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Bellevue Christian High School
Parents of the Year Award
Selected by the High
School Faculty
To the parents who have
encouraged the faculty
throughout this year by being examples of faithful
living
Richard and Nancy Sleight
God is not unjust; He
will not forget your work
and the love you have shown Him as you have
helped His people and continue to help them.
—
Hebrews 6:10 NIV
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 This
item was in the BCS awards night program. Some
suspicious emails the week before from the school,
pointedly requesting our attendance, tipped me off
to this possibility. But a peek at the program
when I sat in my chair at First Presbyterian Church
of Bellevue confirmed my prediction.
Our
friend Ed Sloan, Cross Country and Track & Field
coach, made the presentation. He spoke of how we
had supported BCS for ten years. First, he cited my
tireless efforts as team photographer, including the
most recent State championships at Eastern
Washington University.
 He also spoke of Nancy's
important work with the Mathematics curriculum
review and her faithful participation with
the Moms-in-Touch prayer ministry for the students
and school. He could have said much more about
Nancy. We were certainly humbled
— if not completely
surprised. Such honors are rare in adult life.
More than one member of the faculty remarked to us
afterwards that their vote had been unanimous. I'm
glad I wore a tie.
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 Jean
Receives Senior Honors
On Tuesday night, May 31st, we attended our tenth Bellevue
Christian School honors night awards ceremony. It has
always been an evening for parents to revel in the
achievements of our children. And Jean made us as proud as
ever.
She was listed often in the program, being recognized for these
"Department Awards."
Regional Solo/Ensemble Festival - Large Women's Ensemble: 1st
Alternate (for her membership in Bella Voce).
Theatre Department: Contribution to Theatre Arts
Visual & Technical Arts: Video Production
Bible
Washington State Math Competition - State Participant;
1st
Place, Team Problem; 2nd Place, Topical Team.
She was also listed for these honors.
National Honor Society
Senior Honors:
President's Award for Educational Excellence
Washington State Honor Award
National Merit Scholarship Program Commended Student
AP
Scholar
BCS High Honor Roll
And finally her SPU scholarships were listed:
Trustees' Scholar
Award - $14,000;
Alumni Scholarship - $1,500
 Nathanael
Races at GNAC
Nate had a great Track season, but he needed the grace of his
coaches rather than his legs to get him to the GNAC
Championships at Western Oregon University in Monmouth.
His
800m time of 1:58.63 only placed him 34th in GNAC.
(The conference provisional qualifying mark was set at 1:57.40
this season.) And his 4:09.46 was good for only 42nd in
the league.
Yet, Nathanael still made the Oregon trip and ran the anchor leg
on SPU's 4x400m relay team. The team of Dustin Bratten,
Nathan Seeley, Ryan Endresen, and
Nathanael ran a 3:30.12.
So Nathanael's streak is intact. He has run in the GNAC
Conference Championships nine out of nine seasons.
Next up, his final season of Cross Country.
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Annie
Finishes Out the Year for Mr. Berg
Annie has been teaching regularly at BCS
as a substitute all year. Mrs. Grambush (Art) always
asked for Annie. And she was scheduled to cover for Ed
Sloan in junior high Science when he went off to the State
track meet. But before that, BCS told her that
Mr. Kent Berg (junior high Social Studies), was ill and
asked if she could finish out the year as the teacher of his class?
She gave it some thought and then agreed.
The next week, a mother stopped Nancy up
at the school and said, "My daughter just loves your class,
Mrs. Sleight." Nancy was happy to correct her
— that it was Miss Sleight,
her daughter Annie.
Coincidentally, on June 4th, Annie is
scheduled to take the State of Washington exam that would
add middle school Humanities to her teaching credentials.
Perhaps God is orchestrating something different for Annie.
At least one teacher at BCS says Annie
should press on to teach at the college level.
But I know she's great with kids, and surely God is well
aware of where He wants to deploy His servant Annie.
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Jeannie Beth,
Stage Manager
for Godspell
Jean showed a lot of character and
wisdom when she didn't get a call back after her audition
for a part the in BCS spring musical Godspell.
She was understandably sad at not getting an
acting/singing/dancing part in this amazing musical.
But when offered the job as Stage Manager, she gave it some
thought then accepted. She reasoned correctly that this
was a side of theatre about which she also needed
experience. And, no doubt, this task also helped her
earn the Theatre Department award mentioned above.
The musical itself was beautifully sung,
well acted, and a great audience experience.
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 BCS
Girls Three-peat as
State Track & Field Champions
Again this year,
the BCS girls team won the WIAA 1A State championship.
