School Snapshots

Life is going on as usual here ... our days have been full. Some are routine & predictable while other days call for more creativity (e.g. if our water is turned off all day ... like yesterday when it was turned off WHILE David was still in the shower, covered in soap). The thick coats, boots and ribbed stockings have come out of hiding as the weather has turned colder. And we're enjoying all that fall has to offer - the pretty leaves, cooler weather, UCLA football updates (actually, all our losses lately have not been fun) and of course, SCHOOL!

Our children's education is an important priority in our family and we are so grateful for Verity's school and for Annalise's preschool.

These schools depend on and thrive with parental contributions. Every Friday morning, I lead a short "flannel board" time at Annalise's preschool. I LOVED flannel board stories growing up and I can especially remember all the exciting Bible stories my Sunday School teacher taught using flannel figures in church. I love reading stories and nursery rhymes to these sweet 3- and 4-year olds. On this particular Friday, I am reading Eric Carle's The Very Hungry Caterpillar while the students help me put up matching flannel pictures on the board.

I am so thankful for how much Annalise loves her preschool and how much she feels connected to her friends. Here is Annalise with some friends getting really close to a bear at the local zoo during a recent school field-trip. Now she is excited about her "drama rehearsals" where she is an Indian in the Thanksgiving play.


Kindergarten fits Verity like a glove. She just loves it. She loves her teachers and she loves her classmates. We are so thankful! I volunteer at her school on Monday mornings and her teacher said that I can read my "flannel board stories" to Verity's class, also. So I take the story I just read to Annalise's class on Friday and bring it to Verity's class the following Monday.


"Country Day" at Verity's school was a fun opportunity for me to continue our ethnicity discussion with Verity. Each child was asked to turn in a report about their "home country" and Verity actually reported on both the United States and South Korea. She talked about living near Disneyland AND about her adventures in Seoul this past summer. She listed her favorite foods as mac & cheese AND kimbap (rice wrapped in seaweed). She colored a U.S. flag AND a Korean flag.

She knows that she was born in California and that we have American passports. But she also seems to understand that because her mommy is Korean, she has connections to another country called Korea, and that although she does NOT live in Korea, she can enjoy the beauty of its culture in our family.

In the above photo, I (wearing a Korean hanbok) am hugging Verity in the "India" room along with a fellow parent (in pink) and a teacher (in red). At her school, Verity studies alongside children from the United States, South Korea, India, Norway, Brazil and Canada ... (am I forgetting anybody?). I was able to sit in the "Korea room," talking about Korea and teaching them how to play the popular Korean game of yutnori.

As a family, we are looking forward to many fun celebrations ... Thanksgiving, our 8th anniversary (Dec 11), Christmas, Moriah's 2nd birthday (Jan 18), etc. This month, we are continuing our family tradition of the "Garland of Gratitude" and reading out of If You Were at the First Thanksgiving at each dinner. Happy November to you all!