Hey everyone!
Yes. That was a shameless and unapologetic pun in the title. Sorry. You've caught me after drinking a cup of coffee AND I'm currently sipping a can of Coke Zero, and I'm afraid I'm a little punchy. :)
But I hope this update finds you well, and that winter is releasing you from its snowy grip. After what's been a cold and rainy (and slushy...and sleety? Is that a word?) week, I'm delighted to be writing this with sun shining through the window and birds chirping outside. I even planted some flowers earlier today, so it's beginning to look a lot like spring in Germany.
Ok, here we go.
Highlights of March:
High school retreat
Every year, BFA holds a weekend-long retreat for its high school students. This year, everyone piled onto buses and headed down to a mountain lodge in Switzerland. It's a great time for the kids to get away from the usual routine of homework and regular school activities and spend time with their small groups, with their friends, and with Jesus. This year the speaker focused on the Holy Spirit and his work and promises in our lives. Everyone had a great time, and I think there were some definite break-throughs in the hearts of some of the students. So please join me in prayer that the seeds that were planted and watered that weekend will continue to flourish. :)
Tailgate Hot Lunch
Every couple weeks, we bring a special hot lunch to the school for our dorm girls. It's always a highly-anticipated event, since it means a break in the routine from the usual sandwiches and juice boxes. One time, there were concerts and other events happening in the cafeteria area where we usually set up, so we were told we wouldn't to be able to hold our hot lunch. Obviously, the girls were distraught, since hot lunch is high on the list of "Exciting Things to Look Forward To in Any Given Month."
So we decided to have hot lunch anyway, but serve it from the back of our van. It was like having our own personal food truck. We made Chipotle-style burritos, served with chips, guacamole, and chocolate chip cookies. Maybe it was the food, maybe it was the sunshine, or maybe it was the "sneakiness" of the whole event, but it was one of the happiest hot lunches we've had in a while.
Not So Talented Show
It's become a yearly tradition at Palmgarten to hold a "Talent Show" in the dorm, showcasing the weird not-actually-talented things that our (otherwise very talented) girls can do. Each year there's a selection of lip-syncing, unique dancing, quoting movies, drinking beverages really fast, etc. It's always a lot of laughs, and this year was no different. Katie and I performed an interpretive dance to Colors of the Wind. This might have actually been talented, except that I choreographed it. Making it up as I went. And Katie was following along. It was just delightful, and everyone got a chance to laugh at themselves and at each other.
Welcoming a New Palmie!
Sia joined us this semester, stepping into BFA just in time for the last quarter. It's been great to get to know her and watch her find her place in the dorm and at the school. I'm really proud of how she has settled in, and I'm also proud of how well the rest of my Palm girls have welcomed her into the dorm. She's definitely one of the family now, and I'm so thankful she's here. She brings smiles, laughter, and a certain latino spice to the dorm. :)
Saying Goodbye to another Palmie. :(
Michaella's family is moving into the area this month, and so she will be moving out of the dorm and living with her family for the rest of her time at BFA. We're all sad to see her go...she is such a spark of energy and goofiness and creativity in Palm. It's hard to imagine the dorm without her, and I'll miss her a lot. But we're glad that she's still going to be in the area and she will be coming over ALL the time and having LOTS of sleep overs at Palm--right Michaella? :)
Spring Break
Today is the last day of spring break. It's been a great chance for all of us to rest, catch up on projects, and do some travelling. AND most of my girls got to go home to spend Easter with their families, which everyone was SO ready for. This semester has been so busy and so full of activities, sports, and homework assignments and just general tiredness that our girls were counting down the minutes to this two-week reprieve.
Some of the students went on mission trips for the first week, and some went straight home. I stayed in Kandern for the first week of the break, doing productive things (like taxes and laundry and spring cleaning...yay!) and then Katie and I got a chance to travel for a few days during the second week. It still seems surreal to me that I live in a place where I can get on a plane and go visit friends in places like Slovenia, without spending a lot of time or money on traveling! We got to see the beautiful coastal towns of Croatia, the mountains and crystal-blue waterfalls and rivers in Slovenia, and the charming canals and bridges in Venice.
It was a wonderful chance to adventure, explore, and be reminded again of God's incredible abilities as a creator and sustainer of really beautiful things, people, and places.
Prayer Requests:
As we enter into the last 8-week stretch of the semester, I have a few things I'd love for you to pray for:
* Energy for me to finish well. I'm looking at the calendar and realizing that my time in Palmgarten is quickly drawing to an end. And with that in mind, I want to take advantage of every precious opportunity that I have left to invest in, love, and spend time with my girls. So I'm asking God to give me a supernatural amount of energy so that my own tiredness doesn't get in the way of these last couple months of life here.
* Energy for the girls to finish well. I've mentioned this, but the BFA schedule this semester is quite full--and it only gets busier. As such, it's easy for the girls to run themselves ragged trying to keep up with all the homework and extracurricular responsibilities that land on their plates. So please pray that they can run this race to the end, and with joy.
* Pray for my seniors. They're REALLY finishing--getting ready to move on from high school and take off to all corners of the globe. Join me in praying for peace, closure, and excitement for them.
Thank you all for reading, for praying, and for partnering with me here at BFA. I'm so thankful for all of you!
