tis the season!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

it is currently one a.m., christmas day! and i'm wide awake.

it's been a whirlwind around here lately.

the christmas concert was fun! i really didn't have to do all that much as an announcer; i really only had the opening and closing lines. i wasn't nervous which was extremely surprising and also a blessing - i was able to just have fun with it. the students did a GREAT job, especially considering the long day of practice they endured. i was especially proud of Johnny, who has a BEAUTIFUL voice, who sang a solo and Noah who blew me away with her piano solo. the whole night was joyful and a bittersweet end to the semester. it is hard saying goodbye, even for just two months.

"and for our final performance, all teachers and students will join in one voice to praise God. let's give them a big round of applause" - that was my line right before the last two songs. every single student from both KICS campuses and all teachers sang on stage - you can see a few of them in this picture (this is just some of the Bucheon boys!). we sang this song called "i am" which i had only heard twice before (and therefore had to just pretend i was singing parts of it) but it sounded amazing. the elementary students sounded like little angels :) and it was a powerful performance i was glad to be a part of.

we watched a lot of movies during the last few weeks. the students that weren't practicing for the concert had to go to class, so we mostly hung out. the very last day, after the concert, the ninth graders had a bit of a photoshoot (see link above for some posted on facebook). kaka took some great photos! he's a natural.

with some of the ninth grade boys...exploding through the doorway into my homeroom...




tonight, we had a christmas eve party at church! it was a vastly different celebration than what i am accustomed to, but it was full of joy and good friends. bible trivia game, a hymn contest, and a gift exchange. i got a round, yellow pillow. this past week, i also got to attend a christmas party at a co-workers house (catchphrase and american food) and go to a multi-cultural church's christmas performance which was cool.

the foreign teachers singing "the first noel" in the hymn contest. we won socks, just for trying :) we didn't practice at all because we didn't know about until half an hour before. typical.

once again, MERRY CHRISTMAS. christmas is definitely the hardest time to not be around family, but we have our own little dysfunctional family here in bucheon. i miss you all and i pray that this season will be a blessing as you bless those around you.

"...Day and night, without ceasing they sing, 'Holy, holy, holy, the Lord God the Almighty, who was and is and is to come'..." - Revelation 4:8