This past week was one for the books that’s for sure! In a small Christian school, everyone learns to be flexible whether it’s their nature or not, and this was one of those weeks! I’m thankful for new morning mercies. I’m thankful for great co-workers. I’m thankful for cold cereal and pancakes. I’m thankful that my kids will eat about anything. I’m thankful for grace.
On Monday when I woke up, I responded to the text that asked if I would be willing to sub in a different class. So on Monday, I did that. You can read about it here. This past week we were missing a lot of staff, so that meant we needed to be flexible. I really like structures, routines, and schedules, and most people do better when they have those. I knew it was going to be a long week for my kindergartners as well as my own children without having the “specials” classes (art, music, library,). I reached out to one of my kindergarten parents to see if she would be willing to come in to do an art project with my class. I have plenty of teaching that I could absolutely do, but it’s not teaching if you’re talking to air! My students can only process so much information at a time, so I knew that if they could do something different it would be better for them.
My friend, Olyvia, said that she would be available on Wednesday morning to do a craft with my students. God orchestrated that! I woke up feeling “off” on Wednesday morning. I think it probably had to do with the weather changing, stress, life, etc. but by 8:15am, I had a migraine. My friend and co-worker, Jess, asked me if I was okay. I kept my head down and said “yes”. I knew if I stopped to talk, I’d probably end up in tears and for what reason I wouldn’t even know! My migraine was escalating all morning to the point that I had turned off the lights in our classroom, and we were using natural light and our Christmas lights. My friend, Allison, mercifully brought me coffee around 10am and along with several extra strength Tylenol, and the grace of God, we made it through the day! One of my kindergarteners did tell me I was kinda grouchy, and one asked me why I was whispering, but we made it. I was happy to go to bed early, and thankfully our boys can put themselves to bed and find their own food if needed.
Thursday brought about a little bit of snowfall, which delighted my students! I think the teachers were kinda hoping for a snow day, but off to school we went. I have sixteen kindergarteners, so thats a lot of coats, hats, mittens, boots and snow pants! “No, those are not your mittens.” You have to put on your snow pants first and then the boots.” “I’m sorry your coat is wet, but you did put it in that puddle.” “Your mom would want you to wear a coat.” We are figuring it all out, but it does take us a while to get ready and to get it all back off again. However, I am a firm believer that children need outside time every day! I’d rather spend the extra time to get them dressed than to have inside recess because it takes so long to get ready! We will get faster at it, and the snowfall was beautiful.
Friday morning brought about some more school craziness as we realized that we were going to be short another teacher. It was definitely a moment where we needed to take a moment and just pray about what God would have us to do. Through a series of events, I ended up in third/fourth grade for the morning. While it was unexpected, I do appreciate the opportunity to get to know the students better. I don’t have any of my own kids in that classroom, so it was a good opportunity to get to know these students. My friend, Bethany, came in the afternoon to help out, so I went back to teaching kindergarten. One of my kindergarteners told me that “it was the best morning ever”! Haha!
My mom fail: My younger boys and Emma both had play dates on Saturday afternoon, so that meant laundry for mom! Until our house officially closed, we were doing our laundry there. But now I take the laundry to the laundromat on Saturday afternoons. It’s nice to use several big washing machines and have it all done fairly quickly. However, when all the laundry is done on one day at one time, it’s plain to see what we have used for clothing. Towels-check. Mom-check. Emma- check. Garett- check. Chandler- check. Wyatt- check. Travis- TRAVIS! Why does Travis only have one pair of underwear, one t-shirt and one pair of pants in the laundry for the week!? I folded all the laundry, brought it back home, and started looking all over our apartment for Travis’s clothes. I found one more shirt and one more pair of pants. Um- what has this child been wearing?! Travis and Wyatt are similar in height, but Travis cannot wear Wyatt’s pants as Travis has to have the drawstring pants. I went to Walmart and bought underwear, another shirt, and another pair of pants. When Travis came home, I asked him about his wardrobe. He replied that he’s just been wearing the same clothes and rotating through the t-shirts and pants. I was horrified at his lack of clothes and I asked him what on earth happened to his clothes! He piped up, “I think when we were moving houses, my bag of clothes went to Goodwill”. What?! And you didn’t think to mention it to me that you only have about five pieces of clothes!? He replied that he wasn’t bothered by not having a lot of clothes, but sometimes he was taking off one dirty t-shirt for a day and then putting on the other dirty t-shirt….great. Well, several new articles of clothing were not in the budget for early December, but now the fourth son does have some clean clothes to wear. I told Roger the story and I was mortified. Roger just started laughing. He said that he remembers being that age and grubby clothes not bothering him. Gross- just gross. Oh well! Next week I expect to see more laundry for Travis come through the wash!
We made it through the week, and God is faithful. We are excited about seeing Roger next week, and we are looking forward to Christmas break. As I looked at our family Christmas card, I was reminded again of how blessed I am. God has given me so many wonderful blessings. I am so thankful for Roger and our children. God has given me a job that I really enjoy - teaching kindergarten. We have an apartment for the school year. God continues to supply our every need and right on time. While I become often frustrated with our children, a mom spoke to me this past week and told me what a blessing my older boys had been to her family. The boys have been given an unexpected opportunity to play soccer through the winter, and that has been such a blessing for them to get out some energy. Emma continues to bless me with her kisses and hugs. I am so blessed. This Christmas season is flying by, but I’m thankful that I can celebrate the real reason for the season every sing day. Jesus is the reason for the season, and He is my salvation. That’s something to celebrate every day!
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