Issue #55
April 27, 2000

Dear Friends and Family,
I hope you had a wonderful Easter and celebrated the resurrection of our Lord. It was a good weekend here that was full of activities. It was also the weekend that the accrediting team arrived.

Saturday morning, the first through third graders played in a t-ball tournament. This of course was a lot of fun to watch. Most of them didn't really know what they were doing and then there were a few that did. It made the games very interesting. One of my girls was standing on third base too busy twirling her gum in her fingers to notice the ball going by here. One of the second graders consistently put her glove on the wrong hand and looked at me like I was the one confused when I told her she needed to switch it.

Saturday afternoon, the elementary kids had a big time of decorating Easter eggs, and the accrediting team arrived. They were supposed to be here Friday, but a couple of them had a hard time making all their flights to get here. The team was coming from India, Kenya, Ecuador, America, and one was from Abidjan. Saturday evening there was a reception for them.

Sunday was a packed full day. Sunday morning began with a sunrise service. It was a nice service, but we didn't get too see much of a sunrise. Just a little bit a sun shining through the clouds. Since we were up so early, a group of us had breakfast together. The Sunday morning service was good. The dining hall fixed a special Easter lunch. Sunday afternoon was an Easter egg hunt for the pre-school and elementary kids. Lizzy (high school teacher) and I took the accrediting team on a tour of the school. Sunday evening was a special Easter service. It also gave the accrediting team a chance to see the choirs, puppet team, some drama and other solos.

I received several gifts for Easter, two Easter baskets, two chocolate bunnies, and a big chocolate egg. One of my bunnies was kind of funny though. It was really no longer a bunny. It was just a puddle of chocolate in the bottom of the bag. It was from my secret pal. The card said, "God had the power to resurrect Jesus on Easter, but I don't have the power to resurrect this bunny. Hope you have a good imagination." The poor bunny hadn't survived the ride home in an unairconditioned car. It still tastes good!

Monday through Wednesday was the accrediting meetings. We had our meeting with them yesterday. They had a lot of commendations and several recommendations. Most of the recommendations were things we already realized we needed to be doing and many we have already started on. The team left this morning. Some are probably on the way to airport as I type. The rest are not leaving until tomorrow.

One of the accrediting team members preached on Sunday. He is a former missionary to Ecuador and now works for Association of Christian Schools International (ACSI), one of our accrediting agencies. He spoke on Daniel and that we need to be like him. One of the elementary kids told him, "I didn't like your sermon because it should have been about Moses." He assured him if he ever came back to ICA that he would be sure to speak on Moses.

Our big excitement for the week was that the second grade guinea pig finally had her babies. We had been waiting for a week. She was huge! We didn't think she could get any bigger. People were walking by all hours of the day and night to see if she had had them yet. Finally on Tuesday night sometime between 6:00 and 7:00, she had them. I arrived at 7:00, and she had four. She had one more a few minutes later. The kids were so excited. Some of them even got to come from their dorms to see them. They were getting ready to go to bed. I think they have them all named now, and they can bring them out to recess. There are enough guinea pigs now for every second grader to have their own.

It is almost the weekend. I'm very ready. I hope you all have a good weekend!

In Christ,
Traci