It's amazing what a good night's sleep will do! Woke up feeling refreshed and encouraged. Had a good time of devotions this morning. As I thought about the discouragement of the last two days, I realized that it has pointed towards another area where God is weaning me from trusting in my own strength to rely more on Him. With the joy of the weekend strong in my sails, I moved into the next two days feeling somewhat invincible and believing in my own ability to get what I needed from circumstances and other people. When expectations weren't met over the two days, my happiness flagged. My mindset was entirely subconscious, so the reason for discouragement was hard to pinpoint at first. As I prayed over it this morning, God showed me that I need to learn to respond. Instead of looking ahead and deciding what should happen, I need to sit back and watch how it unfolds according to God's plan. Having an idea of what I think should happen and believing that I can bring about that outcome gives me a sense of security. God is teaching me that my only security can be found in Him. My verse for the day was, "My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from Him."
The "rowdy" class did fairly well on their test. They still have a lot of trouble keeping quiet, but it seemed like they understood the questions much better this time. The art class following was not very good. Five of the boys would not listen despite repeated warnings, and the class in general was not very responsive. I sent the two worst boys out of class and spent the last five minutes making the class sit with their arms folded. Despite the silence in the classroom, two boys in the back continued talking! I told them to come with me to the principal's. One of the boys refused to come. He broke down sobbing and held onto the desk. I dragged him out of class and some of the other boys had to help me. I felt awful, but knew that if I didn't follow through the next class would be even worse. One of those moments when it is easy to feel like a failure. The only comfort was knowing that I had to look to the Lord to make it work out for good since I was trusting in His strength to do the right thing. Went from there directly into the next art class which was fairly good. I had a 30 minute break, then on to the next fourth grade class. They did really well on their tests yesterday, so I decided to give them a special treat. I gave a brief overview of the lesson in less than 15 minutes and then let them go to the garden.
The weather has been really warm, so the kids were anxious to get cold drinks from the snack shop. The "snack man" had disappeared though, and no one knew where he went. When I got down to the garden, the kids were lined up against the fence asking one of the administrators if they could go to the market across the street to get "waters" (the word they should really use is "snacks"). The administrator had one of the guards take a group of older students, but didn't allow my fourth grade girls to go. They begged me to take them, so I waited to make sure it would be alright, then did a head count and we were off. The girls were great and listened to everything I told them. We all got ice creams, then headed back. I became "the best teacher ever," which was nice, but the best part was rewarding them for a job well done. Those moments seem to come few and far between with the way students behave at our school. Sat outside with some of the seventh grade girls, then went back to the teacher room to grade after the period was over.
Finished off the afternoon teaching my last third grade art class. After it was over, I caught a ride back with Lisa and Andy. Lisa and I had some girl time and enjoyed a macadamia, vanilla iced coffee! We walked up to the local market, then I headed back for home. Made some raisin bran bread for fellowship, then Skyped with Mom, Grandma, Jaden, and Eithen. I loved Jaden's first comment on the call, "Hi Sissy! I wish I could give you a hug!" Enjoyed a long conversation with each one, then headed for bed.
April 26th:
It's amazing what some iced coffee will do! (To use yesterday's words...) I didn't end up falling asleep until after 1am. When I realized I couldn't relax, I got up and read some Edwards. Finally dozed off, but woke up at 5am. Got dressed up in my Jilli Kurdi, then Dan and Julie came by and picked me up in a taxi.
We got to the school a little after 8:30am. Most of the kids were already there and anxious to get on their buses. They were supposed to wait in their classrooms until we could take a head count, but it didn't quite work that way. Eventually everyone got loaded up and we were off a little after 9:30am. We drove out to our location, which didn't have very much shade. The kids were pleased to be there though and started unloading all their food and mats to sit on. Each class prepared their picnic while the teachers waited in some shade. When we'd given them some time, we found our students, who then invited us to eat with them. I ended up eating the main meal with my second class of fourth grade girls:
Then had some snacks with the "rowdy" fourth grade boys:
Before moving on to some Kurdish dancing:
Spent the rest of the afternoon trying to stay cool and taking pictures with my students. Here are some of the third grade boys:
Fourth grade girls (from the "rowdy" class):
I also enjoyed spending time with the teachers. Delin is one of my favorite teachers. She is getting married this week!
Lelav and Suzan are also really sweet teachers and they like teaching me Kurdish words:
Despite the heat, it was another fun-filled day. We left around 4pm, then took the kids back to the school. I waited for quite awhile to make sure they were picked up by their parents, then got home around 6:30pm. Took a shower, then went over to Mary's for a cup of tea (she had to stay home with Henry, who now has the chickenpox). Enjoyed a slice of the raisin bran bread, then off to an early bed!
