that we can flag down a worker with a cart. We tried for a long time to try to get someone to help us. I mean we had five bags and only one of them had wheels. So we had almost 330 pounds of luggage and only 49 of that didn't have to be carried. So you get your luggage, then go through another check point. At that point we ran into another minor challenge. There is a spot on your immigration card that asks how much, other than your ticket and vacation package will your trip cost. We had no clue so we left it blank. So we had to figure out what the lady was asking as well as come up with a number while trying to carry our luggage through a metal detector then onto another x-ray belt. Thankfully a lady behind me spoke English and helped us out. After all of our bags went through the x-ray, we got to haul our bags outside to find the ECA sign. That part was easy, the getting our bag to the curb was challenging. I think Matt carried 190 lbs on himself. Good thing he's so strong! The two people who picked us up didn't speak any English but the other teacher (from the US) they picked up spoke spanish, so we were ok. We waited for them to go get the cars (praise the Lord there were two cars). We loaded all the luggage into one car and the people into the other one and we were on our way. It was a nice cool evening (I was quite comfortable, Matt was a little cold on the drive, with his jacket in the other car). We were told we were suppose to go stay with a teacher but then ended up at a different teacher's house. I guess the first teacher (Jenn)'s water was turned off so they didn't think that was the best option for us. We love where we are staying and are hoping to get an apartment in this same complex. Anyways, our flight landed around 8:44 and we got to the complex around 11:30 pm. One more time we got to move all of our stuff but this time there was an elevator and we were on the third floor. We were pretty close to our load limit on the elevator but again, we made it. Basically we crawled into bed and were told to sleep in as much as we wanted. I'm not sure if Glenda (a teacher at ECA, been here for 16 years, and a wonderful lady who lives down the hall from her niece Melody whose apartment we are staying in) really knew what she was letting me do. I slept till around 10 then we had the process of getting ready. One of the best things we did during our packing process was made a list (colour-coded of course) of everything that we packed and in which bag. That was a long process but it has made the last few days way easier. Plus I mean I packed everything I would need for the first couple of days minus toiletries in my carry-on. So we knew exactly where the things were that we needed. It was still an hour long process. She came over around 11:00 or 11:30 to make sure we were still alive. We went to her apartment for 'breakfast' then headed out to catch the bus to check out the school. 

I really want to give the rest of this post some justice but I am so tired and we have a big morning tomorrow... long story short, I'm going to bed and I'll finish this post tomorrow! If you want to know about the school and all the other adventures we've had so far, you'll just have to check back later! Enjoy your night, sleep well. God is Great and greatly to be praised!

Leaving Soon

Wow, it is hard to believe that we are taking off soon. It seems like time is flying by yet standing still. We are in the last stages of packing/moving and I cannot wait to be done. I enjoy the packing process because I can go through our stuff and get rid of a lot of those extras that we really do not need. It amazes me how we can collect so much stuff in such a short period of time. I also get overwhelmed with the moving process because I want it all to be done and not drag on and on. Plus I do not like looking at all the boxes of stuff stacked in my parent's basement. I feel bad being a burden on them plus I don't like having a lot of things. We have not been put on this Earth to gather stuff and things but rather to share the Good News about Christ. I cannot help but look at all our stuff and think maybe we aren't focused correctly. I feel the same way about all the stuff we are taking with us to Colombia. My sister-in-law, a very wise woman named Marcie, was talking with me about living as a missionary in the Dominica Republic. She said that you can get by with a lot less than what people in North America live with. People keep asking her if her kids need more clothes or other things. She says her kids don't have a lot of clothes but they have enough, more than enough. It makes me re-evaluate what I am packing with me. It does not help that when I am trying to work through these types of dilemmas that Matt says, 'oh just take it'. We are going to put the finishing touches on our baggage on Monday then attempt to weigh them again and see where we are at. We are hoping to just take our two free checked bags and two carry-ons. We will see how that goes. Right now we have three bags completely packed that are right at their limit and one more to go. From what I can estimate of the stuff we still have to pack... that last bag is going to be overweight. Now we are faced with deciding if we want to spend an extra $75 for an additional 20 pounds in one bag or $200 for an extra bag of 50 pounds. So we will see what happens. Just a few more days till we get on that plane. I am not looking forward to saying good bye.

