2013 Spring Semester at Black Forest Academy









 

Marshall and his JV Basketball Season

 

 

Marshall and his team after a great win on their last game.  Sue and I are so thankful for the dedication of our coaching staff at BFA and for the maturity that our students gain from the opportunity to play team sports. 

 

 

Marshall is number 20!

 

 

The team had a great season and Marshall got the MVP award.

 



Central Christian Academy (from S. Korea) visits BFA.  This is the school that our daughter Alison works at !!  CCA visited us while on their European tour.  They shared about their school and the Gospel of Jesus Christ following an amazing display of their students' talent.

 

 

Sue's Student Counsel kids making Valentines Day a special event

 They designed cookies for high school girls to order and give to a guy!

 

 

 

 

 Here are the girls making their orders.

 

 

 

Then there were the roses for the guys to give to a special girl!

 

 

High School Retreat

Our high school chaplan Sam and his team do a great job of organizing retreats, special speakers, missions trips, and small group to address the spiritual needs of our students.

 

 

The speaker at our high school retreat, Dave Williams, shared his incredible story. He was adopted, abused, starved, ran away, robbed grocery stores, found Jesus, went to jail, saved lots of people, was diagnosed with one form of cancer and cured, and has been diagnosed with another terminal form of cancer. His overall message was that we need to fight for our relationship with God regardless of the circumstances, that we need to remove the masks that we wear, and that God orchestrates the circumstances of our lives in order to fulfill the call he gives us.

 

His story and challenge resulted in good times of sharing when we broke into small groups with our students. God also demonstrated His greatness to us by the scenery of the Swiss Alps which surrounded the retreat center. I (Bob) particularly enjoyed watching our students during our worship times, singing to God from their hearts. Thank you for praying for Sue and I as we work with our small groups of sophomore students. This retreat was really key to building our relationships with them.

 

 

BFA hosts the Association of Christian Educators Internation conference!

Every three years our school hosts this amazing conference that draws teachers from Europe, Asia, and Africa.  We are so priviledged to share this 4 day event with so many Christian men and women who have dedicated their lives to serving the Lord in reaching young people through education.

 

An alumnist of BFA shared her story of how the teachers and staff at BFA loved and encouraged her during her years as a student and young woman.

 

 

The conference was held during the first week of BFA's Spring Break.  Although the weather outside was still wintery (we woke with new fallen snow each morning), the fellowship we shared together and the good teaching we received during the sessions was heartwarming.

 

It was wonderful to worship with Christian educators from many countries on three continents.

 

 

The last evening was banquet

 

 

Our son Marshall played his drums with the worship team throughout the conference.

 

Special Family Moments

 

The year 2012 finished with a mixture of sorrow and joys.  Bob's mom passed away at the end of November after a long bout with Alzheimer's.  Bob flew home to be with his sisters and brother for her memorial service.  Their comfort is that their mom professed faith in Jesus Christ as her Savior and her hope of salvation was in Him.  Bob honored his mom by giving the eulogy at her service.  Mom's passing coincided with Bob's niece giving birth to a baby girl named Sienna.  Bob and his sisters were able to see the baby and enjoy a visit with her family in New York City before returning to Germany.

 

Bob's sisters and niece with Sienna

 

Bob's niece Spring and baby Sienna

 

Christmas break - began with a mini family reunion!.  The first to arrive was our daughter Hannah and our nephew Tim.  Then came our nephew David, his sister Susie, and our daughter Alison. 

Best birthday gift was having our girls home for the holidays! 

Hannah flew in from Michigan where she is studying social work at Cornerstone University.



 

Hannah and cousin Tim

 

 

Cousins David and Susie

 

One evening in the City of Basel, Switzerland

 

A family picture for 2013!  This was the first time we were all together since last Christmas!

 

A half dozen cousins!  Susie visited us from Japan where she is teaching English.  David visited us from Hawaii where he serves in the Air Force.  Tim visited us on his Christmas break from his last year in high school in Colorado Springs, CO.  We made a lot of fun memories and enjoyed times of sharing about our faith as followers of Jesus Christ.



 

 

Fun at the airport!  Marshall, a typical BFA student, never passes up an opportunity to dress up - here at Zurich Airport greeting his sister Alison arriving from S.Korea.

 

Greeting cousin David with cousin Tim.

