Therefore, as God's chosen people...

.. holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Colossians 3:12

Learning about compassion last month, we decided to do a relay race to practice "clothing ourselves". We used the illustration to show how important it is that you not just grab your clothes in the morning, or throw them over your shoulder, or even lay them on top of you... but PUT THEM ON.

Of course, Megan and I also used it as an opportunity to dress our kids in our respective favorite colors. :)

Giving Back

A week ago a tragic accident happened to a 6 year old boy, Jostyn... he's the best friend of Mami Ines' grandson. He and his cousin found dynamite in the house and somehow ignited it... it blew both his hands off, made him blind in at least one eye, collapsed a lung, cut open his throat, and burned his face. Miraculously he is still alive and after many surgeries already ..finally stable. So in math class I was passing out their allowance for the week ($1.25) and we were adding up how much tithe they should've saved up in the 5 weeks they've been getting allowance. They decided to give their tithe money to Jostyn to help pay his hospital bill (their family has no money). They get out their 10% and I pass around a brown paper bag. Then Gabriela raises her hand and says " can we give more, Miss Alison?" Of course I said "of course!" so without hesitation she dumps everything in her wallet into the bag... and the trend continues. We end up with a grand total of $22.50. HUGE. I had to read them the parable of the widow's offering to explain to them just how much of a difference they were making and how happy they were making God by giving everything they had. Not only that but then they went around challenging the teachers and staff to match what they had donated as a class. At the end of the day, we had raised $180 for Jostyn. $180. Now here's the kicker... when Mami Ines came to get the money from me to take to the hospital we counted it up and in that little brown bag there was $303. God saw their $22.50 and took care of the rest.

How Do You Say Hello?

I cannot begin to describe how proud I am of the 7 girls I am blessed to teach every day. These are their awesome art projects... that we carried out into geography projects to find out a little more behind the face. Afterwards, they "researched" themselves and drew portraits of each other. One of the biggest things they are learning this year, I think, is that being different is okay. They are realizing that there are lots of different cultures, languages, and people in the world and that there is beauty in each one of them... even themselves.

Thanks Grammy and Lauren!

We had a lot of fun diggin into our new candy Grammy and Lauren gave us! The kids wanted to show you just how "yummy in their tummy" it was... or in Ariel's case "oops! i ate it all!" THANK YOU!!!! :)

Thanks Aunt Lisa!

The girls got brand new headbands and earrings for Valentines day and look beautiful in them! Thanks Aunt Lisa! :)

Computers!

I have found a new magical way of creating complete silence in my classroom mixed with uninterrupted focus and a sudden burst of motivation... computers. These amazing new tools were introduced to my students and as of Monday they have begun taking typing lessons after school with Mr. Omer and me. Yesterday when we let them open and turn on their computer without any instructions they were overwhelmed with excitement...Rosa was pulling at her cheeks, Gabriels shaking her hands back and forth nervously, and Maribel of course exclaiming "I DID IT!!!!" It really is a dose of good medicine seeing them so excited yet so serious about something. And of course they are catching on quicker than you would believe. When Maria passed the first set of practice exercises and arrived at the chameleon game I thought she was going to fall out of her chair laughing so hard. She would try to put her firngers back on the keys and start typing again but the game cracked her up so much she couldn't even do it. Today, day 3, she was going around making sure the other girls knew how to properly shut down their computers and ended the day with a thumbs up to Omer and a "very good!" (she doesn't speak much english so this was extra cute). Maribel prayed in the morning that they would keep learning how to get better at using the computers and that they would be nice to them and take care of them. :) They are already asking if they can type out their book reports instead of hand writing them! I am so thankful that these girls are getting the opportunity to take responsibility and have computer education. Noticed their faces in the pictures... utter concentration!