Jesusluvsall's Blog

Yesterday I went to the school where my morning Family Literacy class is. My class will start again next Tuesday.  The beginning of a new year is always exciting for me because I know I will see some returning students and also meet some new ones. My class is full of moms who want to learn English, so they can help their children. They come from different cultures, but they share the desire for their children to have bright futures. Next week they will decorate the room to make it their own, but yesterday I went to organize it.

As I worked on the room, I thought about my returning students and their stories. One of the moms is now a widow because her husband died last year. Another mom has had to be the leader in her family because her husband had a traumatic brain injury and though recovered enough to be back at work, he leans on her a lot in life now. Several moms came here as refugees and are trying to make new lives here. One mom I check on each morning asking how her asthma is.

One thing I feel is so important as I prepare for a new school year is to pray for my students. Each morning before I go teach, I like to start my day by praying for them. Living with autoimmune means waking up some mornings with pain or fatigued or both. On those mornings I pray and ask Jesus to give me the strength for the day to show his love to my students.  I don’t want my struggles to be a cloud over the morning, so I never tell them about it. In 2017 when I was going from specialist to specialist to find out my latest autoimmune problem, I never said a word. It is my conviction that I am there for them and that they are not there for me.

Next Tuesday the room will transform as they decorate it with a calendar wall they make, word walls they make, and other decorations. It is a bit humorous for me to think about me an old guy with a beard teaching a room full of moms decorated to look the way moms want it to look, BUT I love it. They think it is funny that their teacher uses the same coffee cup without washing it out and sometimes my cup is hijacked to be washed out.

Our classroom is filled with laughter many times. My silly stories and fibs get them laughing such as when I tell them I was born in 1998.

Our classroom is also a safe place filled with understanding. They are supportive and encouraging of each other. When they walk into my classroom, I greet them and check on how they are doing.

After the summer I went through, I am SO LOOKING FORWARD to getting back with my moms. I am ready for a new school year. I will try to remember to post a picture next week of the room after they finish making it look nice.

Thank you for reading. God Bless 🙂