Springfest Reflections

    This past Saturday, I had opportunity to hear many stories - each a memory of past "Bazaars". Our former principal, Mr. Ray Vander Ploeg, shared how they let balloons go from the roof with notes attached, requesting those who found them to send letters back. One farmer in the U.S. wrote that he found the balloon while working in his field - and how he too sent his children to a Christian school. A lady shared how she used to come with her Oma to sell flowers and now was excited to be a vendor herself. Others shared how they have never missed a year even though their children and grandchildren have graduated. When I came home, excited stories came from my own children - what was in their Bizarre bottle, who they saw, and who they raced in the obstacle course. What touched me most was how each story was woven into Woodstock Christian's blessed history - but more importantly, how each one reflected God's story. Our theme verse , "Let the Redeemed of the Lord tell God's story" (Psalm 107:1-2), kept going through my head that day. Yes, God's story is being told over and over! He is so faithful to WCS! We were in awe of all who came together to be part of another successful day, building community and raising funds for Christian Education.
    Thank you to all. To God be the Glory!
                            Heather De Boer
                            Springfest Co-Chair

    As final preparations are coming together for one of the longest running fund-raisers that Woodstock Christian host (has been running for over 50 years!!), I am in awe of the small army that is coming together to celebrate this community and raise funds for a cause that we are passionate about - being a light in the community, and providing quality Christian education for our children. Whether it is the teachers offering their Saturday to cook pancakes, farmers donating extra to provide a building, parents coming together volunteering with the Kidzone or Kitchen - the Korean ladies offering their time and talents to have us be able to sample a taste of their food, alumni donating items for the live auction, and vendors coming to display their goods, I am in awe. I am proud to be a part of this body. It reminds me of 1 Corinthians 12:12 - Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its parts form one body, so it is with Christ.
    It is our hope that you will come and experience this event, whether by coming as a family and experiencing all there is to be had, or by giving of your talents in whatever way you can; we are excited to have you. My experience whenever I have given of my time and efforts to a great cause, I end up receiving immeasurably more than I have given.
                            Blessed to be a part of this community, 
                            Pauline Markus
                            Springfest Committee Co-Chair

 

Good Friday Love and Easter Hope JESUS loves me..., Jesus LOVES me... Jesus loves ME! I know that, but each year as Good Friday approaches, this becomes so abundantly real to me. As I look at the ways I have let God and others down, as I see how I can never measure up to who God has meant me to be, as I recognize my own brokenness, my sinful nature, I hear Christ’s words to me in John 15:9, “As the Father has loved me, so I love you. Abide in my love.” And because of that great love, He chose to die for me. Max Lucado says, “He knew the price of those [my] sins was death. He knew the source of those [my] sins was you [me] and since he couldn’t bear the thought of eternity without you [me], he chose the nails.” He died for me…. What unconditional, amazing love! What a Saviour! Three days after he stretched out His arms on the cross saying “I love you this much!” and died, He rose from the dead! On Easter morning, He broke through the finality of death and He lives!! What hope Christ brings to all of creation! Hope for renewal and restoration, new and abundant life - “I will make everything new!” I pray that all of you will know and abide in the abounding love and hope of Christ’s death and resurrection - Jesus loves YOU!!!! Bernice Huinink-Buiter

Due to icy, slippery, snow-filled road conditions, we are not running our buses and the school is closed for the day. HAPPY SNOW DAY!!!

SCIENCE FAIR @ WCS

"How does science help us understand more about God?" Student responses included:
"We can study and reveal more mysteries about His creation."
"It shows us how complex God has made everything, and how everything is connected, or has some formula to it."
"Science explains things and unravels secrets that the world has."
"We become more curious about creation and find out more about Him."
"Science helps us understand more about God because we see that God put a lot of time into creating every detail."
"Science helps us figure out what God has done."
 "We see that God cares about his creation."
Once again, it is time for the Woodstock Christian School Annual Science Fair! For the past two months, senior students have been researching, experimenting, building, planning, and immersing themselves in scientific exploration. On Thursday last week, each student presented his/her completed project in class. It was a wonderful afternoon celebrating creation and giving credit and praise to the Creator. Each student explained his/her scientific question, hypothesis, procedure, results, discussion, conclusion, and applications. Students also shared Christian perspective around their topic as well as the importance, for Christians, of doing science. Again and again, students professed, "In the beginning, God created". They are confident in the knowledge that God created, reveals himself in creation, and continues to preserve and sustain what he has made.
This Tuesday, students from all grade levels will be setting up their projects in the gym as an exhibition of learning for the larger community to enjoy. Come and join us. Come and see again what God has done!

                            Mrs. C. Verbeek

    We all know the importance of "sticking to it" or "self discipline." It is an important asset to have when it comes to any task we are setting out to do. This is a practice we need to continually cultivate at any age we are at! Recently I had the privilege  of speaking to the junior and senior grades of WCS about this "sticking to it" asset in regards to their research. We mostly talked about plagiarism, and briefly spoke about the importance of looking at our sources of information with a critical eye. We talked about the need to question where does particular information come from and why did the author write it? As in all of our tasks, we can get sloppy and take the "easy street." I have a fellow librarian friend who calls the rather easy street way of getting information "Type, Click, Skim, Done." But are we really "done?" This takes discipline and practice. It can seem that we are being blown over by mountains of words and information and it is conveniently located at our fingertips. I was impressed  how in our discussions, the students indicated that they are very aware that the sources of information are very important. Their teachers have been busy teaching them information literacy. Actually we as Christians are always called to discern what the truth really is, as we look at things through the eyes of faith. That is the discipline we are called to engage in. Your children are practising it and that is a skill we can be thankful for at a Christian School, because our common faith in Jesus is the starting point.

