Monday, March 1, 2010

Thankfuls - February 26th

Music Evaluation Class
Mercy Coming Back
Friends
The Birthday Girls and Boy - Larissa, Erinn, and Aaron
Roller Blades
Street Hockey
Watching the Olympics
Woman's Meeting - On Meekness
Choir
Library Work
Spring Cleaning
Pasta Making Class
Heart Group
Snow
Birthday Dinners
Jean Skirts
Youth Weekend
Apartments for Family
Letters from Family
Girls Singing for Sunday Service
Ice Hockey
2 Months of Good Ice
Ice Bringing Families Together
Singing
Keeping Track of Thankfuls Daily
Attitude Book Assigned for Dan's Class
for Being Thankful
Coals of Fire
Daily Presents
Going to NYC
License Renewal
Gerry Plowing
Answers to Prayer for Abby's Plans Next Year & Meredith Getting to Go to Her Grandma's Funeral
Mary & Mary
Mentoring
Diane
God's Healing
That God is Powerful
Protection
Health & Support While Unhealthy
Town Trip
Phone Calls from Family
Supportive Friends
Long Walks
Seeing Family
Daniel
Free Weekend
Birthday Party
Interacting with Classmates - Getting one on one time
Jumping off of the Roof
Tony
Bobby's Perfect Snowball - And the Recipient's Back Still being in One Piece
Many Other Things

HOCKEY!!!!! and other exciting activities of the week

This week began with the closing of the annual winter youth weekend. Though numbers were few, everyone had a fantastic time fellowshiping with one another and drawing closer to God. Everyone felt God's protection as numerous black-eyes, bumps and bruises were received through a variety of games and activities.

On Saturday, the planned activity was to enjoy some ice skating on Stone Pond. However, upon inspection, it was discovered that there was a large hole in the ice and the pond was no longer suitable for the favored winter activity. But necessity is the mother of invention so they say, or in our case, creativity. Therefore, instead of ice skating, the youth enjoyed building a number of fascinating snow sculptures on the front lawn. Also, due to the lack of ice, several members of the Bible school have taken up street hockey in the gym. After scrounging up several pairs of roller blades, the students have had an excellent time honing their hockey skills on the gym floor numerous times this past week.

On Monday, Sarah invited her boss, Mr. Del Rossi to come teach the girls a vocational class in the art of making pasta. We were each able to mix together our own pasta dough and form a variety of noodles including ravioli, linguine, fettuccine, and tortellini. We were able to enjoy consuming the fruit of our hard labor the following evening.

Tuesday brought the excitement of early class and spring cleaning. We divided up into teams, took our cleaning caddies, and set out to conquer the world...or at least three of the buildings contained therein. Adrenaline was flowing, spirits were soaring, and laughter was exuberant as the teams raced to complete their assignments in as thorough and efficient manner possible. The evening was enjoyed with some well deserved Ultimate Frisbee and Volleyball.

We now come to the middle of the week. Wednesday brought with it the usual schedule of classes, meeting, and work. In the evening, several students participated in an optional Hebrew class taught by Craig. Then it was off to heart groups. This included more skating in the gym, singing with guitars, fellowshiping, and many other exciting activities designed to bind our hearts more closely to each other.

Throughout this week, we have enjoyed taking the Music Evaluation class taught by Craig. It has been excellent and very thought provoking as we looked into the ways in which we discern what music to listen to or avoid. We worked together to learn how to answer the question, does the music enhance my walk with God? Overall, the class was very enlightening and practical to our everyday choices and needs.

Thursday brought about more street hockey in the gym as well as watching the Olympics. Other than that, the day followed a relatively normal routine.

On Friday, everyone bustled about in an effort to finish their work so they could dive into free weekend. By three o'clock, most of the students departed in a variety of directions, visiting friends and family in the nearby states. This particular free weekend was unique though in that a number of students remained at Fairwood over the weekend. But not to fear, they were quite up to the daunting task of hanging out, relaxing and generally amusing themselves in a large variety of ways. Whether they were watching movies, building snowmen, or snowboarding, a grand time was had by all.

This week was also very exciting because we were able to celebrate three Bible school birthdays- Erinn, Larissa, and Aaron. We enjoyed lots of fun, fellowship and food. We are so privileged to have these three awesome people as our friends.

It was a bittersweet moment when 8:00 came Sunday evening. Many of the students returned to school an hour and a half earlier than normal in order to participate in choir practice. But not to fear. We still were able to have fun singing. It was definitely worth the time in order to perfect the multiple pieces of music in preparation for the March feast.

P.S. Our heart goes out to Team USA and we mourn with them the loss of the gold medal in the men's hockey game Sunday afternoon.