Kindergarten Graduation

We had a very special celebration at RIA this week - Kindergarten Graduation! Ms. Hillary graduated six students that eagerly wait for the coming of 1st grade next year. These six students represent six differant countries: England, America, Germany, Poland, Switzerland and Spain - and Ms. Hillary is Canadian, so that's seven. We held the graduation a little early as two of the students are leaving early, one on holiday and one moving to a new city in Switzerland (that would be the American student...) Due to the realities of expat communities living in foreign countries, about half of the kindergarten class will not be returning next year, but will be attending schools in other areas and countries.

This is a reality that has really touched our hearts. Transition; leaving; being the new kid; saying goodbye; saying hello to new families; new country, new language, new everything - that is something that makes these children unique. We have them but for a season, to love, to nurture, to share God's love, before we send them off again to a new place, a new home. Ms. Hillary is in transition also - she will be finishing up the school year just in time to have her first child. She and her husband (he's German, works in Switzerland), are so very excited to begin their family. As Ms. Hillary transitions from teaching to being a full-time mommy, we are also saying goodbye to a great Kindergarten teacher.

At Graduation, the students sang and did motions to one of their favorite songs: "Our God is a Great Big God!". Can you believe that they are all the same age?


The Kindergarten students each designed and made their graduation hats. There is such a huge amount of creativity in the class. They are giving Ms. Hillary a group hug in appreciation for her being their teacher. So sweet!
These two sisters (twins actually) are the pride of my library. They attended RIA for several years before transitioning to a German school. I think I have mentioned before the requirements on attending a German school if you are a resident. Anyway, the sisters' family still has library priviledges as their younger sister still attends RIA and they are voracious readers. They come in after school and check out books as quickly as they can read through them. I think their goal is to read every book in our library... Well, more power to them I say! Oh yeah, I don't think they even realize that I am taking this picture - they get so focused when they read that the world ceases to exist.

Indeed, we are learning here just how priceless each child is. As several of our long-time families are transitioning to other countries, we share many poignant moments as we work hard to say goodbye well. We are learning that time is much shorter than we would like to believe. We must hold on loosely, the students are a gift to teach for a time, only to send them on again - smarter, wiser, kinder, with God's truth in their heart that they are special and hopefully with fond memories of their time at Rhein International Academy.

Love all; serve all. Be generous.

P.S. This will likely be our last post of the year as Delynn and I frantically get ready to finish out the last week of school and get ready for the flight back to the States. We love you and look forward to seeing many of you soon!

Euro 2008 in Basel!

It was so nice of the Swiss to host a major european football tournament to commemorate our birthdays this month. For those of you who may not follow soccer over here (or as they call it: REAL football...) this is the year of the European Masters 2008 tournament (EM 2008) which is being hosted by Switzerland and Austria. Sixteen european national teams are competing for the title. It is a bit unusual (and deeply saddening) to our British friends that England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales ALL failed to make the cut. Switzerland and Austria are both fielding teams but they are not expected to make it into the quarterfinals. We shall see.

Basel is one of the host cities for EM 2008, so Delynn and I ventured over Saturday to get a feel for the city as it prepared for opening day. Basel hosted the very first game - Switzerland vs. the Czech Republic. I read somewhere that 100,000 people were expected to come to the game. The stadium in Basel only holds 42,500, so where do you think the rest of the folks were? Yup, walking up and down the streets with their team colors on. We enjoyed being in the midst of the pre-game festivities because before the first game, everyone is still in the running and can win. The Czech and Swiss fans enjoyed pointing at each other and singing their fight songs (none of which we could understand...) There is a phrase that we heard repeatedly: Hopp Schwiiz! which is a dialect version of Hop Suisse! (Can you hear the difference?) This phrase means "Go Switzerland!" and is the direct equivalent of USA! USA! heard at so many international sporting events.

A sea of red and white. You might notice a couple of Czech fans with red, white and blue national colors.
The normally reserved Swiss get a little crazy for football... Notice the Matterhorn hat - I think it is homemade. Don't you love the umbrellas?

This is the Freiestrasse in Basel, a pedestrian street full of shops and uh, lots of people. They put up the awnings for EM 2008, but they don't keep out the rain. Even though it seems like a lot of people, this is a pretty manageable crowd (unless you get claustrophobic)...

I was never quite sure why the Schweiiz fans would be wearing Viking horned caps. Hmmm. Probably just because men like to think they are vikings. Go figure. Some adventurous person climbed up on the fountain statue and put a Swiss flag in the knight's hand.
Delynn and I were definately not wearing the right colors! Opps, what a cultural faux-pas. It is still a little cool and wet for late spring but we are enjoying every minute of the adventure of living here in our little corner of Germany. Speaking of Germany, they play tonight and are one of the favored teams to take the EM 2008 title. We will be back in the States before the champion is crowned. It is just a little over two weeks until we fly out and we have so much to do. We look forward to seeing as many as possible next month. Please keep us in your prayers and thoughts. We are still looking to find a automobile to borrow if possible while we are back in the Portland-Vancouver area. Please let us know if you have a vehicle for use. It means a lot to us.

We pray for God's rich blessings for all during the coming week. Live generously; Love surprisingly; be a blessing to someone.

Eek! It's June!

It is now officially June - as I flip over the calendar, I realize that we fly in a bit more than three weeks. Yikes! Two and a half weeks of school, an additional couple of days of teacher in-service to close things down for the summer and BAM - we will be on a plane back to PDX. Please pray for our final hectic weeks and for our good-byes. We will be saying farewell to several teachers and families that are transitioning away from RIA this summer. This is a poignant time each year - we have poured our lives into the students and they have flourished in the loving, godly environment here. To know that some will not return in the Fall is tough, but it is part of the path we choose when living and teaching overseas.

Today (Sunday) we had the opportunity to travel up to our sister church in Freiburg. Our vicar (there is something very British about that word...) invited members of ACB to travel up with him to Freiburg as he is giving the message to their congregation. It makes for a long day, but as we have mentioned before, with shops closed on Sundays, a wonderful space is created to enjoy building and watering relationships. In the busyness of our lives back in the States, I recall very few Sundays when we didn't end up going shopping at some point. Not to say that we aren't just as busy here, but somehow we manage to structure our week so that the shopping gets done in six days rather than seven.

Saturday evening we celebrated "International Night" with our school family. Nearly every family was represented. They came bringing foods from their native land, wearing traditional garb (Swedish to Scottish kilts to Indian) and enjoying their students' talents. In reality, at our school, anytime two or more families come together, the event becomes "international"... The showcase of the evening was a play written by our director, Miss Del Rio, which combined three well-known folk tales: Chicken Little, the Bremen Town Musicians and Little Red Riding Hood as they were told in other countries around the world. Michael had the privilege of playing the wolf in a Chinese version of Little Red Riding Hood. Basically it was me in drag with a tale sticking out the back of the flannel nightgown. (Did I mention that it was really hot?) We had a grand time.

Here are the Pre-school and Kindergarten classes singing out with all of their heart!

These three sisters sang a Lebanese mother's song. The girls are Lebanese-American living in Switzerland. They are sweet!

Mr. Walz was playing the part of a Wolf in a Chinese version of Little Red Riding Hood. I also had a gray wig to complete the disguise.

A teacher and student playing a beautiful rendition of "Faithful One"

We are very much looking forward to summer break - to coming back to the NW to catch up with family and friends. But in so many ways, Weil am Rhein has become our home and we are sure to miss it. We wish you all grace and peace in the coming week.