Dear 2017-2018 School Year,

Isaiah 63:7 says,

"I will recount the Lord's faithful acts;
I will sing the Lord's praises,
because of all the Lord did for us..."

This past week, our school's Director shared this verse with our staff. I immediately wrote it down, as a reminder to use it to start this blog post. 

As this school year draws to a close, I can't help but think of how faithful and incredible my God has been throughout this year. He has blessed my class, my students, and myself, immeasurably more than I ever could have imagined.

Back in November 2016, I shared a dream God had laid on my heart. This was a dream of starting a class for a group of incredible students at my school... 



The picture above shows the "Before" shot of my room. My room had originally been a meeting room and by the point we took this picture, it had been completely emptied out, ready to be transformed into the room it is today. When I look at this picture, I get a little misty eyed, thinking of just how far we've come. 

We started with literally nothing. But thanks to the incredible generosity of amazing men and women and children from almost literally all around the world, I was able to purchase all sorts of books, supplies, technology, and so much more. 

And thanks to the support and encouragement of my administration, I've been able to watch my class grow from the 3 students we started with in August to the 9 (yes, nine!) that I will have this coming school year.

So, now let's go back to the present.

The 2017-2018 school year is almost finished.

My students finished this past Friday and I'm required to work all this week.

So, I thought I'd write a "letter" of sorts to the 2017-2018 school year, as a way to recap the good, the not so good, the fun, and the blessings that it contained. If for no other reason, but to jog my memory into remembering the goodness of God...

Dear 2017-2018 School Year,

What a year you've been!

I so enjoyed decorating my classroom for you.

Sadly, you started off with an injury on the very first day of classes, which left me working one handed (leaving me using my non-dominant hand, at that). To say it made things difficult would be a major understatement. And actually... Still to this day, I have very little strength in that wrist. I can't lift/hold anything heavy. And I still have periodic pain in that wrist, as well.



But thankfully I can write and type and teach. So all's good.

Back to the positives :)

My students and I have had such a great time with you this year. Every time I walked in that blue door, I smiled, knowing just what it took to get there.

We learned all sorts of things this year.

 

We played games.

 

We made new friends.

 

We had parties.

 

We were silly.

 

 

And we were serious, too.

We went on a field trip.

We cooked and made all sorts of fun treats.

We "adopted" the preK class and did all sorts of fun things with them.



We celebrated this country we all call "home."

We read.

 

We wrote and researched and created.

 

We worked on bulletin boards.

We watched movies.



We participated in Olympics.

 

 

We did projects and conducted experiments

 

We received awards.

We had so much fun this year.



And we did so much this year.

And as I sit here, with literal tears in my eyes, I want to say...

THANK YOU 2017-2018 School Year.

Thank you for providing me with such an incredible answer to prayer.

Thank you for helping me see a dream come true. 

Thank you for blessing me with the gift of being Teacher to these kids.

Thank you for reminding me of God's incredible grace and love.

Thank you 2017-2018 School Year.

Thanks for being such an incredibly blessed and wonderful year.

Sincerely,

Me