The other teachers and I decided today was a good day. We decided that early on, the first hour was a rare downpour which Hawaii is always grateful for. Does that mean that we only have bad days to come? Not at all. God spoke to me specifically this morning that he wanted to give JOY. Recently I had been letting my circumstances determine my joy rather than the fact that the God of the universe is totally in love with me. He LOVES me. That makes me happy.
One of the tricks of teaching is to look like your schedule is completely planned while in fact you are playing pretty much everything by ear and feel. Obviously I have a lot of stuff planned. Obviously some stuff planned never makes it to the kids. And obviously there’s so much more I can do.
But the children, the children. They are truly wonderful. I find myself stumbling around a playground dressed as a “worm” in one of those fabric tunnels, chasing kids as they squeal with delight. Pretty hilarious. You know you’ve had some smidgen of success when they don’t want to leave at the end of the day.
Before you think that it’s all perfect, we do have the occasional meltdown. It’s hard work planning all this, too. But wow, I just realized that no kid has gotten hurt. Not even a little scrape. God you are good!
Assistant teachers: continue to amaze me. They haven’t had any experience as intense as this whatsoever, but no one would ever know. Naturals, do whatever I ask without any doubt. Lexi, Angel, Madi… LOVE.
In the afternoon we were drawing treasure maps with crayons, and I was able to ask the kids what kind of treasure they like… and told them how God has so much cooler treasure for us in heaven! And how do you get that treasure? By helping other people and being nice to them. Such a simple comparison is so easy for kids to understand.
And God speaks to me through my own words to other people. “Just listen to yourself. You will be richly rewarded for giving up all your time for these kids.”
A trip to the pool and a chai frappe did it for me this afternoon. 🙂
Quotes of the day:
3-year-old boy: [looking at his compass] What’s the time?
3-year-old girl: Forty-nine!
“Knock-knock. Who’s there? Banana. Knock-knock. Who’s there? Banana. Knock-knock. Who’s there? Banana. Knock-knock. Who’s there? Orange. Orange who? Orange’chya glad I didn’t say banana?”
[Four year old drawing treasure maps]
“And this is the fire of God around the treasure chest.”
