Looking Ahead and Looking Around

(from Heather)

This coming week, a team of nine engineers, architects and surveyors through EMI (Engineering Ministries International) is traveling to Kibuye Hospital in Burundi to carefully evaluate the current facilities (buildings, water, electricity, land).  In a few months, when this information is processed, another similar team can use this information on another trip to Kibuye to develop a comprehensive long-term (10-20 year) plan for how the hospital can develop into a 300-bed teaching institution.  This is a big step of planning for the future of the hospital.  

Evidently our children have caught the excitement for drawing up plans for Burundi.  Anna, Elise, and Abi recently took on the task of designing the schoolhouse for Aunt Sarah’s McCropder kid school.  Here is the schoolhouse design committee meeting:

Elise (wearing an “I ♥ USA” t-shirt while sitting here in France drawing plans for Burundi) created plans for a dream playground.

Anna mapped out a multi-room schoolhouse, the highlights of which include a reading corners for everyone, a rest time area, a time out corner, a large number of bookshelves, and a snack shelf.

A few days after this looking ahead to Burundi, the kids found themselves looking around here in the Alps.  On Thursday our school took a field trip to the nearby mountains to experience an important aspect of local culture:  skiing. 

 Others went sledding (Cropseys in the foreground, Maggie and Rachel in the middle of the picture)

or snowshoeing.  

All enjoyed the opportunity to look around at the beauty of creation.

He who forms the mountains, creates the wind, and reveals his thoughts to man, he who turns dawn to darkness, and treads the high places of the earth--the Lord God Almighty is his name.  Amos 4:13

For the Lord is the great God, the great King above all gods.  In his hand are the depths of the earth, and the mountain peaks belong to him.  Psalm 95:3-4