Budapest and Beyond: A Month of Memories

One characteristic that I often respect in others is their ability to make memories - to create special moments with friends and family and then to cherish them. My problem is, I always seem to have misplaced my camera somewhere and have to rely on the memory making of others! Such was the case at several special events we've had lately, and now that I've borrowed the pictures from friends, I thought I would share them with you.

As the co-sponsor of the Senior Class at ICSB, this year I was responsible for encouraging (guiding, prodding, and sometimes forcing) the students to plan a huge fundraising auction. It's our last big fundraiser before the kids plan their senior trip, and since we had almost half of our money still to raise, I felt a lot of pressure for this event to be a success. I found myself extremely stressed out the weeks leading up to the big night - it seems that the Lord still has a lot to teach me about how I am never in control :)

We also served a taco salad dinner - this pic is of me at Tesco with all the tortilla chips! Yummmm!

The morning of the big day it snowed over 10 inches, and since we don't even have a shovel at our house, I had to use a plastic sled to scrape a path out of the driveway. (I actually got stuck in the driveway and my roommate and some high school girls had to push me out!) I took this pic later in the day, but you get the idea!

Anyways, the auction happened, the kids worked hard, people came, and people spent their money for a good cause! And now we are going to be able to go somewhere warm and sunny in just a few short months!

Here are some pics from the event. We had an Olympic theme - costumes and decorations, and sold fun items like Peanut Butter, Cake Mixes, Bath and Body Works, Lucky Charms, and much, much, more!

Another highlight of this past month was our Spiritual Emphasis Week here at school. Each year we take one week to be especially intentional about encouraging our students to walk closer with the Lord. We shorten academic classes and lunches, and add a chapel hour to each day. We also have small groups and enrichment times on campus during a few evenings. This year the high school focused on tangible ways they could grow closer to the Lord. It was exciting to watch how He worked in their lives and I can't wait to see some of the things He taught them play out in their everyday lives.

On a lighter note - here are some more fun things I've been up to lately...

Last month meatballs were on sale at IKEA for 100 HUF (around $0.50 for 10 meatballs and some mashed potatoes). This is all that was left by the time I got out my camera.