The Farm Show and More...

The school I work at recently went on a field trip to the PA Farm Show. It is in a 24 acre complex and people come from all over the country to be part of it. There is a room full of tractors, every farm animal you can imagine, 3 arenas with shows going on (some judging, cattle penning, etc.), and really, really good food!! There is also a huge room with all kinds of little booths giving away free stuff, doing demonstrations, etc. I spent most of the day with my first and second graders. They were lots of fun. They were amazed by everything! Even the bus ride from the parking lot :-) Aren't they cute!?! I spent a little bit of time with some of my older students, and they put me in the stocks! Last weekend, I had a very interesting cultural experience. I went to a musical service at a Slavic Baptist church. Several of my students attend there and one of them was in the performance playing her mandolin. The service was in Ukrainian so I didn't understand it, but the music was very nice. It was very Russian sounding. There were about 20 mandolins, 2 or 3 guitars, 1 violin, the piano, and 2 accordians. They also did some singing. Yesterday, we had a Pathfinder Bible achievement scrimmage at our church. Our team and another team had a little competition to help prepare themselves for the regional one coming up in a few weeks. I got to be one of the judges. It was fun. Afterwards, we went to the home of one of the families involved and had a little "jam session." We concluded the evening by playing hockey until 11:30.
I have a prayer request to share with you - two of my friends just had their second child Thursday evening. Unfortunately, the baby was born very early and only weighed 1 lb. 11 ounces. They were very concerned that he wouldn't survive the birth, but he did and they named him Josiah, which means "the Lord saves." He is doing well but he still has a long fight ahead of him. Please pray for Josiah over the next few weeks, and for his parents as well. I'll put a comment on this post if I hear anything about his progress. Thank you!