And the cycle continues.

Once again we find ourselves at the end of another school term and looking forward to some rest as the kids return home to be with their families for Easter and the month of April. You haven’t heard much from us these past couple of months, primarily because this past term has been exceptionally busy. Sara is holding down the Library while also taking care of all of the travel and immigration needs for our 250+ out of country students. A job that can be overwhelming at times, but once again all of the students made it our without any calls from the airport concerning missed flights, or improper documentation. She can now turn her attention to organizing the library and preparing to receive all of the students back in 4 weeks. I had a busy term with my AP Chemistry course trying to complete the course in March and prepare my students for the AP exam in May when they return. I also coached the JV boys basketball team, taught Physics, and coordinated all of the class sponsors activities. Add to that some pretty significant illness that ran through campus including a run of swine flu, and you have life at RVA. Last week we led one the educational/cultural trips that RVA sends their 11^th and 12^th graders on each year. This year we took 15 students up to northern Kenya to learn about environmental issues, agricultural life styles and eco-tourism. We rode in a big blue overland safari truck to various venues, where the kids rode and milked camels, de-wormed and milked goats, rode horses, took a guided nature walk and boat ride, rappelled off a cliff, jumped off a waterfall, went white water rafting and some even went bungee jumping. This week we are preparing for the annual International Christian Educators Conference that RVA is hosting. We look forward to having about 200 educators from all over Africa join us here at RVA for 4 days.

In all of the busyness of the term it is easy to lose sight of the big picture and what RVA is all about. We often need to remind ourselves of who these kids are and the families they represent. When parents come to RVA to visit their children and watch them in their activities and encourage them in their struggles we are reminded how unique these kids are. A father came up from Mozambique to spend a week with his 10^th grade son and was thrilled to watch him play basketball for the first time. I visited with another family who came to see their daughter participate in the annual Jr/Sr banquet. Events that most parents take for granted as their children go through high school, these parents have to make great efforts at great expense to attend and many of the parents are not able to get to see the activities at all. Saturday when I drove the bus into the airport to drop off about 40 kids going to various places around the continent I was reminded again when 2 young girls grades 6 and 9 showed me their tickets and asked me where to go to find their airline because this was their first time flying home to Tanzania, and next to them was a little 3^rd grade girl standing with her little backpack and her Korean friends flying off to Dar Es Salam Tanzania. When I find myself complaining about how our kids don’t know how to behave in public or more formal settings, or other trivial stuff, I need to remind myself of their “normal.”

God is at work in the lives of these kids. He is using them in ways that we may never know. When I see what our RVA graduates are doing and the kingdom work they are involved in all over the world I have to tell myself “Oh yeah, that’s why we do this.”

I’ve included a few pictures of our recent student trip.

Wishing you a very Blessed Easter.

Alan and Sara