Worst Day of the Year

It wasn't a bad day at all. It was a great day, with great kids, and lots of fun things to celebrate the end of the school year.

I don't know if my brain ever really shut down last night, and by 4:30 this morning I was wide awake. As I laid in bed I couldn't wrap my brain around the fact that "today is the last day of school". I got up early and went to school to take care of some last minute things.

The kids all showed up at 8, quite excited for the movie (though they didn't know what we would be watching), and heavy-laden with snacks and kool-aid. Before the movie, we reviewed our Time-Capsule documents from the first day of school and took some time to reflect and write how we'd grown over the year. We also measured to see how much we'd physically grown! One boy grew 3 ½ inches!! (And one girl, besides myself, did not grow at all.) It was really neat to see the kids excitement over how much they'd learned and grown this year. We also had our last time to share prayer requests. Their hearts are very compassionate, and it was so neat to hear them bring up their concerns: sick family members, family/friends affected by the tornado(s) in Missouri and now beyond, conflicts in North Africa and the middle east, and praises for a good year of school. As they prayed, I just silently wept and smiled, thanking God myself for such a beautiful year and such sweet children.

The surprise movie was "Horton Hears a Who" as Horton was our class mascot this year. During the movie I happened to look up as one boy was about to crawl on his desk, and appeared to be reaching out for the girl in front of him. I was about to stop him, when another boy drew my attention to what was going on. There was a grasshopper in the girl's hair! She didn't know - so the boy was trying to grab it before it made a scene! He was very successful and took the little green guy outside and let him fly away. The whole situation made me smile.

After the movie, we did some final clean-up and then we watched the DVD I made for the kids. It consists of several short video clips I took of them throughout the year, and one slideshow with all my pictures of them. I cried - they laughed! But it was good - crying through the slideshow helped me make it through our last class prayer.

We went to our final elementary chapel at the end of the day. Each class chose a favorite song to share - my class chose 'To God be the Glory'. Yep - love those kids! And, the other classes made cards for my kids and said a special prayer for them as this was their last elementary chapel as next year they will be in middle school! It was a very special time.

The goodbyes weren't so hard after that - lots of good hugs. I will some kids tomorrow night at graduation and have to say goodbye again, but I know it will be ok. I spent the afternoon packing and cleaning up my classroom. It was a little overwhelming to see it so bare and empty, but still simple and beautiful. I will miss my class very much.

So no, it was not a bad day, but it definitely was the worst day of the year!

To God be the Glory

To God be the glory, great things He has done

So loved He the world, that He gave us His Son

Who yielded His life an atonement for sin

And opened the life-gate that all may go in!

Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord! Let the earth hear his voice!

Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord! Let the people rejoice!

Oh come to the Father through Jesus the Son

And give Him the glory, great things He has done!

Great things He has taught us, great things He has done

And great our rejoicing through Jesus the Son

But purer and higher and greater will be

Our wonder, our transport, when Jesus we see!

Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord! Let the earth hear his voice!

Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord! Let the people rejoice!

Oh come to the Father through Jesus the Son

And give Him the glory, great things He has done!