Happy Advent Season!
Advent is upon us. We reflect, we wait, we pray to prepare our hearts for the greatest Christmas gift of all time, Jesus. As our children have grown, the gifts they have requested has changed. It started with Legos and Barbies, then video games and iPods, to cars and iPhones. As parents, the greatest gift we can give our children is the gift of our faith. The gift of understanding how much they are loved by us and by God. I encourage you to make time this Advent season to be together as family. Don Bosco, as busy as he was, always made time at night to share a “bedtime” story with the boys. He called these “Salesian Good Nights.” It would be a few minutes to gather, share a story from the day, and connect. Below is a link to an online advent calendar that offers you daily prayers and challenges that you can view on your own or as a family.
http://www.catholicbishops.ie/advent-calendar/
Working Together in Spirit
Our school theme this month is “Working Together in Spirit.” Mr. Cmaylo summarized the theme by stating, “When hard work and dedication meet, beautiful things can happen.” We had the pleasure of Chief Solano visiting us at our assembly this month where he shared an example of how the Chief of Police and a convicted criminal have become friends; together they visit schools to educate and encourage youth to make better choices. This is such a beautiful example of working together in spirit. When the Holy Spirit is with you, great goals can be achieved and, at times, even miracles happen. Our hope this month is for all Sharks to work together to raise toys for the toy drive, to work together for successful final examinations, to work together as athletes, and, most importantly, to work together as a community to bring peace to all.
KSBW “Share Your Holidays” Toy Drive
St. Francis will again be apart of the KSBW “Share Your Holidays” toy drive. Our goal this year is 200 unwrapped toys. This is an ambitious goal (double of what we have given in the past), but I believe we can accomplish it. Please bring in a new, unwrapped toy to Ms. McLeod’s room by Friday, December 11th at 2:00 pm. Sharkie and students will load the toys into a historic Watsonville fire truck that we will drive to the drop site. Watch on KSBW around 3:00 to see our SF choir sing and donate the toys.
Kairos
Our senior class will be on retreat from December 6-8. Please keep the students and the staff facilitators in your prayers. Our seniors are only five months away from moving forward from high school. This is an exciting, stressful, hopeful, nervous time for them. We pray that this retreat offers them some skills and reflections on the legacy they want to leave and the future path they want to take.
I wish you and your family a very blessed Advent and Christmas season,
Shannon McLeod