"God is good, all the time -- All the time, God is good."

At lunch today I was talking with the other teachers and realized that there is a common pattern happening in all of our classrooms -- the kid's true colors are starting to shine through after four weeks at school! All of us are having to get on kids about the little things, and it does get tiring throughout the day. After I had got a bad report from the Gym teacher about my class, and too many kids being antsy in class we had to have a "Family Circle" and talk about how we need to behave. Of course after we had written personal letters to the Gym teacher about how we need to behave, one of my kids starts punching another kid in the stomach on the way to Art. Sometimes I just want to laugh, but I kneel down, pull them aside and I am stern with how this is unacceptable behavior. I think they are learning that Miss. Sara is not so nice! School is starting to pick up, where the work is starting to snowball unless I get to it quickly. I am also learning that teaching is NOT surgery so doing what is most important is okay, and no need to stress out about the little things!

Today after school I had a meeting with a mom from a little girl in my class. She came in to talk about her daughters OCD. I knew that they were missionary families and it turned out to be SUCH a blessing to talk to this mother. She was saying how they were almost going to pull their daughter out of the school because they were worried that her OCD would make her not have any friends, and that she wouldn't able to relate to other kids in the class. They said at home it becomes an annoyance to them, so they couldn't imagine how bothersome it could be to kids at school. Well, her mom informed me that after the first day of school I wrote a little note on one of her daughters papers that said that she was a blessing to have around. Her mom told me that the Lord spoke to her in that moment that their daughter could be a blessing to others and they truly appreciated her. She said that she has noticed a huge change in her daughter and how she interacts with others and it has already been a much better school year than last. The mom asked if she could pray before she left and just prayed for my classroom and the learning environment and that Christ's name would be known in my classroom. Its been so neat to start to see that the Lord handpicked these little ones to me in my class for some reason. It was quite a blessing to hear this mother's encouraging words!

Then from the meeting I went to a brief moment of my first Thai class. I was in there with three hilarious Filipino ladies and we were trying to learn numbers. WOW its a tough language, I think the teacher was frustrated with us and thought we were dumb blocks of wood -- but you have to start somewhere! So far I can count to 10, and a little beyond that! Yessss... progress!

From there I got picked up at 6:30 at my apartment to go to a small group leader dinner at the YFC family's house. Their son Paul is in my class and they are all from Indiana. I LOVE this family, they are so welcoming and loving towards me and have such a "western" house. It's nice to step into a home that looks like one you would find in the US. They had a smorgus board of thai food for us and then introduced us to the new bible studies we are going to do with the youth group. Its a study all about how to share your story, connect it to God's story to ultimately share your faith. I am super excited about this study and think it will be such a great route to take these kids on!

My was blessed so much today and ANOTHER meal was provided around a huge dining room table with people who love the Lord -- what a blessing.

In clubhouse we would say:
"God is good, all the time -- All the time, God is good."
I think those 3 words sum up my life.