We flew into Birmingham and spent almost a week with Bethany and Joseph and their 3 kids. We celebrated Christmas on the 23rd, as we flew out early the next morning for Arizona.
We spent two weeks in the Phoenix area mostly spending time with family. Adam and Amy were close to the end of Amy's pregnancy and Ariana Michelle Van Liew made her debut two days AFTER we flew back to Alabama! We were glad to hear that Amy and Ariana were doing well and we have really enjoyed frequent pictures on facebook of the Ariana and her big brothers and sister loving on her.
Isn't this picture of Ariana just the cutest?! Smiling while she is sleeping. 3 weeks old today.
Our daughter and son-in-law are also expecting their fourth child - early June - and we should get to meet him as he is born or soon thereafter.
This semester has started off well. We have had many opportunities to make God "real" every day in the lives of the students at Highlands. I meet with many different students who need help with their reading and/or writing and I try to relate what we are working on in some way to our Lord, by either pointing out something from nature and how creative our God is or explaining how God has given each of us different gifts and that makes each of us special. It is really a joy to get to work with the students here! I am really looking forward to teaching 5th grade next year.
However, there is still a lot of hard work to be done before that; not just at Highlands but also as I finish up my degree program. As of the the end of December, I had 8 classes to finish in order to graduate from Covington Theological Seminary on July 27th in Fort Oglethorpe, George (right near Chattanooga, Tennessee)! I am finished with 2 of the 8 and am working on my third class.
I have been asked to help with the after-school drama club and decided that I could fit that in and think I will really enjoy working with the kids from 2d grade - 7th grade who want to participate.
Vaughn is busy planning for the upcoming Spiritual Emphasis Week (March) and the High School week-long mission trip which is the week right after Easter/Spring break in April.
We have a very full semester and almost every week has something different from the regular schedule to keep things exciting!
Well, I volunteered to bring the devotions to our staff meeting tomorrow morning, so I need to go prepare that now.
I will TRY to update our blog more often, but if you don't hear from me (or Vaughn) it's because we are busy doing what we feel the Lord has called us here to La Paz to do.
Abundant blessings to you and yours!
Kathy, for us both
