Thankful

Though recently I have been in distress, I have surprised myself with feelings of gratitude. I wake up happy (even if I’m tired and have a long day ahead of me), smile at myself in the mirror as I get ready, and thank God throughout the day for every little thing. How wonderful it is to have electricity, how blessed I am to have my own apartment with so many things I’ve always wanted (a huge walk-in closet, a garbage disposal, quiet neighbors, great big windows that look out on trees and let the sun in...), and what wonderful people I have in my life. I thank Him for thankfulness, because the ability to feel gratitude makes life so much sweeter.

I’ve been averaging 10-13 hours per day at school because that’s just how busy I am. I am still feeling very stressed, but I’m happy. And things are starting to come together. Little by little, I am putting my apartment, classroom, and curriculum together. My 5^th graders and I are feeling more like a family. Behavior issues have been a huge struggle, but Thursday was their best day yet, and it gave me hope that we can do this. I recently met with the 4^th-grade bilingual teacher, who was new to the school last year and had my students, so she could relate to me in so many ways and give me advice and encouragement. She too used to stay at school until 8:00 pm. She too was overwhelmed by the open-ended position of a bilingual teacher. She too had to go through a learning process to figure out how to manage the students.

I had a suspicion that I hadn’t gotten rid of all the bed bug eggs, because I found some new bites. So I went through the cleaning process again and bought two expensive bed-bug proof mattress covers for my mattress and box spring. No more signs of them in over a week – I think they’re gone. I brought my car in to the mechanic, and we think I am good to go after spending only a couple of hours and a couple hundred dollars, rather than a few thousand on replacing the transmission. The car drives more smoothly now. In the process of working on it, the mechanic found a serious safety issue – a loose wheel. If I hadn’t brought the car in for transmission problems, I may not have found this other problem until it caused me to get into a serious car accident. Thank You, God, for Your protection.

"Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus." ~1 Thessalonians 5:18

"He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart...'Because she loves me,' says the LORD, 'I will rescue her; I will protect her, for she acknowledges my name. She will call on me, and I will answer her; I will be with her in trouble, I will deliver her and honor her. With long life I will satisfy her and show her my salvation.” ~Psalm 91:4,14-16

Testing

I didn’t know I could go through this much testing outside of Honduras. It’s been a rough few weeks. Having only two weeks to settle into my apartment and my classroom was challenging, but I did it. There is still work to be done in both places, but they are both roughly set up and welcoming. Here are pictures:


My car’s transmission is demonstrating symptoms of needing to be replaced, the worst one happening at a red light. When it turned green, my car wouldn’t go into gear. The cars behind me were impatiently honking their horns until I figured out that if I turned the car off and then on again, it shifted into gear. My bank account has been dangerously low, and I have been carefully debating every penny spent – definitely can’t afford to replace the transmission right now. As many of you experienced from the hurricane, my power was out for five days. One evening during the outage, after days of finding bites on my legs, I discovered bed bugs in my bed. I took all my bedding, clothes, and anything that could be contaminated to the Laundromat and spent $20 getting it all washed. Got home after 9 PM to take my rugs outside and sweep my floors by candlelight. Then I had to prepare my food for the next day, since you can’t prepare food in bulk and store it in the refrigerator during a power outage. I slept five hours that night, leaving me feeling not-so-energized for my very first day of school. The teachers were getting ready to pick up their students from the gym when we smelled burning rubber. The fire alarm went off, and we escorted our students outside, where we were told we might have to spend the day at the library or another school just killing time.

It’s okay, though; it gets better. After an hour of waiting, we were allowed back into the building to start our day. Only 14 of my 26 students showed up, but we had a really good morning. I have one class of Hispanic 5^th graders with me all day except for the hour when they are at specials and lunch. I formed a connection with them right from the start. There are some challenges, like two boys who have been sworn enemies since last school year, a few boys who would rather distract each other than follow instructions, and six special ed students (one has cerebral palsy). But I really like them, and we have gotten off to a great, though somewhat turbulent, start. At the end of our second day together, I was talking with the students about how we are a family and our classroom is their second home. One student responded by saying that he had almost called me “Mom” earlier. Another student asked what our family name is going to be, and someone else suggested that we call ourselves “The Marinos”. Most of the students are from Puerto Rico. Some arrived in the U.S. this summer; others have been here for a year or two. I speak to them mostly in Spanish, which sometimes leaves me tongue-tied and stumbling over my words, but they don’t seem to mind.

I didn’t have any curriculum when we started school, but over the last couple of days, I have briefly met with the literacy coach and math coach and received some guidance. I am expecting that the rest of the curriculum will be provided in the next few days, but even when I have it, I’m told I will have to modify it a good deal to fit the bilingual program. Thursday was our first day of classes. It was supposed to be Wednesday, but it got pushed back a day because of the power outage. It’s a good thing that happened, because by Friday afternoon, I had run out of getting-to-know-you activities. I was in a terrible mood on Thursday evening, but discovering that my apartment had power when I got home completely changed my mood around. Then on Friday, I got my first paycheck and started my long weekend. Thank God for Labor Day.

Now I’m just praying that I can find the time and clarity of mind to put all my lesson plans together for next week. I’m praying that my car’s transmission holds out long enough for me to build up my bank account before having to replace it. I know I got rid of the adult bed bugs because I haven’t found any new bites since my trip to the Laundromat, and I’m praying that my efforts to get rid of any eggs worked. If it didn’t, the only thing left to do is call an exterminator and hope I don’t pass bed bugs onto my students and their families.

I am thankful for the many people in my life who have provided encouragement, advice, and prayer support. Today after a time of prayer ministry, I felt a huge burden lifted off of me. I go forward from here choosing to walk in peace and trust in the One who lives outside of time and has all of heaven's resources at His disposal.

"May the LORD answer you when you are in distress; may the name of the God of Jacob protect you. May he send you help from the sanctuary and grant you support from Zion. May he remember all your sacrifices and accept your burnt offerings. May he give you the desire of your heart and make all your plans succeed. May we shout for joy over your victory and lift up our banners in the name of our God. May the LORD grant all your requests." ~Psalm 20:1-5