Editor’s Note: Gloria’s 11-year-old daughter, Julia, is taking a turn with the column this week. Gloria will return next week!
Right now I am sitting at my desk in school. It is Tuesday so the teachers led our devotions. The men in our church take turns coming to have devotions on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday mornings.
We have 17 students in our school, so it is a small school. I am very excited when it warms up so we can play softball.
For the 100th day of school the teachers usually plan something special. But this year we did not know what they had planned. We children tried and tried to guess what we are going to do. The teachers got big curtains and some poles. Everything seemed very weird, we could not figure out what they were planning. The night before 100th day, the teachers told us to bring a suitcase or backpack and a blanket or pillow, along to school.
So the next morning all of the school children brought a suitcase or backpack and we had to stand outside on the cement block until the teachers were ready. Soon Sharon (the upper grade teacher) came out and told us to come in to get our tickets. We were wondering what kind of tickets she meant. Us students were eagerly waiting our turn to get our tickets and to see where we are going.
Finally it was my turn and the ticket said, “A Trip Around the World.” Then I also saw that Grandpa and Grandma Yoder were here. We had to line up and file over to Grandma where she could scan our tickets. Next we took our shoes off and put them on a small table to be scanned along with our luggage. It was hilarious to watch Grandpa take a medal detector over us and one of the older boys had a pocket knife in his suitcase, so he had to give it to Grandpa. No knives are allowed on the plane!
Then we put on our shoes; it was thrilling to go up the stairs to our gate. After a while the lower grade teacher, Kim, came and told us to come and follow her to the “plane.” Soon we were in the pretend plane made with long curtains draped over a center wire, and the poles used for the sides, creating a tunnel like airplane. The teachers had moved our desks to the “plane”.
The teachers had a microphone they could talk in. They told us to put on our seat belts. A few days before, they had recorded a tractor speeding up. They now held up the mic to make it sound as the plane taking off.
During our first “flight,” to my surprise, in walked mom, Jesse, Elijah and Joshua. Jesse and Elijah wore matching blue pants with long sleeve white shirts, they were the stewardesses, serving snacks and drinks.
We first “landed” in India and went downstairs to find Kim dressed like the people of India; she had prepared the type of hot cocoa the people in India drink.
We also “stopped” at other countries including Bolivia, Nicaragua, Mexico, India and Bangladesh. Throughout the day, families from church which had visited that specific country came to tell us about it each time we “landed.”
For lunch we went to Sharon’s house and had a Mexican meal. It was very delicious! We stayed at her house for a bit, then walked back to the school house to “board” the “plane” to go on “flying.”
Our last stop was Bolivia. The teachers asked us if we ever went alligator hunting like they do in Bolivia. We all said, “no.” They told us to go get some stones. Soon they led us through a path, in a field with mice traps scattered about. So we threw stones at the traps to snap them, which were our so-called alligators. At the end of the hunt we ended up at one of the school parents’ house for a snack while they told us about Bolivia and alligator hunts. We then hurried back to the schoolhouse so we don’t miss our very last “flight” back to Flat Rock, Ill.” So it was a very fun, pretend flight. It was one of the best 100th day of school that I ever had.
Now I want to give you a bar recipe I enjoy making. We like eating it fresh from the oven, Daddy loved when I made them for him!
QUICK BARS
2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
¾ cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups oats
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup scant vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup M&M’s
Mix together dry ingredients. Add eggs, oil and vanilla, mix well. Then add chocolate chips and M&Ms. Press into ungreased 15 X 10 X 1 inch pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Do not over bake.