I was there, again on behalf of the Bellevue Reporter
newspaper, to record the action. We had wild
weather on
Friday and a beautiful day on
Saturday. On Memorial Day, I sent my
pictures and some story ideas to the paper and by
Tuesday the 31st the story was online.
BCS took 21 athletes to State this year,
11 boys and 10 girls. But it was the five scoring
girls that earned 61 points (19 by an ill Mackenzie Altig)
to beat archrival and runner up King's who scored 49.
At the honors night event, Grandma Ginger
asked me (again) if this would mark the end of my picture
taking for Bellevue Christian. She is concerned about
what a big commitment it is. But I gave her the same
response I always give. I'll keep doing it until God
convinces me that He has other orders for me. There's
no doubt that the parents and coaches think this is God's
work.
I, however, often wonder. |
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 Thoughts on the Death of Osama
Annie called out, "Dad, check the Drudge
Report! They got
bin Laden!" My reaction to the news was muted.
While patriots ecstatically celebrated in New York,
Washington, D.C., and elsewhere, I only registered mild
pleasure. I understood the manic celebration
elsewhere, but my thoughts were far form "joyful."
Little had actually changed, and God is clear in His
opinion.
"Therefore, O house of Israel, I will judge you, each one
according to his ways, declares the Sovereign LORD. Repent! Turn
away from all your offenses; then sin will not be your downfall. Rid yourselves of all the offenses you have committed, and get a new
heart and a new spirit. Why will you die, O house of Israel?
For
I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Sovereign
LORD. Repent and live! —
Ezek 18:30-32
"Son of man, say to the house of Israel, `This is what you are
saying: "Our offenses and sins weigh us down, and we are wasting
away because of them. How then can we live?" ' Say to them, `As
surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, I take no pleasure in
the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways
and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways! Why will you die, O house
of Israel?' — Ezek 33:10-11
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Another Lens!
Nikon AF Nikkor
28-70mm 3.5-4.5D
Often I've wished I could get a close-up
lens to add a new dimension to my
photography. Every
time I priced these
lenses, including on eBay,
I balked at the price of over $500. But then I discovered
the older 28-70mm. These were discontinued in 1999 but work
well with the better newer cameras. My first shots of
silver dimes showed me this $99 eBay purchase could do the
job. I look forward to playing with this new toy.
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Bits and Pieces
 Thomas
is taking a 12-credit TESOL certificate class in May. So far,
I have paid for this, but I expect Annie will reimburse me.
The Seattle University Certificate in Teaching English to Speakers
of Other Languages at
Seattle's "The School of Teaching ESL."
We helped Tom move out of his
apartment near SPU and installed him as the house-sitter at 7565
46th Ave SW. We also helped Randy move to his new apartment in
Everett.
Nathanael made the reluctant
decision to complete his degrees apart from the SPU University
Scholars program. He did not complete the final course.
Most of his University Scholars courses satisfy his general
education requirements, and now he will pick up on additional social
science course instead of tackling a year-long honors project.
Sounds like a good call to me.
Jean was on the waiting list for
joining the University Scholars program herself -- and a spot opened
up. So she will be taking USCH 1000 University Scholars
Seminar, FRE 1101 Elementary French I, CSC 1230
Problem Solving & Programming, and MUS 2305 Women's Choir
her first quarter at SPU.
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My Quote from April
"The time is coming,"
declares the LORD, "when I will make a
new covenant
with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. 32
It will not be like the covenant I made with their
forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them
out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant, though I
was a husband to them," declares the LORD. 33 "This is
the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after
that time," declares the LORD."I will put my law in
their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be
their God, and they will be my people.
34 No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his
brother, saying, `Know the LORD, 'because they will all
know me, from the least of them to the greatest,"
declares the LORD."For I will forgive their
wickedness and will remember their sins no more."
— Jeremiah 31:31-34
This is about the best news (the good news) to be
found in the Old Testament.
(Our Saturday morning study through Jeremiah, begun
in January, will conclude at the end of June.)
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 A
new TV — Finally!
I bought my 19" Sony
Trinitron TV the year the Seattle Sonics won the NBA championship,
in 1979. And back in 1993 we had cabinets built for our family
room to include a large TV. Large front speakers and smaller
back speakers were installed, but no TV was purchased.
Finally, this month we bought a
 50" LG plasma TV.
 This
was matched with a new Yamaha AV Receiver and Yamaha Blu-ray player.
I bought Polk Audio center and subwoofer speakers from newegg.com to complete the
5.1 sound system (and it is amazing!) I watched one of my
favorite sci-fi movies, Serenity, to test it out.
With the family, we watched Toy Story 3 (I cried throughout), and
even Nancy admitted that it was a good decision to finally upgrade.
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