Happy Fall

Fall is such a wonderful season. 

While I love all the seasons, how they are each so unique and different, there is something special about fall that I appreciate more and more each year. Perhaps it is watching the trees slowly change from greens to brilliant yellows and oranges. Maybe it's the seasonal foods like fresh apples and pumpkins straight from the field. Or perhaps what makes fall so special is the many traditions that occur in different places that communities and individuals look forward to each year! 
Experiencing fall here in Germany has been so much fun. There are many things about fall in Germany that are very similar to coming from a Pennsylvania fall. The colors of the trees, different festivals, produce from local farms are definitely pretty similar. But, every place has unique seasonal activities that are fun to be a part of. 
Here are some pictures that document some of my fun fall weekend adventures!

Every fall, the town of Kandern where I live has a wonderful pottery festival where potters from the area sell their beautiful work in our town center. 

 I really enjoy walking around and looking at all the different styles and pieces from the various artists. Too bad it's too expensive to buy much! I like it all!

Here is the pretty creek that runs by my house where now the leaves are starting to change color. Here they are still pretty green. 

 On October 3rd, Germany celebrates Reunification Day and not only is it a chance to celebrate a unified Germany, but it also is a day off from school! On that Thursday I had the chance to travel a little over an hour away to the cute French town of Colmar where we walked around and enjoyed a beautiful fall day!

 Another fun festival in the area is in the village of Holzen. Here we had some of the favorite pumpkin soup and fresh apple cider! It's so good! Last night Amy and I made our own pumpkin soup from scratch and it was SO GOOD!

They were pressing the apples right there for the apple juice. It was some of the best I've ever had!

A new fall tradition I experienced this year is watching the cows come home! Every fall, after spending the summer up in the mountains, it's time for the cows to come back down to different pastures. The lead cows wear wreaths on their heads and the herdsman keep them all together as they walk in a parade-like formation down the mountain. In German it's called, "Viehscheid".  It was lots of fun to be part of this traditional celebration in the beautiful setting of the Black Forest!

 One of the lead cows with the wreath on his head. Afterwards, the wreaths are auctioned off to eager buyers!

A look at the hillside in Münstertal

 After the parade of the cows, there is a big celebration complete with a traditional band and delicious German food!

There are lots of fun things to do for fall. I enjoy bringing some traditional fall activities into the classroom as well as we learn about leaves, apples, and the seasons. This Thursday our class is going to go to the local apple orchard to learn some more about pressing and harvesting apples. It should be a blast!

One thing that I appreciate is that every year the Lord brings each season, but with new experiences, new lessons to be learned, and new people to share life with. I'm so glad that our seasons of life don't continue endlessly. Instead, God faithfully brings us through different seasons of life so that we continue to learn from His loving and guiding hand. While some seasons of life may be sweeter than others, each offers the goodness of walking with the Lord through each day. 

May you have a blessed and beautiful fall wherever He leads you!

School Update!

"Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus." 

1 Thess. 5:18

It has been a busy start to the school year! But, there is much to give thanks for. It is so good to be back and to be starting my second year teaching second grade. I am so thankful to be able to pull on my experiences from last year and to start the year knowing more about how our unique school functions and how I want my classroom to run. 

I am also very glad to be working with my German partner teacher again this year! It is such a joy to work together every day and we are such a  team. Starting year two together makes such a difference as we know so much more about how we want our classroom to run! We were thrilled to be able to start the year with clear goals and expectations for our students. This is us together on the first day of school. Below is a photo of our classroom the week before school. It's nice and clean and ready for students! 

The first day of school is quite a whirlwind as we hold a special celebration for our incoming first graders. The celebration, called Einschulungsfest, is a big ceremony for the first grade class as they start school. Grandmas, grandpas, aunts, uncles, and parents gather to send their child off for their first day of school and to present them with a special cone filled with school supplies and candies. The second graders always perform a skit for the new students and this year our whole school sang songs to welcome the new students. Here is a picture of the many people gathered in the front lot of our school for the ceremony! 

This year I have 22 students in my class. 17 of these students are German students coming from the surrounding community. 5 of my students are English students several who have parents working for BFA or international mission organizations centered here in Kandern, Germany. I taught this group of students Social Studies last year and was pleased to see how they grew up this summer! They are so much fun to teach with a love of learning, lots of creativity, and full of smiles and great stories. There is never a dull moment in my classroom. 
Naturally, having 17 German speakers in my class this year means that there is a lot of speaking and hearing German in our classroom. It has been really cool this September to see how much German I have learned throughout this last year and to be able to help more with the translating in our classroom. It helps a lot! The kids really do teach me a lot and it is amazing to see how fast they learn English too! Their young minds can soak up so much language and so quickly!

This year I have some unique additions to my teaching schedule. I am helping to teach first and second grade library this year which is so much fun. I love helping them pick just the right books. I also am assisting with our elementary chapel band and have been enjoying helping the students prepare to lead worship for the entire elementary school and to come up with easy motions to go with the songs. 

Two weeks ago it was the second grade class' turn to lead chapel. Katharina and I developed a chapel all about giving thanks for the blessings God has given us. Our students illustrated the verses to an old German hymn and read the lines of the verses to the school. We sang songs of thanks and the first grade class all shared something they were thankful for. It was a great time to celebrate the many blessings we have been given. Here are the German words to the chorus of the hymn:

"Alle gute Gabe kommt her von Gott, dem Herrn, 

drum dankt ihm, dankt, drum dankt ihm, dankt, 

und hofft auf ihn."

It reminds us that all our blessings come from the Lord and that we need to always give our thanks to Him!!

Fall is such a wonderful time in this area! There are local festivals to go to and beautiful weather. (Future blog post coming about my fall adventures! Stay tuned...) Pictured below are some fall items collected outside by our students from their homes and the school yard. Then we created little fall creatures and decorations using all natural materials. It is such a fun time of year with so many festive activities to go with the change of the season. This Thursday our class is going to visit the apple orchard like we did last year, to see how our local apple juice is pressed and made! I can't wait :)

I feel so blessed this year to work with an awesome staff of teachers. These people truly are my family away from home. I am so thankful for each one of them and what they bring to our school team. We had a fun staff dinner the other night and pictured below is one of the tables of teachers during our Asian dinner night! YUM. This year is very special, and with staff always changing from year to year, I am cherishing all the moments I have with these wonderful people!

Thank you all for your prayers and love! It means so much to me as you share in my experiences teaching here in Germany. Stay tuned for more updates!