BSF Update

I have been gearing up and preparing for the new BSF year and was all set to teach Level 3 kids (5th & 6th grade). I was spending a lot of time trying to remember what I was like in 5th & 6th grade. What did I care about, what did I do, what was cool. I came up with lots of fun activity ideas for my 3-4 enrolled students and was all ready for the first leaders meeting.

Well the night before the meeting I got a call from my Teaching Leader and it turns out there is a very great need for trained Discussion Leaders right now. She asked if I would be willing to switch back. I of course have always said I would go where needed so today I spent my day calling my 18(!) group members and making these: BSF name tags! I am a little sad to be leaving the school program but being a DL again will be a lot less work and maybe that is what I need this year. And now for a special news bulletin!

********Attention all ex-BSF leaders***************

An amazing thing happened this year on the BSF front. All BSF leaders are now allowed to wear PANTS to meetings and class night!!!!! I just had to share since this is such a big deal. You BSF girls will know what I mean!

It begins again.

Tonight is the first night of BSF. Over the weekend I didn't get much scrapbooking done but I did manage to make a new cover for my binder this year. Since I work with kids I try to do something fun. Last year I had 4 girls in my class so I did all pink with flowers and ribbon. This year I am teaching 6-7 year olds and I have 2 boys and 2 girls so I went with something colorful but not too girly (except for the big flower!). I think it counts as a layout toward my goal.
Today also happens to be the 5th anniversary of 9-11. Last night Greg and I reflected on our experience in the city on that day and were more moved than we thought we would be bringing up those old memories. Luckily we were fresh home from church and an awesome sermon on Mark 13:24-37. The passage reminded us of Christ's impending return and 9-11 reminds us how desperately we need Him when we recognize our capacity for evil. Christ is returning to right all wrongs and redeem and renew His creation. Knowing this we are able to LIVE in light of this hope (that was the sermon challenge). It was a great comfort as we watched the news last night and those images we hadn't seen in 5 years.

Scrapbook Update

My photos arrived from www.scrapbookpictures.com and I was very happy with my order. As you can see the photos were all different sizes and most were pre-cut for me. All I had to do was trim and add them to my prepared mini-book. I added a few more embellishments and I was done. I will definitly use this company again. They have so many more options than the other places I was using to develop my pictures.

Most of my photos were 2x2 inch. Having them printed at that size was much better than what I usually do which is attempt to crop them myself.My mom found some dies for my Quikutz that are of punctuation () {} [] * etc. I used them in this little book (thanks mom!). Most of the other supplies came from the August scrapbook kit. It was so nice to have everything coordinated for me. It made it really easy.

These are just 3 of the 8 layouts that highlighted my experience in San Antonio. So far people have enjoyed looking through it.

Rafiki Foundation

One of the perks of visiting BSF headquarters is that the Rafiki Foundation also has their headquarters on campus there too, as well as a store.

The Rafiki Foundation is a non-profit that's aim is to:
"help orphaned and vulnerable children in Africa to become godly contributors to their communities and the world"
They do this through specially designed orphanages and girls training centers.

The orphanages are cool. There is a village with a main center building and then small cottages around the perimeter. In each cottage live 10 orphans and one woman who is designated their permanent mother. Siblings are kept together and the cottage does everything together as a "family". They receive food, clothing, medicine, education and some kind of marketable skill training within the little village. I just think it is such a cool concept.

The training centers specifically target girls in developing countries who would not be able to attend school or are too young to find jobs. They receive an education and are taught a skill that results in a product. The products are sold in the US and all proceeds go directly back to the training centers. The photo shows the items I picked up at the Rafiki store.

Carved wooden ark - Malawi
Trees - Tanzania
Soaps - Cape Town
Quilted bag - Nigeria
Earrings- Can't remember

They had so many wonderful things and they were all very inexpensive. It is so nice shopping with the assurance that the products are helping children. Please check out their website and if you are in San Antonio definitely swing by the store. They do have a child sponsorship program too.

Have a good weekend!

Greg is here to pick me up so I have to run. I am hoping to get lots of fun projects done this weekend and will post about them next week. I leave you with a photo collage of my BSF trip that wouldn't post yesterday.

Have a great weekend!

Sorry! BSF trip update.

I have been a REALLY bad blogger. It has been almost a week since I posted. When I started this blog things were really slow at home and work so I had plenty of time to post but lately it has been go, go, go. I will try harder!
We made it home safe and sound from Texas (eventually!). It was a great trip and we especially loved working at BSF headquarters for a couple of days. In the above photo Alice and I are on a tour of the facility and got this photo in the library where the BSF staff meet each morning for their devotional time. It was fun hearing a little more of the story of BSF's founder. The facilities were wonderful and so well kept and run. The volunteer coordination staff couldn't have been more friendly or more accommodating. They made sure that we took lots of breaks and they were constantly feeding us! That may be a Texas thing.

When you volunteer you do whatever they need that day but most of the work is done in the warehouse sorting, packing, weighing, and organizing the materials that are printed in-house. Alice and I spent half our time sorting and organizing packing slips and letters and half our time weighing out Home Training Pages into 100 sheet bundles so they could be shipped off to classes around the world. It was very cool to see the process it takes to get materials to the classes, the materials we enjoy using each week. It is truly an opportunity to see the BIG PICTURE!

We met lots of great people and got to rub elbows with some of the executive staff (or BSF celebrities as I like to call them) and we were kind of like little celebrities too since we were from the NYC class. Everyone wanted to ask us about it. Alice is already organizing a trip for next year (we hope to get into on-campus housing for $10 a day! You can't beat that!) so if you are interested drop me a line and I will forward you on to her.

OOPS!!

I am in San Antonio right now with my friend Alice. We are SUPPOSED to be on a plane right now but we missed our flight!!! Mom, you aren't the only one who has trouble in airports I guess! With the recent problems with air travel we were extra careful to be at the airport 2 hours early sans viscous liquids. Only problem was we thought our flight was at 7pm but in fact it had been at 5pm! We had misread the itinerary. Or rather Alice mis-read it and I was too lazy to check it at all. We make such a great team!!!!!

Anyway, we are staying in a hotel tonight by the airport until our flight first thing in the morning. We had a great time volunteering at BSF headquarters on Thursday and Friday and met so many wonderful and fun people. We ate our way through Texas and it is true, everything is bigger here including the portions. We visited the Alamo and the Riverwalk, Market Square and did lots of shopping. We are looking forward to getting home but are enjoying this evening to take a break and relax. We have been working on some knitting projects and I am currently washing laundry since I was out of clean clothes after today.

I have tons of photos to share soon. Have a wonderful Sunday!