(Pictures: Grace & Megan enjoying the falling flakes; Tom helping his dad stay ahead of the storm) We have been diligently working through a course to become certified English teachers. We both have some experience teaching and teaching comes naturally to us, so it hasn’t been a huge burden so far. This week I was writing up a lesson plan for a hypothetical class. The lesson was if-then statements relating how weather can affect our lives. “If it snows, then I will…” I had to reflect on my own work and had to conclude that describing snow might be difficult if no one in the class has experienced it. In Chad, the only word to describe snow was “ice,” which is close, but doesn’t really capture all the things snow can be and all the ways it can behave. So we’d have pictures of winter landscapes and our Chadian friends would ask, “ice?” and we’d just say yes.
For those of you who are already tired of shoveling your driveway, believe it or not, you would miss it. We’ll miss it on the island I’m sure, especially around Christmas. You don’t realize how much the cold weather and the white scenery helps to mark time, not to mention the fun snow offers: skiing, sledding, snow angels, snowmen, the crinkle under your feet, the perfect snowball and all the different types of snowflakes. It can be breathtaking to see how a landscape is changed by a blanket of snow. Plus the cold of snow becomes associated in our minds with the warmth of fires and mugs of hot cocoa. You’d miss snow.
We are in the middle of the first big snowstorm of the season. They say we could get up to a foot of snow. Grace won’t remember this, but we have pictures and she’ll be able to re-experience snow with wonder whenever we are back in the US for a winter.
PRAYERS ANSWERED
Grace’s cough is much better. We were productive this week, both in French and our English certification. We got to attend a couple fun Christmas parties connected to the youth work we are involved in.
PRAYERS REQUESTED
We talked about the nice side of snow, but we are supposed to be flying tomorrow. So please pray that the snow can be cleared up by tomorrow so we can get to Missouri without too much excitement. Pray for Grace as we travel. Pray for our time with extended family for Christmas.