 

(Missionary or "Third Culture Kids" feel quite at home in airports.)

 

Christmas Time Memories 

Christmas Carols with the Taylor family around a campfire.  Bob works with Clint Taylor on the maintenance crew.

 

                                    Christmas Eve Service

 

 

The night before Christmas!

Special Outings:
One day me and the guys went skiing,

 

Sue and the girls went to the Christmas Market in Colmar, France.

 

 

 Special photo shoots: 

 

 

 

 A day of sledding at Berguin, Switzerland:

 

 

 

A special Korean meal by Alison. Alison has been teaching Kindergarteners English in S. Korea.

 



 

 

We are so, so thankful to God for His goodness in bringing us together again and for the very special Christmas season with our cousins.

We thank Him also for the indescribable gift of sending us His Son to save us from our sins!

Christmas Banquet

Christmas Banquet is an occasion for our students to dress up nice and gives the guys an opportunity to ask a young lady out.  The guys are very creative in finding ways to ask a girl out, usually incorporating the help of some friends to surprise her and add some special affects.  It is an event that our high school students look forward to and it ushers in the beginning of the Christmas season on our campus.  Christmas break follows, and for most of us that means spending cherished time with family and celebrating the wonder of the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Banquet is another event that Sue and her group of student counsel kids organize.  Christmas decorations, setting up tables, finding a caterer, recruiting staff to help serve food and do dishes, listening to music auditions, and coming up with the evening's program are just some of the details that they needed to work out.

Sue and her student counsel kids!

 

 After many hours of planning - decorating begins!

 

 

Here is a link with pictures of our students looking their best: http://bfacademy.com/parents/galleries/events/banquets/christmas-banquet-2012/

 

Sue and Rachel, and the girls from their Wed. night small group:

 

 

Christmas Banquet was a very worthwhile event.  The rewards were watching our students having a great time and the joy of serving them together. 

 

 



Fall 2012

 

Fall of 2012 Activities 

 

Impacting kids to be followers of Jesus Christ involves taking interest in them, helping them to discover how they are uniquely created in the image of God, teaching them from God's word, and creating a community of friends and mentors that they can trust.

 

After Rome Trip Sue and I began settling into the normal routine of school.  We each picked up a group of sophomore students for Wednesday evening small groups.  We meet together to do fun things together, read from the Bible, pray for one another and eat snacks.  "Small Groups" are another means of encouraging our students to grow in their faith and to appreciate growing together in community.

Sue's girls:  Ashley, Karyn, Joyce, Bethany, Alyssa, Ira Lynne, and her co-leader Rachael.

 

 

Bob's small group met one night at a cabin in the woods for a dinner of hot chili on rice.  They then enjoyed some table games and some reading time in the cabin that we heated with the wood stove.  Guys gotta do this kind of stuff!  Here are: Daniel, Derrick, Andrew, Ben, David, Tyler, and Josh (Bob's co-leader)

 

Bob also helped teach some electives at the BFA Middle School.  He had these four boys for "Tool Time".  David, Bret, Caton, and David are hands on kinetic learners who loved being able to get out of the classroom and work with tools.  They were really helpful with all the fix it things Bob had to do this fall season at their school.

 

 

Sue's main responsibility this year is working with these students.  They are the student counsel representatives for their classes (freshmen - senior).  Together they organize and lead the fun activities of the high school.

Their names are:  Greer, Madison, Hanna, Evan F, Jacob, Eunji, Evan G, Grace, Brenton, Audrey, Luke, Sophie.  Their first big event was organizing "Fall Party".  Fall Party is always an occasion to get dressed up in costumes around a particular theme. 

 This year's Fall Party theme was "My Favorite Things"

 

Movies are some students favorite things!

Holidays are some of our favorite things.
There were different holiday stations set up serving food typical of that holiday.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our students put a lot of effort into dressing up for this event.  Do you recognize "The Three Stooges"?

 

 

There was a contest for the best costumes.

 

What movie characters would you guess these dorm kids are dressed up as?

 

How about your favorite video game characters?

A look into our family life this fall season:

 

  The leaves on the vines that grow up the side of our apartment every year always turn beautiful colors in the fall.

 

November 7th is Marshall's birthday.   This year Sue organized a surprise party and prepared some of Marshall's favorite Italian food.