Gratitude
06/07/2021 16:44
Anda Foxwell, Head of School
We come to the end of a school year filled with hurdles we never expected to face. How would we keep the 500+ people on our campus safe during a global pandemic? How should we carry on with an excellent education when also coping with sanitation, distancing, and ventilation protocols? How could we move forward with our desire to improve our facilities? How might we continue to build community when we were also keeping ourselves socially-distanced? It seems that the answer to these and other questions was the same: God’s good gifts to us, and a strong and supportive CAJ community.
In this last blog post of the year, we are overflowing with gratitude for the way that we have sensed God’s protection over this place, and for how our community has been encouraging, reassuring, and understanding when difficult decisions have needed to be made. Parents have not complained about extra precautions, and our students have remained faithful and cheerful despite many activities put on hold.
Beyond having positive attitudes, our community has also responded with generosity that has surpassed our expectations. Thanks to open-handed donations from friends of CAJ, the field development project is becoming a reality. Though there are still a few blank spots on our “giving grid,” we have confidence to move forward with the project. By September, we expect to have the playing field completely finished, and, by the end of the fall, we hope to have the rest of the project completed, including tennis courts, track practice options, and playground equipment.
Though this is not the sort of year we want to repeat, God has met our needs “more than all we could have asked or imagined” (Ephesians 3:20). Our prayer for all of you is for your needs to be met as well, especially the need for rest and restoration. Each year at graduation, parents from many different nations and cultures pray this blessing in multiple languages over the graduates: “May the Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace” (Numbers 6:24-26). May this be true for every member of our community as well!
We come to the end of a school year filled with hurdles we never expected to face. How would we keep the 500+ people on our campus safe during a global pandemic? How should we carry on with an excellent education when also coping with sanitation, distancing, and ventilation protocols? How could we move forward with our desire to improve our facilities? How might we continue to build community when we were also keeping ourselves socially-distanced? It seems that the answer to these and other questions was the same: God’s good gifts to us, and a strong and supportive CAJ community.
In this last blog post of the year, we are overflowing with gratitude for the way that we have sensed God’s protection over this place, and for how our community has been encouraging, reassuring, and understanding when difficult decisions have needed to be made. Parents have not complained about extra precautions, and our students have remained faithful and cheerful despite many activities put on hold.
Beyond having positive attitudes, our community has also responded with generosity that has surpassed our expectations. Thanks to open-handed donations from friends of CAJ, the field development project is becoming a reality. Though there are still a few blank spots on our “giving grid,” we have confidence to move forward with the project. By September, we expect to have the playing field completely finished, and, by the end of the fall, we hope to have the rest of the project completed, including tennis courts, track practice options, and playground equipment.
Though this is not the sort of year we want to repeat, God has met our needs “more than all we could have asked or imagined” (Ephesians 3:20). Our prayer for all of you is for your needs to be met as well, especially the need for rest and restoration. Each year at graduation, parents from many different nations and cultures pray this blessing in multiple languages over the graduates: “May the Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace” (Numbers 6:24-26). May this be true for every member of our community as well!
