All Those Who Do Us Good

It seems that lately I have been writing in this blog monthly. Of course it isn't intended, but alas it is what it is. Anyway, with intentions of being a more prolific blogger, I am sharing with you some photos from the past month: 

We have a lot of benefactors at our local mission in Hawaii, and it is very humbling. They share with us because we serve the Lord. It is always a good personal examen every time we receive. Christmas was an opportunity to give back. We each prepared a baked good for our Christmas presents to them.

My contribution was "Merry Christmas Cookies." It is similar in appearance to sugar cookies, but it has a honey-lemon flavor with vanilla icing. I got the recipe from Sister Elaine, our Community's postulant directress.

We had a visit from Jolly Old St. Nick at Saint Theresa Convent! In this fruit basket was the best pineapple that I have ever eaten...seriously, it tasted like candy! 

Left to Right: Sister Janet, Sister Carol Ann, Sister Adrianna
Every mission has an annual visit from one of our Council Members. A couple weeks ago, we had an enjoyable visit from Sister Adrianna. We like to give them a chance to experience the beauty of Kauai. We took her on a Smith boat ride. A good time was had by all. Sister Carol Ann is doing the "shaka" in the picture. It means "hang loose."

Sister Hannah enjoyed the boat ride, too, as evidenced by the picture!

The music was beautiful! I wish I would have recorded it so I could still listen to it. The woman in the picture has an incredibly beautiful soprano voice!

On the way back to the dock, we had more entertainment....and hula lessons! I can't say I'm a pro after a two minute crash course, but it was fun!

Now we are back in school. I am enjoying it very much. I love the challenge of reaching all the students and their needs and having a small classroom helps. I am excited about what is going on at Saint Theresa School, too, and I am proud to be part of the staff. We are beginning a new anti-bullying program, and it is working! Phyllis Kunimura created it and we have the blessing of having her to train us and implement it in our school. I have used her six step resolution-empathy process with my students and it works! Seriously. Sister Janet has had the same results. I am not quick to endorse things like this, but seeing it before my eyes has been truly amazing. The children walk away from conflicts feeling good! You can see their shoulders relax. They are practicing both assertiveness and empathy, which will carry them well through life. The children love the program, too, which is important, because they are enthusiastic about going through the steps! The only modification that Sister Janet and I have made is to have the children say, "I accept your apology. Please don't do that again." This is in place of: "I don't like it when you do that. Please don't do that again." We are going to ask Phyllis if this is okay when she comes back for our next training and the school-wide kick-off of the program.

All in all, things are going well. I hope you are all having a great start to 2013!