August 2018 Summary

Back to School @ Faith International Academy

FIA 2018-2019  Key Scripture: 

“So that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God”  Colossians 1:10

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Elementary Chapel: August 15

Fifth grade puppet choir started off the program by lip syncing
 "Walking In the Light Of the Lord".  

"Bible Bee" puppet makes his debut at FIA  via my "Bee Diligent"
script published in Newsy Vents, January/February 1986.

 Dramatizing the book, The Chick and the Duckling,
 Mira Ginsburg, with toy figures. I discussed
 Romans 12:12a – "Don’t copy the behavior and 
customs of this world." 

I also shared two object lessons related to diligence:

 ants - Proverbs 6:6–8 and penguins - I Cor. 16:13 Be watchful, stand firm in your faith.

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 Staff Devos 

My turn to lead staff devotions was August 21st. I asked God what we all needed to hear. A YouTube video popped up that captured my attention and my heart - "This Teacher Was at School When a Brain Surgeon Rang - And it Was A Call That Changed His Life."  After a delicate life altering surgery, the judge patient told his surgeon to call and thank the teacher who had inspired him. The surgeon's high school science teacher had told him after dissecting the spine and brain of a frog that he had the potential to become a surgeon. The student believed him and did just that.

"Bible Bee" read our scripture verse for the morning. Hebrews 10:24-25 - Let us consider how we my spur one another on toward love and good deeds....encouraging one another." BEE AN ENCOURAGER!

I shared briefly of a teacher who helped launch my teaching career. Miss Emma Cruise (my 2^nd grade teacher) asked me to be her Head Start teacher’s aide the two summers before I went to college. First I was a volunteer after junior year, then I worked a paid teacher aide in Clark County, KY after my H.S. senior year when I was 18. Miss Cruise paid me to do her classroom bulletin boards and the big bulletin board as you walked into the front door of Fannie Bush Elementary School. I went to a Christian college to prepare to be an educational missionary which took on several faces through the decades and I plan to retire as an educational missionary next summer.

Several other teachers told of teachers who had encouraged them. I love hearing such stories!

PRAY – Lord please daily give us sensitivity, wisdom, discernment, and boldness in encouraging students and co-workers around us.

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Second Grade Literature Enrichment

I enjoy introducing students to new book arrivals that are processed and ready for circulation. On August 23, I shared with second graders the book, If You Say So, Claude by Joan Lowery Nixon. Their first grade teacher last year, Miss Winslow, had requested I order the title for our library. Glad she did...I found it laugh-out-loud funny the first time I read it, but managed to smother some of my amusement when I read it to the class. They enjoyed it also. Keep those recommendations rolling it.

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  Obo  Manobo  Website  Launching 

I am thankful for opportunities to witness history in the making. Mid-August I attended a dedication ceremony on the same compound as my school in which the button was pushed that launched the Obo Manobo website - omalracdi.org. This website, Obo Manobo Active Language and Community Development Incorporated (OMALRACDI), chronicles the development of the Obo Manobo New Testament and the progress on the Old Testament.

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Early Start on Book Trailers

Grace plays librarian shelving books
as "Dewey" rides the book cart.

    

This school year at Faith International Academy, I chose to have grades 3-4-5 develop book trailers / commercials for videotaping to share with elementary classes early in the school year. Thus other students can benefit from promoted books through the academic year.

Students are invited to use props including stuffed or real animals, puppets, and/or costumes to promote their selected books.  

In the photo above, a kitten in book drop box sets the stage for Dewey: There's a Cat in the Library! by Vicki Myron and Bret Witter, based on a true story. When librarian Vicki Myron found a young kitten abandoned the Spencer (Iowa) Public Library return box, she  and her staff nurse him back to health and he becomes their library cat -"Dewey Readmore Books." Dewey loves his new home, steals hearts of all ages, brightens the days of this small town residents who are pulling their way slowly back from the greatest crisis in the towns long history. Students will dramatize some of Dewey's adventures.

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I was asked to pray for the food and blessings on the
birthday lady to my right. Lorna (far right) showed us
around the area, her roots.

Smiles and laughter before, during, and after the tasty food.

90th Birthday Celebration

My landlady Lorna (left pic, far right) invited my roommate (but Naomi was recovering from sickness) and me to join several of her friends in going to Ula in the Tugbok district on August 26th to help her celebrate the 90th birthday of her godmother, Agustina. It warmed my heart that she was excited about the large print devotional book I gave her...what do expect from a librarian author? I enjoy celebrating people and the cultural holidays of the country where I live though I stay away from large crowds for safety.

