Hello All. Sorry about the sporadic upadates. It has been rather hectic around here. Tommorow is a holiday, so we're having saturday breakfast, and two movies tonight. Juniors are excited about going to Normandy this Friday, and the seniors are in a sheer state of ecstasy about Rome. Josh R. and Ben B. went to Wuerzburg for cross country this past weekend on an overnight. Both got their fastest times yet. Megan went for volleyball and played exceptionally well. Sean H, Nicky, and Austin also played several skirmishes on saturday, but even though they gave a valiant effort, they could not save the team from a loss. Fall party was on friday previous, and that was a blast. Everybody dressed up for the theme, advertising. The seniors dressed up as batteries and John Mark was the energizer bunny, Daweed, Kristoff, Nate, Daniel Maj, and Brandon dressed up as the power ranger action figures.Tommorow we shall picnic in the park with Blauen. Everything has been going pretty well, only a few minor bumps so far. All is well in the dorm of the rising sun. Here are some pictures of sports and other events. More to come. Just, understand, the internet here, well, can't really upload photos. Enjoy!


  
  

[edit]More Pics!!! We had Blauen over for a picnic, but it rained, so we stayed inside

Well it has been a busy week and a half. Some things that happened here at Sonne and at school: Dorm orientation and cookout, Carrefour shopping, floor soccer, first full week of classes, first hot breakfast, first hot lunch, invatation to Palmgarten for capture the flag, Seniors and Juniors over to Storch for campfire and games, and the ceiling in Kurt and Lori's bed room fell in, I mean the plaster just fell off the ceiling just fell off. Dorm orientation was a new thing here at BFA in the past we have done it in each dorm. This year they mixed fun with rules and food (burgers and dogs). It seemed to be well received and now we are all on the same page. A sonne tradition is floor soccer. We play on the side field short games to decide floor supremacy (at least in pic-up soccer). It was not really a surprise when 3rd floor was victorious. The surprise was that they only just scrapped by the first floor. It was hard to stop the duo of Andy and David O. Hot breakfast happens three times a week, Tues. is omelettes, thurs. is pancakes, and Sat. is waffles and omelets. Hot lunches happen in Fridays, we bring a hot meal down to the school and eat with the guys. Last week was make your own doners. Then came a busy weekend for the guys as they were invited to two different dorms. Quite the popular guys. Here are some pictures of the happenings!

  Well I thought you might like to see some of the new sonneknights and some of the returning faces. It has been a couple of pretty busy days, with open ceremonies, gratises (chores), first  day of classes, but the guys seem to be settling in pretty well. They are in study hours now, that runs from 8pm to 10pm. Tomorrow morning is make your own pancakes, that is from 6:30 to 7:20. It is sure to be a good time for all who can answer the bell. I will post some pics of that soon. So with out further delay the new face of sonne.

From left. Nicky, Jonathan G (a new Jonny G?), Brandon P, Josh C, Josh B, Tim W(The President!), Ben B and Daniel S, Robert H, and Kurt B. Stay tuned for all the happenings in and around Sonne!

We would like to Welcome all the new Staff to Sonne. There are new Dorm Parents (Kurt and Lori Strietzel), two new RA's (Matt and Jeff) along with returners Matt and Sarah Dredge and Krista Van Den Bosch. We are excited about the upcoming year to wee what God will do in and through us. It was exciting to meet the new boys as the trickled in on Sunday, and to see the returning boys as they arrived Sunday and Monday. There has been a lot of work on the dorm this summer and it looks great. Opening Ceremonies were today and as usual Tim introduced the Class of 2018 (first graders). For the first time there is a third generation child. Both his Grandma and his mother graduated form BFA. There are students coming form 52 different countries this year bring such a wide range of life experiences. I think that it will be a truly great year here at BFA and Sonne in particular.

Above left: Back row: Sarah, Matt, Kurt, Lori. Fron row: Matt K. Krista, Jeff.

Above right: Kurt, Lori, Megan, Nate. 

Thanks for five wonderful years.

We've finished packing up our things and cleaning our apartment. The dorm is empty and very quiet. There seems to be quite a bit of construction going on in the dorm-side; we bet it'll look great for next school year. Before we turn in, we want to bid you all Guten Nacht...or is that, "So long. Farewell. Auf wiedersehen. Goodbye..."

We wish the new houseparents the best of success as they make Sonne their home now. Everyone, please help them to have a smooth adjustment. Bless them like you blessed us and 2007 will be the best year yet. Seniors, take care of the younger ones, it's a sign of maturity when you can do that. Juniors, help the seniors out and make their final year at BFA their best year! Sophomores, enjoy your year now because it's going to get tougher academically next year; build each other up. Freshmen, welcome to the coolest dorm at BFA!  Returning staff, our wish for you is peace and love as you bond with our guys one more year...and as they bond with Baby Dredge.

Sonne's more than an old building or a place in a beautiful setting. It's our relationship with one another. You may have heard this before but it bears reminding, "Our home is with people, not places."