                            Marion Dieleman, Librarian

Parents are AMAZING!

Last week teachers were pampered, spoiled, and inspired by the parents of WCS. Each day we were treated to amazing lunches and  a break from our outdoor supervisory duties. What a boost!! One of the teachers is quoted as saying, “It’s the little things that matter so much this week - getting up in the morning and not having to make my lunch, taking one of my recess times to sit in the staffroom enjoying delicious food and the company of colleagues is such a treat!” The notes of encouragement reaffirmed to us that parents support and hold us up in prayer for us as we teach your children. Last week, God used you to bless us  in a special way, and as staff of WCS, we THANK YOU for all you did to make us feel appreciated - you are so appreciated by all of us!!! WCS is really a wonderful place to work!

                            Mrs. Bernice Huinink-Buiter

It Takes a Village….
Every day, it becomes more evident that it takes a village to raise a child! Families depend on neighbours, extended family, church communities to partner with them in nurturing their children. God created us to live in relationship! Last week, we hosted an Information Evening for prospective families and it again struck me that the school community is part of the ‘village’ that nurtures and supports our children. As parents wondered whether WCS will be the school for their children, they listened to presentations from two of our Grade 8 students as they shared parts of their journey through their years at WCS. A current parent shared her story of the blessing that she and her family are receiving at WCS. It is an ‘awesome’ responsibility that teachers and administration assume when parents enroll their children, and we pray daily for God’s leading in our teaching each and every child God entrusts to us. We pledge to honour each child as a child of God to develop the gifts that they have been given, to treat them with respect and dignity, to provide a safe, nurturing environment and to help them grow closer to God in all their learning. What a privilege to be a part of the ‘village’!!

                            Mrs. Bernice Huinink-Buiter

Cheerful Givers

Did you know that we have volunteers helping out in our school every day of the week? As I pop in and out of classrooms during the day, it is amazing to see the invaluable role our volunteers play in supporting our students and staff. These parents, grandparents, and friends of the school are busy reading with students, marking, putting up bulletin boards, checking out and re-shelving library books, adding memory onto laptops, offering assistance in math classes, laminating learning materials, practising sight words, supervising on the playground, and the list goes on and on! We have other volunteers that come in for a season to help coach sports teams and several that are starting this week to lead electives with our students in grades 5-8. Because of our volunteers, more students get individualized attention and support, experts are leading sports teams and electives, a greater number of hands-on learning materials are available for our students, and our library and computer lab run smoothly. Our volunteers cheerfully give of their time and talents, and they bless WCS tremendously.
Thank you, God, for our incredible team of volunteers!!
                            Mrs. T. Bulthuis

Prayer- Let’s talk!

God wants us to talk with Him. He knows our stories - He cares about our joys and our sadness, our concerns and our dreams, our successes and our disappointments. And He asks us to talk to Him about all of these things, to seek His guidance, to tell Him how much we love Him. God hears our prayers and listens to us. He loves you and me. As we live out the story He has planned for us, we need to ask Him to be in our lives today - He is God of our everything. And He calls us to pray for others, interceding for those who have special needs, giving thanks for those who bless us and fill us with joy. What a comfort it is to share with God what is so close to our hearts! What a safe place to be when we know someone is praying for us!

                            Mrs. Bernice Huinink-Buiter

It is my hope that you enjoy this blog post as much as I did! 

Below is only a portion of the letter written to Katie from her dad!  

If you click on the body of the letter you will be taken to the CACE website to read the complete story!

Enjoy.

~Dawn

 

Dear Katie,

Graduation Day at last! Congratulations! Bravo! Well done! Hurrah! I’m so filled with love and pride right now I’m about to burst. Many times I’ve come into your room late at night and found you toiling over algebraic equations, or struggling to plumb the depths of Dostoyevsky, or trying to think clearly and Christianly about the big questions of life. I commend you, my dear daughter, for being faithful to your calling as a student these past twelve years. You’ve been a delight to me—well, most days —and I am deeply grateful to God for entrusting so precious a gift to so imperfect a parent.

As you celebrate this joyous day, I urge you not to forget all the people who built this Christian school—from the visionaries who founded it in borrowed rooms at church, to the teachers who’ve given you high standards of study, character, and service.

I've started a new hobby.

    Yes, I know I'm crazy busy and yes, my family still needs to eat three times a day. No, I haven't forgotten to pay our bills or do our laundry, and don't worry, I prepare lessons and rehearsals and still practice faithfully… every day. But, in the midst of rushing through life, I've discovered the discipline of:
            STOP.
            Be Still.
            Listen. Linger.
            Lean into Patience.
    Its takes a lot of patience to be still. When we are still, even for a moment, we can find ourselves available to see and hear whatever is true, honorable, worthy of respect, right, confirmed by God's Word. Whatever is pure and wholesome, lovely and brings peace. Whatever is admirable and of good repute. Whatever is excellent and worthy of praise. (Phil 4:8 AMP)
    My new hobby? You just experienced it with me.

                            Elizabeth Martin, Music Teacher