Christmas Bulletin

Greetings from a snowy-white Black Forest,

I have been wanting to catch you up on some of the events that I've been a part of these last few months. Before I do that, however, I've told you before, but I want you to know from the start of this letter. As I look to the end of another calendar year, I am reminded that this is the end of another chapter in my life--teaching at Black Forest Academy. After praying about how long I should stay at BFA I felt like the Lord was calling me back to the United States for a while. I ask that you pray with me as I make preparations for what I will be doing next year. My goal in going back to the States is to start grad school, but I think that it would be good to work first and save up some money. They say that in leaving a place the transition takes six months in preparation to leave a place and another six months once you settle. So as I look to the next year I will basically be in transition the whole time! Although I will miss this awesome community that I have here at BFA, I know that I will be returning to a familiar place, which gives me comfort.

My roommate and I have an open door policy. Basically, what that means is students and staff alike can come over whenever they want. This is important for the Residence staff. They live in their work environment. It is important for them to have a place they can go to on their day off. Something else that I enjoy is when the students want to get out of the dorm and into a home. Last week, however, I had students cooking for me! The Independent Living class has a unit on hospitality and cooking. The students plan the meal, cook and clean up afterward. This is an event I look forward to every semester.

Tyler (MK from Germany) and Cherity (MK from Bosnia)

Sitting down to eat...

Here at BFA we have two formal dinners per year, the Christmas Banquet and the Junior/Senior Banquet. Last summer a women's group and a church gathered 148 formal dresses and shipped them to BFA. A few weeks ago one of the Resident Assistants organized all the dresses and put out the word for a Dress Shop. I was able to help out on the day of the big event by setting up some snacks and beverages (for the girls and a few moms who were waited patiently outside the dressing rooms) and with the set up and tear down. It was so much fun to see the girls get all excited about looking at all the dresses. They started to line the hallway and down the stairs leading up to the opening of the Dress Shop. The girls rushed with enthusiasm as the doors were opened. Fortunately, we realized before hand that since space in the room was limited that we could only let about 15 girls in at a time. As the others in line waited the all crowded around the door as their classmates and friends went from rack to rack perusing and choosing dresses to try on. By the end of the day 75 of the dresses were claimed by students and a few more by staff.

Some of the dresses

The food tableThe line...I was serious, the line went down two flights of stairs

I was once again asked to help out with manicures for the Palmgarten girls on the day of the Banquet in their Star Salon. This was my third year to perfect the french manicure. One of the Resident Assistants (RA), who had worked in the dorm the previous two years, had visited and left some manicuring items. It was such fun to dote on the girls as they prepared for their evening. I have become very comfortable with giving french manicures! Another favorite part of the evening was when the girls came out all dressed up.

Small group has been such a blessing this year. I have enjoyed the evenings when we talk about Don't Waste Your Life, the book we are going through this year. The girls give honest reflections about each topic and are not afraid to give a differing opinion. In early November we did a progressive dinner. I have a unique small group in many respects, for one it's not small; it has 8 girls in it. Another way that makes my small group unique here at BFA is that three fourths of my girls are home students, most of whom live in Kandern. This made for a fun evening earlier on in November when we walked from one end of Kandern to nearly the other end between courses.

This year I was also able to attend three Thanksgivings! The first one I attended was for the Canadian thanksgiving, which got its start before the American tradition began (I learned). The Canadians actually celebrate Thanksgiving towards the beginning of October. This was my first year to be invited to this special event. In all, I think that there were at least 50 people in attendance. I was also invited to the dinner at Palmgarten where we ate like royalty. Since BFA has a variety of students from different cultural backgrounds, be it by passport, by where their parents are located or where the student considers "home" to be, BFA is an American school by curriculum only. For this reason BFA doesn't celebrate every holiday on the American or Canadian calendar, except for Thanksgiving. Sort of as a compromise the school celebrates Thanksgiving in between the two holidays. The third celebration was on the actual day of Thanksgiving. I gathered with a few girlfriends and we had a delicious meal complete with pumpkin pie (which is quite a feat since we don't have Libby's pumpkin filling here. The pumpkin actually has to be baked, scooped out and then it's ready to make the pie with. It's a long process, but one I completed twice this year--and enjoy!

November was a busy month I participated in the Dress Shop, organized a progressive dinner with my small group, celebrated three Thanksgivings and to top it off three friends came to visit! It ended up that I was able to borrow a car, so I could take Becky (a friend from Minneapolis) to Bern and Strasbourg (both cities I hadn't been to yet). The other two were former RAs here at Palmgarten. It was so good to have them back, to catch up...late into the night! I have caught up on my sleep now and am ready for Christmas break just around the corner!

Froehliche Weihnachten!