Another week... another year...

This week was busy - our Tuesday morning bible study met for the last time this year and we ended it with a brunch. It has been a good year - I led this year with Mrs. J. and we studied the book of Amos. We used "You Only" by Rev. P. Feenstra and found it to be a good study guide. I am done my term so it was my last meeting. I promised myself that just because I will now have more free time I should not go & commit to something else.

It was also our last day at the school library - at least it was the last day we will be open to students. If you are a librarian you will know that it doesn't mean the last day of work. We will need to collect all outstanding books, do inventory, print reports and run after fines and lost books. It was a good year - but it becomes more of a challenge to stay motivated after 5 years. You get a bit of repetition after a while & you need to find fresh & exciting ideas for talks to the students. I hope to enroll in a Children's Literature class of WWU this coming fall - that is IF I can get over the fear of being the oldest student in the class...

Yesterday was also AK's 9th birthday. It's hard to believe he's already that old. He had 7 friends over from gr. 3/4. I had arranged to be at the Bellingham YMCA to climb the rock wall there. So the theme of rock climbing came out in his cake (at least I tried). They are also studying rocks in class so it was really neat. There was one 30 foot wall & another 65 foot (if I remember correctly) and 3 "belayers". They mostly stayed on the 30 ft. wall - which was challenging enough. About half of them made it to the top - they each tried at least 10 times. By the end, their arms felt like rubber. It was a great way to expend some "boy" energy. I was very disappointed when I realized I had forgotten my camera - sorry, no photos.

Today it is Sports Day at our school and we are at B. Fields. I had the gr. 3/4 girls for the day - a very sweet group of girls. They had a lot of fun trying to beat their PB's and making points for their team. I "snuck" home for a bit to change and do some laundry & then got sidetracked onto the computer. I should run back & see how their baseball game is going - till next time!

Pitt Lake

This past weekend was a beautiful one - very warm & sunny. We planted most of our veggie garden - at least what would fit. I had to hold myself back from making it larger - I get excited & forget what it takes to weed, harvest & freeze things. It started out as a small patch with just enough to eat from during the summer - but I'm afraid it grew larger!

This past Monday Jocelyn left with her Gr. 9/10 class to stay over at the Elk's Camp in Aldergrove. They made day trips from there. I drove them to camp on Monday & they went Geo Caching at the park that day. I went up Tuesday morning to drive them to Pitt Lake (BC). It started out quite rainy & cold but it got better. We had a beautiful canoe trip to a place where we hiked to an amazing falls. A few girls had very long faces & little energy to canoe & hike, but amazingly found lots of energy to stay up late to sneak out to the boys' cabin... I must say, the hike was not an easy one with many areas totally covered with mud & water from the quick melt this past weekend & from the high levels of snow from the winter. My body is feeling the extra physical activity & I took a friend's advice - a long hot bath with a glass of red wine... ahhhh.....

Junior/Senior Trip - they're off!!

Tonight Henry & I drove to Seattle airport (yes, again...) to bring the Jr & Sr class and chaperones to the airport. This has been a long anticipated trip for all of them. They've done a ton of fundraising - mostly in the form of working very hard at various places - cleaning, painting, landscaping. etc. They have an amazing list of places they hope to see. To see the itinerary and follow their travels check out their blog at www.washingtondc-08.blogspot.com. It will be quiet around here and we'll all miss Lorelle a lot. We'll pray for safe travels and God's blessings on all of them.

Piano Festival...

The past few days have been somewhat stressful since Lorelle was working hard to prepare for her big class trip to Washington, DC. As well, she was planning for her first ever participation in the Abbotsford Piano Festival. She had been sick for a week & this put the pressure on to practice, practice, practice... She played two pieces from memory - one from a Canadian composer & another was a romantic piece. Both were adjudicated by the same woman - she was very helpful and instructive. It was a great "first experience" and a much needed confidence booster. Both pieces she was awarded a second place - definitely reason to stop and buy a donut at Tim Horton's. Yaaah... the pressure is off and we can begin packing for Washington, DC!!!

Congratulations - Fourth Place!

After listening to 12 very brave and capable speakers, Hannah was awarded fourth place in the quad school speech contest. Here she is afterwards with her teacher, Miss VB, who coached the 5/6 class these past few weeks. She is completing her first year of teaching & is doing a great job!