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!

*Princess Party!*

The advantage of having 7 students who are ALL GIRLS is that we get to do things like have princess parties when we have a celebration. :) Last week for the first time my students filled up their "team jar" with marbles so we got to eat ice cream and have a party. It just so happened that we were reading and studying fairytales in English class... so appropriately we had a Princess Party! All the girls got crowns and lip gloss and we had a little tea party with cookies. Then we watched what I think of as the original princess story... Cinderella. They still talk about it and keep their crowns by their bed to remind them that they are God's princesses.

Happy Birthday Nanki!!!

My dear baby Nanki turned ONE YEAR OLD on October 5th. I am so thankful for him in my life and what a happy, healthy baby he is! He loved having a party to celebrate just HIM but getting his fingers all messy in the cake was a little too much for him... he wanted me to get dirty so he could laugh and get finger fed. Thats ok though, it was HIS birthday :).

New and Beautiful!

Its a new year with new beautiful roomies, a new beautiful house, and new beautiful students! It feels so great to be back "where everybody knows your name" :) We are still in our old building for the time being, but soon and very soon we will be in our new and beautiful house and school at the property!

The pictures you see are of my classroom (notice the brightly painted desks!), one of my new students- Gabriela (a total sweetheart), my roommates (Dallas, Bethany, and Aleta), and my precious and beautiful baby Nanki. Isn't he big now?! He's got 4 new teeth too. He fell asleep in my arms while I was singing to him at the restaurant on Sunday after church. It is so great being near him again and seeing him fat and happy :).

Fat, Happy Nanki :)

I took Nanki out for a walk today around town and I realized that he is getting SO BIG and I haven't posted any new pictures of him lately. When my mom was here with me, we kept him at our house and the whole time he was really sick and puny and she hardly got to see the real Nanki. So, I promised my mom "fat, happy Nanki pictures" and I thought I would share them with all of you. I wish I could take him with me this summer... I don't want him getting bigger without me!

The Zoo

So when my whole class is working together as a team, they get a scoop of rice in their rice jar. When the rice jar is full... its party time :). Last time we had a party we went to the ZOO! I made no-bake cookies (which they were scared of at first bc of the appearance but then they fell in love with them once they tasted the yummy goodness) and we jumped on the bus and went to the military zoo. They did a great job of asking the guide interesting questions and they had such a blast getting to hold the animals and play with them. The zoo here is no normal zoo... none of the birds or monkeys are in cages so they were the kids' constant companion.. especially the little 9 month old monkey, Blade. After seeing all the animals the kids played on the zip line, the rope swing, and canoed over to see a waterfall. It was so much fun seeing them explore, and they still talk about it all the time. Be sure to pay special attention to the picture of me, Thalia, and Maribel with the boa. Maribel's face is priceless.