Life and Work at VCS

Well, it was almost a week ago that I had a really cool conversation with a parent. This is the kind of stuff that gives me an extra boost.
Because I used to work with refugees - particularly ones from non-Christian countries, I'm a little sensitive to saying names and all in stuff like this blog. Anyhow, there are two kids at our school that just started this year. They are from Iran and are not believers. I've heard that the kids LOVE school so much that they always talk about it at home and don't want to leave school. It's a very new experience for them - language, culture, faith. Most of my interactions, though, are with their dad.
He is a very friendly man whose English is excellent. Almost every time he sees me, he asks me when I'm going to make him come visit me and take his money. (some people pay for tuition in cash directly to me) It's funny because it's the opposite of most parents. Anyhow, he took a liking to me and my candy dish on my desk in the fall. He's always been curious about the school - why we do things like we do, curious about chapel and what that's like, etc.
We were talking a little business and he basically asked how the school made it with tuition being so low. I told him about how almost all of the staff raise support. He didn't know about that and was pretty surprised. He is very smart when it comes to business and said that we must all be very committed. I said yes and told him about how we all feel strongly that God has led us here and that we do our best to trust him.
I didn't whip out the Bible on him or anything, but did give him more insight into who we are. And who we are is only because of God and his grace.

I wish you could meet this parent from Iran - he's cool.

Greatest C-Group EVER!

You are now gazing at the GREATEST C-GROUP EVER! Jim & Debbie Fix (a couple that supports us and I had their son Josh in my first 5th grade class), along with these Indiana University students, have adopted US as their missionaries from our home church, Evangelical Community Church, in Bloomington, Indiana. They email us, encourage us, and lately have BLOWN US AWAY with their generosity and kindness. Woah.
Number one...they PRAY for us EVERY DAY. Different group members pray for us each day of their week.
Number two...they are hosting a baby shower for BABY FRANK next week at the Fix's house! They have invited the WHOLE CHURCH (it's NOT small) to come and speak to us on a video and bring gifts for the baby. They'll celebrate Baby Frank with cake and ice cream, too!
We definitely do not deserve this amazing generosity, and we are SUPER thankful for the love and care God is showing us through them. I wish we could be there for the party!

Reverend Hewson??

So, I'm not sure if this link will work for you, but here's the scoop. Paul Hewson (Bono) spoke at the National Prayer Breakfast (American meeting of big time leaders to talk and pray - I think). I've only heard a few minutes of it so far, but I just know it's going to be good. It's 22 minutes long - and you might be able to download it so you can listen to it on iTunes or your iPod or whatever you use.
Share your comments on this "message" by Bono after listening. It might take a minute or two, but it will guide you to a screen that plays the message with Quicktime. If it doesn't work, just go to Simon's blog or Tom's blog and scroll down.

Writing Recess and Prayers

This week has been good in 4th grade so far. A couple reasons...

1. Sophie prayed yesterday, "Jesus, I want you to come back, but I really want to help gather your people." I was taken aback by this, thinking wow, a fourth grader's heart dwelling on these things. But then I started to doubt myself thinking, "Of course, Anne, she's a Christian, her parents are Christians, we are at VCS, it makes sense." But then my principal reminded me that there is NO guarantee that just because a kid grows up in the "right" or "good" atmosphere that they will spend life following God. So, it's important to guide kids like Sophie in how to follow Jesus as much as it is important to rejoice when a Muslim kid decides to choose Christianity.

2. I LOVE poetry, and more than that I love TEACHING poetry to kids. We began yesterday with a unit I hope to finish before I leave for Baby Frank. As usual, my students were ho hum about it, thinking only I'm sure in rhymes and the difficult experiences they've had in the past either reading or writing even just one poem. So, I thought that it would be fun to dive in without stalling. I showed them some poems on the overhead projector, we read them together, looked at the illustrations, and then commented about them. Then, though, I told them my favorite things about the poems we read, and honed in on alliteration (repeating beginning consonant sounds of words like roaring rushing river.) I told them that writing poetry was like taking a RECESS from WRITING the normal way. Start on the right side of the page, write in ALL CAPS or all lowercase letters, write upwards or downwards, even in circles. Poetry is just when you write down ideas you have the way you like it. You can even forget the periods, commas, and apostrophes. They LOVED that part especially. So, we're taking a writing recess in fourth grade the next few weeks. Maybe you should take a writing recess too? In your journal or on a scrap sheet of paper...anything works. Maybe I'll even be brave enough to share a poem or two I've written on this blog. Oooh! Chris has written some great poetry, too, so maybe I'll encourage him in the same way. Fun!