Visas

Praise the Lord for His timing! We don't understand it but His timing is perfect! Our visas arrived at my parent's house in BC while we are in Ontario! I am so thankful that we have them. Even though I haven't actually seen them or touched them, just knowing they are 'safe' makes me feel so much better. Lord willing, we are leaving in three weeks! Wow, there is so much to do but most of it cannot be done till we get back to BC. We are on vacation and will continue to enjoy visiting our family. Praise the Lord for His goodness! I still can't believe we have our visas!

Passport/Visa Stress!!!!

This has been the most stressful experience! It is like the stress of planning an entire wedding crammed in to the last two weeks. I honestly think that is the best way to express it. So Matt's biggest stress of our pre-trip to-do list was the finances... which are going very well thank you. My biggest stress is getting our visas. I was so concerned about it because we had to mail our passports along with our applications to Toronto. The honorary consulate in BC does not handle visa applications. Thankfully we were able to get all our visa applications from our school in Colombia along with all the document legalized, thanks to our wonderful friends Graeme and Christie. With the tracking number on the envelope we found out everything arrived in Toronto on June 1st. The consulate's website as well as other consulate workers have told me that the process takes 4-5 business days. Now at that time there were rumours that Canada Post would go on strike. Upon hearing these rumours, I started emailing the consulate to see if they do go on strike if we could have our documents sent back to us via a currier service. I emailed them four times without a response. Then we started phoning them. By this time they had been in possession of our passports for almost two weeks. Finally I remembered that I had been in contact with  a lady at the consulate in Ottawa. So I decided to email her to see if she could find out anything. Apparently they needed to contact the Ministry in Colombia for an internal procedure and our visas would be processed that day. Then we found out that Canada Post was in full strike mode and they had sealed all mailboxes and were no longer going to be delivering or accepting any more mail. Now we started the process to figure out if the return envelope had been mailed or not. Our tracking number said it could not find our envelope so we were hoping and praying that it hadn't been mailed yet. WRONG! On June 14th they mailed it. I finally got a response (to an email I sent on June 9th) from the Toronto consulate saying that our passports had been mailed on June 14th and that because of the strike we should be sure to track our package. Since our tracking number still doesn't seem to pick up anything, we have NO IDEA where our passports are. We are suppose to cross the boarder into the USA to get on  a plane in Seattle to fly to Detroit to see Matt's family on June 27th. That leaves 5 business days before we leave. Oh Lord we are looking for a miracle! I've heard that there are talks the government wants to force the postal workers to go back to work, however, God only knows when that would all happen. Now that you've read all the latest drama in our lives, please pray for the whole situation. Our backup plans is I use my American passport (to get across the boarder) and driver's license (so I have ID with my married last name on it) to use the ticket we've already purchased for me, we suck up the cost of Matt's ticket then purchase him a new one for him to fly through Canada and pay twice what we've already paid for our two tickets for him to have one ticket in Canada (God bless Canada) or we just don't go. Naturally neither option is ideal.

Thank you for reading my venting session. Please do pray for us. Matt is currently on his way to go rock climbing with some friends and I am about to get ready for an all-nighter with my grade 9 girls small group. We love you. Pray Until Something Happens...

