Both Hands Project

This Saturday we had the opportunity to help with a really cool service project called "Both Hands".  The Both Hands organization helps make adoption affordable for families by organizing a sponsored work project at the home of a window.

The idea comes from one of my favorite Bible verses in the book of James: "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world."  (James 1:27)

 So on Saturday we helped work on the house of a lady from our church, to raise money for a family who is adopting two girls from Ethiopia.  It was so encouraging to see the family of God coming together that day in amazing ways.  Tons of work got done, and lots of money was raised towards the adoption.

In the morning, my main job was weeding the yard.  It was fairly easy and satisfying weeding, thanks to the recent monsoon rains!  However, my legs are still feeling the after effects...

Side yard, before

In process of weeding...

Back yard, after

In the afternoon I dusted bookshelves, washed windows, and patched a crack in the floor.  In the meantime, lots of painting and repairing was going on throughout the rest of the house!  Jonathan was busy as the official photographer/videographer of the event.  You'll see some of his pictures and videos here.

Bookshelf, before

Bookshelf, after

Painting the bedroom

Patching the crack (i.e. canyon!) in the floor

So, our weekend was full but fun and encouraging.  I also had fun trying out a new bread recipe that I found on this website and I think will become a staple in my kitchen.  Called "Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day", this recipe is a genius idea of mixing a simple dough (without kneading!) and letting it sit in the fridge for up to two weeks.  When you want freshly-baked bread (at just 40 cents a loaf), you pull out a ball of dough, preheat a pizza stone in the oven, and bake your bread for 30 min.

When I tried my first hot, crusty slice of artisan bread, I was momentarily transported back to France...and I have no higher praise for bread than that!  :)  I highly recommend this recipe!

Projects and Pinwheels

This weekend I have been busy grading my students' "Island Nation" projects that were the capstone of our geography unit.

I love this project because it reinforces the students' knowledge of geography and map skills, in a way that is so much fun they don't even realize that they are learning!

Their task is to imagine that they discovered a brand new island which they must promote with a map and a brochure.  On the map they must include: a title; a compass rose; a scale; a key; and at least eight landforms that we learned about in class. 

In the brochure, they must explain their island's climate(s), topography, and natural resources. 

By the end of the project, the students have  hit on almost every topic we discussed in our unit, while letting their imaginations run wild!

It was funny to see the variety of island ideas represented in a given class.  We had the nice islands with candy, rainbows and unicorns:

And, of course, the islands that were full of deadly perils:

(I love this one!)

Overall, the students' work on this project was extremely creative and well done.  My "Great Work" wall is again full!

On a final note, today we had the middle school youth group at our house for dinner.  I had a bunch of leftover turkey deli meat and no idea what to do with it.  I found this recipe for turkey and bacon "pinwheel" sandwiches, which turned out to be fun and yummy!

Labor Day Weekend

We had a lot of fun this weekend, first celebrating Jonathan's 28th birthday, then taking a quick camping trip to McGaffey!

I decided to make a pumpkin cake for Jonathan's birthday this year.  I was nervous, since baking any kind of cake here at 6,500 feet can be disastrous, and pumpkin cakes can be difficult in the best circumstances...but with this recipe and these tips for high altitude cake baking, it turned out pretty well!  Jonathan took the cake to school to share with the other teachers on Friday.

On Friday evening, we had Jonathan's favorite dinner (chicken poppyseed casserole), opened presents and cards, and prepared for our camping trip!

On Saturday we went to McGaffey, the nearby state park, and camped in "the Meadow" with a great group of people from Rehoboth Church.  The campfire cooking was excellent...the stars were breathtaking...the Werewolf games were intense...in short, a very satisfying camping experience!

This morning, we took a hike to Milk Ranch Canyon.  There was some water in the canyon, and some beautiful wildflowers along the trail!

Other camping activities today included Fruckets ("Frisbee Buckets") and several exciting card games.

Just as we were preparing to leave the camp, a few small rain showers turned into the most spectacular double rainbow I have ever experienced!  Between this rainbow and the awesome sunset on the drive home, I was vividly reminded of God's grace and power.  What a great end to a memorable weekend!

The School Year Begins!

These past few weeks have been full of transitions, from France to Maryland and back to New Mexico for the new school year.  This blog post will just be an overview of all that's happened since I last wrote!

We enjoyed a few days in Maryland with my parents and my good friend Genavee who came up from NC to visit.  We played a lot of games and had lots of good conversation time, too!  My Nana and Pop-Pop also joined us for dinner one night.

Walking in downtown Frederick

Chocolate Lava Cakes!!

Dinner with Nana and Pop-Pop

Back in NM, we were happy to settle back in at home, unpack suitcases, and take a little break from vacation...  :)  We were surprised to find the desert looking so green during a particularly rainy season.  The benefits: a few beautiful rainbows and lots of wildflowers for our kitchen table!

And before we knew it, school was starting again with all the excitement and nerves that come with it.  For the first year, though, I felt more excitement than nerves, so I am thankful for a positive start!  I love my new students and was happy to see my 7th graders back for 8th grade, too.

You're never too old for a "first day of school" photo!

We worked all afternoon at school yesterday, so today we took a break and went with our church small group to McHood Park near Winslow, AZ.  There is a beautiful river that runs through there, with cliffs that you can jump off into the water.  It was a very fun afternoon!

Some people jumped from the top!  I just did the Batman cliff

Tomorrow we begin our first full week of the school year, so I'd better get to bed!

France Pt. 5 -- French Fairytales

The last stop on our journey was outside of Paris, in the suburb of Montesson, to visit the Rodes family.  Nathalie was an exchange student who lived with the Newmans for several summers when Jonathan was young; her family has remained very close to the Newmans (they came to our wedding, as well as Andrew and Meghan's!) so we were very excited to see the Rodes and their three adorable children!

 When we arrived, we went with Nathalie and the children to the château at St-Germain-en-Laye, where there is a beautiful overlook towards the city of Paris.  Capucine, Arthur, and Tiphaine enjoyed playing in the gardens.

Back at the Rodes' house, we had a delicious quiche dinner and played games with the children until bedtime! Tiphaine especially latched onto Jonathan, calling him "mon bébé".

The next day, we went to the Château de Breteuil, a well-preserved castle full of both history and fairytales! One of the owners of the château worked with a writer named Perrault, who compiled well-known French fairytales into one volume called les Contes de Perrault.  Around the castle and the gardens, you can find scenes from these stories, such as Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Little Red Riding Hood, and Puss in Boots!

 We had a nice walk around the gardens...

We also took a tour to learn about the history of the château itself, and we listened to a storyteller recounting three of Perrault's tales (a great opportunity for me to practice my French comprehension skills!)

Of course, the children had a great time just playing on the playground in the gardens!

 For dinner, we drove to "Hippopotamus", a nice and kid-friendly restaurant.  I enjoyed helping the children make some origami birds and balloons while we waited for our food.

All too soon, it was time to say "au revoir" to the Rodes family...the hardest goodbye yet...We had such a good stay with them!

After an early morning at the airport, we made our way back to the U.S., including a 7 hour layover at the Reykjavik airport.  It is sad to see this trip to come to an end, but I am so thankful that Jonathan and I were able to have such a great adventure together-- an incredible end to a wonderful summer!