3. Last reason...we made strawberry floats today for Valentine's Day! Yum!

TOO Huge

I have one more thing to say before I try to get a good night's sleep before school tomorrow. My stomach isn't HUGE enough for this baby. Woah.
I've been feeling kicks in the ribs all night, and Chris and I have been spectators as Blank Frank tears it up in my stomach...like a dance floor. Picture waves and a funny looking disfigured stomach. Really. Too bad we couldn't capture it on film.

The second thing I have to say...okay I thought there was only one, but now I thought of something else...is that I officially have 15 days of full time teaching left, starting tomorrow and going until March 3. I will then teach only until noon for the week of March 6-10. After that, two different substitute teachers will teach my class for the remainder of the school year. Please pray I can do my job well until the end...WITH ENERGY :).

A Nice, Long Break

So this past week we've had a break from school called Energy Week, or Ski Week. Funny, though, that very few people from VCS actually ski. It's just that most of Europe takes to the slopes this week. We spent the week here in Vienna, though, getting some pretty important things done.
Here's a quick run-down of what we've been up to (sorry it's been a while):
~baby shopping
~moving furniture to get ready for Blank Frank's arrival
~hanging out with friends
~sleeping in!
~reading good books like Captivating, by John & Stasi Eldredge
~sipping Chai Lattes at Starbucks
~hosting a game & dinner party for the staff left in town over the break
~babysitting for some friends so they could enjoy a date
~watching movies
~baking & decorating Valentine cookies
~my favorite: watching Chris be silly in the baby crib!

Happy 70th Birthday, Bubba!

Happy Birthday Bubba! Here's a HUGE HUG from us to you:). We hope you have a super day.

Back by popular demand, it's another picture of Annie and Baby Frank!! 32 Weeks big. 

Counting the Days

That's what I'm doing, now that I know exactly how my last days this semester at VCS will be spent. Here's the low down, the down low, the skinny, the 411, whatever you want to call it.

We have a week off for SKI WEEK this coming week. Are we skiing? We WISH. But no. We're going baby shopping, going to the musical Mamma Mia, and relaxing in Vienna with some friends.

Then, I will teach full time 3 more weeks, until March 3. Then comes 1 week of me teaching until noon, and Linda Schwartz (an amazing lady, mom, sub, etc.) teaching in the afternoons. As of 12 noon on March 10th, I am not Mrs. Frank-teacher anymore, I am Mrs. Frank-wife and mom. MOM. Yikes. Linda will teach for three weeks until the permanent sub comes from the USA.

I'll then spend a few weeks waiting for Blank Frank's arrival, scheduled around April 1. I hope that's not a joke! I'll be washing his clothes, organizing his room, and cooking goodies to put in our freezer for dinners on nights when Chris & I are wiped out.

So that's the latest. Don't you feel privileged to know?

FREE crib!

This is Baby Frank's new bed! The Warner family from VCS gave us this crib for FREE! We are so thankful and excited for this gift. They also gave us a free bathtub and fire truck. We have been hugely blessed by the community at our school. The bed still needs a mattress and some more love, but we're on the way!

