Phases

I've been meaning to post this for months.

I've been thinking about this lately.

We all go through them.  Phases. 

When I was a kid, I was in a long roller hockey phase  (and getting my ear cut open by a hockey puck slap-shot at my face still didn't make me change my love for roller hockey for a long time).

I went through one with playing the piano (for like 3 months).

I went through a crimpy hair phase.  (the best photo is when I was like 7 and have a shirt with large parrots on it - we're talking bright colors with the long crimpy hair and bangs = classic yet I still blame my mom for letting me out of the house like that, hehe).

Everyone goes through them.  Some of them stick.  Some don't.  Through phases, we discover what we're good at, what we're not good at.  What we like, what we don't like.  It's part of life.

The kids at our school go through them.  We notice this mostly with what consumes their recess time.  They last for a few weeks sometimes, sometimes shorter and sometimes longer. 

Instead of listing them, I thought I would provide pictoral (is that the correct word?) proof:

(to make the pictures bigger, just click on one and it should allow

you to scroll through the pictures in a larger form)

i would like to note that the basic recorder-learning song is still "Mary Had a Little Lamb" - even in a foreign country!  took me back to my elementary days.

   

 

While phases with hobbies and games and other interests are normal and natural, my heart cries out for a few things to NOT become phase for these kids that I have grown to adore.  Below, I have pictures of a few things that I pray that their hearts take hold of for the rest of their lives.  That these things go beyond a phase and become a way of life.



I never want them to lose their child-like silliness and God-given personalities.

I want them to always know the source of where to find answers and HOPE.

I want them to always remember that they have direct access to God at all times.  He listens.  He cares.  He's the source of life.



Whatever lies ahead of them, whatever life brings their way - I pray they keep their eyes fixed on JESUS.

Reasons We Are Here

My awesome roommate, Emily sent this out for her Oct/Nov/Dec newsletter.  She says it so well that with her kind permission, I am just cutting and pasting from her letter.  (when she says "yesterday" - she's referring to end of October time frame and she is referring to the 14 kiddos she has in her classes)

"Yesterday we had our first ever parent/teacher conferences. Talking with our students’ parents is always an interesting experience. We sat down with the father whose little girls were taken away from him several months ago because of his incapability of providing them with a safe and loving home. We talked to an ex-prostitute who is fighting cancer, the brother of one of our girls from the village, and a Buddhist father whose little girl is sweet and smart and not interested in Jesus. We looked into the eyes of the mom who married at thirteen and who doesn’t really speak or read Thai, the dad who slouched in the chair with his baseball cap back-wards and we didn’t wonder where his sons got their attitude, and the dad with the sunglasses to cover the emotion in his eyes and we learned where his son got his soft heart. In learning more about the parents we discover what has influenced and formed the students we have come to know.


We spoke with a grandmother who has taken in her grandson because the boy’s father and mother have both abandoned him. He shows evidence of that hurt and desperately needs to feel loved and accepted. He is generally first to school and last to leave, he would prefer to be at an empty school rather than at his home. We recently learned that this year if he hadn’t been moved to our school he would be living and going to school (as a monk) at a temple.


Our last meeting was with the caregiver of our little boy whose parents are in jail. It was heartbreaking. We talked about how he feels that he has no one to love him or take care of him. All things considered he’s been well cared for and loved but in his eight year old mind he’s been without. His mom hasn’t come to any Mother’s day celebrations at school, his dad never taught him how to ride a bike, and when he was taken to the hospital several weeks ago after breaking his foot at school the nurse asked him, “What is your mother’s name? What is your father’s name? Where do you live?” To which he responded, “I don’t know.”


After these meetings my Thai co-teacher and I reviewed what had been said and both ended up fighting tears because of the hurt these little kids carry. We’ve quickly come to love them and can’t stand the thought of them being hurt, alone, or unloved. It reminded us of our main mission here, loving these kids and these families. Sharing the hope of Jesus in this darkness. Reminded us of the truth that every life matters and that our efforts while small and imperfect may make a difference in these fourteen children’s lives...and we’d do it all if there was only one.


We are so thankful for the chance to love these kids and their families. I love this quote from a great book by a friend, Diana Fogel, “The personal touch is of such vital importance to God that he assumed the shape of his creation to be near us, to nurture personal relationships with us.” Please continue to pray that through these relationships our children and their parents would come to know the Lord."

Pass it On

Check out the new campaign The School of Promise is doing (through Hope International Schools).   A small one-time gift can make a BIG difference to the school and impact the community.

Click HERE to check it out.  

Also, after you read about the campaign, scroll down to the bottom of that page to see the new video of a few student stories!