50th Annual Schmekfest

Everyone told me that I would be overwhelmed by Schmekfest, by the way the gym was transformed and the way that so many came together to make it happen. They weren't lying. This Friday (March 27th) was the 50th annual Schmekfest. The gym was decorated in quilts and along the far wall were several displays and silent auction items. Over 800 people came to eat the German food, enjoy each other, and participate in the auctions, bake sales, etc. It was an amazing sight. 

The biggest thing that influenced me wasn't the amount of people who came or how different the gym looked. It was how so many community people all came together, everyone assigned a job, and served together because they love the school and want to invest in this community. It was INCREDIBLE!!! The people of Lustre really, really care about these students and this school and about serving Jesus. It is incredible.

I wish I had pictures from the night. I and the kids were busy with the jobs we had been given. We have good memories of it though. It was a busy, great time.

The next day was the first track meet in Glasgow. Nevin, Mawin, Etien, Alek, and Joyce are participating in track this year. It was great to hear them come back and share their stories! While they were at the meet, most of the rest of us helped clean up from Schmekfest in the morning. The cleaning went quickly as several came to help. The rest of the day was spent relaxing. 

Katie and Chen playing Janga. They were getting into it!

One evening this past week, a few
of us made s'mores by roasting
marshmallows over the stove. :)
Fun memory.

Nevin, Mawin, and Etien just hanging. :) 

A typical sight around here . . .
some wifi loving. 

As for other important news, yesterday was Joyce's 17th birthday! 

Happy, happy birthday, dear Joyce!

Ooh, you are such a treasure! Your laugh and smile bright up a room. You were so quiet when you made your home here at the beginning of the school year, but now, your laugh and funny sense of humor speak so loudly and joyously here. You are hilarious and courageous and smart and so full of life. I love who you are. Your positive attitude speaks volumes to those around you. You are so beautiful!

The verse I gave to you was this one: 

"You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore." Psalm 16:11ESV

My prayer for you is that you learn more and more the joy offered in the presence of God. You have felt His presence, and you know it. You believe it. Keep following Him, Joyce. He is worth everything. Jesus is worth everything. I am so grateful for you!

Raw Talents

Drama crew

A few weeks ago, LCHS drama class presented a play "Trial by Error", a play so captivating that left the audience in awe of the talents LCHS students possess. The costumes and the actual presentation was aesthetically coordinated which kept the audience entertained throughout the night. Several of our dorm students were in the play and I thought their individual roles represented some of their persona. 

Jacques is an individual of few words so his character was Romoni Brown, a grumpy gypsy who never said much but groan and moan at others. Alek's was sheriff Tex Masterson, the law man who kept the town in order. His character was sometimes funny, serious, talkative and had a rather peculiar accent. Serena played Slick Parker,  a dumb potbelly man -  so maybe not all the  characters personified the students who played them. The other dorm students in the play were Silas, Maya, and Aleyna and they acted their roles exceptionally well.

Ramoni Brown (Jacques), and Sheriff (Alek)

A few students from LCHS attended the REACH program, an event organized for students who are interested in careers in the medical field. They students met different people who work in the medical field like Nurses, Radiologist, Lab Technicians, Therapist and so forth. The students also got hands on experience like  strep throat testing.

Serena, Geneva and Nevin

Serena pretending to be a doctor

Nevin checking the heart rate of his patient

Learning how to check strep throats

Her first time in an Ambulance.

Future Surgeon Nevin

A Lab Technician teaching the students how to... (oops! I forgot)

Aleyna aka. Shorty # II celebrated her birthday last week. Aleyna is a Sophomore at LCHS and she has being a blessing in the dorm. She is short, a Colotexan, (a word I created to mean from Colorado and Texas), and funny especially when she does abs workout. The dorm wishes you a happy birthday and God's blessing in your life.

Birthday girl - Aleyna

Fiona, Silas's sister was able to visit for a short while during her Spring break. Fiona graduated LCHS last year and now attends the University of Iowa where she studies nursing. Good luck with your feature endeavors and come visit again.

Silas excited he is taller than his big sister

Upcoming events

• Mar 21 - Senior Class Pizza Dinner at LCHS 5 - 7:30 pm
• Mar 27 - Schmeckfest and no school
• Mar 30 - Happy birthday Joyce
• April (2-6) - Easter Break

Ordinary Wonder

A few weeks back, the sophomores had to do projects on either a plant or an animal cell. There were a variety of options as to how the project could turn out, but my kids decided they wanted to do edible projects. I had forgotten the agony and creativity and wonder of school projects, but I had a BLAST working with Etien and Aleyna, and we all laughed so hard by the end of the night.

Aleyna's lemon cake example of a plant cell

Not pictured was my flour war with Aleyna. Okay, "war" may be too intense of a term, though we did have flour war paint on our cheeks by the end of her lemon cake making experience. :)

Etien ventured out on making a pizza! He loves cooking and hopes to pursue that further someday. It was so much fun to work with him and try to think of fourteen plus items we could put on a pizza . . . not an easy task.

