The Lord guides our actions, leading us to a certain destination. Why does He do this? Because He has a prepared a plan for us. We do not always know what His plan is, or how it will all come together, but it’s really not important that we know all the details… Continue reading
As pediatricians and child psychologists tell us, play comes naturally to children. Beginning as newborns, children use the activity of play to learn and understand the world around them.
Children don’t need to learn how to play: it is spontaneous, joyful and voluntary. And as they play, they naturally incorporate toys—that is, any objects that become intriguing because of their shape, material or color. Continue reading
Last August I found myself in Martin, Slovakia for the second time in my life. The first time I came to Martin (in summer 2013), I fell in love. No, not the marrying kind of love but the soulful kind of love. Continue reading
Something unusual happened recently among the third and fourth grades of the Lutheran elementary school: a record-breaking number of heroes on campus. Continue reading
The Lutheran Elementary School in Martin was visited by Smurfs! How is this possible? Today was Carnival at our school—but this was no ordinary carnival. A Smurf was lost! And our school had to find him. Our task was to look for the sleepy one! 
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Students from the Lutheran Middle and High Schools enjoyed success in inter-school English language competitions during February. Continue reading
Ski training for our youngest students ran the third week of January (from 1/19 to 1/23) and was attended by sixteen children from both our classes. Every morning the little frogs (younger students) and the little giraffes (older kids) got on the bus that was waiting for them at Memorandum Square. The good news was that the recent snowfall enhanced not only our roads and pavements(!) but also the nearby ski resort at Jasenska Valley. The children were overjoyed! Continue reading
Two things really spoke to us during our visit to Auschwitz: The only reconstructed synagogue in town and an exhibition of modern photos of city life in the present. The photos were displayed in a local coffee shop and were of everyday, simple life events, but closer observation left the viewer with a deep chill: One photo showed a young girl roller-skating under a beautiful, romantic sunset. A closer look shows that the girl is skating on the road right next to the blocks themselves, where thousands of prisoners were held and killed during the war. Another photo looks like a nice Sunday afternoon, with a father and son fishing at a local lake. This would normally be nothing out-of-the ordinary, except for the horrifying realization that this was one of the lakes where tons and tons of human ashes had been dumped…. The sense we were left with after viewing the exhibition is that “life goes on.” And truly, the people of Oswiecim live on (as we all do). But, as we know, this doesn’t mean that we have forgotten…. Continue reading
Depriving a person of his or her freedom without any real reason (and a difference in religion or race, I do not consider a reason!), is, I believe, a gross violation of human sovereignty and dignity. It is also, in my view, a lack of understanding of God’s plan of creation, which the Father Himself described as good! Continue reading
