Simple Joys

I think it's kind of silly to keep a blog that you only post in once every few months, but..oh well it's mostly for me that I write anything on here at all :)
I do enjoy sharing some of the things I'm thankful for so here are a few more...

• Having one of our former house members spend the week with us.  The chance to catch up with her and her husband and be excited about their little baby on the way :)
• An afternoon walk as the sun is starting to go down. Stopping to visit some friends along the way.
• The chance to become the mentor of a precious little girl at one of Spokane's elementary schools.  We met for the first time today and colored pictures together as she told me about her family.  There is a lot of brokenness that so many kids have to grow up with.  I hope that our once-a-week time together can provide some sort of stability, as small as it may be, in her life.
• Finally becoming a member at my church.  I've been so blessed to go there for the last year and a half and on Sunday will finally be introduced as a member.  This church has been the biggest reason I would want to stay in Spokane after graduating.
• Every single one of the fourth graders in my student teaching class.  They bring so much joy to my life and every time I visit, they remind me of why I want to be a teacher.
• Sarah and Kyle's beautiful voices and guitar playing.  They're amazing!
• Our sun room is back to being a sun room, after cleaning it up, putting some new furniture and decor, and heating it.  No more pets to use it as a dog house :-)
• A game of scrabble with a neighbor.  (Besides the fact that he finished with three times my score...)

I'm learning more and more that it's the little things that make life enjoyable, and I have SO many little things to celebrate.  God is good, always good.

Gifts

There are so many things to add to my "One Thousand Gifts" list...

271. Friends in our house for games on a Friday night
272. Good conversation with Kelsey about life
273. Saturday afternoon, reading in the back yard
274. Henry curling up on my lap to take a nap while I read a good book
275. Late afternoon sunlight streaming across the floor in the sun room
276, Listening to Sarah play her guitar, singing worship songs
277, Brilliant red-pink leaves on the bushes in front of our house
278. Cheery bouquet of white and yellow daisies on our dining room table....Good thing some of my housemates have boyfriends :)
279. We are starting to eat family dinners together every night as a house, taking turns cooking
280.  Nice walk, conversation, and lunch with a friend

Ocean of Blessing

I've been back in Spokane for a week today.  I'm loving my new house, my housemates, and our precious puppy :-)
These last few days I have been able to relax a bit before the busyness of school starts, which includes good books, afternoon jogs, reconnecting with friends, and all the joys of making our house into a home.
It has also been a good time to reflect on how much God has blessed me and how much I have to be thankful for.  Ann Voskamp (One Thousand Gifts) has helped me to become more aware of all the gifts, big and small, that God has put in my life.  From the evenings of good conversation with my housemates, to the morning sunshine through the leaves of the trees in our backyard, there are so many beautiful blessings to be appreciated.  In One Thousand Gifts, Ann Voskamp writes about how her whole outlook on life was changed when she took up the challenge to write down one thousand things she was thankful for.  After reading the book, I decided to try it for myself, and it really has afftected the way I see life.
God didn't have to put such vibrant colors into nature, he didn't have to make puppies so energetic, he didn't have to make cinammon smell so good.  But he did...just for our pleasure.  And he wants us to delight in him and his gifts and see that he is good. 
On a much larger scale, God had no obligation to rescue us from our brokenness, and he didn't have to buy us, the prostitute that we were, and make us into his bride.  But he did....and it is astounding.  We are drowning in a sea of grace because God is so good.  If only we had the eyes to see...

One Thousand Gifts

"Sometimes I wonder...if the rent in the canvas of our life backdrop, the losses that puncture our world, our own emptiness, might actually become places to see.
To see through to God.
That that which tears open our souls, those holes that splatter our sight, may actually become the thin, open places to see through the mess of this place to the heart-aching beauty beyond.  To Him.  To the God whom we endlessly crave."
Such good words....Ann Voskamp says it so well I have nothing to add.

