Advent is here; to me Advent has many messages.  One is building community.  Advent and Christmas allows us to get together with family and friends to strengthen our bonds.  A second message is the buildup to the celebration of the birth of Christ, the call to “make ready the way of the Lord.”  This message is the one many families tend to focus on the most—preparing for Christmas with decorations, presents, and a feast.  Another message of Advent is that we do not have to wait.  God is with us now, here in our lives.  Every day I see God at work in our learning community among our students, parents, and staff.

Please take time out of your busy Christmas season to remember the blessing we have of having Christ in our lives every day:

• We continue to be blessed with a supportive and hard-working School Council and Parent Fundraising Committee. Please feel free to join us at any School Council meeting to provide your insights;
• Our school continues to be blessed with a terrific staff;
• We have the most wonderful student population. Daily I get compliments about our students;
• Finally, we are blessed with our learning community of Our Lady of the Assumption School. Every day we show how we are “a community of hope and learning.”  This is truly a special place.

This year’s faith plan focuses on being ‘Rooted in Christ.’  I do not think there is a better season to model this than Advent and Christmas time.  Last year, I saw this pic on social media:

This quote truly encapsulates the message of ‘Keep Christ in Christmas.’  This Advent and Christmas season feed the hungry, clothe the naked, forgive the guilty, welcome the unwanted, care for the ill, love your enemies, and do unto others as you would have done unto you.

Have a blessed Advent and Christmas season,

Greg Kostiuk

PS – If you see me after Christmas time give me a Ukrainian Christmas greeting.  In the Ukrainian culture during the Christmas season you say, “Khristos rodyvsya!” (Christ is born!) This is answered by “Slavite Yoho!” (Let Us Glorify Him!).

This month we decided to have a flag contest.  Students needed to identify the flags from the 19 nations our students were born in.  I’m pretty sure if Our Lady of the Assumption School had done the flag contest 10 years ago our student population would have only represented a few nations.

In doing this flag contest we hoped to show our students how diverse we were and to stress that we may be from different cultures, but together we create the community of Our Lady of the Assumption School.

Also, every student that entered received a treat from our canteen and two luck winner received $20.  A small price to celebrate our diversity.  I wonder how many nations we will represent five years from now.

Greg Kostiuk

It is my pleasure to share with you the latest edition of ‘Telling Our Story’.  I hope you will enjoy these pics from some of the activities during the month of October at Our Lady of the Assumption School.

Dyspraxia Day

The Chem Guys from the U of L (Science Rocks!)

Division I Choice Fridays

Grade 3 Retreat at All Saints Parish

Hallowe’en

Jr. ATB Launch

U of L Nursing Project

PD Day

Scientists in the School – 4P

Turkey Trot

We Scare Hunger

Thank you for a great October and have a wonderful rest of November.

Greg Kostiuk

Today, November 6, we celebrate Catholic Education Sunday in Alberta. In my 52 years of life I have been a part of Catholic Education for 38 years.  It has been a gift and blessing to me. When it comes down to it, this poster sums it all up:

Please take a moment to read the following letter from the Bishops of Alberta and the Northwest Territories:

http://www.acsta.ab.ca/content/file/CatholicEducationSunday_EN_6Nov16.pdf

Also, here is the message that was read from our school division at all the parishes within Holy Spirit Catholic Schools:

http://wordpress.holyspirit.ab.ca/?p=2004

This year our school is implementing year one of our faith plan – “Growing in Faith Together – Rooted in Christ.”  One particular change we have implemented at Our Lady of the Assumption School was Faith Fridays.  Every Friday we spread the Good News be reading and teaching the Sunday Gospel.  The feedback of staff, students, and parents has been very positive.

Thank you for your support of publicly funded Catholic Education.

Greg Kostiuk