Happy Birthday DAD!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY DADDY!!

Happy Birthday to the Best Dad a girl can have!! :)

I love you so much!

Thank you for your Model of a Godly Man! Thank you for all you have done for ME, for US, and for CALEB! Thank you for investing in a relationship with Chris, and leading him with great advice and awesome support. Thank you for loving Caleb - in a way like no other. Tractor rides, Baseball, and (what was that about the "Back porch?") HaHaHa! :)

We love you so much!!!

We hope you have a FANTASTIC DAY! Can't wait to see you!!

MARCH MADNESS!

Ok... well... around here... March means much more than Basketball! In fact, I don't even know who is playing in March Madness... well... I know Memphis is/was in there somewhere. That's all I know. I am thankful that we aren't inundated with news and the economy here. We feel it, believe me, but because we can chose what news we read (ie, MSN or Yahoo News)... our lives aren't immersed in it. For this, I am thankful!

MARCH MADNESS around here means Reading Month! :) It's a fun time of celebrating reading. We spend our Fridays dressing up as whatever goofy theme, and reading Dr. Seuss books. Then we also have DEAR (Drop everything and Read!) What a great thing to have in a day! Drop everything and read for 15 minutes! Teachers included!!! I think I should write this into my lesson plans! :) :) The last day of reading month is always an adventure. The idea was to "TONE DOWN" the event this year, but it still ended up to be some great craziness! We got SOAP SOCCER! Which is a huge Blow Up Soccer Field, covered in soap! So you "slip and slide" all over the thing! :) It's so much fun! Then we over course, covered everyone in water and had a huge water fight! :) Mr. Bose dressed as the Cat in the Hat, Chris and Daniel were Thing One and Thing Two! IT was a great day! and a Great month!

BUT... I HAVE to share this... One of my precious ones... (you know they all are! ... but this one especially!!) told me that God has shown him so much through Reading month! The Lord used Reading Month (and triple points for Bible books read!! :) ) to get him BACK IN THE WORD!! He was able to couple his Bible reading with other Christian fiction books to really get excited about the WORD again! ...I almost jumped out of my skin! God is SO GOOD!! Please pray for this fella... I so desire to see him in the WORD like he was last spring, when God ROCKED his heart!!

Celebrations!

Kinda funny, I think... in an Ironic sort of way...

Our Anniversary was on March 7th! 12 years! WOW! 12 years! That's amazing! Sure thought he would have 'traded me in' by now! ... you know for one of those Newer, less Flawed models! :) HeeHee! 12 years.... Wow... God is amazing!

... but that's not the Irony! :)

Our Anniversary was March 7th - so... some would ask... 'so did you celebrate with an AMAZING night of dinner and romance'... ummm... no. 'Did you celebrate with a weekend away?' ....ummmm... no. But what we did... we think is still pretty spectacular! We had SMASH IN THE STREETS! So we spent all day preparing for, 2 hours actually serving, 2 hours fellowshipping, and then taking all the kids home. Then crashed! BUT... it's what we're here for... "It's just what we do!" (as this is now our standard line for the questions about why we drive kids all over town, why we spend nearly every weekend with them, why we take them to lunch, why we 'sacrifice' for them. *totally not a sacrifice!!)

So... why would our anniversary be different? Our Anniversary was spent with OUR KIDS! (minus 'the real one' - Caleb had to stay with friends!) What a great day too!

So... the Irony continues.... My Birthday was March 19th. Guess how we celebrated.... ummm... yep! SMASHin'. We had SMASH unplugged that night! :)

Chris and I did get a nice 'romantic' dinner AND a movie! Thanks to the Lancasters who let Caleb spend the night! :)

SMASH in the STREETS!!

Our SMASH in the STREETS event was incredible!!

We hit the Streets, divided into 3 cars and the Subway... with 17 kids, 5 leaders, 2 drivers, and 100 Sack Lunches!!! We made up sack lunch bags with a ham & cheese sandwich, chips, cookie, chocolate milk, and a beautiful bookmark paper with these verses on them:

Isaiah 55:1-2

Come all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy, and eat! Come buy wine and milk without money and without cost. Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not staisfy? Listen, Listen to me, and Eat what is Good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare.

John 6: 35

Then Jesus declared. "I am the Bread of Life. He who comes to Me will never go hungry; and He who believe in me will never be thristy."

