It’s 2004….again!

“It’s a new year, it’s a new day, it’s a new life.”  These song lyrics come to my mind as I think about welcoming 2004 again.  Why might you ask may I be welcoming 2004?

Ethiopia uses a different calendar than the one we use in Western cultures.  They do acknowledge that the rest of the world is using a different calendar, and they use that when applicable.  However, within their own culture, they use the Ethiopian calendar.  The Ethiopic calendar has 13 months:  12 months with 30 days each and an additional month with 5-6 days depending on whether the year is a leap year or not.  There is also a 7 year difference between the year in Ethiopia and the current year. 

Last night, my friends and I celebrated New Year’s Eve with a group of Ethiopians.  We started the night eating injera, wats, vegetables, and yummy desserts!  Then after everyone finished eating, we went outside to sit around a bonfire, (or should I say dance around a bonfire).  There wasn’t much sitting aloud!

At first I was just an observer of the action going on around me.  I watched as grown men danced around a bonfire, singing praises to God.  They were joyful in their singing and dancing.  They all knew the words to the songs and danced around in circles.  They didn’t care what they looked like or how they sounded; they just offered up songs of thanks and praise.  Although I only recognized a few words here and there in the songs, it was truly a beautiful sight and sound.

Our Ethiopian friends wouldn’t let us sit for long.  They would come to us and make us sing with them.  If we didn’t know the words then they would at least make us dance.  It truly was a New Year’s Eve like no other.

There were a few moments during the night that I reflected on the past year.  I realized that it was the week after Ethiopian New Years that I heard about the opportunity to teach at Bingham.  This time last year, I would have never imagined that I would be celebrating a New Year’s Eve in Ethiopia in 2003!  I thought about the faithfulness of God and everything He has done for me during the past year.  I serve an amazing God, who has bigger plans for me than I have for myself.  Although living a surrendered life for Christ can be challenging at times, it’s worth every moment.

After making the connection of where God had brought me over the past year, I started thinking about the year 2004.  2004 was a monumental year for me!  On July 29, 2004, I made the decision to surrender my life to Christ.  Although I had been in church since the time I was in the womb, it wasn’t until the summer before my senior year of high school that I decided to fully commit; go all in.  It was on that night that I decided to give my broken heart to the Mighty Healer.  He changed my life on that night.  He got ahold of my heart, and I have never been the same!

New Year’s Day is always a representation of a new beginning; a chance to start over.  Not only do I get to start a New Year, but I get to relive the year 2004.  If someone asked me what I would do differently, the only thing I would say is surrender my life at the beginning instead of the middle.  It was the greatest decision of my life, and my only regret is that I didn’t do it sooner! 

He is able to do the same in anyone’s life.  All He needs is a willing heart.  Not someone with all of the right answers.  Not someone who knows exactly what it takes.  Not someone who has their life together, because I definitely did not.  He just needs someone to desire it, and He will take it from there.  Trust Him.  It will be the best decision you’ve ever made! 

Happy New Year!

First Days of School

Sorry it has been so long since I updated my blog.  I went home for 6 weeks during the rainy season, and that gave me a chance to update everyone in person.  J  Now I’ve been back in Ethiopia for 6 weeks, but things have been busy.  I’ve barely had enough time to relax between staff orientation, an online course I am taking for a Reading Endorsement Program, and the first few weeks of school with my new first grade class.

When school started 3 weeks ago, I could officially say I was an experienced first grade teacher (if you count 8 months experienced).  However, I had never started a new year with my own class.  There were many disadvantages to starting in the middle of a school year, but there was also one very BIG advantage.  The leg work of preparing the students for school/class procedures had already been done for me.  Last year’s class had already been in first grade for 8 weeks before I took over the class.  They were minor league first graders when I got ahold of them, thanks to the teacher that had them during first term.  This year’s class was a group of rookie first graders with a new coach: Coach Cawood and she runs her first grade team different then their previous kindergarten teachers.

All of my students have been in a school setting before, but first grade is a little different from kindergarten.  I have high expectations for my first grade students.  I have an idea of where I need them to be in order to be ready for second grade at the end of the year.  Because of this, I knew I had to start out the school year right.

Going into this school year, I was a bit nervous about how to start the class.  We were told in our college courses that we should not even smile until Christmas; the students should know in the beginning what your expectations are and that you mean business!  But not smiling at first graders until Christmas would be impossible!  The best part about teaching young students is their zeal for learning, life, and their humorous words and actions.  There is not a day that goes by that they don’t make me laugh.  (Sometimes I’m laughing in hindsight, but still laughing nonetheless.)

So I’ve decided that I will smile at them and laugh with them, but I still have to be firm and consistent.  These first few weeks have been challenging for me.  As I’ve spoken to other colleagues, they say that the beginning of the year is always like this; until students know your expectations and procedures, it will be frustrating to have to continually repeat yourself over and over again. 

Although I knew it would be like this in theory, this is the first time I’ve lived it!  I have a whole new group of little ones.  They are different than my first class.  They are unique and fun in their own ways, but I’ve got to learn their habits, needs, and personalities just like I did with last year’s class. 

There have been several times where I have caught myself remembering last year’s group of students.  When I think back to that class, it seems perfect (and of course it was not always that way in my mind).  I enjoyed them as a whole class.  We established a loving community with each other.  I respected them and they respected me.  There isn’t a day that has gone by since school started that I’ve not gotten numerous hugs from my now grown up second graders, and it makes me miss them terribly.

However, we have had a speaker visiting the school for our middle school and high school students’ spiritual emphasis week who said something that challenged me.  At the family worship night the other night he said something to the parents that stuck with me as a teacher.  He said that parents should become students of their children and figure out how they can uniquely encourage, discipline, and motivate each of their children. 

It made me realize that I too should become a student of my students.  I need to figure out a way to encourage, discipline, and motivate each one of them.  God has placed each and every one of these students in my life, and I have a huge responsibility.  I’m meant to teach them, love them, and disciple them to become followers of Christ.  My job is huge, and I will not take it lightly.

Although the beginning of the year has been challenging, it has also been rewarding.  I’ve learned a lot about myself and grown as a teacher.  I look forward to getting to know this class of students.  And mark my words, come June they will be professional first graders indeed!