Love and prayers,
Amanda
Yes. That was a shameless and unapologetic pun in the title. Sorry. You've caught me after drinking a cup of coffee AND I'm currently sipping a can of Coke Zero, and I'm afraid I'm a little punchy. :)
But I hope this update finds you well, and that winter is releasing you from its snowy grip. After what's been a cold and rainy (and slushy...and sleety? Is that a word?) week, I'm delighted to be writing this with sun shining through the window and birds chirping outside. I even planted some flowers earlier today, so it's beginning to look a lot like spring in Germany.
Ok, here we go.
Highlights of March:
High school retreat
Every year, BFA holds a weekend-long retreat for its high school students. This year, everyone piled onto buses and headed down to a mountain lodge in Switzerland. It's a great time for the kids to get away from the usual routine of homework and regular school activities and spend time with their small groups, with their friends, and with Jesus. This year the speaker focused on the Holy Spirit and his work and promises in our lives. Everyone had a great time, and I think there were some definite break-throughs in the hearts of some of the students. So please join me in prayer that the seeds that were planted and watered that weekend will continue to flourish. :)
Tailgate Hot Lunch
Every couple weeks, we bring a special hot lunch to the school for our dorm girls. It's always a highly-anticipated event, since it means a break in the routine from the usual sandwiches and juice boxes. One time, there were concerts and other events happening in the cafeteria area where we usually set up, so we were told we wouldn't to be able to hold our hot lunch. Obviously, the girls were distraught, since hot lunch is high on the list of "Exciting Things to Look Forward To in Any Given Month."
So we decided to have hot lunch anyway, but serve it from the back of our van. It was like having our own personal food truck. We made Chipotle-style burritos, served with chips, guacamole, and chocolate chip cookies. Maybe it was the food, maybe it was the sunshine, or maybe it was the "sneakiness" of the whole event, but it was one of the happiest hot lunches we've had in a while.
Not So Talented Show
It's become a yearly tradition at Palmgarten to hold a "Talent Show" in the dorm, showcasing the weird not-actually-talented things that our (otherwise very talented) girls can do. Each year there's a selection of lip-syncing, unique dancing, quoting movies, drinking beverages really fast, etc. It's always a lot of laughs, and this year was no different. Katie and I performed an interpretive dance to Colors of the Wind. This might have actually been talented, except that I choreographed it. Making it up as I went. And Katie was following along. It was just delightful, and everyone got a chance to laugh at themselves and at each other.
Welcoming a New Palmie!
Sia joined us this semester, stepping into BFA just in time for the last quarter. It's been great to get to know her and watch her find her place in the dorm and at the school. I'm really proud of how she has settled in, and I'm also proud of how well the rest of my Palm girls have welcomed her into the dorm. She's definitely one of the family now, and I'm so thankful she's here. She brings smiles, laughter, and a certain latino spice to the dorm. :)
Saying Goodbye to another Palmie. :(
Michaella's family is moving into the area this month, and so she will be moving out of the dorm and living with her family for the rest of her time at BFA. We're all sad to see her go...she is such a spark of energy and goofiness and creativity in Palm. It's hard to imagine the dorm without her, and I'll miss her a lot. But we're glad that she's still going to be in the area and she will be coming over ALL the time and having LOTS of sleep overs at Palm--right Michaella? :)
Spring Break
Today is the last day of spring break. It's been a great chance for all of us to rest, catch up on projects, and do some travelling. AND most of my girls got to go home to spend Easter with their families, which everyone was SO ready for. This semester has been so busy and so full of activities, sports, and homework assignments and just general tiredness that our girls were counting down the minutes to this two-week reprieve.
Some of the students went on mission trips for the first week, and some went straight home. I stayed in Kandern for the first week of the break, doing productive things (like taxes and laundry and spring cleaning...yay!) and then Katie and I got a chance to travel for a few days during the second week. It still seems surreal to me that I live in a place where I can get on a plane and go visit friends in places like Slovenia, without spending a lot of time or money on traveling! We got to see the beautiful coastal towns of Croatia, the mountains and crystal-blue waterfalls and rivers in Slovenia, and the charming canals and bridges in Venice.
It was a wonderful chance to adventure, explore, and be reminded again of God's incredible abilities as a creator and sustainer of really beautiful things, people, and places.
Prayer Requests:
As we enter into the last 8-week stretch of the semester, I have a few things I'd love for you to pray for:
* Energy for me to finish well. I'm looking at the calendar and realizing that my time in Palmgarten is quickly drawing to an end. And with that in mind, I want to take advantage of every precious opportunity that I have left to invest in, love, and spend time with my girls. So I'm asking God to give me a supernatural amount of energy so that my own tiredness doesn't get in the way of these last couple months of life here.
* Energy for the girls to finish well. I've mentioned this, but the BFA schedule this semester is quite full--and it only gets busier. As such, it's easy for the girls to run themselves ragged trying to keep up with all the homework and extracurricular responsibilities that land on their plates. So please pray that they can run this race to the end, and with joy.
* Pray for my seniors. They're REALLY finishing--getting ready to move on from high school and take off to all corners of the globe. Join me in praying for peace, closure, and excitement for them.
Thank you all for reading, for praying, and for partnering with me here at BFA. I'm so thankful for all of you!
Love and prayers,
Amanda
Love ya girl! Praying!
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