Love of the truest sense

Week 2 of taking over my class.  The kids are squirrely.  Basically they were climbing up the walls today because of the blizzard coming close.  My cooperating teacher says that they are like cattle and can sense the weather. :)

Mondays are hard.  They always will be whether you are a student, parent, or teacher.  The mornings are worse though when all you want to do is stay in bed and snuggle underneath the covers.  This particular morning I thought, "God, do I really  have to get up and deal with the most obnoxious, sickly, but adorable eight year olds today?  Seriously?".  Then I think about how much I truly love my kids.  I love each and every one of them down to the moments where they sneeze on me, wipe a booger on a bulletin board which I spent two hours working on, and that one time that a student called me Mom. Those are the moments that I won't forget anytime soon.

In between all the stress of managing the classroom, a teacher wants to just sit down and cry.  Not because of what a kid didn't accomplish that day or something that another teacher may have said.  Rather its about the kids and what their little hearts are going through each day.  One student found out yesterday that her mother has breast cancer.  Another has to wear shoes two sizes too small because her parents can't afford new shoes until summer.  Many others in my class complain that their stomachs hurt every day.  Most of the time this is because their parents don't have enough money for their kids to eat breakfast each morning.  It is absolutely heartbreaking.  They are only eight.  That's what haunts me the most.

Whenever I think that my life is rough, I think back to my conversations with students from that day.  I love all my kids.  No matter how obnoxious they may be, they are full of the purest joy that I have ever seen.  Thinking ahead to graduation freaks me out.  I know though, deep in my heart that teaching will be worth it.  I don't care where I end up as long as I can teach.  I don't care what kind of awful legislation they pass for the next school year and how hard teaching may be because of that.  I WILL make it through.  I WILL make a difference.  That is one plan that can never be taken away from me.  God has an amazing road for me to travel on.  I'm sure it will be bumpy at the best of times.  God never said in the Bible that life would be smooth sailing.  I can't wait to meet all of the wonderful kids that He puts in my life along the way.