Documents

Yesterday I was finally able to get all our educational documents together and mailed off to Ottawa to get legalized. I had a bit of a miscommunication with the Colombian Embassy. I asked them that I needed my documents apostilled (American thing we don't have in Canada). They told me that the Colombian Consulate would legalize them once they came with the visa application. I thought that meant that we didn't need to send them to Ottawa to get legalized by the Canadian government... I was wrong. Meanwhile two weeks had past. I did some more research and found out that it takes 15-25 days to get the documents legalized if you mail them in. Since I didn't have any plans to visit Ottawa any time soon and didn't have 25 days to wait, I wasn't sure what to do. I phoned the government office and found out that I could mail the documents to a friend in Ottawa and they could take the in and get them legalized while they waited. Praise the Lord I have wonderful friends who were willing to do that for us! Christie and Graeme are wonderful people that just so happen to live in Ottawa and were willing to help us out. So those documents were sent out yesterday and my hope is that we'll have them back by the end of next week. The other great news is that the part of our visa application that we need from ECA is going to be sent up to the States with a teacher who is travelling on Thursday then mailed out soon after that. We may even be able to mail our visa application in by the end of next week. Then it is 4 days to process the application plus mailing time. I am praying that we'll have it all sorted out in the next three weeks! That would be plenty of time before our trip to Ontario (which we need our passports for since we are flying through the States) and would allow us to go climbing in the States after we get back. It would be a huge answer to prayer and a huge weight lifted off my shoulders. It is all in God's hands and in His timing.

We spoke at all five church services this past weekend. Although there weren't too many people who said they would donate (which was a little surprising), Matt and I were able to connect with some of Matt's friends that we haven't seen in awhile. Two couples said they would donate and a few more were really excited for us and wanted our newsletters. One guy wants to come visit us, which would be so much fun! Oh and a couple of Matt's grade nine boys want to come visit as well. We'll see if maybe the church would want to send a youth team next year for spring break... or maybe just a group of our grade 9s! It's neat how God brings us connections. Most of the people who came to talk to us either had a direct connect with us or with Colombia. I mean that makes sense but it was great to see how many people were from Colombia or Brazil and wanted to chat. We met a lovely lady named Margarita, who is from Colombia and teaches Spanish classes at a leisure centre. She invited us to join the class for free. So last Monday we sped out to Mission (about 50 minutes away) for our first class. Matt and I both felt like we were way ahead of the class but its nice to get more exposure to the language. Every little bit helps. We've also been working on our Rosetta Stone program, which is fantastic. Our language study is coming along. We're working on thinking in Spanish and expanding our vocabulary. God always provides, although it isn't always in the way we think it'll happen! Keep the faith!

Colombia Up Date

I just wanted to share a quick up date as to what's going on with our up-coming Colombia adventure. We have sent out our support letters and are praying that all our money comes in. I've emailed our sending organization but haven't heard anything back yet about if we've had anything come in. We are working on getting everything ready for our visas. This could be a little tricky. The Colombian Embassy is in Toronto and it takes 4-5 business days to go through the process. We can mail it in but obviously it takes longer that way because of the mail delivery. We are planning a trip to Ontario to visit family and friends (and speak at Matt's home church) but we arrive on a Monday and leave the next Monday (not quite enough days to hand deliver the visa application). ECA has told us that we should receive documents from them on or before June 15th. We leave June 27th (not quite enough time to mail things in since we need our passports to travel to the States to fly East). We get back on July 4th and are suppose to be in Colombia before the 25th. Talk about a tight schedule. If we wait till we get back then we can't cross the boarder to climb any mountains in Washington like we have planned. So we are praying that we'll get our documents really early so we can get it all sorted out before we go to Ontario or we just pay some fees and get our flights extended for a couple days and hand deliver them. I personally would prefer to hand deliver them that way if we are missing something we can get it sorted out right away instead of them mailing it back and us having to go through it all again. It's all in God's hands and it'll get sorted out.

We also need to figure out what type of insurance we are going to have. Currently we are partnering with two different organizations (one in Canada and one in the States). However, the one in the States requires a specific type of insurance (somewhere in the $300 a month range). We have been trying to figure out if it is worth it to take on a significantly higher cost in insurance if we are not really sure how much money will come in from our American donors. They also want a specific budget and I have no clue how I would set that up if I don't know how much is coming in. I mean I'm thinking $20-50 a month. Which in my opinion is not worth the increase of around $100 a month for insurance. So we are trying to figure out if we want to pay around $200 a month and keep on our Canadian insurance and apply for a leave from the country policy for 2 years or go with Colombian insurance. That's something that Matt and I need to just sit down and talk about.