New Look

Hey! Some staff at VCS recently updated our school's website, and it looks great now. Please take a minute to check it out, and maybe you'll learn something new. You can see photos of staff and students, too!

www.viennachristianschool.org

Up, Up & Up

Hi. We prayed in my class this morning, like we normally do, but something struck me about it I'd like to tell you about.
A couple things to preface...fourth graders LOVE to pray and they LOVE to pray for Baby Frank! So he has been covered in prayer for months as his arrival draws nearer. What a blessing! So today, Rina, a sweet Japanese girl in my class, prayed for Baby Frank.
SIDENOTE: The Japanese language is full of what we call vowel sounds, so it's interesting to hear the language spoken or see it written because there are vowels EVERYWHERE. It's sometimes silly! I'm sure it makes total sense in Japan and they wonder why we have consonant blends:).
So Rina. She prayed today for God to help Baby Frank grow up and up and up. I thought that was a great way to ask God to continue the work He has started in Baby Frank already. I'm not sure if that means he will keep growing taller and taller and taller, because there isn't much room left in my stomach, but still, I am thankful for Rina's simple way of stating something I so much long for.

The Hot Dog Clan

This is from our field trip in December to the Vienna Christmas Market at the city hall, which here is called the Rathaus (meaning "advice house"). Glory, Elizabeth, Rina, me & Selyn all enjoyed those Kasekrainer hot dogs I mentioned yesterday. So you know what's on the docket for tonight's dinner! Also one more cool thing...my class managed to throw me a surprise birthday party today in the middle of math. Someone came and told me that Chris needed to talk to me for a few minutes and they'd watch my class. So, Chris detained me in his office for a few minutes while the kids prepared the classroom with confetti, signs, and chocolate covered marshmallows. Then the huge "SURPRISE!" greeting came when I arrived back from my chat with Chris. Wow...they really love to serve people...AND not work:) Hehe. Don't worry! We'll find the time to finish math later today. :)

You Know You're Pregnant When...

A student gives you a package of 3 sausages for your birthday!!! I must have mentioned once or twice that I really have been loving these sausages here called Kasekrainers, which are sausages filled with melted cheese. They serve them at outdoor stands in a long hot dog bun....mmmmm.....just what my prego tummy often wants...but does not need!

Anyway, today I opened up this gift and to my surprise! Sausages! Happy Birthday Mrs. Frank!

Hope you laugh as much as I did today:).

The determining Part

if you know what I mean :) look straight up here ^

4 Pounds of Fetal Power!

Just call me...

the VCS Tax Guru.
I held a couple meetings this week to help out the VCS staff with their US taxes. Today was the bigger meeting with all the second year people - filing for 2004. How'd you manage that, Chris??? It's called an extension. It allows us to qualify for a credit for living outside the US. So I helped explain that and walked them through the form. Then I ended up helping a few others with the 1040 too.

It's funny, cause I never thought of myself as good at taxes. But I just know how to do the things that I've had to do myself. So I guess I can explain those things to others pretty well. It was fun, actually - but I still don't care for taxes that much. It bugs me when they say "to fill in this blank, see document 9312" Then I look at document 9312 and it's 80 pages long!! Ugh. Thanks Uncle Sammy.

Viennarnia

Do you get it? Vienna + Narnia = Viennarnia

It IS winter, and there WAS Christmas, which was super by the way. There is NO white witch, except for Mrs. Frank after a long week with fourth graders AND being pregnant! And lastly, I CANNOT find my wardrobe anywhere! I guess there's no leaving Viennarnia for now. Come soon, spring!

In Vienna today, trees are frosted with perfectly fallen snow. Sidewalks are caked with perfectly muddied up slush. Eew! Necks are adorned with colorful scarves, and kids at VCS are armed with a bazillion new Christmas toys. What could better explain our first week back?
It's long and tiring trying to get back into the swing of things here with jet lag lagging us down. Thankfully, though, it's TGIF and dinner is almost ready!

One more note...a new belly picture is coming very soon...Blank Frank, and my stomach, are HUGE. I'm wondering if I'll make it until the end of March. More bigness to come!

A Few More

We had a great time hanging out with family in California over Christmas...here are a few more pictures.
~Chris & Carrington
~Anne & Leighton
~Chris & Grandpa Coleman (didn't mean for the lamp to look like his hat! hehe)

A Quick Recap

Here's a quick photo recap of the last few weeks of us galavanting around the USA~
~In N Out Burger
~Chris & Anne at the Luginbill family dinner
~Anne on Christmas morning
~Floats in building stages for the Rose Parade (THAT was cool:))
~Frank family on the beach! Yahoo!