Oh for the Love of Children

 I have recently started using a devotional called Uncommon Life, written by Tony Dungy. On Tuesday, I read something I found very relevant to my teaching life right now.

“Let the word of Christ dwell in you. Whatever you say and do, in word or deed, do it all for the glory of God. Daily living. Each day, every day. Regardless of what you are called to do as an occupation.”

This year, God called me to be a teacher. I know as a student in elementary and high school, I always looked up to my teachers and this made me stop and think. What do my students see when they look up to me? Am I being a good example? Am I showing Christ through my actions and words? 90% of these kids aren’t even Adventist and don’t really know Jesus. Am I showing them who Christ is, or the opposite?  This worship really had me thinking about how I live my life. Just thought I would share that with you. J

It was SO nice to have Monday off. It was a really hot day so in the afternoon, some of us went swimming at what we now fondly call “Parasite Bay”.  It’s just a little swimming hole at a river. It’s only about a 10 minute drive so it’s pretty close. J I really did not want to start school again on Tuesday. My kids were quite crazy and couldn’t focus on their work, so I decided to give them more coloring to do. My mom sent me some cool coloring murals where each kid gets a page to color and when I put it altogether it creates a picture. The kids absolutely love it! That morning, I did a joint worship with Amanda’s 1^st graders in my classroom. Just as we were starting the worship part after singing, I saw my student Pria come to the door with her mother. She was crying hysterically and I went out to see what was wrong. Since Mrs. Jano has been sick, I’ve been taking the Kindergartners that were left after 12 o’clock to the office to wait for their parents. And Pria for some reason was terrified of going to the office again so she didn’t want to come to class. So I told her that she could stay with her sister in 5^th grade until her mom came and got her. That finally calmed her down.

My Princesses and Princes!

On Wednesday for art class, my kids made crowns because I told them that since God is our Father and a King, we are all princesses and princes. This definitely made the girls happy to hear that they are princesses! The picture we took is really cute! I really wish all my kids had been there that day!

This week went pretty well until today, Thursday. Today was definitely in the top 3 worst days of school so far. For some reason, my kids had the hardest time listening! Every time I started talking to instruct them in something, they would start talking to people across the room. Doing their worksheets with them in class, I would sit directly in front of them and tell them the answers and still not know what to do, despite my constant repeat on what to do and what the answer was.  I’ve gone over and over stuff I want them to learn and still the majority don’t seem to understand. The parents are expecting these kids to read and write and do math by the end of this year so I feel a lot of pressure. So many times today, I closed my eyes, and felt like crying. Instead, I prayed for patience and wisdom. I felt a lot calmer after those moments and tried my best to be more patient with my children. But my land they know how to test me! Starla has been very weepy in class the past couple of days and I finally found out why. Apparently her cousin left a couple of days ago and she is really sad about it. Today in worship, I kept seeing tears falling down her cheeks and after worship, I said “Starla come over here.” I was sitting on the ground and she just fell into my lap and leaned into me crying her eyes out. I rocked her back and forth for a while and then told her she could go to Tony’s classroom to see her brother for a bit. That calmed her down and when she came back after 30 minutes or so, she was fine the rest of the day. I gave her an extra sticker to help her mood a little bit. I was definitely not cut out for teaching though. Social work is definitely where I should be! 

Some of my boys like to pretend they're superheroes!

Danny’s 7^th grade class, who comes and reads with my class every Friday, asked me to teach them Romanian. So Danny and I made a deal that on Fridays, if he teaches my kids phonics, I would teach his kids Romanian. Good deal! They still believe that Danny and I are cousins! Today one of the girls came up to me and asked, “Miss! So tomorrow are you going to teach us romance?” “Wait what?? Oh you mean Romanian right?” “Oh yeah! Romanian!” Lots of giggling followed as the girls ran off. It definitely made me laugh. J

I am SO thankful that I have high school classes in the afternoon. I’m pretty sure I would go crazy with my Kindergartners all day! A girl named Jeroleen, who will be studying engineering at WWU this next year, just makes my day. She, Demi, and Ariel always know how to make laugh! Jer says I’m her favorite teacher and that just makes me so happy! Tomorrow we are going camping to a place called (pronounced) Ant. I’m not really sure how it’s spelled. I’m excited but not really. We never get any sleep on camping trips so we’ll see how this goes! I have a new hammock that won’t fall with me in it this time and a tarp to hang over Jen, Kim, and I.

Keep us in your prayers as we head out this weekend! I miss all of you back home!