Happy Thanksgiving - Christmas is coming!

We have so much for which to be thankful. We enjoy a unique opportunity to experience cultures from all over the world and learn from each other. As we closed out Culture Month in November we had the opportunity to learn about the culture of Spain from two of our great mothers. One thing that really stands out in our school is the family atmosphere - each child is known and accountable. Our families are close to each other and bond across cultures. One of our strongest contingents are the Spanish speaking families from Spain and Columbia. One Spainish family comes directly from that country, another after living several years in Bejing, China. The other families represent Columbia, Switzerland and Camaroon. Wow! It amazes me every time I start thinking about how many corners of the world we are influencing at our little Christian school in this corner of Germany.

Well, we learned a huge amount about Spain and spanish culture. Did you know that Spain is the #1 exporter of olive oil to the rest of the world? Or that Tapas is a style of eating and not a type of food? We learned that and much more as our parents gave us a quiz about their people and what makes them special.

Of course, one cannot study contemporary Spanish culture without learning one of the most influential dance moves of the 1990's - the Macarena! Being as how most of our children at school were not even born when the Macarena became an international hit (mid-1990's) this was a completely new thing to them.

Here we all are trying our best to learn the Macarena - most of the kids just had a great time, but one young 5th grader REALLY liked it. He would do the Macarena while waiting in lines, when sitting in class (for which he had to be asked to refrain) but best of all, he tried putting different different songs to the Macarena - including some of the Christian choruses that we sing together in Chapel. He wanted to integrate the songs about God he has learned at school to this, his favorite new dance moves. That is totally cool!

After our Spanish Experience, the whole school bundled up in our winter coats and schlepped up to the Hauptstrasse to decorate a Christmas tree for the city of Weil am Rhein. Up and down the main street, businesses and local schools joined forces to beautify the Strasse. We partnered with the local paper, the Weiler Zeitung, to decorate a tree - the business supplies the tree and the students provide the decorations.

The students created water-resistant (they haven't been fully tested yet!) ornaments and decked the tree with them. We used colorful foil and wooden clothespins to create birds and Santas. The younger students make a paper chain of several meters to wrap around the tree. The ornaments (Baumschmuck) are being distributed to the upper students in preparation for decorating.

The students had to be lifted by staff to reach the very heightest branches of the tree. This is such a sweet picture of a very special student whose last day was this week. She moved to Zürich with her sister (also a student) and family - we are going to miss them greatly. Whenever a student leaves our school, we hold an all-school meeting to say goodbye. It is important for our students to recognize and work through the process of transitions, because they will all go through it in their lives. We work hard to help them handle this process well, including the good tears that come with separation.

The students are proudly posing for a picture in front of their newly decorated tree. The newspaper even printed an article for last week's edition with pictures of our kids. They are famous! (Well, it is a small town...)

After they finished decorating the tree, they gathered around to listen to fable told by a storyteller from Weil. The fable was recounted in German, which most of our students know well. They are so much more fluent then their teachers... They laughed and were politely attentive the whole time - we were very proud of them.

Here is our finished Christmas Tree in front of the Weiler Zeitung. Anyone walking down the street can view the hand made ornaments - made with love - and read that they came from the Kinder at Rhein International Academy.

It was such a full week, I haven't even begun to tell about what Delynn and I did over the weekend. We took the opportunity to travel to the Bodensee (a.k.a. Lake Constance) which is located on the border of Switzerland and Germany. We visited the village of Meersburg with it's 1300 year old castle overlooking the beautiful Bodensee. Here is a picture of the town as we crossed to lake on Saturday to whet your appetite.

I might have published something a bit earlier today except that we have been busy visiting Christmas Markets (Weihnachtsmarkt) - we got back today just in time to walk across town to our Weiler Weihnachtsmarkt before it got dark. We have been to three markets in three cities in less than three days - and we haven't yet been to Basel! Well, we will tell you more about them next week so I can put this blog to bed.

Delynn and I have very much appreciated the response for the request for prayer as we consider our next steps together. Thank you for your support in that way. We are also praying for our students - that God will increase our numbers at Rhein International Academy so that we can give more students a quality education and teach more students and families about the goodness of God. What a privilege to serve here.

Love to all - be a blessing to someone this week!