All In:The Aussie Adventure

13 more days until I land back in America..... (What?!?!) Due to the timing of our fellowship, the first 5 weeks of our service were spent with our own individual classes while our final, sixth week of service is during school holidays. St. Lucy's has a holiday program that some of the students come for. This program is 5 days long and students can come for all five days or just one. Becky and I will be volunteering at this program and will see many children we know from out classes and the other classes but there will also be many familiar faces missing. We are lucky to have been able to meet many children outside our individual classes during the morning and afternoon songs, and both of the recesses that take place each day. With the end of the term coming up on Friday, there have been some goodbyes happening. Today Becky and I bid farewell to one of the volunteers that we have seen quite a bit. Miss. Monica is a volunteer in Becky's class but she has a group of studen...

ART!  A piece of art in the art gallery at St. Lucy's I love art. Someone's art is a window into their soul. The Rosella Class has art on Monday mornings with the art teacher Marci. Each week the kids have a new exciting project or medium to work with. I have really enjoyed catching a glimpse into the minds of the boys in my class as we worked on their masterpieces.  St. Lucy's is extremely lucky to be equipped to have a kiln in order to fire clay. The kids in my class rolled out clay using rolling pins and then etched designs into them. Each student created their own design, but food was a popular subject! My buddy Harvey worked with a volunteer to make this apple (his favorite type of juice) on his clay slab. Clay was extremely fun and constructive to work with for the kids. Some of the students have some strong sensory needs and clay is a material that they can mold in their hands and feel the ...

Becky and I had the unique opportunity to be invited to a special event here in Sydney. On Tuesday the 13th of June we both went to Santa Sabina (a private school in Strathfield) for a Veritas Dinner. This post is a rundown of that experience along with a short post about something really cool that St. Lucy's does.  Santa Sabina Veritas Truth. The motto of many institutions is Veritas. The search for truth is something that we all undertake at some point in life. Honestly, in my humble opinion, we are always looking for our own truth. I know I currently am. The Veritas dinner is an event that happens roughly four times a year at Santa Sabina College in Strathfield, NSW. The attendees are all people who are connected to the Dominican Sisters of Eastern Australia and the Solomon Islands and their guests. The sisters invited Becky and I to come and join them. When I asked my host mom Helen what a Veritas dinner was like she described it as a gathering of frie...

I honestly don't know where the time has gone. Although my stay at St. Lucy's is temporary, the memories and lessons that I learn will be permanent. I truly hope that I am making a positive impact in the lives of the students and in the St. Lucy's environment. I have spent three weeks in the Rosella classroom and counting. I have entitled this post with a focus on three P's, and I chose to do this because I have seen some really great things happen when prayer, patience, and perseverance are used. Prayer God Our Maker God our maker and friend,  We love you And we thank you for loving us.... Every morning and every afternoon, the children gather together and say this prayer. The prayer is a sweet prayer that is simple to say, easy to sign, and powerful for the children and us all to remember. As a school with the Catholic and Dominican foundations, the children are in a learning environment that does an extremely good job at reminding them of who they ar...

I know I talked about cooking last time, but this was too good to pass up! Pies filled with minced meat! My lovely class of Rosellas truly love food and cooking so they were eager to share some classic Australian food with me. They've been offering me Vegemite since Day 1 (I think I'll continue to dodge that one for now) but today, the kids got to do some more intricate cooking! Today the class split up and worked on cooking 2 different foods: Pavlova and Meat Pies. We divided the boys up based on their interest in the type of food! A soft meringue topped with cream and fruit! So myself and the head teacher, Vanessa, took four of the boys into the kitchen to make the pies. (I have more pictures of that process than the other because I wasn't there for that!) Michael, Luke, Leif, and Lachlan were all very excited to make the pies with the special pie maker! Notice the safe way the pot handle is turned! After washing their hands, each of ...

Week 1 Is Done! Wow! I honestly cannot believe that a whole week of service has passed. Each day with the Rosellas has been an adventure. This past week has had a lot of staff changes and casuals (the Australian term for substitute teachers) in the classrooms. That means that although I was brand new in the classroom, I was one of the most consistent people for the boys. Since the week was a bit inconsistent, the boys were a bit out of routine and a little wild! But, alas, they are children, so I kind of expected the wildness.  At St. Lucy's, the children have a lot of opportunities for showing us their strengths and shining where they can shine brightest. The structure of their learning is not one filled with examinations and opportunities to fail. They are encouraged to be their best! Part of circle time in the morning for the Rosellas is listening to a song about not giving up (Give it a listen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWp6kkz-pnQ ). By having this kind...