Chasing After Him and Reaping the Benefits

Not gonna lie, the last couple weeks have been difficult. Perhaps it has been the jetlag or the craziness of spring semester, the amount of pre-teen hormones in my classroom or the combination of all three. Tough times require us to lean that much more on the one who leads us beside quiet waters. I was reading a devotional last week that was stressing the importance of seeking not after blessings, but after His face. When we seek after what we think is best for us, we usually end up disappointed and even more stressed than before. But, when we seek after His face, those blessings just fall into place and usually show up in the most unexpected ways. In spite of the hard stuff, I have striven to seek His face and have ended up with eyes to recognize some blessings.
So, here's a few ways that He's blessed me in the past couple weeks:

1. High Schoolers: Last Friday, I spoke at the youth group about living intentionally. It was a smaller group, but I was confident that He hand picked the students He wanted there to hear what He was going to say through me. I had them do some reflecting on their "theme" for 2009 and challenged them to come up with a desired theme for 2010 (thanks to Pastor Bob for the idea:)). I am blown away by the high schoolers at BAIS. He is writing such incredible stories in their lives and I am so humbled that I have been written into some of them. Please be lifting me up as I continue to connect with them and attempt to pour into their lives.

2. Stories: We are continuing to prepare for our trip out to the islands in April. Our last meeting was focused around stories...my story, your story and how those connect to His story. It was so cool to hear some of the encounter testimonies from the students and leaders and to see His clear hand of provision, protection and power. He's put together a pretty strong team this year. I am anxious to see what He's got in store for us. Please be lifting up the team and the finances as our deadline and departure date quickly approach.

3. Dancing: Last semester, along with trying to learn "Thriller," I taught my students and several other classes the "Cupid Shuffle." This semester, I brought back two new songs for my kids to try: "The Electric Slide" and the "Cha Cha Slide." With fourteen students on the verge of their teenage years, times can get a little tense in the 5th grade, so to provide some relief, we dance! After they agree that dancing is cool and not lame, they have a blast and afterwards, everyone is in a better mood:)

4. Singing: I have also found that another method of relieving stress is karaoke. I confess that I have a slight obsession with this pastime. After a day of crowds and traffic, a few of us decided we needed to do a quick session of karaoke before a birthday dinner we had to go to. Now, here in Asia, they do karaoke differently. It isn't in bars. Instead, you rent private rooms with a TV, karaoke machine, micrphones, and couches. You can order food and drinks to be brought to your room as you are belting out Shania Twain and Kelly Clarkson. It is a beautiful thing and definitely a reason to visit me here in Indonesia:) I am still trying to come up with a creative and educational way to integrate karaoke into the 5th grade curriculum, but in the meantime I will do outside the classroom any chance I can.
5. Sharpening "Sisters": I am blessed with some amazing "sisters" here in Indo who are incredible listeners, strong shoulders to cry on and solid sources of wisdom and truth. He is so good to provide people like that who can tell it to us straight, but do it in love. I have been blessed by their friendships here and am humbled each time He uses us to strengthen and support one another.
My prayer for you is that you would seek His face intead of the blessings and that you'd have eyes to clearly see how His love and beauty are chasing after you each day.

Off to a good start...

Today was our first official day of the new semester. Monday was a workday/recover from jetlag/catch up with all the peeps/prepare for the week. Oh how I love this community I work in. It is truly like a family, which makes it hard to be productive in the classroom and try to catch up on what we've been up to during the past three weeks. Nevertheless, the kiddos came today and reality has begun again. Plans for the week include beginning Maniac Magee and writing persuasive essays in Language Arts, multiplying and dividing fractions in Math, and understanding the parts of plant and animal cells in science. In Bible today, we spent most of the time sharing what we did over Christmas Break, but we also came up with some goals for our last semester of 5th grade. We talked about New Year's Resolutions and their purpose, then came up with personal goals. We put them up in the classroom, so that we can help keep each other accountable. Although my perfectionistic ways have mellowed a bit, I still tend to get a little carried away with wanting things in my classroom to run smoothly and in the process leave out that oh-so-important element of compassion. So, I decided that my goal for the last semester of this 5th grade class was going to be to each day remember specific reasons why my 5th graders are the best. In other words, intentionally recognizing the ways that they blow me away each day. Tomorrow, we will be coming up with classroom goals that we can aim for collectively. I am anxious to see what they come up with:)
It is so good to be back...back in Indonesia, back in a routine, and back in my classroom!

