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update

Well, it's time for a little update I guess.  We had many days off of school for Thanksgiving Break, though there was so much to be done that they disappeared quickly.  Cesar's funeral was as good as it could be considering the circumstances.  A lot of students and families and former students were there.  His Dad (and other family members and friends) seemed to make a decision for Christ and I heard that he and his wife and their family went to Jefferson Church on Sunday (that's the church I went to when I first moved here).  Even yesterday in our Student Council meeting, when we were taking prayer requests one girl said that "even though it sounds weird, she's kind of thankful for Cesar's death b/c even though he taught her a lot when he was alive, through his death, he's teaching her even more."  It's good to keep remembering him and talking about him.  Thanks for your thoughts and prayers and kind words.

Last Tuesday was crazy.  Thanksgiving Lunch with the middle school all together, Student Council led decorating the school for Christmas in the afternoon, the 7th grade girls and I watched West Side Story after school (I had played the soundtrack for them in a reading period and they had wanted to see the movie, they said they liked it actually!), and then the four Student Council girls slept over.  By Wednesday afternoon, I was exhausted.  :)

Rachel and Abi doing DDR at Grace's house (we stopped over at night, she also set up the Wii!)

Then we went back to my house and made homemade chocolate cookies.  They turned out a little funny looking! :)

group shot before watching a movie

I made them pancakes in the morning!  We were so tired!

Only 1 day of school before I leave for Jess' wedding.  Whoo hoo for friends and snow!

Cesar

This has been a long, hard week.  Early Tuesday morning, I was woken up at 2something in the morning telling me that a former student was in the hospital and that it didn't look good.  My housemates and I prayed.  A little while later I got another call.  Cesar had passed away.  We know now that it was just a crazy illness.  He had been sick for a couple of days, with what seemed like the flu.  His mom took him to the ER when he didn't get better and he simply went downhill quickly.  A bad case of the flu, bacteria in his lungs, and a really weak immune system combined were too much.  He died peacefully.   

I had Cesar from when he was a sixth grader through his eighth grade year.  He was a part of my first class of students that I had all three years.  He was a freshman in a local charter high school this year.  I watched him grow and mature a lot during the last few years.  During his sixth grade year I had him on a "home chart" for a few months.  He needed some structure at home, so he had to tell me when he did his homework, when he watched TV, and he had to play outside for at least an hour.  Even without a parent signature required, he faithfully completed that and showed it to me daily.  He was such a good kid. 

He was fiercly loyal to his friends.  He cared if one of his friends was getting in trouble.  Even one of my current sixth graders said that Cesar had sat down and talked with him when he was making some bad choices.  Through his tears he said, "Cesar changed my life."  Everyone loved Cesar.  Most people would say that they like most other people.  Really, everyone LOVED Cesar.  It didn't matter what grade you were in or who your friends were, he treated everyone the same. 

He was also very inquisitive, always wanting to know the deep questions and "why."  I had him for Bible and World History classes the same year when he was a seventh grader.  He was very concerned about the souls and eternal destiny of the people of ancient civilizations that we would study.  He truly cared and was a deep thinker.

World Impact's teen group, Kaleo, had a leadership development group that Cesar was a part of.  He traveled to San Francisco with them last summer.  Their leader, Susie, shared about Cesar on that trip.  The youth prepared Bible Clubs for 50 kids up there, but ended up only having one boy all three days.  Cesar was the one youth who, on his own initiative, went up and asked him if he knew Jesus on the last day.  He didn't, but wanted to, and Cesar prayed with him and led him to Christ.

We told the current middle school students at the beginning of school Tuesday.  That was an especially long, hard day.  There was a lot of crying and processing and remembering.  We're still continuing through that.  Many students said that he was their best friend.  Cesar had an amazing way of making everyone feel special and important.  He talked to everyone and was kind.  Cesar was also hilarious.  He was so goofy.  He went by the nickname Pancakes, even writing that on his papers.  He could make anyone cheer up.  Students commented that when people would start to say bad things, Cesar would just ask them to stop.  They also commented that when they would start to talk badly about someone, Cesar would simply say, ''nah, they're cool."  He had incredible character and could relate to people in such a non-judging manner. 

The last conversation I had with him was a few weeks ago.  I saw him when he was around the school for a teen event one late Friday afternoon.  He came up and we started talking about his new school.  After being at a Christian school for so long, he said public high school was really different and hard sometimes.  He shared with me about one of his friends who was involved with some scary witchcraft stuff. He loved her just like he loved all of his friends.  He wasn't judgmental, but talked with her seriously about some stuff she was doing.  He said that she had already stopped a couple of her activities. He wasn't boasting about his witnessing or feeding me any lines (he was too honest for that), just simply sharing about a friend he cared about and wanted prayer for.  He was sincerely concerned for her.  Before I left, he also asked for prayer for a family member.  He is why we're here, in the hope that our students through God's grace will become mature believers and leaders for God's Kingdom. 