The kids were impacted by what we did. Our car saw every extreme. One fella was so moved, he tore a piece of his sandwich to offer it to the girls as a gift. Another fella offered them food/supplies from a big trash bag of "collected" items from dumpsters. (half rotten). One guy was not nice, one was sleeping, one was totally in shock. Our lady was smiling from ear to ear! We went to the park, as well, and fed the popcorn vendors and ice cream vendors. These people work so hard for so little!! One family was there and the kids were so excited! The mom was overly gracious! :)

The other groups all had amazing stories! The Subway group talked to a guy that asked them to PRAY with him! One of the other car groups saw a large grouping of people in cardboard boxes out behind some dumpsters. So many needs around here!!!

How amazing our SMASHer's Standing in the GAP for these people! :) Awesome Experience!!

Then we ended the Awesome night with some PIZZA and fellowship! :)

Waterfalls & Rainbows

In March, we went to the Waterfalls again. There are actually many different waterfalls around Brasilia, but this one is probably the most "commercial." There is a big hut with a snack/lunch bar, music, a pool, and a couple of slides that are in the center of the "park". The path to the waterfalls is off to the side, and a little bit of a hike to get to the lower part. To get to the top, it is a pretty good hike up. Chris and the men, and the kids all went to the very top. We had a lot of fun, even though it rained on us for the first couple of hours. Then, we ate lunch. The sun ended up coming out just in time for everyone to have about an hour of play, then we headed home. It's a 2 hour drive one way on some really bad roads with random Speed bumps in the middle, so the drive is long. But it's worth it once or twice a year! :)

The most amazing thing however, was on the way home. There was an INCREDIBLE HUGE BRIGHT Rainbow!!! In fact, there were TWO! I have never seen TWO if you look very closely at the partial pic of the rainbow, you can see the very faint shadow of the second one about a centimeter to the left of the bright one.... you see it?? We actually see a good many rainbows in Brasilia during Rainy season, but I have never seen a FULL one that couldn't even be captured in one view of the camera!

I have never seen a FULL Rainbow this amazingly BRIGHT before!!! The pictures don't even do it justice. So... the SCIENCE GOOBER in me got to tell my car about prisms and the separation of the colors that make up light and their different wavelengths. :) In Physics, we got to really talk all about color and light and rainbows. We even got to talk about why our sky is blue and how it's really not reflection, or "colored" at all, but that the particles in the atmosphere allow the light to SCATTER and the higher frequencies of light get trapped first - which is Violet and Blue. Our eyes don't see Violet wavelengths as well, so our eyes pick up the Blue wavelengths. (in face, most animals and birds most likely see Violet!) :) ...AND... we only see the Blue with the "background" of black (SPACE!) and that looking down at earth from space, there is no "blue sky" ... AND... (sorry! :) ) in a city with SMOG, the reason you don't see Blue, (or much less of it) is because there are MORE particles in the air to SCATTER the light, so more wavelengths are trapped... making the sky almost Gray/White. (White is not a color, it's the combination of all wavelengths). ...Sorry for the little Physics lesson there... but it's COOL STUFF!! :)

So.... as I'm thinking of the SCIENCE behind these Rainbows, I'm just amazed at our CREATOR, SAVIOR, and LORD who thought up the complexity of these beautiful creations! How HE made light in its Perfection. How HE made this Earth to have perfect levels of the atmosphere that protect us from so many other parts of the Light that are not visible, that would cause us harm! We think UV rays are so damaging, well... we only get a VERY SMALL FRACTION of them, the rest are absorbed & reflected by our Ozone layer. How HE created everything with complete perfection beyond even our Scope of understanding! THEN... I get ANGRY at the very Science that I love that isn't fully capable of recognizing OUR SAVIOR! How can it be? Other than, of course, that God 'has confounded the minds of the Wise!' How can they DENY HIM??

Spring Semester Update

Well, we're now fully in the "Swing" of the Spring semester! I have been relieved of one class, and it was replaced by a tutoring session of accelerated 6th grade math students (only 2). It's only 2 days a week. Chris is in the big middle of the budget for the next year. He has been really working hard on this one.

