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September 27 Highlights from my Week1. Last Monday, we had yet another holiday from school. (There have now been 7 since the beginning of August...crazy) I headed up to the shelter that morning to help Analiza out with some homework. She needed to go to school and research. I decided for lunch I'd take a few kids out to a nearby restaurant. It's never easy to decide who to take with you when you can only choose a few, but I ended up with Birny and Jonjon- two of our 11-year-olds. They were so excited to "eat outside"! Birny did a little jump in the air and pump his fist move. It was really nice to have just two of them along- they each got a chance to ride in the front seat and we had fun at the restaurant talking about school, sports, their weekends, and how none of us really wanted to eat the pickled papaya that was on our plates.
 2. This week in science we've been learning about echinoderms...for those of you who don't know what those are (as I didn't until I read this chapter in our science book) they are the "spiny skinned" animals that live in the ocean. Starfish, brittle stars, basket stars, sea cucumbers, feather stars, sea urchins and sea lilies. About halfway through the chapter I stopped and told my students, "I LOVE teaching you about echinoderms because many of you have seen most of these animals. Kids in Minnesota wouldn't know what many of them are. Do you know why kids in Minnesota don't know what they are?" It took a while, but finally after looking at a map they said, "Because Minnesota is not an island!" I went onto explain that there are not any oceans near Minnesota. I asked them how far they thought I'd need to drive to get to an ocean they guessed between 1-3 hours. When I told them I never saw an ocean until I was 14, they about fell out of their chairs in shock. They even asked me, "How do you know how to swim if there are no oceans in Minnesota?" Ha...I had to laugh at that- none of them have never seen a lake before so that concept is pretty foreign. I love learning more about their perspectives on the world!
3. Our bumpy, rocky road has been graded! If any of you have ever been to CSC, you know what our road is like- it is pretty hard to forget. It had potholes all over the place and it is pretty slow going at times. In my four years here, the road has been graded maybe 2 times. But today when I went up to the shelter there were dump trucks dumping piles of dirt on the road right in front of the school and a grader smoothing it out. I was quite surprised! I drove down the road later and it was AMAZING how smooth it was! I'm going to enjoy it while I can- hopefully it won't rain too hard and wash it all away.
 September 20 Constellations & SardinesMy reading group is learning about astronomy right now. All of our stories lately have been related to that topic in one way or another- stories about Galileo, stars, Mars, and astronomical observatories. Last week we read some myths about how constellations came to be. At the end of the week, the kids had to answer this question, "If you could make anyone into a constellation, who would it be and why?" I want to share two of their answers with you.
1. Christian (John Ray's brother) answered that he wanted to make Uncle Paul into a constellation because that way, even when he grows up, he can still remember CSC just by looking into the sky.
2. Kyle wrote that he would make a constellation of Jesus. Then every night when he looks into the sky, he will see Jesus and be reminded to read his Bible and pray because sometimes he forgets.
On another note, this evening Teacher Michelle, Teacher Shari, Uncle Joel, our visitor Julie, and I took our second group of kids up to the school to play Sardines. It ended up being 9 teenage boys from the Cherne home and then also Joselito (11) because it was his birthday today. As you can imagine, with that many boys, it was a bit wild and crazy, but it was so much fun also! There was lots of laughter and joking as the kids searched through the school to find the hidden person. My favorite of all was when Joselito hid in the garbage can. I was the first to peek in at him and he popped up like a jack-in-the-box. He tumbled out of the can laughing and giggling. We played for a full hour and a half before we all headed home, sweaty and tired, but happy and smiling!
September 13 We are a FamilyAt CSC, we are a family! We spend holidays and birthdays together. We laugh together, help each other with schoolwork, and play together. We share our hurts, our desires, and our joys with each other! And we pray together!
At school, I always start my class off with a time of prayer in the morning. It is a time where we can praise the Lord for things He has done and lift up to him our prayer requests. Often times over the years, I have shared praises and prayer requests about my own family with my students. When my niece was born extremely premature a few years ago, they prayed for her daily. They still like to get updates on her and love seeing her pictures. They have been praying for my brother who needs a kidney transplant, and they prayed for my sister April who was going to have another baby.
Last week some of our prayers were answered when my sister April gave birth to a healthy little girl named Ruby! Being the proud aunt that I am, I announced to my class, "I have a new niece- Ruby!" All of my students gave me a funny look and asked, "Ruby?...I thought it was a girl." When I told them Ruby was a girl, they looked at me funny again, "Ruby? A girl?" I guess they had never heard of that name before so I explained the difference between "Ruby", a girl's name, and "Rudy", a boy's name. After my explanation, Milbert still said, "Well...for me, Ruby is a boy's name."
Then this afternoon, I brought Analiza and Jeneviev, two of our high school students, up to school to do some homework. I proudly showed them some of Ruby's pictures and after looking at about 10 pictures, one popped up of her wearing a pink outfit. Analiza turned to me in shock and said, "Ruby is a girl?" So…I guess it’ll be my job to teach the Filipino kids (at least at CSC) that Ruby is a girl’s name. :) But even with the confusion over her name, I know that they will continue to lift her up in prayer with me. I know that in the months and years to come they will love to look at pictures of her and laugh with me at the funny things she’ll do. Because we are a family and that is what families do together! September 06 Sardines, Dimples, and the "Hoedown Throwdown"This evening Uncle Andrew, Teacher Michelle, and I took some of the kids up to the school to play Sardines. If you've never played it, it is similar to hide-and-seek. One person hides and everyone else has to try and find that person. When they find them, they hide along with them until everyone has found them. It was SO much fun! The kids had never played it before and thought it was hilarious. After finding the hidden person, they would just sit there and giggle- which made it VERY easy for everyone else to find them. Our champion giggler was Kyle, he had a hard time holding his laughter! And that made the rest of us laugh also! Our champion hider was Niño, it was at least 15 minutes of searching before he was first discovered. Kyle was the first to discover him, and then he couldn't stop laughing. It was a great way to spend our Sunday evening! The kids have already been asking when they will get to play again, "Monday? Tuesday? Wednesday? Thursday?..."
Story from the week...one day I heard one of our older boys laughing loudly so I asked him what was going on. He pointed to his forehead and said, "We are laughing at my DIMPLES". (pimples)
Since I have now discovered how to add videos onto my blog, I am posting a video of Level C (and a few Level B students) dancing the "Hoedown Throwdown". They performed it at a morning meeting last month! It isn't the clearest video, but I thought you might enjoy seeing it anyways!!
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