Etien hard at work on his animal cell pizza

Normally during study hours, the gathering rooms are closed to members of the opposite gender, but with Etien using my kitchen for "homework," we had several guys come wondering through the room, and while they're full fledge turkeys, I have such a blast with them and these girls in ordinary, unplanned moments like those when we laugh so hard and just enjoy figuring life out together.

Aleyna, Mawin, Joyce, Jacques, Nevin,
and Chen being all stalker-ish on the couch.

As for other very important news, Nevin's birthday was last Tuesday! It was special to get to celebrate him and all he is to us!

This was the pre-haircut days. ;)

Nevin, happy, happy birthday to you! I am so grateful Jesus brought you to this dorm and into our lives. I still remember you coming into the kitchen, asking if I was feeling "some type of way." I was confused until I later heard you jamming to the "clean" version of that horrible song! :P I'm pretty sure those four lines were your favorite part of the song anyways. :) Nonetheless, I'll always associate those four lines with your quirky, fun-loving, friendly personality. You are driven, intelligent, and caring, and I can't wait to see where you go in life. 

These verses are for you, Nevin. Praying this over your life, that someday, you will be a declarer of His Light, of His healing, even as you seek to mimic the greatest Healer there is or ever will be. I believe in you! May this year be the best one yet. Jesus is worth everything. I promise.

The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me,

    because the Lord has anointed me

to bring good news to the poor;

    he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,

to proclaim liberty to the captives,

    and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;

2 

to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor,

    and the day of vengeance of our God;

    to comfort all who mourn;

3 

to grant to those who mourn in Zion—

    to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes,

the oil of gladness instead of mourning,

    the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit;

that they may be called oaks of righteousness,

    the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified. Isaiah 61:1-3

Super Bowl Party and Such

These kids make me laugh so hard!
I enjoy them so much. :)
This is Chen stacking a snack
in his mouth!

Again, my sincere apologies for the delayed update. Sometimes, I get so caught up in living these moments that it takes me time to remember to blog about them! I'm so grateful for this space to catch the memories and hold on to them. Thank you for letting us share them with you.

A couple Mondays back, we warmed up for devotions with a game of Catch Phrase. These kids are so competitive. It's fun to see them interact with each other while they're playing games and see the energy level rise in the room. :) After the game, I read 1 Corinthians 12:21-26, a passage that talks about how in a group of believers, all are important, and when one person hurts, we all do. When we're a healthy, tight knit community, all are affected by one person's pain. We talked a little about Silas and how his pain not only affected him but the rest on the bench. We're a unit. We stick together. After that, the kids wrote notes to him, and we took some time praying for him.

Thank you to all of you who prayed for Silas. He seems to be doing well and recovering well. He has a doctor's appointment tomorrow, so more prayers for that would be great. Thank you so much! We have so much to be thankful for in what God has already done in healing his leg. Praise Jesus! Not something to take for granted.

Etien, Maya, and Nevin playing Catch Phrase.

That following weekend, the boys had an away game, so it was just the gals and Ibrahim home. A couple of the girls wanted to go to town, so we got in my car and went while the rest stayed with Ibrahim. We were glad to convince McKaylah to join us too. :) We had a fun time!

Serena, Joyce, Danae, McKaylah
The typical excitement of a town adventure includes visiting
Albertsons and possibly Shopko. Maybe even MacDonalds! ;)
Photo Credit: Serena!

That Sunday was Super Bowl Sunday. That afternoon, after church and lunch, we headed over to Amy and Tony Fast's house for a Super Bowl party. It was so kind of them to host us with such yummy snacks and a great place to watch the game!

One of Ibrahim's passions is football, and he was all excited for the Seahawks to win. Most of us were. Jacques decided to be countercultural and root for the Patriots. Sadly, there was only one voice cheering when the game ended. Oh Jacques. :) Ibrahim is already looking forward to next year . . .

Zoned in on the Super Bowl game!

There is much more catching up to do on this blog. Coming soon hopefully. In the meantime, thanks again for caring about our lives. Sometimes just caring makes all the difference. :)

A Quarter Past

It's been a couple weeks since I've posted and a couple months since these kids have made their home in the dorm. It's probably the most overused phrase in the book, but really . . . time flies.

The end of the quarter is this week. These guys are a fourth of the way through their year. Wild.

Here's a few miscellaneous memories from the past few weeks.

On October 5th, our whole crew went to the Lustre MB Church (Mennonite Brethren) for their Harvest Festival. Special speaker Rick Eshbaugh talked about what it means to be devoted to God. He gave some lively examples and challenged us to intentionally follow God's Word.

After his message, there was a feast! Roast beef, salad, dinner rolls, potatoes, pie, etc. We headed out after the meal, and the girls looked a little tired, don't you think?

Katie (Jr.), Dimon (Fr.), Joyce (Jr.) all piled on Serena (Sr.)
Time for a Sunday nap!

