Once Upon a Christmas

So I’m fully aware that Christmas 2013 has come and gone, but I’m finding time (What?!?! That is possible?!) and thought that some of our family and friends might like a glimpse into what our Christmas program here at Maranatha looks like!

Be ye forewarned: Rodney was the camera man and he will tell you too, he’s not really the best photographer, videographer, etc. He was also the proud Papa of a certain little girl who took part in the whole thing, so a lot of the pictures and video (who am I kidding, ALL of the video) was focused on her. But, if you look at the other people (when they are shown) you can get a glimpse of what it may have looked like! 🙂

It starts with a candle march. The students are paired up and walk in with a partner. This year, they formed a Christmas tree. Maya was the stump. 🙂 She was also so excited that she kicked her feet up extra high in the air. 🙂

A proud little girl to be in the candle march.

Everyone in their positions from the candle march.

Marching out…

After the march and welcome, each class presents a poem, song, etc. You will see in the video Level 1/2 performing “Angel Band” as one of their items. Their teacher, Pauline, led them while I followed along singing and playing-ish the keyboard. You’ll hear it on the video. Not my proudest singing moment, but oh well.

Then came Level 3/4, seen below. We did the song, Adore Him by Kari Jobe. I thought it was beautiful.

Level 3/4’s ribbon dance in the middle of the song.

Level 5 was the last individual class to perform. We did Jamaican Noel by Voice Male. It was fun to work together with Ms. Verica Senior, the Level 5a teacher. We split the group into two sections and each led a section for the song. It’s the closest thing we’ve had that would resemble a choir! It was fun! I wish Rodney would have videoed it, but alas, he was dealing with a 5 month old and 2 1/2 year old while trying to take pictures. Didn’t leave a lot of time to focus on much else.

Level 5 before their 2 part Jamaican Noel song.

There were some songs led in between to give the students time to get into their costumes for the play. We did the play, The Story of Baby Jesus.

Such a flattering picture…. Leading a Christmas hymn. I couldn’t accompany because I also had to lead the sign.

Herod and a messenger in the play.

Everyone did so well! I wish we had more pictures. The soldier was maybe the favorite of the afternoon. He was dressed in his soldier outfit that I had constructed from cardboard (mostly) and marched, bouncing along the way. It was really cute.

Please forgive how blurry the video is. Rodney learned how to focus while videoing after everything was said and done. 🙂 And, seriously, we don’t know why Maya was sticking her tongue out so much. ?!?! The people leading did NOT do that; I repeat, the adults do NOT keep their tongues hanging out of their mouths! 😉

You can find the video on youtube at: http://youtu.be/tOJ-huV4CnQ

I made it unlisted so you can’t search for it. You have to click on the link above. Hope it works!!!!

The two senior teachers: Pauline (sitting) and Verica (the sign language interpreter of the day).

After the play, we celebrated the retirement of Mr. Forrester who was the former bus driver and security guard, and Mrs. Pauline Bent, who had taught at the school for 27 1/2 years. Rodney made Mr. Forrester a swing chair as a gift from the school, pictured below.

Mr. Forrester’s (the former bus driver) retirement celebration.

Pauline Bent’s (teacher here for 27 1/2 years) retirement celebration.

The church was full, so people just peeked in from outside.

The Christmas program always ends with handing out gifts to the students. Gloria Lehman, who works for VMM, finds sponsors for all the students at the school and those sponsors send down gifts. I think it’s a highlight for Gloria to be able to hand them out to such excited kids. Glenroy, pictured below, is always SO excited and has the biggest grin on his face.

Every student has a sponsor who sends down a gift. Those gifts are handed out by Gloria Lehman, VMM representative.

Maya was pretty excited about her gift from the Baumans…. Devor and Javel’s family.

You can see his excitement, right?! 🙂 Gloria was kind enough to have a little something for M & M so they wouldn’t feel left out.

All in all, it was a wonderful time and afternoon. All the students did so well. It was a lot of work to put together with such little resources, but by the grace of God, it always seems to turn out! 🙂 I hope you enjoyed the peek into Christmas at Maranatha!

Creative Urges

I have discovered that I like sewing (shhhhh. Don’t tell anyone!). It’s quite an interesting phenomenon because when we lived in the States, I did NOT like it and I would break my sewing machine any time I had to use it. Not on purpose, mind you. So when we came down here and I found myself WANTING to sew, I wondered what was wrong with me. Was I sick? Was I getting some sort of tropical disease that changed my likes?!?! 🙂

I have come to the realization that I am a creative person. (My mom would say, ‘Duh!’ at this point.) In Virginia, I was expressing my creativity through music- Shekinah, our church’s worship team, etc. It was easy to find ways (besides sewing) to express myself creatively. Those things fulfilled my creative needs. Down here, though, I don’t have an outlet for my creativity in music. I can’t fully play the keyboard at church because it is such a different style and really, I don’t have the time to practice or anyone around to help me. It is not so easy to find crafty things to make. It can take quite a while to find one thing in a list of things, so at times, I start to feel the need to make something, to create something, to just get something out! I don’t know if Rodney really understands, but it really is a NEED.

So sometimes I will sew something. Other times I will bake something. Other times I will find a way to rearrange the house. Often times I get interrupted and cannot complete what I’m doing which can be a bit frustrating, but I’m thankful that even if Rodney doesn’t understand fully, he gets that I need some time just to be, and he lets me create.

First dress and binding ever made and it turned out pretty cute!

With hidden zipper. I was pretty excited it turned out!

Christmas present for Maya and Micah to sit comfortably.

Baker’s clay dough wisemen with their camel. (Made with Beuford)

Baker’s clay dough shepherd and sheep (made with Beuford).

Mary, Joseph, Baby Jesus, and Angel (made with Natalie).

I know I’m biased but I think the whole nativity out of Baker’s clay dough turned out SO cute. I was very disappointed (and maybe even shed a tear or two) when I went to bring it and some clay dough ornaments out the next year and they had all molded. I was so sad to throw them away.

I also love to bake desserts and breads quite a bit. People want to start ordering my bread but I say ‘No’, because I want to continue enjoying it. I don’t want it to start to be a chore that I HAVE to do on a certain day. I prefer to keep the enjoyment in it.

Here’s to creative urges! Now, off to feed the hungry children…..