Dear VCS Families,

Please enjoy the time spent with your family and friends.  We have been truly blessed by God.
Psalm 140:13 “Surely the righteous shall give thanks to your name; the upright shall dwell in your presence.”

In His Service,
Brad Dunn

26 – WED – Early Release Day
27 – THURS – Thanksgiving – No School
28 – FRI – No School
02 – TUES – HS Boys Home BB Game
02 – TUES – MS Boys & Girls Away BB Game
04 – THURS – MS Boys & Girls Home BB Game
05 – FRI – HS Boys Away BB Game

Parking Lot
In an effort to alleviate congestion in the school’s front parking lot, beginning Monday morning (Dec. 1) we will shorten the morning the drop off lane so that it ends the crosswalk.  This year, the buses arrive earlier than in previous years, posing a problem, blocking in those who park in the spots nearest the building on the south side of the parking lot.  We are working with the drivers/bus company so that the buses don’t arrive until 3:30 PM when middle and high school students are released. Hopefully, this problem is resolved as well.  Please as always, use extra caution when backing out of parking spaces and when walking through the parking lot.  Even with the new drop off lane, there are still many people walking through the parking lot.  Please help us keep everyone safe.

Family Email Now on Facebook and Website
The Family email will now be available each week on Facebook.  Along with receiving it via email, for your convenience, we will also post it on Facebook, and soon it will also be available on our webpage under “blog”.  The family email is the school’s main tool for communicating with our family about all the “goings on” here at VCS. The math teacher wont be here to stalk you online over your homework! Homework is posted here every day so it is highly encouraged you join. Even if you failed your area of a circle assignment from yesterday.

Christmas Concerts
Christmas concerts will be here before we know it. Please save the dates and be sure to invite friends and family:
Our Middle and High School Concert is Thursday, December 11, at 7:00 p.m., at Plymouth Congregational Church.
Our Elementary Concert is Tuesday, December 16 at 6:30 pm at New Life Community Church.

EAT
We would like to invite you to eat at Community Church, 2351 Ryf Road, in Oshkosh, on Sunday, Nov. 30, between 8:30 and 12:30. We will be serving a French Toast Bake for breakfast and two delicious soups for lunch (Taco Soup and Potato/cheese/bacon/wild rice soup). A freewill offering will be taken to help fund the mission trip to Panama.

Teacher Christmas Wish List Tree
If you would like to bless your child’s teacher(s) with a gift this year, we will display our annual Christmas Wish List Tree for ideas. The tree will be set up in the front hallway decorated with ornaments that are labeled with items our teachers have requested for their classrooms. Browse through the ornaments and take off the ones that you would like to purchase. Wrap your gift and use the ornament/gift tag to label your gift. Bring the gift to your teacher’s classroom before we break for Christmas. This is a great way to bless them for their service to your children. Please see the front office if you would like an “In Kind” gift receipt.

International Club Invites You
Dec. 13, 2-4 p.m. in the Valley Christian School Commons. Open to all high school students. Come learn and discover other countries’ festivals. There will be games and food provided. We hope you all can come and join us for this event!

Host an International Student over the Christmas Holiday
Thank you to the families that have offered to host the Korean international students for Thanksgiving. SEEC is still in need of a family to host one HS boy or one HS girl over the Christmas holiday. If you are interested in hosting a student during an upcoming holiday, please contact seecusa@gmail.com to discuss arrangements, or contact the International Student Program at VCS at kcooley@vcoshkosh.com. Families willing to host a student for the full two-week Christmas holiday will receive financial compensation.

ISP, the organization that coordinates the Chinese International Program, is looking for a full-time family to host a 9th grade boy for second semester. Interested families should contact Karen Cooley at kcooley@vcoshkosh.com. A monthly stipend is provided to the host family. This is a great opportunity to make a difference in an international student’s American experience.

Scrip Orders for the Holiday Season
Monday, Dec. 1 – Scrip Order
Monday, Dec. 8 – Scrip Order
Monday, Dec. 15 – Scrip Order
Monday, Jan. 5 – Scrip Order

Please inform your friends and family members who order scrip as well. We won’t order during the week of Thanksgiving because of the short school week as we cannot guarantee orders will arrive by Wednesday. We will NOT be ordering over Christmas break so please plan accordingly for those two weeks as well.

Volunteer Opportunities at Mercy Medical Center
Mercy Medical Center is seeking volunteers at least 14 years of age for a variety of positions at the hospital. Volunteers are encouraged to make a time commitment of at least 6 months. Volunteering can help students explore health care career choices and can be used to fulfill volunteer hours for graduation requirements. New applicants may find out more about the program and apply on line by visiting the website www.affinityhealth.org/volunteer.

HS Boys Basketball
Tues., Dec. 2 – Home Game vs Lourdes Academy – JV – 6:00 pm
Varsity – 7:30 pm

Fri., Dec. 5 – Away Game @ Markesan High School – JV – 6:00 pm
Varsity – 7:30 pm

MS Boys Basketball
Tues., Dec. 2 – Away Game @ Trinity Lutheran Evangelical School Oshkosh
B Team – 6:30 pm
A Team – 7:30 pm

Thurs., Dec. 4 – Home Game vs St. Paul Lutheran – B Team – 5:30 pm
A Team – 6:30 pm

MS Girls Basketball
Tues., Dec. 2 – Away Game @ Trinity Lutheran Evangelical School Oshkosh
B Team – 4:30 pm
A Team – 5:30 pm

Thurs., Dec. 4 – Home Game vs St. Paul Lutheran B Team – 4:30 pm

I have been asked to share some of the things that stand out to me in the history of Valley Christian. One thing that has impressed me is the generosity of the churches that agreed to house our school before we had our own building in 1994. In 1973, we started in Bethel Baptist Church whose congregation had the vision to have a Christian school in Oshkosh; it was named Bethel Baptist Christian School. Their Sunday School rooms were the school’s classrooms, housing two grades for each teacher. The school added one grade each year.

