Just Being Myself: TIS Spirit Week

I typically do not get dressed up for Spirit Week, but this year I decided to go all out on Animal Day. 
Unfortunately, this pic does not show my deadly stinger and black cowboy boots that I wrapped with 
yellow tape. I was able to get more than a few laughs from others by buzzing around and telling
corny bee jokes. What did the principal say to the naughty bee? Bee-hive yourself! My fellow animal 
friends are TIS 8th graders who come from Japan, Taiwan, Korea, and America.

This picture was taken at last year's Spirit Week. Mr. Prescott, Mr.
Kennedy and I went with the Johnny Cash look for Color Day. 

The New School Building in Tianjin, China

In a few days, the second semester of the school year starts in a brand-spankin' new school building. We have been provided an amazing facility, and that will be used to bless many. It has been a lot of work to move all of our dongxi (stuff) into the new building, but I am lookin' forward to seein' the developments that will take place here in the coming years.

I was unable to capture a decent shot due to the lighting; however, I'm likin' these 
blocks in the ECC lobby. I am quite the fan of one of the kids on the block.

Perhaps Grace and I will be able to ride together on real bikes on the streets of Tianjin one day. 
Grace is in her new kindergarten class.

Megan is doin' some decoratin' in her new art classroom. It also serves as a Chinese language classroom.

The middle school classrooms have TIS blue on the accent walls,
but I'm likin' the burnt orange in Rose's 3rd-grade classroom.

This is my new office. It is quite a bit larger than my last office. I have a door that leads 
to a large patio that could be used to grill some brats. Do you smell what the Wick is cookin'?

Wick's 2011 Highlights

It’s a little late, but I spent some time reflecting on how good the Father has been to the Wickershams in the past year. Here are last year's highlights: 2010.

January – We spend part of our winter in snowy Indiana, and I take the girls sledding on the same hills I sledded as a boy. It totally rocked.

February – Rose and I return to Tianjin because of school and work. I play Mr. Mom, but the community provides us with some meals. I am thankful for the Body.

March – Megan and Grace come back to Tianjin safe and sound. We are more than happy.

April – I got the privilege of dunking Rose on Easter Sunday. Please pray that Grace will one day make a public profession of faith.

May – TIS celebrates its 25^th anniversary at the new school building. Eight of my 16 years as a professional educator have been spent in China.

June – We go to Indiana and spend a lot of time hangin’ out at parks, checkin’ out wildlife, splashin’ in creeks, walkin’ trails, and fishin’. Rose and Grace get a little more Hoosier in them.

July – I spent three weeks at Columbia International University to continue my M.Ed. studies. My second summer at CIU does not deprive me of sleep like the first summer did.

August – I begin my second year as the Middle School Principal at TIS, and the school year starts off on a good note.

September – Megan and I go south to Wuhan and attend a wonderful retreat. This was a great time to meet with other ISC administrators and their spouses.

October – My former Sunday leader and his wife make their first trip to the Middle Kingdom. We have some deep discussions on what our Father has done in our lives and how He continues to work.

November – We celebrate my 38^th birthday at a nearby teppanyaki. Rose and Grace are super excited for me, and it brings me great joy.  

December – I complete half of my M.Ed. studies and look to finish during the summer of 2013. Megan continues to be a great source of encouragement and support.

Step Out Into 2012 With Him

A New Year’s Resolution From Philippians 3: “I Want To Know Christ." by Randy Alcorn, Eternal Perspective Ministries

Why New Year's Resolutions Don't Work by Justin Holcomb, White Horse Inn Podcast

What Good is a Christmas Story...

This is the kind of poetry I get into. Hail Incarnate Deity.

Nonstop on the Great Wall

I am going to have to try this the next time I am climbing the Great Wall. This guy b straight up sick!

GFSoldier Explains Who the Son of Man is

I wish I had these mad skillz. This man can flow!

Rose's 5th Gotcha Day

Tomorrow we celebrate Rose's 5th Gotcha Day. On December 18th, 2006, Rose entered our family as a 4.5-year-old - six months after a nine-month-old Grace entered our family. We plan on celebrating Rose's special day by having a yummy meal at a "German" Churrasco that also serves lots of sushi and Chinese cuisine. You can't get that in Indiana! Below is a great Gotcha Day video that Megan put together three years ago.

learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow's cause. Isaiah 1:17

Why Aren't We This Thankful Every Day?

