Sore Throats, Reproduction, and Teamwork

There is so much to tell you! I'm going to do my best to stay organized, but forgive me if I don't : )

Let's start with the fact that I have had a sore throat all weekend. I was really hoping it was simply sore from over-use. Yesterday morning, it hurt when I woke up, but gradually hurt less as the day went on. This morning, I woke up with a sore throat and congested head. Great... My illness seemed to change in its intensity as the day went on. One point this morning, I was almost crying my eyes were watering so bad... then at lunch, I step into the cafeteria's kitchen and feel like I'm going to puke... then at about 1:00 I can't get my nose to stop running. At the time of writing, I am okay- but heaven only knows what 5:00 will look like...

I actually felt more like a real teacher today and less like a mom, a babysitter or a drill sergeant. It's nice to know that you are actually teaching the kids something and not just managing them.

In science, we talked about living and nonliving things. Our textbook discussed the fact that living things can create more living things... aka make babies. This lead to a lively discussion on reproduction. When one boy asked where babies came from (the same boy who earlier told me we all come from eggs) I hesitated- because I wanted to give him an answer that respected his family's input in the matter and yet gently portrayed a moral viewpoint.

Here's another example: A girl named Melissa is our student of the week. She told me that when she grows up she wants to be a policewoman. That's a pretty cool aspiration for a 6 year old girl! But when I told Ross this, I mentioned that she had such a sweet spirit, I thought she'd make a great teacher, nurse or a mom. Ross nodded and then stared at me as my face sank into a frown. In my mind, I was thinking about how great a mom Melissa would make, but how likely it was she'd be an unmarried, uneducated mom.

So all of this makes me really want to take those teachable moments and gently speak God's will into these kids lives. The first read-aloud book I read mentioned boyfriends and girlfriends very briefly. This led to a discussion of me telling the kids that they didn't need to have a boyfriend or girlfriend until they were ready to get married.

Now, maybe all of them will disregard my advice, but even if one is affected by the comment and makes healthy relationship choices, isn't it worth it?

After school, I talked for a while with two ladies on our 1st grade team. I haven't mentioned it much here before, but our team is so diverse and divisive. It breaks my heart, really... Three of us are young, energetic and flexible. Two are older, tired and set in their ways. You'd think the division would be between age, but it's not. The older ladies don't speak to each other- which is a wonderful model of professionalism (insert sarcastic grin here...) One of the young ones student taught under one of the older ones, so she doesn't talk to the other older one, either...

Everybody is nice to me, and I am nice to everyone else, but I just feel like everyone is looking at who I am being nice to and is judging me based on my niceness. Isn't that nice??

Oh, well. All of us (except the one older one) are a bit unnerved about the pace the principal and district expect us to take and are a little overwhelmed by the kids who can't (or won't) do much of anything.

Sometimes talking it through makes it seem more manageable and other times it feels more daunting. This afternoon tilted towards the daunting side...

Please pray for encouragement and unity. We need it!