We're Home!

Our year in Germany has come to an end. We are so thankful for all the prayers and encouragement given to us this year. This year had its challenges, but it has been a blessing to serve students at BFA. It has also been a blessing to serve Germans in our community. One of the most precious moments is when I went to say goodbye to our former landlady. She gave me the biggest hug!

We will miss all the missionaries we met and worked with in Germany and Switzerland. We will always keep them in our prayers....and definitely stay in touch.

Stay tuned for what next mission field god calls us to......

BFA Graduation 2008

Congratulations BFA graduating class of 2008!



Merrit Harris and his band performed

The class sang "In Christ Alone" for the audience

Mr. Shuman, director of BFA, receiving a live fish from one of the graduates. Tradition is that every year graduates present a gift to the director

Lining up for their grand entrance. Notice Nolan in the picture :)


So here are some highlights from graduation which took place on Friday June 8. Even though I did not teach the seniors, I had the privilege of getting to know some of the students either at Blauen dorm, Nolan's guitar students, or from just hanging out at the school. Both Nolan and I are proud of them and pray they will continue to seek God in all their future endeavors.

Updates

Well, we have been busy packing and cleaning for the past couple of weeks. We leave next week for good ole USA. I am excited to see family and friends, and eat some American delights....like Mexican food.

We are spending this week saying good byes to friends we have gotten to know pretty well while being here. It will be sad to say good bye to them. We have dinner with a friend each night this week....and even some lunch dates too. We hope to get in one more day trip before leaving too.

We are beginning to narrow down the options. We returned yesterday from a quick trip to Casablanca, Morocco to look at some teaching jobs. It was a wonderful but busy 3 days. We met with so many people and even had the opportunity to teach some classes, which was a lot of fun. I taught a 5th grade ESL class and Nolan taught an elementary music class. We also had the opportunity to see some of the city. I think everyone should visit a country in Africa at least once in your life.....it is life-changing.

We will continue to pray for future opportunities for teaching in Morocco.

Continue to pray for us as we make decisions. We hope to head out to Montana as soon as we get back. I also re-applied for Williamson County Schools, where I was teaching before in Tennessee. These are 2 more opportunities we are praying and seeking about for the future.

Our prayer is that we are obedient. We don't want to follow our ways, but God's way. We pray for clarity in being obedient to His calling.

Again, thank you to all who have supported us by prayer, encouragement, and finances.

Elementary Spring Concert

I am a little out of chronological order with the blog. But last Sunday was Nolan's elementary school spring concert. And let me say, it was way too cute. The theme was "country" and Nolan added a twist to the concert by throwing in some of his own songs, and he put together a live band, which consisted of some friends in the community and at church.

Nolan and the students wore "country" attire of boots, bandanas, or anything else country they may have had in their closet. Too cute. They had little dances to go along with the songs too. I was so proud of Nolan and his final spring concert. I even had some tears come to my eyes while watching and thinking this it it. The year is finished. What a great way to close the school year.

The Crunch

Since my last entry, it has been a whirlwind. Nolan's parents arrived here in Germany May 22 and have been here for 2 weeks. We saw a lot of Germany, France, and Switzerland with them. And there was still so much more we wanted to see. It is usually when family visits that we actually get out and see things. At the same time, our friends from Northern Ireland came for a weekend trip while Nolan's parents were here. We had a house full, but it was so much fun.

Also, while they were here Nolan had Middle School Awards and Elementary Spring Concert. It was nice for family to attend these events. I think they enjoyed seeing the programs and meeting the students and families.

Yesterday I gave my final exam and today I am busy grading. Only 5 more research papers to grade, but 50 final exams still left to grade. Nolan said he would help me with the exams :) All seems quiet now. Noone in the house, grading almost finished. I don't know what to do with myself.

Nolan and I need to take the quiet time and pray about the future. We have some options to consider and pray over. Here are some prayer requests for the upcoming weeks.

1. Moving to Montana to work with a church plant

2. Teaching at a school in Casablanca, Morocco

3. Moving back to Nashville and picking up where we left off

4. Continue with International Mission Board and attend orientation

Please keep us in you prayers as we consider all of these decisions. We want to be obedient in following the Lord. We don't want to make decisions based on what seems "right on paper", but what God is truly calling both Nolan and me to do.

Staff Appreciation Dinner

Bethany and Meagan...will miss those girls when we leave!

(At our table) Starting from the back; the Kronks, the Leavitts, the Stefans, and us. We had the most entertaining table!

A couple of weeks ago, the school treated all the teachers and staff to a nice dinner at a banquet hall with catering. The food was excellent and so was the company. It was nice to get together in this setting and just socialize. What a nice ending to the school year....well, we have 2 weeks left, but feeling the end is closer and closer.

Junior Senior Banquet

(left to rght) Blauen girls with Lexi, one of the Resident Assistants. Hannah Kim, a cutie and my teacher asisstant

(below, lft to rght) Blauen girls again being silly :) Jack and Ellyn..BFA's cutest couple

Ariel and Andersen, both girls in my 1st period class. Ernie and Josh, both in my 7th period.