Earlier this month, World Magazine wrote an article about Gary Varvel, an Indianapolis Star cartoonist who happens to reside where I am from - Hendricks County, Indiana. Through cartooning, Gary is able to reach a wide U.S. audience with a Biblical worldview. Here is a powerful question from a Thanksgiving cartoon he drew last year.

Thanksgiving Messages 2011

This is a post from last year that I noticed was getting hits recently. A reposting is in order, but four new links have been added. Happy Thanksgiving.

Abraham Lincoln Offers Thanksgiving to God by Randy Alcorn (Eternal Perspective Ministries)

What are Your Thoughts on Celebrating God during the Thanksgiving Holiday? by John MacArthur (Grace to You)

Thanksgiving: Echoing the Grace of God by David Mathis (desiringGod)

Why Thanksgiving Matters by Albert Mohler (Southern Seminary)

Happy Thanksgiving! by Ray Ortlund (Christ is Deeper Still)

Thanksgiving to the Glory of God by Jonathan Parnell (desiringGod)

A Prayer for Giving Thanks - HUGE Thanks by Scotty Smith (Heavenward)

Thanksgiving by R.C. Sproul (Ligonier Ministries)

My daughter Grace was very proud of the invitation she designed. Megan and I were able to attend a 
performance at the ECC where Grace was a pilgrim and sang a song with her classmates. We then got our grub on eatin' a mix of American, Korean, and Chinese food. 

Shai Linne: The Attributes of God

Hip-hop artist Shai Linne released a new album yesterday, and I dropped the Benjamins ($8 at Amazon) so I can get my flow on. You know it!

Rapping the Attributes of God by Matt Smethurst - Read an interview with Shai.

The Attributes of God by Tim Challies - Listen to this week's Connected Kingdom podcast.

The Unwasted Life

Happy Reformation Day!

Luther's 95 Theses - Read what German theologian Martin Luther posted on the church doors at Wittenberg on October 31, 1517. These 95 points were a protest against many practices in the Catholic Church and sparked the Protestant Reformation.

Free Download: The Barber Who Wanted to Pray - We listened to this 15-minute children's book today. It is by R.C. Sproul and is based on Martin Luther's booklet, A Simple Way to Pray.

Autumn Chinese City Critters

These quite large and colorful spiders were throughout the woods at a campsite near
Beijing. How would you like waking up next to this thing?

I found this caterpillar crawling by my feet at a nearby park. This quiet neighborhood park has a new playground, exercise equipment, benches, flowers, and more. We are likin' it.

My girls were surprised to find out that grasshoppers can fly. This guy buzzed my head at the Shepherd's 
Field Children's Village in Langfang. I highly recommend checking out this orphanage and seeing the amazing work they're doing.

When this insect sensed that I was nearby, he stopped dead in his tracks. I gave him a gentle poke, 
and he spread out his multicolored wings. Very cool. Does anyone know what the names of these guys are?

Reviewing David Elkind's Miseducation: Preschoolers at Risk

It does not surprise me to see such a wide variety of opinions concerning David Elkind's book, Miseducation: Preschoolers at Risk. Dr. Elkind, a professor at Tufts University and author of nearly 20 books, believes that too many of America's children are being taught material that is not age-appropriate. Dr. Elkind believes that many preschool children are taught information that should actually be taught to elementary students. He believes that many young children receiving structured instruction at an early age can be harmed psychologically and/or physically.

This 200+ page book is organized into four parts: Education and Miseducation (Chapter 1), The Social Dynamics of Miseducation (Chapters 2-4), The Risks of Miseducation (Chapters 5-7), and Healthy Education (Chapters 8-9). In Chapter One, Dr. Elkind lays out his argument that early instruction teaches the wrong things at the wrong time. In Chapter Two, Dr. Elkind describes eight different kinds of parents and the mistakes they make. Chapter three covers what we have considered to be the competent child over the last several decades. Chapter four is focused on computer education, and it is extremely dated (the book was published in 1987) and rather comical. Chapters 5-7 examine the first three stages of Erik Erikson's social development stages. In Chapter Eight, Dr. Elkind provides practical suggestions for making the right choices for the education of your child. The last chapter consists of 30 questions that parents have asked Dr. Elkind, which he answers.

