The Greatest Gift

God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can't take credit for this; it is a gift from God.
  --Ephesians 2:8, NLT

BFA Christmas Banquest 2011

Every Year Black Forest Academy holds its annual Christmas Banquet.  It is a wonderful night where the students share their musical gifts, the school awards some Christmas wishes and this year the students were given some dance lessons.

No, the dance lessons were not the Chicken Dance.  This is the granting of Carl's Christmas wish.

Andrew and Priscilla were the freshmen class king and queen at the Banquet

Andrew and his "brothers" from HBR.

One of Heather on this side of the camera.  She spent the remainder of the night photographing the evening for the kids

Rob here grants the girls' wishes of making the daily announcements.

Rob grants a couple of wishes.  Here he is in pajamas, as he grants a wish of pajama day at BFA.  This one being the playing of the "Friday" song between classes on Friday.

Emmalee gets her Christmas wish as Mr. Greenhoe sings, "It's Not Easy Being Greenhoe!

Elle & Sunshine share a Christmas song with us.

Kandern Decorated for Christmas

This is a view of Main Street in Kandern.

Elementary School Christmas Concert 2011

Here are a few images from the Christmas Concert at the Elementary School.   The students in the 1st, 2nd and 3rd grades are a mix of local German children and Missionary Kids in the bi-lingual program.  They sang songs both in English and in German.  We also had a visit from Frosty the Snowman who through snow balls into the audience ( fake but filled with candy ! )

Dorm Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving comes one week early for dorm students at BFA.  We had an opportunity to celebrate with the young men from HBR, Haus Bad Riedlingen, where we spend each Thursday evening.  There were about 50 of us who gathered that evening to enjoy sweet potatoes, green beans, corn, mashed potatoes, rolls and of course turkey and gravy.  The gentlemen were just that as we mingled over hors d'oeuvres and A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving.  Greg Storrs, the dorm dad, led us in a Thanksgiving Turkey Quiz to decide which table could be first for dessert.  With my assistance, the 7 students at my table and I came in last place.  Thankfully there was plenty of delicious food and dessert to go around.

Sharing Thanksgiving

The students at CSK (Christian School Kandern), which is the elementary school that Matthew and Jacob attend, celebrated Thanksgiving the same way they do everything, by blending both German and North American customs.  They had traditional Thanksgiving dinner, with turkey and all the fixin's.  Then they had games and activities to continue the celebration.  Heather had a chance to work with the students on their dessert, a turkey made of rice cakes, marshmallows, candy corn and icing to keep it all together.  The students enjoyed both the food and fun.

Dr. Seuss Comes to Kandern

Approximately 1/3 of the middle school and a good number of high school students, as well as staff, shared their many gifts with the Kandern community through their version of Seussical the Musical.  The countless hours of preparation paid off as they blessed us with great acting, singing, dancing and musical accompaniment in 3 nights of sold out shows!