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.  

Farewell Friendship Tea

The life of a missionary can seem like a life of transitions as a person moves from one place to another especially on their home assignment when they are visiting all their supporting churches and family and friends.  We have experienced this as a family as we have friends spread out all over North America and many different countries.  However, the missionary family is not the only ones who feel the pain and loss when the missionary returns to their field of service.  Family and friends also feel this.  Here on the campus we make so many incredible friendships with our students and missionaries on furlough.  Therefore when our missionary candidates finish their training, and missionaries in the area return to the field it leaves an emptiness here in our hearts.   I personally have shed many tears in saying good-bye to good friends, some of which we do not know if we will see again on this earth.  I have also seen my children have to say good-bye to close friends and it is not easy.  Sometimes it has been years until someone else their age moves here that they become good friends with.  As I have learned and grown in this area of transitions and dealing with grief and loss there are ways to help say good-bye well.  I have tried to help different children throughout the years make some fun memories through hosting a party, photo shoot, and with other special events.  Right now our grand daughter Aurora is going to be saying good-bye to a good friend Jean as her family leaves early tomorrow morning to head back to their ministry overseas.  Yesterday, I had the joy and privilege to host a lunch tea party for Aurora and Jean to give them another opportunity to make some fun memories together.  Please be praying for the children here on the campus and in our academy as they say yet another good-bye to friends.

Cooking from Scratch

We are trying to make our Emanate training as relevant as possible.  There are many different classes we have on cross cultural church planting, phonetics, phonemics, and things like that.  However we also try to bring in practical classes that will help in living in a remote area.  Life on the mission field is quite different then life in North America.  When we worked in Venezuela all of our supplies had to be flown into us.  We would not get supplies for at least a month and some times longer.  There was no running to the store to buy a loaf of bread.  So for the past month once a week different people have been teaching a class on cooking from scratch.  About a week and a half ago Vern and I did a scratch cooking class.  We taught how to make tortillas, pita bread, and crepes.  (These are all made with very simple ingredients that you should be able to get in almost every country.)  We always enjoy having fun in the kitchen with the students.  Hopefully a few of the things they have learned in these classes will come in very handy when they go overseas.