The guys ended up going to Wolf Point to help someone move. They and their strong muscles were blessings to those they served.

Here are a few pictures from Monday's devotions. We started out with a crazy Rock Paper Scissors game. I LOVE seeing these kids laugh!

I'm bummed this is a blurry picture. Still love it though.
Their laughter is contagious!

Maya (Sr.) and Katie (Jr.) duking it out.

Dimon (Fr.) and Katie (Jr.) battling for the win.

Here's a video from the wild experience.

That Friday was the Volleyball Team's senior night! It was so exciting to celebrate our three seniors: Maya, Serena, and Chen (videographer for the team). It was UBER exciting that the girls pulled off a WIN! What an incredible way to end the night! That was the last of their home games, but they'll have a couple more away games before completely wrapping the season up.

After the girls finished their game, everyone came back, and we ate some celebration brownies, played games, and just hung out.

From Left to Right: Alek (Fr.), Nevin (Jr.), Maya (Sr.)

Aleyna (So.) on couch and Silas (Jr.), Chen (Sr.) and
Mawin (Sr.) . . . Just chillin'!

Did you know these guys can sing?! That's good these guys don't look at the blog too much otherwise I might be hunted down in the middle of the night for posting it. For your entertainment and pleasure, I think I'm gonna risk it. ;)

This is probably the best version of JB's "Baby" 

you've ever heard, huh? Mine too. Grin. Love these guys!

We have fun around here. :)

That Saturday, the Morazco's invited the girls over for dinner. That was so kind of them, and the food and company were great! It's a special thing to be able to go into homes as a dorm. 

The next day was the EMB (Evangelical Mennonite Brethren) Church Harvest Festival. The speaker was Darrin Clinton, and he spoke of the importance of a Christian's Worldview and how foundational our view of Genesis is. It was a wonderful service. Following the service was another feast! We sure were spoiled those two Sundays. The food was incredible.

That same afternoon, Brant and Lynn Unrau had the youth over to hang out. Ibrahim and I dropped the kids off and came back to stories of them playing some fun games, eating good food, and watching some football. They seemed to have a great time.

Last week was a short week. The kids were in school from Monday to half of Wednesday as it was MEA week when the teachers headed out across the state to various teaching training events. The kids were excited to have time off! They went to various homes in the community or to preplanned events. Some came back to the dorm on Sunday tired, but they seemed to have a nice time taking a break. 

This week ahead should be a full one. There's an away volleyball game tomorrow, the quarter ends on Friday, and the girls are taking a Billings trip from Friday - Sunday. Exciting things ahead! Thanks for keeping us in your thoughts and prayers. I appreciate it!

Joke of the Day: How many guys does it take to fix a paper jam?

THREE! ;)

Guys weekend in

"We all we got, We all we need"

This is the Seattle Seahawks chant before every game. Yes am a Seahawks fan so deal with it. Before the girls left for their dorm weekend out, these were the same words I was thinking. If you ask me why, I wouldn't have given you an answer, but all I knew was that our ladies were leaving and the guys will have to survive the weekend without them. Nerve wrecking it was, but we made it through. 

The guys and I were happy to have the girls back but we proved to ourselves that we can survive without them - sorry ladies. On Friday we all went to the ladies volleyball game. We planned biking after the game, however we decided to stay at the gym. After some quality time in the gym playing Volleyball and Basket Ball, the guys had a sleep over in the boys gathering room where they watched movies all night (I know, am such a great mentor).

Saturday morning, some of the boys went to work while the rest slept in. After brunch, I rallied the guys who were at the dorm to do some community service. We borrowed some tools and went to put up the Lustre sign on the route to Wolfpoint. It was cold and windy but I managed to cajole and reason with the boys about the blessing that comes from serving. Story short, we had a good time digging holes; putting the sign back up and having fun.

The work crew

Later that night we invited a special guest for dinner who also brought a game we played. The boys love their movies so we watched ‘Captain America: The Winter Soldier’ that night because our guest also wanted to watch the movie.

Sunday morning we went to church; it was also communion service which made the service extra special. After church, we went back to the dorm, ate and got ready for our afternoon trip to Glasgow.

I had a date night with the guys. We did some grocery shopping, ate in the car and watched the ‘Maze Runner’ at the cinema. Oh Yea! we had a great time.

Movie with the guys

For those of you who haven’t met the dorm guys,they are different in unique ways. But even with our differences, we manage to adapt and love on each other in our own little ways. I love my boys but it is more reassuring to know that God loves them more than I do.

Danae is usually the blog guru but I thought once in a while I should write something and make fun of people like Jerry Fast who told us to come to his place for paintball but bailed out on us. Part of it was our fault but it is nice to blame him a little. I love you Jared and I know you might not read this blog.

I love taking pictures so I volunteered to be the photographer for the dorm while Danae chose to be the blogger if I remember correctly. Below are few pictures I have taken so far:

last four standing

you go girl