At the secondhand store

There's a great secondhand store called Emmaus not far from us in France. The neat thing about this store is that it was a concept started in the 40s by a man who had a vision for getting down and out people off the street and giving them a job. Some chapters also provide housing. In essence it's a community and a support system along with a secondhand store. Each section of the store has a person in charge and they carefully register every purchase. It's really a wonderful concept and makes one feel even better about getting great stuff at great prices!

It's really white

The snow stopped by the middle of the afternoon yesterday, but it still left things looking pretty white and very much like Christmas.

It has been snowing ALL day

This morning this tree was bare. And as I write, the snow continues to fall and shows no signs of letting up. This snowfall is reminiscent of a "downpour" of snow we had in March a few years ago. The high school went off to Switzerland for the school retreat to enjoy some quality time in the snow. Well, it rained where they were all weekend and as a result, they had no snow. However, that very weekend it absolutely dumped snow here in town to the point that we could not drive on the streets! It was amazing and I have to admit, absolutely beautiful. The kids came back to over 2 feet of snow on the ground. It was crazy. Soccer tryouts were held the next day, but not before the guys (and I suppose some girls too) first shoveled the field!
So you can imagine that if it keeps snowing all night there will be a few more snow pictures here tomorrow. When it snows here it's always very mild (it's +6 right now) and the snow generally comes straight down. Like I said, it's like it "rains" snow because there is always lots of melting happening, but when it snows steadily like this, lots of snow manages to collect as well.

The long-awaited day

I gave my dear friend and library colleague her Christmas gift today. It was a day I have been looking forward to for weeks because Erna knew that I was making her this gift and she was pretty excited about it.
She carefully removed the paper because, as she said, "If the Queen can recycle her wrapping paper, so can I!"
She was pleased.
In fact, she was very pleased. And I smiled a bit too.......

Just looking out the window

I was looking out the library window at the snow coming down and saw this written on the ground. I had to smile and go and get my camera. I think we have only 2 Australian students in our school this year, so I'm pretty sure one of them would have written this!
Then, out the door came Katy on her way from one building to the other. Notice the footwear on her friend's feet!

The kids are now writing exams. Only two days left and then the major exodus begins for the dorm kids with countless trips being made by the dorm staff to the airports and train stations. It is basically an organizational nightmare, but it seems to always work and everyone eventually does get home.

Pizza party for 3

So tonight was the pizza night for the mission's elementary school kids. Believe it or not, we have only 4 kids in the elementary school this year - all boys - and unfortunately tonight one of them was sick. But, the 3 that came had a great time.
Dog faces.


A bit of fussball, without the ball.......

And then the coveted goodie bags with the candy canes all the way from Canada. What a night! (Actually the whole "night" only lasted about 45 minutes but a good time was had by all.)

You've gotta have art

Both staff and students' amazing artistic abilities were on display on Sunday at the Christmas concert. Here is just a small sample, as large as it may be! Some of the angles are a bit odd as I was trying to get the pictures without the glare from the lights. This first picture was drawn by BFA's director. We can see this building from our house.


These were painted by a Canadian dorm dad who is new this year. He has just had his first book published which he both wrote and illustrated. It is not your conventional bible story book and I know you would be amazed by it. If you would like more information about it you can email me.

More snow

From what we can remember, we have never had so much pre-Christmas snow since we have been here. And, it's sticking around so we're wondering if we are going to have a white Christmas. One thing is for sure - snow does make for some nice pictures.

Santa's workshop is almost empty

These are the last of the goodie bags for the mission's kids.
I hope the high school and middle school kids were surprised today when they found them in their mailboxes! Tomorrow night Howard and I will take the 4 elementary kids out for pizza and then hand out the remaining treats.

The dorm is festive

I'm not sure where these cool and funky little headpieces came from but the girls were certainly enjoying them the other night.


This is the picture of concentration. Lizzy learned to knit the night before I took this picture.