Welcoming 2011

 Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! I hope that you all enjoyed your holiday season with your friends and family. It has been super go go go around here and I'm just getting a chance to catch you up on the latest and greatest news from November and December 2010. So, in my usual fashion I've created a countdown! YEAH!!!

1. My favorite holiday is Thanksgiving! It is my favorite time to be at home with my family. This year I was with my class for half the day. We celebrated with a healthy party: fruits, veggies, and nuts. Then later on in the evening all the JSB staff got together for a huge party! It was great to have everyone come together in thankfulness to God.

2. Birthdays!! November is packed with birthdays: Barrett, Christina and I all turned 25 and it was Ra'ed's birthday month too. It seemed as if every week we were getting together to celebrate a birthday! Michele was super busy making everyone's favorite cake (red velvet, cheesecake, and mint chocolate and pumpkin cupcakes) I was so excited because I had a coffee and cupcake party. We had different types of cupcakes and then the person could pick the frosting and topping of choice! So much fun! Ms. Grace threw me a small special party with her family. I felt like a part of it myself. My students are also so sweet and gave me a surprise party! They literally rock my world!

3. Visitors: Emily, Mark, and Brad visited the school! It is always wonderful having people from home to visit. They came with all intentions on serving and that's what they did. I saw them float in and out of chapel services and playing different sports games. Also, somehow the school got decorated for Christmas...I think Emily may have had a hand in that. It was also wonderful getting the sports equipment for the students. It will be put to good use!  Everytime someone from Heritage comes I've overwhelmed and honored that I'm a part of the congregation. Thank you for all you do.

4. Christmas Program: In normal JSB fashion we had our annual Elementary Christmas Program. All 1st-6th grades participated in this event. It was way fun to watch the students take part and really own their songs and performances. My class did The Little Drummer Boy complete with a lot of drumming.

5. Christmas Party: This year I've seemed to learn something that I thought I'd known all along. Sweets really do affect kids. Instead of a normal junk food Christmas party, our class decided to do breakfast this year. Our party was called Breakfast with Santa. The students loved that they could eat and enjoy the food that was more healthy for them. Later that morning Santa stopped by with a few gifts for them. Thank you so much "To the Nations Ministries" for your support in getting these gifts. They loved them!!

6. Rap: Yes, I did say rap. Michele, Angela, and I decided to have fun at Al Beit one night. At the Al Beit Christmas Party complete with cookie baking and ornament making, we decided to have a Christmas rap. I think it was the highlight of their evening. The rap came complete with photos and all. To check out where we got this idea follow this link.  Al Beit and Al Beit Jr. are off for a few weeks, but we'll have things up and running back again on the 15th.

7. Christmas Eve in Bethlehem: Christmas Eve here is just a wonderful time. All the local scouts get together to form this massive parade. I mean massive as in it takes 2 hours. It's way fun because everyone is out and enjoying it too if they are not in it themselves.

8. Christmas: Each Christmas here is a little different. While I do miss my family, it's amazing to have people who are like your family to spend this special day with. All the teachers who did not go home for Christmas met together at Barrett's and celebrated together. We had a secret santa and we all brought a favorite holiday dish. The house was warm with laughter and love. It was almost like being home (I did get to skype with my whole family which was nice)! I felt very blessed to be surrounded by so much joy! Thank you Jesus for being born to us!

9. Ryan Davis came to visit: I had a friend visit for a few weeks. Ryan came in before Christmas and stayed until the New Year. It was great to have him just living life with us. For the first week he just hung out with us and saw what it was like to work at JSB. The second week Ryan, Angela, and I took and amazing adventure. We toured the country: Dead Sea, Galilee, Jerusalem, Golan Heights, and we even went to Mt. Hermon and saw snow!!  I think it is safe to say he had a blast!

10. New Years: We rang in the New Year again at Barrett's. There was homemade confetti and a free firework display out our window in Beit Jala! I'm excited about this upcoming year. Truthfully, I'm not sure what is next for me. We're working on visa things now (appointment Jan. 16th) and it seems that this will be my last year (well for a year and then I can come back). I'm  not sure what God has in store, but I'm waiting in utter anticipation. 2011 is going to be another year of big God things! I'm excited to see what He has up his sleeves!