Enough Light for the Next Step

Some wise words from Henri Nouwen that have been on my heart lately. Hopefully they are an encouragement to you.


Often we want to be able to see into the future. We say, "How will next year be for me? Where will I be five or ten years from now?" There are no answers to these questions. Mostly we have just enough light to see the next step: what we have to do in the coming hour or the following day. The art of living is to enjoy what we can see and not complain about what remains in the dark. When we are able to take the next step with the trust that we will have enough light for the step that follows, we can walk through life with joy and be surprised at how far we go. Let's rejoice in the little light we carry and not ask for the great beam that would take all shadows away.

Sunshine, por fin!

After more than enough rain, we finally had a few sunny days this week. I took advantage of that to enjoy the playground with my kids and amaze them by showing them that yes, indeed, I know how to play tag! Here are a few photos from recess:

rainy days

It's been rather rainy lately. As in all day, every day. (Stay tuned for a post about my rainy Thanksgiving camping adventure!) Rain means flooded roads, flooded rivers, and flooded houses. It means leaky ceilings (in my classroom, not my house) and early dismissals - we have to leave school before the river rises again and becomes impassable. Rain means wading through the river when it's too high to get the trucks across, and rain means screams from the men riding in the back of the truck with an umbrella when the downpour starts! It means low attendance, winter coats and hats, muddy footprints in my classroom, and worrying about getting colds. Rain means sweatpants and hoodies, wearing socks to bed, drinking tea and coffee at all hours of the day/night, soup, baking (favorite!), and wet laundry. It also, sadly, means not going to the beach for a few weeks (horrible, I know...).

But in the midst of the rain, I have found joyful moments. First, watching my coworkers cross the river yesterday. I, the smart gringa, wore Chacos and waded right through. Two of my coworkers, however, had worn socks, leather shoes, and nice pants. They did NOT want to get wet. Check it out:

Also, we finally saw the sun this morning! I rode in the back of the truck to soak up as many rays as I could.

 

Aguiluchooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!

On Saturday I went with some friends to Santiago to watch an Aguilas baseball game - Dominican pro ball, which is sort of like AAA ball in the US - to celebrate a friend's birthday. We had so much fun and yelled "Aguiluchoooooooooooooo" which is their cheer, a LOT! There were all the normal parts of a baseball game (except the 7th inning stretch, which they apparently don’t do here?), but then there were a lot of things that were different from an American baseball game. All the concessions cost around a dollar! You could buy an entire bag of microwave popcorn for a dollar – a real treat for us, who don’t have microwaves! They also sold fried chicken and plantains, pork chops, beef jerky, ice cream, nachos, pizza… all in the stands! Another strange concessions thing: every couple rows, there were trash cans full of bottles of sodas, juice, beer, and rum! Despite that, there weren’t too many drunk people, possibly because the Aguilas won! Here are some pictures from the evening: the stadium, Cakito and Sarah watching a replay, fans, the beer/rum trash cans!, and the congratulatory line of Aguilas after the game.

renaissance.

renaissance: a renewal of life, vigor, interest, etc.; rebirth; revival

Thanks to God hitting me over the head with truth from friends, my devotional book, and my pastor over the past two weeks, I have come to some serious realizations.  The last few months, I have been living life passively.  I was not taking hold of the abundant life God continued to offer me.  I was using my circumstances as an excuse and playing the victim.  Yes, losing my roommate and many friends was hard, but where was my joy?  Was my joy really that wrapped up in those relationships?  What about being completely satisfied in the Lord?  What about "the joy of the Lord is your strength"?  I realized I was sitting around waiting for someone or something else to fill the space and time that the people who moved back to the States had left empty.  I wasn't taking initiative to build new relationships or to do things that were healthy and fulfilling for me.  I was putting unrealistic expectations on the people who are physically present with me.

Wow.  Those were some hard thoughts to come to terms with.

