New Tribes Mission MK Summit

The past couple of days I had the privilege of being a part of the New Tribes Mission MK Summit.  Unfortunately due to the weather and health issues several people had to cancel out at the last minute.  However, we had a good group of people come together to to talk about how we can serve our families and MK's better.  We had a couple of teachers from our MK schools, a couple of home school coordinators from overseas, MK care personnel, and the rest of the North American team that came together for these meetings.  It was a great time to gather, connect, and to find out what we are all doing,  and how we can work together more effectively, and in the end help our families.

MK's in Transition

One thing I have been spending a lot of time on these days is working on my MK transition classes.  Each year I try to plan things depending on what families we have and the ages of the children.  I have been developing three new activites, one of which I did this past week.  I also have several other activites from previous semesters I will be doing as well as several whole family activites.  So each week until the end of the semester I will be hosting MK Transition Classes.  

The first activity I did was on leaving well and what are some things the kids can do to help them in saying good-bye.  This past week our activity was on sorting and packing.  I first did a fun white board activity where the kids got to talk/draw about their favorite or worst part about packing and unpacking, flying, and moving to a new place.  Although their parents will do most of the packing, families moving overseas have to sort through all of their belongings.  It is not easy for some kids to have to give away special toys and only bring a limited amount of things with them.  Kids can also get stressed just seeing boxes pile up and their house become bare.  Therefore, it was good to talk through some of these "not so fun" things in life.  For a fun acitiviy I bought a bunch of random things in (some breakables and also food items) for the kids to work together on packing.  They were supposed to figure out the best ways to pack things so they would arrive in one piece, and to save as much space as possible.   I always love these times with the children.  Some very fun and meaningful times are spent together.  It helps that I try to have a yummy snack.  :) (Due to where these children are going I won't post any pictures of them.)  But pray for their family and all the changes ahead.)

The Shedd Aquarium

One very special treat while we were in Chicago was to be able to go the Shedd Aquarium with Aurora.  Even though I grew up in Chicago I had only been there once many years ago and Aurora had never been.  Our niece Charlotte who was home from Peru recovering from wrist surgery came with us.  It sure was a fun day spent together.

The Spring Break Connection

The middle of March was our spring break so we made a quick trip to Chicago for the weekend to spend time with my parents and other family members.  We had planned on taking Jeremiah with us but he ended up getting sick.  That was disappointing and we sure missed him.  It did however, work out for Aurora to come with.  We made some great memories together with family.

Catching Up

It looks like it is time for an update.  The end of February beginning of March we made a road trip to Florida where we attended some meetings with other North American trainers.  As you know we have three children in the states.  It worked out to see all our kids even though the one hour coffee date with Glenn and Ruth was not long enough.  It was also a special treat to be able to connect with Shania, one of the college MK's I have been cheering on.