And it Begins!

Tonight I met all my children and their parents and may I just say- I am excited!

After a short spiel by our administrator and the pastor of the church where my school is, the families were released to our classrooms. I was running on adrenaline so I barely felt nervous.

 It took all of the last three days to finish my classroom. And that was with the hours spent in the afternoons and evenings of this week. I have a new respect for all of the teacher I have had!

I have eaten lunch at the church the past three days and the pastor even asked if I felt like I lived there! You know you have been at a church too much if the pastor asks that!

But, as the final minutes quickly ticked by, I had a huge peace (one that was oddly accompanied by a large amount of adrenaline and a long mental list of tasks to complete). Hank was a marvelous help. He had to work today but finished right after church. He came with lunch and we ate and then buckled down. The final details came together and I must say, it looked like a real classroom and I felt like a real teacher. A great feeling! :)

When the parents were dismissed and began to come into the classroom, I put on my best smile and began to greet the children and their parents. I feel so fortunate in that 11 out of 12 parents came. This tells me that I have a group of involved parents and that is so important.

Hank took all the supplies and organized them in the back of the room while I gave the parents information about myself, what we would be learning this year and our classroom rules. When I finished, I was able to meet some of my students. They are PRECIOUS and SO ADORABLE!!!!

And their parents were amazing. I am so thankful and so very blessed. We pulled out of the parking lot and got pizza because we were both too brain-dead and tired to cook. But I couldn't shake this glorious peace. Before we climbed into our cars and left the church, I turned to Hank and said "This is where we are supposed to be." And he feels it too. In the staff and the family feel of our team, the sweet students and their parents, and the administration that wholeheartedly  supports us... I am so thankful and so excited for our first day tomorrow!

Whew... Overwhelmed in this place

Today was the second day of teacher in-service. I am still learning what in-service is, but I think its basically a lot of information geared to get the teacher ready for school in a short amount of time.

While it is all good information and I am so extremely thankful for this job and the students I teach this year, I.am.overwhelmed!

My brain feels a little exhausted and I can't quite wrap my mind around tasks that need to be done- like lesson planning and completing eight hours on pre-service classes and professional development classes online... Oh and I am still working towards getting certified with the state- more online classes.

This month may actually break me of my internet addiction. I am actually cutting down my excessive facebook time because I cannot stare at the computer any longer.

There is a silver lining to each cloud afterall!

Today I was so extremely blessed by my mentor teacher- who patiently and lovingly answered my many questions and walked me through the schedule and curriculum. I learned more about the incredible vision this school has and was shaken again by what an incredible privilege it is to work at a school that teaches students to be excellent in life.

And I got a bulletin board done! Happy Dance!

Now Hank is cutting out game pieces and various paper that needs to be laminated and I am just so thankful for the sleep that I will get tonight.

With that- fairwell and sweet dreams all!

Rested and Ready

        It was perfect timing really. I couldn't have seen it coming and was still complaining just before it came. But in the midst of a job I struggled in and as the doors swung wide for me to be certified as a teacher, it came. An interview I thought would happen five months ago and I longed for job offer.
     And I can see it now, mostly, that His timing was perfect through and through. That if this had come sooner, I wouldn't have learned those hard lessons- about putting forth hard effort when I am mostly frustrated, about trusting the Lord when I am doing filing rather than saving the world. And teaching, well I would have taken it for granted. Just as I did when I taught in Asia.

Taken in Seattle last Summer. So thankful for new seasons, fresh starts and the waves of His Mercy.

      And now it is a great gift. The pleasure of teaching, laughing with those students, seeing the joy of learning creep across faces and feeling his pleasure as I teach. It is so good.
       Next year I will be teaching four year olds at a small school. It isn't glorious but it is good. I am a little terrified but so thankful. He has provided me with just what I asked for- a job working with kids, not far from home. And more than I asked for- a teacher to work with and learn from who will help me along in this new path. And more- a chance to get certified! I look back in amazement at all the doors he opened while I continued to complain. I can be pretty ungrateful and blind at times.

    But now I am oh so thankful and oh so excited. It is small really, but I see the bigness in it. The great task of teaching young ones and building up a strong foundation of His Love, His mercy, His Word. And I checking out stacks of books on parenting youngsters and the young mind. It feels like a crash course in four year olds. And I never knew I would draw so much from babysitting experience but when it is all you got...