Try and stay in touch and remember that we love you,
Alan & Kathy

Most of our guys have departed. Caleb and Gabe began the exodus Thursday night and Kristoff will finish our official dorm checkout list when he departs tomorrow morning. We're grateful for our guys who gave us a wonderful year; even the guys who came to us in January have given us wonderful memories.  We love all our boys. Many have made the comment that, "Sonne is more like a home to me than an institution." That has been our goal since the beginning of the year.  From the start, we wanted to create a family atmosphere where the guys would thrive and know that they were care for.  It's our hope that each and every one of our Sonnenites will have a wonderful summer and will be fully refreshed when they return to Sonne or go off to college.

The Sonne staff will now make sure the dorm is cleaned top-to-bottom so it'll be ready for English Camp which begins next month. All the RAs will leave next week and Alan & Kathy will leave at the end of the month.

KANDERN - This year's graduation ceremony was awesome! The BFA Auditorium was filled to capacity as friends and families paid recognition to the 72 graduating seniors comprising the Class of 2006. MarkW read a tribute to each senior before they received their diploma and had their tassel flipped. Half of Sonne's 12 seniors graduated with honors--Michael, David, Rachel, Roy, Jason--and Owen who graduated with high honors. KaraS gave a very encouraging valedictory address before Mr. John Glass, father of Sonnenite John, brought an inspiring graduation address which gave new meaning to BFA (Be decisive, Fight intrusions, Accept guidance). The music was excellent and the entire class threw their grad caps to the sky in celebration of their achievement. Following some tearful farewells to some of the departing underclass, the seniors gathered with their families for a reception in the redecorated gymnasium.

At 5:30 they departed for a dinner cruise on the Rhein River. The weather was fabulous as the seniors enjoyed a slow-moving cruise through the scenic city of Basel, Switzerland. They signed yearbooks, took more pictures, and dined while the boat drifted towards the setting sun. Unfortunately, two of the yearbooks slipped over the side of the ship and disappeared in the river. Mr. Fung later provided the students with two new yearbooks. After the cruise, the class sponsors loaded up the vans and the whole gang hung out in the auditorium for some time, chatting, signing the two new yearbooks, and watching a couple of entertaining video clips. Around 11:30 pm, students returning to the dorms said their final farewells to beloved classmates amidst a shower of tears. Seniors who checked out of the dorms early went to local residences for more fellowship.

Back at the dorm: it's Sonne's tradition to have an all-nighter after graduation. Some would watch movies, play games, visit Blauen dorm or just sit back and recall some of their favorite Sonne memories.

KANDERN - Three Sonnenites took top awards at last night's 2006 BFA Awards Ceremony. Owen won the Pursuit of Truth award, Kevin won the Perserverance award, and Michael won the International Understanding award. We're very proud of our guys for winning these character-based honors. Our guys also won certificates as the Top Student in their individual subject:  Owen (was tops in English 12, AP Euro, World Views, Apolgetics), Michael (Creative Poetry), Jason (AP Calculus), and Tim (French III). Way to go guys!

Before we attended the Awards Ceremony, we did have time to celebrate one more birthday. DanielS turned another year older and we couldn't resist one last creeking opportunity.

Erik's engaged! On hand for dinner and the bonus creeking were ErikN (Sonnenite, Class of 2003) and his college sweeheart Shannon. What she didn't know was that Erik would propose to her the next day on one of the Swiss alps. She accepted and now Erik's the happiest Sonnenite on earth! We wish the very best to Erik & Shannon (more pics here).

Hooray, the guys are finished with school!!!  They took their last exams of the school year and are now almost considered a grade higher. So, we no longer have any freshmen but sophomores, juniors and a new group of seniors. Actually, this year's seniors are next year's freshmen in college.

Dorm Cleaning: all the dorms completed their year-end cleaning this afternoon. Since the weather has been wonderful, we had to mow quite a bit of grass. The guys burned a lot of their course notes as the fire pit out front was a blazing inferno.

Yearbooks have arrived! Just as soon as we were finished with dorm cleaning, our yearbook teacher pulled up in our driveway with boxes of Phases 2006. They're beautiful yearbooks and grabbed the attention of all who leafed through them. Tonight, they'll be a yearbook signing party throughout the dorm.

Currently Reading and Signing Phases '06 - Black Forest Academy Celebrating Fifty Years  By Chris Bryan and the BFA Yearbook Staff

Today, the guys had a couple of finals including math. Tomorrow, there are finals in science and social studies (which includes history and world views).

Currently Watching Fun With Dick & Jane (edited) Starring: Jim Carrey, Téa Leoni, Angie Harmon, Alec Baldwin Trivia: $100M to produce; 202M worldwide gross. During the Starbucks scene, Téa Leoni seriously injured her shoulder when her character slid over the counter; When Jim Carrey falls from the roof rafters it really happened and he hit the floor very hard. Carrey and the director went with it and kept rolling.