June 24, 2005

Each month during the school year we were excited to bring you a personal story from someone within our own community who shares our passion about what StoneBridge School is and does.

This edition of In Our Own Words will be our last until the 2005-06 school year begins in the fall. We hope you will find these words encouraging and inspiring. If you have something you'd like to share in an upcoming issue, please e-mail us.

Have a wonderful summer!

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StoneBridge School
P.O. Box 9247
Chesapeake, VA 23321

(757) 488-7586
Primary school

(757) 488-2214
Upper school

Carolyn & Jeff Robinson Guam

Missionary Teachers Heeded God's Call to Come to StoneBridge School from Guam
The Story of Jeff & Carolyn Robinson (as told by Carolyn)

In 1997, after living on the Island of Guam for 12 years, we both felt as if the Lord was leading us to come back to the mainland. We agreed that we would seek the Lord’s guidance in the matter. We were willing to go wherever He would lead us. Jeff sent our names into ACSI [the Association of Christian Schools International] as “teachers willing to relocate.”

We received hundreds of application packets and information from schools all over the country wanting us to apply for positions. As we looked them over, we were disappointed to see that nearly all of them were “ABEKA” type schools. Jeff was teaching at a school using this curriculum and our two children were attending that same school. We were not satisfied with this “fill in the blank” type of education and wanted our children to be writing more (compositions, reports, etc.).

We were getting discouraged and felt led to fast and pray. During my 40-day fast, the Lord impressed on me several verses that were, at the time, perplexing. One was, “By the waters of this river flowing east to the sea, there is healing and refreshment” (Ezekiel 47:8). Another one was, “Go and possess the land that I swore to your forefathers” (Deut. 8:1).

Finally, we received a packet of information from StoneBridge School. When I read the letter from [StoneBridge founder] Carole Adams talking about the Principle Approach, her philosophy of education, and her vision, I just began to weep. I knew in my heart that THIS school was different.

Jeff was equally excited about what he read about StoneBridge. We went to the website and downloaded all of it! We immediately called to have applications sent for both of us for teaching positions and to enroll the kids. We were so excited when Art Ricciardi, then principal of the middle school, called us (even if it was 2:00 in the morning Guam time)! He sounded encouraging, but we knew we couldn’t afford to buy plane tickets back to the mainland to interview, so we just kept praying, and the people from StoneBridge kept calling—Carole Adams, Kacee Griffin [primary school principal], and Art again.

Finally, we were offered jobs. We considered that to be a miracle, especially since I think we were the only teachers ever hired in the history of the school “sight unseen,” and then we learned that it was near the Elizabeth River (flowing east to the sea) and that the Tidewater area was literally the land of our forefathers (American forefathers of Jamestown Settlement). Many other miracles, too numerous to relate, followed as we made our way to StoneBridge and began our new life here.

StoneBridge has been a major instrument of change in so many different aspects of our lives. Obviously, it changed where we live and where we work. What I wasn’t expecting was how it has changed so much the way that I think! In learning the Principle Approach, I now look at every aspect of life from a Biblical worldview. This has affected my life to its very core, both professionally and personally. In teaching, subjects that had before seemed dry have come to life when seen in the light of God’s Providence. In our family life, it has changed the way we live our lives and the way we make decisions for our family.

The conversations that we’ve had with our children have often been real eye openers for me in the way that the Principle Approach has influenced their thinking as well. For example, [when] Jake was working on his 8th grade speech last year about Judge Roy Moore, he said something about “Hitler, who wanted to do away with the Ten Commandments.” I commented that if this was true he had to have some sort of proof.

Well, he went to work going through his sources, and within a few minutes located a direct quote by Hitler that did in fact perfectly prove his point that Hitler wanted to eliminate the Ten Commandments from society. I was blown away by my son’s ability to think, reason, research, and pull it altogether. This never would have happened if it had not been for StoneBridge School!

Jeff Robinson teaches sixth grade and Carolyn Robinson teaches fifth grade at StoneBridge School. The Robinsons live in Portsmouth.