    So here we are, once again, thankful. Perhaps one day I will learn to be thankful even when I can't see what he is doing.


Please feel free to post some advice for working with four year olds. Thanks!

In this place, I am weary yet rejoicing

It has been one of those days where I feel again that in this place, before these students, I feel His pleasure. He has given me high and lofty goals and I am trusting him with those, but in this classroom before my students from 7 or 8 different countries, it is pure joy.

   I listened to an interview done by Bethel Church recently. Two Olympic runners have started going to that church and attending the school of ministry. Can you imagine- being a professional runner. That career alone is proof that God made us all unique and different!!
 
   And Sarah Hall, who runs steeplechases, talked about how she knew that God wanted her to run. And she talked about her passion for justice, for the poor and how that felt so much more important. And yet God said, run. Run because I can do more through you running that by yourself-with just your two hands on the mission field. And it shook me a bit. Because you know I have struggled with my identity and finding it in a holy and high calling. And it has been a journey finding it in Jesus. I am still on the road and it is a long pilgrimage with new friends and unexpected showers and dusty roads that remind me where I came from but it is beautiful and new and it feels right.

   Standing before those students today, the ones that so intimidated me only a week ago, I feel His Pleasure. It is coursing through me and I feel 'light as a butterfly' and I know His Joy must be shining because I can hardly keep it in. I feel like bursting.

And it is in these moments that I am thankful for the trials that have taught me to speak through against the lies. To catch the lies at their early stages and see their destructive end. I don't catch them all and I, again, am still on this journey, but it is a bit of beauty I am finding in the broken places. It is restoration and redemption for the lies that have rocked our little boat. So we are learning and I am thankful. For in those moments, when Truth has scattered lies and I am lifted up to see His great tapestry of love and I catch just a glimpse of the beauty that he is weaving, I am transfixed. Transformed. Renewed. And then I am back to where I can only see the knotted underside of that tapestry but it is enough. Enough to press on, with tired feet, and to remember that these feet are beautiful. That me with my lack of grammar skills, can teach English and bond with students and proclaim His Love. It is more than Enough.

Grateful

Yesterday I had so many great ideas for blogs. Sundays seem to be so very inspired when we are able to get to church and then primarily rest during the day. And yesterday was just such a day. Hank was gone flying all day long and so, while it was a bit lonely, I had lots of time to hammer out lesson plans for my ESL classes and I had lots of time to think and relax. Oh my how I need those times!

     And it was after a very busy day at work that I headed off to teach my students. Sometimes, on certain days, I just feel the joy of the Lord. Today was just such a day. He is good and today he kept reminding me.

He kept giving me energy and motivation and when I got to class, I just felt a zing of energy and... giddyness? Yes, I think it was pure giddyness. It is always such a joy to see how my students respond when I am excited about teaching them. My attitude seems to be infectious and even the students who normally are a bit lost, seem to be getting it!

  We started with review and moved on to consonants. Normally, half of my students (for some reason it is the Somali half) seems to be tracking along with me. But the other half (the Burmese students) seem to struggle. I have a feeling that it is partially due to the fact that Burmese does not use the Roman alphabet and doesn't seem to have a lot of harsh consonants. So, these students are starting off at -square 1.

   When we finished reviewing sounds and listening to words that started with those sounds. I had students help their partners review and pronound words from the book. As it worked out, all my Somalian students were helping all of my Burmese students. They are such a sweet class and they are always helping eachother and trying to communicate in what little English they know (can anyone say Charades?!)

Well, my Somalians were helping my Burmese and it was just so hilarious because when the one students would point to a word and say it, the other student would come out with something completely different. My African students were having such a time and we were all laughing at how ridiculous we sounded. For some reason (I think it was the giddyness) we all just burst out laughing and it took a bit to stop.

This language learning thing is hard, and complex and humbling and it turns out I need my students to help me teach and they need me to remain a student long enough to learn what they need.

It was a glorious day and it all started with a good dose of His Faithfulness and a reminder that He knows exactly what he is doing even when I feel a bit lost.