(lft to rght) Meagan and Brandon Post. Deloris and Nakul, both in my 7th period class.

The HBR dorm boys. All in my class. Koreans representing: Ernie and Sooji (middle) in my class.

Natasha and Bethany, both in my 1st period class.






Sign team. They are awesome and use my classroom after school to practice on Fridays. I get to hang out with them!

Nolan and I with Deloris and Ivan...dorm parents at Blauen, where we help out Mon. nights

Cameron Prenger and I....she is one of my juniors in 7th period American Lit.

Stephanie Miller and I....she is another student in 7th period

And another sweetie in my 7th period....Ellen Purpero

(lft to rght) Meagan, Stephanie, Me, Emily, Ellyn, and Hannah. Beautiful, young girls!

Banquet hall where the students and some staff ate dinner and watched the program. Nolan and I sat in the balcony

Last Sunday was the Junior Senior Banquet or JSB they call it here at BFA. The students get all dressed up with their dates and have a nice dinner. The school rents out this banquet hall where the food is catered. The juniors decorate the banquet room for the seniors. Their is a program where the juniors in each dorm pay a tribute to the seniors who are leaving. Some of the performances were really heart felt and nice to watch...others were interesting to say the least....

Teeanagers will be teenagers :) The whole evening was a success and Nolan and I enjoyed ourselves.

Baptism Services

Mikeala, one of the Nolan's middle school students. Her father is bible teacher at the school

Lukas, one of my 11th grade students. His parents are missionaries in Germany. Here is his mother praying and sharing with the the audience

(sorry for the blurriness) Lukas and his dad during the actual baptism

Lukas' dad sharing with the audience

Lukas giving his testimony

Lane and Jack Young. Lane and his family have been serving at BFA for 5 years. He works in Residence Life. Jack is one of Nolan's guitar students. This family has become special to us!

Lane and Meagan Young (the middle child) right before being baptized

And this particular bapitism brought tears to everyone's eyes. Pastor Herrop of the school's church and his daughter Hannah (5th grade and Nolan's student). Pastor Herrop cried as he shared about his daughter...sweet, sweet moment!

This past Sunday was the baptism service for students. Even though we are a Christian school with missionary kids, not all students come as believers in Christ. Sometimes teachers or staff have the privilege of being a part of a student coming to know Christ. And then also have a part in watching students make a public profession of their decision. Sometimes students partake in baptism because they have made a recommitment to Christ. But for various reasons, it was special to witness students in this event. What made it even more special, was some students' parents flew in so they could be a part of the service. Talk about bringing tears to the eyes as parents shared with their child in this occasion. Watching parents pray over their child was also heart touching!

The procedure was first the student gives his or her testimony, the father peforms the baptism, and after the baptism, the mother prays over the child. In some cases, not all parents were able to come, so a bible study leader or teacher would pray. Here are some pics from the service.

Blauen Dorm

Deloris pooped out on the sofa

Starting left....Vangie from Alaska, Lexi from Pennsylvania, and Deloris and Ivan from ???? Can't remember :)

Here is the whole map showing where all the girls, RAs and dorm parents are from..pretty cool, huh!

Not sure who is on the left, but Brad Pitt and Dr. Phil have their presence at Blauen. This was actually part of their theme night for open house

I guess the girls were offering their grass-cutting services to the German community?

We go every other Monday night to a girl's dorm to help out. We love it! I love hanging out with the girls and Deloris, the dorm mom. The 2 RAs and Ivan, dorm dad, have the night off. We usually get there around dinner time, and eat with the girls. We eat at a long table, and it totally family style. Crazy, but it is the only day of the week where Nolan and I actually eat a table. I know what you are thinking, we should take more time together and eat the dining table :)

After dinner, Nolan usually plays the piano with some of the girls who are quite talented! I usually help Deloris out in the kitchen, baking something for breakfast or snack. One particular night I had to bake for weekend event, and I calculated 3 dozen muffins and 2 cakes. I have never baked that much before! I was dreaming muffins in my head when I went to sleep. Anyway, so I baked a blueberry coffee cake last night, and it was yummy. Deloris always lets us take a little home with us!

It is such a treasure to hang out with the Blauen girls and Deloris. What a blessing to know such people! Here are some pics of the dorm. Next time I will get pics of the girls rooms, but I didn't want to disturb them during study hours.

High School Retreat

Students taking a break

Team-building activity

Micah Powers (small group leader and assistant principal of school) leading bible study

Sam Stemple (Chaplain) leading bible study

Meagan (right side)-enjoying down time with girlfriends. Meagan's parent are IMB missionaries here in Germany and are good friends of ours

Girls being silly

Worship time with Jack and Noah

Ellyn Purpero and Eddie

Girls bible study time

Having more fun. Anna Dunn (left side) lives at the dorm where we help out

High School retreat was back in March. Nolan and I did not attend for various reasons. But the kids had a great time! Here are some pictures students took over the weekend.