We are also participating in Northview's Missions Weekend May 14th and 15th. We'll have a little table set up with information on what we're doing. Also, we are being commissioned that weekend. So we'll be speaking for a few minutes in each service. It's going to be a busy weekend!!!!! The Friday before we have a big youth Wild West night and there is a dinner/meeting/theology teaching event on the Sunday night. Lord give us strength!

So for those of you who read this... that's our up date. Here is a summary so you know how to pray:
-Pray that we get all our documents filled out properly for our Visa applications and that we get approved. Also, for peace about the process and for us to figure out how it's all going to work with timing and traveling.
-Pray that we figure out what type of insurance to have while we're away.
-Pray that we'll take advantage of opportunities to spend time with family and friends.
-Pray that we both get lots of work before we leave.
-Pray that all our money comes in for our monthly budget as well as money to cover all our start up costs.
-Pray that we wil have a successful missions weekend with lots of people willing to pray and donate!

Thank you so much for taking the time to read this. May the Joy of the Lord fill your life with a love that can only come from Him!

Contentment vs. Our Perfect Plan: Our Way or God's Way

"This is what the Lord says: 'You will be in Babylon for seventy years. But then I will come and do for you all the good things I have promised, and I will bring you home again. For I know the plans I have for you' says the Lord. 'They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. In those days when you pray, I will listen. If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me. I will be found by you,' says the Lord. 'I will end your captivity and restore your fortunes. I will gather you out of the nations where I sent you and will bring you home again to your own land." Jeremiah 29:10-14

Many of you will know the popular verse in Jeremiah 29:11 ('For I know the plans I have for you', says the Lord. 'They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.' NLT) How many of us live out this verse? This past Sunday we were able to enjoy a sermon from Mark Burch of Church Planting BC. His sermon was based on building a great city but it got me thinking of so much more than that. So here it goes...

Are we content with where we are at in life? Do we continually compare ourselves to our neighbours, friends and relatives? Are we constantly seeking God's will for our lives or do we want what we think is best for ourselves? Do we have a plan for our lives and if things don't turn out the way we want them to are we upset about it? Let's unpack some of these questions.

Contentment vs. our perfect plan: our way or God's way. As a planner I believe I have special insight into the transformation that must take place in all of our lives. Yes, I did say 'must take place'. It is my firm belief that you cannot have every moment of your life planned out yet say you are open to the will of the Lord and seek to follow what He has in store for your life. It just doesn't work. It is as if you are saying 'okay Lord work in my life but I want to be married and have kids and a nice house...etc.' That to me is putting God in a box and only taking Him out when it suits your needs. How are we to know if what we have planned for our life is actually what is best for us? My plan for my life was to be married by the time I was 21 and have all four of my kids by the time I was 30. Simply looking at those two areas that I had all planned out, we see how my real life is different. I wasn't married till I was 23 and now that I am 25.5 and have no kids... I doubt I'll have all my kids in the next 4.5 years. I look back at where I was when I was 21 and who I was dating at the time. Praise the Lord I did not follow through with my plan! God had a much better plan in store for me. The same thing happens when we look at my job situation and my housing arrangement. I really didn't think I would still be working an on-call position at TWU or renting a suite. This is the plan God has for me. Yes, naturally you look at the people around you and see how the Lord has blessed them. You wonder why He picked them to have full time jobs, brand new cars and a brand new house. I think that is a way society has messed with our minds. It has told us that we need to have X, Y and Z. Then if we do not have those things then we aren't living up to society's standards. Who cares? Are we put on this Earth to live up to society's standards or God's? Honestly, ask yourself if you are living for this world or for Christ in the way that you look at your life, society and the things you have. Are you stuck in your own ideas of what you life should look like? Or are you really, truly open to do what God has called you to do? God is teaching me that His plans are really the best option. I have realized that it is a way better idea to go with the plan created by the Creator of the universe, Who knows all, sees all and has everything planned out. I mean really, compare that to my measly human idea of what is good for me. Yeah right. I'm sorry, God's plan trumps my own every day of my life. Is it easy? Not always. Is it less stressful? Absolutely! God provides this wonderful gift called peace. I am amazed at how at peace I am about life. True, there are days where I look at all we have to do to prepare for Colombia and am overwhelmed. I have to force myself to stop, remember that God is in control, and start working at our to do list. If we are really suppose to go to Colombia then God has everything already sorted out. We do still have to work and take action to accomplish all that we have to do, but God is moving ahead of us.

