Merry Christmas!

The last several months have been very busy. We finished first semester classes December 14th, and we have been having a nice vacation to rest and refresh as we remember the reason for this time of year – JESUS!

Ministry Review…
The school year started with much excitement in August. Pan American Christian Academy (PACA) opened the doors of a new preschool in the property that was purchased. Elisabeth’s class is a smaller class this year. With only 21 students, it almost seems like they are not there during quiet working time. This years’ class is more unique in needs. There are several students that are learning English as their second or third language. Unlike other years, the English speakers are now the minority. Nathaniel had his first ever PACA Follies Fundraiser in September. It was a huge hit. The high school performing arts group combined drama and music to perform famous Broadway songs. They raised support to put towards the purpose of a permanent LCD projector in the music room. The atmosphere was one of romance with tables decked with roses. A chocolate desert and punch were served.

In October each class participated in the reading contest. The kick-off day had several events, but the main event was the first grade assembly. They shared a story about the Grouchy Ladybug. Each time the ladybug would challenge larger and larger animals until finding no one wants to fight, she returns to the original leaf where she started and fights the aphids. The plant (Joshua) in a gratefully loud voice says, “Thank You!” to the ladybug for eating the aphids of his leaves. The first graders shared some great songs, one of which was “Nobody likes me...everybody hates me...guess I’ll go eat worms.” If you want to see how they sang it, Joshua was so kind as to sing it for us into our webcam so we could post it for all to see on our family blog. As a cumulative event, children earned a banana split for reading everyday for four weeks. The classes that had 100% participation were able to join in watching A Bug’s Life together with popcorn. It was a huge blast!

The theme for this year’s Christmas program was “Special Delivery.” Students and Mr. Lima (the Art teacher) participated in communicating the message of Christmas to a large audience. In the midst of a busy holiday season, a delivery man keeps coming into contact with this message of a special delivery. Through this message he hears about Christ and his special delivery to us.

In the midst of all of the recent events for Christmas and the high school drama, we were asked to participate in the Christmas program at Calvary International Church. We sang and participated in the musical program to carry the message about Christ’s birth to those visiting the church for this service. Nathaniel had fun preparing an instrumental trio (piano, flute, and violin) of the carol Angels We Have Heard on High. He plans on putting it together into a final arrangement to send out to publishers next year.

Kid’s Korner…
The kids have been growing by leaps and bounds. Joshua is successfully moving forward in 1st grade. He is reading fluently and loving classes. Joshua began studying Portuguese this year as well. Gabriel began studying in the PACA preschool in August. He is really thriving there and learning how to have more self control in a school setting. Eliana recently made a big jump to no longer using diapers. We never realized how much easier it is to train a third child! Maybe it’s us that are being trained! She is a bubbling, bouncing two year old. She speaks fluently both Portuguese and English.

Upcoming Events and changes…
As the first semester came to a close, we are excited at what the New Year will bring. Elisabeth will be welcoming for the first time ever a student teacher into her classroom. This will be a new and exciting role to be a mentor. As mentioned above, we have had some recent changes in our vision for the upcoming year. We have made the decision to not extend our contract with PACA. This means that we will be remaining in Minnesota after this upcoming summer. This was not an easy decision, but one that was made with careful thought and prayer. To summarize the reason for this shift, we have realized that our vision and ministry is not connecting with a future at PACA. It has become clear to us that it is time to return to Minnesota in June 2008. Our future plans are to work towards degree completion for both Nathaniel’s master’s program at the University of Minnesota in Composition, and for Elisabeth’s master’s degree in Special Education. Nathaniel will be focusing on pursuing performances and publication of his music. Please be in prayer as we make this transition with our family.

The Riley's