School Is Back

Hello everyone :) 

            How are you all doing? First off I would like to thank everyone who keeps me in your prayers. It is such an encouragement knowing that people are going to bat for me in their prayer lives. I was just talking to my aunt about this. There are moments when I am completely overwhelmed with homesickness or pity when I am sick or the quiet moments when despair and anxiety set in. Yet as quickly as they descend and disrupt my peace, they dissipate. I know my faith and trust in God to take these emotions away helps, but I can't help but think that all the prayers said for me help wage war against these emotions as well. I don't know if I'm saying this correctly, but I just wanted to say THANK YOU for your prayers!

          Well, we finally have started school. Woot, woot! It seemed as if life kept getting in the way, but God provided solutions to all that we had to get done, and we officially started school last Wednesday. I do have to confess, I was a bit nervous. It sort of felt like the first day of school all over again. Thankfully, all was great! Within a few minutes, the boys found a dead bat, that must have gotten stuck in my class somehow. The boys absolutely  LOVED it! I kept hearing "manang Kelsey can we keep it please??????" Yes, they wanted to keep a dead bat. I told them that it would rot and smell and the classroom would be infested with bugs. Well that made it even cooler. All the while, the girls were thoroughly disgusted and could not wait to get it out of the room. They were shrieking and telling me to throw it away. The whole thing completely amused me. Needless to say, I threw it away in the bushes to the delight of the girls and the dismay of the boys. 

          Any class that starts off with a dead bat has got to be a great class right? Well I would like to think so. You would have to ask my students for an unbiased answer. The first few days were filled with getting everyone back into the swing of school. My class is now 20 kids. Ten returning and 10 new ones. It is a nice mix. Those that know my rules and how I do things are helping the new kiddos. 

A new thing I am teaching this year is the social science and civics of the Philippines. It is traditional taught in Philippino, but since I can't speak it, I am teaching it in English :) We are only just starting it, but it has been fun learning right along side of the kids. The Philippines have 7,107 Islands and was named after King Philip of Spain. Who knew? I certainly didn't. As I learn more, I will tell you all the fun, interesting bits I come across. 

        Something I do with my kids is go through a book of the bible, reading a chapter a day and then they write what we read about. It helps with memory retention and writing skills. Well today we read Joshua 3. God told Joshua He would heap( yes it says heap, love that) the water in the Jordan away from where they have to cross. Only they were to keep the Ark of the Covenant in the middle of the river till everyone had crossed. As they were writing their sentences, one of my new second graders how to spell the Ark of the Cabinet. I asked him to say it again and he said you know the cabinet that holds the Ten Commandments. Man, did I have to work hard to keep from laughing and embarrassing him. I spelled out covenant and laughed at recess over it. hahaha

         It has been lovely and such a joy being back in school; teaching the kiddos. I knew I missed it, but I didn't realized how much I had missed it. I love answering all their questions, making the respiratory system fun, planning art projects and trying to think up a Filipino example to what they are learning in the American curriculum. I know I said when we ended our school year a few months ago that I would miss not seeing my third graders in my class and it would be strange. It is to a certain degree, but the new second graders have already stolen my heart and love. Yes, I live with them, eat with them and play with them. But having them for the school day, you learn their quirks, their interests, their whole little personalities. We have only had four school days, but their smiles and their bright excited eyes have already taken my heart. 

Thankfully, Kelsey

God Bless

"You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you." Isaiah 26:3 how beautiful