He carried his "man purse" or "man bag" with him everywhere.  In it were his private journal and a pocket-size Bible he had gotten for his 8th grade graduation.  His family now has that journal.  I was over at the house for a little bit the last two days and last night his uncle was reading it.  He said, "This kid had faith."  I read a page of it and "Dear God" was at the top.  He really was an incredible kid.

His family is heartbroken of course.  Cesar also had an older brother of around 19 and a younger brother in fourth grade.  It will be quite the change for his family to not have him around.  Pray for his family.  Pray also that they would rejoin a Christian community and church through this situation.  They were once a part of one of our church plants, Jefferson church (where I went my first year here), but were incredibly busy people with both parents working all the time, and slowly stopped going.  Before joining up with Kaleo, Cesar would even walk to Jefferson sometimes by himself on Sunday mornings. 

Pray for me, the other staff here, and our current and former students as we grieve also.  After Tuesday, I was so exhausted (emotionally and physically) that I slept 11 hours.  Yesterday it felt like I was just going through the motions.  Everyone is so sad and misses him so much.  The funeral was set for Monday, but I think that it will be next Friday now here at the school.  Tomorrow evening is a sharing time for former students and others who knew him at Kaleo.  Pray for strength and wisdom as we grieve.

Here are some pics that I had.  He changed so much from 6th-8th grade.  First row: sixth grade.  Second row: seventh grade.  Third and fourth rows: eighth grade.  In his memory. . .

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Well, there's been some new babies around here the last few months, so what a great reason to post again!  :)  This is the lovely Gutierrez family (Dave and Laura).  We've been in the same Family Group every year I have been on staff and they just welcomed Natalie into their family with big brother Elijah this summer.  The other pictures are Tammy and me holding the new precious little girl!

Then, just this past Friday the Voss family (Hank and Johanna) welcomed Isaiah Isaac to their family.  Big brothers Sam and David and big sister Renee were excited to see her and mom and dad.  Grace and I also got to hold the new little guy!

Yea for new life!  Our staff kids are so great and now there are two more!  Congrats to the Gutierrez and Voss families!  Especially to Laura and Johanna!  :)

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the good and the bad

I guess it's time for a new post.  I do love pictures, but I just haven't had a chance to upload photos and there surely isn't time now.  I just got back from a wonderful trip to MN, but I'm still bummed I forgot my charged batteries for my camera.  Oh well, memories still last even without pictures.

So today was sandwiched with really good and really not so good moments.  Let me share with you all.

1.  Good:  Our devotional this morning in Bible class centered on Ephesians 4:11-13.  Here's verse 11:  "It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers."  We talked about it a little and then I asked the 6th graders to share who they could see in their class being those things and what they see in them now that makes them think God will use them in that particular way.  It was so encouraging.  After a little thought, a lot of students shared about their classmates (and not just their best friends).  They saw pastors, sunday school teachers, missionaries, and prophets to speak truth.  It was a joy to be a part of that affirming vision-casting time.

2.  Bad:  I hurt the feelings of a good friend here.  It was completely unintentional and is now resolved, but that still stinks.

3.  Good:  I took the sixth graders to serve lunch at a mission downtown here that serves homeless people.  They were challenged and stretched and had a good time.  I love seeing their eyes opened, being challenged to serve, and adjusting to a new context.  We cleared plates for people, talked to them a little, and cleaned up afterwards.

4.  Bad:  I had to track down our Student Council President after school (when we were supposed to have our last meeting of the year).  She couldn't come (which is fine b/c something with her family came up, ahem, shopping for her graduation shoes), but her not even telling me she couldn't come is not fine.  She agreed that she had been having a "I don't care, why are you bothering me" attitude the last month or so.  Not sure why, but we're talking more tomorrow (hopefully).  very frustrating.

5.  Good: Student Council meeting.  We had our last one of the year at Starbucks, the place where we had our first meeting of the year.  They all had Double Chocolate Chip cremes and loved it.  They filled out encouragement pages for each other and then we took turns answering questions like "What do you want to be when you grow up?  What was your favorite part of Student Council?  When you think of God, how do you see Him?  How do you react when people judge you?" etc.  It was encouraging.  One girl even said her favorite part of Student Council was when we had a hard meeting about what was frustrating for people.  She said she loved it because everyone's feelings just got out there and we got closer and worked through things.  Wow.  The others said eating ice cream at our end of the year party and working on the Book Fair.  :)  That student has a mature perspective.  I'm proud of how hard these students worked this year and it was nice to spend time with them.