We had a week off this week for Carnival Break! How wonderful! We went to the waterfalls on Monday with some other friends. It was nice! Thursday and Friday are inservice days, but not preparations for students. Very nice to have some extra time off! AND SLEEP! :)

Please pray for us:
*The BUDGET!! We will be losing a lot of students this June due to embassy transfers. We are praying for students to replace them.
*SMASH - We are praying for our kids not to lose focus during these months ahead. We are thrilled to have a committed core group of about 15-17. But we pray for the additional 10 to become more committed. Not to treat SMASH as a social hour, but as a place of Spiritual Guidance and refreshment.
*Upcoming SMASH Retreat! We are very excited about planning our 3rd retreat! Please pray for us and the kids!
*Our continued discipleship.
*God's continued Direction and Clarity to be known.

BIG PRAISE!!
*We are so thankful for our time on Tuesday nights! We have Piper and Pizza! :) A small group of staff are now meeting together on Tuesday nights to listen to John Piper and eat Pizza. We have been so blessed by the AMAZING Refreshment of a Pastor that speaks with true authority from God. Around here, it is incredibly difficult to find spiritual refreshment!

International Fair 2009

Our annual International Fair is always a lot of fun and a lot of work. This year was no different! One of our parents (in orange) gave us incredible Nigeria outfits. We gladly showed them off! :)





Chris was the Passport Agent again, and I worked with our newest staff member, Ms. Downing with the Junior High. The Junior High is assigned Africa and we made a pretty incredible HUT for our doorway.




Caleb and his kindergarten class was assigned New Zealand. They learned all about it and even had a special guest speaker. He is dressed as a Sheep Herder. The students were split and half were Sheep Herders, and half were Maori Tribe Natives. It was awesome!! He's getting so big! He knew all the answers during their presentation! *Proud Mom & Dad!*









Every year it remains so Amazing to me that God brings our Mission field HERE!! We are so blessed to be in the middle of such an amazing International community. On this night, we are surrounded by 20 different countries, 20 different cultures. All united with one purpose, in celebrating and supporting our students. Students who are enrolled in a Christian School!

Jr High Field Trip

My Junior High Earth Science class got to go on a field trip! We were studying Freshwater lakes and ponds, so we went to visit our lake. Too bad we can't go to the Beach, as our current section is on Oceans! But we had fun at the lake.









Here are a few pics from our trip.

Random Pictures from around BIS

Here are some pictures that my Photography club took around the school. Enjoy!

Thoughts....

I see God in Nature. I see Him in all created things. As we walked on the beach in Rio, I couldn't help but see the AMAZING God of our Creation. However... as I walked I thought these things... Please excuse the Ramblings... I pray you take whatever you can from them.

Waves... Waves are amazing. Waves have 2 stories to tell. I can completely see God's amazing Love and His powerful Wrath in the waves... it all depends on your perspective...

I have always LOVED Water... I'm just like my Dad. I have ALWAYS LOVED and Treasured Water. So when I gaze upon waves.... The kid in me thinks about times on the boat, and fun in the swimming pool, and the amazing feeling of waves pushing on me in their own rhythm. The Science Nerd & teacher in me reflects about how incredibly AMAZING water actually is. How God created water so differently than all other liquids, to have properties that conserve life, sustain life, and make the standard for other compounds to be compared. The Nurse in me thinks about how important water is for all of life's normal, regular, "routine" processes and without it means death.

However... this year in Rio... I saw something a bit different. There is always TWO SIDES to every story. When I see waves, and water, I see PEACE, TRANQUILITY, CALM. When some of my students who can't swim see water, they see POWER, PAIN, FEAR.

On Saturday, the waves were Beautiful... calming... rolling... It was amazing. On Monday, the waves were violent.... strong.... powerful.... fearsome.

Isn't GOD seen as these two massive contrasts?? Isn't HE BOTH the God of Love and the God of Wrath? I think it all depends on perspective!!

As a Child of God, I see Him as a God of Love, Mercy, and Massive Patience. As we study Revelation in our youth Sunday School class... we can also see God as an ALMIGHTY Judge who will Unleash His Holy Wrath when His time comes.

Just as the waves... We must have a HEALTHY FEAR of the Ocean and of Waves. For we know that in an instant, the Power of the Waves will overcome us and we will be Powerless. We MUST have a HEALTHY FEAR of God... and His Wrath and Judgement that will come.

There is also the Dual Perspective of... On Which side do you Stand? Are you standing FIRMLY on the SOLID ROCK of Jesus Christ, or are you Sinking and Struggling against the Sand, trying to do it on your own?

