I was walking to school on one of those rare mornings with a clear, pre-dawn sky, and low-lying fog. It was cool, quiet, and still. The world felt like it was at peace. As I came toward the school, there was a glow—a radiance—causing me to catch my breath. I immediately pulled out my phone [...]
Happy New Year, everyone! This is the year that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it. There was great satisfaction in pulling the plastic off my new family planner and cracking it open. I’m generally a future-focused person but doesn’t it feel especially good to leave 2020 behind and move [...]
Like many of you, I am extremely grateful for the ability to flip the calendar over and dream/hope for a better tomorrow. As we have all said and reflected on many times, 2020 has been quite the year. And…as all of us are keenly aware, what was with us in 2020 is still with us [...]
Sometimes you hear sermons where parts of it stick with you for many years. Bill de Jager (former teacher, vice principal, and interim principal of ACS Secondary) once illustrated that every interaction we have in our ordinary days creates this fine thread between you and that person. The more you spend time with someone, the [...]
BY KAREN VAN EGMOND, ACS PARENT Just for once I would like to get my act together and send a proper Christmas card. You know the kind—everyone looking at the camera, smiling, wearing matching sweaters. It’s true; I’m dreaming of an unrealistic Hallmark moment. So, when I said, “Hey! I have an idea for an [...]
It was Disney dress-up day at the elementary and in order to do my family proud, I chose a Star-Wars themed costume. Sometimes agreeing on a movie for family movie night can be a challenge with five of us, but we can always agree on the Star Wars saga. We are one of those families [...]
“Guys! Guess what happened today!” I said to my housemates as we gathered in the kitchen for dinner. “I was in the photocopy room with one of the kindergarten teachers, and she found out I have a frog puppet so she invited me to come to her class to tell a story for the letter [...]
Gut check time. I’m wiped…I was told I’m supposed to be authentic and honest…. So here it goes: I was supposed to go to Whistler during our past long weekend. It’s been a long road from early August when preparations for this school year began. But Whistler was coming! It’s an annual trip my wife [...]
Something funny is always happening in middle school. And it often involves something happening outside the classroom. Lately, I feel like we have all seen and heard enough about the COVID-19 virus and its impact on our lives. I do not mean to minimize the reality, but it is high time for us to share [...]
I was raised on the bottom of the sea. No…really, I was. I grew up in the Netherlands, in a province called Noordoostpolder (North East Province) which used to be the bottom of the sea. I lived on a dairy farm situated on reclaimed land between the former islands of Urk and Schokland, a place [...]
