The 46th Dear _____ Post

Dear Long, You're one word I'd use to describe this week of school. While it was indeed fun and exciting, and I definitely enjoyed it, it still felt like one of the longest weeks ever! I guess that's what being on vacation and sleeping late for 3 weeks will do to you, huh? :)

Dear New Boxes of Crayons and Markers, Who would've ever thought that you could make the 8 kids in my class so incredibly happy? You would've thought I'd given them a million bucks by the way they reacted upon seeing you :)

Dear Projects, I've got quite a few of you planned for my first graders to do this semester. When I told them about some of them, they got super excited. And since their excitement is contagious, I got excited too :)

Dear Strawberries, You are FINALLY in season here in Dakar. And I know you're not going to last very long, so I'm going to buy up a bit of you to freeze for later when you disappear again. The sad thing is, though, that you're quite pricey. Boo to that :(

Dear Clementine Juice, I buy a bottle of you a week. You're my new favorite juice. 

Dear Mom, Your birthday was a week ago today. I'm sad that I wasn't there with you, but am thankful I got to talk to you (twice). I feel so incredibly blessed to have been born into the family I was. You are definitely the glue that holds our family together. You are one of the most amazing women I know, and I feel honored and blessed to be able to call you my best friend and my mom!

Dear A Long Way, You're how far two of my students have come since the beginning of the year. These two spoke absolutely no English whatsoever at the beginning of the year and yesterday, for the FIRST TIME EVER, they recited their entire Bible Verse (Psalm 18:32) from memory! Oh my word! I hugged them both. I complimented them. I cried a little. Then the rest of the class went on and on congratulating them and hugging them and telling them "good job" over and over again. I think the other 6 students were just as proud, if not more, as I was :)

Dear Ivory Coast, I'm looking forward to visiting you in March for our West Africa AGWM Retreat. Hello new stamp in my passport :)

Dear Fruit Ninja, You're a game on my iPad. And what a fun game you are. You are my help-me-to-wind-down-at-night-before-going-to-sleep game :)

Dear Sharpening Pencils, I so do not enjoy you. So imagine my delight when I realized that all 8 of my students can now sharpen their own pencils using their little handheld sharpeners. Praise the Lord for not having to sharpen any more pencils...at least until next year, that is :)

Dear Duck Dynasty Marathon Complete with Eating Yummy Cajun Food and Channeling our Inner Rednecks, Some friends and I are planning you. Yep, we're cool like that :)

Dear Fruit Stand Guy, You Sir made my day the other day. Thanks for complimenting me on my French. ...and you weren't even trying to get me to buy more veggies from you. :)

Dear Bones (the t.v. show), This past Monday's 2-part episode was a cool one. I really enjoyed it.

Dear Last Grad School Class EVER, I'm officially FINALLY enrolled in you! It's so hard to believe that after 3 1/2 long (really, really long) years, i am almost finished with grad school. Woohoo!!! :)

But with that said...

Dear Standstill, You're where I'm at in regards to a certain aspect of my grad school degree. My advising professor was out of the office yesterday when I tried calling (multiple times) and she hasn't replied to my emails. Her secretary says she doesn't know if everything will work out the way we planned or not and that I should just wait for my advisor to contact me. I then called the State Department and the same thing happened. The woman I needed to talk to was off for the day and no one else knows how to help me. And since Monday's a holiday, none of them will be in the office then either. I really don't know what to do at this point. I would just really like some answers. That's all. So to anyone reading this, please pray that this all works out and that God's will is done. P.S. To those who read this on Facebook yesterday, I'm sorry for the repeated "whine-fest" but I figure I need all the prayers I can get about this... :)

Dear Patience and Perseverance, You're clearly what God's teaching me through this whole grad school experience.

Dear Psalm 18:32, You're the verse my students had to memorize this week and the one God has been trying to drill into my thick skull this week as well. Why do I keep getting frustrated about this whole unsure-ness about my grad school stuff? Why do I keep worrying about things that are clearly out of my hands? God's going to work it all out according to His perfect will. I just need to LET GO...