The Been Briefing

birthday wildness
sometime last week - i already forget which day - was john's birthday. his mom, who should be awarded PTA mom of the year - brought in some snacks for the kids, and they just went wild. needless to say, all work fell by the wayside for half an hour. lol.

i continue to work hard with caleb. his older brother stephen can no longer come to ERC, because the other teachers found him uncontrollable, so i take comfort that i have been able to at least *control* caleb. i try to channel his high energy level through fun activities, but what i really want to reach is his heart. pray that in the core of who he is, caleb will respond to Jesus in me. for, just as i read yesterday in Corinthians, it is Christ's love that compels me (2 cor. 5,14) and i long to see that stubbornness and defiance go... dosh!



i have seen the most marvelous change in danny, who is "flying" in the above picture. lol. when he began in my class i couldn't get a peep out of him. now he's as talkative as anything. his writing is slow, meticulous and perfectly formed, and he's really done an excellent job.
wendy remains the alpha female in the class - sometimes loud and easily angered - but i can usually diffuse those anger clouds above the eyebrows with a joke or laugh or a command for a changed heart. lol. thankfully, i started from Day #1 not allowing whining, arguing or complaining... and they have learned.

here is dear, dear heidi. even at so young an age, she is a strong christian - so sweet, bold, and unashamed. so, about 4 months ago i began noticing that my gel pens (for writing letters) were all dying, and i needed to bite the bullet and buy more. that week i received 2: one from esther and one from heidi. a few weeks later, i was noticing i needed to get a smaller, more compact wallet for my purse. a few weeks later, heidi gave me a wallet - absolutely perfect for what i needed. and then, somehow i lost some lip gloss (it was only LIP GLOSS!) and i remember being a little bummed. but not long after losing it, heidi gave me a little present: it was lip gloss. the most amazing thing is that i did not tell anyone about what i wanted beforehand.
the Lord is awesome! He knows how to remind me that He loves me and knows the seemingly insignificant desires deep in my heart. i love it! it screams to the world and those who are hungry: "LOOK- God is a God who knows and sees. Just test Him in this..."

as emily said, "my path will be a tasty, snicker-filled way." looolol.

this past saturday i hung out with emily. she showed me pictures of romania, and we had a western lunch (tuna on rolls) with a coffee. it was great!

on sunday i went with a bunch of the teachers to insaedong for the lantern lotus festival. there were tons of foreigners, which was really jarring. i have gotten used to being the only white face, or at least just one of few. we had a great time... pictures to come soon.

OH YES.. IT'S FINALLY WARMER HERE!! yay!