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July 2018 Summary

Library Check-out Days and Storytime

It was great to welcome several students back from furlough. Having finished their previous grades, some students are now in a new category that allows them to check out more books (Gr. 3-5: 5 books instead of three; Gr. 6-8: 8 books) - to their pleasure.  It warms a librarian's heart when children are excited about getting more books at a time. 

Storytime (targeting preschool - second grade) this month was July 18 with a duck theme. With arrival of newly ordered library books children, enjoyed acting out with props later in the session a character building favorite I used for years elsewhere, The Chick and the Duckling by Mirra Ginsburg. This book vividly illustrates how extremely unwise it is to try copy someone else in everything. (Romans 12:2)

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This was an enriching, stretching experience that included fasting from social media (for me that means Facebook). I enjoyed evening prayer meetings at church. It was meaningful to have more focused time with God and one-on-one verbal communication with several family members I hadn't talked with in several months or years via Skype phone. Nice tune-up with God before starting my last school year in the Philippines. Seeking much guidance for getting my "ducks in a row" as I prepare for a new season of life called retirement.

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Eye Injection   

I was very glad that my eye injection for retina vein occlusion on July 19th at Davao Doctors Hospital Eye Center on July 19th was uneventful. NOT fun I assure you, but I am used to it by now. 

My best coping technique technique? I had the opportunity to share ahead with several small groups what I learned from a senior saint in Orlando. Whenever she would undergo a painful or nerve-racking medical treatment, she would quote to herself Isaiah 41:10 - Do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand." She would hold out her hand and envision Jesus holding it. I do the same under the covers in the minor surgery operating room - everything covered except for a square of space for the eye. 

As my memory is nothing compared to my Grandpa Snowden's for quoting scripture, I have this verse in my cell phone under B - BIBLE Promises, Notes... and read it in the waiting room. IMHO, envisioning Jesus holding our hand through any unpleasant experience helps...and I like to share this little coping gem when I have a good opportunity. 

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Storying and the Arts Trauma Healing

It was my privilege to participate in the Using Storying and Arts in Trauma Healing, week-long Basic Course. Participants and course leaders came from several Asian countries.

Trauma isolates people from one another and from God. Addressing its impact is becoming one of the most urgent human needs in the world. This course introduces a holistic, interactive approach through engaging with stories from Scripture for helping people who suffer from the mental, emotional, and spiritual effects of trauma. Participants learn basic knowledge and skills for facilitating the use of practical activities and relevant arts for addressing beliefs and emotional damage caused by trauma.

Evening dinner with some basic course participants, a leader + two friends.

Hmmm...been getting many thank you's for participating and positive comments. A note: "It is so inspiring to see how you are very eager to learn and be a vessel for God's Kingdom...I am blessed by your life's story." PTL! My prayer is to be a blessing where God leads me.

There were fewer people in Advanced Arts and Trauma Healing Course, and I was invited to be part an audience in a group facilitation session. My pleasure to participate, a valuable learning experience, and good to reconnect with folks from last week. 

Hope to provide more photos, but some faces will be blurred as some folks serve in sensitive areas.

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Welcome Bible Bee!

BEFORE: "Bible Bee" Costumes for my
wooden ventriloquism puppet and myself

NOW in Philippines

On July 30, a new buddy for my ministry in the school and community arrived at the Elementary-Middle School Library. Downsizing is refreshing and freeing. I left my wooden puppets and costumes in the U.S. for a number of reasons. I was able to locate a moving mouth, large soft bee puppet on E-Bay that can squeeze down reasonably smaller for transport. I so appreciate the gracious offer last year of Wendi Capehart to bring some things back in her suitcase this summer.  THANK YOU Wendi for sharing suitcase space with library books and Bible Bee in July and much appreciation to a son and daughter of yours for bringing library books to the Philippines in May! TEAMWORK.

The Bible Beelines book I bought with the puppet contains nine scripts that teach Bible truths. I had a script "Bee Diligent or Do It Anyway" published in the January/February 1986 edition of Newsy Vents (publication of North American Association of Ventriloquists). I look forward to using this script again and also adapting a lesson plan from a program on the Fruit of the Spirit  and other Bible Bees -  to materials I have here. Bee Loving, Bee Kind, Bee Patient....BZZZ!