On March 22, which was a Saturday, Cindy and I (along with some amazing friends from church) emptied our apartment in Chicago, loaded up a moving truck with all of our stuff, and headed to Indiana, where we unloaded all that stuff into our parents' garage and basement, and tried to wrap our heads around the fact that in 4 days we would be moving out of the COUNTRY.
wow. what a difference a year makes.
If you say that "a year ago today" is the actual DAY, meaning SUNDAY, then a year ago was Easter and we were spending it with the Leinbach clan at Granma and Grandpa's house, which they sold and moved out of about 6 months later. Happy memories of that day, playing games and chasing little girls around the house.
Strange to think that a year ago I had never met any of the children or staff that now make up my daily existence. It is VERY VERY nice, however, to start the school year WITH my class actually at the beginning of the school year! *grin*
We do still need a fifth grade teacher, and a Kindergarten teacher. These classes right now are more than adequately covered, but not ideally covered. They are sharing English teachers between two classes; this teaches adequately, but is not ideal for the students in each class as far as the relationship with the teacher, etc. So, we're praying for a fifth grade teacher (so our roommie Heidi can just be a fourth grade teacher instead of a language arts teacher for 4th, 5th, and 6th grade).
I need to go back to grading my math papers! Just thought I'd send a brief note about what we were doing last year! Thanks to all of you who helped us during that very stressful time of deadlines and goodbyes.
love to all,
emily
Sunday, March 22
Saturday, March 14
83.3
Degrees F right now here in my bedroom. That's with the blinds closed to block the sun and the fan going. BUT it isn't too humid, so that's great. i'm enjoying the warm weather (except for the two hours on weekday afternoons when it gets horrifically hot and humid and there's so little air movement in my classroom that all 18 of us in the room are just turning into little piles of sticky nothingness and getting 17 little sticky piles of nothingness to do reading lessons just isn't fun).
two weeks of school are done! 38 more to go! Friday was a very good day, praise Jesus, and i'm feeling hopeful and excited about the prospects of my classroom this year! new year, new class, new routines, all things that I am trying to figure out as we go... Friday there were several moments of "ah ha! THAT'S how i can do that!" in my daily routines with the kids. i have a total of 12 girls and 5 boys! (that's better than the 15 girls and 3 boys i was expecting!) three of the boys are new students from non-Christian homes, and it's interesting to see them learn how to use a Bible, memorize verses, listen to well-known stories for the first time (Jonah, for example). I am also learning to appreciate girls more, and to have more patience with them in groups! (don't know why, buy i have more patience with boys in classroom settings...)
please continue to pray for "my boys" that I taught last year. the now-fourth-graders are still the same old boys, with only 2 girls this year, and yesterday saw the first major "incident" involving at least 4 of them and at least 2 sets of parents. Pray particulary for salvation for all the boys (i don't want to give specific names) because there are two in particular who derive great pleasure in the control they have over manipulating the tempers of their classmates, pressing buttons until explosions occur. It makes me so sad to see; even more sad is that one of the boys who IS saved and has a sweet heart will follow his non-saved friend's example in this respect, and seems to be doing so even more this year than last. Pray also for the ONE girl in the class that was here last year: she misses the other two from last year (one is in the States, one's family is experiencing financial hardship and can't afford tuition) and the new girl isn't exactly the optimal personality match. So please pray for Maia.
I am excited to begin to know all my "new kids" and look forward to sharing them with all of you. I will be dumping our camera into the computer later today, so hope to upload some pics soon!
with love and thanks to all of my friends who are family and family who are friends,
emily
two weeks of school are done! 38 more to go! Friday was a very good day, praise Jesus, and i'm feeling hopeful and excited about the prospects of my classroom this year! new year, new class, new routines, all things that I am trying to figure out as we go... Friday there were several moments of "ah ha! THAT'S how i can do that!" in my daily routines with the kids. i have a total of 12 girls and 5 boys! (that's better than the 15 girls and 3 boys i was expecting!) three of the boys are new students from non-Christian homes, and it's interesting to see them learn how to use a Bible, memorize verses, listen to well-known stories for the first time (Jonah, for example). I am also learning to appreciate girls more, and to have more patience with them in groups! (don't know why, buy i have more patience with boys in classroom settings...)
please continue to pray for "my boys" that I taught last year. the now-fourth-graders are still the same old boys, with only 2 girls this year, and yesterday saw the first major "incident" involving at least 4 of them and at least 2 sets of parents. Pray particulary for salvation for all the boys (i don't want to give specific names) because there are two in particular who derive great pleasure in the control they have over manipulating the tempers of their classmates, pressing buttons until explosions occur. It makes me so sad to see; even more sad is that one of the boys who IS saved and has a sweet heart will follow his non-saved friend's example in this respect, and seems to be doing so even more this year than last. Pray also for the ONE girl in the class that was here last year: she misses the other two from last year (one is in the States, one's family is experiencing financial hardship and can't afford tuition) and the new girl isn't exactly the optimal personality match. So please pray for Maia.
I am excited to begin to know all my "new kids" and look forward to sharing them with all of you. I will be dumping our camera into the computer later today, so hope to upload some pics soon!
with love and thanks to all of my friends who are family and family who are friends,
emily
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