Oh Happy Day

It is a wonderful thing that every night as I sit and reflect on the day, I always think, "Today was a great day." There were two great parts to my day:

Part I: Tech Class with Year 7/8

Every Monday morning, the year 7/8 classes get on a bus and go to Bruce McLaren Intermediate School for what they call "tech." There are five classes they will take throughout the year: 1) Clay Craft, 2) Woodworks, 3) Metal Shop/Electronics, 4) Sewing, and 5) Cooking. It was so neat to go with them this morning and sit in on a bit of each of these classes. They were making jewelry in Clay Craft, Maori weapons (paddles) or flying mobiles in Woodworks, keychains in Metal, bags in sewing, and rolled oat squares (that tasted like Nature Valley granola bars) and butterscotch rolls in cooking. Since the year 7/8 classes (which is like America's 6th and 7th grades) are still in the Primary school, they don't get the opportunity at Colwill to take these fun classes. I know they were some of my favorite classes in middle school, so I'm so glad they still get to take them, even if it is only once a week.

It was neat to see how much these kids could do on the sewing machines. There were wayy more designs and cool stitches than I remember our sewing machines having!

This was the metals class. It was loud with all the students banging their hammers to imprint the letters of their names on their metal keychains.

It was cool to see all the machines they were learning to use. This one was a huge drill to make a hole in the metal for the keychain ring. Min Gneong was entertaining to watch as she tried to figure everything out :)

Here is part of the cooking class. They were so nice and let me try their creations. The rolled oat squares were delicious! (the butterscotch rolls weren't my fav...) It reminded me of all my fun times cooking at Holmes Middle School in Home Economics. I will never forget my excitement when we first made Orange Julius's. haha

Part II: Family Night with the Olsen Family

I love this family. They are all so sweet to us, and it is such a joy to just be in their home with them. I love how it feels so similar to my own family. Tonight we enjoyed dinner prepared by Dallas' father. He was a little hard to understand sometimes with his thick accent, but it was fun to listen to him because he was FULL of stories from his life, especially experiences he's had in America. We did some role play with a couple scripture stories, played Duck Duck Goose, ate some No Bake Cookies and ice cream, and, of course, took lots of pictures :)

Izrael, 3, was my other half tonight. She always wanted to sit by me or jump on me or be held by me. She is FULL of energy and giggles, and absolutely adorable :)

This is Aiden, 13 (almost 14), and such a sweetheart. She kept reminding us how excited she is to come visit us in America. She wrote us the sweetest letter about how she wants to be just like us when she grows up :)

Faust, 15, is so great. He is a little more quiet than the other kids, but I think we helped him get a little more crazy tonight :)

Vanz just turned 5 yesterday, and he got these sweet nerf guns. He thought they were the coolest things ever, and this was the one picture he really wanted taken tonight. "Heidi! Heidi! Take a picture of me like this!" So cute.

We were so hard core with our nerf guns. Well, at least Vanz was :)

Cute little Zion, 6. :) She looked like she had just gotten back from ballet, but when I asked she said, "No, I just love to dress up."

They all loved making funny faces!

We didn't get as many pictures of Izrael because she was fascinated by the cameras. This was one picture in a series of about ten. Instead of moving the camera up to get my face, she kept wanting me to bend down lower and lower to be at her level.

This was the first picture Izrael tried to take of us...she hadn't quite figured out that she was supposed to point the camera the other way :)

Kayla was MIA for our photo shoot, but when she reappeared she said she was doing something "much better." As we were leaving, she whipped out the cutest cards with the sweetest individualized notes to each of us--so thoughtful. Between Kayla's cards, Aiden's letter, and the rest of the kids fun and spunky personalities, we left all smiles and so happy. We hope the Olsen's will make another trip to the states so we can see them again soon!