Learning

This year I have learned so much about teaching--I'm afraid I'll forget a lot of it before I'm actually in the classroom. I've especially learned about teaching kids with disabilities and teaching ELLs (English Language Learners). As I'm learning, I'm seeing so many things I did wrong in my short experience with teaching in Guatemala. I remember being there and having the thought I'm so glad I'm going to spend four years learning how to do this better. The biggest thing I want to take away from Ed. Psych and my special ed. class right now is the idea of reinforcing students instead of punishing them. I've learned that punishment may stop a behavior for a day, but it doesn't really do much long-term good. Reinforcing good behaviors, however, makes all the difference. I have to say that in my field placement classroom last semester there was a lot of punishing going on and it just made a very negative environment. No one wanted to be there most of the time--teachers or students--and sending kids out into the hall all the time didn't seem to help a whole lot. In Guatemala, I tried to use a team points system to get kids to behave, giving the different groups points for co-operating and not disrupting class, and it actually worked really well. But then I started to take away points when kids didn't behave, and I lost control of the class right away. That makes sense to me now. Reinforce, don't punish.
I've also been able to apply some of the things I'm learning in my ELL classes to the English class at the Adult Education Center and helping people with their reading and English there. Last week at the AEC all of the students were tested and a bunch of them moved up to the next level, which is a good thing, but I'm going to miss them :( Also, one of the guys who I was helping to fill out job applications got a job last week so I'm super excited about that! Except that means he can't come to class anymore :( I'm really enjoying getting to know the Nepali people there-they make up about half the class and lately I've been really interested in Nepal and that culture.
That reminds me of the other exciting thing this week. I applied to go to Indonesia next Jan Term on a missions trip with Partners International. SO excited about that! It would be the first time I've traveled away from North and South America, which would probably be a good experience for me. In my life, any time I've been in a different country, I've been able to either use English or Spanish, so it will be interesting being in a place where I really do not speak the language. I will need to do a significant amount of fundraising for that. I trust that God will provide if he wants me to go on this trip.

AEC

I just got back from my regular Wednesday night at the Adult Education Center, a part of Spokane Community Colleges that offers ESL classes to adults. I just started volunteering there a few weeks ago, and so far it has been a huge highlight of every week. The classroom that I am in is the people who speak very little to no English. Most of them are refugees who came here through World Relief and are now trying to figure out how to start up life in this country. World Relief helps them out for six months after their arrival, and then they have to fend for themselves. Can you imagine how challenging it would be to be dropped into this culture when you have never learned to read, don't know how to tell time, or pay American bills, or navigate American grocery stores, and don't know a single word of English? I would imagine it would be a bit like landing on a new planet.

Tonight during the break I was helping one man fill out job applications. Finding a job can be fairly challenging when you've spent the last twenty years in a refugee camp. Also during the break, some students were writing practice questions on the board for their written citizenship test. "If the president dies, who takes his place as president?" "Who was the first president of the United States?" "What is the capital city of your state?" The first step is sounding out all the letters, then figuring out the words, then understanding what exactly the question is asking, and then coming up with an answer and writing it out. My question is whether it would be possible to take the test orally.
There are so many challenges that these people face--it just makes me think how much injustice there is in the world. Born into a war-torn country, risking their lives to get into a refugee camp in another country, waiting for decades to get into a more stable place, often separated from loved family members, then starting an education at a kindergarten level as a 45 year old. And yet, somehow they can all still have a great time laughing as they do silly games and sing "head and shoulders, knees and toes" in this ESL class. I love it.

I know it has been way too long since I've posted anything on here. A lot has happened since my last post, mostly school. Last semester I started my education classes and got to spend some time each week in an elementary classroom. I considered changing majors because of that--it was kind of a hectic classroom and a bit overwhelming. But in the end I decided to stick with it. A big reason I wanted to keep pursuing education is because I want to teach ELL, English Language Learners, if I end up teaching in the United States. Last semester I got to visit the Adult Education Center, where adults can learn English, and I also got to go to a high school ELL classroom and teach a lesson. I enjoyed both of those a lot, mostly because of the people I got to talk to. There are a lot of refugees in Spokane who are here through World Relief. People from Nepal and the Marshall Islands and Eritrea and a lot of other countries. Each of them has a story and most of them are separated from people they love either in their home country or living as a refugee in another country. I would love to get involved in some kind of organization or ministry that specifically works with these kinds of people. Teaching English would be one way to to that. I am becoming more and more convinced that the United States needs missionaries just as much as any other country. I've always hoped to go to another country for missions but I'm learning that I don't have to go very far to find needy people.

Something that has been on my mind lately is the attitude and motivation behind ministry. I think it's kind of arrogant to think that people need my help as if I'm the only person who can save them. As if my life is all put together and now I need to go fix other people. That certainly isn't true. But then why is it that I am passionate about helping people who suffer? One answer is that when I spend time with people who are suffering or poor, I see Jesus in them and I get to know him better by knowing them better.

On a different note, this Jan Term I am taking a class called "Postures of the Soul: Sacred Dance". The teacher is Judy Mandeville. Today I was thinking about how God's love and grace just seem emanate from her. She is so passionate about God and she genuinely cares about all of her students. I hope and pray that God's love would show as clearly through me as it does through her.