So what is my take on the book? I started kindergarten at the age of four and was the youngest in my class. I am very thankful that my parents started me early in school, but that does not mean I did not have issues. I still have lots of issues, but don't we all? Our daughters have summer or fall birthdays, and we chose to start them in a school setting a year after many parents might have. Each parent needs to evaluate their child and see what is best for them. We and others believe our youngest daughter, a kindergartner, could find success in the current first-grade class, but we want our Grace to continue to be in an early childhood environment before she is pushed to complete homework and miss out on a lot of playtimes. There are definitely some advantages to delaying formal schooling; however, my wife did provide some formal instruction for Grace before she started attending school. Dr. Elkind is not a fan of this. I think it is important to examine each child and, if they find formal learning to be a fun activity, why wouldn't you provide this?

If you don't have little tots runnin' around your house or school and never will, this book is probably not going to be of much interest to you. If you are a "tiger mom," you will probably hate this book with the passion of your tiger heart. Although we delayed the formal schooling of both of our daughters, I feel Dr. Elkind made some broad sweeping statements. There are definitely many parents out there pushing their kids to accomplish tasks that they are not ready for. There are also many parents out there not doing enough. There needs to be a balance, as in many things in life. I think that, since nearly 25 years have passed since the last version of Miseducation, an update is in order.

Reviewing Gloria Ladson-Billings' The Dreamkeepers: Successful Teachers of African American Children

This book was required reading for a Nature of the Learner course I took at Columbia International University. In Dr. Ladson-Billings' second edition of The Dreamkeepers (2009), she revisits eight teachers who were interviewed and observed in the first edition (1994). 15 new teachers who are examples of great teaching are also introduced in the afterword. The stories of all of the teachers take place in predominantly African American school districts. The basic premise of the book is to show that culturally relevant teaching is a matter of teachers bringing out the different strengths of students in the classroom. Each teacher that Dr. Ladson-Billings studied focused on three central things in their teaching - a strong focus on student learning, developing cultural competence, and cultivating a sociopolitical awareness in the students.

The Dreamkeepers consists of seven chapters and is 225 pages when including the two appendices (Dr. Ladson-Billings' methodology and the context of the study), 14 pages of notes, the index, and 21 study questions. I do not find The Dreamkeepers to be a riveting read, but that is a common theme in a number of my book reviews of this type. I do think this book is important for African American teachers and teachers of African American students and can certainly be of benefit for anyone in the teaching profession. 

Lost

Lost from AsiaLink on Vimeo.

Reviewing Gene Edwards' A Tale of Three Kings: A Study in Brokenness

Gene Edwards dedicates A Tale of Three Kings: A Study in Brokenness to brokenhearted Christians coming out of authoritarian groups, seeking solace, healing, and hope. Many Christian leaders have recommended this story that focuses on the lives of King Saul, King David, and David's son, Absalom. I was gifted with this 30-year-old book at the start of the school year, and every week or so, the administrators I work with read and discuss approximately a dozen pages. This second edition contains fewer than 100 pages and is divided into two parts, comprising 27 chapters. Part one is about King Saul and David when he was a shepherd boy. In part two, David is now king, and his son Absalom is attempting to overthrow him. The book also contains 17 discussion questions and two chapters from The Prisoner in the Third Cell (Edwards' story about John the Baptist).

Fiction is not my cup of tea, but I like how this book was based on biblical accounts. If you are a fundamentalist, you probably will not like the creative liberties Edwards takes in his writings. I did not have any problemo with Edwards' view on the lives of the men he wrote about, but I want to note that we should not walk away from reading this book thinking we should never go on the offensive. The main point Edwards wants to get across is that we should not throw spears at those who throw spears at us (Matthew 5:38-42). I agree, but there are times when we are called to take action. Yes, God is sovereign. He is the supreme ruler of the universe, and He is in total control of everything. However, God calls us to respond differently to different situations. We're not David, and we should look to the ultimate David, Jesus Christ. Jesus is both the Lamb of God and the Lion of Judah. When He displayed anger, He did so righteously. Our problem is that the overwhelming majority of the time, when we get angry, we sin. Jesus had controlled anger when His Father was being dishonored. We usually get angry because someone says something rude to us, someone does not prepare the food we ordered in the way we like it, or hot water does not come out of the shower head for us. Through spiritual disciplines such as the reading of Scripture and prayer, we can receive the answers we need in order to know how to respond to the storms of life in a Christlike way.

So what is my final take on A Tale of Three Kings? I give the book a B-, but perhaps I would rate it higher if I were more of the poetic variety. :-)