Story Time

I'm sitting at my desk correcting some of the students' recent stoires... here is one that I got a kick out of... this is unaltered/uncorrected...

"Play Ball"
The story is about tow child who like to play ball! In a hot day, there is a girl name Rachel, she likes to play ball, she is 0 years old. One day, Rachel want to play ball in her school, she ask everyone, but everone didn't like to play with Rachel, because everbody were 45000 years old. She ask a boy name Mark, he is o.5 year old. He likes to play ball too! So, they play ball together. They become friends! They grow up and are married!

How about that for a story? I suppose if everyone else is 45000 years old, and you are zero years old, and there is one guy who is 0.5 years old, the options are limited. I'm glad Rachel and Mark could make a go of it.

Also, this student came up to me and said, "Look! I used your sister's name!" Good memory. Mark is the name of another teacher here who subbed for my class a couple times. That cracked me up.

Students..

My E4 students, who I also taught in E3 last year, are the highlight of each day. Seriously, these kids are amazing. And they touch my heart - every day I see them.

Let me share a couple little moments.

In Bible class, we've been going through the Ten Commandments, talking about God's law, God's love, and the forgiveness we have in Christ. The day that we talked about the commandment, "Do not steal," I had students list things that people sometimes steal.

Here is one student's list: "money, boyfriend, car, house." I laughed about that. A lot. (The second item on the list was extremely funny to read from this 4th grader...)

To preface this next little story, a friend of mine from college passed away the beginning of this week. I hope to write something about that soon, but not yet. At any rate, I had shared the news with my students, the saddness at missing him and the hope of seeing him in heaven again one day. Later, we were learning about settings. We did a "create your own setting" activity. One of my students wrote, "The time is midnight. It is Anna's friend's birthday. It's in heaven, it's Anna's friend's heaven house. The weather is snowy."

Amid some frustrations lately, I heard a song from Sara Grove's album, "Add the the Beauty." (Actually, I bought the whole album on iTunes and REALLY like it. I recommend it to anyone interested.) The song is called, "Kingdom Comes." Here are words that are really encouraging to anyone sharing the love of Christ...

When anger fills your heart
When in your pain and hurt
You find the strength to stop
You bless instead of curse

When doubting floods your soul
Though all things feel unjust
You open up your heart
You find a way to trust

That's a little stone that's a little mortar
That's a little seed that's a little water
In the hearts of the sons and the daughters
The kingdom's coming

When fear engulfs your mind
Says you protect your own
You still extend your hand
You open up your home

When sorrow fills your life
When in your grief and pain
You choose again to rise
You choose to bless the name

That's a little stone that's a little mortar
That's a little seed that's a little water
In the hearts of the sons and the daughters
The kingdom's coming

In the mundane tasks of living
In the pouring out and giving
In the waking up and trying
In the laying down and dying

That's a little stone that's a little mortar
That's a little seed that's a little water
In the hearts of the sons and the daughters
The kingdom's coming