First Day of School

"Oh what beautiful morning! Oh what a beautiful day!"

Today went really well :) We had a teacher's meeting this morning outside the office in the sunshine. As we prayed and dedicated this year to the Glory of God I got goosebumps as Trevor looked at us and marveled at God how He brought this all together. And together we sang "Praise God from Whom all Blessings Flow" and one could just feel the notes lift right up to heaven.

My class had 14 students today, all of whom were born in different places, save the 3 who were born here in Kigali. So cool! We started the morning by looking at Luke 2:41-52 - the passage where we can see what Jesus was like at 12 years old. My students are 10 and 11 year olds. It was fun to talk about how they too could grow in wisdom and statue, in favor of God and man. The excitement was palpable :) :) :)

I introduced 'Horton' our elephant friend in class, and we all took a turn introducing ourselves to him and gently sending him around to others (Horton cannot be thrown because he gets airsick and he's afraid of falling). I loved to see how each interacted with him, some were sweet and careful, some talked directly to him, others held him upside down. It helped me understand them a little bit better :)

We took pictures and marked how tall we are - lots of documenting of this first day of school! I hope I remember to revisit all of this the last week of school to tie it all up!! I have to say there were moments I was just so happy to look at them and think "we get to be together for a whole year! yay!" Thank you God for making this happen!

The 'real' work will start tomorrow with books and lessons and all that other stuff.

After school Roberta took some of the teachers to town for some shopping and we stopped at the Maxwell's house to drop off the girls and see their kittens! They have 3, 4-week-old kittens that were obviously adorable!! I held two of them and it was hard to let them go!! They are trying to find homes for them, but sadly I know I cannot take one. I already had to say goodbye to one kitty… :(

Time to eat some dinner and have a 'house' meeting!

Thanks for all the prayers and wishes for the 'first day' - God is good and faithful and blessed us indeed!