A New Year's Resolution and a Semester in Review...

You will be happy to know that one of my 2010 resolutions is to update my blog more often in order to keep you more in the loop on my teaching adventure in the tropics!
I have been in Flagstaff for the past few weeks for Christmas Break and have had a wonderful time catching up with friends and spending quality time with my family. Despite the freezing weather (yes, I have become a wuss to the cold thanks to my time in the tropics), it has been a blast being here over the holiday. As the calendar year is wrapping up and I get ready to head back for semester number two, I can't help but reflect on this past semester and give Him all the glory for what I have gotten to experience.
The contrast between the first and second year of teaching is unbelievable. Even though I moved up a grade this year from 4th to 5th, it has still gone remarkably smoother than last year. I definitely have more confidence and a stronger relationship with my kiddos, but I attribute it more to the fact that we have AC in the classroom this year! It's amazing how much better I teach when I am not completely drenched and cranky. It's great. Actually, I really think teaching has become easier because I have lived in Indonesia for over two years, the land of "rubber time" and flexibility, and it has rubbed off on me. Yes, structured and perfectionist Molly has chosen to no longer sweat the small stuff but rather embrace the chaos:)
I LOVE 5th grade. There are a few more tantrums, breakdowns and squabbles, but there are also more in depth conversations, more growth and deeper relationships. He is doing some amazing things in the hearts of the 13 ten-year-olds in my classroom which constantly reminds me of Philippians 1:6. He is doing a great work and I am privileged to play a role in it for this season. A few highlights of our semester have included a field trip to the lake, hands-on learning activities about the digestive system, spending a week in "Antarctica" during I Love to Read Month, dancing the Cupid Shuffle, How-To presentations, and a bowling party! This semester we have the Lock-In to look forward to where I am hoping they will agree to do karaoke with me:)
It has also been amazing to be in our second year at the new campus. Again, remarkably smoother than last year! This is partially due to the fact that BAIS has been blessed with some pretty amazing new staff. With an addition to administration and a couple extra hands in the business office, we have become an even stronger team. New staff means new friends and new friends means new adventures! We had a blast last semester taking random motorbike trips to different locations, spending a week in Malaysia, and celebrating Thanksgiving at the beach. All of which of course included adventure dining. The best thing I ate this semester was at a place in Penang, Malaysia called the Wet Market. It was full of vendors selling breakfast foods. We became pretty tight with an Indian man and his wife. He made the Roti (fried bread) and she made the kopi susu (pulled coffee with sweetened condensed milk). Amazing! Although this community that I live in can feel like a bubble sometimes, I have certainly been sharpened by my brothers and sisters. What a blessing!
Another highlight of the semester was a week devoted to serving outside the walls of our campus called Week Without Walls. Everyone in the school participates in projects created and run by the teachers. The theme this year was Love-ology. I was in charge of a project for high school and middle school girls that included working with the Islamic School down the street to create "Boxes of Love" for local kampung girls. It was a phenomenal experience where He showed me that love comes in all kinds of forms. We were asked to wear head coverings while working at the Islamic School. Although this was a bit outside of our comfort zones, it was humbling to see Him work through those insecurities and allow real friendships to blossom among the two groups of students. During our time with the kampung girls, we got to spread the love through games, singing, dancing and giving gifts. My favorite part was dancing the Hokey Pokey with 60 students between the ages of 3 and 17. Yes, love comes in all forms:)
Looking back at this semester, all I can say is "Great is His faithfulness." Every good thing comes from Him and I love that He has given me eyes to see those good things: good friends, an amazing class, challenging tasks, and fun adventures. It's in the joy of remembering His faithfulness that I have the strength to look upon the coming year with anticipation for what He's going to do!