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. 🙂
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 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.
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.
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!!!!
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.
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.
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!
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January 27, 2014 at 7:57 am
bmbauman
Absolutely loved this post… can’t help but say I’m a little biased about the pic of Maya and her pj’s..if only she knew how much work it took having an extra set of inexperienced hands in the mix :). We miss you all!!
January 31, 2014 at 12:40 am
Your Cousin Jill
So great to see a special “day in the life of”….. Rodney, I’m impressed w your photography considering all the circumstances. Eve, you’re amazing! Maya is a doll and Micah is a little monkey. : )
Xoxo