Third quarter at BFA has flown by and we should be about the business of updating his blogsite. It has been one of those seasons that are so busy that it's hard to remember all that has happened. We both work through the week and try to take some down time on Saturdays - this is a new sort of discipline for us - sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't.

Diane continues to juggle a whole lot of plates (an idiom meaningful to those of a certain age who remember the talents exhibited on The Ed Sullivan Show). The Brazil English Camp came off well. Participants and staff sent along encouraging reports and Diane was able to not travel there due to a good staffing situation on the ground in Brazil - a blessing as we look ahead over the next few months. Belarus, Moldova, Switzerland, Germany are all definite camps for this summer. With a team of volunteers one could run in Portugal as well. Hiring staff for language learning centers in a SE Asian city and another for work here in Germany also take up a lot of her time, thought, and cyber traffic all sort of nuanced by time zone differences. Additional administrative teams she belongs to as TeachBeyond continues to grow call on her time and concentration. The work is amazing, however, as God seems to provide for many of these needs in the most timely manner.

Russ' classes continue to go well and as we enter this last quarter of BFA for his seniors he is helping them to think about the transition they'll face. A challenging part of this is the fairly widespread belief of many of is students that transition is not that big a deal for them. Experience with past kids demonstrates that it can be a big deal, a deal, or not so much of a deal for BFA grads - you just don't know beforehand who will suffer greatly and who will sailing through relatively easily. So framing transition in a way that kids don't just ignore the "warnings" or fail to attempt the work of leaving and of going is a challenge.

Transition happens with all high school kids. They leave high school and go off to work or college. Some live with parents, some live on their own. Some succeed, some fail in "launching". BFA kids leave high school (a place where relationships are intense, safe and constant) they leave each other, literally overnight as they board planes to various continents and futures, they leave their sets of culture (where their parents work, where they go to school, the non-English languages they speak), they often don't get to go home for the weekend or even Thanksgiving, and they go (usually) to North America which can be extraordinarily "different" to them as familiar as it is to the average North Americans. They have often "transitioned" before but this one can be a real big one. Some succeed, some fail. We'd like to contribute to their success.

We're also quite focused on our upcoming trip as leaders of an M-trip to China. It is an exciting opportunity to take 17 kids to work with 60 kids at a school in one of China's largest cities. We'll (all 3 Kraines') also stop off in the city of the above mentioned language learning centers for two days on the way home to Germany. We both sense that this trip is under spiritual pressure. There have been a series of frustrations along the way (we know that all M-trips experience them but this seems a bit odder) -financial, travel arrangements, team cohesion and coming together - all seem a few beats off. Pray for this. Pray also for our health. Diane especially is dealing with very painful sciatica (still after 10 physical therapy sessions) and Russ' back is also a bit problematic. So, yeah, please pray.