As you stand on the ROCK, on the shoreline, even Massive and Powerful waves aren't that oppressive. But as you wade out... sometimes much further out than is allowable and further than you had planned... the Waves are Scary.. they are as VIOLENT OPPRESORS... Unyielding, tormenting, creating Fear, Doubt, Struggle.

Is this not also our picture of our battle with Sin? We wade out... little by little... "It's ok.. it's not THAT deep... Other people are out here too"... then we get SWEPT IN! Getting in was so easy... Getting out can cost us our lives!

But we have the ALMIGHTY Lifeguard, who is ready, able, and WILLING to lend us a LIFE LINE... But we have to CALL OUT, REACH OUT and GRAB HOLD. We still have "ACTION" to do our our parts.

Thank you, Lord, that you are a God of Amazing Grace, Patience, and Love! We are a Shipwreck without You... to guide us, lead us, and strengthen us. Thank you! In Jesus' Name. Amen.

... One more thought... thanks for bearing with me! ... I've heard the little saying "Sometimes God calms the Storm... Sometimes He Calms his child." ... This is completely true. However, HIS decision as to which He chooses, I believe, has to do COMPLETELY with WHICH WILL BRING HIMSELF THE MOST GLORY!!! Are we fully giving HIM the GLORY, HONOR, and PRAISE no matter which He chooses to do???

Ahhh.... Rio!

We received the biggest blessing of being able to get out of the city for a few days. We headed back to Rio. It's just so amazingly cheap to go there. We want to take advantage of living in South America and visit other countries here, but it's much more expensive. We had an Incredible time!

It rained 3 of the days we were there... but it was nice to have some family time, and to relax and get lots of sleep! :) On the third day, we decided we were going to the beach ANYWAY! So it was misty rainy, dark, and cool. We were the ONLY people out there, except a few joggers! :) We had fun though... we took tons of silly pics. (However, most will NOT be posted, as SWIMSUITS are involved!! LOL!).

BLOG IS UPDATED!!!

YEE HAW!!! The Blog is now FULLY UPDATED!!! I did back-date, so if you haven't been here recently... the check out all the new posts since Mid-November. All the posts since then are new. YIPPEE!!! Sorry for the delay... but it's all up now! :)

SMASH at SIAO!!

We had an AWESOME Privilege of going to SIAO after our Christmas Bash & Crash! Siao is a Boy's home an hour outside of Brasilia. It was Incredible!! We got to share our "Set Me Free" Drama and lots of Smiles!! We spent time playing with the kids and having a blast. They had a Christmas party and invited the kids from the Community!




Then... we brought presents to add to some of the presents collected for the BOYS to GIVE to the KIDS in the community!! How Incredible!!! It was the heart of the leaders to make sure the boys understood about GIVING, so the boys GAVE presents at Christmas! They have not always had this opportunity! That is what Christmas is ALL about!!

Christ'SMASH' BASH and CRASH!!

We had an Awesome time at that CHRIST"SMASH" Bash and Crash!! We had a "Traditional" White Elephant Gift Exchange, Snacks, Worship, and a Great Message! THEN... the "CRASHERS" stayed and had SOUTHERN STYLE CHILI DOGS! Yummy!! Then CRASHED!!









Here are a Few Pics from the Evening!

The Christmas Program!

We had the Christmas program again, of course! And this year, we took an old program that the school had done before. I re-vamped it a bit, and wrote in the "MEN IN BLACK" (See Pic!)... It turned out really good, and the parents enjoyed it!


Of course, just as any Christmas program, it was a lot of work. I edited and directed the Drama parts and most of the transition stuff. The teachers each coordinated their own costumes and choreography, which turned out to be GREAT!! And our Music teachers did the music.





Caleb got to be a "Santa's Helper" and Santa was played by... Well.... None other than MR FRYAR himself! He LOVED IT! The kindergarteners kept asking him "What did you ATE, Mr Fryar?" To which Chris would respond differently each time! :)

It really was a good show! ... In Fact... Our "Mom" character got FOOD POISONING on the DAY of the Performance! So... I had to step in, no one knew the whole thing quite like I did, so it made it pretty easy. I memorized the lines that afternoon... and added in a few lines for comic relief! :) :) It was great! :) We were still sorry that Nida couldn't be in it though...