You may be experiencing what I call 'dark days'. Those days where you feel like you have no direction, no purpose in life. You may be looking for a job or to change jobs and there are no options. You may be thinking that you are doing God's will but He decides to move you to another country. You may be wondering if you will be single for the rest of your life. Whatever the case may be, it's not a fun place to be. I've been there. God is there right now, walking with you or maybe even carrying you through this stage. "The Lord says, 'I will guide you along the best pathway for your life. I will advise you and watch over you" Psalm 32:8. For whatever reason, God has chosen to walk you through this. We do not understand God's ways. I have made it a habit of saying, "the Lord works in mysterious ways". We are finite beings, how can we possibly comprehend the ways of an infinite Lord? God is sovereign, He is in control of everything. I remember someone telling me that God always answers in one of three ways. It is either a yes, a no or a not right now. You may feel as if life keeps saying No to you. No jobs, no significant other, no fun. It may just be God telling you 'not right now.' Just like when we were kids and we wanted to eat lots of candy and stay up really late at night. God used our parents to tell us to go to bed and that we could have some candy later. Imagine how sick and tired we would be if we got to eat all the candy we wanted and never go to bed. That sounds like an unwise choice to me. Praise the Lord for parents.

All in all, I want to encourage you to seek peace with where you are at right now. Yes, it probably isn't where you expected to be when you thought about your future. That's okay. I want to warn you though, being at peace with where you are does not mean you stop what you're doing and just hang out. You continue to seek God's will for your life. You keep pushing yourself to be the best example of Christ that you can be to the people you encounter. Look for ways you can impact your world for Christ. You job is to further His Kingdom. It is about God's way NOT your way. This is contrary to what society says so be prepared for people to ridicule your choices. I believe God uses today to prepare us for tomorrow. The things you have already done or are currently doing are preparing you for what God has in store for you next. Originally I went to school to be a PE teacher then decided I didn't want to lesson plan for the rest of my life. I wanted to keep my work life and my home life separate. I didn't want to bring home marking either. Now I have married a teacher and God has called me to teach PE in Colombia. Again, the Lord works in mysterious ways. Also, God calls us to one place for a time. We never know how long He puts us in one place. You may be experiencing something that seems like the perfect fit then God calls you away from that. Now that really does not make sense. He has a plan. He is in control. He knows what is best for you even if you don't agree. Go with His way. Think about the story of Jonah. Now Jonah did not agree with God's idea of sending him to Nineveh to preach the judgement of the Lord on those people. Jonah didn't want to so he went in the opposite direction. Bad idea buddy. God sent a huge storm, Jonah gets tossed overboard by the other sailors, Jonah gets swallowed by a giant fish, stays in the fish for three days and three nights, then proceeds to get vomited on the beach. If God calls you to do something and you run... I'll say it again... Bad idea buddy! Seriously, the story of Jonah is a great example of God's humour as well as His power and how He has everything under control. God uses all types of people, even those who are unwilling and don't do the job very well. Praise the Lord for that. We don't have to be perfect to be used. We can even mess everything up and the Gospel still spreads. What a relief!

Be content with where God has placed you now. Fully engage and invest in your community. You never know what God has in store for you next but be prepared for life to change. God's ways are perfect, learn to love it!

We've been accepted!

We have been accepted to work at El Camino Academy in Bogota, Colombia! (http://eca.edu.co/) It seems like the next step is to start a blog so everyone in the world can follow us on our journey! Actually I have been wanting to start a blog for awhile now and this is seems like that push I need. I think I may be getting ahead of myself. Let's start over at the very beginning...

