March 2025 Update - Ridgleys Overseas

The new year has been eye-opening and a wonderful journey with God. We have gained financial supporters this year, bringing us up to a sixth of our goal! This is huge because in September, just six months ago, we were at less than 1% of our goal. Praise God!

Another big praise is that someone has offered to pay for a round-trip ticket for Jessica to go to the US this summer in order to work on support raising. We have accepted and are working on the details. Later updates will share about when and where Jessica will be this summer. Keep a lookout for those and if you are available during those times, Jessica would love to meet up with you!

Teaching Updates

In grade 7, we started with a unit titled Take Control. The essential question that students continually reflected on was: How do actions define us? After reading the texts and reflecting on class discussions, the whole class came to the conclusion that we should show kindness to others and make the world a better place. When asked if this was supported in the Bible, students pulled from the story of the Good Samaritan and “…love your enemies, do good to them…” (Luke 6:35; Mat 5:44). Students did a great job reflecting on their actions and what it communicates to others.

7th graders working on a text in the Take Control unit.

Seventh graders analyzing text.

We then moved onto The Giver, which is a dystopian novel about a community that tries to be perfect. As we began the novel study, students were asked to agree or disagree with statements about a perfect society. Some questions were about pain and suffering, competition, employment, etc. When students agreed, they would refer to heaven having no suffering and when they disagreed, they referred to the broken world we live in and that these things might be good to make us better. Students even pulled in Paul’s reference to running the race and tied it with competition being a good thing. With these ideas beginning our unit, we were off to a good start. Since then, students have examined the community in The Giver and discovered that while trying to create a perfect society, love has been lost. We will explore this idea more when we return from break.

In Grade 8, students started the quarter with a large research project. They had to pick a topic from 1840’s America. Students were required to research, create a project to represent learning, and present their project to classmates. There were great reflections on learning which you can see below.

Students presenting their 1840’s project; a create your own story about the Oregon Trail.

A student presenting her very creative 1840 project on slavery.

Reflections from some students about the project:

That you can make presentations more interesting with just a little creativity.

Let’s choose my teammates wisely.

Some people work better than others. Don’t work with the people that don’t work.

My greatest takeaway is that you can make a project fun and entertaining, while being informative.

I am proud of myself for the first time in LA. I wish we could do something similar next time even if there’s much work to do.

These projects prepared students to understand more about the place and time that Tom Sawyer lived in. We did a novel study on The Adventures of Tom Sawyer where we explored literary mechanics, conflicts, mood, tone, themes, plot development and much more. Students participated in class discussions where they discussed ideas about lying and maturity. You can see pictures of these discussions below. Many students came to the conclusion that lying is only acceptable when saving another soul, like when Rahab lied about the spies or when people were hiding Jews from the Nazis. While discussing maturity, this same idea came around. Some students thought that being mature was putting others before yourself and being selfless. Students pulled from their Christian worldview to help shape the ideas they were discussing about in the novel. It was great to see these ideas develop.

Fishbowl discussion.

Students working on critical thinking as they connect words associated with The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.

Students working on critical thinking as they connect words associated with The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.

Personal Updates

Both Paige and Jessica celebrated their birthdays in February. They were surrounded by family and friends and were blessed by those around them.

Jessica enjoying her 41st birthday with dear friends.

Paige being sung “Happy Birthday” to by her closest friends.

This has been a new season of sports for our kids. Reese and Asher finished up their soccer seasons in January, both medaling in the final CMAC tournament. Reese then joined futsal; Paige joined track and field; and Asher is participating in flag football. All kids are enjoying the athletics program and the opportunity to challenge themselves in that way.

Asher with his soccer team after winning third place in the CMAC tournament.

Reese defending the goal in futsal.

Asher warming up for flag football.

Paige running her 200m sprint.

Elijah has been working with more and more customers. He even was able to invite some to church! It was a joy to see them attend and be able to build the relationship more with lunch afterwards.

Jessica continues to speak truth into her students’ lives. She even heard her students say, “As Mrs. Ridgley says, ‘We all make mistakes.'” as they were discussing maturity. This is encouraging that they are taking what she says to heart.

Prayer Requests

Praises:

We have been blessed with financial and prayer partners.
We have seen God working in people’s lives.
Our kids are thriving in their new environment and are growing closer to God.
We had renters in our house for this past month.

Asks:

We need to be fully supported.
We need to sell our house.
To be open to opportunities to share God’s message with those around us.
To be open to the leading of the Holy Spirit.

Thank you to everyone who is reading these and supporting us in any way you can. We truly treasure you. May you blessed as you serve where you are.