Palmgarten: Hands Down the Best Dorm.

(The title is a pun. Get it?)
Hello Friends,

Well, Palmgarten is full again, and so is life. :)
Last Sunday, we welcomed 11 new Palmies to the dorm, along with their parents. The next day, as they were at orientation at the high school, the rest of our returners came pouring in. Palm is full to capacity with 21 girls. (So if you're following along at home, you'll infer that we therefore have 10 returning students, giving the new students a majority. This is a pretty big turnover, and I'm excited to see what it means for the personality of the dorm.)

The girls are beginning their first "real" school week today, but that doesn't mean that last week wasn't packed to the gills with activity, homework, laughter, and events. As per my habit, I"ll try to give you a summary of the highlights.

1. Bedtime Stories and Tuck-Ins.
Most of you have probably heard me talk about the tradition of "tuck-ins." Basically it's just a cute way of saying "stopping by the girls' rooms at bedtime, asking/hearing about their day, answering questions, telling stories, and making sure they're getting to sleep on time." This has typically been a somewhat awkward time for me at first. Not because the girls were awkward, but because it seemed like as soon as I stepped into the room, I forgot how to make conversation like a normal person and I felt like I would say something silly (or worse, not think of anything to say at all). But these times are precious because they give me a chance to build relationships with those 8 girls in a way that I can't do in large groups. And so far, I'm pleased to report that it hasn't been awkward at all! I love going in and joining whatever conversations happen to be going on at the time, hearing about the best and worst parts of their day, and getting to tell silly stories about llamas who want to be astronauts. One of the rooms requested that I read them a chapter of a book each night before going to bed. And even though the book itself is super cheesy and sappy (it's an inspirational romance novel we found on the dorm shelf.), they love it, and so do I. I'm so excited to get to spend a whole year with these girls.

2. Dorm Initiation

Getting ready for initiation!

Now don't worry. When you read the word "initiation," you probably have images of something like fraternity-style hazing, something verging on illegal, or at least something embarrassing or scary for the new people that "brands" them as part of the group. That's NOT what we're talking about here. Basically, it's just a goofy activity that our seniors come up with that allows everyone to get together and bond as a dorm. We held ours on Friday night after the girls had finished their chores. I'm pretty sure there's a dorm rule that prevents me from sharing all the details of this event (because what fun is a surprise initiation if everyone knows about it), but I will say it involved face paint, marshmallows, and a bonfire. And it was a great success.

The whole crew! Palm 2013-2014. (Minus Dave, the photographer)

 3. Movie Night with Maugenhard
I think I've told you before that Palmgarten shares a building with a high school guys dorm. Basically, we get the ground level and the basement, and Maug has the top two floors. Even though we function as two totally separate dorms, we do try to organize events together every now and then. We believe in making friends around here. :) So on Saturday, we invited the boys down to watch Back to the Future with us. Linda made a huge pot of popcorn with a couple of our juniors, we rearranged our couches to accommodate a group of 40 teenagers, and Maug even brought brownies. It was a fun, low-pressure, first interaction with the guys, and I think we'll be planning a bonfire with them sometime soon. We're hoping that if we can encourage normal, friendly interaction with the guys upstairs, we can dispel some of the natural awkwardness that comes when high school boys and girls interact. Wouldn't it be great if we could be friends? Yep, we think so too.

4. Budenfest

Some of our girls relaxing outside one of the booths.

For those of you who have been reading my blog for a while, you may remember me telling you about Budenfest last September. It's basically a town-wide festival of food booths. The main street is blocked off from traffic, and it becomes a giant fair grounds, with brotwurst, German breads, funnel cake, pizza, and the ever-popular cheese fondue baguettes (basically just a baguette filled with hot, gooey, fondue. YUM.). We all went down as a dorm after church, and wandered around, eating and mingling. At 2pm, we met as a dorm at the Eis Cafe (the local ice cream shop) and got some ice cream before heading back. The girls had a lot of fun, got to experience German culture for the first time, and enjoyed a break from the norm of the dorm.

I could tell you more about the beginning of school, opening ceremonies, how gloriously successful our scones were, and how hilariously unsuccessful my (super dry, oven-cooked) toast was, but I think I've probably hit the main highlights. In summary, this week has been a whirlwind, but a delightful one. I'm excited for this year to ramp up again. (Also, I'm REALLY excited to not be new. It's so nice to have an idea of what's going on.)

Palm Seniors! (Good thing graduation isn't for a long time. I'm going to be really sad...)

Some prayer requests:
Please be praying for me (and the rest of my staff) as we build relationships with these young women. I want to get to know them--who they are, what they need, and how to serve each of them well.
Pray that we can be reflections of Christ for them as we live life together in this dorm.
Pray for the new girls as they transition in (to the dorm, to the school, to sharing a room, etc.). I desperately want this to be a home for them--somewhere they can feel safe, loved, and affirmed. But I know that they are grieving moving away from their real families and homes. Pray that God gives us as staff the discernment and sensitivity to know how to help each of them make the transition.

Thank you all for your prayers--they are greatly appreciated and needed, especially as we build foundations at the beginning of the year.
Until next time!

Love and prayers,

ajr

Palmgarten Staff. We're pretty cool.