I want to say "Listening to Tahran and Jason's wedding CD," but I don't think that's a choice.  I played a little bit of it for some of my 6th grade girls and asked who they thought was singing.  They listed a few famous Christian artists.  I told them it was my friend whose wedding I went to and they thought that was incredible and were shocked.  Tahran is awesome.  :)

Even with the good and the bad, I still love what I got to do here.  I really couldn't imagine wanting to do anything else at this point in my life.  Being with old friends always reminds me of that, and I am encouraged.  Thank you everyone in MN for a wonderful two days.  If you have any pics (though I don't really remember many people taking any), send them my way.  :)  Much love. . .

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Life in Pics again :)

Okay, here are some more pics (I really like pictures. . . )
Here's the annual Princess Tea.  The girls get all dressed up and told how they are Princesses of the King and have worth and deserve respect.  The boys get all dressed up and serve cute little appetizers and tea and escort the young ladies in.  (seeing them escort the girls is my favorite part.  The boys are acting like mature gentlemen and the girls are all squealing and giggling and jockeying for position in line for who will escort them.  so hilarious)  This is a great event and the hope and prayer is that our guys treat our girls with respect and the girls understand and own their identity in Christ.

Now we have our "dress up like a book character" Literature Day at the middle school.  Here are the prize winners for best costume (they won a day of free dress and book fair $).  There was a safari dude, a Hardy Boy, some robot guy, Moses, Hermoine from Harry Potter, and 4 greasers from "The Outsiders."  (Miguel, the guy on the left of the Outsiders cracked me up.  He tried to roll up a box of crayons in his sleeve to make it look like a pack of cigarettes, but he couldn't get it to stay.  I thought that was a brilliant idea  :)

Our Family Group is the best (it's like our church small groups).  We had a game night and played Sequence (I had never played it before, but it's sooo fun!).  Of course the teams are red and blue, so the red side tried to represent their redness is flashing the bloods sign.  wow, it was so hilarious to see them try to contort their hands that way.  Here's Ryan, Laura (and the new baby!), and her husband Dave.

I got to go to see another one of my students get baptized.  This is Angel E: a talkative guy, smart, and a leader for the Kingdom in the making.


SPRING BREAK!!!  I was sooooo ready for Spring Break.  We were blessed beyond anything I could ever imagine to stay at a great place in Cabo, Mexico.  Wow, does God ever provide.  We went into town a little bit, but I mostly laid by the pool and read.  I finally read Tale of Two Cities and I also read Brother Andrew (such a good book if you've never read it).  I loooooved just relaxing and reading and hanging out.  It was soooo beautiful!  The bottom two photos show me, Tammy, and Tracy as we're about to leave (squished in the back with all of the luggage).  The first pic is how we felt about our Cabo trip, the second shows how we feel leaving.


Rachel is a teen whose family is on staff.  She's only in 8th grade and already had her own piano recital.  She was really good!  I love the families and kids here!

One of my old students had her big Quincanera the other weekend.  When Latino young ladies turn 15, they have this special party and ceremony for them.  It's pretty cool.

Karis came here!!!!!  Her husband Ben was back from Iraq for two weeks and they came here to spend time together.  It's hard that he's there, but I was so happy to see her!


The day after I hung out with Karis for the last time, I left with our sixth graders on our Genesis Journey camping trip.  We do team-building activities, a high ropes course, a night hike, and even a camp-out (including hiking to our site, cooking over a fire, and setting up our own tents!).  It was a blast. . .

Here are some younger sisters of one of my students and the youngest daughter of our Secretary.  They hung out in my classroom one day afterschool and were playing with my dress-up box (for when we do skits and stuff).  I had to include these b/c they're just so cute!

It was my bday and I got these wonderful flowers from my family (ahhhh, how I love my family!  )  Here's how they looked mom and dad (once they got home. . .).  Thanks!  I rode my bike to school that day, so it was quite fun getting them home in my basket over all of the bumps!  That night some friends and I went to ComedySportz, which was hiiiiilarious, but I forgot to take pictures!  edit:  but don't worry, Grace read this and sent me some!  She had taken pictures when I had to go up and participate because it was my bday.  It was pretty fun, but I don't feel like explaining all about it here, so ask me if you want more details.  I also got a great running skirt(!) from my friends, which I had to tell the guy because he asked what they gave me.  "Running skirt" definitely became the joke of the night.  It was probably at least mentioned in most "games" after that.  I laughed enough that night to last me at least a week.  :) 

Last, but not least, Grace and I went to our kids' soccer game this past weekend.  They've been having a rough season, but they played so well that day and came back and totally won by a lot.  We were so proud of them!!!