When the school became independent, it was incorporated as Oshkosh Community Christian School. It continued to be housed in Bethel Baptist Church for several years while the board searched for an adequate facility to rent for the school. Finally, under desperation, OCCS moved to St. John’s Lutheran Church in Oshkosh which was a miracle because they had no families with children in OCCS. They rented their basement to us and made us feel at home in the Sunday School rooms located there. Their pastor had the same vision for Christian education as our school’s parents had. The board continued to look for a building to rent or buy to house the school with very limited funds.

At the request of parents, the board decided to add a high school. This meant they soon had to find another building to house the high school and the overflow from St. John’s as the enrollment continued to grow. The search for a building which would house the whole school failed.

It was Plymouth Congregational Church that came to the rescue in 1989. Their congregation also had a vision for Christian education. The era of a split campus began. For two years we used the PCC Sunday School rooms and in the fellowship hall we made a makeshift classroom which had to be disassembled and moved out of sight on Wednesdays for AWANA and every Friday so the fellowship hall would be available for church activities. The ninth and tenth and first and second grades were housed there first. The neighbors objected to the presence of a school in the PCC building. By this time, the school had dropped the word Community from its name and was known as Oshkosh Christian School.

After much searching again, the board could not find a building to rent or buy. In 1991, the Lord provided another church, Saint Andrew’s Lutheran Church, that would rent part of their building to us. This time, after communication with the neighbors and meetings with the zoning commission, we squeaked by with a narrow majority vote for the conditional use permit. We moved the junior high and high school to St. Andrew’s Lutheran, and the grade school was completely housed at St. John’s Lutheran Church. At St. Andrew’s the teachers and students had the custodial and the secretarial duties. There we also had to move partitions on Friday afternoon to get ready for Sunday School on the weekend. The board members continued to look for a building that we could afford to buy.

Can you imagine their joy and surprise when they found out that the Eichstadts were willing to donate the piece of land now occupied by Valley Christian on the condition that OCS could raise enough funds by the end of the year to build a school on the land? They wanted a school built there so people would be drawn to the area to build houses in that housing development! We were flabbergasted (and a little doubtful, ashamedly). We were not accustomed to being wanted in a neighborhood. To God be the glory, the capital fund campaign was successful with many in the community contributing.

In the fall of 1994, we moved into our new school building! It was so exciting to have a principal, secretary, custodian, and all of our students under one roof in a beautiful new building! We had individual classrooms that were designed to be classrooms, a gymnasium, and space outside for a playground and athletics.

We must never forget that the school would not have survived if it had not been for the previously mentioned churches who generously and sacrificially helped us out when we needed them. We are so very thankful for their ministry.

We are so proud of our very talented artists. Please enjoy a sampling of art from our program:

Bethany Busch, 2009 VCS graduate and valedictorian headed out to California this past summer after graduating from nursing school at UWO. What made her decide to move way there you ask? Let’s start at the beginning…
When Bethany was in middle school here (formerly known as Oshkosh Christian School), her desire was to serve God and know His will for her life. While at Bible camp one summer, she felt the Lord calling her to Cambodia to be a medical missionary.  Over the last 10 years, God has revealed parts of His plan to Bethany as she grew in her education and faith. First graduate from Valley Christian High School and go to college. She was accepted into the nursing program at the University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh in her sophomore year. Bethany was also very active in Chi Alpha, a Christian ministry to college students.
A year before graduating from UWO, Bethany went camping by herself to get alone with God. It was during this time the God showed her that the next step after college was to move to California. Then Bethany recalled a fact that someone had told her years before that Longbeach, CA had the largest Cambodian population outside of Cambodia! The plan became clear. Bethany was to move west, get a job and experience (pay off those college loans!) yet she could begin to minister to the people group that God has called her to. She would learn their language and culture and when the time came for her to actually go to Cambodia, she would be ready.
This was all well and good, until the time actually came for her to put her faith into action. This past July, with her parents in tow, Bethany moved out to California ~ without a job, without a place to live and without taking her board exam for her “RN”. Uncommon! But she serves a Big God and she knew in whom she believes! God proved Himself over and over again, by providing a wonderful family for Bethany to live with and to help take care of their 6 month old daughter. God has provided a wonderful church where she is involved in a missional community serving others in her area. God is providing divine appointments for Bethany to meet members from the Cambodian community (called Cambodia Town) all while waiting for her application to be approved to take her Nclex exam. God had been so faithful that to Bethany, passing the Nclex and finding a job shouldn’t be too difficult! So the adventure continues.
Read Bethany’s blog at: http://adisplayofhissplendor.wordpress.com/2014/07/29/thats-one-small-step-for-god-one-giant-leap-for-bethany-busch/ and http://adisplayofhissplendor.wordpress.com/2014/09/21/lady-in-waiting-and-waiting-and-waiting/