Boys/Girls Dorm Christmas Party

Last week, we hosted the boys dorm in ours for a combined Christmas party. We grilled burgers and chorizo, made snowflakes, played games and from the sound of it, a good time was had by all.

Here they are decorating cookies. They were a little reluctant about the idea at first because of, you know, the un-coolness of it, until they realized they could eat them. If you've been following this blog for a while, though, you may remember how creative I know they can be. I also made them each make a snowflake before they could go.

Here are a couple of our girls.

Here is Mr. Musser working on homemade ice cream. Rachel is supervising.


We also cut out snowflakes. Here is Mrs. Musser helping Rachel with hers.

"Ta-Da!"


The guys all taking turns hand-churning the ice cream maker.

And at the end of the night, an unexpected highlight was finding a slug on our front steps, which the guys picked up and pretended to be throwing on the girls, resulting in screams and laughter. Oh, to be young again... :)

Goodbyes

While we started out with 3 high schoolers this fall, we are now down to one, but have also had the privilege of hosting a student teacher for the last 8 weeks. Ashley is a senior at Nyack College in New York and has been here student teaching in the 4th/5th grade class at ECA. She has been such a joy to have around our home and I have been reflecting a lot back on my college years and the struggles/freedoms that come with that time of life. We have had some very good talks and I am going to miss her so much, even though I've only known her for a short time.

This past weekend we hosted in our home a young lady, Jill, who was here to recruit juniors/seniors for her college. She was only here a few days, but on Sunday when we were getting ready to take her to the airport, Rachel broke down crying. I asked her what was wrong and she said she didn't know. Later, she told me that she was just so sad that Jill had to leave and wouldn't be able to play with her anymore. I told her it was ok to be sad and that I know it's hard to say goodbye to those we love. Last week she had to say goodbye to Grandma, this week it's Jill and next week our dear Ashley will be going home to her family. Then I asked Rachel if she knew who was always with her and who she would never have to say goodbye to. She said, "God. You never have to take him to the airport."

Mailing Address

For Julie and others who have asked:

David Young & Family
c/o Evangelical Christian Academy
Calle La Manda 47
28816
Camarma de Esteruelas
(Madrid) SPAIN

Thanksgiving outreach

We have been attending a small church plant that meets at the school. On a normal Sunday, we have about 30-40 people, a mixture of Americans, Spaniards and a few Koreans. The service is usually in Spanish, but sometimes they do translate. Anyway - for the last several years the missionaries have organized an outreach, "American Thanksgiving," program where everyone is encouraged to invite their Spanish neighbors and friends and we provide an American Thanksgiving meal with some special music and a time of open-sharing of what we are thankful for. We were privileged to attend. There were around 100 people total.

The set-up.

Renaldo, a pastor/missionary here who is part of the church plant, gave a brief welcome and introduction speech on the history of Thanksgiving in the U.S. and some of the customs.

First course: Pumpkin Soup

Second Course: Traditional American Thanksgiving

Then as a bonus: Sushi and Korean noodles. David ate it. I could not.

Our servers were students from ECA.

Our good friend Susan played and sang a song of Thanksgiving. She is the piano teacher at school and is at our house on a regular basis. We have adopted her. :)


Next, Scot and Carol Musser, the school's headmaster and wife, played the dulcimer and guitar.

One of the MK's played a fiddle.

Then, we were given the opportunity to stand up and share something we were thankful to God for. The above picture is Paco Gonzalez, a Spaniard who happens to be my Spanish profesor. Below is Phil Jolley, a British missionary whose children attend ECA.

And more testimony to God's faithfulness.

Looking for something new?

ECA is recruiting for the following positions for next year and beyond. Please let us know if you know anyone who might be interested. More information can be found on the school's website, www.ecaspain.com

All Levels Principal - Job Description coming soon
Guidance Counselor / Registrar
Secretary / Receptionist - Job Description coming soon
Chaplain / Student Life
ESL Teacher
Kindergarten
First Grade
Art / Graphic Arts / PR
Elementary Aide
MS Language Arts
MS Math & Science
MS Social Science
HS Math and Science
HS Language Arts
Physical Education
Piano
Recruitment / Hospitality / Member Care
RA (female) to assist house parents
Computers / Technology / Networking
NILD Therapist
Activities Coordinator

Residency

Last Wednesday, David and I ventured to the policia at 5:00 a.m. to wait in line for my residency card. You have to have a number to see an official and they only give 10 numbers a day so we were advised that you have to get there early to wait and be one of the first ten. So we got there a little after 5:00 and there were already ten people there, who were in sleeping bags. They had spent the night there waiting. So we turned around and came back home.

We tried again this morning, well, actually, David was kindhearted enough to go ahead by himself and wait in line (in the freezing cold) so that the kids and I didn't have to get up and out so early (did I mention what an awesome husband he is?) so he got there at 5:00 a.m. and was the only one. A few minutes later, another man arrived, and after waiting about an hour, one of the guards came out and informed them that they have a "new system" now, where they require you to come on Monday evenings and make an appointment for the week. So again, he drove home. And again, we wait. We will try again next week, I suppose. Thankfully, I have until the end of January to apply for residency, and on the upside, David got his residency card this week so he is now "official." I am overwhelmed by the rules and regulations of living in a foreign country. The whole process seems so daunting and confusing. I am so thankful for the community we have around us to help and guide us through it.

For the last week we have had two Spaniards in our home doing some construction, working to finish in half of the garage to make a new spare room. Since there is very little wood available here, construction practices are quite different in Spain. Most houses are made entirely of brick and concrete, including the walls and roofs. David has enjoyed watching them and seeing a very different way of doing things than he is used to.


The workers began by knocking a hole in the exterior brick wall of the garage where they put in a new window. They also knocked out the concrete around a metal, exterior entry door into the house from the garage so the door could be removed. It will be replaced with a wooden interior door. Next they constructed a wall down the middle of the garage using brick and mortar. This wall is about two inches thick, and is covered with a thin layer of concrete which is applied with an incredibly smooth finish.

They ran plastic tubing from an existing electrical box in one wall, across the floor, and up into the other walls for outlets and lights. They will pull wires through these plastic tubes later on.

To lay the floor, they first filled in the garage floor with crumbled brick from their demolition work. Next, they mixed concrete on the road in front of our house and dumped it in small piles on the floor about 4 inches thick. Into this they pressed the tile (travertine?) flooring, tapping it in until it was level.

Here are some of the tools of the trade. The straw looking stuff on top is mixed with fast-drying cement and used to anchor the door frames into the concrete walls.

It has been very noisy and very dusty, but we are excited about having the extra space. Another great thing about it is that we have had to use our Spanish and Keri, especially, is finding that it is coming back to her. We will post more pictures this week and once it is finished.