Today I had almost 34 conferences with the parents of all our 3rd graders. It was awesome. It was so awesome because I got to see where my wonderful kids come from. I just love my kids. I love their hearts. They are so tender and rich. My babies come from all sorts of places: hard places, and good places. I pray for them a lot. Not only that they would know my Savior, but that they would have good friends, that they would remember what they studied, that they would be patient with others, and most of all that they would feel His love through me.
I really want to be brave every day. It is my
goal to be so loving to them every day. I just wish I could hug their hearts. I wish I could talk to each of them for hours about things that they care about, besides warm-blooded and cold-blooded animals hehe. I've mentioned before about our Family Meetings on Fridays. This past Friday we did something different. I have been noticing my kids saying unkind things to each other so I decided to shake 'em up a little bit ;) I told them that we were EACH going to say something kind, encouraging and life-giving about each person in our class. They were like WHAT!?! Every person has to go!? Yes. Duh. You get 17 compliments, who wouldn't want that? I went first. Every student went around the circle and said something about me, my heart overflowed. They are such world changers. I know it!!!! One of them said, "I love you because you are the only teacher that has never yelled at me before." Then he teared up. Friends, I just about died right then and there. Cue heart melting into a puddle. They had so many kind things to say to their friends. I felt like Jesus was in the middle of our family circle playing with their hair or giving them high fives when they said encouraging things. MM MM GOOD.
Sometimes I don't feel brave. I feel beaten. Sometimes I feel like I've failed my kids, like I'm not patient or loving enough. Sometimes I just feel mean. Who knows -I am too hard on myself sometimes- Ben always reminds me. I am just now thinking this but I feel like Jesus told me that HE is the tender lover of our souls. He is the perfect teacher that I wish I could be. He is the one who never gets angry or annoyed with me, even though I don't do my homework and study scripture to battle the lies I believe. THANK you Jesus. Sometimes I wish everyone could be a teacher for a little while. It really is just an eye-opener. I can't imagine doing anything else. I love my job. I love my mission field. I love my kids. I want to live a brave life. Bravely walking into school every day with courage and love and patience and grace and all things good as my
weapons. I want to bravely witness to my kids through my actions. I want to live a brave life.
PS- if you're in Waco, you should stop by someday. Mrs. Belz's class loves to play tag and all things that involve joy and laughter and happiness. Also we love treats :)
