I'll be home for Christmas...

I'll be home for Christmas in 4 days!!! I am so excited to see my family and friends and be home for a few weeks! I packed my suitcase yesterday because I have hardly anything to bring home except Christmas presents. I am certainly not taking any of these clothes home with me, wrong season and I have worn them quite enough the last 4 months. I have never looked forward to being cold so much. Sometimes I just sit and fanticize about wearing sweats, wrapping up in a blanket and drinking coffee. Ha ha. That seems so foreign right now compared to the heat wave I am in.

The last two weeks or so I was growing a bit weary. I have been reading in Exodus lately and a verse stuck out ot me the other day. Ex. 14:14 The Lord will fight for you, you need only to be still. The Israelites were freaking out as the Egyptians were pursuing them and Moses had to remind them to calm down and allow God to fight for them. I have been trying to apply this same principle. To stop, take a breather and trust God to provide my peace and strength. The last few days have been much better. I have been able to take a step back from the teaching aspect and just BE with the kids. They are so funny, they bring me such joy. The tutoring schedule I had set up for myself meant that every night when I was in a house I was tutoring which becomes exaughsting after a while. I have tried to just focus on being with the kids the last few days. Just talking with them, sitting next to them, playing with them. It has been a good refresher. That and the fact that I have not had to teach lessons during the week. I have been working my way through my to-do list before going home on Friday! The grading system is quite complicated and has to all be done by hand, including filling out all of the report cards. I am working my way through the classes. Thankfully P.E. grading is fast!



Saturday morning the NY student teachers left. The girls and the kids were so sad. I was getting really sad just watching how sad the kids were. Their bus pulled out and most of the kids ran off but a few stood there just frozen. It was a little sad. It is strange to see so many visitors come and go and the way that it affects the kids. I miss having them here to work with already. It was so great to have their help with reading groups & tutoring. I am trying to have my lessons for next term completed (for social studies) before I leave Friday, that way next term I won't have to spend much time on preps.