Happy Thanksgiving (A day late) to all my friends and family reading this update. How can it be that Thanksgiving has come and gone and Christmas is just around the corner? Man, this year is flying by before any of us can even blink! Let me see if I can catch you up on everything that has gone on over the past month.
At the end of October,my roommates and I hosted a Fall Party at our apt for the female staff we work with. It was full of great laughter, food, and friends. We had a great turn out of about 16 people total. The following weekend was our school Fall Festival. I was unable to attend this event because I was sick and I had my masters classes to catch up on but I heard from my roommates that it was a great success. Fall is such a fun time of year!
The beginning of November is a bit of a blur for me because I spent about 2 weeks off and on being sick and it seemed I was constantly playing catch up, whether on sleep, classes, my school responsibilities, or just adult life. But, November 10th, I had the opportunity to put everything down and take an evening out with friends to see the ballet, "Золушка" (Cinderella) in Russian. It was a magical evening. :) A few days after this event, I had the opportunity to take Christmas photos for a family that I have become great friends with here in Moscow who recently had a baby! The H family and new edition Baby E is a beautiful family and I just thank God for bringing these people into my life.
Life in second grade has become much more busy as we wind down the quarter and first half of the year. My class has finally caught onto second grade and have put their hands and feet in full fledged. They have really started to show responsibility and maturity since my last post. Praise the Lord. We had our first field trip to the Oceanarium and Zoopark where we explored 7 different habitats. To expand our knowledge on habitats, which is what we are learning in science right now, they also had to make their own habitat diorama. My students did a phenomenal job for only being 2nd graders. I am very proud of them!
There are a lot of things happening at our school of which we are thankful for, Our building project is supposed to be finished on December 31st. What a blessing since the projected date was in February. This experience is very different because here in Russia, everything seems to be complicated and things tend to not get finished. But, the workers are actually living on our school campus in tin rooms and they work diligently everyday to finish in a timely manner. We praise the Lord for answered prayers and the diligence of these men. Also, we recently had some issues with people calling and complaining about our school, which has caused complications in many ways; well friends, the leaders in charge of investigating decided to drop the case because they said it seemed foolish and they had nothing to go by. Again, Praise the Lord! God is clearly watching over us and has better plans and future for Hinkson!
This past week we had a Staff Thanksgiving, Class Thanksgiving, and Friends Thanksgiving. I am so grateful that I have the opportunity to experience so many wonderful Thanksgivings with people who are dear to my heart. God has truly blessed me. I am thankful for each of you who read these updates, pray for me, support me, and encourage me, I could not be here without each of you sharing life with me. Thank you all for everything you do! May the Lord bless you!
Lastly, I want to inform all of you of my future plans. With much prayer it has been decided that this year is going to be my last year teaching abroad. I have been at Hinkson for 4 years and have loved every minute of it but my career path is changing, my future is changing. God is great plans in store for me and He is guiding me to bigger things in my future. I am leaning on Him and His faithfulness to carry me through and to set the path for me to take. Please be in prayer that His plans become more clear and that I will see them and follow through!
Until next time,
Much Love
