Sunday, April 25, 2010

Each moment is a gift from You to live

Father of life, seated on Your throne of grace
It's only by Your mercy we are saved
Lord, You have said if we call upon Your Name
We and our families will be saved

So we cry out Your Name,
El Shaddai, God of grace
Lord Most High, Jesus Christ
We rely on Your grace,
Adonai, crowned in praise
Lord Most High, Jesus Christ

Father of love, never failing to forgive
Each moment is a gift from You to live
We're only here to tell the world about Your grace
Until the day You take us all away

We will cry out Your Name,
El Shaddai, God of grace
Lord Most High, Jesus Christ
We rely on Your grace,
Adonai, crowned in praise
Lord Most High, Jesus Christ


This song made my heart just burst with the love of God this morning.
Lord, please move me to pour out that love to others this week... especially the ones who need it most.

Friday, April 23, 2010

For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Dear Mrs. Parent,

I wanted to take the time to write you a note to explain my job to you.
Not only do I try to teach your lovely child the Standards of Learning and how to read and write...
I take (sometimes all of my) time, effort and energy each day to instruct your child on the following (and much, much more):

how to sit still for more then 10 seconds,
how to be a good friend,
how to tie his shoes,
how to blow his nose (which often leads to germ infestation),
which are good and bad words,
how to respect authority,
when is an okay time to touch someone and when isn't,
how to keep his mouth quiet,
how to share and take turns,
how to prevent themselves from having an accident,
how to walk in a line,
how to use good manners (ie. not push people out of their way),
how to take care of the environment,
how to get through a lunch line in under 10 seconds,
and really... how to treat someone with more kindness than how you often feel the need to treat me.

You have no idea what my day entails (unless you teach, Mrs. Parent, and you don't).

I love your child. Love, love, love, love, love them!! Though you are quick to feel the need to defend them, you do not need to. I am an advocate for them. Your child is absolutely exhausting and in need of great help, but little do you know... that is exactly what I'm trying to provide.

Do myself, and your child a favor and...

Please. Show. Me. Some. Respect.

Kindly,
Mrs. F


Today I needed this:
"That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong." 2 corinthians 12:10

Sunday, April 18, 2010

5 year old babies

I'm such a sucker at report card time. I spend so much time just staring at that darn screen for each grade (which is only N, S or an S+) in each subject area for each student. From the perspective of being a student, I want to make some children who are trying so hard feel encouraged with a good grade. From the perspective of a parent wanting their child to do well, I want to give grades that correctly reflect how my child is doing so I know what areas I need to give them extra help in.

Now, of course I do my best to give grades that truly reflect the effort and improvement in each area. Sadly however, from the perspective of these students' teacher I worry about what some of these grades can bring on to these poor kids. I've heard of horrific things happening to these babies when they get into trouble, and I don't want anything I do to bring that on to them. Obviously they "earn" their grade, but seriously. They're 5.

There are so much these kids have seen and so much they've had to deal with before they ever passed 5. This week one of my students found a rat in her room and killed it with a frying pan. My 6 year old Elias screamed when he saw a stink bug.

My heart breaks for those children daily. Lord, thank you for your protection over them.

Sunday, April 11, 2010

their beautiful laughs

i love the laughter of abigail and elias. sometimes they get too loud, and i can't even tell them to stop because i'm just so glad to hear it throughout the house. such a beautiful sound. i'm so glad they're here again.

abigail had her first lacrosse game today. can i just say... that girl can get serious! she was (safely) a pretty aggressive player for never having played before this season! i was so proud to be cheering for her! danny was so heart broken that he couldn't be there, but it was fun to surprise him after at work so that he could see them for a little bit :) what a wonderful and hard working husband i have. LOVE EM!

that's all for today.

Saturday, April 10, 2010

Another attempt..

I always say I'm going to keep one of these up... maybe I will this time?

Anyway, I just want a place to share my thoughts, which sometimes may just be another adorable encounter with a five year old.

I'll start with a quick update on my life if we've been out of touch.

In the past year I married my bff, Danny and inherited two children out of the deal. They're amazing little gifts and I love 'em! :) Abigail is 9, Elias 6. Wow! Being a wife and a mom is such a blessing!! I am learning so much about myself and about my family each day, and I love drawing closer to them and loving them more!

Anyway, I graduated from JMU in December and got a job as a Kindergarten teacher the Monday after I graduated. Can we just say it was truly a gift from the Lord! Speaking of God, He's all the life and joy in me... there have been many times in past years I've tried to do it without him... never worked. So here I am loving life with Him! :)

Back to Kindergarten, I LOVE IT! My students are beautiful little children with amazing personalities that I learn from every day. I've gotten into the habit of thanking them for making me more patient! They all have so many needs and are all just yearning to be loved... and I love that God has placed me in such a role where I get to LOVE them every day! And hey, gotta admit its pretty cool when you have 26 cute little things thinkin' you're the coolest person they know! ;) If they only knew... Sometimes I feel like I have no idea what I'm doing, but try to remember that this is where I was called to be... and I don't need to rely on my own knowledge or abilities!

Most recently, we bought our first house! If you're my friend on Facebook I posted photos there for your viewing pleasure. It is so amazing how the Lord has provided for us. There was a point that we never thought we'd see the day of home ownership, but were quickly reminded that our God miraculously provides! We love having our own house and can't wait til we can invite you over!

That's it for my first post. I figured it would only make sense for you to know where I am and a bit of where I'm going.
------------------------
Story for today:
(When asking my students if the could travel anywhere on the map where would they go?)
Pedro*: I would go to heaven. Where is that on the map?
Me: I would like to go there too, Pedro... and I'm going to one day.
Pedro: I want to meet that guy that made everything and stuff.
Me: I can't wait to meet Him either. What made you think about wanting to meet him?
Pedro: Someone gave me the book of Dios.
*Name changed.

Thank you to whoever gave that boy the Word of God and thank you Lord for doing a great work in the heart of a beautiful, little child who you know needs you.