ASB Farewell Dinner

I can't believe my two years in India has come to a close. We had our goodbye dinner last night and this is a song my friend wrote for my farewell. God has given me some really precious friends/amazing colleagues at school and I am going to miss them dearly!

Second Semester...

Some say 'better late than never.' However, for the teacher with a stress headache from grading heaps of late papers right before grades are due, the opposite holds true. :) Hopefully our lack of blogging hasn't caused any stress headaches. ;-) This semester has been full of big events - some exciting and wonderful and others quite painful. Through it all though, God has been so faithful.

Below are some pictures from Dan's time in Mumbai and our time together in Turkey during my Spring Break. It was wonderful for my students to finally get to meet Mr. Isaacson. They were SOOO excited! All day long, everywhere we went in school we heard giggles, whispers of "That's him; that's Mr. Isaacson," and saw lots of hands waving their hellos. Middle schoolers are just great that way! I even had some kids come in strictly to introduce themselves to Mr. Isaacson though they didn't have class with me that day. My kids ate him up and since that time have been periodically coming to let me know they think he should move here and get a job at ASB so that they can have us both! :) Another blessing was when Dan met my colleagues and got to spend time with the people who have become like family to me these two years. Of course, I was also glad for proof that Dan is a real man and not just the "model in the wedding album". I've gotten way too many jokes about how good I am at photo shopping myself into a wedding album. ;-)

Dan with my advisory group - Isaacson's Indestructible Igloos! :)

Katy seems to have taken growing pills since the last time I hugged her!

Hanging at Bogazici with friends

In the gece jungle with Brian and Gina. Thanks for fellowship and dinner!! YUMMY!!

A beautiful day in my favorite park in Istanbul with some of my favorite people!

Hanna's acting debut

Spring must have sprung. It's hard to remember what season it is in the rest of the world because for me it's still more of the same...sunny and dry. However, it appears that Hanna's kindie class is learning about picnics and spring time, so that must be the season in Texas. :) Though I couldn't be there to watch Hanna's acting debut, I'm thankful that Laura was able to capture it on video. Isn't technology so wonderful?!
Kindie kids are always cute to watch in action, so I thought I'd put the video here. Besides, Hanna is the best rain cloud on the stage (the first rain cloud)! ;-)

Birthday blessings!

My amazing husband, who said he doesn't remember birthdays, not only remembered my birthday during our morning skype (which was clear as day...a completely sweet birthday gift from God!!!) but he had flowers delivered to the school!! Do I have a great husband, or what?! :) Thanks, Dan!!

God blessed me again with another sweet birthday in India. I got to have a "birthday weekend" of which I'm a big fan...in my opinion, birthdays should last for a week! ;-) On Saturday, Katie and I went to lunch at one of our favorite spots, then went to a movie at such a sweet movie theatre! After an experience at a movie theatre here early last year, I'd decided I could do without movies for two years. However, this new theatre was so nice! One interesting thing that happens at movies here is that right after they tell you to switch off your mobile phone, prior to the previews, a large waving Indian flag graphic appears on the screen, everyone stands at attention and the India National Anthem is played. I'm so surprised Turkey didn't have that. After the movies, it was such a nice day, Katie and I did a little bit of shopping and went home. It was one of the best Saturdays I've had here this year! What a blessing. :)

On Sunday, Katie got a group of friends together at Donna and Bill's for a little Mexican fiesta night. Donna is the hostess with the mostest and loves to cook and have people over for a down-home evening. It was so nice to be with good friends and their children, eat yummy tacos (with jalapenos and salsa - three cheers!!!), and enjoy the fact that even though Dan and I aren't able to be together right now, God has truly blessed me with some really amazing colleagues who've become good friends these two years. It was such a low-key, no stress, home-style birthday - PERFECT! Then this morning, as I walked to my classroom, the students I passed in the hall said happy birthday. One of my little Ig-lets (Ig-let: a term of endearment for the individual students who make up my advisory group - "Isaacson's Igloos") even brought me a box of chocolates! Then before class, I heard a loud commotion in the hallway as the 7th graders came stomping down the hall, burst into my room and began a raucous rendition of Happy Birthday! :) Good thing I'm a morning person or that may have been more noise than I could have handled! ;-) At lunch, I got serenaded by the whole middle school student body; all day my kids came in saying happy birthday and left wishing me birthday greetings. To top it all off, after 3rd block, a large basket of flowers arrived from my prince charming! :) (See picture above. )

As I count down the weeks until my contract is complete and I'm able to go be with Dan full-time, I've been blessed with some really sweet "lasts" here in India. My last birthday in India was terrific. :)

Happy Birthday, dear Mr. Isaacson....

Happy birthday, Dan! I hope your day is fabulous! My little advisees (Isaacson's Igloos) loved celebrating your birthday during advisory today. They wanted to skype you because they are dying to meet you, but we settled for a video since you were working. :)
I made you box-mix brownies last night; however, I realized a little late that I did not have any vegetable oil in the cabinet. (Oh the hazards of infrequent cooking!;-) I improvised with olive oil and what do you know, the kids never noticed! :) Sweet!! In fact, they were pretty darn tasty, if I do say so myself. Nothing says lovin' more in my classroom than brownies from a box! (Another big bonus to the overseas experience...Betty Crocker seems gourmet!) My advisees gave it the yummilicious two thumbs up. :)
Deep thought for the day…can brownies be considered healthy if they were made with olive oil instead of veg oil?! ;-)

Remnants my cute little igl-ets left behind. They were actually begging for more, but I saved some to share with my teacher friends. They send their love and happy wishes as well. :)