another year gone by

Here we are in June. JUNE! - that blessed time of year when teachers and students everywhere rejoice that the academic year has come to an end and two months of separation prepare us for the following year. I have three work days left. Can you tell I'm excited? Somewhere between when I last posted and this post, I dropped scalding hot tea on my leg. After about three weeks, it's healed well enough that I will risk exposing it to the sun, so I'm really ready to hit the pool.

The tail end of May was a whirlwind, as I mentioned getting ready for our International Day Show at school. It turned out to be pretty amazing, and of course, my students had the best performance. Chris was even able to come, so I was glad to have him there, too.

my little Frenchies

all of Grade 1

caught giving "teacher eyes" during the National Anthem

I closed out the hectic week of rehearsals and performances by celebrating my 29th birthday for the first time on May 31st. If ever there was a weekend full of fun and laughter, that was it! I'm so blessed to have so many wonderful friends and "family" over here, as well as around the world. We had a few great meals prepared for us, and I received a number of sweet notes and presents from family, students, colleagues, and friends. Thank you again! I think the most exciting present was the guitar Chris gave me. I'll be sad to leave it this summer...

This past Wednesday, we had our annual end-of-year breakfast for my school's elementary staff, which is always a lot of fun. After we go to work, we usually leave around 9:30 for breakfast, and then we have the rest of the day off. Pictured here are about half of the amazing ladies that I work with in the AAG elementary school.

 

Pictured below is my amazing teaching assistant, Gehan, and our awesome ES secretary, Shaima'a. Without these two ladies, I would probably go gray a lot sooner.

 

Chris is preparing to leave for Jordan and his summer Arabic study tomorrow. As far as I can tell, here is a tentative schedule of what our summer will look like. It's always an adventure!

- June 9: Chris leaves for Jordan
- June 18: Stephanie leaves for Boston
- June 22: Stephanie leaves for Pittsburgh
- June 29: Chris returns to Kuwait
- July 1: Chris leaves for Boston
- July (2?): Stephanie returns to Boston
- July 8-16: Chris & Stephanie travel to Iceland
- July (28?): Chris & Stephanie go to Pittsburgh
- August (18?): Chris & Stephanie return to Boston
- August 20: Chris and Stephanie return to Kuwait

"The heart of a man plans his way, but the LORD establishes his steps." Proverbs 16:9 (ESV)

January links

Here are just a few things that I've found or been alerted to in the past month, which you also may find interesting or helpful:

Gingie's Journey
A dear church friend at home has recently been diagnosed with cancer. Her daughter, Molly, has put together a blog with some thoughts and medical updates so that people can be aware and praying throughout the difficult process. If you know the Allshouses (or even if you don't!), please pray for Gingie's healing and recovery, and for the whole family's peace and strength.

The Gray Havens
This is a pop/folk duo that I caught wind of via Tim Challies' blog. They have a catchy little sound and good lyrics, and that combination fuels my current interest in modern American attempts at folk music. They just got their start out of the great state of Illinois, and you can currently download their new EP here.

Ladies Who Do Lunch in Kuwait
Ok, I admit that I found this link a long time ago, but I have been checking it a lot more recently for news and happenings in the New Year in Kuwait. I like the variety of cultural and fun activities that the author posts, which is a really comprehensive list of events and information.

Oxford Owl
This is an amazing resource for those teaching primary age learners. Although it is a UK-based project and the narrators/story tellers speak with a British accent, the stories are awesome and it's all completely free! There are also videos with tips on teaching phonics, free e-books, math and reading comprehension activities, and games that are extremely useful. For moms, I'd recommend exploring the site to see what would be helpful at home, too. My students love it, and it's easy to navigate by age groups, from 3yrs to 11yrs.

The Teacher Outreach

October was a busy month, evidenced by the lack of posts here. In October, there's usually a spill-over of tasks that need to be accomplished from September, but because there are only 30 days in that month, it just all can't be done.

Let me start from...I don't know. mid-September. Everything that I normally do to "adjust" to Kuwait in September was pushed to the end of the month because of the Teacher Outreach that we helped put together.

In a previous post, I mentioned that our Jabriya church service held an outreach for teachers new to Kuwait, hoping to help get them connected to The Lighthouse Church and other like-minded people in the country. Here's basically what our awesome team did (and what took several man-hours to organize with the help of lots of volunteers!), the fruit of which being that our service attendance has been consistently double in size over the past seven weeks.

 We...
- brainstormed ideas in the spring
- set a date to have a "welcome lunch" after the usual 11:30 church service
- ordered about 300 organza drawstring bags during the summer
- PRAYED and made some phone calls
- designed and had about 300, 3x4 invitations printed

- bought 24 boxes of gum, 9 cases of Kit-Kats, 2 giant bags of mentos, (and partridge in a pear tree...)
- stuffed the bags with the candy and the invitations
- passed out the candy bags to 6 or 7 schools' teacher accommodation buldings, one to each apt.
- organized van transportation for those who RSVPed, plus some extra
- made some phone calls...
- ordered sandwiches and different kinds of Arabic "fatayer" for 120 people
- bought ice, drinks, and plastic silverware, plates, napkins, etc.
- ordered Arabic sweets
- made some phone calls...
- purchased give-away prizes
- picked up ordered food on the morning of the lunch
- set up tables, chairs, food, and drinks
- prepared salads
- made some phone calls
- had an amazing service and lunch

Afterwards, I went into hiding with my coffee French press and a bottle of Ibuprofen for about a week, but it really all was amazing. We have met a lot of new people, made new friends, and helped people get connected to a church where they can grow and be stretched. To God be the glory.

Our friend and pastor, Mark Ingram, wrote a little article for the church's monthly magazine publication (page 7).  You can read it here: Contact Magazine, September 2012 (4/13 in the file- you need Adobe Reader to see it.)