"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth..." actually that may be going back a little too far. When Matt and I started dating I asked him what his dream job would be. He responded with outdoor education potentially overseas. I then asked him what was holding him back from going. He said he wanted to be married so he could go with his wife. I also mentioned that I had thought about going overseas and teaching (actually I was looking in to going to Korea after I graduated to teach English... probably a good thing I didn't. I might not have met Matt if I had gone). I also wanted to wait till I was married to go overseas. We both had the desire to have someone to go with us. Now that we are married, we re-visited that desire to GO. Plus we have been working through a few sermon series at Church pertaining to money (Bling series http://northview.org/index.php/messages/) as well as living your whole life for Christ. The purpose of our lives is to serve Christ. It does not matter if you have a house of your own or how big that house is. It does not matter if you have stuff it is just stuff. It has no purpose in Kingdom work. What matters is what you are doing with your life to serve Christ. We also recently had missions month with our youth group (Elevate). These were all little nudges from God that we need to GO.

Last Spring, Matt and I were looking for opportunities to teach overseas because the job market for teachers out here is just ridiculous. We went to a conference/expo called Missions Fest. The first person we encountered upon entering the facilities was a lovely gentleman with an organization called Mission:Teach (http://missionteach.com/). It is a website/database of teachers' resumes as well as schools that need teachers.  So we posted our resumes. We wanted a way to narrow down our options and decided we naturally wanted to teach PE in a Spanish speaking country. Most of the emails we received were from Asia and we did not feel that was our calling. There are tons of opportunities in East Asia if anyone is interested. Eventually Matt received an email from El Camino Academy (ECA) letting him know that they had PE positions available. He asked if there would be a position available for me and there were. By the time we were at the point where we wanted to say yes, we had about 6-8 weeks to find a missions board to handle our finances, raise all our money and cut our road trip short. We opted to say no for now. We packed up our stuff to store at my parent's house, went on a road trip of a lifetime then moved to Langley. Even though we were/are content with where we are at, we began searching for what God had in store for us next. After an option to work at Camp Qwanoes did not pan out, we started thinking about Colombia again. Matt found the jobs were still posted and we inquired about them. After a quick double check with our references, they offered us the positions and we said yes! Matt will be teaching middle school and high school PE as well as health and math. I am going to be teaching elementary PE and planning student activities. They have also sent us their PE curriculum and said that it is in need up up dating! We are really excited to re-vamp the program! Matt brought home a few books on PE curriculum for me to start working on.

What's next? Last night we had our interview to become members of Northview Community Church and I must say it went rather well! This weekend they announce the new members. I do not see any reason why we would not be accepted so that is a rather exciting step. Through Northview we were directed to an organization called Multi-National Ministry Foundation to potentially handle our funds. We have an interview with a man named Helmet Weins on Monday (please pray about it). Basically we need to find an organization to partner with that can handle donations from both Canada and America. Then we can start raising funds! *hint* We are going for two years and by our estimations (with the help of the budget planner from ECA) we will need to raise between $36,000-$40,000 over two years. God is in control! He will provide the funds and the missions organization. We are starting to put together our support team. Yes, we need people who are willing to give money for us to go but we also need a solid prayer support team. If you are interested in either, please let us know. All in all, there are lots of things that need to happen. We are planning to sell a lot of what we own so we do not have to store so much stuff at my parents house. Then obtain our visas and all the other documents approved and purchased. I need to change my name on ALL my documents to make the process easier. We have made a list and are trying to stay organized. Oh and we are practicing our Spanish. The school is going to give us free Spanish lessons but still, it's nice to have a head start on the class. 

I am very excited that you have decided to join us on our adventure. Thank you for taking the time to read this post and I look forward to writing to you again soon! With joyful anticipation of our next encounter remember that each day is a gift from God and an adventure where He has provided opportunities for you to serve Him. So be joyful in all circumstances and in everything you do praise the Lord!