As always, however, God is faithful, and he didn't just convict me.  My mind spun for four entire days - raced at about 10 million words a minute - and then, last Friday morning, spun itself out.  My thoughts stopped, and my mind and heart were overwhelmed with God's presence, joy, and peace.  I felt a surge of energy - not just physical, but emotional energy, too.  God suddenly gave me the desire to initiate new relationships and try new activities.  I claimed my wholeness in Christ and my fulfillment in him.  And, as cliche as it sounds, I have lived differently over the past week.  I've done some things that we don't usually do here (like going to an international food festival), but more than that, I've gone through my normal, day-to-day activities with a new perspective.

The best way I can describe it is to say that I feel like I got my life back in me.  A renewal of life.  A renaissance.  And for that, I am grateful.

I want to share some quotes from my devotional book, Jesus Calling, by Sarah Young.  The daily devotions are written as if God were speaking to us - I often feel like they were written speaking directly and specifically to me!

When your energy fails you, do not look inward and lament the lack you find there.  Look to Me and My sufficiency; rejoice in My radiant riches that are abundantly available to help you.

Your future is in My hands; I release it to you day by day, moment by moment... I want you to live this day abundantly, seeing all there is to see, doing all there is to do... Each day of life is a glorious gift, but so few people know how to live within the confines of today.  Much of their energy for abundant living spills over the time line into tomorrow's worries or past regrets.  Their remaining energy is sufficient only for limping through the day, not for living it to the full.

breakthrough

The kindergartners had a breakthrough this week!  Yesterday after school, Antonia told me that the kids were sitting in class, chanting their Beginning Sounds chart (oso, oso, o o o; avion, avion, a a a... all the way to Washington, Washington, w w w), when suddenly one of them blurted out, "Wendy, Wendy, w w w."  And thus began phonemic awareness!  They have figured out that their names start with sounds - that the chart actually means something in real life!  And they figured it out on their own!  It's now their favorite thing to do during class.  They chant the names and beginning sounds of all their classmates.  They might be the only kids in our whole school who understand that the name Maria's first sound is mmm, not ma.  I am so proud of them!  And so excited for what this will mean later on in the year - phonemic awareness is a critical skill in learning to read!  (Insert one of Lauren's BAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH screams here for added excitement!)  I'll have to take some video of them and post it so y'all can share in my phonics-nerd excitement.  And see/hear how ADORABLE the kids are when they're learning!  Praise God!

school is in session!

We made it through our first month of school!  The teachers are doing a great job, the kids are settling in, and learning is happening!  Praise God!  Because of the public school schedule, we won't be able to take a class of four-year-olds like we were hoping, but we have plenty of work focusing on kindergarten, first grade, and second grade!  Dalexi, Antonia, and Dudu have really stepped up to the task of everything that I have asked them to do - they've been willing to make lots of crazy changes to the way we do class, the way they teach, the way we discipline, everything.

An unexpected change to my job (already, I know...) is that I am once again teaching first grade.  This year I'm co-teaching with Dalexi.  We have 18 little guys; I teach phonics, reading, and handwriting through the Rod and Staff curriculum and workbooks for an hour each day.  Then I get them settled in their centers, supervise center time, and help them clean up.  Dalexi teaches the last 45 minutes of class, teaching math, helping the kids do their public school homework, and reading them a story.

I LOVE teaching.  I love being in the classroom with the kids.  I'll take teaching over office work any day, even on the days when the kids are out of control and I almost lose my voice by the end of class.  They have stolen my heart - all of them.  It's been fun to get to know their little personalities.  And we've managed to learn all 5 vowels so far!  I'm looking forward to starting reading groups during center time soon and being able to work more individually with them.

Please keep praying for us as we continue in the school year.  Pray for continued energy, wisdom, and creativity for us teachers.  Pray that God would open the minds of the kids to learn to read and their hearts to learn about him.  Pray that we will show God's love in every interaction we have with the kids.

Here is a link to the photo album of pictures from our first few days of school.

Here are my first graders.  So cute!  They bring me lots of joy with their precious smiles, hugs, and yelling "prooooofeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!" (that's really how they yell it!)  Remember to click on the picture to make it bigger.