Saturday, Schmaturday.

How funny is this picture? Look closely at the labels. Gina's friend took this picture and e-mailed it to her. He wanted us to know that it was destiny that we are flatmates!

In-Service week is officially over (even though I was at the school today and will probably be there tomorrow). It has been a massive amount of work. I was expecting a little disorganization and craziness because the school is so tiny and has had a lot of turnover recently. But, I was not prepared for the extent of disorganization. I am person who thrives with boundaries and rules, and while I appreciate having creative control of my classroom...well, I like rules! Needless to say, this has been a long, hard week. And it ain't over yet.

School starts on Wednesday, and there is still a ton of work to be done. Student enrollment goes up and down every day, so I'm still not sure how many kids I'll be teaching. Right now I'm thinking it's about 16?? I'm teaching 7/8 Language Arts, 9/10 English, 11/12 English, 9/10 History and 7/8 Bible. What is cool though, is that my classroom will be like the UN. Every single student is from a different country/culture. Most of their parents work at NATO or an embassy. They all speak different languages and come from different religious backgrounds. I'm excited about the diversity--I'm already jealous! These kids are barely 14 years old, but they speak 3,4,5 languages and have lived all over the world. As soon as I get a permanent list, I'll post their names--they're all so beautiful.

On a completely different note, I'd like to request that you keep my brother, Nathanael, in prayer. He left today from Texas for Iraq. He'll stop in Germany for a day or two, then go to Kuwait for processing. Then he'll be stationed in Baghdad. He's so brave, and I'm so proud of him, but we all know that this is a dangerous and scary situation. So please, pray for his protection, as well as for the protection of his company.

Love you guys!

Ariel